Nissan’s worldwide introduction looks beyond 2005
SAN FRANCISCO, CA. — As new-car introductions go, Nissan put on a mind-boggling display, gathering all of its worldwide vehicles for 2005 in San Francisco, then bringing in 12 waves of journalists from North America, Europe, South America, Central America, Australia, Asia, and the Middle East, for an event called Nissan 360.
In a way, it made sense. Nissan sells more than three million vehicles in 190 countries, and has 27 plants in 18 countries. So instead of holding separate introductory sessions in all corners of the world, Nissan brought everything and everybody to one site for a three week extravaganza of test drives and displays.
About 70 different vehicles were available to be driven by more than 500 journalists in all. There were so many vehicles that the full day of trying to drive as many cars and trucks as possible required some astute note-taking to keep things sorted out as we drove short and long courses from two different base sites north of San Francisco, just across the Golden Gate Bridge.
But any negatives were overcome by the realization that some of the unusual and previously unseen vehicles would be coming to the U.S., and the intriguing question of exactly which ones, and when. There were powerful gasoline engines, economical gasoline engines, hybrid vehicles, fuel-cell vehicles, diesel engine cars, and they ranged in size from subcompact to compact, to midsize, to extremely long and slinky cars, sports cars, small trucks, large trucks, SUVs, and an array of vans from mini to maxi.
Most mind-blowing were a couple of cars altered by Nissan’s “Nismo†high-performance arm, including a flashy, laser-striped 350Z and a Sentra SE-R, which just happened to be the first two vehicles I leaped into. I also enjoyed an X-Trail, which isn’t sold in the U.S., but is the Xterra equivalent sold in Europe, Canada and Japan.
The most intriguing real-world vehicle in the whole batch was something called the Micra. It is a small car, subcompact in exterior dimensions, but fully capable of housing four full-sized people with trunk-room. It appears perfectly placed to capitalize on the current trend back to smaller commuter vehicles with maximum fuel efficiency, in order to cope with fuel prices that keep escalating above and beyond $2 per gallon.
Nissan showed off three varieties of a car called the Cube, which are starkly styled, square-back vehicles that also are pretty square-front, looking a lot like the Scion xB, and I enjoyed heckling some Nissan executives from Japan about the whole purpose of the display being to show off that Nissan has a square little vehicle before Toyota created the Scion.
But the Micra was my favorite. It is sold in Europe, and also in Japan as the March, which blends the ongoing relationship Nissan of Japan has enjoyed with Renault of France. Their connection is referred to as “the Alliance†by everyone connected with Nissan, and it is an arrangement by which Renault now owns 44 percent of Nissan, while Nissan also owns 15 percent of Renault.
The complex arrangement started out with Renault investing some much-needed money to bail out Nissan from some major financial difficulties in 1999. The two companies have remained on their own, with completely separate boards of directors, even though Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn adds to the confusion by being CEO of both companies. Obviously, the two companies are sharing basic vehicle platforms, manufacturing facilities, and powertrains, to say nothing of ideas.
Since the Alliance came into effect, consider the all-new products from Nissan, such as the 350Z, the renewed Altima and Maxima, and entirely new Quest minivan, Titan pickup truck and Armada SUV, to say nothing of all the new Infiniti models. Japanese officials steadfastly insist that there is no French input on the styling of those vehicles, but nobody can say they don’t all have a stylish flair – as do the cars Renault is now building for its European customers.
The 360 obviously stood for the number of degrees in going all the way around the world. “But 360 also indicates Nissan has come full circle as a company,†said Tadao Takahashi, NissanÂ’s executive vice president of manufacturing. “WeÂ’re back as one of the worldÂ’s leading automakers. WeÂ’ve eliminated our debt, which has significantly improved our flexibility.Ââ€
Nissan produced its first vehicle in 1914 with a car called the DAT. Then it built a Datsun Type 14 in 1935 as the first mass-produced car in Japan. Despite more recent successes as the Z, which became the best-selling sports car in the world, NissanÂ’s fortunes dipped greatly a decade ago, but with RenaultÂ’s cash infusion, the comeback has been remarkable. Nissan now has plants in places like Egypt, Malaysia, Thailand and Brazil, in addition to the better-known facilities in Japan, North America and Europe.
Nissan just completed a $40-million, 100,000 square foot expansion of its North American technical center in Michigan, employing 200 additional engineers, out of a worldwide total of 16,300 engineers. It builds full-size Titan pickups and the Armada in a new plant in Canton, Miss., and builds the V8 engines for them up the highway in Georgia.
In addition, Nissan is poised to capitalize on the sudden growth of the car market in Japan, something every manufacturer is focused on. Nissan has invested $1-billion in a 50-percent partnership with Dongfeng, the leading Chinese auto manufacturer, in addition to a $190-million investment in Thailand.
