Touareg 2 makes roads easy, mountains possible
Critics questioned Volkswagen’s intitial logic five years ago when it decided to invade the world of SUVs with the Touareg, but the vehicle has proven to be solid and capable for any imaginable duty, including its basic and most logical use as a modern version of the good-ol’ family station wagon.
Now it’s time for updating, and VW has kept the basic size and shape but revised the important under-the-skin stuff to create the Touareg 2 for 2008. It is improved in every way, which means basic people-moving on normal highways is a snap, and even mountain climbing is possible. I had a chance to prove those capabilities, both during the Touareg 2 introduction, and for a later week on Minnesota roadways.
The most distinguishing feature of the 2008 Touareg 2 is the front end, where Volkswagen’s tweaking gives the new model the family resemblance, with the large grille separated by a horizontal chrome bar, similar to the new Jetta, Rabbit, GLI and GTI. The family resemblance makes good sense, and is one of the more attractive applications of that grille shape.
The Touareg was initially built with a companion version for the basis of Porsche’s high-performing Cayenne. The Touareg 2 has many subtle upgrades, with new seats a definite improvement, and the Audi-sourced 4.2-liter V8 is now direct-injected and runs smoother and with quicker response.
Its new grille is flanked by wider headlight openings and more intense lights, and its adjustable stiff or merely firm suspension, complementing the more supportive bucket seats, performs admirably on any freeway, highway, 2-lane, or lake-access road. Its weighty stance — from 5,100 to 5,800 pounds — makes it always feel stable and gives a good base for towing, although it’s difficult to avoid the impression that it’s overbuilt for mundane highway travel.
Base price is $39,320 for a Touareg 2 with the latest version of VW’s narrow-angle 3.6-liter V6, with 280 horsepower and 266 foot-pounds of torque. The one I drove for a week, starts at $59,320, loaded up with the 4.2 V8, with its direct-injection 350 horsepower and 324 foot-pounds of torque. Both engines are dual-overhead-camshaft pieces, and both run through 6-speed automatic transmissions. The V6 does just fine, unless you’re a power-hungry type. Fuel economy EPA estimates are 12 city and 17 highway for the V8, and 15/20 for the V6.
Volkswagen officials chose to introduce the refined Touareg 2 by whisking North American auto journalists away to Couer d’Alene, a little town on the skinny northern tip of Idaho that stretches to the Canadian border. The town, like the Native American tribe from the region, was named for its bargaining practices, which were “sharp as an awl.” For some, it was hard to reach such an out-of-the-way location, but for me, it was a pleasure.
My younger son, Jeff, had driven through the town a couple years ago, on his way west on I-90, and raved about how picturesque it is to come out of the spectacular Bitterroot mountain range on the Montana-Idaho border and descend to discover the beautiful Lake Couer d’Alene and the little town that adjoins it.
Volkswagen had gone for the ultimate, and hired Dan Mick, a Minnesota native famous as a tour and trek guide in the Moab desert of Utah. Since he is the undisputed king of Moab’s outrageous terrain for Range Rover, Jeep, Dodge trucks, and also the first Touareg introduction, VW brought him to Idaho to create the perfect and treacherous course for us to attempt with the Touareg 2.
Because of Volkswagen’s intent to show off the Touareg’s off-road capability, we drove a brief little sprint on the highway to get to a fantastic area where we could spend a couple hours on very challenging off-road trails. For that, the location was perfect. So we rushed off toward the east, cruising smoothly from the Couere d’Alene Resort, and after too little time on the mountainous roads, we turned off them.
Our incentive was a wonderful lunch served on top of the mountain, and getting there would be more than half the fun. I had met and talked with Dan Mick on several occasions, and our Minnesota ties always connected. He’s from Pine River, MN., a little town between Brainerd and Walker, but he’s made the Moab region his home and raised his family out there. Anyway, he asked if my co-driver and I would like to join him for the off-road trek, and I jumped at the chance to be guided by the maestro.
Unfortunately, Mick also wanted to be the last vehicle in line, so he could help anyone having trouble on the steep and unruly surfaces. So we were last, by design. Waiting for everybody else to clear was more of a pain than merely being last to lunch, but it was still an enjoyable day.
