Hybrid Escape a Capitol idea in SUV world

SAINT PAUL, MN. — Some early-arriving state legislators and visitors walked right past the two compact SUVs parked near the main entrance stairs leading up to the Minnesota State Capitol, probably grumbling to themselves that the Ford Escapes, one silver and the other white, were parked illegally close by some upstart state representatives.

The new Escapes looked quite normal, although the front end has been restyled for 2005. Then Charlie Pryde, FordÂ’s government relations manager, climbed inside the first Escape and carefully backed it up onto the sidewalk. As he backed it toward its proper position, the engine died – but the Escape kept backing up! Strange…How could the thing keep moving, with the engine stopped?

The answer is simple: These were no ordinary Ford Escapes, but new-for-2005 Escape Hybrids, and on Tuesday they were making their first public appearance since being introduced six weeks earlier at the New York Auto Show. The gasoline engine hadnÂ’t died, but shut off by design to let its coordinated and properly-charged electric motor handle the rest of the backing-up duties, silently and without hesitation.

Showing off the first hybrid-technology vehicle by an American company, or the first hybrid SUV would have been worth some fanfare, but the reason for the EscapesÂ’ appearance at the Minnesota State Capitol was because Minnesota is the first state considering legislation to offer incentives for buyers of hybrid vehicles. The bipartisan bill would give hybrid buyers a sales tax exemption and other benefits for choosing vehicles that can emissions up to 90 percent and increase fuel economy by 75 percent.

Hybrid vehicles have electric motors that complement efficient gasoline engines, providing extra power when needed and being recharged by a battery pack that is kept charged by the gasoline engine. The Toyota Prius and the Honda Civic Hybrid and Honda Insight are the only hybrid-powered cars currently on the market, although both Honda and Toyota are planning to expand by this fall – Honda in the Accord sedan and Toyota in the Highlander and Lexus RX-330 SUVs.

All the good ideas about hybrids have been limited to Honda and Toyota so far, but the Escape offers some new ideas. In the Honda, the small gas engine runs all the time with the electric motor coming on for supplemental power when needed; in the Toyota Prius, the gas engine runs only to support electric power, serving mostly as a generator for the first of two electric motors, with the second electric motor able to run the car on electric power only. The Insight leads the way with over 50 miles per gallon fuel economy in actual use, with the Prius and the Civic about even with their real-world figures in the 40s, although the Prius EPA estimate claims 61 miles per gallon in city driving.

The Escape differs from the Honda and Toyota systems in that it runs by gas engine, by electric motor and by both. From 0-25, power is most if not all from the electric motor; from 25-50 it is powered by a combination of the gas and electric sources; at highway cruising speed, most if not all power is from the gas engine. That’s why the fuel economy measures higher in town – 35-40 miles per gallon in city driving, and 29-31 on the highway.

While Ford developed its own technology, when it came to apply it, Ford realized Toyota’s advances in hybrid technology had led to 350 Toyota patents on various parts of the system. Ford had to license about 20 of those, particularly in coordinating the power at the transaxle, but Ford officials insist that neither technology nor technical support is being bought from Toyota. In fact, Toyota is going to license some of Ford’s 100 patents on the Escape’s system, particularly when it comes to direct injection and emission controls.

Most of the media types on the Capitol steps questioned state senator Scott Dibble and state representative Frank Hornstein – co-authors of the bipartisan legislation to help promote hybrids – and may have overlooked the significance of the two Escapes, which were parked on either side of a displayed Toyota Prius, the current 2004 car of the year.

The Escape, a popular compact SUV for several years, will add hybrid versions with production starting soon at the Kansas City plant that currently builds the Escape and the companion Mazda Tribute – the vehicle whose design led to the joint-venture Escape. Robb McKenzie, representing the United Auto Workers, said the Kansas City plant will be producing seven Escape Hybrids per hour by July 26. Production can increase to about 20,000 in its first year, Ford officials say, if demand is sufficient.

Escape HybridÂ’s gasoline engine is a high-tech gem, an Atkinson-Cycle version of the new Mazda-developed 2.3-liter four-cylinder, with dual-overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder. The engine develops 130 horsepower by itself in hybrid application, and is supplemented by a 90-watt electric motor powered by a 330-volt nickel-metal hydride battery pack developed by Sanyo.

New technology can be one thing and bottom-line examination something else, so before the ceremony on the state capitol steps, I had a chance to take a brief, 10-mile drive in one of the Escape Hybrids. First we got on the freeway, accelerating smoothly and eagerly to 60 miles per hour, with a quick burst to 70 just to test its response. The Escape Hybrid cruised easily at freeway speeds, and had instant power to pass or change lanes when necessary, as we slipped across the border from downtown St. Paul to Minneapolis.

We turned off onto city streets to check out the Escape Hybrid at stoplights, and again it performed admirably, accelerating smartly. Its performance was about what you might expect from a standard Escape V6, and the seamless transfer between gas and electric power is not noticeable.

