Chevy, Ford icons duel at Detroit Auto Show
DETROIT, MI. — Amid all the spectacle and ceremony of new-car introductions at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, it was fascinating to observe a little bit of ancillary dueling between those two lovable giants, Chevrolet and Ford. Both have declared that they are going after the recapturing of domestic car market share with the same zeal theyÂ’ve been devoting to trucks in recent years.
That remains to be seen, because trucks remain such an enormously profitable part of the domestic scene, but it might indicate that Chevy and Ford have come so close to exhausting their ideas for filling every truck niche that they are turning now to the car market they had almost seemed to grant to Asian and European competitors.
At any rate, both Chevy and Ford are turning back to their oldest and most familiar icons to spearhead their refocused objective of cars – Chevy with an all-new, sixth-generation Corvette, and Ford with the previously introduced Mustang. Ford is going so far as to declare 2004 the “Year of the Car.Ââ€
There were dozens of flashy new introductions at the three-day barrage of media days preceding the North American International Auto Show at DetroitÂ’s Cobo Hall. Toyota, which passed Chevrolet to become the largest-selling car nameplate in the U.S. for 2003, captured the North American Car of the Year award with the innovative Prius, its hybrid gasoline-electric sedan now midsized for 2004. Ford won Truck of the Year with the latest generation F150 pickup.
Then the fun began.
During the next couple of days, Honda introduced a new SUT – sport-utility truck – and admitted that after years of saying Honda would never build a truck, here it was, a Honda truck. It is a full four-door crew-cab type vehicle, with a pickup box at the rear. Very impressive. Honda also showed off a sleek sports car that will be the next Acura NSX, and can be powered by hybrid gas-electric motors.
Toyota – which now has overtaken Chevrolet as the leading car-marquee in sales in the U.S. – introduced several concept vehicles, with the most prominent the FTX, a slick, full-size pickup truck with four doors, and the capability of having hybrid power. Mitsubishi and Subaru joined Toyota and Honda in showing off hybrid vehicles and stressing concern and reaction to environmental issues.
So while Chevy and Ford had declared their aim at cars, Honda and Toyota made big news with trucks.
While Chevrolet and Ford were unveiling newest versions of their old icons, ChryslerÂ’s branch of DaimlerChrysler maintained its tradition of dazzling the assembled media with some fanciful concepts for the future. After showing the new and yet-to-be-released Chrysler 300 sedan and Dodge Magnum wagon, both large, rear-wheel-drivers, as well as a new Dodge Slingshot sports car, a convertible version of the just-introduced Chrysler Crossfire, and new Jeep Rescue and Treo vehicles, Chrysler rolled out a spectacular new sports car concept.
It was called the ME Four-Twelve, and it was a solid candidate as the most sensational new car at the show – duplicating the splash the corporation made a year ago with the bizarre Tomahawk, a V10 motorcycle-like concept vehicle.
A Mercedes-developed 6.0-liter V12, and four turbochargers turn out 850 horsepower and 850 foot-pounds of torque, to push the ME Four-Twelve from 0-60 in 2.9 seconds, 0-100 in 6.2 seconds, and through the standing-start quarter-mile in 10.6 seconds, hitting 142 miles per hour. Top speed is estimated at 248 miles per hour. An elaborate Ricardo double-clutch 7-speed automatic transmission shifts at 200-millisecond intervals to assure what Chrysler gingerly refers to as “uninterrupted torque†to the rear wheels.
That sounds far too outrageous to be true, but Chrysler executives stressed that the car was a prototype, and not a concept car, which means that this is the first of what will be production, whereas a concept car might just be for show. General Motors and Ford held brief displays during the day Sunday, but you could tell they were keeping some secrets.
The most delectable drama was still to come, on Sunday night. Ford had hinted at the introduction of something sporty, and rumor had it that Carroll Shelby would be returning to FordÂ’s fold. So the logical assumption was that Ford, in a 7:30 p.m. Sunday night dinner ceremony at the Cobo Hall Auditorium, would probably roll out a new Mustang-based Cobra, perhaps with the personal blessing of Shelby, the creator of the original Shelby Cobra 40-some years ago.
