Acadia opens GMC to world of crossover SUVs
By John Gilbert
Last Updated: Thursday, December 14th, 2006 01:30:25 AM
PALO ALTO, CA. — General Motors is rescuing itself from nose-diving market share by changing its manufacturing scope and switching over to high-tech engines, and is now even building trucks that arenÂ’t really trucks, in the traditional sense. The GMC Acadia launch in Palo Alto is the latest example.
General Motors vice president Bob Lutz arrived at the media launch of the Acadia just in time to capture the essence of what such a new vehicle can mean for the corporation. The Acadia is a breakthrough on several fronts. It is the first crossover SUV built by GMC, joining siblings-to-come such as the Buick Enclave, Saturn Outlook, and a Chevrolet to be named later. With lighter, safer, unibody construction attached to car-like, rather than a truck platform, the Acadia handles with impressive agility, particularly when compared to midsize GMC trucks like the Envoy or Yukon.
By not being full-size trucks, apparently they must be called crossovers. Or can we call them trucklets? Whatever, they are zooming past mid and full sized SUVs in sales for the first time ever, so the emergence of the Acadia shows GMÂ’s departure from its dedicated reliance on larger, once-profitable trucks and their revised but aging, pushrod engines.
“This is about as good as we know how to do it right now,†Lutz told the assembled auto writers. “We may know better five years from now, but right now, this is it. This is something new, a crossover SUV. The Acadia has a four-cam, aluminum V6 with a six-speed transmissionÂ… ItÂ’s a traditional design, with great proportions – muscular, stable, athletic, yet with beautiful lines, a unitized body, ultramodern design, car-like suspension systemÂ…itÂ’s aerodynamic, itÂ’s lighter, and it has similar or greater interior volume than an Envoy or Yukon. This is a ‘no excuseÂ’ vehicle, and itÂ’s a perfect fit for the GMC brand.Ââ€
LutzÂ’s candor is always refreshing, and he sliced past GM loyalists in their traditional posture of defending the low-tech-on-a-budget approach that GM rode to supremacy 30 and 40 years ago. Lutz simply acknowledges the importance of high-tech engines.
“The 3.6 multi-valve?†Lutz said, referring to the Acadia engine. “ThereÂ’s no limit to the power we can get out of it. Many of us felt that in this day of customers having increased technical knowledge, it helps our marketability to have an engine like this to compete against the great German and Japanese engines.Ââ€
The “high feature†3.6-liter V6, first designed for Cadillac, has dual overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder, with variable valve-timing, and makes 275 horsepower in the Acadia. A six-speed automatic with either front-wheel or all-wheel drive. Traction control, and StabiliTrak further aid stability. It swept through a series of hairpin turns in the mountains, even with four on board, and there is room for a couple more in the third row seats. Three rows of seating for eight is a major selling point for the Acadia, and there is still storage room behind the fold-down third-row seats, which are surprisingly large and quite easy to access. Folding down rows two and three creates 117 cubic feet of storage.
The automatic transmission has a neat little “tap shift†button on the side of the shift knob for manual up and down shifts. That proved useful in hustling around the tightly twisting mountain roads, because you can drop down into third and be at the right spot in the power band for the curvy, hilly stuff. The little button is concave at the bottom, where you downshift, so you can do it without taking your eye off the road. I would prefer steering wheel mounted paddles, because then you could shift manually without taking one hand off the wheel.
Lutz discussed the importance of coordinating North American, European, Asian, and Brazilian production as a preferable way to cut costs.
“If you get yourself healthy by sacrificing future products, you could be out of business,†Lutz said. “You have to forge ahead and pour money into new products. You can’t save your way to prosperity. Revenue is the answer, which means making cars and trucks that people will be willing to part with their money for.
“The quality difference is so close now. Every new vehicle has the same quality, the same safety, and all have multi-cam aluminum engines. The difference is – does your vehicle make an emotional connection with the viewer? If not, people go to ‘default,Â’ which is like buying an appliance. The default brand is, obviously, Toyota.Ââ€
When Lutz speaks, crowds gather, and every phrase divulges something special, whether it is within GMÂ’s public-relations parameters, or not. For example, he was asked if the rumored-to-be Chevrolet version of the Acadia might replace the midsize TrailBlazer.
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“The TrailBlazer is somewhat similar in size, but IÂ’m not sure weÂ’re announcing any plans to have a Chevrolet version of the Acadia yet,†said Lutz. “Undeniably, midsize SUVs are rapidly declining, going extinct. Right now, we have the Outlook for Saturn, the Enclave for Buick, along with the Acadia for GMC, and theyÂ’re all different. The trick will be to make the Chevrolet version different againÂ…And from what IÂ’ve seen, it will be radically different.Ââ€
So much for not making the announcement.
John Larson, the youthful-looking GMC-Pontiac-Buick general manager, sat back and smiled at the Lutz presentation. It was suggested that being responsible for three brands with impressive new Pontiac Solstice and G6, Buick LaCrosse, Lucerne and now Enclave, and the new Sierra, Envoy and now Acadia for GMC, Larson must have enjoyed the last five years more than his first dozen at GM.
