Darwitz, Wendell give hometown flair to top Gopher line
Because of their similar goal-scoring and point totals, and their similar hockey-playing histories, itÂ’s easy to draw parallels between Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell, MinnesotaÂ’s top-line tandem of former state high school phenoms, 2002 U.S. Olympic teammates, and Patty Kazmaier Award finalists.
Their collaboration as linemates has created spectacular women’s hockey scoring totals, but hyperbole notwithstanding, their styles are strikingly different.
Darwitz is the shorter of the two, and she skates with quick, darting strides, combining great quickness with speed as she dekes around and through defenders while constantly looking for and creating offensive scenarios with alert puck-moving abilities. Wendell is bigger, with a more powerful skating stride that can boost her past defenders, although she also can go right over them is the situation demands it. Wendell also can pass, but her prime asset is her ability to keep the puck while blowing through traffic.
Where Darwitz tends to make a pass as soon as a teammate gets open, or even spots a pass to help spring a teammate, Wendell is more likely to beat a defender or two and pass after she starts running out of puck-carrying room. Darwitz leads the WCHA in scoring with 24 goals, 43 assists and 67 points, and with 31-57—87, she leads the nation in overall assists (57) and points (87). Wendell (35-47—82) is second in the national scoring column (82 points) and leads the country in goals (35).
An undefeated Women’s WCHA championship makes for a good story line. Minnesota has the title, and an unbeaten WCHA record, virtually in hand with two weekends to go, but for the Golden Gophers, the story IS the line – the prolific scoring line of Darwitz, Wendell and Kelly Stephens. A strong two-way player, Stephens would be a star senior on her own, but has enjoyed playing wing with her more-heralded linemates. Her 27-31—58 season statistics include 22-21—33 in WCHA games.
“TheyÂ’re good to me,†said Stephens, meaning her points reflect her linematesÂ’ unselfishness. “Each of them brings their own aspects to the game. ItÂ’s easy to get used to what they can both do, and I think we complement each other well.Ââ€
One of the lineÂ’s biggest accomplishments is that it has been able to flourish using only one puck. Wendell and Darwitz might be the two best centers in womenÂ’s hockey, but unless coach Laura Halldorson invents a new technique, thereÂ’s only space for one center on each line, and thatÂ’s Wendell, although Darwitz takes a number of faceoffs in certain situations.
The Gophers are 22-0-2 in WCHA play going into this weekendÂ’s home series against Minnesota State-Mankato, and a sweep would clinch the WomenÂ’s WCHA title. That might take off some of the glitter but it wouldnÂ’t affect the usual intensity for the season-ending series at Duluth. Minnesota-Duluth (21-3-2) is idle this weekend, standing second to Minnesota in the WCHA, and also in the national rankings. And like the Gophers, UMD depends on a big line for its offense.
“In my opinion, Minnesota’s line is the top line in the country, and Duluth’s line is the second-best line in the country, with Dartmouth’s big line the third best,†said North Dakota coach Shantel Rivard, not surprised that her ranking of the top three lines in the country matches the 1-2-3 team rankings. Rilvard’s perspective came because after losing 5-1, 4-1 at home to UMD, the Fighting Sioux went to Ridder Arena last weekend for 7-0 and 4-2 setbacks administered by the powerful Gophers.
Darwitz was a star in MinnesotaÂ’s fledgling girls high school hockey from seventh grade, and she scored an amazing 85 goals as an eighth-grader at Eagan. Wendell, meanwhile, played on boys teams up through her sophomore year at Park Center, then switched to the girls team, where she was pretty much a one-person wrecking crew, scoring 109 goals as a junior and 110 as a senior. The year after she graduated, Wendell skated with the U.S. National team, and so did Darwitz, who bypassed her chance for potential record-breaking junior and senior high school terms. They played on the same line for the 2002 U.S. team, and after Wendell led the team in scoring throughout the preliminary games, Darwitz led Team USA in the silver medal winning scoring column.
Both are now juniors, having skated together on the same line on Team USA and since starting at Minnesota. Stephens, who is from Shoreline, Wash., and played womenÂ’s amateur hockey in Vancouver, has become the perfect complement to Darwitz and Wendell.
