Sonata’s new tune lifts Hyundai higher on hit parade

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. — A shiny 2006 Hyundai Sonata parked out front of the Intercontinental Mark Hopkins Hotel indicated how far Hyundai has progressed in sophistication. I mentioned to a Korean company official that I thought it looked good, “very much like an Accord.”

The fellow seemed genuinely hurt.

The new Sonata challenges the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, and there are some design similarities to those midsize icons, but I assured the Korean official that my comment was intended as a compliment. His reaction, however, indicates that Hyundai has advanced to where it can take offense at being compared to the very vehicles itÂ’s seeking to be compared to.

Hyundai has worked as hard as any auto manufacturer in the world to both establish and refine its identity – harder, maybe. But identification has come slowly and with great difficulty. Some think Hyundai is Japanese, others, when they learn it is South Korean, dismiss it for being Korean, and therefore not a serious player in the automotive world. Fortunately for Hyundai, acceptance of its vehicles has come easier than its identity.

The 2006 Sonata should help Hyundai accomplish both objectives. If a “sonata” is a piece of smooth-flowing music, this Sonata is pleasing enough to attain considerable “accord” (no offense). Sonatas are offering more size, more features and the usual unsurpassed warranty to combat the Accord/Camry popularity, and you will be able to buy a larger and roomier Sonata for significantly less than a comparable Accord or Camry model – in fact, a fully loaded Sonata with a V6 is still less expensive than the four-cylinder versions of the Accord or Camry.

The Sonata was introduced to automotive journalists during the past week with a drive northward from the toney Nob Hill area of San Francisco northward along the stunning backdrop of the Pacific Coast. The longer, sleeker Sonata is completely redone inside as well as outside, and it has two new engines – a 2.4-liter “Theta” four-cylinder and a 3.3-liter “Lambda” V6 – both built by Hyundai, and the five-speed automatic transmissions have a manual shiftgate.

The introduction comes almost a month before the official opening ceremonies of Hyundai’s $1.1-billion plant in Montgomery, Ala., the facility in which the Sonata will be the first product, which seems like the cart preceding the horse for what Hyundai of America president and CEO Bob Cosmai says is the “most important launch” for the company. That’s significant, because the Sonata is the second, after the Tucson SUV, of seven new Hyundai vehicles in a 24-month period.

The Sonata redesign comes on the heels of the current Sonata being named No. 1 in initial quality among midsize cars by J.D. Power, and being named the auto satisfaction winner of Good Housekeeping Institute’s “What Women Want” survey that generated 100,000 responses, 43,000 of which were women. The survey responses showed that safety was the No. 1 consideration, but that engine performance was “very important to women, even slightly more so than to male drivers.”

In a power-point talk by John Krafcik, Hyundai’s vice president of product development and strategic planning, noted among his impressive statistics that the new Sonata would be bought by 47 percent males. During lunch, I asked Cosmai that if 47 percent male buyers meant 53 percent women buyers, why was the male minority listed rather than the female majority. Cosmai said that the company didn’t want to market to females, because the corporate reasoning, paraphrased loosely, showed females will buy a car being marketed to males, but males won’t buy what they perceive as a “chick car.”

If being long, nicely styled, powerful, and with good handling and steering response is what chick cars have to offer these days, we should all be buying them. But we can sympathize with Hyundai’s dilemma, even if we don’t agree with it. “There are image targets, and consumption targets,” said Cosmai, explaining how a company can market for a certain image and accept consumption from a completely different demographic.

“We have had a 364-percent increase in total sales since 1999,” said Cosmai. “In 1998, Hyundai was not in the top 10 among top-selling imports in the U.S., but something like 12th or 13th. We are now the fourth-best-selling import, after Toyota, Honda and Nissan, with sales of 3,046,333 vehicles. We’ve gone from a niche company to full-line mainstream in five years. And we generate 57.6-percent repeat buyers. It was 18.6 percent in 1998.”

In that time span, Hyundais also took over Kia, another Korean company, and builds the engines used in those vehicles as well. While increasing production and sales in whirlwind fashion, not everything has fit into place smoothly. Hyundai envisions the midsize Sonata and the compact-to-mid Santa Fe SUV to be the big sellers, but the compact Elantra outsold the Sonata and the new Tucson is outselling Santa Fe right now.

The new Alabama plant my take care of that, however, because the new Sonata appears to be the best thing Hyundai has produced so far, and an all-new and larger Santa Fe will be built off the Sonata platform as the second vehicle coming out of the new plant. Hyundai anticipates building 150,000 Sonatas in 2006, its first full calendar year, and it can build about as many Santa Fes.