At several points he got out and directed us by hand-signal over the toughest areas, including one spot where the Touareg 2 would lift a front or rear-corner wheel a couple feet off the ground, and hold it there, like a German short-haired pointer. But instead of pointing to an unflushed pheasant, this beast was showing off its impressive structural rigidity.
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To be fully equipped for the battle, the Touareg 2 has switches to lock in whatever you choose. You can set the comfort range, and a pair of knobs allow you to set the firmness and height of the air suspension. The vehicle actually rises up off the suspension to enhance ground clearance for semi-tough or all-out demands, and will settle back down low and sleek for highway cruising.
We handled everything with ease, except for one very steep stretch where free-spinning vehicles preceding us had left hundreds of softball-size boulders lined up like so many marbles, and we spun too much to make sense of the climb. So we backed down and circled that hill.
When we finished off our belated mountaintop lunch, it was time to test the hill-descent control, which controls the steeply descending slopes without riding the brakes, and, in fact, without touching anything.
The ultimate evidence of the Touareg 2’s capability is that Dan Mick, who normally won’t leave his trusty short-wheelbase Jeep Wrangler while leading all other makes on Moab excursions or introductions, said that he now also wants a Touareg 2 because of its capabilities.
Still, the cynic in me had to point out that after two hours of off-roading, we had probably driven the new Touareg 2 off-road more than any customer is likely to drive a $40,000-$60,000 SUV.
As is often the case with German manufacturers, it is the capability of achieving what it is designed to do that seems to drive them. So to speak. I mean, a Porsche looks like it could go 175 mph, so it can, even though there is no chance any purchasers will be able to do that. And the Touareg 2 will perform amazing feats on the wildest terrain, even though about 95 percent of its buyers will spend 0 percent of their time venturing off road with any degree of difficulty.
Still to come, incidentally, is the return of the V10 twin-turbo-diesel in the Touareg 2, with 553 foot-pounds of torque, and will add the Bluetec exhaust-cleansing urea technology for 2009, to qualify as a clean diesel in all 50 states. That will increase power and fuel economy, and will make the Touareg 2 zip up cliffs so swiftly you won’t ever be late for lunch.
Ford pins hopes on new models, new names for 2008
DEARBORN, Mich. — Here we are, up to our armpits in an enthusiastic variety of 2007 model cars, and major manufacturers are hustling, ever-huystling, to get the jump on the competition by unveiling some 2008 models. Ford Motor Company is among them.
Ford summoned automotive media to its Dearborn headquarters and then bused us over to its test facilities, where we got to briefly sample some of next year’s cars. Naturally, all models got updates from Ford, but here is a brief cross-section of what I was most enthused about:
MOST FUN/
The Ford Shelby GT. Biggest news is that there now is a Shelby Cobra-ized version of the Mustang in convertible form. The new Shelby GT is not to be confused with the Ford GT, the Mustang GT, the Shelby Mustang, or the Mustang Shelby GT500, or any other version, but it does come in both coupe and convertible form, the latter with a neat raised rollbar just behind the front bucket seats. It also comes in a new color, a neat vista blue with metallic silver striping running wide down the hood and over the trunk and down to the bumper. This one is not as hyper as the GT500, which has a supercharged 5.4-liter V8 with 500 fire-breathing horsepower. The new car comes off the normal Mustang GT assembly line at Flat Rock, Mich., then gets shipped to Carroll Shelby’s facility in Las Vegas, where Shelby’s fine touch gives it a distinctive new grille, little exterior tweaks here and there, such as hood pins, and specially set-up engine, brakes and suspension. The beauty of the Mustang GT is that it is a blast to drive, but it also can serve as an everyday driver. Same with the new Shelby GT, because it coaxes more power out of the 4.6-liter dual-overhead-cam V8 — from the Mustang GT’s 300 horsepower to 319 — but its handling and steering is more refined-performance than racetrack-performance. I like the looks of the Shelby GT a lot, and because it is plenty potent but still easily driveable, it might be the most marketable of all the Shelby/Cobra types. For good measure, you get a satin silver plaque affixed to the center console, listing the number of limited-edition Shelby GT you have bought, and also containing Shelby’s own unmistakable signature. There will, however, be only 2,300 of them made — an instant collector’s item.