With that, Chevrolet scheduled a gala media dinner at the historic Detroit Opera House, for 6:30 p.m. – an hour earlier than Ford’s thing – to introduce the sixth-generation Corvette. It had been shown off in pictures and hyperbole as a beautiful new addition to the 50-year history of America’s premier sports car, but it was assumed to be bigger news than “just†a version of the already-shown Mustang, so the large majority of media types headed for the Opera House.
I was among those, and saw the new Corvette, properly impressive because itÂ’s several inches shorter and significantly lighter than its predecessor, and has glass-encased headlights instead of the pop-up lights for the first time since 1962. The latest version of the old-tech pushrod V8 engine has been expanded to 6 liters, and all the latest high-tech components accompany it. The result is 400 horsepower and 400 foot-pounds of torque, with a 6,500-RPM redline.
Numerous reporters, columnists and television stations ran off well-armed, stressing the Corvette was ChevyÂ’s big news, and showing off the footage from earlier in the day of the Mustang as FordÂ’s counter.
After the unveiling of the Corvette, I high-tailed it back to Cobo Hall through a snowstorm to try to catch part of the Ford function. Ford backed up their term “trilogy†with a concept dinner with three appetizers, three salad things, and three mini-entrees. With that, Ford rolled out its new Ford GT onto the left of the platform, stunning in silver. Next, on the other end of the center platform, the new Mustang was driven out, in the matching dark silver with white racing stripe over the nose.
Suddenly, the best-kept secret in decades made its grand entrance – a startling and all-new two-seat sports car rolled up onto the middle of the platform. The driver was William Ford, scion to the empire, and the passenger was Carroll Shelby hisself – still the performance meister as he reaches age 81. The car is a concept only, at this point, but it is called the Shelby Cobra Concept, and it wore the same silver paint.
It was stark in design, with a 6.4-liter V10 engine with dual-overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder, and 605 horsepower with 501 foot-pounds of torque, without any supercharging or turbocharging. “Forty years ago, I came here, a broken-down ex-race driver, and said, ‘Mr. Ford, IÂ’d like to become part of your family,Â’ †Shelby said. “Now, 40 years later, here I am again.Ââ€
Richard Hutting, the car’s designer, told of showing the car to Shelby at Irwindale Raceway in California, when Shelby immediately tore off at something around 100 mph into Turn 1 of the half-mile banked oval. The Shelby fulfills Ford’s new “power trilogy†with the GT and the Mustang, and the surprise new entry meets Shelby’s uncompromising performance demands by having no air-conditioning, no radio, and no cupholders.
Bill Ford said that he owns an original Shelby Cobra and wants one of the new ones, which, he added, could become a production car “if we get the same response as we got with the GT.Ââ€
The media present showed just how sufficient that acclaim will be by completely ignoring the beautifully sculptured new Mustang, and the splendidly exotic Ford GT to crowd around the new car. I fell into step with Shelby as he walked off the platform, and he smiled widely and said, “Can you believe everybody is looking at that car and not at this one?Ââ€
It was fabulous theater, and the irony remained of the Chevrolet folks over at the Detroit Opera House, with the majority of the media, toasting the superb new and much-anticipated Corvette, completely unaware that back at good-olÂ’ Cobo Hall, a car that could turn out to be an enormous Corvette-fighter was being introduced as the biggest surprise at the nationÂ’s biggest auto show.
(John Gilbert can be contacted at cars@jwgilbert.com.)
Hyundai translates into competitive array of vehicles
There might still remain some doubters, who canÂ’t quite believe that Korean vehicles can rank up among the better Asian brands. But a visit to a Hyundai dealership, which might be attracted by anything from the flashy Tiburon sports car to the under-$10,000 Accent, or to the Santa Fe SUV, will astound the most cynical skeptics.
Those vehicles are all improved, but they also are joined by an entirely new Elantra compact, a surprisingly luxurious XG350 sedan, and a very impressive midsize Sonata. IÂ’ve had the chance to road-test an assortment of Hyundais in recent weeks, and one almost-embarrassing surprise tells a lot about how far Hyundai has come.