The only compromise for the 75 percent improvement in fuel economy is limited towing capacity from 3,500 pounds to 1,000 pounds. But this is aimed at the person or family that will use its compact SUV like a station wagon, not for towing a house trailer. The weight of the battery pack remains a topic of continued revision in hybrids. In the Escape, it is located beneath the rear floor, covered by a panel and carpeting to leave the same large and flat storage area as the normal Escape.

After our short run, the navigation screen on the center stack displayed our current activity, showing how much power is coming from the gas engine or the electric motor on one screen, and indicating that our fuel economy was 35.8 miles per gallon over the last 15 minutes of use.

Handling is good, in fact it felt a bit firmer than the normal Escape. The gauge package looks normal, with the speedometer, tachometer and fuel gauge, but the small gauge at the far left of the cluster is different, showing whether the electric motor is being used for power or is being recharged.

Pricing has not been finalized yet, but Ford officials say they anticipate the Escape Hybrid price to be in the mid-$20,000 region, which will make it about the same as the normally well-equipped Escape.

Pryde noted that the Minnesota appearance by the Escape Hybrids was their first event since the New York Auto Show, which was followed by a test run of 37 straight hours, producing a high of 578 miles on one tankful of gasoline, and an average of 38 miles per gallon.

The growth of hybrid vehicles has been impressive. The Insight was first in the U.S., but it is a small, two-seater. The first Prius in the U.S. was a boxy four-door subcompact that was more mainstream. Then Honda offered the Hybrid Civic, which looks virtually identical to the high-selling standard Civic, again moving hybrids more into the mainstream. For 2004, the all new Prius is larger and dramatically restyled as a midsize car to expand the base still further.

Now the Escape will broaden the base. With SUVs notoriously poor for fuel economy, and gasoline moving up to or beyond $2 per gallon in the Midwest – and closer to $3 per gallon in California – the ability to get 30 miles per gallon in an SUV should be readily accepted. So far, the hybrid battery packs and electric motors have been amazingly durable and free of breakdowns, but it still may take incentives to lure skeptics and cautious traditionalists in for a test drive.

While eliminating the sales tax is a step that the state senate has supported and the house is debating, other positive steps for hybrid-buyers would be the ability to drive free in the fast lane if proposals for fees or tolls for a special freeway lane are adopted. There also are federal incentives for hybrid buyers, although that goes down by $500 each year from $1,500.

If Minnesota succeeds in passing the hybrid-car incentive, other states may well follow up with similar ideas. The acceptance of hybrid vehicles has grown steadily in the three or four years theyÂ’ve been out, and the Prius demand has forced Toyota to increase production and extend waiting times.

Still, while hybrid vehicles can improve emissions by up to 90 percent over conventional gasoline engines, the total registrations of 43,000 hybrids may sound impressive. But, as Pryde pointed out, “…There are 250 million vehicles on the road today, so incentives are important to giving hybrids the chance to reach a bigger share of the marketplace.”

Gophers outrace No. 1 Sioux for WCHA playoff title

SAINT PAUL, MN. — Minnesota coach Don Lucia tried to deny it, but his team offered further evidence that when it comes to playoff time, the Gophers are magic. The latest example was Saturday nightÂ’s WCHA Final Five championship game, when the Gophers exchanged blows in a true battle of college hockey heavyweights, and beat North Dakota 5-4.

There was talk that this game might be low-key, because No. 1 ranked North Dakota and No. 4 Minnesota were already assured of claiming top seeds at two of the four NCAA regionals, which will be announced Sunday. But if the game meant nothing, the WCHA record crowd of 19,306 at Xcel Energy Center certainly was fooled by the spectacle that unfolded on the ice below.

You want magic? The game-winning goal, at 13:58 of the third period, came from Grant Potulny, the captain who started MinnesotaÂ’s magical post-season streak when he scored the overtime game-winner against Maine in the 2002 NCAA final on the same Xcel Energy ice, the first of two straight national championships.

“How fitting for Grant to get the winner in the last game he plays for us in the Twin Cities,” said Lucia. “This senior class is special to me, because it was our first fully recruited class.”

Potulny, as usual, was the team leader. And a mini-tantrum he threw may have had a major impact on the Gophers. It has taken such actions to transform Minnesota from the Complacent Gophers to the Playoff Gophers. The unanimous coaches choice as league champ, and the unanimous preseason No. 1 team in the nation, the Gophers were 0-4 in regular-season games against Minnesota-Duluth, but beat the Bulldogs 7-4 in FridayÂ’s semifinals. Then came the Fighting Sioux, who had beaten Minnesota three out of four games during the season, before confronting the far more focused Playoff Gophers. Just like that, the Gophers turned a combined 1-7 slate into two racehorse victories.