BEST NEW-OLD IDEA/
The Taurus and Taurus X. There is no benefit in any “I told you so” stuff here, but when Ford came out with a new and larger sedan a couple years ago and said it was going to call it the Five Hundred — spelled out, please — and had a more compact car coming called the Fusion, I wrote that it seemed curious that Ford would forfeit all the name equity it had built up by discontinuing the Taurus. For 2008, Ford has announced it is renaming the Five Hundred the Taurus, in order to try to recapture all the name equity it had built up in what was the top-selling car in the U.S. for several years until the Honda Accord and then the Toyota Camry passed it. Hmmmm. After a year or so of mild selling, the Five Hundred — spelled out or not — failed to attract large numbers of customers with its mild styling and meaningless name. Along with the name, Ford has affixed its new corporate grille, similar to the Fusion, on the front of the new Taurus, and more significantly it has replaced the less-than-thrilling 3.0-liter V6 with its smooth but audibly boring CVT (continuously variable transmission). In their place, Ford has plunked its new high-tech, Edge-based 3.5-liter V6, and a new six-speed automatic transmission. Same huge interior and trunk, same comfort for all occupants, and renewed punch and performance. The Freestyle, by the way, also has been replaced by the Taurus X, and X marks the spot where another Fusion-styled horizontal-bar grille and the same Taurus drivetrain resides. Will the once-loyal Ford customers flock back to the flock to get a new Taurus? We’ll see.
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STRANGEST “NEW” IDEA/
Focus. The Focus has done a good job of being a pretty good compact car. Some liked it, a few loved it, but Ford treated it like a displeasing orphan, compared to the European Focus. A couple years ago, when Ford affiliate Volvo turned out a spectacular compact sedan in the S40, and affiliate Mazda came out with a similarly spectacular Mazda3, Ford came up with a gem. The European Focus rode on the Volvo S40’s rock-solid and safe platform, and got the Mazda3’s brilliant 2.0/2.3-liter four-cylinder engine, with a suspension tuned by the experts at Ford of Germany. Great combination, and reports are outstanding. So Ford introduces a new 2008 Focus in the U.S., and it not only has its looks improved, it adds a two-door coupe that looks positively sporty. So finally, I asked, is this the U.S. version of the European Focus? “No,” was the answer. No, this is a mostly-cosmetic remake of the U.S. Focus. The new Focus that will be based on the European Focus won’t come until the “next” remake of the Focus. In this era of sharing platforms and components — Volvo and Mazda platforms outfit the Ford Five Hundred, oops-Taurus, the Fusion, the Edge, and practically everything — then why is it cost-effective to make a sensational Focus for Europe and a pretty good Focus in the U.S.?
BEST ROAD TO FUEL-EFFICIENCY/
Ford Escape Hybrid. Around the Ford road-course at the test facility, I drove the new Escape Hybrid and the Mariner Hybrid, its sister ship from Mercury, and first I registered 28.5 miles per gallon. That is good for an SUV — any SUV. But it wasn’t good enough for me, because I was sure I could do better, by altering my driving, and using the brakes for regenerative duty while accelerating more moderately. Sure enough, I then coaxed it up to 33.8 miles per gallon. Now THAT is good for any SUV. Hybrids can work on any vehicle, from economy cars to high-performance vehicles, and up to the SUVs that make the most profit and are therefore stressed by some companies. If Ford would expand and put the Escape’s electric/gas engine package on other vehicles, such as the Fusion, Taurus, and on other SUVs, they could be the right vehicles for the right time.
Of course, Ford has various other redone vehicles for 2008, but coming on the heels (wheels?) of the Edge, MKX, MKZ, and others from Lincoln, Mercury and Ford, if these new models catch the public’s fancy, all could be well for Ford. The company deserves it, in light of recent news items that further underscores the problems at Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. All are struggling and hoping to turn their fortunes upward. Ford has an edge, you should pardon the expression, because it is ahead of its domestic rivals in some key technologies, such as hybrids. Now it needs to make a bold move toward, say, turbo-diesels, and its upward momentum could build quickly.