TheyÂ’re not above heckling each other a little now and then, either. In SaturdayÂ’s 7-0 romp over North Dakota, Stephens scored a power-play goal to get the Gophers started. At 16:49 of the first period, after constant pressure at the North Dakota goal, Wendell banged in a rebound to make it 2-0 with Stephens and Darwitz assisting. On their next shift, Wendell caught a pass from Stephens and went end-to-end, plunging through the defense as she cut across in front and jammed in her second goal of the period. Early in the second period, Wendell drilled a long rebound from the right circle, making it 4-0 with a pure hat trick.
“My brother always said I had ‘puck luck,Â’ †said Wendell. “Some day you work so hard and get nothing, and today everything that came to me went in.Ââ€
Darwitz, who had assisted on WendellÂ’s third goal, fed Stephens to make it 5-0 later in the second period for her third assist of the night. Midway through the third period, Wendell took off again, flying up the left side and beating two opponents on an end-to-end dash. This time, at the last moment, she passed across the slot and Darwitz quickly converted. It almost looked as though Wendell figured she had enough goals for the day and would give one to Darwitz.
“ThatÂ’s the cool thing about our line, we always assist each other,†said Wendell. “I never thought about shooting that last time, I definitely was going to pass to her all the way.Ââ€
“Oh yeah?†joked Darwitz. “Well then why didnÂ’t she give it to me sooner? I was wide open the whole way.Ââ€
The next day, Darwitz got her 31st goal and an assist, while Wendell notched three assists, and Stephens got “only†one assist, but it was a classic, as she carried up the left side and feathered a pass across to Darwitz, streaking in on the right side for a shot that snared the upper right extremity of the net.
In hockey style, some coaches like to have a strong, physically dominating center who holds the puck, while others might prefer a quicker playmaking puck-mover. So if some observers and even some opposing coaches, think that Darwitz might be the best center in the country, why doesnÂ’t she play center?
“Because Krissy does,†said assistant coach Charlie Burggraf.
Good answer.
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.
Downsizing to Mazda 3 means upsizing fun quotient
Despite the rising tide of larger and costlier cars and trucks, a quiet movement toward significant improvement in the small-car class also has been rippling through the automotive industry, and no car is a better example of how good small cars can be than the Mazda 3.
Over the past decade, the Mazda Protégé battled quite evenly against the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla in competition for compact superiority. The Mazda 3 replaces the Protégé, and truly revises the standards of the whole segment. From the overall design, where either a sleek four-door sedan or a five-door hatchback is available, a quick once-over to check such simple details as headlights, taillights, and even the lenses covering both, indicate that the Mazda 3 is something special.
If those elements boost the Mazda 3 into classy new territory against such stalwarts as the Civic and Corolla, the Mazda 3 also holds its own against such fun-to-drive specialty compacts as the Lancer Ralliart, Subaru WRX, Golf GTI, and even the Mini Cooper. Unless you move up to the turbocharged $30,000 versions of the Lancer and WRX, or the supercharged Mini, and are willing to spend closer to $30,000, the Mazda 3 competes well with its upgraded 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine and five-speed manual transmission while staying under $20,000.
And there are no tuning eccentricities with the Mazda 3 – it is a solid, durable, everyday driver that can serve as a small family car or a fun-filled sporty car alternative.
The base 2.0-liter four is adequate for normal duty, but the 2.3 is a technological gem, made of all aluminum, with dual overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder and variable valve timing. That engine is also brought in by Ford for use as the basic powerplant in the Ford Escape SUV, and for the Escape HybridÂ’s gasoline engine, and it is the upgraded engine for the Focus.
The benefit of FordÂ’s status as primary investor has paid richly for Mazda, which always has been a technically advanced company. On the heels of the outstanding midsize Mazda 6 and the unique four-door RX-8 Mazda sports car, the Mazda 3 breaks more new ground. Ford also owns Volvo, and Volvo built an exceptionally strong compact sedan in the S40, so Ford put its two affiliates together, and Mazda took the S40 platform as the basis for the Mazda 3.
That gave the car a structural advantage in stiffness and safety, and freed Mazda to go to work to install the 2.3-liter four, which does a good job of moving the bigger Mazda 6, and, when its 160-horsepower force is installed into the smaller Mazda 3, it turns into a sports car in sedan or hatchback sheetmetal. Independent rear suspension and four-wheel disc brakes come standard on the hatchback model I drove, which was well-timed, because I got to drive it in the middle of winter, after driving the Mazda 3 sedan before the snow flew.