It wasnÂ’t just the seniors who came through. Freshman Danny Irmen, who flanks Gino Guyer opposite of Potulny on the second line, scored his third goal in two nights on a first-period power play to stake the Gophers to a 1-0 lead. Drew Stafford tied it for the Fighting Sioux later in the opening period, also on a power play, by deflecting Zach PariseÂ’s hard pass past Gopher goalie Kellen Briggs.
Jon Waibel, a light-scoring senior on the fourth line, put Minnesota ahead 2-1 early in the second period when he outreached the dive of goaltender Jake Brandt and slid the puck behind him at 4:09. Three minutes later, Waibel scored again, converting the rebound of Barry TallacksonÂ’s goal-crashing shot. But Tallackson was still in the crease after flattening Brandt when the puck bounced out into the slot and Waibel shot it in, so after consultation with video supervisors upstairs, the goal was disallowed.

That reversal sparked the Sioux, who had been outshot 17-8 in the first period, to a 19-8 shot edge in the second, resulting in two goals by top scorers Brandon Bochenski and Parise. Bochenski poked the puck in from the crease after Parise had snapped the puck off Briggs from behind the net. The puck squirted through Briggs, awaiting BochenskiÂ’s fencing-style lunge to poke it in at 8:50.

Later in the middle period, Parise vaulted the Sioux ahead 3-2, pouncing on a rebound in the slot and whirling to shoot into the lower right for his 22nd goal of the year. That came eight seconds after expiration of a power play, which occurred when Parise was left sprawled by Thomas VanekÂ’s cross-check to the head. Fortunately for Minnesota, benevolent referee Bob Ames gave Vanek only a minor penalty instead of a major or disqualification, and Vanek was able to come back later to score a huge goal.

When the first period ended 3-2 for the Sioux, Potulny did his thing. “I kicked over a garbage can,” said Potulny. “After Waibel’s second goal was called off, North Dakota came on and I felt like we were letting the game slip away.”

Bochenski saw it the same way, from the other side. “Having that goal disallowed was as big as us scoring a goal,” said the junior winger. “Once we got it tied up, we took over for a while. Then it went back and forth.”

Vanek got his chance early in the third period, with Sioux defenseman Nick Fuher tried to slam a hard pass out of the zone. Vanek picked it off at the top of the left circle, moved in alone to deke Brandt down, then shifted around him on the right to slide the puck back in an instant before the diving Fuher slid through the crease trying to block the shot.
That tied the game 3-3 at 2:08, and Troy Riddle put the Gophers up 4-3 at 4:48 when he caught a high flip, dropped dropped the puck to the ice, and shot it low. Brandt got part of it, but it slithered across the line for RiddleÂ’s 23rd goal of the season.

The big crowd cheered when the Gophers got a power play, but Bochenski got the puck on the right boards, made a great move to shift past star Gopher defenseman Keith Ballard in a confrontation of Hobey Baker finalists, and rushed at the net, cutting right-to-left to score a spectacular shorthanded goal for the 4-4 equalizer. It was the second goal of the game and 26th of the season for Bochenski, who also had an assist.
Bochenski and Parise, who also is among the Hobey Baker final 10, have been split apart several times by coach Dean Blais, although he reunites them whenever scoring a goal seems mandatory. “I think I’ll be leaving them together from now on,” smiled Blais. Makes sense, after Bochenski, who also got two assists in Friday’s 4-2 semifinal victory over Alaska-Anchorage, and Parise added a goal and two assists, leaving them with matching 2-3—5 slates in the two Final Five games, meaning they had scored four of North Dakota’s eight weekend goals, with 10 combined points.
“I noticed that their big players had come up big,” said Lucia, “and I told our guys it was time for our big players to do the same. They did, with Vanek, Riddle and Grant all scoring.”
Both coaches noted they were more mellow than usual because both knew they had NCAA top seeds already locked up. Blais said he thought it was a “great game from start to end. I even pulled the goalie with four minutes to go to try to get a goal. But there was good excitement from both teams, and we learned we can compete when the pressure is on. It was a fun environment, and it takes a little special character to play well in a game like this. We wanted to win, but we got a lot out of it.”
North Dakota outshot Minnesota 39-38, and Lucia added that he’s not used to seeing his team give up so much – 31 shots and four goals to Minnesota-Duluth, and 39 shots and four more goals to North Dakota.

“I’m not happy giving up four goals a night,” said Lucia. “But that’s what happens when you play the two highest-scoring teams in the country. We played well, and we have to continue to get better, but we know we’re not going to see anybody who’s better than the two teams we saw here this weekend.”