In recent months, the word that Ford was going to sell off Jaguar, Aston Martin, and Land Rover was somewhat anticipated. But last week, word started to spread that Ford also was planning to sell Volvo. That is a surprise, because Volvo has been very good for Ford, but the reason behind the scenes is that Volvo as an entity could command more money than Jag, Aston Martin, and Land Rover — combined.
Enclave may now be the best car from Buick
The Buick LaCrosse is a high-tech midsize sedan, and the Lucerne is a medium-tech luxury sedan, but the highlight of a trip to any Buick dealership these days is not a sedan at all, but a truck — the Buick Enclave.
Not really a truck, either. The Buick Enclave is a crossover SUV, meaning it’s not built on a truck chassis but as a tightly coordinated unibody that handles and performs in a car-like fashion, smoother and better than any previous General Motors truck.
The Enclave joins the GMC Acadia and the Saturn Outlook as the third sibling in the GM triplets. All are impressive, but the Buick version has a clear edge in luxury, and, depending upon taste, in styling. All three share the benefit of high-technology under the hood, something that couldn’t always be said about General Motors products. But the superb 3.6-liter corporate V6 changes all that. It is a dual-overhead-camshaft, variable-valve timed engine that gives more than adequate power to make the Enclave and its corporate siblings outrun their bigger brethren with their huge V8s.
The old racing phrase “There’s no substitute for cubic inches” may have begun at General Motors, and it wasn’t until recently that some engineer must have answered back: “Yes there is; it’s called technology.”
The 3.6 is steadfastly replacing the old-tech 3800 V6, which has served GM so well as an inexpensive and adequate pushrod engine for about 50 years. It can’t come close to the 3.6, especially this one, which starts out with the substance of six-bolt main bearing rigidity, a forged steel crankshaft, and a new intake manifold. It produces 275 horsepower at 6,600 RPMs and 251 foot-pounds of torque at 3,200 RPMs.
Todd Pawlik, the program engine manager on the project, said that the all-aluminum 3.6-liter engine is the most powerful normally-aspirated V6 ever built at GM. That begs the question, and if you recall the old Grand National hot rod with a turbocharged V6, you’ve answered it. That was the only V6 ever produced at GM with more power. Take away the turbo and it’s no contest.
I was very impressed after some spirited driving in the upgraded CXL models, both with standard front-wheel drive and the all-wheel-drive system, at the media introduction for the Enclave in St. Louis. The statistics say the front-driver will get 16 miles per gallon city and 24 highway, while the AWD model gets 16/22 — only 2 mpg different. Both FWD and AWD are available in either the basic CX or the flashier CXL, and I must admit that during the media introduction in the Missouri countryside outside St. Louis, I cheated a little and stayed in the CXL to try both.
Driving aggressively in drive, my co-driver recorded 18.5 mpg with the AWD version on some twisty and hilly highways. When I took over, hand-shifting the six-speed automatic in the front-drive alternative, I drove much more aggressively but saw the computer mileage figure dip to only 17.6. Impressive, for the way I was tossing it around.
Later, I got an Enclave to drive for a week around Minnesota, and I was able to creep closer to 20 mpg. It was, however, the CX model with front-wheel drive. Some other SUVs might get better fuel economy, but the high-output and potent 3.6 V6 runs on regular gas. If you don’t think that’s significant, compare the price difference between regular and premium next time you fill up.
I received an email from a fellow who had heard my radio bit on WCCO AM with Charlie Boone on a Saturday morning, and bought a Buick Enclave CXL. He later heard someone else criticize the CXT for being too firm in its ride, and he wondered if maybe he should have ordered the CX instead. I told him I didn’t think the CXL was anything near harsh, and I am now ready to tell him he made the right move, because I much prefer the CXL.
The engineers insist that both models have the same suspension, the same engine and transmission, and the same four-link rear suspension with firm stabilizer bars front and rear, but the CXL felt smoother and sportier and a bit more stable. I attribute that to the specially-tuned Michelin tires on the standard 19-inch alloy wheels of the CXL. The CX has 18-inch wheels with slightly more bulbous all-season tires, and the larger wheels with lower-profile tires made a positive difference in the stable feel of the CXL.