“I donÂ’t know about that,†said Larson, turning pensive. “ItÂ’s been satisfying to see some recent things come together, but for all the successes weÂ’ve had, I canÂ’t help but think about the plants weÂ’ve closed and the people weÂ’ve had to lay off.Ââ€
TheyÂ’d better be careful, or else guys like Lutz and Larson could ruin GMÂ’s image, which has faded from 1970s-era Corvettes and Camaros to a bean-counter-dominated conglomerate that had lost its soul while dwelling on tradition rather than modernization. After driving the Acadia hard through the California mountains, and talking to Lutz and Thomas afterward, it appears that maybe the lost soul has been located, and new and modernized products indicate GM can refocus on its faltering market share.
The feature-filled Acadia, starting in the low-$30,000 range, will help that.
“We see GMC as a complement, not competition, for Chevrolet,†said Larson, who added that he interacts with his counterparts at Chevrolet on a daily basis.
Still, it always has seemed to me that GMC’s motto as “Professional Grade†is a clever way to imply it’s bigger, stronger and more exclusive than competitors, but it more subtly might include Chevy shoppers, even though the GMC and Chevy pickups and SUVs are identical under differing sheet metal.
If I had a major criticism it is that Acadia still feels big for a crossover – big enough to have less of a truck feel than the larger GM SUVs, but more of a truck feel than performance oriented crossover SUVs such as the new Acura MDX, or the Lexus RX350.
Regardless, the Acadia is a breakthrough for GM, and it may become the halo vehicle GMC — the corporationÂ’s second largest division.
Pretty heady stuff, for a trucklet.
Lighter, stiffer, quicker Audi TT stretches beyond cute
SAN FRANCISCO, CA. — Finishing a long day of driving the new 2008 Audi TT through the hills and valleys of Northern California wine country, we pulled off to shoot photos of the car framed by the Golden Gate Bridge, with San Francisco in the background. A tour bus stopped nearby and a middle aged couple hastened over to us, eager to look over our bright red TT Coupe. Turns out, they were from Scotland, on a globe-hopping sightseeing journey, and their interest in the second-generation TT is because they own one of the first-generation TT Coupes — as well as a hot-performing Audi S4 sedan.
Audi fans seem to be everywhere these days, and whether you came from Scotland or Minnesota when you got a late-April glimpse of the new TT from Germany, the car revealed to the nation’s auto journalists in San Francisco resembles its predecessor, which broke all sorts of new ground for size and shape. The 2000 model was a mainstream sports car, coordinating a cute, rounded-blunt exterior, with a fantastic interior filled with round shapes and brushed aluminum trim, even if it was a bit cramped.Almost every sporty car introduced since has copied the TT in some fashion, but nobody has topped it.
The new car is recognizable as a TT, but closer scrutiny shows it is stretched by 5.4 inches in length and over 3 inches in width, making it sleeker, and neat contours carved out from the much more tapered headlights makes it subtly more aggressive, with an increase of 2.5 cubic feet in volume, as well. The redesign from its roof to its wheels makes the new car much more than a concept-come-to-life, and it never feels cramped, either in the 2-plus-2 coupe or the 2-seat roadster.
The new TT comes in either front-wheel-drive with the 2.0-liter 4-cylinder and the S-Tronic automatic, for a base price of $34,800 coupe and $36,800 roadster, while the upscale version has a 3.2-liter V6 with either 6-speed manual or 6-speed S-Tronic, at a base of $41,500 coupe and $44,500 roadster.
Those limits surprised me a bit, because some TT buyers might like a stick to stir the 4-cylinder — which is turbocharged up to a potent 200 horsepower and almost-instant 207 foot-pounds of torque — and have it with Audi’s superb quattro all-wheel drive. Demand for a stick and quattro means moving up to the 250-horse, 236-foot-pound 3.2 V6. Granted, the 3.2 zips from 0-60 in 5.6 seconds, compared to the 4’s 6.1 seconds. But the turbo 4 goes like a V6 when you stomp on it, and will deliver over 30 miles per gallon (EPA highway of 31) in normal driving, while the V6 shows 20 mpg.
It may indeed be that Audi plans to add the quattro and a stick to the 4 a year into production, and beyond that, the 4 with the automatic might be the way I’d buy the car. The S-Tronic is the best in the industry in my humble opinion. It is a 6-speed jewel with instantaneous clutchless manual controls either with the shift lever or with fingertip paddles, and it sounds like an Indy car with a neat little turbo-burble on upshifts and downshifts. It made the roadster my choice, even when it was a bit chilly at 60 degrees, because a little chill is worth it to drop the top for the better audio coming from that engine.
Wanting quattro seems to be a no-brainer, except that the front-drive 4 handles so superbly. In fact, when the nation’s auto journalists arrived at the San Francisco airport, we were each placed in a car to drive alone downtown to our hotel. We had a choice of three routes, and I chose the 2.0 with the S-Tronic and the longest route, at an hour and 45 minutes, because it twisted through the hills and along the Pacific Ocean-front Hwy. 1. At the hotel, I turned over the keys and remarked how the new quattro system worked amazingly well when I was throwing the car through the tightest turns, and an Audi official smiled and said, “But that one doesn’t have quattro.”
That is the ultimate compliment to how well the front-driver tracked around the most abrupt switchbacks. Naturally, the quattro, which now has 60-percent of power going to the rear under normal driving, feels as though it’s on rails going around similar curves, but it also feels a bit heavier. Also, the V6 sounds good, but not as viscerally exciting as the 4.