TOURNAMENT NOTES: A three-person committee either showed up only Saturday night, or apparently got completely caught up in the tense final, because they ignored three teams to name an all-tournament team from only the two finalists. North Dakota forwards Parise and Bochenski and defenseman Matt Jones were joined by Minnesota forward Irmen – a great pick – plus defenseman Keith Ballard and goaltender Briggs. While Briggs allowed eight goals from 70 shots for two games for a meager 4.0 goals-against mark and .866 save percentage, Alaska-Anchorage goaltender Chris King, for example, allowed only five goals in two games while facing 90 shots for a glittering 2.50 GA and .946 save percentage while stealing a 4-1 upset victory over Colorado College and holding his team in a 4-2 semifinal loss to North Dakota. More incomprehensibly, the same committee also named Briggs the tournamentÂ’s most valuable player…Alaska-Anchorage used backup Kevin Reiter in goal for the third-place game, and he also played well, although UMD beat the Seawolves 4-2, outshooting them 40-27. He blanked the Bulldogs until Evan Schwabe scored his third goal and fourth point of the weekend midway through the second period for a 1-1 tie, then league player-of-the-year and Hobey Baker finalist Junior Lessard scored a power-play goal and Luke Stauffacher tallied shorthanded for a three-goal second period, and Bryan McGregor made it 4-1 in the third. The Bulldogs lost Lessard to a knee injury later in the second period, while forwards Tyler Brosz and Tim Stapleton and defenseman Tim Hambly all sat out with injuries.

(John Gilbert can be reached by email at sports@jwgilbert.com.)

Toyota trusts its youth movement to new Scion models

CHICAGO, IL. — Anyone who pretends to predict what the under-25 generation wants, is asking for trouble. Furthermore, any company that thinks it can build canÂ’t-miss items those Generation-Y young folks will demand is generally compounding the error. Toyota is going at the project differently, by accepting the unconventional and unpredictable Gen-Y tendencies, and coming out with an entire new car line to try to attract them.

The result is the Scion, an entirely new branch of Toyota, similar to the high-end Lexus brand, but with every compromise aimed at being appreciated by young, urban customers. City kids with an attitude, and enough money to get the things they demand.

ToyotaÂ’s hope is to claim to a large share of that elusive Generation-Y horde, born after 1980, which just happens to be the looming as the largest car-buying segment in about a decade or so. The Scion xA and xB went on sale exclusively in California last June, and in February of this year those two cars started also filtering to other areas in East Coast, South and Southeast regions of the U.S.

If Toyota is still trying to figure out what its youngest offspring is all about, the Upper Midwest is about to find out. In June, the xA and xB will become available in the Midwest, just about the time Toyota adds a sleek and powerful sporty coupe – the tC – to the hatchback sedan xA and the weird but striking square wagon-thing xB. Once the trio is out and available to the whole country, Toyota estimates it may reach 100,000 units annually.

Toyota offers three objectives — style, versatility and surprise – to a Generation-Y group that has three distinct traits of its own – being information-rich, time-sensitive, and technology-sharp. DonÂ’t look for any ads that show a Scion up on a mountaintop with a snowboard strapped to the roof, however. Despite some success of attracting adventuresome young folks to take their SUVs into the wild, Toyota is aiming Scion at urban buyers. These are inner-city cars, meant for commuting with style and efficiency, and without any options, but with high-tech fun available for countless dealer-installed and warranty-protected accessories.

The focus has been on creating high-tech substance at bargain-lot prices, so the plan is to sell the xA for a base price of $12,480 and the xB for a base of $13,680. A four-speed automatic transmission adds $1,200, and then comes the elaborate and mind-boggling accessory list. These are not strictly options, but things like massive subwoofer audio systems, suspension and wheel alterations, engine modifications like superchargers, and all manner of flared body panels and colorful items to personalize each car. Many of these are after-market products built in conjunction with Toyota to keep the warranty in place.

Another key to ScionÂ’s success is that the prices are fixed. No-haggle bargaining is a virtue for both the cars and the accessories, and Farley explained that a dealer can set a price for a Scion and certain accessories, but whatever price a dealer offers to any customer must be available to all.

Scions will be similar to Lexus, the highly successful luxury arm of Toyota, only Scion models will be sold in qualified Toyota dealerships instead of having their own facilities. Of 1,200 Toyota dealers, 700-800 will sell Scions by June. There are some stand-alone Scion dealerships, as well.

ScionÂ’s early success spans the entire market, not just the youthful buyers, which is something IÂ’ve witnessed personally. I walked through the Minneapolis Auto Show with a wealthy businessman a month ago, and he marveled at the great expanse of new products before us. Marveling is one thing, stopping absolutely still in amazement is something else, and that is what my friend did when he first spotted the Scion xB in the Toyota display. This is a man who just bought himself a BMW 745 sedan, and also bought a BMW 530 sedan for his manager at the same time.

James Farley, Toyota vice president and corporate manager in charge of its new Scion division, told of another fellow, so wealthy he bought a $1 million motorhome to cruise the U.S. “He was going to buy a Bentley to tow behind the motorhome,” Farley said. “But he bought a Scion instead.”

At a different end of the spectrum, Gen-Y types up to and including Britney Spears also bought Scion. Farley canÂ’t explain all the reasons behind the appeal of the ScionÂ’s tiny, first-born twins, the xA and xB. Maybe itÂ’s appropriate that their names are backwards, with the small letter first and the capital letter second, because they could be on the verge of turning the auto market upside down.