The new Sonata chassis has independent suspension, with double wishbone front and multilink rear, with stabilizer bars front and rear. I found the suspension a good compromise between comfort and firm-handling support. I also found the steering to be good, but not quite as quick-reacting as IÂ’d prefer. Hyundai engineers had benchmarked the BMW 5-Series for handling, the Lexus ES330 for interior noise quality, and the Audi A6 for interior craftsmanship. Not a bad hat trick to aspire to.

Power is good from the 3.3-liter Lambda V6, an all-new engine built in the Sohari, Korea, factory, and which will be built at the Alabama facility from July on. It is aluminum, with dual overhead camshafts, and continuously variable valve-timing on the intake side, which is good for 235 horsepower at 6,000 RPMs and 226 foot-pounds of torque at 3,500 RPMs.

The Theta 4-cylinder also has the aluminum, dual overhead cams, and other high-tech features and produces 162 horsepower at 5,800 RPMs and 164 foot-pounds of torque at 4,250 revs.

The engines also have chains – not belts – to drive the overhead cams, which means no worries about belt breakage. The engines solve another major problem in this era of $3 gasoline – yes, fuel stations on the drive through San Francisco showed regular gas at $2.99 per gallon – Hyundai engineers say you can use regular gas in the Sonata engines, or you can choose premium and get two additional horsepower and two more foot-pounds of torque.

By stretching the 2006 Sonata out over a longer platform with a longer, wider and taller body, the Sonata interior total volume goes from 114.1 cubic feet of the 2005 Sonata to 121.7 cubic feet of interior volume. That not only leaves the Accord (116.7 cubic feet) behind, but it also vaults the Sonata beyond the EPA’s interior-volume line of 120 cubic feet to delineate midsize from full-size, which means the Sonata qualifies as a large car on the inside while still midsize on the outside. Trunk capacity is 16.3 cubic feet – not quite as big as Camry’s 16.7, but much bigger than Accord’s 14.0.

Hyundai fulfills its other challenges to the establishment well. The basic GL model starts at $18,495 with the 2.4-liter four and is expected to consume 20 percent of brand buyers; the middle GLS with the four-cylinder starts at $19,995 and will account for another 20 percent; the GLS with the V6 starts at $21,495 and will be the largest-volume version at 35 percent; and the top LX with the 3.3-liter V6 starts at $23,495 and will comprise 25 percent of sales.

All models come with six airbags, including side-curtain, plus antilock on the four-wheel disc brakes and EBD (electronic brake distribution) to assure full braking in panic stops, plus an amazing standard feature of electronic stability control and traction control on the front-wheel-drive system. Hyundai officials are right in trumpeting that feature, as well as the insurance industryÂ’s evidence that cars with stability control show a 35 percent reduction in single-vehicle crashes, and a 30 percent reduction in crash fatalities. Projector headlights and foglights join power windows, keyless entries, air-conditioning and other standard amenities, and Hyundai just signed an agreement with XM Satellite Radio to include those devices as standard equipment in all Sonatas as soon as they can be factory installed.

It is commendable that Hyundai sought to improve its product more than worry about its identity, but the identity quest is not forgotten. A new global brand strategy will use the motto “Drive your way.” And a new ad campaign for the Sonata stresses it is “A Hyundai like you’ve never seen before.”

Mottos and buzzwords should matter less than the bottom-line comparisons with comparably equipped Accords and Camrys. The Sonata is $1,880 cheaper than an Accord when both have 4-cylinder engines, and $4,000 cheaper using V6 models. The difference is $2,700 cheaper against the Camry 4-cylinder and $2,900 cheaper with V6es. And yes, the Sonata with the V6 turns out to be cheaper than the better-known rivals with 4-cylinders.

On top of that, the Sonata has traction control and stability control devices which may not be standard, or even available, on some of those rivals, plus a 10-year, 100,000-mile powertrain warranty and 5-year, 60,000-mile overall warranty, against, for example, HondaÂ’s 3-year/36,000-mile warranty for both. The warranty has never mattered with Hondas or Toyotas, where durability and maintenance-free reputations prevail. If Hyundai can match that, its warranty may not matter, either.

That unbeatable warranty used to be the only reason new buyers were attracted to Hyundai, even if the Korean company tended to copy rather than try for leadership. The Sonata will change that perception, because its style, features, and flexibility make it an valid competitor, and the warranty is just a nice add-on.

Marty Sertich’s Hobey will be impossible to duplicate

Marty Sertich seems mature beyond his years, but he may have to grow old, with kids of his own, before he will fully appreciate what he meant to his mother during this wonderful, glorious, heroic Hobey Baker season.