The vehicles are comparable, and choosing between them is merely a matter of need. The hatchback provides the flexibility of a small wagon with greater rear storage, but the sedan has a surprisingly large trunk. Both cars are fun to drive, with the 160-horse peak coming at 6,500 RPMs – which is the redline. That implies it’s a conservative redline, but that’s still high enough to unleash considerable pleasure. The torque peaks at 150 foot-pounds, at 4,500 revs, so the last 2,000 RPMs send the car zipping along, whatever your gear choice.
I drove the bright red sedan leisurely in city and rural traffic, and on a short trip to Northern Minnesota, and I got an actual 30.1 miles per gallon. In early February, the burnt orange hatchback – called “lava orange†— delivered 26 miles per gallon, including a trip from Minneapolis to Chicago. That 400-mile jaunt proved how good the inside of the Mazda 3 is, because its firmly supportive seats never gave me a hint of fatigue while driving straight through. The instrumentation is well laid out and attractive to look at, particularly at night, when the numbers come alive in bright orange.
Completely loaded, the Mazda 3 S five-door, with the larger engine, 17-inch alloy wheels, halogen headlights and built-in foglights, a 60-40 split fold-down rear seat, audio controls on the steering wheel, keyless entry, antitheft engine-immobilizer, and a driverÂ’s seat with height and lumbar adjustments, lists for $17,105.
The test car added leather seats, antilock brakes, a power moonroof, side-impact airbags and air curtains, and an audio upgrade that goes from a single CD to six CD dash changer, put the sticker price at $19,930.
While itÂ’s true that the loaded Mazda 3 runs right into the bargain pricing of the larger Mazda 6, both cars have distinctly different personalities and intentions.
The Mazda 6 makes a sporty-car alternative to midsize sedans such as the Accord, Camry, Altima and others, while the Mazda 3 is clearly the compact of the family. It just performs like a sporty car, with its hot engine, 17-inch wheels, and independent, suspension, which is adapted from the superb Mazda 6 design.
When Mazda redesigned the Mazda 6 for 2003, it apologized for having lost its way and vowed that the new 6 was a return to Mazda’s corporate desire to build the “zoom-zoom†emotion of motion – PR-speak for fun to drive. The Mazda 6 clearly fulfills that aim with exceptional suspension, so adapting that to the Mazda 3 only makes sense, and on the lighter, more compact car it is even sportier.
The rear hatch sets the five-door Mazda 3 apart from the sedan, and with the rear seat folded down, it will serve the purpose filled usually by only larger vehicles.
My latest road-test only amplifies what I had thought on first contact at the Mazda 3Â’s introduction. The car actually was introduced just before the end of 2003, as a 2004 model, but the cars didnÂ’t actually hit the showrooms, or the press fleets, before 2004. So when the expansive array of 2005 car-of-the-year candidates was announced, I tried my hardest to get the Mazda 3 included. My argument was that if it was out too late to be considered fairly for 2004 car of the year, then it should get a chance to compete for 2005 car of the year. I lost that battle, so the Mazda 3 didnÂ’t get a chance to compete against the Chrysler 300, Mustang, Corvette, and others.
Too bad. Even in that exalted company, the Mazda 3 might be the best example of a new car that makes a direct hit on its target.
UMD’s top guns take aim at Gophers in women’s finale
Minnesota has already clinched the Women’s WCHA regular-season title, and Minnesota-Duluth is assured of second place. Minnesota is ranked No. 1 in the country, and UMD is ranked No. 2. They might meet again in the WCHA playoffs, or even in the NCAA tournament, but those are “maybes.†The certainty is that the best women’s hockey rivalry in the country will unfold this weekend at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center when Minnesota tries to finish the WCHA season undefeated in a Saturday-Sunday series against Minnesota-Duluth.
“Playoffs are coming up, and then maybe the NCAA Frozen Four,†said Caroline Ouellette. “But every time we play Minnesota, it is all that matters.Ââ€
One of the highlights of the series is what should be a scintillating duel between the two best forward lines in women’s college hockey. The prominent publicity all season has been Minnesota’s 1-2 punch of Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell, with Kelly Stephens on the other wing. Darwitz leads the WCHA in scoring with 26 goals, 45 assists for 71 points. Wendell is a close second with 26 goals, 40 assists for 66 points. Stephens stands fourth in league scoring with 23-24—47.
