SRT8 puts Grand Cherokee onto SUV fast track
When the venerable Jeep brand came under Chrysler Corporation, and then DaimlerChrysler, many skeptics thought it might be the demise of the popular off-roading icon. Instead, the brand has flourished and expanded to the point where 2007 promises to offer the widest variety of Jeep vehicles ever, with quality and diversity that Jeep lovers never could have anticipated.
Amid the crop of Wranglers, Grand Cherokees, and Commanders, Jeep is adding compact twins Compass and Patriot for 2007. But the Grand Cherokee by itself has gone beyond the recently upgraded and renovated family hauler with two extreme models. On one hand, you will be able to buy the Grand Cherokee with an optional Mercedes turbodiesel that should push it up among the leaders in SUV fuel economy. On the other, you can find the Grand Cherokee SRT8.
The SRT8 includes an enlarged, fire-breathing Hemi V8 massaged by Chrysler GroupÂ’s Street and Racing Technology team, and suspension, handling and styling tweaks. It is guaranteed to NOT be among the leaders in fuel economy. But hey, at least Jeep offers the high-mileage alternative of the world’s cleanest diesel, unlike some competitors who boast of high EPA estimates but rarely reach 15 miles per gallon.
In the dog days of a 100-degree 2006 summertime, letÂ’s deal with the SRT8, just for fun, because fun is what it’s all about, and the fun is measurable several ways — audible, spinal, sensual, and visual.
Visually, the SRT8 has flares and bulges and contours and side sills and spoiler edges exclusive to the model, and its meaningful front end says “Jeep†with its vertical-bar grille, but it says it with a shout that has never before been heard by the brand. Same with the rear, where two giant tailpipes stick out right in the middle of the rear bumper – right where a tow hitch might normally be. Don’t worry, a tow hitch can still be affixed, for those who want to tow things in a hurry, but we aren’t going to complain about the flashy appearance of the bright chrome twin pipes.
The test-vehicleÂ’s pearlescent silver-white paint, which fairly glowed, added to the visible impact by accentuating all the contours more subtly than some of the more dramatic colors IÂ’ve seen on it. If the looks contribute to the sensual impact of the Grand Cherokee SRT8, other elements run the sensual part of it right on up to overload.
The “spinal†measure is involved when you happen to be in one of the well-bolstered leather bucket seats, and you find out exactly how well-bolstered they are when you, or someone else, stomps on the gas and shoves your back hard against the backrest.
The “audible†portion adds to the overall sensual pleasure whenever someone stomps on the gas. ItÂ’s best, of course, when you do it yourself. Even then, it should be mandatory that you have the audio system — and the windows — cranked down. The sound of that big Hemi is that sweet, a blast of rumbling, low-throated thunder that smooths out as its pitch rises at just about the same rate as the speedometer needle climbs, although your perception is that your velocity will soon outdistance the sound.
Of course, others sharing the road with you will also be able to capture the audible part of the SRT8’s assets, because – trust me on this – you will have left them behind, where the business end of those chrome exhaust pipes will be blowing sweet music at them.
The looks are good, but the main sensual impact of the SRT8 is the vehicle’s response to the input of your right foot on the gas pedal. True, it also handles well, corners hard, stays flat and shows a curvy-road agility that can’t be anticipated, even by Jeep fans familiar with the rock-crawling mountain-goatness of the vehicleÂ’s Wrangler cousins. But the rate of “go” is still startling.
You already could get a Hemi in the Grand Cherokee, a 5.7-liter garden variety, if any Hemi can be so described. It converts the Grand Cherokee from a utilitarian vehicle into a potential hot rod, and obviously must have been what caught the fertile imagination of those white-smocked fellows who pretend to be working while having such fun as SRT engineers.
The SRT8Â’s Hemi is, instead, a 6.1-liter expansion of the 5.7, carefully crafted to push the performance envelope upward and outward, to 420 horsepower and 420 foot-pounds of torque. You have to be precise to extract maximum horsepower, because it peaks at 6,200 RPMs, which just happens to coincide with the redline limit of engine revs. The torqueÂ’s prodigious peak comes at 4,800 RPMs, so you can run the revs up swiftly, then try to keep the revs between 4,800 and 6,200 between shift points.
You will only do that a couple of times, of course, before you will be attracting plenty of attention, and unless you are on a dragstrip, a closed course, a German autobahn, or the Bonneville Salt Flats, you will run completely out of “legal†in a few seconds.
