Dodge Ram Mega Cab takes big pickup command
It can be intimidating when you first walk up to the big – BIG – Dodge Ram Mega Cab pickup. If it isn’t, then maybe you drive over-the-road big rigs for a living. Or one of those plow-fronted dump trucks full of that salt-sand glop we cover the roads with once winter hits.
Still, approaching the Ram Mega Cab gets your attention. I had driven one at the introduction, just outside of Washington, D.C., so it didn’t seem all that intimidating to me, but the ones I’d driven were the normal1500 and the slightly-bigger-than-normal 2500. The monster that was delivered to me for a week-long test drive was the 3500 – the biggest, baddest pickup truck on the market, in that form.
When you get close enough to open the driverÂ’s door, you have a decision to make. Should you step up on the neatly styled bar and take the wimpÂ’s way to climb on board,, or should you merely hop in? ItÂ’s a question better answered if we know whether you have Olympic high-jumper on your resume.
Trust me, stepping on the rail and then up and in may not seem the macho way to go, but itÂ’s far more acceptable than trying to vault all the way up, because you could find yourself catching the grab-handle so you can pin your hip against the side of the seat for leverage, while you pull yourself the rest of the way. I tried it that way once, and figured itÂ’s a feeling that must be familiar to mountain climbers when they under-estimate the length of their next step and suddenly must pin themselves against the side of the mountain and wait for help from a partner, pulling on the rope from above.
Once youÂ’re up and in, the intimidation is gone and everything looks good. Switchwork and controls are right where you want them, and thereÂ’s all sorts of room. Dodge made sure of that.
DodgeÂ’s reasoning for building the Mega Cab was pretty sound. Full-size pickups continue to sell well, led by Ford and Chevy, but crowded by Dodge, Nissan, and soon ToyotaÂ’s all-new Tundra, while the new Honda Ridgeline can steal customers from anyone who might prefer something closer to a combined SUV and pickup. The full-size crew cab sales rose by 27 percent over last year, which meant 750,000 vehicles sold in 2004.
So if full-size, amd full-crew four-door pickups are both rising to take over, why not build the biggest one?
The trick is that Dodge started with the 160.5-inch wheelbase heavy-duty 2500 chassis in long-box form. They replaced the 8-foot cargo box with one measuring 6-foot-3, which allowed them to extend the crew cab by 20 inches. That makes it 111.1 inches in itself, longer by a foot than the Ford F-250 Crew CabÂ’s occupant compartment.
The interior room is put to good use. The rear bench seat first of all can be accessed by rear doors opening 85 degrees – almost full perpendicular to the body. That makes it easy to get in and out through an opening 34.5 inches wide and 35.5 inches tall.
The backrest of the rear seat is not up against the rear wall, which means you donÂ’t have to sit bolt-upright, as you do in some multiple-seat pickups. In fact, there is 7.7 cubic feet of cargo room behind the rear seat, which is an obviously useful asset. Even more useful, perhaps, is that the rear seat backrest will tilt from 22 to 37 degrees in reclining.
With 44.2 inches of rear legroom, and a reclining backrest, what in the world can rear seat occupants find to entertain themselves? How about a disc-playing video screen that folds down from the ceiling?
So if you need to, you could seat six adults with more head, shoulder, hip and leg room than you might think possible, this side of a coach bus. In fact, IÂ’ve been in coach buses with far less legroom. On top of that, the rear seat backrests fold down fully flat all the way across, or on a 60-40 basis, so you can haul some extra stuff and still take a couple of passengers back there. When two passengers are back there, the center backrest converts to a console.
The impressive gauge layout, and driving controls, make the driverÂ’s work easy, as well. The audio controls are big and easy to grab, and the test vehicle had Sirius satellite radio, so I passed time rotating among the comedy stations and Margaritaville, the new station that plays either Jimmy Buffett songs, his concerts, or neat music he has allegedly selected for inclusion.
{IMG2}
But the biggest surprise I had was that once underway, the Ram Mega Cab is disarmingly easy to drive, with smooth maneuverability and precise-steering feel allowing you to trace the lane markers around any curve. Every full-size pickup built in the last 10 years has boasted about its “car-like†ride and handling characteristics. The Dodge doesn’t wimp out and pretend it is something it isn’t – it demands attention for its macho stance, but it just happens to steer and handle as well as any full-size truck I’ve driven.
When it comes to power, Dodge has made great headlines recently with the return of the Hemi, its 5.7-liter V8. The 1500 and 2500 versions of the Mega Cab come with that Hemi, as the only engine in the 1500 and the base engine in the 2500. But the test vehicle was the full-blown 3500 model, which is armed with the 5.9-liter Cummins Turbo Diesel. Yes, in case the 5.7 Hemi, with 345 horsepower and 375 foot-pounds of torque, isnÂ’t enough, you can move up to the Cummins Diesel, which has 325 horsepower and a staggering 610 foot-pounds of torque.
A new six-speed automatic transmission handles the diesel.
Consider that the 1500 with the Hemi has a towing capacity of 7,750 pounds, and maximum payload of 2,410 pounds. The 3500, with the Cummins Turbo Diesel, has a towing weight of 15,800 pounds, and payload of 2,840 pounds.
Dodge said it took care in design, so that the Mega Cab would “reinforce†Dodge Ram’s big rig look. Not to worry.
Unique suspension settings are made for each model, with the monotube shocks and suspension set for ride comfort on the 1500, more for workers on the 2500 and 3500. But considerable care was given to insulating the cab from road and wind noises.
The base 1500 Mega Cab starts at $32,760 in two-wheel-drive mode, and about $3,000 more for a 4×4. In 3500 form, the base SLT two-wheel-drive starts at $40,410. The 4×4 SLT I test drove started at $42,600, and had an as-tested sticker of $49,675, after such options as front buckets, extra side airbags, an audio upgrade and, of course, the rear-seat video.