I attended an “introduction†for the 2004 XG350 and Santa Fe, out in San Diego. Perhaps, I thought, they should have held it in Santa Fe, but what do I know? At any rate, the Santa Fe and the XG350 were both very impressive, although neither had been significantly changed, only the addition of the 3.5 V6 to the SUV, and minor trim revisions to, say, the headlights and lower facia of the sedan.
Most recently, I drove a new sedan in the real world, and I was impressed with its tightness, agility and performance. It crossed my mind that the revisions to the XG350 must have been done well, but after a couple of days I noticed the emblem on the rear decklid: It was a midsize Sonata, and NOT the larger XG350. Good catch! But it tells how improved the midsize sedan (priced from $18,000-$20,000) is, that it is comfortably spacious and well-appointed enough to be mistaken for the $24,000 XG350.
At the introductory session, incidentally, I was able to corner a Korean official of the company and ask him a question that has lingered for over 20 years in my mind. When introduced, Hyundai wanted so badly to go mainstream in North America that it made a sweeping campaign to insist that its name should be pronounced, simply: “HUNN-day,†just like Sunday. I always wondered about that, and, sure enough, my source conceded that the name actually is more like “HYOON-die.†By now, of course, HUNN-day is pretty universally accepted.
When Hyundai introduced its Korean brand of cars to North America a couple of decades ago, the Excel was a decent subcompact version of a Mitsubishi Mirage, which was sold in North America as the Dodge Colt at the time. Mitsubishi licensed Hyundai to build their cars and sell them, but Mitsubishi was renovating their Mirage at the same time, so the similarities were few.
The Excel sold well, mostly on the West Coast, and Mitsubishi actually got some Excels back to sell as entry-level Mitsubishi Precis models. So Mitsubishi was selling its new Colt/Mirage, and essentially also marketing its previous Colt/Mirage as the Precis. From the start, quality was pretty good, but with automotive technology moving forward rapidly, the suspicion remained that by merely doing a good job of copying, Hyundai would always be some distance behind the automotive forefront.
As the new millennium arrived, Hyundai started building their own cars, although its engines were direct copies of the very good Mitsubishi engines, and continued to improve quality control, add features, bolster the warranty until it was the best in the industry, keep the prices down, and when the midsize SUV Santa Fe came along, it showed Hyundai could build its own vehicle from the ground up.
Now it’s 2004, and Hyundai deserves more impact than it has achieved from the motoring press. Take the October new-car issue of Motor Trend, for example. In grid-capsule format, all the new cars are listed in alphabetical order, including the full stable of Hyundais. It correctly points out that the best-selling Elantra is all new for 2004, but it indicates its price-range is “$26,500-$35,500, estimated.†That might seem outrageous for the model that is sized between the $10,000 Accent and the $18,000 Sonata – and it is. I test-drove a pair of Elantras, and both were priced in the $14,000 bracket, loaded with options.
The Elantra has a new and contemporary look, a bit blunt up front and stylishly shaped all around. It had a base price of $13,299, rising to $14,505 with an upgraded audio system and cruise control. I also drove the Elantra GT. Both are four-door models, with dual-overhead-camshaft 2.0-liter four-cylinder engines. The GT adds rear-wheel disc brakes and antilock, plus sport steering and suspension, and the cruise is standard, but the cost remains just a tick under $15,000.
Standard on both cars are 5-speed manual shifter that extracts some sportiness out of the 138-horsepower engine. Stabilizer bars front and rear, power rack and pinion steering, tilt steering, power locks, windows and mirrors, variable wipers, remote trunk and fuel door release, keyless remote entry, and a 60-40 split folding rear seat also are standard, even on the base model.
If you havenÂ’t driven the Sonata for a while, you, too, might be surprised that itÂ’s virtually unchanged for 2004. The similarities to the luxury XG350 run from the grille to the headlights, and on back, although I think the headlights on the Sonata are more impressively designed. The base car comes with a 2.4-liter four-cylinder, while moving up to the test-version GLS gains the use of the very responsive 2.7-liter V6, with dual overhead cams, 24 valves and 170 horsepower. A premium sound system with both CD and cassette player, and 16-inch alloy wheels also mark the GLS.