While your sports-car-powered friends have been spending a ton to try to find cars that will go 0-60 in less than 6 seconds, the SRT8 will go 0-60 in 4.5 seconds. It has been tested over quarter-mile runs at 104 miles per hour, in a mere 13.2, which is modified Super Stock drag-racing territory. The Grand Cherokee SRT8 needs more than a quarter-mile to show all its stuff, though, because it also will hit a top speed of 155 mph. Large disc brakes at all four corners will promptly haul you back down to zero, without a parachute.
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The Grand Cherokee itself was vastly improved a year ago, transformed into the tightest, best-looking and best-built Grand Cherokee ever. Loading up the Grand Cherokee with options can put it up there in price with other mid-size SUVs, but those other SUVs are nowhere near as special as the SRT8. It starts at $39,995 – or, “under $40,000†as the marketing folks like to say. If you dip liberally into the option bin, you can find enough interesting additions to get the sticker up to $45,000 or so, but no matter how much you want to spend for it, you’re still getting a genuinely unique member of the SUV cult.
The metamorphosis of a Jeep model into such racy territory is intriguing, because Jeeps were hauling troops across impassable terrain in World War II and Korea before kids in the U.S. started souping up cars to racing trim. The SRT8 shows that Jeep has not only kept track of where the automotive trends have brought us, it has decided to join the fun.
All that power is controlled by a beefed-up 5-speed automatic, with Autostick, which lets you switch into a manual gate and click right to upshift, left to downshift. Being a Jeep, the SRT8Â’s main concession to Jeepdom to make sure all four wheels get to join in. Jeep has several 4-wheel-drive systems, with the test vehicle having the Quadra-Trac Active on-demand system. A clutch in the center differential alters the split of torque, varying how much power is sent to the front when you attempt a burnout with the rears.
The high-performance suspension, plus stability bars fore and aft, are complemented by ESP – the Electronic Stability Program – and quicker-tuned steering improves the SRT8 Cherokee’s swervability, and 4-wheel traction control further keeps it on the ground. Standard 20-inch, chrome plated 5-point alloy wheels further improve stability. Goodyear Eagle RS-A EMT tires – 255/45R on 9-inch wide wheels in front and 285/40R on 10-inch width rears – also grip the corners well enough to make the SRT8 feel far more agile than its 4,794 pounds would indicate.
The Cherokee SRT8 is firm enough to let road irregularities be transmitted to your steering feel, which is altogether fitting and proper for a vehicle that intends to focus on performance. Towing capacity is still 3,500 pounds, and you still have room to haul the neighbor’s daughter, with her dogs in the rear. Folding the second seats down, you can slide large sheets of plywood into the rear. It is safe to say that no other piece of plywood ever had as much fun being hauled home from MenardÂ’s. Or made it there as swiftly.
Honda Civic, Ridgeline sweep car, truck honors
DETROIT, MICH.—The thoroughly redesigned Honda Civic won Car of the Year and the innovative new Honda Ridgeline pickup won Truck of the Year Sunday, as Honda became the first auto manufacturer to sweep both car and truck awards in the 16-year history of the awards, which are presented annually at the North American International Auto Show.
The Civic outpointed Ford’s Fusion sedan in a close battle for the top new car available in North America, as judged by a jury of 49 automotive journalists. The Civic, which comes in three different models – the usual sedan, an upgraded Hybrid model, and a sporty Si coupe – and accumulated 214 points on the system of total voting points, with the Ford Fusion a close second with 204. The Pontiac Solstice was a distant third at 134.
In truck competition, the Nissan Xterra and Ford Explorer joined the Ridgeline as finalists, but the Ridgeline, riding a stream of innovations that includes a trunk under the all-composite bed, and a full four-door interior, with revised V6 power running front-wheel drive that switches to all-wheel drive whenever more balanced power is required, made it no contest. Ridgeline accumulated 296 points from the same 49 journalists, with Xterra nosing out Explorer 120 to 119 in the battle for second.
The awards are a highlight of the opening day of the two-week show, which begins with three media days of previews and introductions of new vehicles, ranging from concept cars to new productions cars.
While various manufacturers jumped at the opportunity to introduce new vehicles on the first press day, the star of the day might have been the Dodge Challenger, which has a stylish silhouette, an aggressive grille, and diffused neon taillights to set off a chopped-off rear. The car is named after the Dodge sporty coupe that raced in the Trans-Am series against Mustang, Camaro, Barracuda, Firebird and Javelin back in the heyday of U.S. ponycar factory competition. To begin with, the new Challenger will house a 6.1-liter, 425-horsepower Hemi V8, and a six-speed manual transmission.