ItÂ’s already obvious what Patty Sertich meant to Marty. She was his inspiration, his special beacon for both focusing on what he had to do, and realizing what things are truly important in life. But itÂ’s the reverse role that may take some time. Marty Sertich is far too humble to even acknowledge what he meant to his mom this past year, when he provided her with inspiration, serving as her beacon to try to push herself to extend her own finite boundaries, even while she accepted the horrible inevitability of inoperable, terminal, brain cancer.

Patty Sertich made it through the WCHA season, including a few trips to Colorado Springs to see her son win the WCHA scoring title for league co-champion Colorado College. She made it through to see him play in the WCHA Final Five. And she made it to Columbus, Ohio, to see the Frozen Four, and to see her older son win the 2005 Hobey Baker Memorial Award – the emblem of the nation’s top college hockey player.
She didnÂ’t make it to the Hobey Baker ceremonial banquet, on a Thursday night in the Twin Cities. She was in a hospice by then. Two days after the ceremony, on Saturday, May 21, Patty Sertich could fight no more.

The funeral, at Roseville Lutheran Church, was one that will not be forgotten by the hundreds of people who attended. It lasted more than two and a half hours, and it included heartfelt and fond reminiscences by her two sisters, and by some close friends. One of them said it best: “Patty was born nice, and never changed.”

The service also included emotional, riveting comments by Marty, his younger brother Mike, and their older sister Sara. Steve Sertich, who had met Patty while he, too, was a star at Colorado College, and married her to start this remarkable family, spoke last, and by then, the entire congregation was emotionally drained – wiped out by the strength and character it took for those three adult kids to power through their emotion-choked tributes to insist their mom will be with them the rest of their lives.

Steve pointed out that he and Sara had been able to be with Patty almost constantly, but it was tougher on the boys. He knew it had taken heroic levels of performance to go through what they had, but Steve added that nothing could duplicate the heroics displayed by his wife, who never lost her cheery, upbeat outlook on life, throughout her ordeal.

Patty Sertich had beaten breast cancer a few years ago, which made the brain tumor, discovered just over a year before, seem all the more unfair. But “unfair” is a word that Steve refused to use, because Patty had refused to use it, and forbade her family from using it as well.

By the time Patty and Steve and Sara came to Columbus for the Frozen Four to see Marty and possibly freshman Mike play for the Tigers, she was too thin – even for her. Always smiling and vibrant, Patty stood up to an endless barrage of bright media lights and interviews. Occasionally, when she would lose her place while describing something, she’d tap Steve on the arm, or Mike, or Sara, and they’d supply the missing phrase so she could keep on, smiling at her bobble as she recovered to finish the sentence.

For those of us who first knew Patty as the wife of a star hockey player, then later as the mom of a couple more star hockey players, or for those who got to know her in their Roseville neighborhood, or when she went up to chip in as a waitress at the Shoreview branch of Panino’s – a small collection of restaurants started by her father in Colorado Springs – it was impossible not to feel like you’d known her all your life.

The chance to talk to her in Columbus provided a memorable glimpse of the real Patty Sertich, the one weÂ’ll all remember.

“When I was first diagnosed, it was very hard,” she said that day. “But I realize how important it is to have all my family with me. We’ve all been so happy and lucky, and I’ve finally found peace. I’m lucky we have each other every day, and we love each other so much, we don’t have to think about the bad stuff any more.”

In my last conversation with Patty, I recalled how we used to see her either at hockey games, or up at PaninoÂ’s, scurrying around like a hyperactive waitress trying to impress the boss. I told her that when we got back to Minnesota, weÂ’d be stopping at PaninoÂ’s.

“Oh, we will be going up there, too,” she said.

“But I bet you won’t be waiting on tables,” I joked.

“I wish they’d let me,” she said.

None of what she said was intended to distract in any way from her sonÂ’s big day. But it was the last time I saw Patty Sertich. And the light in her eyes told all that was necessary to show how much her son’s special season had meant to inspire her.

Marty Sertich, a junior at Colorado College, had all the statistical ingredients for the Hobey. He led the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in scoring with 17 goals, 25 assists, for 42 points, four more than Brett Sterling, his linemate, fellow all-WCHA, All-America, and Hobey Baker finalist. The two led Colorado College to a share of the league championship at 19-7-2 with eventual NCAA champion Denver. In all games, Sertich led the nation as well, with 27-37—64 statistics, an eyelash ahead of Sterling’s 34-29—63. CC finished 31-9-3, losing only to Denver, its archrival, in the NCAA tournament semifinals.