It is interesting what the SUV craze has done to our truck-drivinÂ’ guys. Used to be, cars were for passengers and trucks were for work. As SUVs came on to replace station wagons and minivans, to some extent, they grew bigger and more cushy inside. So it figures that big pickups would follow the trend. No longer does the guy who drives a pickup for work want any limitations.
Bob Hegbloom from Dodge truck marketing, said: “People want comfort, convenience, and versatility. They want to be able to haul their family and also work heavy duty.Ââ€
The Ram Mega Cab will do it all, and all at one time. And it’s not as intimidating once you’re inside – just make sure to use that step rail.
It can be intimidating, walking up to the big – BIG – Dodge Ram Mega Cab pickup. If it isn’t, then maybe you drive over-the-road big rigs for a living. Or a cement mixer. Or one of those plow-fronted dump trucks full of that salt-sand glop we cover the roads with once winter hits.
Even then, approaching the Ram Mega Cab gets your attention. I had driven one at the introduction, just outside of Washington, D.C., so it didn’t seem all that intimidating to me. The ones I’d driven there, though, were the normal 1500 and the slightly-bigger-than-normall 2500. The monster that was delivered to me for a week-long test drive was the 3500 – the biggest, baddest pickup truck on the market.
When you get close enough to open the driverÂ’s door, you have an easy decision to make. Should you step up on the neatly styled bar, or should you merely hop in? ItÂ’s a question better answered if we know whether you have Olympic high-jumper on your resume.
Trust me, stepping on the rail and then up and in may not seem the macho way to go, but itÂ’s far more acceptable than trying to hop all the way up, and catching the grab-handle so you can pin your hip against the side of the seat for leverage, while you pull yourself the rest of the way. ItÂ’s a feeling that must be familiar to mountain climbers when they over-estimate the length of their next step and suddenly appreciate all the help they can get from a partner, pulling on a rope from above.
Once youÂ’re up and in, everything looks good. Switchwork and controls are right where you want them, and thereÂ’s all sorts of room. Dodge made sure of that.
DodgeÂ’s reasoning for building the Mega Cab was pretty sound. Full-size pickups continue to sell well, led by Ford and Chevy, but crowded by Dodge, Nissan, and soon ToyotaÂ’s all-new Tundra, while the new Honda Ridgeline can steal customers from anyone who might prefer something closer to a combined SUV and pickup. The full-size crew cab sales rose by 27 percent over last year, which meant 750,000 vehicles sold in 2004.
So if full-size, amd full-crew four-door pickups are both rising to take over, why not build the biggest one?
The trick is that Dodge started with the 160.5-inch wheelbase heavy-duty 2500 chassis in long-box form. They replaced the 8-foot cargo box with one measuring 6-foot-3, which allowed them to extend the crew cab by 20 inches. That makes it 111.1 inches in itself, longer by a foot than the Ford F-250 Crew CabÂ’s occupant compartment.
The interior room is put to good use. The rear bench seat first of all can be accessed by rear doors opening 85 degrees – almost full perpendicular to the body. That makes it easy to get in and out through an opening 34.5 inches wide and 35.5 inches tall.
The backrest of the rear seat is not up against the rear wall, which means you donÂ’t have to sit bolt-upright, as you do in some multiple-seat pickups. In fact, there is 7.7 cubic feet of cargo room behind the rear seat, which is an obviously useful asset. Even more useful, perhaps, is that the rear seat backrest will tilt from 22 to 37 degrees in reclining.
With 44.2 inches of rear legroom, and a reclining backrest, what in the world can rear seat occupants find to entertain themselves? How about a disc-playing video screen that folds down from the ceiling?
So if you need to, you could seat six adults with more head, shoulder, hip and leg room than you might think possible, this side of a coach bus. In fact, IÂ’ve been in coach buses with far less legroom. On top of that, the rear seat backrests fold down fully flat all the way across, or on a 60-40 basis, so you can haul some extra stuff and still take a couple of passengers back there. When two passengers are back there, the center backrest converts to a console.
The impressive gauge layout, and driving controls, make the driverÂ’s work easy, as well. The audio controls are big and easy to grab, and the test vehicle had Sirius satellite radio, so I passed time rotating among the comedy stations and Margaritaville, the new station that plays either Jimmy Buffett songs, his concerts, or neat music he has allegedly selected for inclusion.
{IMG2}
But the biggest surprise I had was that once underway, the Ram Mega Cab is disarmingly easy to drive, with smooth maneuverability and precise-steering feel allowing you to trace the lane markers around any curve. Every full-size pickup built in the last 10 years has boasted about its “car-like†ride and handling characteristics. The Dodge doesn’t wimp out and pretend it is something it isn’t – it demands attention for its macho stance, but it just happens to steer and handle as well as any full-size truck I’ve driven.
When it comes to power, Dodge has made great headlines recently with the return of the Hemi, its 5.7-liter V8. The 1500 and 2500 versions of the Mega Cab come with that Hemi, as the only engine in the 1500 and the base engine in the 2500. But the test vehicle was the full-blown 3500 model, which is armed with the 5.9-liter Cummins Turbo Diesel. Yes, in case the 5.7 Hemi, with 345 horsepower and 375 foot-pounds of torque, isnÂ’t enough, you can move up to the Cummins Diesel, which has 325 horsepower and a staggering 610 foot-pounds of torque.
A new six-speed automatic transmission handles the diesel.
Consider that the 1500 with the Hemi has a towing capacity of 7,750 pounds, and maximum payload of 2,410 pounds. The 3500, with the Cummins Turbo Diesel, has a towing weight of 15,800 pounds, and payload of 2,840 pounds.