Among the top attractions of the introductions were, in chronological order, the Ford Edge crossover utility vehicle, the Mustang-based Shelby GT500, both intended for production as 2007 models, and a pair of impressive concept vehicles – the Ford Reflex sporty coupe with a diesel hybrid powerplant, and a Ford F250-based Super Chief, a massive, supercharged V10-powered truck styled with a retro-locomotive motif.
Lexus introduced the 2007 LS460, the newest upgrade of its top luxury model, which now will have a 380-horsepower 4.6-liter V8 and a hybrid version coming.
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Infiniti unveiled a new coupe concept that looked like a production vehicle that could be the new G35 coupe, as well as a resurfaced crossover SUV, and Buick introduced the Enclave SUV, escorted on stage by five women in flowing, filmy gowns, as General Motors returned to the days of a decade past, with liberal use of female models that only Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati seem to employ nowadays. The cars looked good, too.
Chrysler, generally the most clever of companies when it comes to auto show introductions, didn’t disappoint. The same platform was used to build two distinctly different new cars with familiar names from the recent past – an all-new Chrysler Imperial, a massive luxury sedan with an innovative interior, and a Dodge Challenger, a poorly kept “secret†that has appeared on at least three national magazines in the last couple of weeks – a dazzling throwback that strongly resembles the ponycar competitor for the Mustang from the late 1960s and early ‘70s.
Mercedes introduced its new G-Class, a crossover SUV that bears faint resemblance to the DaimlerChrysler Pacifica, as well as unveiling technology for Bluetec, its new clean Diesel engines.
Honda introduced its new Fit, a $13,000 subcompact that fits in under the Civic for 2007 and is aimed at selling 33,000 this calendar year. It is a sporty but flexible small wagon, similar to new small vehicles such as have already been introduced by Mazda, Toyota and Nissan. Mazda also showed a new concept sports coupe that seems likely to become reality.
And Mazda unveiled the CX-7, another new crossover SUV which springs to life from last year’s concept vehicle. It will have Sport, Touring and Grand Touring models, with 244-horsepower turbo four-cylinder power, and pricing that starts at $23,750.
German roadways can outshine Frankfurt Auto Show
FRANKFURT, GERMANY — The biggest news coming out of the Frankfurt Auto Show centered around a flock of new vehicles being introduced to the world, including the Porsche Cayman, the BMW Z4 Coupe, the Volkswagen Golf, the Mercedes S Class, the VW Eos with its hideaway hardtop, the Volkswagen Passat, and the Mini Cooper Traveller.
Fitting, it seemed, because all those cars have German heritage, and all are German except for the British Mini, which is now owned by Germany’s BMW. While the Germans were the stars of their own parade, a number of other vehicles made debuts – including the Volvo C70, a flashy new Peugeot from France, Toyota’s new RAV-4, and a U.S. foursome of the Jeep Compass and Patriot, and the Dodge Nitro and Caliber. There was even a Cadillac built for Europe, that looked like a classy upgrade on a top model from GM affiliate Opel.
What a way to kick off the yearÂ’s first auto show, which alternates in that role with the Paris showÂ’s display on even-numbered years. Along with everybodyÂ’s newest vehicles, there was a clearcut trend.
European companies, which have scorned hybrid (gas-electric) cars because their own dependence on small turbo-diesel engines allows tremendous fuel economy and great durability, are now taking a sudden and catch-up stance. BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche are all looking at joint ventures to hurry out with some form of gas-electric powerplants. Diesels keep improving, and about 50 percent of all vehicles on German roads are diesels, but particulate emissions require improved technology for them to stay at the head of the class. And hybrids are a worthy, and perhaps superior, alternative to alternative-energy.
On two previous occasions, IÂ’d attended media days at the Frankfurt Auto Show, and while the show is instantly recognizable for its enormity, I learned just how enormous it is this past week, when I attended the regular, post-media-days show and hand-fought tens of thousands of German civilians eager to see what the automotive world has to offer in the coming year.
This time I went along with Charlie Boone, the WCCO AM830 radio legend, on whose Saturday morning radio show I do a 7 a.m. segment discussing new cars. Through the miracle workings of Holiday Travel in Eau Claire, Charlie and I were hosts of a tour of Germany that included a couple of days at the Frankfurt show, which is encased in 12 halls of 10 buildings, in an automotive extravaganza that is so immense it is only conducted in odd-numbered years.