In either form, however, there is no question that Audi can challenge the top sports cars from Germany, including the Porsche Boxster S and the BMW Z4, which means it goes well beyond the satisfying and cute sporty-car level of the original TT.
The company has set its sights on raising U.S. demand for its cars to levels enjoyed in other countries, and other prestigious imports, as well as domestics, had better pay heed, because Audi hasn’t missed on its recent objectives. It went racing, big time, and won repeatedly at the 24 Hours of LeMans, adding last year’s title with a spectacular new Diesel engine, which has dominated all conventional gas-engine competitors in endurance racing.
Audi has been the equal of BMW and Mercedes in production cars for years, but I always thought it might lag slightly behind those two in engine technology. That is no longer true. In the last few years, Audi first went to 5-valve cylinder heads, then back to 4 when it applied direct injection and turbocharging technology to its superb 2.0-liter 4-cylinder. In creating a small but amazing engine with the power of a V6 and the capability to top 30 miles per gallon in fuel efficiency, the new engine was an easy choice to make the annual Ward’s 10-Best Engine list.
That engine compares with the best 4-cylinders in the world, including my favorites from Honda and Mazda, and exceeds them, if you’re looking for the sweetest combination of power and fuel economy. Coupled with Audi’s unparallelled S-Tronic transmission, Audi rises to the top, and beyond, other auto companies in high-tech stature, using the turbo and astute engine management to get both power and economy.
The 6-speed S-Tronic automatic has a manual gate, with paddle switches fastened within fingertip reach on either side of the steering wheel — right hand for upshifts, left for downshifts. Even if you haven’t moved the shift lever into manual modeI, you can override the drive setting with the paddles when you want to hasten an upshift or downshift. Like any performance-loving driver, I always have preferred the sporty nature of a manual, and Audi has a fine 6-speed manual. But the S-Tronic is the first automatic in any car I’ve driven that I prefer to a stick.
The magic of the Audi S-Tronic is that it is an automatic that has two clutches inside it, coordinated electronically. The computer is smart enough to know that if you are accelerating hard in second, you undoubtedly are going to upshift. So the clutch that isn’t engaged grabs third, and as soon as you hit the upshift paddle, the transmission changes which clutch is engages. Zap, you’re in the next gear.
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Interestingly, BMW and Mercedes were building new automatic transmissions at the same time. The Audi unit outshifts both, by such a significant difference that BMW is redesigning its new sequential automatic, reportedly to go to some form of “two-clutch” design.
That transmission, incidentally, made the 2.0 my preference for the A3 and A4 Audis, and the same unit can be found in Volkswagen’s GTI, GLI, and Passat. But it shows its stuff best, perhaps, in the TT sports car.
The 3.2 V6 is no slouch from a technical standpoint. It also has direct injection these days, as does the corporate V8 for the larger Audis, and while the 3.2 with quattro is the upgrade engine for the TT, it now also comes with the same S-Tronic automatic and those paddles.
Still, my driving partner and I agreed in our preference for the turbo 4, and we didn’t agree on everything. He prefers the coupe, with its wonderfully sweeping teardrop silhouette, and its 2-plus-2 interior, even if the rear seat would best be limited to small kids or occasional, and short, trips, while I prefer the roadster, which is limited to the two bucket seats. The power, no-touch soft top unlatches itself, folds itself back under a self-latching rear deck in a mere 12 seconds, and takes 14 seconds to close — easily done at any stoplight, although Audi folks say you can feel free about opening or closing it at anything under 25 miles per hour.
The second generation TT is the fourth generation of Audi’s space frame unibody design, and Audi has developed new methods of sticking steel to aluminum. The coupe is 69 percent aluminum, 31 percent steel, and is both 50 percent improved in rigidity and 166 pounds lighter than the first TT. The roadster is 58 percent aluminum, 42 percent steel, and its rigidity is stiffened a whopping 120 percent, while measuring 188 pounds lighter. The new roadster, in fact, is stiffer than the first-generation coupe.
That stiffness, plus electro-magnetically charged shocks on the suspension (MacPherson strut front/4-link rear) means that either model stays absolutely flat and stable in the sharpest swerves, while remaining comfortably compliant and never harsh over road irregularities. That also, apparently, means that the front-wheel-drive model has enough stability and precision to fool even experienced drivers — including critical auto journalists — into mistaking the front-drive for uattro.
New Patriot adds more-rugged twin to Jeep’s Compass
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. — The biggest news from Chrysler Group in the past couple of weeks is the financial situation, in which owner Daimler Benz is investigating possibilities of selling off the U.S. brand. While the news is not exactly uplifting, the fact that Chrysler Group continues to turn out interesting vehicles that could have a solid future is a definite positive.
The new Jeep Patriot actually is a feel-good story for those who like to have “domestic†manufacturers build domestic vehicles in U.S. plants. While Chrysler joins General Motors and Ford in closing U.S. plants with high-paid United Auto Workers in favor of less costly production in Canada and Mexico – which can be called domestic because of the odd workings of the North American Free Trade Association – the Patriot is built in the Belvidere, Ill., plant.
That is the same plant that builds the Dodge Caliber and the Jeep Compass, and the Patriot joins those vehicles as being based on the same platform. Sharing platforms just makes sense, although the vehicles have distinctly different personalities. The Caliber is a neat do-everything vehicle for consumers with active lifestyles, but itÂ’s not an off-road churner.