At 5-foot-9 and 163 pounds, Sertich relies on incredible quickness and playmaking to command the spotlight for both spectators and opponents. Whether it’s darting around and through defenders in 1-on-1 situations, escaping from congestion with the puck, or luring defenders to try to stop him from shooting – only to realize he rarely shoots if he can set up a teammate – he is the consummate team player.

“There was never any competition for who could get more points,” said Sterling, who joined Cornell goaltender David McKee as Hobey runners-up. “We complement each other – he being more of a passer and me more of a shooter. Being able to play on a line with Marty has been a treat for me.”

Two years ago, Sertich had a 9-20—29 freshman year at Colorado College, but critics still said he was too small, too light, and that the only reason he did so well was because he got to center 2003 Hobey Baker Award winner Peter Sejna, and Noah Clarke, a pair of All-America wingers. Two years later, teammates are attributing their success to being able to play with Marty.

When the award was presented at the NCAA tournament in Columbus, Marty Sertich said: “It’s been an unbelievable year, quite a ride. I want to thank my teammates, and the whole coaching staff…and lastly, my family. I love you guys more than anything.”

In the audience, Steve and Patty Sertich beamed with joy at their sonÂ’s award, and they knew that MartyÂ’s tribute to his family was more than just protocol. The family had stressed the importance of Marty and Mike staying in college during their momÂ’s year-long struggle, so Steve and Patty traveled when they could to see them play, but mainly to see them.

“The boys had the hardest part, being away most of the time,” said Steve. “Marty’s compassion, honesty, and strength, comes from her, and the way she’s dealt with this horrible disease.”

Mike Sertich, a part-time player as a freshman, acknowledged that he and his brother often discussed the situation. “I could see it in Marty, that he quietly used it as motivation,” said Mike.

Marty Sertich, whose spectacular season personified courage and character, as well as skill, put it all in perspective. “I realized there are a lot of more important things in life,” he said. “It definitely helped drive me.”

He can’t appreciate, undoubtedly, how much the inspiration flowed both ways between his play and his mom. The family hockey heritage is readily traced on both sides of the family tree.

Steve Sertich, a former high school star at Virginia, Minnesota, went on to play at Colorado College where he was team MVP in the 1972-73 season. His dad – Marty’s grandfather – moved to Colorado Springs when Steve played there, and when he died, the downtown arena he managed was named as a memorial for the beloved “Pa” Sertich.

Patty, meanwhile, was the daughter of Tony Frasca, who remains a legend of CCÂ’s early years, and was a two-time All-America, in 1951 and 1952.

Steve married Patty, prompting Marty, at the funeral, from remarking, “My dad got lucky.” Steve played for the 1976 U.S. Olympic team, and they moved enough to fulfill a vagabond’s resume. Finally they settled in Minnesota, closer to where SteveÂ’s brother, Mike Sertich, was coaching at Minnesota-Duluth. Steve taught and coached both of his sons at Roseville High School, but by the time Marty was a senior, his intended entry to UMD was eliminated when Mike Sertich was forced to resign. So Colorado College, which always meant so much to both parents, became the logical choice.

“The game is a lot faster now than when I played,” said Steve, who now coaches the Roseville girls high school hockey team. “The players are a lot bigger, and the game is a lot more physical. Marty’s shiftiness is pretty much a matter of survival.”

The history, the heritage, and the closeness of both families culminated in the brilliant 2004-05 season by Marty Sertich – a season so special that it will be hard to duplicate, even though he will return, with Sterling, to try to win an NCAA title for CC. Consider how Patty Sertich accepted congratulations at the Hobey Baker Award presentation in Columbus. “It’s wonderful that Marty won it,” she said. “But if Brett had won, he’d have been just as deserving.”

There you have it. From age 9, hockey moms are famous for believing their sons are the greatest ever. If a son someday makes a Division I college team, a mom is more certain than ever that her son is the best. But here was Patty Sertich, a hockey mom so special that, even though she deserved to gloat because her son IS the best player in college hockey, instead was eager to share her familyÂ’s glory.

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 haven’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.”

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.)

BMW 3-Series icon reaches new dimension for 2006

PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Ever since the introduction of BMWÂ’s 7-Series luxury cars and 5-Series midsize sedans, the automotive world has held its collective breath awaiting the introduction of the fifth-generation BMW 3-Series. So the arrival of the car deserves a collective sigh, both for admiration and relief.