The top LX version of the Sonata adds power to the adjustable seats, which are also leather in LX form, and an automatic climate control also becomes standard.
The Tiburon remains unchanged, the Santa Fe and the XG350 with their modest upticks, give Hyundai impressive entries in the sports car, SUV and base-luxury classes, and the Accent remains a strong entry-level car. The Elantra and Sonata, however, jump right into the most competitive compact and midsize categories, where Mazda3 newcomers join Civics, Corollas, Proteges, Focuses, and Accords, Camrys, Altimas, Jettas and Mazda6 models have strong followings. A few years ago, it would have been easy to overlook Hyundai in such company. But for car-buyers on a tight budget, they deserve a long, hard look – and a test-drive.
(John Gilbert writes weekly auto columns; he can be reached by email at cars@jwgilbert.com.)
Durango, Armada move into big-SUV competition
The Dodge Durango is moving up, and the Nissan Pathfinder Armada is moving in, as the two newest challengers of the full-size SUV category, and both pose real threats to the established world of the Chevy Tahoe/Suburban and Ford Expedition.
In the world of trucks, which encompasses more than half the vehicles bought in the United States these days, the sport-utility vehicle phase shows no sign of waning, although specialization has expanded the SUV field to include compact, midsize, crossover and various other niches off the original. Those vehicles seem to be taking customers away from the good-olÂ’ full-size SUV, but that region is still lucrative.
Lucrative enough that Dodge has repositioned its all-new Durango, and Nissan has decided to crash the party, so to speak, with the new Armada.
DURANGO/When the Durango was introduced six years ago, it had a distinct appeal, with sort of a Coke-bottle curve to its shape, and some excellent touches, including one-touch fold-and-tilt rear bucket seats that allowed easy access to the third row bench seat, and stadium seating, meaning the second and third rows were slightly raised to allow occupants to see over the front occupants. The original Durango was spun off from the mid-size Dakota pickup.
For 2004, the Durango has grown, to 200.8 inches in overall length, and gained its own specific platform, a hydroformed design that borrows from the large Ram pickup. Gone is the Coke-bottle curve, replaced by smooth sides and roofline, and added is seven inches of length, two inches of width and three inches of height. If you folded the third seat down, the Durango has 67.3 cubic feet of cargo room, more than the Tahoe, Expedition or Toyota Sequoia. Fold the second row, too, and you get 101 cubic feet.
The Durango has a solid rear axle to go with the stiff frame, and suspension tuning makes it compliant over bumps and rough pavement, although it always reminds you that youÂ’re in a truck, not a crossover. It is tall, and so very large, but it goes and feels much more agile than it must look to those compact drivers hoping to share the road. In light of last weekÂ’s declaration that truck makers would make their large vehicles safer in confrontations with smaller cars, the Durango has its bumper designed at the proper height to engage the safety structure of cars in an impact.
All-wheel disc brakes, with huge (13.1 inch front and 13.8 inch rear) discs further add to the feeling of safe and secure performance, and a new traction control system enhances the optional four-wheel drive system. In the Upper Midwest, of course, anyone buying a truck should be looking at four-wheel drive, especially with the abundant power available.
Dodge has dipped into its history to recreate the “Hemi†V8, a 345-horsepower and 375-foot-pound torque out of 5.7 liters of displacement, which equates to an 8,900-pound towing capacity. With a curb weight of 4,671 pounds, that power can be put to good use, but again, the refinement of the chassis, suspension and steering make the Durango feel much more agile. Also available are the smaller, but efficient, 4.7-liter V8 and the 3.7-liter V6, the latter of which is standard on the two-wheel-drive Durango.
That range of engines, and accompanying trim levels, lets the Durango run from $26,000 to over $40,000, and it will be difficult to pass up some of the interior options. The interior itself is well appointed, with a neat and efficient placement of controls in an appealing arrangement. A simple dial allows you to switch from two-wheel drive to four-wheel high or low settings, making the Durango well suited for serious off-road duty.
