Nissan Rogue is a sporty, macho compact-crossover
BALTIMORE, MD. — Baseball season has so much to offer, even though the media coverage, in our win-or-else society, covers every game from July on from the perspective of the whole season — either praise for being in the pennant race, or scorn for not being there. To me, Major League baseball was meant to be a more individual but pastoral happening: go to a game with your family or a couple of buddies, do the concession stand-food thing, and enjoy that isolated game for whatever entertainment value it offers.
So an added incentive for accepting Nissan’s invitation to the Rogue introduction was that it would include a stop at the already-legendary Camden Yards for a ball game. The Baltimore Orioles aren’t very good this year, but who cares? Seeing them play the Texas Rangers in that ballpark would be a memorable treat, especially for a Minnesotan looking ahead to the building of an outdoor boutique stadium.
And the Rogue? What the heck is a Rogue, anyway?
Turns out, the Rogue was the big hit of the trip — for two distinct reasons. The first reason, and our focus here, was the vehicle itself. It proved to be a solid, agile, and quite fulfilling vehicle for roaming through the Maryland and Virginia countryside, out to the historic Gettysburg, where even if you don’t have an actual address, you can tour the battlefield and memorial cemetery.
Toyota and Honda dominate the biggest Japanese news in the U.S. industry, but Nissan does very well, even though it seems relegated to sublevel status, where Mazda also resides. Both are overachievers, because their technology and vehicle engineering is among the best in the world, and they also focus on making their cars fun to drive, and in Japan, Nissan is second only to Toyota in sales volume, and Honda seems underappreciated. Go figure.
Nissan is striving to change all that. Its new Altima is extremely competitive with the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord, and its new Altima Coupe is a bargain-priced prize against those two. Nissan’s impressive fleet of SUVs range from tough and solid to luxurious, and its upscale Infiniti class of vehicles also ranks with the best. In fact, the Infiniti G35, and its newly introduced G37 Coupe version, tend to get compared to the best from BMW, rather than from Japanese or U.S. rivals. There was only one hole in the Nissan lineup: The Xterra takes care of the more rugged off-roading active lifestylers, but Nissan had no challenger for the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4, which have done so well in stirring up a compact crossover SUV segment, which also includes the Ford Escape, Mazda Tribute, Chevy Equinox, Jeep Compass and Liberty, the new Saturn VUE, Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage.
Enter the Rogue. Nissan’s marketeers threw us a flurry of PR-speak to claim the Rogue is aimed directly at the CR-V — which now is the largest-selling SUV in the U.S. — and the RAV4, as Nissan’s first attempt in the “small crossover” segment. It was built jointly with Renault, the hugely successful French company whose financial input lifted Nissan to its current upward mobility. To coin a phrase. Once the PR staff located its fixed target, it then went on to build a mountain of evidence of why the Rogue outgunned the CR-V and RAV4 from the standpoint of sportiness and agility as a lure to get more male buyers.
The first attraction is the appearance. The Rogue is compact, and its design is streamlined and slick from nose to tail. I like the silhouette and the rear view more than the front, which is fine, but seems like its egg-crate grille is trying to hard to gain a family resemblance to the larger Murano SUV. The appearance thing continues inside, where it avoids the normal attempt at being mainstream-attractive, and made everything almost German-stark, with a pleasing-to-touch but all black finish surrounding ergonomically correct gauges and switchgear.
Using the potent 2.5-liter, dual-overhead-camshaft 4-cylinder engine out of the Altima, along with the latest version of its CVT (continuously variable transmission), the Rogue produces 170 horsepower and 175 foot-pounds of torque. The CVT is standard, with no manual shifter available, but the CVT offers the option of steering-wheel paddle switches to simulate the manual shifts of a 6-speed. Liberal use of high-strength steel helps make an extremely stiff platform without unnecessary weight, and sophisticated suspension coupled with all sorts of traction and stability controls makes the Rogue steer precisely and handle with a flat attitude.
Those are sporty attributes, but they also are vital contributors to safety, where a crumple-zone design fore and aft leads to a strong and secure inner shell.