Media days can be exhausting, with a new-car introduction going on somewhere, every half hour, for two days, while the worldÂ’s auto writers scramble as if on a treasure hunt from display area to display area. But those press days are virtually a walk in the automotive park, compared to the task our group of 26 friendly and compatible folks found in facing the multitudes that clamored for a closer look at every vehicle on every stand.
The Porsche Cayman is the long-awaited coupe version of the Boxster roadster, and while the name doesn’t do anything for me, the carÂ’s looks stopped me in my tracks. The latest version of the Boxster S is close to the heralded 911 Carrera in appearance, and in fun-to-drive character, and I think the Cayman looks like a pleasing exercise on a previous Porsche model, maybe a 959, with its lines gracefully falling toward the rear, and its slightly hunched up rear fender lines.
Over at the BMW stand, meanwhile, the Z4, which duels the Boxster roadster for under-$50,000 sports car bragging rights, also gains a sloping roofline, and I must say the lid looks just as good gracing the Z4 as it does on the Boxster, and the Z4 Coupe is every bit as stunning as the roadster. Germans, it turns out, don’t go for sunroofs as much as American drivers do; it’s either a convertible or a sedan/coupe hardtop. But the latest compromise is there, too.
Volkswagen, which later in the week revealed that Porsche is about to become the largest stockholder in VW by acquiring a 20-percent share of VW ownership, unveiled its 2006 Golf. Golfs are seen everywhere on German roadways, and the new one was not a big surprise, because it really resembles a two-door hatchback version of the recently introduced 2006 Jetta. Volkswagen adds the new GTI upgrade, and the RS32 higher-upgrade models, and captured maximum attention by putting the Eos model on a pedestal to display how its hardtop retracts into the upper edge of the trunk to turn into a flashy convertible.
The Mini Traveller is going to be an interesting vehicle whenever it vaults from concept car to reality. When Mini unveiled the Mini Cooper convertible in Minneapolis a year ago, several Mini people and a few journalists were sitting around a table talking about the future, and the difficulty a company that has so successfully brought out a retro car like the Mini might face to follow it up. When asked what we thought might be a suggested new Mini, the only thing I could think of was an extended-back wagon model of the Mini. Years ago, there was a Mini of that style that sold moderately well. Unknown to me, the Traveller, which must have already been finished in its design phase back then, as precisely the vehicle I had in mind.
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Peugeot is the French company that had vastly improved its styling, poer and dependability just about the time it stopped bringing its cars into the U.S. Shortly thereafter, Peugeot had considerable success in Formula 1 racing, and started building a fleet of the best-looking production cars. From its little Golf-like hatchback, to a series of longer coupes, sedans and wagons, if you line up the neatest of each level, Peugeot might have the most stylish gathering of models of any of the worldÂ’s manufacturers. And we canÂ’t get them in the U.S.
What we can get are Volvos, and the Swedish purveyor of all vehicles safe, comfortable and secure has expanded on its compact S40 line, with an all new C70. What it is, is an S40 sedan in two-door form, with a solid and secure looking hardtop that hides away under a rear-folding lid to make it the newest in a long line of superbly styled Volvo convertibles. This one is a particular winner, because even if the safety and heating system place it among cars that donÂ’t flinch in MinnesotaÂ’s all-weather climate, the hardtop, up and sealed, makes it a fool-proof all-season coupe.
Frankfurt seemed an odd place for Chrysler Group to unveil its new Jeeps and Dodges, because Detroit is just three months away, but the squarish Patriot and stylishly swoopy Jeep Compass were unveiled at the show. Same with the Dodge Nitro, a squarish but compact SUV, and the sleek Caliber, which may help Dodge make a breakthrough in Europe. The plan is to give Dodge more of a presence in Europe, where even its showcase sports car, the Viper, has been known as a Chrysler Viper instead of a Dodge Viper.
Without a closer look, or a test-drive, a fool might suggest that all four of those vehicles — the Patriot, Compass, Nitro and Caliber – might share the same underpinnings. But it was difficult to tell from behind a railing. The Caliber, incidentally, will replace the Neon, which gets phased out as the model year changes.
While the Frankfurt Auto Show is the most impressive in the world, perhaps the most satisfying “car show†in Germany is out on the streets and highways. Cruise through a city, such as Frankfurt, or Munich, or pay attention as you sail down an autobahn. From our vantage point in a coach bus, everywhere you look, the cars zipping past at something over 120 miles per hour, or sidling up to a parking space on a cobblestone street, created a car show of their own.