Those are incredible statistics. But consider UMD’s top line. Ouellette ranks third in WCHA scoring at 27-38—65, one point behind Wendell. Noemie Marin stands fifth, at 27-19—46, one point behind Stephens. But with 27 goals apiece, Ouellette and Marin are tied for the league goal-scoring lead, one ahead of Darwitz and Wendell. Jessica Koizumi, who was inserted at center between Ouellette and Marin about halfway through the season, stands at 19-14—46.
While the mathematical edge goes to the high-scoring Gopher line, the Darwitz-Wendell-Stephens unit has scored 75 of Minnesota’s 126 league goals – or 59.5 percent of the Gopher goals. UMD’s big line has scored 73 goals, only two less than Minnesota’s league total, but the Ouellette-Koizumi-Marin line has scored 68.9 percent of UMD’s 106 league goals.
In overall scoring, Darwitz leads the nation at 33-59—92, while Wendell is second at 36-50—86, and Stephens stands at 28-34—62. That’s 97 goals, or 60.2 percent of Minnesota’s total of 161 goals. In all of UMD’s games, Ouellette stands 28-40—68, Marin 27-20—47, and Koizumi 23-14—37, which is 78 goals, or 67 percent out of UMD’s total of 115. So Minnesota’s line has scored more goals, assists and points, but UMD’s top line has scored a greater percentage of UMD’s goals.
Anyone who has watched both teams knows that focusing on the scoring antics of those top lines is worth a nightÂ’s entertainment.
“Their line is very strong and difficult to play against,†said Ouellette. “Wendell is so hard to stop 1-on-1, and Darwitz is so good at using everyone on the ice with her, and Stephens is good both ways. They seem to change positions well.
“Our line has been working well. Noemie (Marin) is all-around very good. She can finish, she’s very smart, and she’s strong on the puck and knows what to do with it. We have a very good connection, and we always seem to know where each other is on the ice. Nora Tallus was centering us until she got hurt, and she’s probably the best two-way forward on our team. When she got hurt, Jessica Koizumi was moved to center on our line, and she is probably the quickest player we have.
“IÂ’ve been wondering if our line will play against that line head-to-head. We donÂ’t know yet.Ââ€
So the games, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, will be a season highlight for both teams. Minnesota, at 24-0-2, is shooting for an undefeated regular-season record, while UMD (21-3-2) is securely fixed in second place, but could strengthen its hold on the nationÂ’s No. 2 rank ahead of Dartmouth with at least a split of the series. The teams met earlier at Ridder Arena, and Minnesota won 4-2 before the teams tied 2-2. Wisconsin is the only other team to have tied the Gophers, while UMD has lost to Minnesota, Wisconsin and, two weeks ago in the seasonÂ’s biggest upset, St. Cloud State.
There are other sidelights to the series. For one, MinnesotaÂ’s goaltending ranks No. 1, behind starter Jody Horak, while UMD is No. 2 in the WCHA, led by Riitta Schaublin. Another factor is the competition to make Team USAÂ’s roster for the World Tournament. Along with Darwitz, Wendell and Stephens, the entire Gopher line, USA Hockey also named Gopher Lyndsay Wall to the team last week, but did not list UMD senior Julianne Vasichek among the selected players.
“All I can do is play my best against Darwitz and Wendell and that line,†said Vasichek.
The match-up also could forecast the 2006 Olympic Games, because while Darwitz and Wendell were standouts on the silver medal 2002 U.S. Olympic team, Ouellette was the top season scorer on the gold medal winning Canadian Olympic outfit. That all means nothing, compared to the Gopher-UMD rivalry. When the teams played earlier, the series was two weeks after UMD had beaten Wisconsin twice, in a pair of one-goal games. Ouellette had been slashed on her left hand, and faced the Gophers with her hand in a cast, unable to shoot with her normal force or accuracy.
“I feel much better now,†said Ouellette. “And IÂ’m very excited about the series.Ââ€
New Audi A4 features revised look, engines, interior
TUCSON, ARIZ. — The A4 has been more than just a well-designed intermediate-sized sedan for Audi. It is the vehicle that transported the company from the brink of withdrawing from the United States marketplace 10 years ago to an upward spiral of success. Audi not only rivals German counterparts BMW and Mercedes for refined motoring in all categories, its quattro all-wheel-drive system and advanced engine technology make it one of the worldÂ’s standards of technical innovation.