Those things may seem distant to U.S. consumers, because they are. But they tell about the worldly nature of automotives these days. Nissan sold 3,057,000 cars a year ago, including 856,000 in U.S. sales, and 837,000 in Japan, and 542,000 in Europe. In the U.S., Nissan just had the best May sales in its history, selling 87,000 vehicles for a 28 percent increase over May of 2003. But while expanding, it also is streamlining its production, introducing 28 new models from 2005 to 2007 while also cutting down from 24 different platforms of five years ago to 15 by the end of this year.
We can anticipate that the Cube will come to the U.S., and we can only hope the Micra makes it, too. IÂ’ve always enjoyed the agility of driving smaller cars, to say nothing of the economy, but I also have always wondered why most economy cars are made of such chintzy pieces. I mean, why canÂ’t small-car buyers get some of the great features of larger cars? Just because you want economy, efficiency and ease of maneuvering and parking doesnÂ’t mean you donÂ’t want a fancy audio system and great seats.
Alfonso Albaisa, the fellow who was chief designer of the Quest and is now design director for Nissan, read my mind. “Nissan is a sporty company,†Albaisa said. “When it came to planning the new Altima, we thought, ‘Why does a sedan have to be boring?Â’ When we built the Quest, minivans were utility boxes, but we wanted to make it sexy, because women didnÂ’t want to drive vans anymore. Now look at the Micra, which has keyless entry, and rain-sensing wipers – itÂ’s a small car, but it has great features.Ââ€
I drove two Micras, one of which had a gasoline engine, and was peppy and fun to drive. The other one, a sort of lima-bean green – a color almost as unappetizing as the descriptive vegetable, I must say – was powered by a 1.5-liter turbodiesel with a five-speed stick shift. It was quick, agile and thoroughly enjoyable to drive in all circumstances.
It also was clean, didnÂ’t smell foul and didnÂ’t smoke or clatter the way we remember a lot of diesels. I found out later that Nissan had imported European diesel fuel, which is far cleaner than the stuff we are forced to buy. Ah, but as of 2006, our diesel fuel will have to drop to 15 parts per million of sulfur content, from about 340 parts per million now. So the Micra has a chance to be NissanÂ’s rounded Mini Cooper.
Nissan, it turns out, built three different diesel engines for its global outlets, while Renault had five or six. Since their alliance, Nissan has quit making diesels, yielding to RenaultÂ’s expertise, and while Nissans now use Renault diesels, Renault buys NissanÂ’s fantastic 3.5-liter V6.
Among other impressive drives, I had brief tours in three different X-Trail models, with gasoline, diesel and fuel-cell power. I also drove an Altima hybrid, which will be out in about a year using the technology licensed from Toyota, with a Nissan engine, until Nissan can complete its own hybrid technology. There also was a long, sleek sedan called the Teana, which is sold in Japan and had a continuously-variable transmission that could manually be shifted through eight gear-stops. That was one of several right-hand steering vehicles I drove, which was an adventure on two-lane California roads in the mountains.
But the Micra remained the vehicle that most impressed me, as it sailed up the hill from Sausalito, to the upper reaches of the Headlands, where the carÂ’s smooth, turbo-power was interrupted only when I stopped to enjoy the panoramic view of San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge. From the looks of things, NissanÂ’s outlook is just as impressive.
(John Gilbert writes weekly auto columns and can be reached at cars@jwgilbert.com.)
Subaru creates a new, mainstream Legacy for 2005
Subaru has an unusual problem. The Japanese company has carved a definite niche in the U.S. automotive market by making cars known to be utilitarian and quirky, in about equal doses. As useful and flexible as its all-wheel-drive sedans and wagons have been for families concerned about durability and foul-weather performance, they also have been a little weird. Call them stylishly challenged.
For 2005, Subaru’s “problem†is that the new Legacy GT is decidedly NOT weird, quirky or eccentric. Its lines flow smoothly from front to rear, and while driving the cars at the media introduction in the Las Vegas desert region, or during a recent week-long road test, I found the Legacy GT attracted a common reaction. People frequently asked what it was, and when told it was the new Subaru Legacy GT, they expressed surprise. Some said they thought at first it might be a BMW.
Nobody, until now, has ever mentioned Subaru and BMW in the same statement. So having achieved what might be called the automotive mainstream, Subaru must now take its unique assets and prove it can swim in that more-congested mainstream.
Subaru is a subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries, and the first Subaru compact and subcompact cars were built road-grader tough, with a primitive ruggedness. The first Legacy came along in 1989, and Subaru attempted to make it more stylish. It evolved, and evolved, but it always was readily identifiable by its corporate quirks.