Among the most eye-catching, to me, was the Audi A3, which we get for the first time in the U.S. as a four-door (five-door, if you count the hatchback), whereas the car is available as a neatly styled two-door (all right, three-door) as well. Between the two of them, they seemed to be everywhere.
Gasoline is expensive, costing enough per liter to approximate $7 per gallon of regular unleaded, and about $4 per gallon of diesel fuel. So cars are built to last, and to be durable and economical – as well as to run fast. You could get a glimpse of the newest ones at the Frankfurt Auto Show, and a longer look at some of them in action as the fly up the left lane on the autobahns.
Range Rover’s Sport model scales new heights
MOAB, UTAH — A couple of the most attractive and intriguing places to visit in North America are Aspen, Colo., and southern UtahÂ’s Moab Desert. They are a world apart in location and purpose, but until I was invited to attend the Range Rover Sport introduction, I never realized you could drive directly from one to the other.
As a bonus, you may experience all four seasons of weather on the way, as well as some interesting and challenging highways. Breathtaking scenery is a given. ItÂ’s difficult to imagine a more impressive conveyance for experiencing that journey than from the driverÂ’s seat of a 2006 Range Rover Sport.
Land Rover, the British company now owned by Ford, continues to build the world standard of sophisticated off-road vehicles. The unequivocal gold standard of sport-utility vehicles is Land RoverÂ’s Range Rover, a $75,000 gem that got caught up in the turmoil surrounding British car-makers a decade ago. BMW bought Jaguar, Land Rover, and Mini Cooper, and after thoroughly revising the Range Rover with a rigid German platform and BMWÂ’s 4.4-liter V8, it decided to sell Jaguar and Land Rover to Ford. So the first Range Rover introduced under Ford ownership was the brilliantly improved, BMW-powered Range Rover with its distinctive flat front and outstanding interior accouterments.
That model continued Range Rover’s ability to appear in driveways of distinguished folks who wanted the world to know that they had purchased – and could afford – the ultimate SUV.
Smaller Land Rover vehicles appeared, including the Discovery and the Freelander, and last year, Land Rover came out with the new LR-3, a new and dazzling replacement for the Discovery, at a comparatively modest $50,000. It is a sensational vehicle, longer than the Range Rover and including a third-row seat, adopting the best attributes of the costlier Range Rover, and adding a couple of significant improvements – a stiffer chassis, and a switch to the newest Jaguar V8. So the LR-3, with more family-hauling capability, fits well between the $30,000 Freelander and the $75,000 Range Rover.
At first glance, I thought the new Range Rover Sport was a special version of the Range Rover, because its looks are strikingly similar. Closer scrutiny reveals a sloping roofline and a steeply angled rear, and some appearance tweaks to the grille. After sitting through the very impressive descriptions of the Range Rover Sport, I fully expected it to be more expensive than the top Range Rover. So I was quite surprised when the price was announced. The HSE version of the Range Rover Sport lists at $56,750, and the Supercharged Sport lists at $69,750.
“The Range Rover Sport puts us in a new segment,†said brand manager Finbar McFall. “It is for people who havenÂ’t considered Range Rover in the past. It complements the Range Rover, and adds a dynamic element. We want the Range Rover to be the ultimate luxury SUV, and the Sport shares some assets, such as command driving, design, and the breadth of its capabilities. But it is much more performance-focused, driving-focused, sort of like a sports-touring SUV.Ââ€
The alterations in style may be subtle, but they are significant, with more rounded edges than geometric, with the moldings more flush-fit, a steeper angle to the windshield, wraparound headlights, and a little spoiler in front of the front tires. Inside, there is more of a sporty cockpit feel, with firmer and better-bolstered bucket seats. The chassis tuning is outstanding, and the new engines make the Range Rover Sport feel much lighter and more agile than its 5,660 pounds implies.
LetÂ’s back up here a bit. It sounds like a stretch to suggest that you can improve on a BMW engine, and that remains open to debate, but under Ford guidance, the new Jaguar V8 is lighter and more powerful than the BMW V8 of similar size. That, plus the realization that BMW would need to supply its own growing demand for V8s before it could fill Land RoverÂ’s needs, prompted the switch to its new cousin, Jaguar.