Dodge said it took care in design, so that the Mega Cab would “reinforce†Dodge Ram’s big rig look. Not to worry.
Unique suspension settings are made for each model, with the monotube shocks and suspension set for ride comfort on the 1500, more for workers on the 2500 and 3500. But considerable care was given to insulating the cab from road and wind noises.
The base 1500 Mega Cab starts at $32,760 in two-wheel-drive mode, and about $3,000 more for a 4×4. In 3500 form, the base SLT two-wheel-drive starts at $40,410. The 4×4 SLT I test drove started at $42,600, and had an as-tested sticker of $49,675, after such options as front buckets, extra side airbags, an audio upgrade and, of course, the rear-seat video.
It is interesting what the SUV craze has done to our truck-drivinÂ’ guys. Used to be, cars were for passengers and trucks were for work. As SUVs came on to replace station wagons and minivans, to some extent, they grew bigger and more cushy inside. So it figures that big pickups would follow the trend. No longer does the guy who drives a pickup for work want any limitations.
Bob Hegbloom from Dodge truck marketing, said: “People want comfort, convenience, and versatility. They want to be able to haul their family and also work heavy duty.Ââ€
The Ram Mega Cab will do it all, and all at one time. Just remember to use the step rail.
Reincarnated GTO adds some spice to muscle image
There are not a lot of technical breakthroughs on the Pontiac GTO. It’s basically a Monaro two-door coupe, with a Corvette engine and transmission, built by General Motors’ Holden affiliate in Australia, and presented as the reincarnation of the car made famous by the Pontiac GTOs of the 1960s.
Performance makes the GTO’s world turn, but there aren’t many places this side of a race track to stretch such a performance car to its proper limits. Trying it on the highway means you probably will – and should – end up attracting an escort with flashing lights on the roof.
By luck, during my week-long test drive of a bright red GTO, I got invited to attend a session of the nationwide Bridgestone emergency handling and wet-traction comparison tests, conducted for Bridgestone dealers at the National Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Blaine. That facility is normally overrun by soccer or hockey players of all sizes, ages and nationalities, but we convened separately, in the parking lot.
The circuitous route my test GTO took to get to Blaine is nothing compared to the revival of the GTO itself. Around the rest of the world, the term “GTO” means “gran turismo omolagato” – or, grand touring, homologated.It means the car was designed as a grand-touring sporty car, with enough of them built to rise above concept or prototype status to be homologated as a production car.
But in the U.S. of A., the term GTO is savored by performance-car fanciers for the mid-1960s high-performance car. Pontiac took a two-door version of its Tempest intermediate back then, stripped it of the usual costly creature comforts, then stuffed a big 389 V8 under the hood, beefed up the suspension, wheels and tires, and sent them out the door at a bargain price. Young people didn’t have a lot of disposable income in those days – in fact, nobody ever uttered the term “disposable income” because none of it was disposable. But everybody wanted hot cars, at bargain prices.
The whole genre took off and became the core of the late 1960s muscle-car era that overlapped into the 1970s, lasting until the first power-choking emission-control laws ruined the drivability of U.S. cars, dropping them a decade behind the more sophisticated imports. Some still haven’t completely recovered from the technological deficit.
If timing is everything, the powerful new GTO probably is ill-timed for the sudden rise in gasoline prices, and emphasis on fuel-efficiency. But auto builders work three or four years into the future, and when GM vice president Bob Lutz came on board, he knew that the corporation needed the infusion of new and youthful products. Holden, owned by GM, was making a midsize two-door in Australia and stuffing Corvette motors inside. So Lutz brought that car in a year ago, renaming it the GTO.
The first one met with something resembling indifference. Being fast and powerful didn’t mean it could get away with being boring in design. The look resembled a late entry in a kid’s soap-carving class, where the least amount of sculpting could make the project deadline. It was smooth and sleek, which was not all that different from the first GTOs, if a complete departure from more recent Firebirds, Bonnevilles and Grand Prix models that had been criticized for too many add-on scoops, flares and vents.
But taking all of the contours away might have been too much fixing for a questionable problem. So for 2005, the GTO hood adds twin air scoops. The scoops are functional, we’re informed, and if you open the hood, sure enough, you will see the openings from the vents, although it isn’t so much channeled into any elaborate ram-air intake system as it is a supply of cool air to wash over the completely shrouded engine. Also, a lower slab on the rear now houses dual exhausts, which also join with the flared lower side sills to give the car a dose of aggressiveness.
My test car – like all GTOs – came at a base price of $32,295, with an as-tested sticker, including destination, of $33,690. There aren’t a lot of options, but a lot is standard, including the 6.0-liter, LS2 Corvette engine, a giant V8 with 400 horsepower that will whisk the 3,790-pound car from 0-60 in 5.0 seconds, and will run the quarter mile in 13.5 seconds, at 107.1 miles per hour. Top speed is reported at 159 mph, electronically restricted.
Handling is pretty good, although perhaps not the car’s strong suit, because of its weight. It is plenty agile, for a reborn muscle car, but it might not want to challenge a Mustang GT around tight road-race turns.
Enter the Bridgestone/Firestone comparison test, which is concluding a 28-stop tour of North American cities, letting the sales force experience the handling of the new tires, while sponsoring and accompanying the fantastic, and free, teenage driving lessons from the nonprofit Driver’s Edge campaign. I drove the bright red GTO test car out to Blaine, and parked it behind the tent used to background about 50 salespeople from tire dealers that sell Bridgestone tires, among others.