Price matters too, of course. The prices of the Enclave read up like this: CX with FWD $32,055; CX with AWD $34,790; CXL with FWD $34,990; CXL with AWD $36,990.
Not bad. The CXL with leather interior, 19-inch wheels, and front-drive is only a couple hundred more than the CX with all-wheel drive, and the loaded version of the CXL is still safely below $40,000. The test CX I drove for a week had a sticker that rose from $32,055 to $36,260 with the inclusion of the optional entertainment system that includes 10-speaker Bose audio, rear DVD, with separate seat audio controls, plus a brilliant pearlish white finish, and a driver confidence package that had remote start, ultrasonic rear park assist and heated windshield washer fluid.
After the week of driving, I didn’t feel the CX FWD was as solidly stable as the CXL, but it certainly approached it in luxury. The neatly styled interior features woodgrain on the doors, console and dashboard, running left to right. It is fake — plastic wood — but the wonderful wood steering wheel is genuine mahogany. I do prefer the CXL’s leather upholstery.
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What makes the Enclave so special is that it has three very impressive primary features: One is the powerful and responsive engine, another is the comfortable luxury of the amazingly quiet and sound-insulated interior, and third is the outstanding styling of the exterior.
The Enclave has some sweeping contours that highlight the vehicle from its bold, waterfall grille on back to an upswept rear end, arching over both wheelwells in well-sculptured form.
It wasn’t always that way. Design director Jack Folden told the story of being frustrated at being unable to bring together all the elements he was seeking, with the chance to christen the new Buick entry with a design that could bring some emotional impact and flair to a vehicle that was built around space, room, and functionality.
“We were sketching things and drawing different designs, and we had some pretty good things going,” said Folden. “But it was nagging me a little. Do they have this super-strong emotional appeal, so it’s not just a car, not just transportation? It didn’t quite have it. One night, it was about 7 p.m., and I was staying late, doodling. I noticed a couple fellow-designers were still there too, and we got to talking.
“One of them said, ‘I see this as a fuselage.’ Another said something about the stance. A third said everything has to flow. As we talked, we seemed to have a spark. Things started coming together — emotion, lines flowing, growing, shrinking. Within two hours, we walked out. We had nailed it.”
Folden traced the line that runs from the grille through the headlights, over the fenders, flowing to the rear. Art, he called it, a living presence and personality. He added that the interior designers had accomplished the same thing, with tapered and undulating lines that go beyond a mere assembly of pieces. So the Enclave emerged as the benefit of some sort of karma, or timing, chemistry, or whatever it is that brings designers together on some vehicles, and might cause others to look like they were built by a committee whose members had never met.
Some high-strength steel in the frame and a half-dozen airbags and side curtains give the Enclave a five-star crash test rating, and all the latest rollover detection and stability control devices make it feel solid and secure in every maneuver.
Buick officials boldly asked us to compare the Enclave with the Lexus RX350 and the Acura MDX — two standards of the industry in midsize crossover SUVs with luxury tendencies. Buick ran sound tests to prove the Enclave was quieter than either, and I don’t disagree. But the RX350 is sleek and great looking, and I think the MDX is perhaps the best sporty-handling SUV on the planet, and even though Buick engineers disagreed with me, I’ve driven the MDX on a racetrack, and I’ve seen what it can do against huge snow drifts on the North Shore.
Buick officials boast that the Enclave has more room in the third-row seat than either, with easier access than either, and has significantly more storage room behind the third-row seat, as well as when the third row is folded down. They are undoubtedly correct in those measurements and boasts.The Enclave and its siblings are longer, and have more room behind the third-row seat, but the RX350 and the MDX are designed purposely to be more compact, and they have distinctly different personalities. Not everyone wants a third-row seat for adults, using it only for occasional use or small kids, and trade it off for handling agility.
But it is the highest of compliments that there is a Buick SUV now in showrooms that we are actively discussing as a viable alternative to the Lexus RX350 and the Acura MDX. High praise, indeed. We could go farther and proclaim the Buick Enclave as the best SUV ever built by GM.