I only have one significant challenge to the whole campaign. The Rogue is clearly more sporty and more macho than the CR-V and RAV4, primarily because the CR-V and RAV4 are built and directed toward compact, budget family haulers, and without question, female buyers prevail in the decision-making that lead up to such purchases. Our society has reached the point where women make the majority of car-buying decisions, but an interesting occurence is that women are now so well-versed in studying their purchase that they will buy the vehicle they deem as correct for their purposes, regardless of whether it has a male or female attraction — while men are so fragile in their little ego-worlds that most will not consider a car popular with females. Apparently male self-esteem is incapable of brushing off heckles about having a “chick car.”
There are, then, a couple of other newcomers into that segment that might be better and more difficult targets for the Rogue. One is the Mazda CX-7, and the other Acura’s RDX. Both are similarly sized, and similarly sweeping in design, and both have turbocharged 2.3 4-cylinder engines with all-wheel drive. Both are decidedly sporty, and offer considerable competition to the Rogue — particularly the CX-7, which is priced about $10,000 less than the RDX and abou the same mid-$20,000 for the Rogue to hurdle. By avoiding mention with them, perhaps Nissan was playing a marketing game, to name only those more-mellow mainstreamers they can out-sport.
Nissan has been very busy for the past year, with new Altima, Sentra and Versa sedans introduced, followed by the Altima Coupe, a refreshed Pathfinder SUV with a V8 engine, and hiking the Titan pickup with a revision that gives it the longest crew cab box in the industry. Meanwhile, upscale cousin Infiniti redid the G35 and added an entirely new G37 Coupe with a bigger and more potent V6 that takes the venerable 3.5 up to 3.7 liters.
All of that has lifted Nissan’s car volume up by 18.9 percent for calendar 2007, with much more to come. In Baltimore, we examined the Rogue, which had first been displayed on the Auto Show circuit last winter, and the gracefull silhouette, called the “dynamic arch” by Nissan, tapers Murano-like to the rear, where the lower sill of the windows angles up to meet it.
Director of product planning Ken Kcomt, who seems to need a vowel more than another new vehicle, anticipates that 80 percent of Rogues sold will be SL models, the upper level above and beyond the basic S. Both models come front-wheel drive standard with all-wheel drive optional, and both have premium packages for upgrades.
The simulated 6-speed seems to conflict with the purpose of a CVT, but U.S. buyers are so put off by not hearing the revs build between shift points in a continuously-variable transmission, Nissan — like Audi — programs electronic steps into the manual override controls. In the Rogue, the CVT has electro-hydraulic control, so hydraulic pressure builds to reposition the metallic belt to hold a shift point and let the revs build, for what feels like a true manual.
All-wheel-drive models start out with 50-50 torque split front and rear for hard but sure start-up stability. Once going, torque distribution is pretty much front-wheel drive until the computer redistributes it. Combining the stiff body structure with electric power steering and high-performance shock damping on all four corners assures flat cornering, and the Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC) runs via yaw sensors, wheel-slip sensors, steering angle sensors, and the all-wheel drive to vary the torque from front to rear. In a curve, even on slippery surfaces, the VDC system can anticipate where the driver’s steering wants the Rogue to go, and if the vehicle doesn’t comply, its redistribution of torque forces it to.
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Even male buyers are accompanied by females most of the time, so concessions are made to the logical side of the relationship with all sorts of neat storage areas, including a rear floor that tilts up sto display detachable partitions in a cargo-organizer. Nissan’s information says that’s to isolate dirty or wet items from that active-lifestyle gang, but apparently the PC Police wouldn’t apprehend you if you or your real or perceived feminine side used it for groceries or other shiftable parcels.