The Compass and Patriot are closer, and they are an interesting pair of Jeep twins. The Compass came out almost a year ago, and its gently rounded edges and stylish rear made it look like a Jeep that got hit over the head with a contemporary-styling magic wand. Predictably, hard-core Jeep off-roaders ridiculed the Compass for being a “chick car.†And in a way, they were right.
It’s not a putdown to say women will be attracted to the Compass – and 55-60 percent of Compass buyers are women. But in these emancipated times, who’s to say women don’t like to live active lifestyles that may include a little off-roading? But while women will buy a car seen as a rugged, macho “guys’†vehicle, men won’t go near a car if they perceive it as a chick car.
So Jeep quietly slipped out with the Patriot, which takes its place alongside the Compass, but is aimed at attracting about 60 percent male customers. The trick is a new outlook for Jeep, as an entity.
“We have Jeep Modern, and Jeep Rugged,†said designer Don Renkert. “The Grand Cherokee and the Compass fit into Jeep Modern, as family vehicles that men can appreciate, but which also serve women and the family. The Wrangler and the Commander fit into Jeep Rugged, with capability for doing serious off-roading.Ââ€
The Patriot, then, is sort of a crossover among crossovers – being a modern Jeep that also is rugged. It’s slightly longer and within an inch of the height and width of the old Cherokee. Built in the familiar Jeep “two-box†format, the basic Patriot Sport comes with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder world engine with variable valve timing and 158 horsepower bolstered by 141 foot-pounds of torque. A CVT (continuously variable transmission) and front-wheel drive are included in the $14,985 base price. Adding Freedom Drive I all-wheel drive adds the 2.4-liter version of the engine and boosts the base price up to $16,735. Going up to the premium Freedom Drive II with an off-road package takes the sticker to $19,175.
The fancier Patriot Limited starts the front-wheel-drive model at $19,985 for the larger 2.4 engine with 172 horsepower and 165 foot-pounds of torque. It goes to $21,735 for the Freedom Drive I version, and $23,530 for the Freedom Drive II off-road package-equipped top model. The 2.4 coaxes estimates of 26 miles per gallon city and 30 on the highway from the EPAÂ’s often-bewildered computers with front-wheel-drive and the 5-speed manual transmission, which matches the 2.0. As you add features, the mileage dips a bit, but still is 21/23 with the full-boat off-road model with special low-range features.
Other than ruggedness, the main differences between the Sport and Limited are interior amenities. You get a decent two-town interior of vinyl or fabric on the Sport, and leather is standard on the Limited, it either a pebble beige or slate grey. There are a lot of little storage bins, and the lid on the console can store an iPod. The rear hatch opens upward, and you can reach an audio unit built into the hatch, folding it down to aim the two speakers for optimum tailgate/picnic needs. The spare tire is under the skidproof floor of the storage area. The rear seats fold down flat, in one-third and two-third segments. The front passenger backrest also folds forward to make a longer flat surface, so if you needed to haul some 8-foot boards or other lumber pieces, or a stepladder, you could do it.
The rear dome-light also pops out and turns into a bright, LED flashlight that recharges when itÂ’s in place in the Patriot.
Describing the various powertrain choices gets a little technical, because Jeep has developed so many off-road units. Best to remember that in the Patriot’s case, going to anything called “Freedom Drive†means going to the CVT as well, but Jeep has made the pulley-based steel-toothed belt work in off-road circumstances is impressive.
Once you move up to Freedom Drive I, you get the 2.4 with the CVT and an electronically controlled clutch with four-wheel lock up to assure 50-50 split of torque to the front and rear axles.
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The Freedom Drive II has a different gear set that includes a 19-1 low ratio, plus tow-hooks front and rear, a 3 mm skidplate under the engine and fuel tank, heavy-duty cooling to allow higher engine speed and lower speed for off-roading, and upgraded fan motor, alternator and other elements – including an inch taller ride height for a 9-inch underside clearance. The vented differential is located higher than the 19-inch river-fording height.
The top model gets the “Trail Rated†designation Jeep uses on its most-rugged vehicles, and the CVT is an example of how Jeep engineers have made use of the always-shifting, belt-drive transmission.
We drove off into the desert and hilly mountain areas near Scottsdale, and the Patriot handled all chores of normal highway use with ease. It also did a good job on a rugged off-road area through some rocks and river washes.
The Patriot proves that things like antilock brakes, an electronic stability program, roll-mitigation sensors, and side-curtain airbags to augment front and side airbags can fit well into a multi-purpose compact SUV. For off-roading, there is a hill-descent-control device, which holds at anything 5 mph or under for climbing down rocky slopes. Step on the gas or brake, and the control releases. The brake-lock differential, and brake-traction control work to transfer power across the axle to the other side, with obvious benefit to anyone doing some serious off-roading.
Our test was serious enough for me. With the wheels pushed out to the corners, the PatriotÂ’s design provides 29-degree approach angle, 34-degree departure angle, and 23-degree breakover angle, which Jeep claims are all best-in-class figures. What impressed me as much was the quick steering, and the 35-foot turning radius, which was surprisingly tight.
My codriver was a woman journalist who is a fairly-aggressive driver. She enjoyed the roominess and safety characteristics of the Patriot, but also had a good time going over the steep, rocky off-road stuff, where the stiffness of the frame caused it to hoist a rear wheel a foot or two off the road, while the engine/transmission combination kept feeding power to the wheels still in firmer command of terra firma.