Mercedes C-Class splits into Sport and Luxury for 2008
There is something completely natural about the combination of sport and luxury exhibited in the new fourth-generation Mercedes C-Class sedan — which comes in two distinct styles and personalities for the 2008 model year, appropriately and quite naturally named Sport and Luxury.
Every car-maker boast that their cars are either luxurious or sporty, or sometimes both, and nobody promotes having “just” a basic, mundane vehicle, although most make their profits off the stripped basic models, even while promoting their sporty and luxury versions. Maybe Mercedes saw the trend and wanted to cut through to the core, or maybe it was just typically pragmatic Germans performing normally, but with the new C-Class models, Sport and Luxury are all there is — when the cars reach showrooms in early August, there will be no such thing as a basic, mundane C-Class car.
On reputation alone, many consumers might be reluctant to consider a Mercedes C-Class, assuming it is priced out of reach in this era of escalating prices. But the C-Class should start out at just over $30,000 — a price that can be reached or topped by many rivals, including loaded-up midsize cars named Camry and Accord. So a truly fine Mercedes sedan is available at a price that no longer seems unreachable.
The natural feeling is that a C-Class car fits every driving requirement, and I must admit the feeling might have been influenced by the introductory road-tests when Mercedes summoned automotive journalists to the boutique-ish city of Portland, Ore. Our route guided us on an often spellbinding tour eastward along the Columbia River Gorge in the morning, when my co-driver and I drove a C350 Sport to the foot of Mount Hood, and in the afternoon, when we drove a C300 Luxury to within eruption distance of Mount St. Helen’s. Two fine cars, and the two most spectacular of Oregon’s several volcanic peaks.
It was a stunning backdrop, and the cars were up to the task of any and all highway challenges. I appreciate luxury car features, but I most prefer performance car responsiveness and handling. In the C-Class’s pair of unidentical twins, both cars can satisfy either preference. Using the same Sport and Luxury approaches that worked well with the recently renovated larger E-Class Mercedes, the C-Class models cross into each other’s territory while retaining their distinct personalities. The Sport is sportier, but it has plenty of luxury going for it; the Luxury is more luxuriously softened, but it has plenty of sportiness in its soul.
Both models are stretched over the current model — 3.9 inches in length, 1.8 inches in wheelbase, 1.4 inches in height, and 1.7 inches in width. Increased interior roominess is the benefit of the expansion, as is the new platform, which is 13 percent improved in torsional rigidity with 70 percent of the frame buillt of ultra-high-strength steel. It is proper sophistication and technical advancement for the fourth generation of a car that began life 25 years ago, when German car-maker Mercedes-Benz decided that it was time for its Stuttgart manufacturing plant to drop down from its costlier luxury chariots and build an “entry level” sedan.
That was in 1983, when the 190 model was first introduced, a quite-compact sedan with Mercedes class and numerous innovations, such as antilock brakes and seat-belt tensioners. The car built a following over the next 10 years, when the second generation came along and outsold the original 190 by 45 percent. In 2000, the third C-Class generation made a giant leap to a more contemporary and luxurious style, and it outsold its predecessor by 65 percent. By the end of 2007, the first three generations will have sold over 700,000 units, which means the C-Class, which accounts for 25 percent of all luxury car sales, remains the top-selling Mercedes model since 2001.
“At $30,000, the C-Class is the gateway into Mercedes for many customers,” said Bernie Glaser, the production manager for Mercedes in the U.S. “From there, they can step up to the E-Class, or the CLS, or the S-Class. By offering both Sport and Luxury models, we’ve lowered our demographic from a median age of 52 to 50 since 2005.”
Glaser anticipates that 70 percent of new C-Class customers will choose the Sport model, which has a dashing new grille with a huge three-pointed star right in the middle, much like the flashier Mercedes sports-coupes, while the Luxury model has the more stately horizontal blades on the grille. The luxury model also has sleek sides, while the Sport gets lower sills and spoiler edging designed by the AMG performance group, and sport suspension, which lowers the stance 15 millimeters and includes wider wheels at the rear. It also has special brakes and dual exhausts, with rubber-studded aluminum pedals. The Luxury version has a more sedate black-backed instruments and softer colors, like cashmere beige in the interior. A small touch is that the Sport has birdseye maple or brushed aluminum for dashboard trim; the Luxury has burl walnut.