Kcomt said that folding the second-row seats down provides 57.9 cubic feet of storage space, and it has an enormous bin that is under-identified by the term “glove box.” It will hold 34 CDs, among other things. As for gloves, you could be talking baseball gloves. That enormous cavern is about the only feature I could call poorly devised in the Rogue. If the compartment had been built to slide, like an enormous drawer, the front passenger might be able to make it work. As it is, you hit the release and a gigantic door folds down at you, striking you just below the knees. To avoid immediate contact with an orthopedic surgeon, you can slide the seat back as far as you can, but then you can’t reach the release switch, or reach anything inside. If you slide the seat forward enough to reach the release, you get banged on the shins, and you still can’t reach much in there because the door won’t open farther than where it hits your legs.
If the “glove compartment” is big enough to house baseball gloves rather than driving gloves, maybe another of the many Rogue standard-equipment features should be catcher’s shinpads.
Speaking of baseball analogies, ‘way back at the start of this dissertation I said the Rogue was the highlight of the baseball-oriented introductory trip for two reasons. One was the vehicle itself, and the second is that we got to Camden Yards and entered the wonderfully boutique-ish ballpark early, then we were ushered to a suite, where, as the drizzle worsened, we feasted on brats, hot dogs, and crab-cakes made almost entirely of clumps of crabmeat — a Baltimore specialty. Big Al, from Detroit, took only a couple bites and tossed his in a trash bin. He saw my incredulous look and explained it was “too fishy.” Only a Detroit writer could accuse a superb crabcake of containing too much crabmeat.
By then, the drizzle had become a persistent downpour, and the game was postponed. Bummer. That took baseball out of the equation, although a later media wave saw the last game of the series, in which Texas scored a record 30 runs against the poor Orioles. That might have been memorable, from an oddity perspective, but even then, I suspect in evaluating the trip, the Rogue was the best part — and figuratively hit the most distinctive home run.
Honda’s 8th-generation icon dazzles Accord-ingly
BOSTON, MASS. — Honda seems like the Japanese version of BMW, a company so advanced in technology, and with such an impressive array of vehicles, that it doesn’t need benchmarks — it IS the benchmark. BMW’s 3-Series is considered the standard of mid-size “near-luxury” sedans, while the Honda Accord has been the icon of middle-class midsize sedans, having established the segment with its debut in 1976.
After briefly experiencing all that the new Accord is offering for 2008, it appears it provides everything any midsize buyer could look for. The long-awaited eighth-generation Accord has enough style, size and punch to be an immediate hit when it reaches showrooms in September, and it offers a flashy Coupe that is far more than just an Accord with two fewer doors.
Honda officials actually considered making the eighth-generation Accord slightly smaller, but then the Accord’s two primary competitors came out in all-new versions for 2007. The Toyota Camry, which had followed the Accord up the sales charts and then passing it for first place when it opened up sales to fleets and rental companies several years ago, held its usual, quite conservative position. The Nissan Altima, growing as a threat, had chosen instead to aim at the sportirer part of the midsize segment. While pointing its stylish new nose right between those two adversaries, the Accord also has become the biggest sedan in the midsize segment — so big, in fact, that its interior qualifies as an EPA large car.
The new Accord’s progressive styling sets it apart from those competitors, and also from the somewhat stodgy styling of the current Accord, which lasted from 2003 through 2007. With a low, wide nose, and a six-sided grille almost identical to the Coupe, the Accord Sedan’s longer and wider body is accented with a decisive side groove that is not unlike that on its upscale cousin, the Acura TL.
Honda also built the Accord with its latest safety concept. The Civic came out in 2006 as the company’s first car to use Honda’s ACE — Advanced Compatibility Engineering — body structure technique, focusing on higher-strength steel and crash-energy dispersal. The Civic was the first subcompact to get five-star crash-test marks, and in essence, the Civic might have been safer than the current Accord. Applying the ACE treatment to the Accord structure steps it up to the head of the safety class.
Larger in every dimension, the Accord requires a bit more power, and typical of Honda engineering, the quest for power does not leave emissions or fuel economy in arrears. The 2008 model pushes Honda’s exceptional dual-overhead camshaft, 16-valve, i-VTEC four-cylinder from 166 horsepower. 180 horsepower in the LX model (a 14-horse improvement), while the LXi or EX versions gain 34-horsepower, by hitting an even 200 horsepower. It should still be in the 30-miles-per-gallon range, and meet the strictest emission standards.