ARMADA/Nissan attacked the full-size pickup segment with the impressive Titan for 2004, and it actually built the Armada alongside it in its Canton, Miss., plant, and got it out ahead of the heralded pickup this fall. The Armada also is enormous, but feels much more agile than most large or full-size SUVs.
Like the Durango, the ArmadaÂ’s second and third row seats fold down, making a 6-foot-1 length of flat, carpeted area that could allow it to serve as a perfect mini-camper setting on a long trip, or when going deep into the wild.
Nissan has long been a leader in SUVs, with the venerable Pathfinder joined by the smaller Xterra, then a raft of specialty SUV crossovers, such as the Murano, and the Infiniti FX35/FX45. So the Armada fills out the roster, giving Nissan a full-size truck-based player.
For power, it has a U.S.-built 5.6-liter V8 with dual-overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder, turning out 305 horsepower and feeling positively sporty with its quick-revving performance. There are no other options, but that engine is so fine, and refined, itÂ’s the one to get. All the Chrysler and General Motors full-size SUVs have pushrod engines, so the sophisticated new Nissan engine will start out at the high level of Toyota.
Styling is an edgy project on the Armada, with curves and contours that are not conventional, but help it make a striking image. The front end is imposing, although not as imposing as the DurangoÂ’s Ram-oriented front. At a price range of $32,000-over-$40,000, the Armada, with a well-arranged and contemporary interior, can meet all demands.
Interestingly, I got a shiny black Durango to test drive in late November, when there was no snow on the ground, and I got the Armada after a blizzard. To my surprise, the Armada had a lot of neat equipment, but it did NOT have all-wheel drive. My test week proved once again, and conclusively, how foolish it would be to buy such a vehicle with rear-drive only. I spent some of the time moving forward, some of the time trying to correct against going sideways, and most of the time leaving the Armada parked to collect snow. I had previously driven a four-wheel-drive version, and that switchable powertrain was far superior, regardless of cost.
When it comes to SUVs, I always have felt that anything bigger than what you need is too big, but for those families who need the size and room of a full-size SUV, the Durango and Armada deserve a close look.
(John Gilbert writes a weekly auto column. He can be reached by email at cars@jwgilbert.com.)
Badger women show intentions with split at UMD
A funny thing happened when the Wisconsin womenÂ’s hockey Badgers were about to create a six-skater closing attack last Saturday night: They didnÂ’t need it. The Badgers scored, and scored again, startling Minnesota-Duluth and snatching a 3-2 victory to gain a split that was both important to the WCHA race, and compelling in the intense rivalry between the two.
The whole weekend at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center had not been particularly kind to Wisconsin, which played well Friday night but was shut out 3-0 by the Bulldogs. So, when SaturdayÂ’s rematch got into its final five minutes, and Wisconsin trailed UMD 2-1, coach Mark Johnson knew what he had to do to make one final bid for the equalizer.
“I was just planning how we’d pull our goaltender,†said Johnson, smiling at the irony of being unable to execute his plan.
A Wisconsin penalty expired just as Sara Bauer, who had scored WisconsinÂ’s first goal in the second period, flipped the puck up the right boards. Lindsay Macy alertly sped past retreating UMD defenseman Krista McArthur, won the race to the puck, and passed to the goal-mouth, where Sharon Cole smacked it past UMD goaltender Riitta Schaublin with 4:15 remaining. The Badgers erupted in celebration, although it was only 2-2.
“Macy made a great play on the tying goal, just to get to the puck,†said Johnson, after his freshman winger from Ellendale had turned in the pivotal assist.
Johnson immediately changed tactics, from plotting the removal of his freshman goaltender, Christine Dufour, to trying to make sure his team was refocused on not giving up a counter-attack goal. So many times, over the past four seasons, UMD has been able to score a goal or several goals in the closing minutes to save victory after victory. But times have changed.
With two minutes and one second left, Wisconsin senior Meghan Hunter snared a pass and shot. Schaublin blocked it, but Carla MacLeod converted the rebound, and the Badgers suddenly led 3-2. “Carla was real patient on the rebound,†said Johnson.