Going down such extreme stretches allowed us to experiment with the gear sets. Shifting the CVT into low-range, then engaging the hill-descent control, meant you could creep down treacherous areas by trusting the Patriot choose its own pace.
With large SUVs and large sedans faltering in the marketplace, and compact cars and compact crossover SUVs leading the upswing at the other, more fuel-efficient end, JeepÂ’s timing looks pretty good. Having the Compass join the fray as a smaller vehicle for Grand Cherokee types is one good idea, and now sending the Patriot out as a more streetable partner for the Wrangler, but also a more rugged twin of the Compass, pretty well covers the marketplace.
Cars, surprises, cold, and fun fill Chicago Auto Show
CHICAGO, ILL. — The Chicago Auto Show is, without a doubt, the most fun of the major U.S. shows. At least, from the standpoint of auto journalists who attend media days prior to the public start of the show, which continues through February 18 at McCormick Place, the Chicago show is as casual and low-key as shows at Detroit, Los Angeles and New York are intense and hectic in their attempts to out-sophisticate the rest.
McCormick Place, incidentally, is large enough to encase the Detroit, L.A., and New York shows simultaneously, they tell us, and without question, there is no need for a workout after trying to hit all the displays in a two-day stretch.
Let’s do a quick run-around, which begins with a drive from Minneapolis to Chicago. My son, and photographic helper, Jack, and I departed in a Ford Escape Hybrid. I had driven the Hybrid for the week prior to heading for Chicago and the timing was perfect, because it worked without hesitation during a stretch when it rarely got above zero in Minnesota. A lot of misinformation has been spread about how the Escape uses Toyota licensed technology, when in reality Ford did its own work, but on completion found a half-dozen of its items had been patented by Toyota. Rather than redo things, Ford decided to simply license those few items – and, in fact, Toyota used some Ford techniques in return.
The reason that’s a topic is that I had experienced a previous Toyota Prius that warned “Do Not Drive!†when it got to 20 below zero. The Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive boasts properly of being a “full hybrid,†because it will run on electric power alone, but that’s a two-headed sword, because it doesn’t want to ever run on the gas engine alone, using it instead as a generator for creating electric power. So, in severe cold, if the battery power goes to zero, the gas engine will start, but it doesn’t want to run the car. In the Honda, the gas engine runs all the time, so that wouldn’t be an issue, and further evidence that the Ford Escape Hybrid is not dependent on Toyota’s system, the Escape Hybrid can run on electric alone at low speed, on gas engine alone at high speed, and on both during mid-range or acceleration. It gets better fuel economy in city than on highway driving, similar to the Toyotas, and I got 28 miles per gallon on the 400 miles from Minneapolis to Chicago. I would have liked more, but more on that later.
It was cold and nasty on the way. Semis were off the freeway, closing them in places, and cars had skidded off on ice and packed snow every now and then. Interstate 90 just south of Madison was closed for what sounded like an indefinite period to clear up a semi and car multiple crash, so we veered east on 94, through Milwaukee, and came into Chicago from the north. We made amazingly good time, until we got to Chicago, when we again experienced the best reason for light-rail transit in the universe. Chicago’s “El†works so well because cars and traffic don’t work.
The Swissotel was our headquarters, a great hotel, with a view of Lake Michigan from our 28th floor perch. Bridgestone puts on a great welcome reception for the media, and greeted us warmly. Just as Michelin sponsors a lot of media stuff at Detroit, Bridgestone handles it all at Chicago, and its image is not hampered by the uplift in fun.
At the show, the Midwest Auto Media Association (MAMA) breakfast to kick off media days had Ford executive Mark Fields was the keynote speaker. He kicked off the whole week by proclaiming that Ford was going to rename the 2008 Five Hundred sedan as the Taurus, and the 2008 Freestyle crossover SUV as the Taurus X. The companion Mercury Montego will become the Sable for 2008.
Talk about an identity crisis! Ford’s financial woes have been big news recently, but it can’t even decide what to name its cars anymore. It started with the sleek new Lincoln Zephyr, which reclaimed a proud old name that was used back in the 1950s as Lincoln’s hottest performer. After about six months, they decided to change the name to MKZ. The reason? Ford corporate types decided that Lincoln didn’t get used enough when people talked about the Navigator or Continental by their names only, so it went to MKZ so folks would call it the “Lincoln MKZ.†Of course, those new-age marketing wizards must not have been born when the previous Zephyr lived, because NOBODY called it the Zephyr – everyone called it the “Lincoln Zephyr.†So Lincoln went away from that to try to gain what it might have had with it.
While continuing to make the Taurus as a fleet vehicle in its last days, Ford brought out a slightly smaller sedan, called the Fusion, and a roomier one, called the Five Hundred. And, Ford insisted, we had to spell it out, even though Ford had gained great fame with a numerical 500 years ago. The past few months have seen numerous stories on how sad it is that the loyal Taurus, which was the largest-selling sedan in the U.S. for years, no longer exists. More stories came when the last one rolled off the assembly line. There was enough negative publicity on the TaurusÂ’s demise to make it seem heroic in retrospect. I wondered, at the time, why they just didnÂ’t put the name Taurus on one of the new cars that would replace the Taurus.