So the timing seemed both perfect and curious that Audi introduced an entirely new A4 to North American automotive media this past week in the cactus-covered hilly region around Tucson. The timing is perfect because not only 10 years have passed since the A4 was introduced to the U.S., and Audi is about to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its quattro system, which spreads out the power to all four wheels all the time.
It is curious, however, because the A4 introduction comes just three months after Audi unveiled an entirely redesigned A6 sedan, and it seems like quite a challenge for a small company from Ingolstadt, Germany, to launch and promote the stunning new larger A6 and the new A4 almost simultaneously. While the A4 will be hitting showrooms immediately, it would seem like an early 2006, but it must be designated as a 2005 model because production started last November.
The new A4 has a new look, a new interior, more power, improved suspension, and, simply, is more fun to drive. From the new trapezoidal corporate grille to the oddly shaped taillights, the A4 is more than just a reskinning of the company’s golden egg. An entirely new interior – with workable cupholders, even – puts you in command of two new engines that both are cutting-edge in technical advances. Even the proven excellence of the quattro has been altered.
At the technical session before we drove the new cars, a video showed an A4 being driven in swift little circles on an icy surface. The driver had kinked the wheel enough to hang out the rear end just a bit, and held that tail-out attitude. I happened to be sitting next to Marc Trahan, Audi’s technical guru. “You wouldn’t have been able to do that with the old quattro, would you?†I asked. He shook his head.
ItÂ’s true. The quattro always has had 50/50 power distribution through its Torsen all-wheel-drive unit, because it was originally designed for performance, giving more power to the outside wheels in tight cornering, although it also was always able to shift a greater percentage of torque to the front or rear axle if it detected slippage at either end. The new quattro system on the A4Â’s Torsen can still shift the torque provide optimum traction if slippage is detected, but it will do so from a 40/60 front/rear basis rather than 50/50.
The previous A4 quattro always traced such a precise arc that it almost felt more like it was on rails than that it was responding to steering input, while the new one feels even more precise because you can make it go just a bit over the line by inducing the proper doses of steering and throttle.
“We built the A4 to be more agile and offer more driving fun,†said Armin Ruscheinsky, the man in charge of developing the new suspension on the car. Ruscheinsky explained that the new suspension is borrowed from the larger A6 or high-performance specialty S4 vehicles, with the front double-wishbone unit improving the grip and steering feedback, and the rear trapezoidal system improving on preventing any tendency to oversteer and staying planted whether accelerating, swerving or braking.
“The handling limits are very high, with limited body roll,†Ruscheinsky said. “It has the safety of German high-speed cars, but with a high-degree of comfort. In testing, we were able to do laps below nine minutes at Nurburgring. I hope you can feel the spirit and character of this car.Ââ€
We didnÂ’t have Nurburgring, but we did have some rural highways outside of Tucson, one with about a dozen steeply undulating dips and hills. Ruscheinsky was in the back seat when we went out on our first drive, definitely feeling the spirit and character of the A4 as I stayed on the power, somewhere beyond the speed limit to feel like we might go airborne at the crest of each hill, then settling back down on the suspension with surprising grace for the dips. Ruscheinsky altered the road feel with shock absorber settings to absorb almost all the energy on its first flex, but staying up firm after one flex, rather than continuing to bounce. It was fun to push the A4, and Ruscheinsky seemed to enjoy the fact that I found it fun.
Fun seems to be the focal point of various car-makers these days, but when German car-makers say it, they mean it at another dimension, because of their unlimited-speed autobahn environment. Johan de Nysschen, the new executive vice president of Audi of America, talked about how Audi had caught its German counterparts in three-year residual value ratings, with Audi retaining 52 percent, BMW 54 percent and Mercedes 51 percent of original value, and that Audi was named as the best premium brand among German cars up to three years old.
The 2004 A4 is powered by two very good engines, a 1.8-liter four cylinder engine with five valves per cylinder and low-pressure turbocharging, and a 3.0-liter V6, also with five valves. For almost any other company, those two engines would be over the top for technical advancements, but the new A4 goes beyond both of them.