The assist by Hunter gave her the all-time Wisconsin career women’s scoring record, with her 6-5—11 ledger this season boosting her to 78 goals, 82 assists and 160 points. That eclipses by one the record held by Kendra Antony, and Hunter, a center from Oil Springs, Ontario, has the rest of the season to raise her standard. Johnson pointed out that Hunter had a spectacular scoring season as a freshman, but every year since then, the overall caliber of the WCHA has prevented her from even more points.
Bauer, a freshman from St. Catharine’s, Ontario, leads the Badgers in scoring with 12 points, on only two goals and 10 assists. It took her two-point Saturday night to get there, because Nikki Burish, Steph Millar, Karen Rickard and Hunter all are tied with 11 points, while MacLeod and Molly Engstrom have 10, and Jackie Friesen – the team goal-scoring leader with 8 – has nine.
ThatÂ’s the kind of balance Johnson wouldnÂ’t have dared hope for, although he might hope they all had a few more goals. When Johnson took over as coach of the University of Wisconsin womenÂ’s hockey program, he intended to create a strong foundation of fundamentals. Now, halfway through his second season at the helm, the Badgers are already paying dividends.
Johnson isnÂ’t ready to call his Badgers a threat for the WCHA title. Not yet, anyhow. Besides, Minnesota is unbeaten and seems to have a stranglehold on first place. But going into the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center, the Badgers, after one night of frustration, showed enormous quantities of character by swiping that 3-2 victory in the second game.
The result leaves Wisconsin 8-4 in the WCHA, second only to MinnesotaÂ’s 9-0-1 mark, while three-time defending NCAA champion UMD is 5-3, and technically in fourth place behind Minnesota, Wisconsin and Minnesota State-Mankato (5-3-2). Furthermore, Wisconsin is 12-4 overall, also second only to MinnesotaÂ’s 13-0-1 among WCHA members.
The 12-4 record stands as the halfway point for Wisconsin. The Badgers take a holiday break of over a month, returning for a nonconference series against Northeastern Jan. 10-11, then they return to WCHA action the following weekend – against UMD.
UMD and Minnesota have had a personal duel every year since the WCHA started, there are some who anticipate it may come down to that again. Wisconsin will have plenty to say about that, however. There was nothing flukey about the split in Duluth – Wisconsin outshot Minnesota-Duluth 35-19 while being shut out Friday, and outshot the Bulldogs again, 36-27, on Saturday.
“We need a couple of people who can put the puck in the net,†said Johnson, the former Badger men’s scoring champion and son of former Wisconsin coaching legend Bob Johnson. “UMD has Jenny Potter and Caroline Ouellette, and Minnesota has Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell. We don’t have anybody like that, but we are real balanced.
“Comparing the two, Minnesota has got a quick team, and passes real well. IÂ’m not sure they have many weaknesses. Jody Horak has always made it tough for us to score against Minnesota. Both Minnesota and UMD play at a high tempo. You know itÂ’s going to be a fast game.Ââ€
UMD and Wisconsin have as intense a rivalry as there is in women’s hockey, dating back to their first season of play, when they met for a wild first series at the Kohl Center in Madison. UMD won big the first night, and won close the second game, which ended with a couple of fights – a shocking climax considering actual bodychecking is illegal in women’s hockey. “I saw the first games,†said Johnson, who was an assistant to men’s coach Jeff Sauer back then.
Maybe WisconsinÂ’s record book doesnÂ’t look that impressive at 6-11-3 against the Bulldogs, but consider that UMD never has lost more than five games in any of its first four WCHA seasons, and it indicates Wisconsin has represented a constant threat against the Bulldogs.
“Sometimes a team plays well against certain other teams,†said Johnson. “IÂ’ve been so impressed watching UMD play, IÂ’d like to watch Shannon Miller run a practice because her teams always skate and stickhandle so well.Ââ€
The historical part of Saturday night’s Wisconsin victory might be that, while the Badgers have beaten UMD in the past, this one might have been the first one that was not an upset. The Badgers may not have the individual firepower of Potter and Ouellette, or Darwitz and Wendell, but the Badger balance has earned a solid spot in the national rankings. Minnesota, Dartmouth, Harvard and UMD look like a solid top four in the ratings, but the Badgers have pried that group open to make it a fabulous five.