At that point, however, the two start crossing over. Both have all-season tires and 17-inch wheels, with the Sport getting an 18-inch option. Both vehicles have the same choice of engines — a 3.0-liter V6 with 228 horsepower and 221 foot-pounds of torque, upgrading the current model’s 201 horsepower in the C230. The upgrade engine is a 3.5-liter V6 with 268 horsepower and 258 foot-pounds of torque. The real-world difference is one full second in a 0-60 burst, with the larger engine getting there in about 6.1 seconds and the smaller 3.0 in 7.1.
Both engines are available in both cars, but the 3.0 in the C300 offers the choice of a 6-speed manual transmission in the Sport, or the 7-speed automatic in the Luxury. Choosing the larger 3.5-liter V6 in the C350 is accompanied only by the 7-speed automatic. Mercedes officials anticipate that 15-20 percent of buyers will choose the stick shift — which is very interesting, because decision-makers at a company like Honda might rationalize not offering a manual transmission in a car like the new Accord V6 sedan by insisting only 5 percent of that segment’s buyers want a manual transmission. While it seems outrageous that more Mercedes buyers than Honda buyers would go manual, we can only applaud Mercedes for making it available.
Buyers of the 3.0 engine will be able to choose the 4-Matic all-wheel-drive system — a new version, with permanent all-wheel drive set-up that sends 45 percent of engine power to the front wheels in normal driving.
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Both versions also benefit by steering that is 6 percent quicker in response, which aids both safety and sporty handling. Other safety equipment includes six airbags, plus adaptive braking that deploys antilock, traction control and stability control. Occupants will also appreciate 8-way power seats, plus dual climate control with a charcoal filter that won’t allow any particle larger than 10 microns to enter, and Bluetooth hands-free communication.
As we swept around some rolling, undulating curves in the foothills of the mountains, both cars exhibited comfortable firmness in holding a flat attitude, which is the benefit of another unique new feature called the Agility Control System. Similar in response to the electromagnetic shock dampening system on some top Cadillac, Corvette and Audi vehicles, the Mercedes C-Class cars have a different form of selective damping from their shock absorbers. In the C-Class twins, it is not magnetic or electronic, but a purely mechanical system. When the road surface and driving style causes flexing of less than 10 millimeters, the car remains in comfort setting, but in harder driving, when the shocks flex more than 10 mm., the shocks stiffen by themselves, in a system described as strictly “amplitude dependent.”
That satisfies those of us who anticipate such real-world technical innovations from Mercedes, not to diminish the slightly more gimmicky creature features that are also greatly appreciated. For example, you can choose a normal sunroof or a panoramic roof that opens nearly full-width, with the front panel sliding up and over the rear. Or you can select an optional 30-gig disc-driven navigation system, with a 7-inch screen. Or an audio system that can be upgraded to a 12-speaker, 450-watt Harmon-Kardon unit, which allows you to rip CDs onto its hard drive, and features a 4-gig music register that has a plug-in to allow you to play personal music storage devices.
All the options are secondary, though, because stripping them all away still leaves a fine car under either the Sport or Luxury trim in the C-Class. Without a doubt, the C-350 Sport showed more zip and less effort than the C300 Luxury, while bounding up and over some curvy and mountainous hills, but I found manually downshifting and stepping harder on the C300 produced very satisfying performance. Meanwhile, we didn’t get a chance to compare the C350 Luxury with the C300 Sport, but that’s good reason for some subsequent test drives. And regardless, if Mercedes can keep the price in the same ballpark as the current C230’s base $29,650, the new C-Class could go well beyond living up to its reputation but prove to be the best seller of them all.
Alpha moves H3 to forefront of Hummer battalion
Alpha signifies the start of the alphabet, or the No. 1 item in a group, such as the alpha-male as boss of a wolfpack. For 2008, Alpha could make the Hummer H3 No. 1 for a number of folks who are seeking a rugged-looking SUV but with a more civilized and user-friendly personality.
