Car of the Year finalists got 2010 winter test
Timely blizzard put Buick LaCrosse and Volkswagen Golf through test.
The Christmastime blizzard of 2009 couldn’t have come at a better time, as far as car-testing is concerned. We had undergone some cold weather and a small storm during the week when I was test-driving a 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid, and on Christmas week the enormo storm hit the Twin Cities and Duluth, while I jumped back and forth road-testing a Volkswagen Golf TDI and a Buick Lacrosse.
The significance is that while auto writers from all over the country drive the same new vehicles, none of them get to experience how the cars work — or if they work — in the severity of Northern Minnesota’s harshest wintertime. And the specific benefit of driving those three particular cars as 2009 spent its final week is that those are the three cars that are finalists for the 2010 North American Car of the Year.
In the 15 years I’ve voted on the jury, this is the toughest, most wide-open competition I’ve seen. The three finalists for the North American Car of the Year are the Buick Lacrosse, the Ford Fusion Hybrid, and the Volkswagen Golf, which includes the GTI and the TDI (turbo-diesel) models as well as the basic compact.
There are 50 of us on the jury, and my guess is that the selection process meant more varied responses than ever, because a valid case could be made for all of the 15 candidates, which we somehow whittled down to three.
Same with Truck of the Year, which resulted in the Chevrolet Equinox, the Ford Transit Connect, and the Subaru Outback named finalists. As a concession to timeliness, the very impressive Ford F150 Raptor pickup, and the Dodge Heavy-Duty pickup were not available to the public at the time we voted.
The awards will be given out Monday (January 11) as the first item for business at the Detroit International Auto Show. We like to hold ourselves up as the most objective of all such awards, because our group is a diverse and independent outfit, and we are not tempted by advertising dollars or other incentives, although certainly some in our number may let prejudices get in the way.
In my vote among the final three cars, I gave the edge to the Volkswagen Golf/GTI/TDI, because one of the various criteria, along with technology and style and creature comforts, is being a significant segment-shocker — something that either breaks free of the status quo in its given segment, or establishes new standards for the segment.
The Buick Lacrosse is an impressive new car. Its very being may well have influenced General Motors to keep Buick while it was cleaving Pontiac and Saturn from its array of cars. The Lacrosse is all-new, with a platform design coming from Opel in Germany, and the flashy, sweeping luxury of its interior being designed in China, where Buick has made a strong foothold in a market that is displacing the U.S. in becoming the largest in the world.
Forget the normal nomenclature when it comes to the Lacrosse, because it is either a very large midsize or a normal size large car. It’s really large, both in room and in exterior dimensions, when compared to a lot of traditional midsizers. It is powered by a 3.6-liter V6 that has plenty of power, if less-impressive in fuel economy. A compromise smaller 3.0-liter version of the 3.6 also is available, and while that still has adequate power, it gets about the same fuel mileage in EPA estimates. We got it up to 26 miles per gallon, which was stoutly better than the 3.6 had delivered. The corporate 2.4-liter 4-cylinder also is available, although it stretches the imagination to think of it providing strong performance in such a large car.
The Ford Fusion Hybrid is a gem, and I’ve obtained 41 and 42 miles per gallon with it in combined city-highway driving, although it dropped off in similar driving during our December cold snap to about 32. Still, very good. The problem I had is that the Fusion line, in entirety, is perhaps a clear winner. Ford refined the basic car, and a choice of 3.0 or 3.5 V6es can drive the upscale versions, including an all-wheel-drive model that is fantastic in Minnesota blizzard negotiations. Our board of directors arbitrarily decided that we should break out the Hybrid and make it a candidate on its own, and after considerable debate among the jury members, the board stuck by its guns.
Impressive as those two cars are — and either one could win it, when the votes are counted — the Golf is a thorough redesign from the wheels up, and it is tightened and improved in various elements. The standard sedan, with its 2.5-liter 5-cylinder engine, is very good as an everyday commuter or, with a 4-door as well as a 2-door, it can serve a small or young family well. The GTI remains one of the most fun cars of any size to drive in every condition, with a 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder gasoline engine that runs strong and swiftly through either the 6-speed stick shift or the fantastic 6-speed DSG — that Audi sourced clutchless manual that shifts smooth as silk buy itself, or when you operate the steering-wheel paddles for manual up and down shifting.
The version that makes the Golf the best segment-breaker in the field, however, is the TDI, with the 2.0-liter turbo-diesel 4-cylinder that, with direct injection and the turbo, can’t come close to the GTI’s 200 horsepower, at 146, but clearly outstrips its famous brother with 236 foot-pounds of torque. It is that torque that launches the car from a stop, or in lane-changing, freeway-entering, or passing maneuvers. The TDI also comes with either a stick or the DSG transmission, and while it is clean and quiet enough so you’d never know it’s a diesel, it will deliver 40-plus miles per gallon, and in some instances can top 50 mpg. Driving it in the same extreme cold at the end of December, the mileage “dropped” to 41 mpg.
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The Fusion Hybrid handled the cold with no problems, and both the Lacrosse and VW TDI churned through the storm that was bad in the Twin Cities, and got worse up on the North Shore of Lake Superior. We got about the same 15 inches of snow Up North as we experienced in the Twin Cities area, except that just before midnight, it warmed up enough from Lake Superior’s effect that it rained for about two hours. You could see the snow shrinking as the cold rain compacted it.
Then, of course, it cooled just enough for it to start snowing again, and the storm that had swept through west to east now circled back over Lake Superior and hit us again from the east. The total was something over 21 inches, and if you waited a day to shovel, it was like shoveling cement blocks. Compacted on street and highway surfaces, we had about a 3-inch skating rink, blanketing almost all of Duluth’s streets and roadways.
We got plowed out on Christmas Day, and otherwise we either picked our way or blasted our way through the thick white stuff. In all cases, the cars passed, although in all cases, the addition of winter tires — my choice still being Nokian WR-2 all-seasons — would have made the ice and snow a breeze.
In my truck voting, I gave the edge to the Ford Transit Connect, just because it is a unique vehicle aimed at whatever flexibility any business-owner or delivery service might need. It can be outfitted in various custom forms of rear shelving or compartments, and it also can be arranged to be a unique personal wagon. As a small outside but spacious inside vehicle, the Transit Connect has sold well in Europe, prompting Ford to introduce it to the U.S. market.
The Equinox is a compact SUV, completely renovated by Chevrolet. Smaller than the Traverse, the Equinox is tall and roomy inside, and is another gambit by General Motors to keep its customers of larger SUVs in the fold by effectively downsizing. It’s an impressive vehicle, and works adequately with the 4-cylinder.
The Subaru Outback is an interesting vehicle, because it has been out as a rugged wagon version of Subaru’s sedan that sort of grew into the “crossover” bracket even before that nickname was invented. Subaru now claims the Outback is king of the crossovers, except that it always has existed, and hasn’t really crossed over from any vehicle. Cynics may hesitate at calling the Outback a truck, but it is in the truck category and if it’s actually a “trucklet,” it reached the plateau of being a final three trucklet.
Now, gathering in Detroit, we’re all poised and awaiting the envelope, please.
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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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