The 2006 3-Series expands on what is arguably the world’s favorite sporty sedan and improves upon a near-perfect car in almost every way, with more power, more handling agility and more interior room. The focal point will be the car’s styling. It is both provocative and alluring, wearing the new and sometimes controversial BMW design cues, which make it admirably different from the existing 2005 3-Series, but with less startling appearance than either of its bigger brothers, the 7-Series or 5-Series – to everyone’s relief.

As evidence of its place in the modern automotive world, BMW anticipates selling 50-50 to men and women, and strengthens its hold on advancement of technology. The Â’06 models debuted in showrooms just this past weekend, with the 325i starting at $30,995, and the 330i at $36,995. Both now have the same 3.0-liter inline 6-cylinder engine, but it’s not the same award-winning 3.0 inline 6 as in the 2005 models. Different configurations of the intake and engine-management systems increase the 330i by 30 horsepower to 255, while the 325i, which used to have 274 horsepower from its 2.5-liter 6, now has 215.

Both engines have BMWÂ’s Valvetronic variable valve-timing standard, and the power is distilled through manual or automatic transmissions, both of them 6-speeds. Both cars offer optional sport packages with superbly bolstered seats, larger wheels (17-inch on the 325i, 18-inch on the 330i), and firmer suspension.

In style, the 3-Series looks more like a compact version of the midsize 5-Series than it does the current 3-Series. It has the same short-overhang at the front, with the long hood, and the flip-up tail. It also has the new-age contours grooving on the hood and along the sides.

When BMW altered the large 7-Series into a controversial new shape, I was among the masses who criticized it for going too far, with its droopy-eyelid headlights and its tacked-on bustle rear. When the 5-Series came out next, with similar cues but with the 7Â’s most objectionable elements distinctly toned down, I thought it was a beautiful compromise. When many magazine critics ripped the 5, I thought it was almost because they still disliked the 7.

The 3-Series is another step, less of a departure but clearly differentiated both from its current model and its restyled siblings. The existing 3 is near-perfect in style and will forever be beautiful, and the harshest critics may need some time to adjust to the new look. But as soon as a few new-generation 3s show up, car-folks will find themselves looking back at the predecessors and mentally noting that while beautiful, they are the “old” Beemers.

In the rush to criticize, BMW director of design Chris Bangle – an American, from Wisconsin – has been vilified. Pick up any car magazine over the last two years will jab at “Chris Bangle’s design,” but actually he did none of the actual design of any current BMW models. I praised the beauty of the 6-Series Coupe as vigorously as I spelled out my dislikes for the 7-Series sedans, and now I find out that Adrian Vanhooydonk designed both the 7 and the 6, while other designers drew up the 5 and the 3.

True, Bangle directed the work, and he is responsible for taking any heat, but a BMW board also must approve any design. According to product communications manager Dave Buchko, BMWÂ’s standard policy was that the board could not intrude on the designersÂ’ domain by suggesting specific alterations, but could only approve or disapprove the final design.

With the car ready to hit showrooms for the May 7 weekend, BMW wanted to properly introduce the new 3-Series, because it is a car – no, THE car – that best serves as the iconic link between exotic and practical in the automotive world. So it selected an exotic and mysterious location for the introduction…Pittsburgh?

Yes, Pittsburgh, and while BMWÂ’s marketing types layered us with various and assorted ways to link Pittsburgh to the 3-Series, none of them mattered alongside the most pragmatic reason: a new and readily available road-racing track located just far enough from the city for an hour and a half drive over a sequence of winding, twisting, hilly highways.

Perfect, both in fact and analogy. The 3-Series itself has always been basically pragmatic, even while reaching above and beyond the practical boundaries of most competitors’ cars, thereby inviting all sorts of lofty fantasies. That takes care of the analogy. In fact, the highways leading the 2-year-old Beaver Run race course are challenging and satisfying to cover, with abrupt hills and curves, and with the rare advantage of being not-as-all smooth. Most introductions strive for smooth roads to make the ride more impressive; BMW chose rather rough roads for the same reason – to display how the new suspension could carry the 3-Series cars with poise and grace over both normal and rough, irregular asphalt.

The new design stretches the car by 2.2 inches in length and 3 inches in width, both of which expand interior room. Increased use of high-tensile steel makes the body lighter, and yet 25 percent stiffer. Front suspension is now of double-pivot design, and the rear has a new five-link arrangement.

BMWÂ’s unique Active Steering, which also stirred controversy on the 5-Series, is adapted as an option for the lighter 3. It is carefully designed to enhance, rather than intrude on, driving instincts. Some claim it does too much for the driver. I think it is one of the more significant improvements in decades for both safety and performance handling. The system allows a quick-steering feel of maximum response and agility at low speeds, but firms up for razor-sharp adjustments at higher speeds.