By stubbornly clinging to a couple of ideas – a flat-opposed “boxer†engine and all-wheel drive – Subaru was out there ahead of the pack in foul-weather performance. Audi also has two decades established in all-wheel drive with its quattro system, but Subaru always provided it at bargain, economy-car prices. The new one does its best to hold that line, and the manufacturer hopes it will rise beyond 90,000 in annual sales.
The current Subaru Legacy continued to do everything a Subaru should, and looked close to mainstream. For 2005, the Legacy GT has shed its cocoon and is downright handsome. Strikingly attractive, its new body has been stretched by nearly two inches in overall length, over a wheelbase that is about an inch longer, at 105.1 inches. The low front grille tapers neatly to the passenger compartment, and while it still has a large hood scoop, it is integrated stylishly into the hood now. The silhouette has a sweeping roofline contour, and the rear has a well-fashioned look that does give it a BMW-ish appearance.
“We lost our way,†said product planner Toshio Masuda, explaining the motive behind the new car. “We asked ourselves, ‘Who are we?Â’ In 1995 we were credited with the worldÂ’s first sport-utility wagon, and weÂ’ve always kept our commitment to symmetric all-wheel drive engineering and value for our customers. For 2005, this model has sensuous performance, intelligent value, and design and quality built in, without making any sacrifice or compromise.Ââ€
The other thing that happened in recent years was the popularity in the U.S. of sport-utility vehicles of all sizes. The huge ones stand alone, but midsize and compact SUVs stress useful roominess and the great attribute of all-wheel drive for foul weather driving. Their popularity has proven that the market came back to where Subaru always has been. All that remained for Subaru to become fully capable of capitalizing was a complete overhaul in the styling department.
With both the sleek four-door sedan and the companion station wagon – which Subaru prefers to call a sport-utility wagon – the fourth-generation Legacy has the all-wheel-drive segment covered, with various levels of power and all-wheel-drive systems available. The revised shape has extremely low coefficient of drag figures, with the sedan 0.28 and the wagon 0.31, thanks to a lowered center of gravity, and optional 17-inch wheels with low-profile tires enhance the GT model’s handling.
Subarus always have been tough, but the new Legacy improves its safety with the stronger body and a design that deflects impacts to the perimeter, with 39 percent of the structure using high-tensile steel protecting the occupants. Resistance to bending is improved 14 percent, torsional rigidity is 5 percent better.
The base 2.5-liter four-cylinder has 168 horsepower and 166 foot-pounds of torque – fully adequate for most everyday family purposes. The Legacy GT adds dual overhead camshafts instead of the single overhead-cam of the base engine, and an intercooled turbocharger boosts horsepower to 250 at 5,600 RPMs, and 250 foot-pounds of torque at 3,600 RPMs.
To get 250 horses out of 2.5 liters, Subaru has deployed all the high-tech tricks, with lighter yet stronger components and variable valve-timing. The stiffer body structure is lightened with selected aluminum body components, such as the hood, and aluminum parts to the refined suspension to help it stick to the road. The Legacy GT stays flat and performs very well, whether on normal roadways, or on the road course at Las Vegas Speedway – where even a rude and overbearing driving instructor’s constant barking failed to inhibit appreciation of the car’s high-speed performance.
The Legacy GT offers both a five-speed manual – a six-speed stick would be even better – or a five-speed automatic transmission. The automatic has a manual control gate for the shift lever, or can be controlled by buttons designed into the custom Momo steering wheel. It is pretty foolproof, too, because if you use the button on the steering wheel to downshift, for example, the system will take over to upshift automatically when you get back to normal cruising, effectively excusing you for being distracted by the volume of the 120-watt audio system.
Engage the sport setting on the automatic and shift points are held to higher RPMs. It is an adaptive system, which detects aggressive driving, downshifting more promptly when you lift off the throttle in hard cornering, where a conventional automatic might upshift and then need to hunt for a better gear when you get back on the gas.
The three all-wheel drive systems have distinctly different features. The base Legacy with a four-speed automatic has an electronically varied transfer clutch that actively controls power distribution to where traction is best for driving conditions.
The Legacy GT has two different systems. With manual transmission, a viscous-coupling method locks the center differential and distributes power 50-50 to front and rear, with slippage at any wheel redistributing the dosage of power to the wheels with better traction. The Legacy GT with automatic has variable torque distribution, a system with a planetary center differential and electronically variable hydraulic clutch to send 55 percent of the power to the rear wheels in normal use, but also with the ability to shift power when traction varies.
Naturally, adding power and performance, as well as all sorts of interior refinements, costs something, but Subaru hasnÂ’t forgotten its roots. The base Legacy 2.5 is a substantial bargain, priced at $20,995 for the sedan and $21,995 for the wagon. Add $1,000 for the automatic transmission, and moving upscale to the more-refined, but still-normally-aspirated 2.5 Limited hikes the price to $24,445 sedan or $25,645 wagon. The sportier and more potent Legacy 2.5 GT with the turbo engineÂ’s power and other refinements boosts the price to $28,495 for the sedan and $29,695 for the wagon.