A group of Midwestern Auto Media Association writers gathered in Chicago this week to get a close look at the xA and xB. I had time to take the square little xB for a quick dash around the parking lot. I stress “little,” because when you first approach the xB you are amazed at how compact it is. Once inside, however, you are equally amazed at how roomy the little beast is. And when you start the engine and pop the clutch to engage the 5-speed manual transmission, you find evidence of how such a tight and lightweight car can be propelled in sporty-car fashion by a high-tech but tiny 1.5-liter 4-cylinder engine.

It helps that the 1.5-liter engine has variable valve timing on its high-tech, multiple-valve layout. It is basically the same engine used in the hybrid Prius, only in the Scions it is turned loose on its own to show how swift 108 horsepower and 105 foot-pounds of torque can be. ThatÂ’s not overwhelming power, but altering the computer chip, or adding turbos or superchargers can boost the power to tire-screeching levels.

Older drivers might see the youthful generation as irreverent types who take nice little Honda Civics and other economy hatchbacks, then totally alter them. Such items as huge alloy wheels with rubber-band-thin tires, giant soup-can size tailpipes on crackling-loud exhaust systems, suspension alterations to lower the vehicle to ground-scraping extremes, all with trick light arrangements and super-tuned engines for cat-quick power turn cheap used cars to a new generation of hot rods. It is that group that Scion is trying to attract, and Farley recounted some of the fascinating elements of that pursuit.

“It’s problematic to stereotype a generation, but we tried to aim at what we thought was important to younger drivers,” said Farley. “Younger people don’t buy SUVs. And a lot of the things that older drivers consider important mean nothing to Gen-Y buyers. For example, when we asked them to rank their preferences for engines, the order came out: 1. turbocharged 4-cylinders, 2. Supercharged 4-cylinders, 3. Diesels…the V6 that has traditionally been considered so important to older buyers ranked way down the list.

“That makes sense, because these are ‘tuner kids,’ who want to get a cheap car and then fix it up with after-market parts. So you can take a 4-cylinder and change computer chips, or find turbochargers and superchargers, and make them go fast. They defy conventional ideas. Engineers say you can’t put 17-inch wheels on a certain car, then we find out kids already are putting 20-inch wheels on them.

“The tuner kids the car industry used to try to ignore are going to be Scion’s most important customers,” added Farley, who has some of the most offbeat market research ever accumulated. “Twenty-five percent of our buyers carry a change of clothes in the car, and they are likely to take a nap in their cars after work, change clothes, and go somewhere.”

Not that Toyota had everything gauged perfectly. “No one thought the xB would sell nearly as well as the xA, for example, but the xB has outsold the xA two to one,” said Farley. “The typical Toyota has maybe 15 available accessories,” Farley said. “On Scion, we have 45 accessories. We’ve gone to some after-market companies and told them we like what they’re making, but we’d like to work with them to improve the quality, and we’ll distribute it, too.”

By keeping the cars tight and simple, Scion has attracted the tuner kids by also offering those key aftermarket parts with factory blessing, which also means the warranty is not voided.

From the introduction in California last June, Toyota sold 18,898 Scions through December 31. From January 1 until March 31, Toyota sold another 11,161. Of those first 22,059 Scions sold, 66 percent were xB, and 34 percent xA. With all car companies striving to lower the average age of their customers, the Jeep Wrangler had the youngest average age at 39, with the Nissan Xterra at 40, and the rest somewhat higher. Early returns peg the average Scion buyer at age 35. Of the Scions sold in California, 49 percent were to those under 35, and 57 percent of buyers were male, defying the small car demographics showing a majority bought by females.

An even bigger statistic to Toyota is that 75 percent of Scion buyers were buying their first Toyota product. Farley recounts other impressive statistics: A full 60-percent of Scion buyers come to the dealership with internet printouts, because the Scion.com website allows you to create exactly your own Scion. Almost all the accessories are dealer-installed, so swapping and upgrading are simple.

“The creativity of these tuners is amazing, and the Scion is so easy to accessorize,” said Farley. “We think of Scion as a laboratory, and we want to learn from the buyers to help form our youth strategy. Dealers make single-digit profit margin on small cars, but they can make 40 percent profit on accessories.”

Obviously, the future is what matters most to Scion. “Only 5 percent of new cars were bought by Gen-Y young folks in 2001, but that number will rise to 25 percent by 2010 and 40 percent by 2020,” said Farley. “We’re already working on the next xB, which may be entirely different. We’re not looking at evolutionary products, so it may even have a different name.”

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

Newest ‘old’ Corvette will pace Indy 500

INDIANAPOLIS, IND. — Driving a Corvette – any Corvette – is always something special. Riding in one is nowhere near as much fun, but itÂ’s still not bad. The year 2004 will go down as a big one in Corvette history, with an entirely new Corvette coming, and you can be the judge about whether it should add an asterisk for the questionable public-relations move of the decade.