That is no less a feat than for a wolf pup to work his way up from pack outcast to alpha-male, because Hummer had established itself as a military-oriented vehicle that could be seen on every newscast, carrying soldiers in Iraq war circumstances.
The H3 is the baby of the Hummer family, and over the past three years it was considered the nice, but somewhat puny, newcomer. Measuring 16 inches shorter than the H2, with a wheelbase almost a foot shorter, it could get by with a 5-cylinder engine moving its 4,800-plus pounds. Not with much urgency, true, so even though it cornrered smoothly, it didn’t exactly make the turn with enough relish so you could play the hot dog. So to speak.
That’s where the 2008 Alpha upgrade comes in. The basic Hummer H3 still comes with the 3.7-liter, inline 5-cylinder, with its 242 horsepower, but if you add the name “Alpha†to the H3 designation, you have jumped to a much snappier vehicle with a 5.3-liter V8.
Now, the 5.3 isn’t exactly the leader in power or technology, even in GM’s arsenal. It is a pushrod V8, but it represents a huge increase in power, potential, and performance in the H3 that lifts it to a new level. It develops 300 horsepower at 5,200 RPMs, with 320 foot-pounds of torque at 4,000 RPMs. In actual performance, that move the hefty but compact H3 from 0-60 in about 9 seconds, which may not press your head against the headrest on takeoff, but feels like the Batmobile compared to the 5-banger.
The 4-speed automatic is OK, although a 5-speed would be better, and why GM didn’t equip it with its new 6-speed automatic is a question any prospective buyer should ask. But the H3’s agility, handling and steering precision are…well, think about it. You would never mention “agility, handling and steering precision†in the same sentence, when discussing any other Hummer model.
There is a price to pay to go Alpha. The base H3 starts at right around $30,000, while the new H3 Alpha starts at nearly $10,000 more than that. Still, it might be worth the difference.
If the original H3 was intended to lure less-aggressive guys, or perhaps capture the growing female segment, the H3 Alpha has a realistic chance for doing exactly that. The square exterior still has the squashed-down roof that leaves narrow windows, for a diminished outward view. But the revised interior is decidedly occupant-friendly. Instrumentation is new and nicely laid out, and from the inside, if you didn’t know you were in a Hummer, you would definitely think you were in some “normal†SUV.
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Same with the sound system. A six CD changer is among the featurs of the Monsoon sound system, which finishes off the super-domesticated interior of the H3 Alpha. Even a fairly contemporary feature, such as the rear-view video, has been given special treatment. On most vehicles, the navigation screen is where the rear video is displayed, but on the H3 Alpha, shifting to reverse causes a little screen to zip out from the right edge of the rear-view mirror. Having the display there means it is easily seen along with the normal mirror.
Such creature features are a departure for anything with the Hummer name, although differences in driving may be best appreciated by taking a turn in, say, the old H1. You climb aboard, and while it is easily the widest vehicle you’ve ever entered, there is a huge carpeted hump in the middle, which separates all four bucket seats by footage, rather than inches. The large and armored troop-carrying Hummer H1 also provides a regular test of lane-staying concentration in normal traffic, and the unbelieving looks from virtually everybody you could see through those thin-slit windows was another matter, because not all those looks were endearing. Even for a governor.
Yes, it could be obtained for the street, with a giant diesel engine. General Motors used to send engines and parts to Hummer, and the H2 came along as a smaller and less-warlike alternative to the H1, with its testosterone level reduced from overload to more reasonable levels with drivetrains from Tahoes and Suburbans. With General Motors having taken over the company , it followed that the next step would be to create a quite-civilized and manageable smaller vehicle.
So the H3, the third vehicle in the Hummer collection, began life in 2005, and was far more maneuverable than the H2, if also much less powerful. For 2008, however, the Alpha retains all the off-road-ability, as the two giant tow-rings in front and one at the rear might indicate, but the flashy red paint job tips off the Alpha, which make the H3 a logical alternative for those seeking the macho demeanor, or for anyone who wants a strong-running, modern and capable SUV.
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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