The naturally-aspirated 4.4-liter Jaguar V8 has been reinforced, with oiling capabilities designed for a vehicle that might be at an extreme side angle in rocky terrain, compared to road or track angles for Jaguar’s finest sedans and sports cars. In the Range Rover Sport HSE, it delivers 300 horsepower and 315 foot-pounds of torque – compared to the 282 horsepower from the BMW 4.4-liter V8, with its 325 foot-pounds.
If you need still more power from under the hood, the engine is reduced from 4.4 to 4.2 liters, then supercharged, to generate a whopping 410 horsepower and 390 foot-pounds of torque – both about 30 percent increases over the normally-aspirated version. That’s enough force to hurl the Range Rover Sport from 0-60 in a sports-car-like 7.2 seconds.
The ZF steering gear – pronounced “Zed-F†by the folks who also give us “aluminium†in spelling and pronunciation – is speed proportional, from 19.4-to-1 to 12.4-to-1, depending on whether you’re parking or in congestion, as opposed to tossing the Sport around corners at higher speed.
The specific tires and suspension were tuned for high speed at Nurburgring in Germany, and the work was done well. We had one passing situation where, coming out of the mountains, I had to get my Supercharged Sport around a slow-moving sight-seer as well as a fellow-journalist who had become a nuisance. When a long open stretch appeared, and the center line switched from solid to dotted, I hammered the gas and passed them both. As I smoothly pulled back into my lane, my codriver asked: “Did you hit 100?†I immediately said, “No,†and then glanced at the speedometer. It showed 115 miles per hour. I was startled, because the smoothness and poise of the Sport would have led me to estimate, maybe, 85.
The Supercharged Sport is electronically limited to 140, by the way. Four-wheel Brembo disc brakes, adaptive headlights with tunnel-detection ability, adaptive cruise control with radar-scanning 10 times per second to maintain the interval with the car ahead, and the four-wheel air-suspension all help the smooth precision the vehicle displays on highways. It also helps in a driving rain storm we encountered as we left Aspen heading west, on gravel roads in the high country, and on some snow-lined highways where we witnessed flurries, as well as on smooth highways.
But going off the road is where any Range Rover shows its most impressive side. Some great obscure roads as we got into Utah were enjoyable, and after a night at Sorrel Ranch, watching the sun set amid the red rocks, as the Colorado River rushed past and an eagle swooped overhead, we were ready to take on Moab.
The Moab Desert is a place Land Rover discovered years ago as the most remarkable off-road terrain this side of Neptune. Other companies have flocked to it in recent years, and tourism has replaced the quest for uranium that once made the area an attraction. Some of the rock formations are such that you wouldnÂ’t consider climbing them on foot, and others seem better suited for sightseeing than trying to traverse.
No matter. With outstanding guide-work from our Range Rover experts, we formed a long chain of multi-colored Sports that simply climbed the seemingly impossible boulders and mountain passes, never losing their agility or sure-footedness, which made us supremely confident as drivers.
For that, the Sport is equipped with a new platform. Taking the stiffer LR-3 chassis, shortening it, then adding the sophisticated suspension bits, plus over-the-top electronics are combined for of-road supremacy. The terrain response switch, introduced on the LR-3, is added to the usual great performance to allow drivers to select what they’re about to face. Freeways, rough roads, hilly terrain, rock climbing, sand, snow – every possible element can be dialed in. That lets the vehicle automatically raise or lower itself for needed ground clearance, engage the hill-descent control, or lock the two axles for harmonious all-spin-together churning.
To me, the hill-descent control is the most amazing, although I didn’t mention it, because Al, my co-driver, raved about it so much I realized it was his personal security blanket. With that engaged, you might be going down a 45-degree cliff face, and all you do is take your feet off the gas and the brake, and steer. That takes a heart-in-the-throat leap of faith. The tremendous power is harnessed, and the Sport picks its rock-crawling speed so that the wheels keep turning and it picks its way down. Without it, you would trust riding the brakes, but aside from wearing out the brakes quickly, locking the brakes in off-road terrain can cause the vehicle to skid. Rolling – slowly – is the way to do it, and trust the Range Rover to pick the proper speed.
I annoyed some Land Rover folks by wondering why anyone would pay the extra money for the Range Rover folks when the longer and more flexible LR-3 is available, and now the Range Rover Sport – for less money – is also available. They put up with me until I realized that the LR-3 is the perfect family hauler, and the costliest Range Rover is there as the prestigious personal-luxury pinnacle, for folks who don’t care about high speed, or sportier agility, or startling bursts of acceleration.