This is an exciting time for Corvette-lovers everywhere, because we are in the final months of the outgoing C5 Corvette, while preparing for its long-awaited replacement, the entirely revised and restyled C6 Corvette, which will start showing up by the end of summer. There is some controversy about the new car, because itÂ’s slightly shorter, slightly more compact, and it no longer has flip-up headlights, but shines its lights through clear lens-covers, a fact some traditionalists are having difficulty accepting.

Last week, I was able to get my test-driving paws on a 2004 ‘Vette, which is the last version of the outgoing model. But it wasn’t “just” a Corvette. It was the Z-06 version, which is the bubble-top hardtop instead of the fastback or convertible, and it has been lightened and tuned for speed and power.

In straight stock form, the CorvetteÂ’s 5.7-liter V8 churns out 350 horsepower, an impressive tally. But in Z-06 form, the badge on the sides of the car themselves indicate the specially tuned 5.7 V8 has 405 horsepower. It also will sprint from 0-60 in 4.3 seconds, and will deliver an estimated mid-20 range for miles per gallon.

Just before I got into this Corvette, I was invited to Indianapolis to take in the major announcement that Chevrolet would provide the Corvette as the pace car for the 88th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 30. That is a prestigious event, even in these diminished-interest times when the feud between open-wheeled race factions in the U.S. has vitally wounded the sport.

Still, the chance to get to Indianapolis in time to get an early close-up view of the all-new Corvette was impossible to resist. And that was before I realized weÂ’d meet with Chevy executives, other journalists, and some selected Corvette zealots at St. ElmoÂ’s Steak House for a fabulous steak, and the legendary shrimp cocktail with its eye-popping horseradish sauce. That, too, would have been impossible to resist. Together, it was quite a combination.

It was one of those zealots who expressed dismay at the new C6 CorvetteÂ’s lack of flip-up lights for the first time since 1963. Personally, I dislike flip-up lights whether in a Corvette or a Miata. They look good when the lights are off and theyÂ’re down flush with the bodywork, but when you turn on the lights, flip-up doors can block out 20 percent of your vision of the road ahead.

Somewhere between the shrimp and the steak, we talked a lot about the new car, and about how much plotting and planning was invested before Chevrolet decided to go with a new version of the 50-plus-year-old pushrod V8, instead of switching over to something overhead-cam-ish. Chevy decided to stick with pushrods, but it built the new engine up to full 6-liter displacement to get to 400 horsepower. My curiosity was fueled because when Oldsmobile was phased out, the Aurora Indy 500 race engine became the “Chevy Indy” engine. So a switch to a version of Cadillac’s high-tech NorthStar V8 with dual overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder could easily be christened the “Corvette Indy V8.”

Out at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway the next morning, we met with track owner and president Tony George himself, and he and some Chevy executives pulled the shroud off the lurking pace car. Underneath, in radiant paint schemes, sat a Corvette convertible with gleaming white nose and racy red and blue stripes and stars cascading back in a form that made the thing look like it was going 150 even while parked.

There was just one problem: As I gazed upon the Corvette, with its flip-up headlights closed, I realized that closed (or open) flip-ups meant that this was NOT the all-new Corvette, but the current car – the decade-old, outgoing model, due to have production halted within a week or two of the Indy 500. It’s true, General Motors chose to use the outgoing car, rather than make an enormous splash by putting the all-new, 2005, C6 model Corvette on display for all the world to see. And for some Corvette zealots to appreciate.

I asked one public relations man about the decision to use the C5, and he assured me that it was planned, to pay tribute to the outgoing car because it has meant so much to Chevrolet. A second PR type said the same thing. So did a third. However, being unconvinced, I found a fourth public relations executive and, playing dumb, suggested to him that it seemed logical to use the new C6 car to pace the race. He said, “You’re right. We would have, but we just couldn’t get enough new cars built in time.”

So much for corporate doubletalk. The selected pace car has to have a few dozen replicas for use by bigshots during the month of May leading up to the race. But while there might have been a shortage, it still seemed to me that Chevy could have put two new Corvettes on the track and let the celebrities “suffer” by driving the still-flashy outgoing car. But, what do I know?

The assembled automotive journalists got a chance to ride – not drive – on a couple hot laps with some selected Indy race drivers. I climbed aboard with Robbie Buhl, who did a great job of narrating the strategy drivers use on a typical lap. The 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway is not like any ordinary oval. It’s more like a long race track with four distinctly different corners. We went hard, 120 miles per hour or so, and Buhl turned down into Turn 1, up to the wall in the short chute, than down into Turn 2, remarking how the wind hits your car at that point, which can make it pretty wiggly as you go onto the back stretch.

It was a thrill, roaring into Turn 3 and Turn 4, and then zooming down the main straightaway in front of the big grandstand. The new “old” Corvette performed just fine, in its 350-horsepower form. Shortly after that, I got the new 2004 Corvette Z-06 model of the C5 for a week of hustling around cities and highways. I had to acknowledge that there is no known penalty for being in the outgoing model.