Both the GT and basic Legacy deserve scrutiny, just donÂ’t walk into a Subaru showroom and expect to identify the new Legacy GT by some odd or quirky design. Like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, thatÂ’s one part of SubaruÂ’s tradition that the company wonÂ’t mind discarding.
(John Gilbert writes weekly auto reviews. He can be reached at cars@jwgilbert.com.)
Get a car, get a horse…but mainly, get a life
My favorite plot of land in the world is a five-acre chunk of the hilltop on Lakewood Road, a couple miles up the North Shore of Lake Superior from Duluth. When IÂ’m test-driving a new car, I am always surprised how much the engine has to work to climb the long, gradual hill, which rises so abruptly to the top that it makes the earlier slope seem level. Equally amazing is how easy it is to sail back down, with that rapidly approaching vista of the big lake ahead.
I always drive down the full two miles without touching the gas pedal, just to prove that things will keep rolling, faster and faster, until I have to get on the brakes to stop for the Interstate 35. IÂ’m sure we could keep going until we ended with a splash. On the long haul up, however, you either get a good run or you need to downshift a manual transmission, while a carÂ’s automatic transmission downshifts itself to improve its torque for the deceptively steep finishing rise.
In the whirlwind world of automotive test drives, the benefits of spending a week at a time with the worldÂ’s newest and flashiest cars are obvious. Sometimes you have to affect an attitude befitting the car youÂ’re driving, if itÂ’s a Porsche, for example. Or a Cadillac, or Lexus, or BMW, when you might hesitate to climb out if youÂ’re wearing your scruffiest jeans. But whether I drive a $12,000 subcompact or a $100,000 luxury sedan or sports car, itÂ’s easy to stay humble, because IÂ’ve never forgotten how my fascination with cars began.
On my fifth birthday, my family moved from downtown Duluth to an old house on that Lakewood Road hilltop. We had a spectacular view of Lake Superior to the south and east through a heavily wooded five-acre plot. My dad was disabled with a lung removed from working in the steel plants during World War II, and my mom worked to buy groceries, first at the animal hospital owned by her veterinarian brother, Jack McKay, and later at St. LukeÂ’s Hospital, where my dad died when I was in high school.
My sister, Patt, and I grew up on that hilltop, although we had far different likes and dislikes, and far different opinions. Her opinions usually prevailed, because she was a couple of years older than I, and along with being more impulsive and extroverted, she also was bigger and stronger, and didnÂ’t hesitate to demonstrate the benefits of her physical advantage in disputes with her more introspective twerp of a brother.
Among our disagreements was Lake Superior, which I always felt a kinship with, needing frequent visits to this day, as if it were a family member. Patt didn’t need it and ultimately bought property on a flat piece of land in Esko, well out of view – and chill – of the big lake.
As a young kid, I was fascinated by all shape, size and manner of cars, and wanted to learn how to drive them more than how to fix their engines. Patt, meanwhile, had little time for cars because she was equally fascinated with horses. She got a horse when she was a teenager, and she named it Copper Khan Prince. Pretty lofty name for a nice-looking horse, one that befouled our five acres with attempts to fertilize a lawn I thought better suited for the one-kid baseball or football games I had invented.
By age 10, I could name every baseball batting order in both the National and American Leagues, and also every car, at a glance. We owned a green 1946 Dodge, which had replaced a grayish-white 1941 Plymouth as the family car. Later we got a black, 1951 DeSoto. All of these were well-used when we got them, but fantastic and new to us.
So enamored with cars was I that I would walk out to the road, which was gravel then, and stare down almost the full two miles to the lake. About every half hour or so, a car would appear as a tiny speck, Â’way down the road, and I would fix my gaze on that car, challenging myself to see how close it had to get before I could identify it. I got so I could name that Chevy, or whatever, from almost a mile away.
I used to always suggest that with cars, you only had to “feed†them when you used them, unlike horses, which were slower, messier, and you had to feed them whether you rode them or not. My sister scoffed, and probably smacked me if it suited her, and she went off riding her horse, while I never did, and never asked to.
What I did do, from age 10 or 11 on, was play summer baseball in the Lakeside area of Duluth. Usually, my mom would drop me off at 7 a.m. at Portman Square, with a bag lunch, as she went to work at the hospital, and sheÂ’d pick me up at 5:30 p.m. on her way home. Once in a while, after IÂ’d reached age 12, IÂ’d ride my bicycle the six miles to the playground instead.