Meanwhile, the Five Hundred didn’t sell, more because of a stodgy design – particularly the grille and front end – so new design chief Peter Horbury did a quick makeover to give it a Fusion-like three-horizontal-bar grille, and the marketing guys waved their magic wands. Presto! No more stodgy Five Hundred, and the 2008 model will indeed become the Taurus. It not only benefits from the new grille, but it also gains some clout with the new 3.5-liter V6. Curiously enough, those attributes were all marketed in a very nice Ford overview booklet at the Detroit Auto Show – exactly one month earlier. Ford boasted about what a great job they had done keeping the change secret; I believe it wasn’t all that tough, because they must have made the decision to change within the month between the Detroit and Chicago shows.
After breakfast, Toyota had an introduction to show off its new redesign of the Highlander SUV, enlarged by 12 cubic feet inside, and with 55 more horsepower by switching from 3.3 to 3.5 liters in its V6, and a hybrid version to follow.
It was a comparatively quiet show for the European manufacturers in general, and German car-makers specifically. Most of their new stuff had been introduced at Detroit or L.A., so Audi, for example, could just place its new and dazzling R8 sports car on a pedestal and let passers-by gaze at it and hope its arrival sometime within the next year hastens. It is a hot, mid-engine, two-seater aimed directly at proving Porsche isn’t the only sports-car star in Germany.
General Motors deployed Saturn to introduce the new Astra subcompact. After the Aura proved to be such a success in its first year, the Astra will follow as the little brother this fall. The Aura won the juryÂ’s nod as North American International Car of the Year for 2007, even though it actually is a refaced Opel Vectra with a Cadillac-designed 3.6-liter V6. So the Opel-ization of Saturn continues with the introduction of the Astra, which will be a version of the Opel Astra, also built by GMÂ’s German subsidiary, with a 1.8-liter Ecotec four-cylinder. It makes good sense, economically and technically, to share key components, and that will rise again for 2008 when the new Chevrolet Malibu is introduced. It, too, is a very impressive looking sedan, and it is another version of the Vecta/Aura triumvirate.
Ford’s turn was next, although its press conference had been upstaged by the breakfast announcement. We were informed that the name-change to Taurus was important because “It would take years for Five Hundred and Freestyle to become household names.†Especially, I must add, if sales didn’t drastically improve. The question now will be whether bringing the name Taurus back will also cause the vehicle to fly off showroom floors.
Chrysler Group showed off its new Dodge models, and said the new retro Challenger would come to live for real as a 2008 model. Dodge also showed off enormous 5500 and 4500 Ram models with Cummins turbo diesels boasting 610 foot-pounds of torque, and capable of running on biodiesel.
Volkswagen displayed its new R32 sporty version of the Golf, which is now the Rabbit. Got it? VW has made the GTI separate from the Golf/Rabbit, and the GLI separate from the Jetta (which hasn’t yet been renamed), as their sporty updates. The R32 is more potent still, with the direct-injection 3.2-liter V6 and 4-Motion all-wheel drive, and the direct shift gearbox – a paddle-shifted automatic shared in Audi vehicles. BMW showed off a new Alpina sedan, an aftermarket project, while its new 3-Series coupe and retractable hardtop-convertible stole the set.
Pontiac concluded the day with vice president Bob Lutz introducing the new G8. Now, the new G8 will replace the Grand Prix, being renamed in alpha-numeric fashion as a large, rear-drive sedan with a V8. Grand Prix was a grand old name, to coin a phrase, and alpha-numeric names can be confusing to the point of being maddening. So at least GM canÂ’t ridicule Lincoln for changing Zephyr to MKZ, even if I can.
Curiously, I was one of those asked to vote on the best of several categories, including concept cars. The new Five Hundred and Freestyle were on the ballot, because, I suppose, Ford was still keeping the secret at the time it was filled out. The Volvo XC-60 was not on the ballot, but it was there, and looked great. The hotly anticipated Honda Accord concept coupe was on display, but the even hotter Advanced Concept Coupe was not. I learned, sadly, that the only one in existence was a hard-foam prototype, shown at the Detroit show. As it waited in storage to be transferred to Chicago, the severe cold temperature caused the foam to crack – so the NSX replacement was a no-show. But it was on the ballot. I considered giving it an absentee vote, but instead I gave part of a vote to the Taurus as a write-in.
Later, we discovered a spectacular new concept version of the Mitsubishi Outlander, a hot, sporty vehicle named the “Evolander†to make a connection with the Evolution version of the Lancer. It was not on the ballot, and we didn’t see it until after the vote had to be turned in. I would have ranked it right up there with the Kia Kue and the Accord coupe – which will be out this fall as the 2008 Accord – as my favorites.
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The Chicago show is so much fun because itÂ’s in Chicago, which is filled with night spots, great restaurants, and a vibrant lifestyle, the Blackhawks notwithstanding. By chance, the hockey team was out of town, so we ended up two nights in a row at the House of Blues, the latter at the annual Stars, Cars and Bars party. Jim Belushi surprised most of us by Blues-Brothering up a storm in a stage show that would have made his late brother John proud.