Bridgestone has made a new Turanza EL400 tire, which we drove on the cone-lined, watered-down, autocross course in identical Chevrolet Impalas, half of which were equipped with Michelin Harmony tires. The Turanza has an inner core of even stickier tread, which provides good traction when the tire gets worn to that point. We also drove Toyota 4Runners, with Bridgestone’s latest Dueler H/L Alenza SUV tires, while half of them had Michelin’s Cross-Terrain tires.
The group of tire dealers voted that the vehicles with the Bridgestones handled better around the tight, twisting turns of the flooded autocross course. The Turanza Impala got a 5.5 grade compared to the Impala Harmony’s 3.5, and the Dueler-equipped 4Runner got a 5.4 to the Michelin 4Runner’s 3.3 grade. However, I must say that the Michelins were quite good, breaking away a bit quicker, but in a very predictable manner. Still, there was no question the new Bridgestone technology works for a better road-sticking concept in the wet.
Once that was completed, the final event was a team relay, with seven drivers on each of seven teams. We each would drive one hot lap, starting and stopping at a specified spot, and with each group’s instructor driving the final turn. Each driver had to make a complete stops, unbuckle the seat belt, jump out, run across a line, and tag the next driver.
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Rolled out for the test was, if you can believe it, a bright red Pontiac GTO. At first, I thought it was my test car, but it had a Firestone logo on it, and a four-speed automatic, instead of my car’s six-speed stick. Firestone is now owned by Bridgestone, and the GTO comes equipped with Firestone Firehawk Wide Oval tires – another name out of the ’60s. These are impressive, water-channeling, low-profile radials, so we set off to competitively test their wet-track traction.
Amazingly, nobody knocked over any cones. Everybody drove quickly and quite well, and the competition was close. Autocrosses are always major fun, as well as educational about the car, the tires and your driving skill, all at once. I also noted that with the traction-control switched off, the car probably would have gone broadsliding through the cones; but with the traction-control on, it stayed in place.However, if you waited until the apex of the turn to hit the gas, then hit it hard, the traction device would refuse to supply all the power and bog the car for a second or two. So I did my braking early, started accelerating just before the apex, then hit it less abruptly, and the power came on as summoned.
Our team didn’t win, and didn’t finish second. One hotshot on the winning team recorded a 32.61-second lap, best of the whole group. I got a chance to see the overall scores later, and was pleased to note that my time, 32.71 seconds, was second overall, ahead of the third-place 32.86.
Those other folks could return to their dealerships to provide first-hand information about how the Bridgestones and Firestones handled the wet autocross course. I came away impressed with the tires, but also with an extra appreciation for the GTO. It is not just an overpowered coupe, but a proper muscle car for the road, and it can handle itself very well in tight, twisty maneuvers, even on wet pavement.
(John Gilbert writes weekly new car reviews and can be reached at cars@jwgilbert.com.)
Volvo, Yamaha create XC90 winner for U.S. drivers
PHOENIX, AZ. — The Volvo XC90 is arguably the safest and most secure midsize sport-utility vehicle sold in the U.S., to say nothing of the largest-selling European SUV in the U.S., but the brilliant minds behind the XC90 knew something was missing from the time the vehicle was introduced for the 2003 model year.
The missing ingredient was a V8 engine. Even though the turbocharged engines with five or six cylinders have sold far beyond VolvoÂ’s conservative estimates, the company was aware that in the U.S., where 60 percent of all XC90s are sold, fully 30 percent of premium SUVs are equipped with V8s. VolvoÂ’s market research indicates that a solid percentage of those who considered but didnÂ’t buy an XC90 would have bought one if it had a V8.
And so, we are introduced to the Volvo XC90 V8, wearing the official designation as a 2005.5 model year vehicle. It is not “just†a V8, but a specific, purpose-built, 4.4-liter V8 built by Yamaha. Dating back to 1927 when the company started making cars, the first-ever V8 in any Volvo vehicle is uniquely compact, powerful and light, yet clean-enough burning to meet Volvo’s uncompromising demands for size, safety and environmental rules.
All of that doesn’t mean Volvo doesn’t also appreciate the sheer performance of the V8 – which is startling, with 315 horsepower and 325 foot-pounds of torque. The XC90 V8 will hit showrooms by February, at a base price of $45,395, which will include amenities such as leather seating and a power moonroof as standard. Volvo, always conservative, anticipates a first-year run of about 9,500 U.S. sales of the XC90 V8 for 2005, increasing to 11,500 for 2006, but Volvo officials say they could increase production up to Yamaha’s current maximum capability of 25,000 V8s a year.
The media introduction was held in Phoenix, an early-December treat this past week for those of us who already have felt the sting of sub-freezing – and maybe sub-zero – weather in the Upper Midwest. Ah, Phoenix, that magical land in the colorful desert of Arizona, where we laugh when the natives tell us the frequent 100-degree-plus days are OK because “it’s a dry heat.†But not this time. As if to honor the Swedish car company for its powerful new winter-beating SUV, Mother Nature provided us with 40-degree nights and 50-degree days for this past week.
Not that it mattered. Inside the XC90 V8 was the preferred place to be during the trek up and over the mountains to Apache Lake, and we wished for those snug, heated, leather bucket seats that night, when Volvo arranged an imaginative ranch dinner meeting that included a horse-drawn hayride, where we considered lighting the hay to beat the cold.
I was quick to vote for the XC90 when it won the 2003 International Truck of the Year award, and itÂ’s no surprise it went on to win 30 similar accolades around the world. With strong turbocharged 5-cylinder and 6-cylinder engines, the vehicle expanded the Swedish automakerÂ’s great pride in creating vehicles that refuse to compromise on safety and environmental focus. In only its second year, the XC90 outsells exceptional competitors from BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen and Porsche to reign as the largest-selling European luxury SUV in the U.S.