The first two miles were fantastic, because I could make that Schwinn fly down the Lakewood hill. I could coast so fast that I was afraid to pedal because any more speed and IÂ’d be out of control. If only IÂ’d had a speedometer. It was more work riding in on the Old North Shore road, but not bad. Coming back home, however, was another matter. When IÂ’d first turn up the Lakewood Road, the first hill was so steep IÂ’d have to get off the bike and push it. Then I could ride for most of a mile. But then came that long, slow-sloping hill that was simply impossible to scale, and IÂ’d end up straining with every muscle, standing up in the pedals and pumping until the bike would come to a virtual standstill. Then IÂ’d hop off and push that balloon-tire, non-shifting bike the last half-mile.
On one memorable day when I had ridden my bike to the playground, it started to rain as I started heading homeward. I figured the faster I pedaled, the less wet I would get, which proved faulty when I was drenched after about a block. The raindrops felt like needles hitting my face, but I kept going, pretty miserable by the time I got to the Old North Shore road.
Finally, I got to the Lakewood Road, and as I turned northward, I realized how much more miserable it could get. Alternately pushing and riding the bike, and soaked to the bone, I wondered if I would ever make it as I strained to peek between the raindrops at the road ahead. Then I saw an unusual form approaching. It wasnÂ’t a car, or a motorcycle, or a bike. Unbelievably, it was Patt, riding along on Copper.
I must have looked pathetic, like the original drowned rat, and now, obviously to taunt and torment me, Patt had ridden her horse down to meet me. But she didn’t taunt me. She just dismounted and said “Here,†and thrust the reins into my hand. Then she wrenched the bicycle away from me, jumped on it, and took off, pedaling like crazy, heading up the hill.
I had no choice. I got on the horse, somehow, and I couldnÂ’t believe the luxurious feeling of sitting there, tall in the saddle, hanging onto the reins and wholly content to let Copper walk at a shuffle-stepping pace. I didnÂ’t care how long it was going to take, or that Patt was disappearing into the haze and rain ahead. But Copper did care. His mistress was getting away, so he bolted. I held on for dear life, pulling on the reins with absolutely no effect on his determination to catch up. Suddenly I knew how it must feel to ride in the Kentucky Derby. Or the Belmont, because itÂ’s longer.
We caught Patt, and mercifully Copper agreed to slow to a walk. We walked along the last half-mile together – me on the horse, and Patt pushing the Schwinn. I think that was the first time that I ever thought there was a chance that Patt might actually care about her nuisance of a little brother.
In later years, she raised four kids in her Esko home, and my wife, Joan, and I wound up in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, where our sons, Jack and Jeff, grew up. We drove to Duluth almost weekly, and on those occasions when we saw Patt, I think she always thought journalists made a lot of money, because of the flashy new cars IÂ’d be driving. She always had her horses, and dogs, and cats, and absolutely no interest in replacing her 11-year-old Toyota pickup with 140,000 miles.
Patt had worked for over 20 years at St. MaryÂ’s Hospital, where she was universally called Patt, with two Ts. Both she and my mom were named Mary, and because my sisterÂ’s middle name was Patterson, after my momÂ’s motherÂ’s maiden name, calling her Patt was the best way to identify the right one.
All of those memories came rushing back to me last Saturday, when I returned to that favorite piece of real estate on top of the hill on Lakewood Road. The road is paved now, and cars come by more frequently, as you look down from the top of the hill. I gazed through the newly budding trees to see the bluer-than-blue lake under the light blue sky, recalling how fast things have flown by, from those childhood days with my dad, my mom, and my big sister.
Now IÂ’m the only one left, because last Saturday was the first day of my life without my big sister.
Mary (Patt) Forest was stolen from this world far, far too early, by a cruel and particularly vicious form of cancer that was never detected until three weeks ago. We don’t know the significance of some new “miracle†drugs she had recently been taking to relieve the rheumatoid arthritis that bothered her, but a couple months ago she came down with symptoms of the flu, with chills and a fever.
The conditions worsened until one of her best friends coaxed her to go back to “her†hospital for a thorough examination. She did that on Monday, May 10th. Blood tests led to more tests, which divulged a shocking and fast-moving cancer that had invaded some of her organs. The doctor said he was astonished at how suddenly the cancer hit, and how extensive it had spread in such a short time. I’d heard that same assessment almost four decades ago, when Paul Forest, Patt’s husband and the love of her life, died before he reached 30, leaving Patt to raise four kids alone.
She was all alone in the hospital two weeks ago, too, when she told the doctor to go ahead with a heavy hit of chemotherapy. It knocked her out, and by the time her son, Len, and daughter, Gail, came from their California homes, and sons John and James, and her little brother and his wife, reached her bedside, she was unable to talk or regain consciousness while her body fought hard.