The strong 3.0-liter V6 with 244 horsepower in the 2007 Accord is replaced by the stronger 3.5-liter version, designed for the Acura MDX and Honda Ridgeline pickup, for 2008. In the Accord, the enlarged single-overhead-cam, 24-valve V6 makes 273 horsepower, a boost of 29 over the current model, and has a new variable cylinder management system that. In normal driving it employs all six cylinders when accelerating or climbing, and electronically cuts down to four cylinders for mid-range driving, or to three cylinders for highway cruising. That helps fuel economy and emissions, although it is seamless to the driver, who gets full power at the touch of a toe.
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Having a Coupe makes sense for the Accord, and brings back some history. When the first Accord came out in 1976, it was only a 2-door coupe. In recent years, the Accord coupe has been attractive, but only in the manner of a two-door version of the sedan. For 2008, Honda is designating the Coupe with a capital C, and it has earned the acclimation by being a separate car, with shorter wheelbase and its own sheet metal, despite the strong family resemblance.
A preliminary drive of the new cars from Boston to Cape Cod and back offered pretty convincing evidence that Honda connected all the dots properly, although a couple of interesting compromises does leave some room for the competition. The Coupe, obviously, has that sleeker roofline, with the kind of dramatic appearance that could lure sporty coupe buyers considering 2-doors, including Mustangs. With its front-wheel drive, the Accord Coupe also has no concerns about winter.
The Sedan also handles well, but with that large family-oriented rear seat and trunk, it lacks the feeling of agility so prominent in the Coupe.
An interesting fact is that the V6 Sedan comes with a 5-speed automatic, but no manual shifter, while the 4-cylinder Sedan offers a 5-speed stick or the 5-speed automatic. The V6 Coupe comes with either a 5-speed automatic or a 6-speed stick, while 4-cylinder Coupes offer either the 5-speed automatic or a 5-speed stick — but no 6-speed stick.
Since the Accord wants to be a sporty alternative, it should be noted that the Camry sedan comes with a 6-speed automatic to the Accord’s 5, while the new Altima comes with a second-generation CVT (continuously variable transmission) as its automatic. Honda officials say that their customers have complained about the strange feeling of Honda’s CVT, so it is not offering it until drivers become accustomed to the lack of engine-revving sound. Also, the cost of a 6-speed and the dwindling number of stick shift customers prevented Honda from including one in the sedan.
My question was with the Coupe. It is sporty and fast, and a worthy alternative to a lot of sports cars with the V6 and 6-speed stick. But it also is a capable sporty car with the 4-cylinder, which could benefit more from having a sixth gear than the larger and torquier V6. Honda officials defended their choice by saying they thought 4-cylinder buyers would be less interested in the all-out sporty attitude of the 6-speed.
The V6’s 273 horsepower peak at 6,200 RPMs, while its 245 foot-pounds of torque are attained at 5,000 RPMs. Meanwhile, the hotter version of the 2.4 4-cylinder shows 200 horsepower at 7,000 RPMs, and its 170 foot-pounds of torque peak at 4,500. So it seems that sporty drivers might enjoy having a stick shift in the V6 Sedan, just as they would in the V6 Coupe. Similarly, buyers watching their budgets might well choose the 4-cylinder Coupe, but might prefer the greater variation of a 6-speed stick to a 5-speed. Nissan’s new and sleek Altima Coupe may prove to be the Accord Coupe’s main competitor, and it offers a 6-speed manual with either the V6 or 4-cylinder.
So, apparently, Honda wants the Accord to be sporty — just not TOO sporty.
Touareg 2 makes roads easy, mountains possible
Critics questioned Volkswagen’s intitial logic five years ago when it decided to invade the world of SUVs with the Touareg, but the vehicle has proven to be solid and capable for any imaginable duty, including its basic and most logical use as a modern version of the good-ol’ family station wagon.