“The XC90 has won more international awards in a shorter time than any other Volvo,†said Jorgen Svensson, the youthful chief program engineer on the vehicle. “But thereÂ’s always room for improvement, and from the start, we have planned on putting a V8 into it, and when it was first designed, it was with a V8 in mind. The problem was, we couldnÂ’t find any V8 that met our requirements.Ââ€
Volvo, which has retained its focus under Ford ownership, originally benefited from Ford’s connection with Yamaha. While Ford, as well as its Jaguar subsidiary and its European Cosworth high-performance arm, has produced some excellent V8s, it also went to Yamaha to design and build V6 and then V8 engines for the Taurus SHO high-performance models over the past two decades. So Ford pointed Volvo to Yamaha, and Svensson – who previously was Volvo’s engineer working with Cosworth on the previous S40 four-cylinder – was the perfect person to direct the project.
“There are a lot of cultural similarities between Sweden and Japan,†said Svensson. “We both are direct, and when either of us say weÂ’ll do something, weÂ’ll do it. And we take a lot of pride in what we do.Ââ€
That pride can seem almost like arrogance from the perfectionist focus of top engineers from both countries, but that forceful determination meshed perfectly for Volvo and Yamaha to create something special.
“Yamaha had the capacity and the resources, and they were willing to design this engine on our outline,†said Svensson. “Yamaha is not making any engine for anyone else right now, and this V8 is exclusive to the XC90 right now. Yamaha is not allowed to sell this engine outside Ford.
“There was much give and take both ways. We had many conversations, but we worked together very well. I was very impressed, and I would say that the top two engineers from Japan we worked with knew a lot more about what they were doing than we did.
“We also learned that when they say something is very difficult, itÂ’s impossible.Ââ€
VolvoÂ’s safety design includes incorporating FordÂ’s breakthrough gyroscopic anti-rollover technology that makes the XC90 perhaps the least-likely SUV to roll over, and yet as a prize graduate of VolvoÂ’s Goteborg Safety Center the XC90 is probably the safest vehicle in a rollover. I visited there to watch an XC90 undergo a 4.5-time rollover crash, with the doors still operable and four crash-test dummies safely inside a cocoon of airbags, within an outer shell of the strongest steel used in the industry.
VolvoÂ’s front and corner crash tests without the engine guides installation of their 5- or 6-cylinder in-line engines transversely, in the opening left clear of the crumple zone in front. That lessens the possibility of the engine being shoved into the passenger compartment, and also provides the advantage of a short hood, angled for superb visibility of the road ahead.
“The new V8 had to have the same footprint,†said Svensson. “It had to fit in a transverse mount, and it had to be narrow.Ââ€
Viewed head-on, V8 engines traditionally have their banks of four cylinders at a 90-degree angle, often more than twice as wide as any in-line engine. The Volvo V8 is built at a 60-degree angle, with the left bank offset by a half-cylinder from the right, almost serpentine in layout, and with counterbalance shafts. Auxiliary engine parts are tucked away, with the alternator underneath the manifold, and the starter positioned above, and the all-aluminum engine weighs just 419 pounds and is 29.7 inches long and a mere 25 inches wide.
Dual overhead camshafts on each bank are run by chains, not belts, with a primary chain on the inlet camshafts and a secondary chain handling the exhaust cams, facilitating solenoid-controlled continuously variable timing of both inlet and exhaust valves. The fuel-air intake chamber atop the slick-looking engine is valved in two, with the second chamber closed below 3,200 RPMs and opening above that. When closed, cutting off any crossover airflow for a broader torque curve, as if it were two 4-cylinder engines, Svensson explained, and when open, as a V8.
Jorgen Carlsson, project manager of the powertrain, showed a cutaway of the whole drivetrain. “Compared to our Turbo 6, the V8 is 25 kilos (55 pounds) heavier,†Carlsson said. “But the new six-speed gearbox is 10 kilos (22 pounds) lighter. Yamaha builds the engines in Japan and sends them to us in Sweden once or twice a week. We put the engine and all the accessories together with the transmission at our power pack plant, then we put the whole thing on the subframe, which has the driveshafts.Ââ€
Project launch manager John Neu was a little less conservative than the stoic Swedes, when he flatly stated: “This may be the best V8 powertrain on the market.Ââ€
The 315 horsepower peak at 5,850 RPMs, the 325 foot-pounds of torque peak at 3,900 RPMs, and there is an electronic ignition and fuel shutoff at the 6,500-RPM redline. The Haldex all-wheel-drive system has been altered, with an electronic Instant Traction system that apportions torque to all four wheels instantaneously when you stomp on the gas. Zero-to-60 acceleration is 6.9 seconds for the XC90, which weighs 4,610 pounds in seven-passenger set-up. Still, Volvo engineers are quicker to point out that the engine is the first V8 to meet the strict ULEV-II standards (ultra-low emission vehicle, stage 2) emission requirements.
As we drove back, I zeroed the vehicle computer while driving through the mountains and into Phoenix rush-hour traffic, and the XC90 V8 showed 20.4 miles per gallon, which would make me guess that 25 or so might be attainable on highway cruising. Except for V8 emblems front and rear, special wheels and dual exhaust tubes, the V8 isnÂ’t set off by any splashy graphics. Subtlety or not, U.S. drivers will be impressed at the fuel economy, and they might be impressed by the low emissions, and there is nothing subtle about the response the XC90 has with V8 power.
(John Gilbert writes weekly auto reviews. Contact him at cars@jwgilbert.com.)