On May 15, which had always been a festive day when we were kids, PattÂ’s 64th birthday arrived as she lay there. Funny thing about this life: You spend the first 40 years thinking how old 60 is, then you suddenly realize how young 60 is, if youÂ’re healthy. Or even if youÂ’re flat on your back, wheezing on a respirator. On Friday, May 21st, PattÂ’s kids decided to move her to the St. MaryÂ’s hospice unit, where she would get no more medical treatment. Remarkably, she started breathing on her own when removed from the respirator. Just as remarkably, her kidneys showed signs of functioning when taken off dialysis. But only for a few hours. With her four kids at her side that gloomy Friday afternoon, she simply stopped breathing.
Len and his wife, Niki, and Gail, John and James, and Joan and I, are trying to make sense of it all. I keep thinking of the unfairness, that itÂ’s a bad dream, and IÂ’ll wake up to find my big sister able to talk to me, to argue with me, or even to smack me around a little. Patt and I were never as close as we both would have liked. Different lifestyles, different lives. We got closer when my mom died, a year and a half ago, at age 99, and we were both pretty sure weÂ’d live that long, and get closer to each other.
Instead, I am left to drive this weekÂ’s flashy new car down the Lakewood Road hill. If you step on the gas you may not notice how swiftly it will to roll along, but if you donÂ’t touch the gas, you can take a little longer to appreciate how fast you go, even coasting. Just like life itself, I guess. But I will never forget how tough the climb is going the other way, and how sometimes, whether youÂ’re in a neat car, or on a horse, you can give someone a lift by proving how much you care.
(John Gilbert writes weekly auto reviews. He can be reached by e-mail at cars@jwgilbert.com..)
BMW 645 dazzles as star of ‘Return of the Coupe’
The BMW 645i convertible jumped instantly at my urging to dash up the pit lane and onto the straightaway at Road America. We accelerated quickly until I hit the brakes to swerve through a 90-degree right turn, and it exhibited similar manners on the downhill turn leading onto the gently curving straight where we got up to 125 miles per hour before slowing for the 90-degree left at the bottom of the hill. Same with the Carousel sweeper, and rising out of Canada Corner.
Finishing a one-lap run at high but manageable speeds around the four-mile road course at Elkhart Lake provided convincing evidence of what I had assumed a week earlier – that the new BMW 645 would perform a lot like it looks, which is spectacular.
I had gotten the chance to drive a 645Ci coupe for a week on normal highways, and the car proved to be a fantastic addition to the German companyÂ’s stellar array of vehicles. The oft-criticized 7-Series sedan remains at the top, with the stylishly modified 5-Series in the middle, and the yet-to-be-restyled 3-Series at the entry level. In and around those stalwarts, which have established themselves as the standards of comparison in each segment, BMW has fitted a two-seat sports car, the Z4, which replaced the neat Z3 a year ago, and it has taken a giant step off the road with first the X5 sport-utility vehicle and this year the X3, a compact SUV that is a superb performer.
So the 645 is perfect as the previously missing link, bringing BMW back to the historic 2800 and 3.0 coupes of the 1960s and to the recently discontinued 850 coupe of just a few years ago. In fact, in the late 1960s, a BMW 2800Cs coupe was offered to me by a Minnesota BMW dealer and began my transformation from driving tips to a road-test column format. I still have fond memories of that beauty.
The 645 fits in as the sporty coupe for 5-Series or even 7-Series buyers. It comes with the 4.4-liter V8 with every high-tech device for valvetrain and intake system – dual overhead camshafts with BMW’s Double-Vanos variable valve timing – and with BMW’s Sport Package with Active Steering, a system so precise it virtually eliminates the need for correction even when you swerve.
It was a pure joy to drive, despite the presence of the “i-Drive†control knob on the console, which is pushed different directions to engage heat-air, audio, navigation and car performance, but which also is counter-intuitive to use without taking your eyes off the road to view the readout screen. Fortunately, BMW also has a voice-command system that can override the i-Drive.
Otherwise, the coupe is sleek and stunning to the eye, and totally engaging from behind the wheel, shifting that six-speed manual through its paces. The paces include strong low-end power because the torque peaks at 330 foot-pounds at only 3,600 RPMs, sending you sailing up to a 325 horsepower peak at 6,100 RPMs.
Typically, when you drive a great car like the$70,000-$80,000 BMW 645, you wish you could be on an autobahn with unlimited speed limits. Or at least a race track. ThatÂ’s where the Midwest Auto Media Association came to the timely rescue, with its annual Spring Collection at Road America, just outside Elkhart Lake.
Getting a hundred or so automotive journalists to agree on anything comes under the same mathematical probability as herding cats. But agreement is not required for them to all want to come “home to MAMA.†Especially when that home leaves its home base in Chicago and sets up camp at the beautiful Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake. That sets the stage for two days at nearby Road America, the most beautiful road-course in North America, with its undulating hills and more than a dozen curves of varying difficulty as they cut through the tree-lined hills.
As a member of that MAMA organization, I looked forward to getting acquainted or reacquainted with as many of the 60 or so new vehicles provided by almost every manufacturer to run – reasonably – on the high-speed road-racing course, then the next day on a tightly-coned autocross course, and a rugged off-road challenge.