The Z-06 has Goodyear F1 tires, which may stick like crazy on dry or wet pavement, but they also transmit some loud noise. Same with the extra-light body, which seems lighter on insulation against that noise. The stiffer suspension means that you feel every highway joint-strip. But, all in all, the compromise for driving such a vehicle is that you don’t mind any of those nuisance factors, just as you don’t mind the effort required to lower yourself at a jaunty angle to climb down and into the ‘Vette.

At $50,000, the Corvette still runs with more exotic sports cars, and the Z-06 is the hottest version. With 405 horsepower will have even more than the new C6 carÂ’s standard 400 horsepower. The seats are comfortable, the steering position is good, and everything works with exciting flair. Except, that is, for the transmission.

This has been an ongoing element of disagreement between Chevrolet and me for almost a decade now. In order to get around the fuel-economy tests and/or emission tests years ago, Chevy came up with this idea to misdirect your stick shift from first to fourth if you didnÂ’t have the proper revs going. The big engine has enough torque to pull you in fourth when you should be in second, but if youÂ’re a second-gear zealot like I am, you want to be in second without having to go from first to fourth and then arm-wrestling the gear shift back up over and down to second.

You can go directly from first to second if you hammer the throttle hard in first, or if you hold your speed in first until a little tip-off “1-to-4” light on the tachometer shuts off. I like to start up moderately in first, then hit second and hammer it. If you do that in the Corvette, you’ll be in fourth. Another fellow who drove the car told me he thought it shifted perfectly, but he was surprised about how it had very little power in second. He was astounded when I told him that he was in fourth, not second.

Anyhow, the Corvette gets surprisingly good fuel economy, so itÂ’s time to ditch the skip-shift. Besides, it is a big enough nuisance that it would prevent me from buying one, even if I was a Corvette zealot, and itÂ’s about the only glitch I could find in the Corvette.

We can only assume that the new C6 Corvette will have solved that issue, but weÂ’ll have to wait until the end of summer to find out, apparently. Until then, we can be satisfied with the outgoing C5 Corvette, as the only one available in showrooms or as the Indy 500 pace car. With all the other things it has going for it, the outgoing Corvette will leave its domain as the top U.S. sports car in perfect condition for its successor.

(John Gilbert writes weekly auto columns. He can be reached at cars@jwgilbert.com.)

Mazda6 expands with 5-door, Sportwagon

SAN DIEGO, CA. — Artistically and performance-wise, the Mazda6 has been a personal favorite of mine since it was introduced as a late 2004 model to replace the long-running Mazda 626. After a year, Mazda is now expanding the reach of the 6 by adding a 5-door hatchback and a Sportwagon to the standard 4-door sedan.

The new versions will be available by summer, and I was eager to join the first wave of automotive journalists who got to try the whole line in the mountainous hills near Rancho Valencia, just north and west of San Diego. The power and performance of both the 5-door and the Sportwagon did nothing but reinforce my first impressions of the Mazda6 sedan, which had been more than just favorable.

The Mazda6 was my first pick a year ago for International Car of the Year, a vote that I still defend. The Nissan 350Z and the Mini Cooper came in 1-2, and they were my 2-3 picks, behind the Mazda6, which went on to win car-of-the-year awards in more than a dozen different countries, most recently in China for 2004.

Built at the Flat Rock, Mich., plant, the Mazda6 is a tightly built, precise-handling car that exceeds Mazda’s aim of creating the sportiest midsize sedan in the industry. “We’re not going to try to out-Toyota Toyota, or out-Honda Honda, but we want to stay pure to our Mazda roots,” said Robert Davis, senior vice president in charge of marketing and product development. “Our overall driving philosophy is to put the soul of a sports car into every car we build.”

Davis was trying to define the trademark catch-phrase zoom-zoom. “It means the emotion of motion,” Davis added. “Having fun driving a car.”

Mazda is clearly at the top of its game with every vehicle in its current lineup. The newest Mazda3 is a jewel among compact sedans; the Miata is the clear leader in low-priced sports roadsters; the RX-8 was my pick as 2004 Car of the Year (it came in runner-up to the Toyota Prius) and is an innovative gem of sports car technology; the Tribute is an excellent small SUV, an original Mazda idea incorporated into partnership with FordÂ’s Escape; and the MPV has completed a transformation into arguably the most stylish minivan, shorter than most but somehow managing similar interior space and features and still exhibiting the fun-to-drive thing.

But the Mazda6 is the companyÂ’s bread-and-butter car, because it jumps into the middle of the most competitive car segment against such heavyweights as the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Nissan Altima, Subaru Legacy, Volkswagen Jetta, Pontiac Grand Am, Dodge Stratus, and the Chevrolet Malibu. The Mazda6 stands on its sleek styling, wedging back from either a color-keyed or silver grille depending on whether you buy the sport package, to be the best looking car in the class, in subjective terms.