For them, there is now the Range Rover Sport, and its Supercharged twin.
(John Gilbert writes weekly auto reviews, and can be reached at cars@jwgilbert.com.)
LaCrosse gives GM a better Buick for broader future
When Buick introduced its new LaCrosse sedan at last yearÂ’s auto shows, the general media response was somewhere between a yawn and polite applause, before turning attention to the new Corvette, Cadillac, Chrysler, Mustang, and other hotter stuff hitting the streets for 2005.
The LaCrosse deserved better. It may not be the flashiest, fastest, or most provocative new car, but it also may be the best Buick ever built, and a car that can bring harmony to the aging generation of traditional Buick buyers and a whole new, more technically-aware younger segment.
When General Motors took the stage at the Chicago Auto Show media days this past week, the first big announcement was accompanied by a neat little ensemble of three violins and a cello, performing while the 2006 Cadillac DTS, which will replace the Deville, rolled through the curtains. Then the 2006 Buick Lucerne rolled out. As usual, Buick supported Cadillac as unobtrusively as the prerecorded drum rhythm supporting the strings. But nobody at Buick is complaining, because BuickÂ’s drums are still alive and beating.
There were other parallels at the Chicago Auto Show, which runs the next week and was typically fun even if it did not have a lot of impact introductions — the same criticism at Los Angeles and even Detroit this year. It did have a large-scale, after-hours media gathering, at which I found an older fellow on one side of me and a younger fellow on the other, with all three of us enjoying the music of a group called “Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.†It seems rare, these days, to find any musical group that can cross generations so well, and thatÂ’s where we come back to the Buick LaCrosse.
With the demise of Oldsmobile, which was clearly the lead technology singer in GM’s band, there may have been some sweaty palms at Buick, which kept loyally playing background rhythm. Buick’s array of vehicles included the Park Avenue Ultra, the Park Avenue, the LeSabre, Century and Regal – five sedans, which, when viewed from the front at 20 paces, all looked virtually identical.
The legend circulating from GM is that when Bob Lutz picked up the baton, he threw the sheet music back at Buick’s new-car designers and demanded a new song. The LaCrosse is the result, representing a new tone for Buick. Consider that by the time the current concert ends, Buick will have two cars – LaCrosse and Lucerne – replacing the whole previous band, along with trucks like the Rendezvous, Ranier and Terraza, which are such well-done versions of Chevy trucks that it’s almost like finding an Elvis impersonator who can really sing.
WeÂ’ll have to wait and see how the Lucerne is, just as weÂ’ll watch how Buick phases out the Park Avenue and LeSabre names. No question the Lucerne will be the upscale Buick, with a version of the Cadillac Northstar V8, but the LeSabre name has been the key to BuickÂ’s sustained success as the largest selling full-size sedan aspired to by several generations of people who became Buick loyalists. The increasing age of that group might be a reason why Buick would toss away such a trusty name and replace it in the lexicon with the name of a nice city in Switzerland.
Meanwhile, the LaCrosse is well on its way to establishing a nice little town in Wisconsin as a mainstay in BuickÂ’s new world, which has become computer-modern, but still can be best reached with the security of front-wheel drive.
Maybe itÂ’s not breakthrough styling, but the familiar oval grille on the Lacrosse is flanked by four separate headlights, mounted in their own contoured housings not unlike Jaguar. The available high-tech 3.6-liter V6 is a willing performer, although it is confined within BuickÂ’s QuietTuning interior. Such modern touches as remote starting, where you can use the key fob to start the car on frigid mornings, and the security of OnStar communication, and Ultrasonic beepers to aid parking and backing up.
While some have criticized the interior LaCrosse layout as dull and uninspired, I find it to be the best interior I’ve ever seen on a Buick. In fact, it’s classy in an Audi sort of way, with three round gauges outlined by brushed metal rings, as you view the readily-read analog figures through the upper half of the remote-festooned steering wheel. The center stack is also simple, and thankfully understated, with an audio system that can – believe it or not – be activated by pushing a round button, which also can be turned for more volume, if you’re remote-challenged.
The rest of the dash is covered with the obligatory plastic wood stuff, but its sort of muted into a pleasingly dull pattern that is light-years more acceptable than the high-gloss plasticky stuff that used to pass as wood. The center stack is outlined with a flat, matte-black material that I also found appealing, as it leads down to the console, which has more of the woody stuff as it encircles the automatic shift lever.