Mercedes museum honors history of superb, swift cars
STUTTGART, GERMANY — Breezing along on the German autobahn, my codriver in the passenger seat said he thought the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class station wagon I was driving had a diesel engine. I didnÂ’t think so. This vehicle was an E-320, so I thought it might be the new Mercede direct-injection gasoline V6.
I’m a strong advocate for diesel technology advancing into the United States as soon as we can get our fuel cleaned up in October, and I know the best European diesel-powered cars betray none of the obnoxious traits – smelly, smoky, loud clattering sound, and an oily lack of power – of diesels as American drivers recall them. My codriver, Tony, is a good friend from Vancouver. No language problem, because we share a love of great cars and the game of hockey. As we continued our friendly discussion, neither too sure, I tried a few smooth passing moves to see if I could detect any hesitations, or any telltale puffs of smoke from the exhaust. There were none.
At one point, where the autobahn had no posted speed limit, I pulled into the left lane of the three lanes, passed a slower vehicle, and kept on a-going. The speedometer rose, reaching 180, 190, and 200. Of course, we were in Germany, so the carÂ’s speedometer was in kilometers, not miles. But still, 200 of them are quite a few. I kept easing onward, with nothing but clear roadway ahead. At 220 kilometers per hour, I asked Tony to take a picture of the speedometer, because I was too occupied to look at it.
At the equivalent of 142 miles per hour, the E-320 was smooth as silk, and had a lot more in reserve. We stopped at the small town of Wolnzach, north of Munich, to change vehicles. As we walked around behind the station wagon, Tony pointed out that the emblem on the rear end said “CDI.†Sure enough, it was a turbocharged V6 diesel.
Furthermore, it is the new “BLUETEC†diesel that will become prominent in the U.S. within the next year, as our diesel fuel gets cleaned up to reasonable standards. It has only 165 horsepower, but a whopping 388 foot-pounds of torque, occurring from 1,600-2,800 RPMs.
I was reluctant to get out of the “Estate†– Germany’s term for station wagon – but U.S. buyers are strangely reluctant to buy station wagons, so duty pressed me to drive some of the gathered sedans. That comes under the heading of “tough job, but somebody has to do it,†because the gathered sedans were all world-class standouts – the new E-Class sedan, plus the high-powered AMG version of the E, and, several super-sleek CLS sedans, including its incredible AMG high-performance model.
While external design changes are only subtle in the four-year mid-term refreshening of the seven-year E-Class cycle – confined mostly to the adaptive headlights, side mirrors and taillights – there are also a number of technical revisions in the 2007 E-550. One of the major upgrades is in design of the standard 5-liter V8, which goes from three valves with single overhead camshafts to four valves with dual overhead cams on the E-550. The new engine delivers 382 horsepower and 391 foot-pounds of torque, and is evidence why other drivers stay out of the left lane on the autobahns.
ItÂ’s hard to imagine anyone wanting or needing more power than that, but turn to the AMG model of the E-Class. The E63 AMG is the same sedan after thorough reworking by the in-house hot-rodders of AMG. The E63 number signifies a nearly 6.3-liter V8 that replaces the 5-liter, and boosts power to 507 horsepower and 465 foot-pounds of torque. It will run from 0-100 kilometers (about 62 miles per hour) in a mere 4.5 seconds, through a specially reinforced seven-speed automatic, which is manually shiftable.
Mercedes has put simpler tabs above the steering wheel arms on both sides to facilitate upshifts and downshifts, having thankfully done away with the toggle switch controls on the backside of the steering wheel. They always made me uneasy because you could upshift or downshift with either hand, and I always imagined that as you upshifted with your right hand while squeezing your left hand just a bit you could inadvertently downshift, simultaneously. With the new larger and more obvious paddles, you upshift with the right hand and downshift with the left. Easy. And fun.
The entire trip was special, because I had never driven the CLS before, so it was introduction time for that car, too. It is the sleekest sedan ever built by any company, and is referred to as the “four-door coupe†in Germany.
It seems to me, the ideal thing in the world of automotive journalists would be to mandate that all road tests be conducted on the German autobahns. Other than a race track – a long, long racetrack – or maybe a private, open expanse of highway in Montana or Nevada, there is no place to let such a prized vehicle as these Mercedes stallions run at full gallop. As far as I could judge from the brief driving experiences, both the E-Class and the CLS could drive right on back to Stuttgart and park themselves in the sparkling new Mercedes-Benz Museum.
Before we drOve any of the cars, we spent two fascinating days with the priceless and historic vehicles stored at the old museum at the Mercedes plant, and the cream of the crop, strategically placed throughout the magnificent new museum, scheduled to open May 19. From a sensory perspective, it was too much to digest in a mere four days. The museum is a priceless work of art as a facility alone, to say nothing of the 160 or 170 vehicles on display – the fruit of a prolific company that can claim to have built the world’s first automobiles, dating back to 1883.
The history is riveting. The old museum was in the middle of the Mercedes-Benz plant, not suitable for properly displaying the pride of 125 years of building some of the world’s greatest motorcars. So in 2000, Mercedes executives went forward with plans to build the new facility. In January of 2002, they hired an architectural firm from Holland to design it, and without question, there is no other building like it in the world. Construction started in March of 2003, with May 19, 2006 as a target for completion – just before Stuttgart plays host to World Cup soccer quarterfinals in a stunning new domed stadium, which is located adjacent to the museum.
Ben van Berkel, chief architect of the Dutch firm, designed a double helix – essentially an unending line that traces three continuous double circles that ultimately meet – with the three circles to mimic the three-pointed star of the Mercedes logo. The three-pointed star, incidentally, was conceived out of the company’s ambition to develop internal combustion engines to revolutionize travel on land, sea and air.