For the fun-to-drive quotient, I donÂ’t think it is subjective, but straight, hard-core fact. The Mazda6 zaps around an autocross course with the same ease it displays on winding mountain roads, always maintaining a flat posture no matter how hard you go into the turn. And that goes for either the V6 or 4-cylinder. The V6 has more power, being FordÂ’s 3.0-liter Duratec reworked by MazdaÂ’s engineers for 220 horsepower and 192 foot-pounds of torque. The 4-cylinder is an exceptional new 2.3-liter engine from Mazda that is armed with chain-driven dual-overhead camshafts, and variable valve timing on the 16 valves, producing 160 horsepower and 155 foot-pounds of torque.

The Mazda6 platform will be appearing at Ford dealerships near you in the next few years, as the underpinning for eight or ten new Ford sedans – which indicates how good the design is. The 2.3-liter engine will be appearing in the new Ford Focus and without alteration will become the cleanest engine in Ford’s lineup – an indication of how good the powerplant is.

Frankly, I prefer the 4-cylinder version, because itÂ’s quick, responsive and runs up to 6,500 revs without the hint of hesitation or flat spots. Both come with a slick-shifting 5-speed manual, with the four offering a 4-speed automatic and the V6 a 5-speed auto. ThatÂ’s all old business with the Mazda6 sedan, reinforced by the stylish new 5-door and Sportwagon.

The 5-door has a high-rising rear hatch, which has five-point attachment when closed to make it a stressed safety member to improve rigidity. When you open the hatch you get 22 cubic feet of storage space, and if you fold down the 60-40 rear seat, that increases to 58 cubic feet, improving by 50 percent the capacity of the sedan.

The Sportwagon, named to allow Mazda to avoid the mundane term “station wagon,” has 33 cubic feet of storage space behind the rear seat, and over 60 cubic feet with the rear seat folded down. The wagon has a roll-up cargo net behind the rear seat, and one of those familiar roll-out covers for whatever you have behind the seats, but instead of becoming a nuisance with the seat folded down, the same device locks into the top of the seat and the cargo net can be pulled up to hitch to the ceiling. Just the thing in case you’re carrying alligators back there and don’t want them nibbling on the driver’s ear.
A sedan with the 4-cylinder starts with a base price of $18,896, and the V6 model has a base price of $21,525. The new 5-door has a base price of $20,795 with the 4, and $22,895 with the V6. The Sportwagon, which comes only with the V6, starts at $22,225. All three vehicles have the same wheelbase, at 105.3 inches, with the Sportwagon having an inch more overall length than the 186.8-inch sedan and 5-door.

Knowing the 5-door and Sportwagon share the sedanÂ’s potent performance and superb suspension, I awaited the chance to drive all three on the lengthy autocross course Mazda set up at Qualcomm Stadium. I got the first turn with a sedan, but much to my surprise, the carÂ’s tires screeched and howled in protest and the suspension felt softer than I recalled as I flung it through the turns. I came in after one of my scheduled three laps and asked how much air was in the tires. Ron Schramm, the top-ranked suspension guy on the premises said all tires were set at 32 pounds.

Schramm admitted that if these were his cars, he would have about 38 pounds in the tires, but 32 made them all equal. So I went back out and took out a half-dozen cones in the name of equality. The 5-door wasnÂ’t much better, but I had to wait for a longer line to try the Sportwagon, which had an automatic transmission. By the time I got into it, the car had probably made 20 runs of three laps each. Much to my surprise, while setting the manual-hold automatic in second gear, the wagon zipped around the turns with more stability than the sedans.

“I will bet any amount there is more air in the wagon tires,” I said to Schramm. He assured me they were all the same, although repeated runs might have increased the air pressure. When he checked, the air pressure was over 39 pounds in the wagon tires. I then made a second run in the sedan, and it felt much better, and when we checked, its tires had hardened to 41 pounds of air pressure. We were both right, he for insisting he put 32 pounds in, and I for claiming the wagon had significantly more air pressure than 32. We both learned something, too – that the air pressure increases so much from heat, we could only imagine what a long trip in July might do. And, that if we were making timed runs, we’d want to jack up the air pressure to capitalize on that great suspension.

The on-track stuff wasnÂ’t enough. Mazda PR-types also sent out kits for a pine-wood derby race for staff and media, with no rules. Against some pretty elaborate designs, I named my son, Jack, crew-chief for the project, and he loaded up our black beast with enough weights taped heavily to the underside to be a gravity-aided threat.

Unfortunately, when I prepared for the first heat, the 6-lane track had interior rails to keep the cars in line instead of outside rails we had anticipated, so the low-slung carÂ’s underside sat high enough on the rails that none of the four wheels touched the track. I peeled and pried all the weights off the bottom and retaped them to the top, but in its second heat a wheel flew off. The black beast stopped halfway, but the wheel rolled so swiftly it overtook the other five contenders and reached the electronic finish lights first. My declaration of victory fell on deaf ears, however, and the night, overall, didnÂ’t get any better. But thatÂ’s OK. IÂ’ll concede zoom-zoom design to Mazda.

(John Gilbert writes weekly automotive columns. He 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.