Car of year finalists are RX-8, Prius, Cadillac XLR
Every publication picks a car of the year these days, and in many cases there is at least the suspicion that the winner is closely associated with a company that agrees to advertise. That’s why the North American Car of the Year (and Truck of the Year) competition feels so legitimate – there is no advertising connected, and the jury of 50 selected automotive journalists actually pays dues to participate.
The award will be issued at the North American International Auto Show at Detroit the first weekend in January, and the three finalists for both categories have just been announced. The North American Car of the Year will be the Mazda RX-8, or the Toyota Prius, or the Cadillac XLR, while the top truck will be the Ford F150, the Nissan Titan, or the Cadillac XLR. Worthy candidates, all.
When you assemble 50 esteemed but opinionated auto writers, getting them to reach accord, you should pardon the expression, is a lot like the cliché about herding cats. The voting for 2004 has been completed, with 49 ballots in and documented. We don’t know what happened to No. 50, but it doesn’t really matter. We award 25 points for each category. We may give a maximum of 10 points to one, and only one, vehicle, and spread out the remaining points as we choose.
Normally, we have cut the list to a final 10, but this yearÂ’s close competition left us with 17 candidates for the car award. That should have indicated how tough the competition would be this year.
On the preliminary vote, for example, two of my top picks were the Volvo S60R, a special high-performance version of Volvo’s midsize sedan, and the Lancer Evolution, a racy version of Mitsubishi’s compact. Neither of them made the cut. Nor did the Mazda3, that company’s new and spectacular compact replacement for the Protégé. If those had been the three finalists, we would have ultimately declared an excellent winner from among them; instead, all three missed the cut to the final 17.
But thatÂ’s the political process. Once we got the nominees, and evaluated all we could get our paws on, I distributed my points in the following order: Mazda RX-8, Acura TL, BMW 5 Series, Toyota Prius, Cadillac XLR, Volkswagen Phaeton, and Nissan Quest. My truck votes went, in order: Ford F150, Nissan Titan, Lexus RX330, Volkswagen Touareg, and Cadillac SRX.
Those votes excluded a lot of very impressive cars, including the Acura TSX, Audi A8L, Chevrolet Malibu, Chrysler Crossfire, Chrysler Pacifica, Jaguar XJ8, Nissan Maxima, Pontiac GTO, Toyota Scion xB, and Toyota Sienna. Same with the trucks, where the BMW X3, Chevrolet Colorado, Chevrolet SSR, Dodge Durango, GMC Canyon, Infiniti FX45, Nissan Pathfinder Armada, and Porsche Cayenne, were close but left off.
With no idea how the other 48 jury members voted, it was interesting to note that Motor Trend has named the Prius as its car of the year, while Automobile Magazine named the Lancer Evolution as its car of the year, with the explanation that their staff came down to a choice between the Evolution and the RX-8.
The RX-8 won my vote because it scored high on all categories on my personal ledger: overall styling appeal; technology and technical advancements; creature-features and comforts; affordability; safety; real-world usefulness; and a large final category called fun-to-drive. The RX-8 signals the return of the rotary engine, and its slick, six-speed manual shifter makes it hum. Comfortable bucket seats, and an innovative rear seat with access through rear-hinged half-doors, sets it apart. It looks futuristic and fantastic, and it is extremely fun to drive – the areas where the aforementioned Evolution and S60R also excelled. The $27,000 RX-8’s handling on snow and ice would be the only area where it could be questioned, because it has rear-wheel drive, but at least it’s balanced at precisely 50-50 on the two axles.
The Prius is ToyotaÂ’s latest example of hybrid engineering, so it also ranks high on the technology scale, with electric/gasoline motors sharing the power. It is redone as a midsize car with dramatic lines, exceptionally styled and comfortable, even though the 60 miles-per-gallon EPA estimates may be difficult to attain (I got 42 and 40 on two test tanks). It is fun to drive, mainly from the standpoint of monitoring the instruments and striving for economical efficiency, and itÂ’s only $20,000.