Now it’s time for updating, and VW has kept the basic size and shape but revised the important under-the-skin stuff to create the Touareg 2 for 2008. It is improved in every way, which means basic people-moving on normal highways is a snap, and even mountain climbing is possible. I had a chance to prove those capabilities, both during the Touareg 2 introduction, and for a later week on Minnesota roadways.
The most distinguishing feature of the 2008 Touareg 2 is the front end, where Volkswagen’s tweaking gives the new model the family resemblance, with the large grille separated by a horizontal chrome bar, similar to the new Jetta, Rabbit, GLI and GTI. The family resemblance makes good sense, and is one of the more attractive applications of that grille shape.
The Touareg was initially built with a companion version for the basis of Porsche’s high-performing Cayenne. The Touareg 2 has many subtle upgrades, with new seats a definite improvement, and the Audi-sourced 4.2-liter V8 is now direct-injected and runs smoother and with quicker response.
Its new grille is flanked by wider headlight openings and more intense lights, and its adjustable stiff or merely firm suspension, complementing the more supportive bucket seats, performs admirably on any freeway, highway, 2-lane, or lake-access road. Its weighty stance — from 5,100 to 5,800 pounds — makes it always feel stable and gives a good base for towing, although it’s difficult to avoid the impression that it’s overbuilt for mundane highway travel.
Base price is $39,320 for a Touareg 2 with the latest version of VW’s narrow-angle 3.6-liter V6, with 280 horsepower and 266 foot-pounds of torque. The one I drove for a week, starts at $59,320, loaded up with the 4.2 V8, with its direct-injection 350 horsepower and 324 foot-pounds of torque. Both engines are dual-overhead-camshaft pieces, and both run through 6-speed automatic transmissions. The V6 does just fine, unless you’re a power-hungry type. Fuel economy EPA estimates are 12 city and 17 highway for the V8, and 15/20 for the V6.
Volkswagen officials chose to introduce the refined Touareg 2 by whisking North American auto journalists away to Couer d’Alene, a little town on the skinny northern tip of Idaho that stretches to the Canadian border. The town, like the Native American tribe from the region, was named for its bargaining practices, which were “sharp as an awl.” For some, it was hard to reach such an out-of-the-way location, but for me, it was a pleasure.
My younger son, Jeff, had driven through the town a couple years ago, on his way west on I-90, and raved about how picturesque it is to come out of the spectacular Bitterroot mountain range on the Montana-Idaho border and descend to discover the beautiful Lake Couer d’Alene and the little town that adjoins it.
Volkswagen had gone for the ultimate, and hired Dan Mick, a Minnesota native famous as a tour and trek guide in the Moab desert of Utah. Since he is the undisputed king of Moab’s outrageous terrain for Range Rover, Jeep, Dodge trucks, and also the first Touareg introduction, VW brought him to Idaho to create the perfect and treacherous course for us to attempt with the Touareg 2.
Because of Volkswagen’s intent to show off the Touareg’s off-road capability, we drove a brief little sprint on the highway to get to a fantastic area where we could spend a couple hours on very challenging off-road trails. For that, the location was perfect. So we rushed off toward the east, cruising smoothly from the Couere d’Alene Resort, and after too little time on the mountainous roads, we turned off them.
Our incentive was a wonderful lunch served on top of the mountain, and getting there would be more than half the fun. I had met and talked with Dan Mick on several occasions, and our Minnesota ties always connected. He’s from Pine River, MN., a little town between Brainerd and Walker, but he’s made the Moab region his home and raised his family out there. Anyway, he asked if my co-driver and I would like to join him for the off-road trek, and I jumped at the chance to be guided by the maestro.
Unfortunately, Mick also wanted to be the last vehicle in line, so he could help anyone having trouble on the steep and unruly surfaces. So we were last, by design. Waiting for everybody else to clear was more of a pain than merely being last to lunch, but it was still an enjoyable day.
At several points he got out and directed us by hand-signal over the toughest areas, including one spot where the Touareg 2 would lift a front or rear-corner wheel a couple feet off the ground, and hold it there, like a German short-haired pointer. But instead of pointing to an unflushed pheasant, this beast was showing off its impressive structural rigidity.