The next morning, we had an early start again, with Porsche talking a little racing and showing off the new redesign – subtle as it may be – of the Cayenne SUV. Then it was next door for Toyota to take over again, this time introducing two new Scion models. Toyota’s plan all along was to revise and change the subcompact entry-level Scion models, so the XA will be replaced by a new XD, which shares platforms with the Yaris subcompact, and the square-ish XB will prove, in Toyota’s words, “We will always have a box in our lineup,†although the new one is a foot longer and three inches wider. These are youth-market aimed, and have attained the industry’s youngest average age of 30, but older drivers also might appreciate the electronic gizmos and the iPod connectivity.
Maserati showed off its magnificent Quatroporte and said it would make a coupe version of that, retiring the MC Victory.
Nissan has redone the huge Armada SUV outside and in, and will offer a V8 engine in the Pathfinder for the first time, boosting it to 7,000-pounds of towing. Kia, from Korea, has a new Kue that is a stunning concept vehicle, and the sporty Rondo SX.
At that point, it was time to take off. We had a long, seven-hour drive back to Minneapolis, and we had given in to a request to seize the opportunity to test-drive the all new Ford F450. Ford trucks start with the Ranger (for now, at least), then the full-size 120, heavier duty 350, and enormo 450 with a giant turbo diesel V8, and dual wheels on the rear. As a 4×4, itÂ’s actually a 6×6, I guess, because it has six drive wheels, counting the dualies. When I saw it, I realized it was huge. It is not like having a living room on the road; it is like having a living room and a large den on the road together.
It was large enough that we passed up our trip-long plan to swing by GinoÂ’s East on the way out of town, to pick up a deep-dish sausage and pepper pizza and eat it on the way home. I never eat deep-dish pizza except in Chicago, where it is the best, and GinoÂ’s, which uses corn-meal in its crust, is worth craving whenever youÂ’re not in Chicago. We blew it, and off we went, still craving GinoÂ’s East.
We made good time, beating rush-hour, so there was only heavy congestion, not gridlock. The big Ford handled well, although it sure filled the lane with little to spare on either side. Sirius satellite radio was good too, with me seeking Coffeehouse for its contemporary singer-songwriters, and Margaritaville, for its Jimmy Buffett-flavored content, but we spent most of the trip at the three comedy stations. ItÂ’s impossible to get too drowsy behind the wheel when youÂ’re laughing at Lewis Black, countless others, or sessions by the late Mitch Hedberg.
On the freeway home, we made it to Osseo, Wis., by dinnertime – just in time to pull off and stop at the Norske Nook for a hot-beef and mashed potatos in a homemade breadbowl, with a small dose of pecan-fudge pie. The meal was great, the pie was sensational, and the coffee was…well at least it was hot. Strong does not equal good when it comes to coffee, and I’m a Dunn Brothers snob because in Minnesota, Dunn Brothers out-Starbucks and out-Caribous all the others. I know where to find it in the Twin Cities, and in Duluth, and even in Forest Lake, at a joint car-wash and Dunn Brothers(?), and I know how long my thermal mug can go between their various locations.
However, while it had been hinted to me that even that gigantic Ford F450 might get 25 or so miles per gallon with the diesel, I was distressed first to notice that diesel fuel was $2.59 a gallon – 30 cents more than premium – and I was distressed more when I calculated and recalculated my fuel economy and couldn’t make it come out any better than 9.1 to 9.7 no matter how I did it.
If it hadnÂ’t been so cold out, I could have taken solace from the fact that if I had been towing a house trailer it probably wouldnÂ’t have gotten any worse than 9.1 either. But then, I didnÂ’t have any house trailer available. That Ford Escape Hybrid’s 28.6 mpg looked really good, about then.
Mazda CX-9 zoom-zooms into larger SUV market
The Mazda CX-7 may have the sportiest design of all crossover SUVs, being more like a sports sedan with the SUV assets of all-wheel drive and a higher seating position. If you like the idea but need more room to haul more people, then imagine stretching a CX-7 out to a length that allows a third-row seat, with 17.2 cubic feet of storage space behind that third row, and with a wider stance that turns it into the largest vehicle ever built by Mazda. ThatÂ’s the new CX-9.
There are enough similarities in style between the CX-9 and the CX-7 that from a hundred feet away, they might be mistaken for each other. But up close, or side-by-side, the difference in size is readily discernable. The CX-9, with three rows of seats, puts Mazda into new territory and fills in the void left by the recently discontinued MPV minivan. Mazda moved instead into the compact crossover segment with the five-passenger XC-7, and the next logical step is the seven-passenger CX-9.
To fully grasp the CX-9, a review of the CX-7 is necessary, as well as a look at the interaction with Ford, MazdaÂ’s chief investor. The CX-7 was good enough to earn the runner-up slot in Truck of the Year competition, outpointing the very good Ford Edge and all the other breakthrough crossovers. A lean and agile four- or five-seater, the CX-7 is powered by a quick and efficient turbocharged Mazda 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine with all-wheel drive.
Both the Edge and the CX-7 began life on a stretched and strengthened Mazda6 platform, and the CX-7 is closer in size to the Edge, both with two rows of seats. Mazda dipped into its own supply bin for the CX-7, using the front structure from the Mazda6, and the rear from the Mazda5, as well as using its own turbocharged four-cylinder.
Aimed at a family that needs more interior room and seating for up to seven, but still wants something that has a futuristic, high-tech look of adventure that goes beyond the boxy, traditional SUVs, the CX-9 is substantially longer than the CX-7 or Edge, at 198.8 inches in overall length and a 113.2-inch wheelbase. It also is much heavier, at 4,500 pounds in all-wheel-drive models, and it carries 56 percent of its weight on the front axle. The CX-9 retains the corporate “Zoom-Zoom†approach with a bold attitude, and its agility is indicated by its surprisingly small turning circle.