Racing is fun, but in real-world driving, loss of control is often the result of over-correcting after an emergency swerve – in other words, swerving to miss something but turning too far, because of over-boosted power steering or over-boosted adrenaline, and then having to counter-steer abruptly to correct the first move – sometimes worsening the whole situation. Having compared the 5’s system with and without Active Steering, and now running the 3 on autocross courses, slaloms, and at high speeds on the race track, I’m convinced it enhances a driver’s ability at the outer limits by virtually eliminating the need for steering correction. With Active Steering, the car reacts so precisely that you needn’t correct, so naturally you don’t over-correct.

The Dynamic Stability Control also is very technical and impressive. You can set it for total control, or shut it off if you feel the need to use the throttle to swing the rear out a little, or you can set it for a third setting that gives you some, but not total, skid control. We tried all three settings on the controlled autocross course, outlined by cones. If it had been a practical joke, it was a good one.
The starter told me I had the system switched on fully for my first autocross run. I said IÂ’d prefer to run first with it off, then add some, then full control, but he said as long as it was on full, to try it that way.

I made one turn to the left, then went hard into the purposely placed sand in the second turn, to the right. I skidded sideways through the sand, taking out about a half-dozen cones and winding up off the track. Later, the fellow still thought everything was on, but was overruled by another official, who said the system indeed was fully off, instead. Next run, with it on full, the car refused to skid in the same sand as it zapped around the same corner.

For more high-tech stuff, consider the active cruise control, with radar-controlled intervals to maintain a preset gap behind the car ahead, and active xenon headlights that throw some light around corners as you start to turn into them. Various other cars have those features, but few have the 3’s hill-holding feature, which, with the stick shift, means you stop on a steep incline with one foot on the clutch and the other on the brake, and when you step off the brake to hit the gas, the brake holds for three seconds, giving you time to get on the gas and ease off the clutch without rolling backwards.

The dreaded, overly technical “iDrive” system is an option, but only if you get the navigation system, so you can avoid it and settle for simple, ergonomically sound knobs and buttons.

The added size of the car is not significant, but it might prod fans of the current fourth-generation 3-Series to hustle out and buy one of the remaining 2005s. The new car’s enlargment may be a clever plan to make room for future importing of the smaller BMW 1-Series. WeÂ’ll have to wait and see.

If I have one complaint, it is the usual snow-belt driver concern that rear-wheel drive is less effective on ice and snow than front-wheel drive, traction-controls notwithstanding. But in the debate over FWD and RWD, we certainly can applaud the BMW 3-Series, with its 50-50 weight distribution on the front and rear axles, for simply being the best rear-wheel-drive sedan on the planet. It has been that for a decade or two, and virtually every car-maker, admittedly or secretly, chooses the 3-Series as its new-design benchmark for handling. The competition hasn’t caught up yet, and judging by the first drives of the 2006 3-Series, the gap may be widening.

(John Gilbert writes weekly auto reviews, and can be reached at cars@jwgilbert.com.)

Dodge recreates Charger as high-power 2006 icon

DURHAM, N.C. — The Dodge Charger is DaimlerChryslerÂ’s weapon of choice to challenge Ford and General Motors on the NASCAR stock car auto racing circuit. So when DaimlerChrysler assembled U.S. automotive journalists to drive the 2006 Dodge Charger at a race track near Raleigh-Durham, N.D., we assumed it would be at any of several nearby NASCAR ovals.

We should have known better. As wildly successful as NASCAR has become, loyal fans donÂ’t seem to care that the race cars are harnessed by such specific rules that all of them are virtually the same race underneath, with phony bodies, and the Taurus, Monte Carlo and Grand Prix race cars donÂ’t exist in the real world in V8, rear-drive form.
The Charger does have front-engine, rear-drive, and it does come with a V8 – a Hemi, if you will – so it’s more valid than most other stock cars on the circuit. But the Charger is definitely intended to keep DaimlerChrysler on a roll, in the real world as well as on the race tracks of the country, so the race track we drove off to was Virginia International Raceway, a slick road-racing course where we could push the new Charger to its limits, as well as our own.

We also got to drive the Charger Daytona R/T model, the highest of high-performance versions of the car. The Chargers we drove to the track and back, on some very interesting rural highways from North Carolina northward across the border and into Virginia, were both Hemi and V6 models.