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To be fully equipped for the battle, the Touareg 2 has switches to lock in whatever you choose. You can set the comfort range, and a pair of knobs allow you to set the firmness and height of the air suspension. The vehicle actually rises up off the suspension to enhance ground clearance for semi-tough or all-out demands, and will settle back down low and sleek for highway cruising.
We handled everything with ease, except for one very steep stretch where free-spinning vehicles preceding us had left hundreds of softball-size boulders lined up like so many marbles, and we spun too much to make sense of the climb. So we backed down and circled that hill.
When we finished off our belated mountaintop lunch, it was time to test the hill-descent control, which controls the steeply descending slopes without riding the brakes, and, in fact, without touching anything.
The ultimate evidence of the Touareg 2’s capability is that Dan Mick, who normally won’t leave his trusty short-wheelbase Jeep Wrangler while leading all other makes on Moab excursions or introductions, said that he now also wants a Touareg 2 because of its capabilities.
Still, the cynic in me had to point out that after two hours of off-roading, we had probably driven the new Touareg 2 off-road more than any customer is likely to drive a $40,000-$60,000 SUV.
As is often the case with German manufacturers, it is the capability of achieving what it is designed to do that seems to drive them. So to speak. I mean, a Porsche looks like it could go 175 mph, so it can, even though there is no chance any purchasers will be able to do that. And the Touareg 2 will perform amazing feats on the wildest terrain, even though about 95 percent of its buyers will spend 0 percent of their time venturing off road with any degree of difficulty.
Still to come, incidentally, is the return of the V10 twin-turbo-diesel in the Touareg 2, with 553 foot-pounds of torque, and will add the Bluetec exhaust-cleansing urea technology for 2009, to qualify as a clean diesel in all 50 states. That will increase power and fuel economy, and will make the Touareg 2 zip up cliffs so swiftly you won’t ever be late for lunch.
Enclave may now be the best car from Buick
The Buick LaCrosse is a high-tech midsize sedan, and the Lucerne is a medium-tech luxury sedan, but the highlight of a trip to any Buick dealership these days is not a sedan at all, but a truck — the Buick Enclave.
Not really a truck, either. The Buick Enclave is a crossover SUV, meaning it’s not built on a truck chassis but as a tightly coordinated unibody that handles and performs in a car-like fashion, smoother and better than any previous General Motors truck.
The Enclave joins the GMC Acadia and the Saturn Outlook as the third sibling in the GM triplets. All are impressive, but the Buick version has a clear edge in luxury, and, depending upon taste, in styling. All three share the benefit of high-technology under the hood, something that couldn’t always be said about General Motors products. But the superb 3.6-liter corporate V6 changes all that. It is a dual-overhead-camshaft, variable-valve timed engine that gives more than adequate power to make the Enclave and its corporate siblings outrun their bigger brethren with their huge V8s.
The old racing phrase “There’s no substitute for cubic inches” may have begun at General Motors, and it wasn’t until recently that some engineer must have answered back: “Yes there is; it’s called technology.”
The 3.6 is steadfastly replacing the old-tech 3800 V6, which has served GM so well as an inexpensive and adequate pushrod engine for about 50 years. It can’t come close to the 3.6, especially this one, which starts out with the substance of six-bolt main bearing rigidity, a forged steel crankshaft, and a new intake manifold. It produces 275 horsepower at 6,600 RPMs and 251 foot-pounds of torque at 3,200 RPMs.
Todd Pawlik, the program engine manager on the project, said that the all-aluminum 3.6-liter engine is the most powerful normally-aspirated V6 ever built at GM. That begs the question, and if you recall the old Grand National hot rod with a turbocharged V6, you’ve answered it. That was the only V6 ever produced at GM with more power. Take away the turbo and it’s no contest.