I was able to drive the new Pontiac GTO, the existing Corvette Z-06, Pontiac Bonneville V8, Acura TL, Audi S4 Cabrio and TT coupe, Chrysler Crossfire Roadster, Infiniti G35X, Honda S2000, Mini-Cooper S, Mitsubishi Evo RS, Subaru WRX STi, Subaru Legacy GT, Volkswagen Golf R-32, Saturn Ion Red Line, Volvo S40, Mazda6, Mazda3 and Mazda RX-8, and supplementing those with off-road sorties in the Hummer H1, Land Rover Freelander, Volkswagen Touareg, and Isuzu Ascender.
There were dozens of other available cars that I simply couldnÂ’t get to, either because they were being driven by other MAMAÂ’s boys (or girls), or because we flat ran out of time. There were various Mercedes, Dodge, Jaguar, Kia, Nissan, Porsche, Saab and Suzuki machines there, too, and IÂ’m sure there were another couple of vehicles IÂ’m overlooking among those I tried out. But the first one of the 24 vehicles I ran to was the BMW 645 convertible.
Driving a car capable of such exquisite performance is a mystery to those who think driving should be confined to 55 miles per hour and such exorbitant potential is ridiculous. The point is, having a vehicle capable of such excessive power is exhilarating, even though you shouldnÂ’t be using it to its maximum on normal roadways.
There also is something special about learning the true capabilities of the machine and yourself. In circumstances such as the MAMA event at Road America, you are out there alone, at something like a one-minute interval, so you can stay comfortably within limits of good sense, but you can also push yourself and the car to limits youÂ’d never seek on highways.
True, while the 645 goes 0-to-60 in about 5 seconds, and rushes swiftly to its electronically-governed 155 mph maximum, there were other cars available that performed in the 645’s class. The Corvette, with a huge, six-liter pushrod V8 stubbornly proving that enormous displacement can compete with competitors’ higher-technology, might have had a faster top speed going into that downhill 90-degree left known as Turn 5, for example. Other high-powered cars could run with it as well. And some of the smaller and more economical vehicles, such as the Mini, the S40, the RX-8, the Mitsubishi Evo and the R-32 were surprisingly swift over the whole lap – lacking the outright top speed capabilities but much quicker to brake and to handle.
As for the BMW 645, speed was only a part of the picture; it performed every possible chore, from sophisticated and high-tech power, to ultra-sophisticated handling and braking, and to a stable overall feeling of supremacy. And it looks so darn good all the while.
It seems, in fact, that BMW is practically left to compete against itself nowadays. Virtually every other company that wants to build sporty or high-performing sedans uses some BMW model for its performance benchmark. Mercedes and Audi remain the closest competitors to their fellow-German BMWs, but I keep suspecting that they probably evaluate every move BMW makes, while BMW engineers might be looking only at their own products, and their Formula 1 racing experiences, when upgrading their vehicles. It isnÂ’t arrogance, just fact. BMW is unyielding in its demand to enhance every facet of the driving experience, and the 645 is just the latest example.
While the BMW 645 convertible looks lean and taut with the top up, and looks even better after the top is folded back and stowed at the touch of a button, I have to say that I prefer the lines and the look of the coupe. The price is high, but the BMW 645 coupe might well be the most beautiful vehicle available right now. If so, that means the 645 convertible couldnÂ’t be any better than, say, second in the most-beautiful car standings. On any roadway, or race track.
(John Gilbert can be reached by e-mail at cars@jwgilbert.com.)
Saab 9-2X combines Swedish style, Subaru platform
SAN DIEGO, CALIF. – As I stepped off the airliner to attend the introduction of the new Saab 9-2X, I definitely felt apprehension. As a former card-carrying lover of a 1980 Saab 900 hatchback, which treated our family to a decade of fun, economic benefits, safety, and, yes, a little eccentricity, I was genuinely concerned for the welfare of this new venture from Saab, the Swedish car-maker now owned by General Motors.
For example, the Saab 9-3 introduced a year ago rides on a shared platform with Opel, another GM subsidiary, and Saturn, and uses a version of the GM Ecotec engine. But it still looks like a Saab. Now this, SaabÂ’s first attempt at a compact all-wheel-driver, which all the world knows is basically a Subaru Impreza underneath. Subaru is another affiliate of General Motors.
Saab, a Swedish company whose eccentricities always have been part of its charm, and Subaru, a Japanese company whose eccentricities have always made it a builder of quirky niche vehicles, might produce something truly weird in concert. Offsetting my concern, the GM-oriented 9-3 may be less of a pure Saab than its predecessor, but GMÂ’s marketing helped it increase sales by 27 percent from the previous year.