A 2.0-liter four TSI becomes the first regular-production engine available in any car with both direct injection and turbocharging. With direct injection, a high-pressure fuel-air mixture is injected into the combustion chamber rather than an intake port, which gives us a much denser and cooler mixture,†Trahan said. That allows it to run at a high 10.5-to-1 compression ratio, with 200 horsepower and 207 foot-pounds of torque – figures that represent a 30-horsepower and 41-foot-pound increase over the 1.8, and lowers 0-60 times from 7.8 to 7.1 seconds.
AudiÂ’s engineers have ingeniously coordinated the turbocharger and the electronic controls so that the horsepower peak occurs at 5,100 RPMs and holds that peak to 5,500, while the torque peaks at 1,800 RPMs and remains at that peak all the way to 5,000 RPMs. While torque is mainly responsible for the low-end power, it is best when the torque curve gets close to overlapping with the horsepower peak, and with this engine, the torque peak runs all the way into the middle of the peak horsepower band.
The upgraded engine is the 3.2-liter V6 that is the base engine of the larger A6. It, too, is a four-valve gem with direct injection, with 12.5-to-1 compression ratio, producing 255 horsepower and 243 foot-pounds of torque, which is an increase of 35 horsepower and 22 foot-pounds, and it lowers the 0-60 acceleration time from 6.9 to 6.6 seconds. The 3.2 is not turbocharged, and its torque peak is 3,250 while its horsepower peaks at 6,500 revs.
The six-speed manual transmission with the 2.0 four-cylinder and the Sport Package suspension – set to S4 specifications – was the most fun to drive. Truly a sports car in sedan clothing. And fancy clothes, at that.
We also drove the Avant, which is the wagon version of the A4, and we tried that with the 3.2 V6 and the six-speed automatic, which is a Tiptronic unit that you can shift manually, if you choose. Even with more power, and an efficient automatic being hand-shifted, the four with the stick felt quicker. The normal suspension is firm enough, although the Sport setting is firmer without being uncomfortable.
We got a surprise when we tried the 2.0 four with the CVT – constantly variable transmission. When we pulled onto the road, we were behind an elderly pair driving very slowly. For a mile or so. When I finally got a clear space to pass, I pulled out and hammered it, and the A4 took off like a scalded cat. I had to double check to assure that it was the four, but it was extra impressive because it was the front-wheel-drive version, not the heavier quattro.
One of the biggest features of the new A4 is the price list. The base 2.0 front-wheel drive sedan with the six-speed manual has a base of $27,350. The same car with the CVT is $28,550. Moving up to the 2.0 with quattro and the stick boosts the base price to $29,450, while the Avant version of that car is $30,450. The sedan with quattro and six-speed Tiptronic is $30,650, and the Avant is $31,650. If you want the 3.2 V6 quattro, the base sedan comes with the six-speed Tiptronic for $35,400, and the Avant is $36,400 A $720 desdtination cost must be added to those base prices, as well as all sorts of tempting options, such as DVD navigation, headlight washers, and the ability to play MP3 music.
As usual, Audi loaded up the A4 with two-stage airbags and air curtains, and structurally is is both lighter and stronger because 45 percent of the car is built of high-strength steel. The interior is all new, similar to the A6, which I think is a large improvement over the previously very good interior. In the A4, you can choose your type of real wood trim from the option list, and thereÂ’s some brushed aluminum and leather wherever you look.
U.S. customers finally have gotten through to Audi about cupholders, too. The last time I drove an A4, with the neat little slot that popped out of the dash and turned into a spindly cupholder, I plunked my tall, Nissan insulated coffee mug into the holder and pulled out of my driveway. I looked both ways, then pulled out onto the road. Suddenly I felt intense heat in my crotch area. The mug had flipped out of the holder, and, after a full end-over-end flight, had landed upside down in my lap.
The new A4 has receptacles sunk simply into the console, with spring clips to secure any coffee mug or water bottle you might choose to put in there. Simple, and it works superbly. That leaves, as the only complaint, the control knob that is used to alter the audio or the heat-air. It is a simplified version of the all-controlling knob BMW and other Audis have used before, and it still is needlessly complicated. A simple round knob and push-button system would be much preferred, much like the cupholders. But at least complex audio tuners donÂ’t threaten you with getting scalded by yout own coffee.
(John Gilbert writes weekly auto reviews, and can be contacted 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.
For those who want to keep up with John Gilbert's view of sports, mainly hockey with a Minnesota slant, click on the following:
Click here for sports