Rather than “borrowing†the Edge platform, Mazda more accurately recalled elements of its own platform, which Ford used in the Edge. From the firewall forward, the CX-9 and the Edge have about the same structure, which makes sense, because both house the same 3.5-liter Ford V6 engine. The suspension points on all four corners are also the same, but from the firewall rearward, the CX-9 is Mazda’s own.
Mazda useda straight and wide ladder frame, with cross members of high-strength steel, and added a lower sub-frame, with reinforced lower side members, wheelwells and pillars. Basing the rear on the MPV design to house the third-row seating, Mazda wound up with a larger, roomier vehicle that is still sporty looking on the outside and rigidly safe under the skin.
Crash tests show impact energy is dispersed and forced downward to the perimeter of the CX-9 frame, and the reinforced lower rails and cross-members allow less deformity in a crash. Being so rigid also made it easy to engineer better directional stability, such as linear steering and the ability to remain flat and stable in emergency swerves.
Having an accessible third-row seat was important, and wide rear doors greet an easy fold-and-slide second row seat. ItÂ’s easy enough for adults, and a snap for kids, to flip a switch to fold and slide the seat and hop back into the third row, where there is surprising room. The second row seat cushion is about 3 inches higher than the front buckets, making for stadium-seating view, and the third-row seat is similarly raised above the second, to ease the feeling that third-row riders are in some sort of cave back there. Naturally, the generous room behind the third seat becomes huge by folding down the second row.
The Ford-built 3.5-liter V6 puts out 263 horsepower at 5,250 RPMs, and 249 foot-pounds of torque at 4,500 RPMs. The engine adds to exchanges between Ford and Mazda that previously saw Mazda send its 2.3 four-cylinder to Ford while making use of FordÂ’s 3.0 V6. With the 3.0, Mazda revised the cylinder heads and added variable valve-timing to make it so much more potent in the Mazda6 that Ford now uses MazdaÂ’s revisions in the Fusion. The new Ford V6 is so good that Mazda engineers say that such tweaking was not necessary with the 3.5.
The new Ford V6 is very strong and technically advanced, with reinforcement ribs improving the stiffness of the all-aluminum block, and a timing chain rather than a belt, for its dual overhead camshafts. Valve timing can be varied on both intake and exhaust sides by reading engine load and RPMs, and the use of electronic throttle control.
In the Edge, Ford uses a new six-speed automatic transmission developed jointly with General Motors with the 3.5. Mazda uses a smooth-shifting six-speed automatic developed jointly by Aisin and Mazda in the CX-9. An interesting difference is that the the Edge and companion Lincoln MKX do not have a manual gate to allow clutchless manual shifting, while the CX-9 has that feature.
MazdaÂ’s own adaptive all-wheel-drive system features an active torque split that responds to computer readings of steering, throttle angle, yaw rate, and both lateral acceleration and wheel speed. In normal driving, 100 percent of the torque goes to the front wheels, and the torque shifts from front to rear up to a 50-50 split when the computer detects any wheelspin or other need for shifting torque rearward.
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Competition is seen as the Honda Pilot, Toyota Highlander, BMW X5, Volvo XC90, Acura MDX, and Volkswagen Touareg, most of which make the CX-9 a worthy challenger and a bargain besides. The CX-9 comes in three levels – the Sport, quite well equipped with 18-inch wheels and lighter, front-wheel drive, starting at about $28,000; the Touring adds leather power seats; and the Grand Touring moves up to about a $32,000 base price, with 20-inch wheels, high-intensity discharge headlights, rain-sensing wipers, and other top-shelf features. If you want to load up from the option list, a 9-inch-screen rear DVD player, or the Bose 5.1 surround sound system, plus a power liftgate, navigation screen with rear-view video, you could get the CX-9 up to near $40,000.
Driving the CX-9 puts you in position to appreciate the effort made to combine luxury and sportiness. It stays remarkably flat even on sharp, quick steering moves, and it never feels as though it might lose its composure. MazdaÂ’s idea that there was room for a midsize SUV that offers more than was available blossomed after interviews all over the country led to various responses, and that information created four objectives for the CX-9: It had to stress sportiness, prestige, versatility, and safety.
Sportiness was achieved by the sporty lines, rigid chassis, and potent engine and six-speed transmission, running on regular gas and with a 3,500-pound towing capacity; prestige meant special attention to the luxury touches of the interior; versatility meant surprising room inside, with storage bins well-positioned, room behind the third seat, higher-rising second seat that slides forward and folds clear for convenient access to the third row; safety demanded that every CX-9 has antilock brakes, electronic brake distribution, traction control, dynamic roll-stability control, as well as front and side airbags.
My only complaint is strictly personal. I like the new and well-bolstered seats, and the visibility from the driver’s seat is superb. But the manual shift gate on the automatic makes you push forward to downshift, and pull backward to upshift – counter-intuitive both ways, to me. Mazda and BMW are the only two mainstream companies that insist on using that layout, while other manufacturers seem to agree that logic dictates going forward to go forward, and pulling back to back off. My brain works that way too. But the good news is that Mazda does have a manual gate.
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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