CadillacÂ’s XLR is a spectacular demonstration of the new look of the corporation, a $75,000 car that is both an edgy coupe and hideaway-roof roadster to compete with the world-class Mercedes. The car has the magnetic-ride suspension that will be in next yearÂ’s Corvette, plus the Northstar V8 reworked with variable valve-timing on its dual-overhead-cam layout. Technology abounds, and its rear-drive traction-control was efficient even in making the XLR surprisingly adequate in snow. I ranked it high, but its price tag cost it points on my ballot.
My other leading vote-getters had substance, too. The Acura TL is a total redesign, looks fantastic, and has 270 horsepower through front-wheel drive. Furthermore, while the previous TL has a sporty “Type-S†model, the new one offers a slick six-speed manual version and equips it with wider, grippier tires. High-performance, and winter-driving ease combined. Amazingly, magazines have criticized the TL for not having rear-wheel drive. Car and Driver showed supreme arrogance by belaboring the point, overlooking the TL’s excellence by maintaining it needs rear-drive for all-out performance – even while naming its cousin, the far-stodgier Honda Accord, is one of the 10 best cars in the world.
The BMW 5 Series is clearly one of the most technically advanced vehicles ever set on a roadway. Rain-sensing wipers, adaptive headlights, brakelights that flash with greater intensity if you jam the pedal harder, and fantastic interior accommodations abound. It has rear-wheel drive, making it a handful on snow and ice even with traction-control, but it also has typically good power and steering/suspension features that are unexcelled. I was able to test the new 5 in emergency-handling maneuvers without the new active steering and then with it, and the difference was flat incredible.
With it, the 5 reacted instantly to steering input, and so precisely as to virtually eliminate over-correcting, all while feeling race-car coordinated and natural. Strange, then, that Car and Driver also ridiculed the new 5Â’s active steering for being “no more stable†than its predecessor, and for “unpredictability,†and feeling “artificial and a bit distant.†Maybe it wasnÂ’t arrogance; maybe they just missed the comparative handling at the 5 Series introduction and tried to go by memory – “the new 5 handles well, but the old 5 handled well, too.Ââ€
My picks of the all-new F150 and Nissan Titan were simple. The Titan came out before the F150, and it was aimed at beating the existing full-size pickup regulars, the F150, Chevrolet Silverado and Dodge Ram. It did that, with a new 5.6-liter high-tech, dual-overhead-cam V8 with tremendous power, and with innovations such as the near-180-degree rear-hinged second door on the extended-cab for easy rear access. If the Titan actually raised the bar on the established pickups, Ford then connected all the dots on the new F150, raising its own standard from the ground up, and focusing great attention on the interior. They are, arguably, the two best pickups ever built, and deciding between them is tough.
The Cadillac SRX is sort of an outsider in this company. I love the vehicle, because it combines the best attributes of a minivan, SUV and large station wagon. Because it is based on the CTS sedan platform, and has both the new high-feature CTS V6 or the slick Northstar V8 out of the XLR, it is obviously more car than truck. But it is exceptional, both in ride, drive and interior amenities, such as a huge sliding roof.
My other top truck vote-getters were solid, too. The RX330 is ToyotaÂ’s replacement of the segment-leading midsize SUV, and it is filled with fantastic features, such as adaptive headlights, backup video camera on the navigation screen, an exceptional navigation system, and excellent driveability from an upgraded V6 with high-tech features.
The Volkswagen Touareg, on a platform and body built alongside the Porsche Cayenne, is a fantastic crossover SUV that is priced many thousands under the Cayenne, with its no-compromise performance and price. The Touareg was Motor TrendÂ’s SUV of the year, which doesnÂ’t influence us, but indicates some credibility in the vehicleÂ’s capabilities. I drove it up near-vertical rocks in the Moab Desert of Utah, and in foul weather in Northern Minnesota, and it attacked every drive like another opportunity to show off. If its looks are a bit unusual, its performance and interior amenities are first-rate, as is the technology, such as adjustable ground clearance.
(John Gilbert writes weekly auto columns; he can be reached by email at cars@jwgilbert.com.)
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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