I wondered whether the new 9-2X might look like an Impreza with a Saab Griffin-head logo on the hood, as I sat in on a briefing at the trendy “W†Hotel – not named for the current presidentÂ’s middle-initial/nickname. Next to me was Ola Granlund, the chief designer of the 9-2X. When a Saab official mentioned that the 9-2X would have a short, three-year lifespan before being modified, I turned to Granlund and whispered, “Will it then become more of a real Saab?Ââ€
“It IS a Saab,†Granlund replied, with the same precision his pencil must use on clean sheets of paper.
The next morning, we got our first look at the 9-2X and a lot of my concerns evaporated faster than the morning haze over San Diego. The car is a compact sport-wagon only, with a very Saab-900-like nose – OK, 9-3 for more recent Saab-o-philes – and beautifully harmonizing curves and lines that blend a large and functional hood-scoop into the hood as gracefully as the rear blends the sloping wagon-back pillar into an attractive rear end.
Inside the 9-2X, the interior is quite Saab-like as well, from the firmly comfortable seats to the easily read instruments and ergonomically sound switchwork. It is under that pleasing body that Subaru’s input takes charge. The proven all-wheel-drive system and the flat-opposed, four-cylinder “Boxer†engines and transmissions are directly out of the Impreza. The 9-2X comes in two models, Linear and Aero. The Linear is the more basic model, with a quite-potent 2.5-liter dual-overhead-camshaft engine, while the upgraded Aero has a smaller, 2.0-liter engine, but turbocharged for 227 horsepower to beat the normally-aspirated engine’s 165 horses.
The Linear starts at $22,990 and the Aero at $26,950. Adding a four-speed automatic instead of the five-speed manual transmission costs $1,250, and a premium package, plus sunroof and heated seats can boost the Linear to $28,000 and the Aero to $30,000 in fully loaded form. Saab aims to sell 8,000 of the 9-2X models in the U.S. when the car hits dealerships in June.
SaabÂ’s average buyer demographics were 46 years of age, and it was lowered to 42 when the 9-3 was reintroduced last year and attracted, typically, a 38-year-old buyer who was married, owned a suburban home, with 83 percent college graduates and average income of $102,000. The 9-2 is aimed at a 28-year-old buyer, mostly single, renting an urban dwelling, with 75 percent college grads and an average salary of $75,000.
Saab officials say the sound-deadening, exterior and interior modifications, as well as to the chassis dynamics will separate the 9-2X from the Impreza by more than its approximately $3,000 more in price. Their aim is to new buyers seeking an alternative to sporty coupes and SUVs, and who want one car that can meet various demands.
Before we headed for the mountains and some spirited road-test driving, Ola Granlund explained that the 9-2X development was not simply grabbing another company’s vehicle and slapping a Saabish body on it. “I was drawing the design on sort of a parallel project while they found the platform,†he said. As he drew, Saab officials were looking to parent GM for ideas about a platform that would fulfill its demands and be smaller than the Saab 9-3. The Subaru Impreza was already on the market, and its platform, drivetrain and dimensions were perfect. The finished product is 7 inches shorter than the 9-3, almost 2 inches narrower, with a 6-inch shorter wheelbase, but only 2 inches less rear legroom.
Per Jansson, SaabÂ’s vehicle integration engineer on the chassis, did to the already-good Impreza all-wheel drive platform what Granlund did to the exterior and his fellow-designers did to the interior, again aiming at what the Swedes know Saab buyers will look for and appreciate. “There is a fine balance when you combine agility, comfort and stability,†Jansson said. “We have four-wheel independent suspension with MacPherson struts, and larger anti-roll (stabilizer) bars front and rear. We commissioned Bridgestone Tire company to develop new tires for what we wanted. On the base car, you get 16-inch all-season tires, and if you get the optional 17-inch wheels you get high-performance tires.Ââ€
Jansson explained how tires can comprise one-third of the chassis performance, and the suspension itself another third. So attention was paid to reducing unsprung weight by using alloy wheels, and aluminum and plastic for suspension links and connection pieces where steel used to add weight. The suspensions are slightly different between the Linear and Aero models, with the Aero getting a revised steering gear that is quicker-responding and more fun to drive.
The three keys to the 9-2X in SaabÂ’s mind were 1. a progressive design, 2. to offer sporty driving focus, and 3. to have functional versatility. The 9-2X, with its wagon-back opening for storage, its full-time all-wheel-drive for foul-weather traction as well as sporty handling, GranlundÂ’s slick design work and JanssonÂ’s detailed modifications to the suspension and steering, put the 9-2X into the mainstream of sporty compacts.
Mainstream. A word not often associated with either Saab or Subaru. Achieving mainstream appeal for an amalgamation of previously eccentric companies from Sweden and Japan, brought together by a U.S. giant, is sort of like mixing sushi and Swedish meatballs and coming up with a T-bone steak.
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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