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The exterior of the building is a wonderfully blended structure of huge glass panes, with steel exterior and concrete interior pillars. The steel represents the structure of the vehicles, and the concrete pays tribute to the highways and bridges those vehicles have traveled. There is not a single wall in the structure that is straight – everything curves for a purpose, either horizontally or vertically, from the seven levels that start from the top. The museum consumes 16,500 square meters, rising adjacent to the autobahn that leads down around the circular path into the city of Stuttgart, located in the valley below. As you drive into the city, it appears you might drive right into the Museum itself.
The Guggenheim Museum has similar spiral design, but nothing else has the double helix layout that always offers visitors the opportunity to look outside at the city, the soccer stadium, and mostly the autobahn, passing below, or inside, down to the atrium.
Elevators take visitors to the top, then the two separate tours travel downward through seven separate legend rooms, and five different collection rooms, each defining different eras of advancement. Four mechanized hooks in the center ceiling can lift vehicles to the various levels, placed through openings that are then closed to the artfully sloped inner walls. Passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, motorsports vehicles, aircraft engines, safety developments – everything is there, with a complete library where each of the eras can be more thoroughly researched.
The attention to detail includes sounds. As visitors rise on the interior elevators, they hear different sounds of automotives, until, at the very top, they hear the clip-clop sound of horses hooves. Visitors can take one of two separate tours, starting with the earliest vehicles at the top, and leading down along displays and vehicles in a breathtaking trip through time. The structure is so stiff, there are no interior pillars. As you continue downward, you can look to the inside and see each upcoming display from a different perspective, and you can step off the walkway for close-up examination of any of those displays.
The plan was to create the feeling that the entire facility is one long and continuing room, with no doors. Van Berkel described the constant view of displays from the walkways as merging into an “almost kaleidoscopic†sensation. Explanations are offered via headphones in eight languages at every level, with videos, memorabilia, and attention to detail, with the two pathways ultimately meeting at the motorsports display, which covers 120 years of racing.
Even the name Mercedes-Benz is fascinating. The three key players were Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach. Daimler and Maybach collaborated out of a facility in Cannstatt, and built their first car as a motorized horse carriage, with three wheels. Benz started out in Mannheim, and went a different direction, patenting his first car in 1886. Daimler-Maybach became one company, while Benz competed with them from 60 miles away, and never got to know his rivals.
In 1893, Benz built the “Vis-a-vis†car, and in 1894, Daimler added a fourth wheel to his vehicle in 1889, solving a steering problem with the three-wheeler, and created the “Velo,†which sold through 1901. When Daimler motorized a boat, he claimed it was electrically powered, because he feared people would be apprehensive of the dangers of the explosions of internal combustion power.
In 1899, Daimler built the Phoenix race car, and Emil Jellinek dominated auto races. It was Jellinek who asked to have the name of his daughter, Mercedes, added to the company. It wasnÂ’t until after both companies converted to World War I production for German vehicles, when they faced the economic crisis of the depression, that they decided to merge in order to survive.
The rest, as they say, is history. The company also made vehicles for World War II, which is still a subject of massive guilt under Adolph HitlerÂ’s Nazi control. But the significance of technical improvement continued, as the company realized aircraft lost power at higher altitudes, and invented supercharging their engines, using compressed air intake to overcome the problem.
After the war, the company struggled to continue, but after the May 8, 1945, capitulation to the Allied forces, it stayed in business doing maintenance work on occupying force vehicles. It wasnÂ’t until the 1950s that Mercedes-Benz could afford to build motorcars again.
Officials say that the facility will not be used for selling cars, although a magnificent nearby structure houses the most modern of dealership displays, and anyone buying a car will get invited to visit the museum.
To qualify for entry, a vehicle must be out of production for 25 years. So as we cruised the autobahn in the new E-Class, and in the CLS 63 AMG monsters, we realized they wouldnÂ’t yet qualify for inclusion. But their time will come. They are simply the latest example of a company that installs its pride in technology, quality, luxury, and safety into every vehicle. That pride also makes the museum come alive, as todayÂ’s vehicles zip past, outside on the autobahn.
Grand Vitara, Aerio SX highlight Suzuki line for 2006
Suzuki has a fleet of vehicles for 2006 that might seem to be perfectly placed for a market that is suddenly economy-minded. ItÂ’s also a curious mix, in some ways, with the star of the array the new Grand Vitara, an enlarged and much more stylishly designed sport-utility vehicle that has pretty much every feature but is still priced under $25,000.
The new Grand Vitara is different from the longer and larger XL-7 SUV, although they share the same drivetrain, and both of them are large departures from the Suzuki car-fleet, which now consists of the Reno, Forenza, Verona, and Aerio. My favorites of the whole batch are the Grand Vitara and the Aerio.
Overall, the fleet shows a surprisingly large variety with differing personalities for a company that is best known for its motorcycles, and, in the Upper Midwest particularly, for outboard motors, all-terrain vehicles and snowmobile motors. Suzuki has something approaching regal status in the motorcycle world, where its street bikes, racing bikes and motocross off-roaders all reign up there with the technological leaders like Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki. So when Suzuki cars started showing up in the U.S., I was eagerly awaiting them.
The first examples were the Geo Metro minicars sold by Chevrolet dealers, and they were the butt of some rude humor by big-car fanciers, even though they were extremely economical – over 40 miles per gallon – and their tiny, three-cylinder engines revved up and performed surprisingly well. At the same time, Suzuki opened its own dealerships, selling the Sprint – which was their own version of the Metro, but with a racier version with a four-cylinder engine, and was sort of a mini-GTI blast to drive. Suzuki dealers also sold the Samurai, a fun, lightweight off-road buggy that was also sold as the Geo Tracker.