Such a layout might be criticized by some, but I donÂ’t need to be entertained by zigzagging lines, bright plastic faux metal, and swoopy ideas that pass as contemporary or artsy but can get tiresome. To me the interior should be subdued and classy, rather than distracting, and the LaCrosse works. I can only offer condolences to anyone disappointed that a Buick sedan might have an interior that DOESNÂ’T try to be an art-deco take on a 1956 Roadmaster.
The seats of the LaCrosse also are comfortable, but in a firm way. For many years, Buick led the charge of U.S. automobiles who tried to make car interiors soft as riding on a cloud, as if making the driverÂ’s seat as comfy as an overstuffed sofa was the way to go. A lot of the worldÂ’s other manufacturers apparently realized that some folks who sit on overstuffed sofas are better tuned to dozing off than confronting a long trip or a highway emergency. The LaCrosse indicates that Buick has caught on. The seats are firmly supportive, but not at all uncomfortable.
The LaCrosse handles in a contemporary fashion, too. ItÂ’s not going to win your local autocross, but it will ease through a chicane without wallowing enough to scrape the door handles on the pavement. Traction control and GMÂ’s StabiliTrak help there, as does the sport-tuned version of the four-wheel independent suspension, and 17-inch alloy wheels. Such upgrades come on the CXS model, which also has Magnasteer variable-effort rack-and-pinion steering, and four-wheel disc brakes with antilock.
If a small-town Wisconsin name can replace regal-sounding names weÂ’ve known for centuries, we also must learn a new alphabet: The CXS is the top model, with the CXL in the middle, and the CX at the base of the LaCrosse line. I suppose thatÂ’s better than naming the different models after cheeses.
The best news about the LaCrosse is under the hood. Buicks have been powered forever by pushrod V6 engines, upgraded and enhanced and even supercharged as GM sought to extract every ounce of power, reliability – and profit – out of aging pushrod designed engines. It’s true that refining the same basic engine for over 40 years can improve smoothness and durability, and the 3800 Series III V6 represents the latest in that technology. That engine is the base engine in the LaCrosse.
The newest 3800 now has 200 horsepower and 225 foot-pounds of torque, and for those long-time loyalists, that might be the properly adequate engine. GM has argued annually that its market research shows that its owners have never asked for high-tech engines, and even while the world according to Ford, Honda, Toyota, BMW, Audi, Lexus, Acura, Mercedes, Volvo, Infiniti and Chrysler has gone high-tech, GM loyalists buy whatever GM puts under the hood.
But the LaCrosse is new, so turn the page quickly to the option list, and you’ll find the 3.6-liter V6 – yes, SMALLER in displacement compared to the base 3.8-liter engine – is available. It’s the Cadillac-developed “high feature†V6, with all the goodies that have made the hottest imports prized possessions in recent years. The fact that the LaCrosse is the only non-Cadillac to get the opportunity to use the Cadillac V6 ahead of all the Chevrolet and Pontiac sedans tells you how important the LaCrosse, and Buick, are to GM. In fact, the 3800 is the base engine for the Lucerne, too, with the DOHC Northstar V8 as the high-tech option. So even the costlier Lucerne won’t get the LaCrosse’s 3.6, which, along with front-wheel drive, will be reason enough to choose the LaCrosse.
The 3.6 has dual-overhead camshafts instead of pushrods running its valvetrain, so it also has four valves per cylinder for more efficient airflow than the two-valve 3800. The 3.6 also has variable valve timing to computer-tune the valves for better air-fuel flow and more flexible performance.
While its potential is much higher, the current 3.6 has a zippy 240 horsepower – 40 more than the larger base engine. Critics, as well as pushrod loyalists, will point out that the high-tech engine has only about the same torque as the old engine, but the 3800 engine’s 230 torque-peak is at 4,000 RPMs, while the new engine reaches 225 peak foot-pounds of torque at a mere 2,000 RPMs, and holds most of it up into the power curve, where the horsepower peaks at 6,000 revs. That gives you low-end thrust from the torque and high-revving power from all those horses, and a smooth midrange transition.
Besides, among the standard features is an audio system that can play XM Satellite radio as well as AM, FM, compact discs, and whatever else you can plug in, through a 240-watt Concert Sound III system with nine speakers. So if you choose the CXS with the high-tech 3.6 V6, you at least get as many horsepower as watts of mind-blowing sound. ItÂ’s bad form to have more audio watts than horsepower, whether your preferences run to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, or Lawrence WelkÂ’s Greatest Hits. But regardless, please hold the prerecorded drum rhythm.
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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