DaimlerChrysler brought the Chrysler 300C and Dodge Magnum boldly into the U.S. automotive scene a year ago, and celebrated sales success that surprised even the most optimistic executives when the 300 won the North American Car of the Year award at the Detroit International Auto Show in January. Even more surprising than the 300 beating out the thoroughly redesigned Mustang and Corvette for that award was that the Dodge Magnum, which split the Chrysler-aimed votes of the jury, finished a strong fourth.

At that same auto show, Dodge showed off the 2006 Charger for the first time. It was impressive, and also surprising, because it was a large, four-door sedan. The sleek and stylish Charger coupe was one of the mainstays of the muscle car era, reaching stardom not only on professional race tracks but in the hands of road-warrior drag-racers all over the country, and gaining an ultimate pinnacle as the star attraction of the Dukes of Hazard television show, where it shared top billing with a couple of guys best remembered as “Whatsisname” next to the “General Lee” red Charger with the number on the door.

After 27 years of hibernation, the Charger is back, and DaimlerChrysler claims its styling is distinctly coupe-like, even if the car is not a coupe, but a large, four-door sedan. Built at the same Brampton, Ontario, plant in Canada as the 300 and Magnum, the Charger is available now, and it is, as advertised, more than just a sleek four-door model of the chopped-wagon-only Magnum.

When first rumors hit, I expected the Charger to look like the Magnum up front. The Magnum shares platforms with the 300, but with the crosshair grille that has become DodgeÂ’s trademark. Instead, the Charger has a hawk-like beak up front, with an overhanging hood. Dodge officials say it is leaning into the wind, but it does have a sleek drag coefficient of 0.33 as well.

The silhouette does slope back on the roofline to a notched meeting with the body behind the passenger compartment, enhancing the muscular rear wheel-wells and then hurrying back to the sheer drop at the rear. Chrysler says the round quad taillights make a bow to the 1968 Chargers, but there is no question that the car is a modern-day leap with the historic name.

When DaimlerChrysler chairman Dieter Zetsche introduced the Charger in Detroit, he said: “There is nothing retro about this car. It is what might be designed if the Charger never left the market 28 years ago. The front end sneers at you, as only a Dodge can.
”
Anyone who has driven the Magnum or 300 is aware that the chassis is a solid piece, and the suspension handles everything from rough roads to freeways (or race tracks) with precision and poise. And the power is both a bit retro and a lot modern. The Charger picks up on those attributes.

The Hemi – a modern version of the hemispherical-head V8 monsters from the 1960s – is a 5.7-liter engine that goes back to pushrods, rather than overhead camshafts. If that part is more retro than high-tech, much the way Chevy’s Corvette engine is, the Hemi moves toward up in technology with its Multi-Displacement System, which drops from eight cylinders to four whenever you’re in constant cruise mode, anywhere between 18 and 80 miles per hour, and don’t need all that power.

Step on the gas, and you’re right back to the full eight, seamlessly, and with no indication that anything has changed – except the speed by which the dotted center line on the highway is zipping past. The cylinder reduction can improve fuel economy by 20 percent, but most Charger buyers will be more interested in how much power they can exhibit.

The 5.7-liter V8 has 340 horsepower at 5,000 RPMs with a whopping 390 foot-pounds of torque peaking at 4,000 revs, and it can fling the Charger from 0-60 in a 6-second burst, whether you hand-shift the AutoStick five-speed automatic or just mash the gas pedal down with the shifter in “D.”

Another throwback to the late Â’60s Chargers is the R/T model, which adds specially tuned performance induction and exhaust systems that increase the power from 340 to 350 horses. The R/T also has performance brakes, dual exhaust pipes, an enhanced AutoStick for quicker shifts, wider 18-inch aluminum wheels with all-season Michelin touring tires, more firmly tuned suspension, and more bolstered bucket seats.

Even that isn’t the ultimate Charger, however. That will come within a month, when the Daytona R/T package, which comes with a stunning burnt-orange paint job called “Go Mango!” (get it? Go Mango!), or Top Banana, both of which have flat black graphic stripes, a rear spoiler, an advanced steering gear, more high-performance exhaust.

If THAT isnÂ’t sufficient, coming soon to a Dodge dealership near you, by late summer, will be the Charger SRT8, which enlarges the 5.7-liter Hemi to 6.1 liters, and has DodgeÂ’s Street Racing Team (SRT) wrench 425 horsepower out of it.

All fun and games, but more. The Charger can be obtained more oriented for real-world families, who will appreciate that the sleek coupe-like roofline leaves plenty of room for three adult-sized riders in the rear, and while their heads are actually under the rear glass, that backlight has heavily shaded lines at the top to prevent you from being broiled by the afternoon sun.