Suzuki suffered a setback when youthful owners – who could afford a Samurai if they could afford any vehicle, drove the frisky, lightweight SUVs as if they were sports cars instead of SUVs, and rolled them over with alarming frequency. Much like blaming a restaurant for serving coffee that is too hot, much of the publicity blamed Suzuki for the carelessness and – dare we say? – stupidity of some over-aggressive drivers.
At any rate, the Samurai was widened, lengthened and made more stable and more mainstream-friendly, and has led to the current bigger and much better SUVs.
All the time, Suzuki engine-building expertise was never questioned. While never building large engines for the power-crazed, Suzuki engines always have been technically advanced over-achievers for efficiency, while also boasting durability – all on a budget variety of vehicles.
In the last few years, the sudden rise of South Korean automakers such as Hyundai and Kia was not shared by their countrymen at Daewoo. Although stylishly designed by Italdesign Giugiaro of Italy, and fairly fun to drive, Daewoo was going down, and sold out to General Motors. If you can track the complexity of the business arrangement, Suzuki owns 0.27 percent of GM, GM holds 20.3 percent of Suzuki, and Suzuki owns 14.9 percent of Korean-based what is now GM-Daewoo.
The outgrowth of that alliance led to the General bringing to the U.S. a restyled Korean-built, Daewoo-based economy car as the new Chevrolet Aveo. Scrutinizing the list of new Suzukis reveals that the subcompact Reno, the compact Forenza, and the midsize Verona are all built for the U.S. market in GM-Daewoo plants in South Korea. The Reno, for example, is built in Kunsan, Korea, and its 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine is built in Australia.
Meanwhile, the Grand Vitara, and the XL-7, are built in SuzukiÂ’s own Iwata, Japan, plant, while the Aerio and the Aerio SX are built at SuzukiÂ’s Kosai, Japan, facility.
Now, IÂ’m not one to discriminate too much about where a car is built. If it feels good and runs strong, IÂ’ll be impressed. IÂ’ve driven the Reno, the Verona, and the Forenza, and they are nice vehicles for moderate price tags. But I keep going back in memory to riding some of the hottest Suzuki Superbikes a decade ago, revving to over 11,000 RPMs, and watching them in road-racing and motocross competition. If I were to buy a Suzuki motorcycle, I would want the engine to be built by Suzuki in Japan, thank you.
Maybe that enters my consciousness when I drive vehicles with the Suzuki plaque on the hood, but, as I said, my favorite Suzukis are the Grand Vitara and the Aerio.
The Grand Vitara has combined the assets of body-on-frame and unibody construction, with a unibody that has a built-in ladder-frame. It also has four-wheel independent suspension, with SuzukiÂ’s 2.7-liter V6, which has dual-overhead camshafts pumping 24 valves, delivering 185 horsepower at 6,000 RPMs and 184 foot-pounds of torque at 4,500 revs.
That makes the Grand Vitara quick, and after only a couple days of getting acclimated, the feeling that the car was too twitchy because of its lightness and light steering is transformed into quick-reacting agility.
Tying together all the features, I think the restyled Grand Vitara has a very impressive look to it, plunking it squarely into competition with the good-looking new crossover SUVs such as the Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage, and the Honda CRV and Toyota RAV-4 mainstays. A length of 176 inches and wheelbase of 103.9 makes it a foot shorter than the XL-7, on a wheelbase six inches shorter.
In base form, the Grand Vitara has two-wheel drive and a five-speed stick for $18,999, while the fully-loaded Luxury Package version I drove, with four-wheel drive and a five-speed automatic, had a sticker of $24,399. All models have standard electronic stability program, with traction control, antilock brakes, electronic brake-force distribution, and six airbags, counting side-curtain for front and rear passengers. The test vehicle added a five-speed automatic, four-mode four-wheel drive, a smartpass keyless entry and keyless start, heated leather seats, six-disc changer, remote audio controls on the tilt steering wheel, power windows and locks, heated outside mirrors, a power-tilt sunroof, and 17-inch alloy wheels.
Suzuki’s non-deductible, fully-transferable seven-year/100,000-mile warranty backs up the Grand Vitara, which shows EPA fuel-economy estimates of 19 city, 23 highway. A switch on the console lets you select 4WD low, 4WD high, 4WD standard mode, or N. Reading the manual, the “N†is to be selected only when towing the vehicle.
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The Aerio, on the other hand, looks a lot like many subcompacts in sedan form, but becomes very interesting in SX form, as a squareback five-door. Looking like a perky little wagon, the Aerio SX starts at a mere $15,199 in front-wheel-drive form, which puts it into the severe competition with Honda Civic, Mazda3 and Toyota Corolla models.
At 166.5 inches in overall length, over a 97.6-inch wheelbase, it is shorter in both dimensions than its adopted cousin Reno, but seems to be significantly larger because of its squarish shape and large interior. It comes loaded with the same big warranty and long standard-equipment list – 2.3-liter chain-driven dual-overhead-cam Suzuki engine, with 155 horsepower at 5,400 RPMs and 152 foot-pounds of torque at 3,000 RPMs, a five-speed stick shift, independent suspension, climate control, advanced airbag system, audio system with CD and MP3 and six speakers, 60/40 fold-down rear seats, alloy wheels, keyless entry, power windows and locks, foglights, and heated exterior mirrors.
The only options on the test vehicle were antilock brakes and a six-CD upgrade with a subwoofer. It was impressively fun to drive and handled well, and if you wanted to go to the option list, the availability of full-time four-wheel drive puts the Aerio one-up on its most serious competition.
The Reno, Forenza and Verona have given Suzuki a successful array of models, and without criticizing their heritage, I prefer my Suzuki to come with a Suzuki powerplant, and the Grand Vitara and Aerio SX more than live up to my expectations.
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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