The Charger wonÂ’t come in the all-wheel drive version that graces the 300 or Magnum, with marketing folks determining the more high-performance aim of the car. It will, however, come loaded with the very impressive 3.5-liter V6 engine, which has plenty of power for normal usage. As a $23,995 base sedan, the SE comes with that V6 and antilock brakes, traction control, stability control, and 17-inch wheels.

Move up to the SXT, at a $25,995 base, and numerous upgrades in trim and features are included, such as leather steering wheel and shift-knob trim.

The R/T base price is $29,995, and adds the availability of the Hemi V8 and performance group seats and other features.

The Daytona model with all the flashy trim and performance tweaks starts at $32,495. And weÂ’ll just have to wait and see about the SRT8.

We found the Hemi V8 in the loaded R/T model swift and impressive on the way out to Virginia International, and the car was surprisingly good on the road-racing track. I say surprisingly, because there is never any doubt that youÂ’re in a heavy car, but the brakes harness all that power well, and the suspension swung through the tightest turns very well.

I had driven on that track before, and I must admit I got a little over-confident at one point, when I reestablished my favorite line around a tight downhill turn. When I took it the way I remembered best, it was exhilarating, because I came out of the turn with so much speed. But I carried so much speed that I went into the next hairpin right turn hot – too hot. WAY too hot. As I swung the big Charger through the turn, the thought flashed through my mind how embarrassing it was going to be when I had to explain how I slid off the track and into the grass.But it only flashed for an instant, and then the electronic stability control (ESP) provided an assist that was at least as thrilling as the previous turn, and I simply made the hairpin without more than a slight squeal from the tires.

Very impressive. You can drive the Charger hard, and harder, and even up to too hard, and, fortunately, the ESP is smarter than the driver when you overdo it.

Later, we drove back to Durham in an SXT model with the V6, and we found it possibly more surprising than the V8 versions. Yes, the Hemi models are impressive, but we pretty well anticipated they would be. We were not anticipating that the 3.5-liter V6 would be able to make the big Charger perform with adequate swiftness and performance.

Maybe the 1968 Charger could perform well in basic-engine form too, but I canÂ’t remember. But the new car will be a proper reincarnation of that old icon. Even without the General LeeÂ’s number on the door, and whatsisname behind the wheel.

(John Gilbert writes weekly reviews and can be reached at cars@jwgilbert.com.)

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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.
  
  For those who want to keep up with John Gilbert's view of sports, mainly hockey with a Minnesota slant, click on the following:
  
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• Exhaust Notes:

  PADDLING
  More and more cars are offering steering-wheel paddles to allow drivers manual control over automatic or CVT transmissions. A good idea might be to standardize them. Most allow upshifting by pulling on the right-side paddle and downshifting with the left. But a recent road-test of the new Porsche Panamera, the paddles for the slick PDK direct-sequential gearbox were counter-intuitive -- both the right or left thumb paddles could upshift or downshift, but pushing on either one would upshift, and pulling back on either paddle downshifted. I enjoy using paddles, but I spent the full week trying not to downshift when I wanted to upshift. A little simple standardization would alleviate the problem.
  
  

  SPEAKING OF PADDLES
  The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution has the best paddle system, and Infiniti has made the best mainstream copy of that system for the new Q50, and other sporty models. And why not? It's simply the best. In both, the paddles are long, slender magnesium strips, affixed to the steering column rather than the steering wheel. Pull on the right paddle and upshift, pull on the left and downshift. The beauty is that while needing to upshift in a tight curve might cause a driver to lose the steering wheel paddle for an instant, but having the paddles long, and fixed, means no matter how hard the steering wheel is cranked, reaching anywhere on the right puts the upshift paddle on your fingertips.
  
  

  TIRES MAKE CONTACT
  Even in snow-country, a few stubborn old-school drivers want to stick with rear-wheel drive, but the vast majority realize the clear superiority of front-wheel drive. Going to all-wheel drive, naturally, is the all-out best. But the majority of drivers facing icy roadways complain about traction for going, stopping and steering with all configurations. They overlook the simple but total influence of having the right tires can make. There are several companies that make good all-season or snow tires, but there are precious few that are exceptional. The Bridgestone Blizzak continues to be the best=known and most popular, but in places like Duluth, MN., where scaling 10-12 blocks of 20-30 degree hills is a daily challenge, my favorite is the Nokian WR. Made without compromising tread compound, the Nokians maintain their flexibility no matter how cold it gets, so they stick, even on icy streets, and can turn a skittish car into a winter-beater.