I was very impressed after some spirited driving in the upgraded CXL models, both with standard front-wheel drive and the all-wheel-drive system, at the media introduction for the Enclave in St. Louis. The statistics say the front-driver will get 16 miles per gallon city and 24 highway, while the AWD model gets 16/22 — only 2 mpg different. Both FWD and AWD are available in either the basic CX or the flashier CXL, and I must admit that during the media introduction in the Missouri countryside outside St. Louis, I cheated a little and stayed in the CXL to try both.
Driving aggressively in drive, my co-driver recorded 18.5 mpg with the AWD version on some twisty and hilly highways. When I took over, hand-shifting the six-speed automatic in the front-drive alternative, I drove much more aggressively but saw the computer mileage figure dip to only 17.6. Impressive, for the way I was tossing it around.
Later, I got an Enclave to drive for a week around Minnesota, and I was able to creep closer to 20 mpg. It was, however, the CX model with front-wheel drive. Some other SUVs might get better fuel economy, but the high-output and potent 3.6 V6 runs on regular gas. If you don’t think that’s significant, compare the price difference between regular and premium next time you fill up.
I received an email from a fellow who had heard my radio bit on WCCO AM with Charlie Boone on a Saturday morning, and bought a Buick Enclave CXL. He later heard someone else criticize the CXT for being too firm in its ride, and he wondered if maybe he should have ordered the CX instead. I told him I didn’t think the CXL was anything near harsh, and I am now ready to tell him he made the right move, because I much prefer the CXL.
The engineers insist that both models have the same suspension, the same engine and transmission, and the same four-link rear suspension with firm stabilizer bars front and rear, but the CXL felt smoother and sportier and a bit more stable. I attribute that to the specially-tuned Michelin tires on the standard 19-inch alloy wheels of the CXL. The CX has 18-inch wheels with slightly more bulbous all-season tires, and the larger wheels with lower-profile tires made a positive difference in the stable feel of the CXL.
Price matters too, of course. The prices of the Enclave read up like this: CX with FWD $32,055; CX with AWD $34,790; CXL with FWD $34,990; CXL with AWD $36,990.
Not bad. The CXL with leather interior, 19-inch wheels, and front-drive is only a couple hundred more than the CX with all-wheel drive, and the loaded version of the CXL is still safely below $40,000. The test CX I drove for a week had a sticker that rose from $32,055 to $36,260 with the inclusion of the optional entertainment system that includes 10-speaker Bose audio, rear DVD, with separate seat audio controls, plus a brilliant pearlish white finish, and a driver confidence package that had remote start, ultrasonic rear park assist and heated windshield washer fluid.
After the week of driving, I didn’t feel the CX FWD was as solidly stable as the CXL, but it certainly approached it in luxury. The neatly styled interior features woodgrain on the doors, console and dashboard, running left to right. It is fake — plastic wood — but the wonderful wood steering wheel is genuine mahogany. I do prefer the CXL’s leather upholstery.
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What makes the Enclave so special is that it has three very impressive primary features: One is the powerful and responsive engine, another is the comfortable luxury of the amazingly quiet and sound-insulated interior, and third is the outstanding styling of the exterior.
The Enclave has some sweeping contours that highlight the vehicle from its bold, waterfall grille on back to an upswept rear end, arching over both wheelwells in well-sculptured form.
It wasn’t always that way. Design director Jack Folden told the story of being frustrated at being unable to bring together all the elements he was seeking, with the chance to christen the new Buick entry with a design that could bring some emotional impact and flair to a vehicle that was built around space, room, and functionality.
“We were sketching things and drawing different designs, and we had some pretty good things going,” said Folden. “But it was nagging me a little. Do they have this super-strong emotional appeal, so it’s not just a car, not just transportation? It didn’t quite have it. One night, it was about 7 p.m., and I was staying late, doodling. I noticed a couple fellow-designers were still there too, and we got to talking.
“One of them said, ‘I see this as a fuselage.’ Another said something about the stance. A third said everything has to flow. As we talked, we seemed to have a spark. Things started coming together — emotion, lines flowing, growing, shrinking. Within two hours, we walked out. We had nailed it.”
Folden traced the line that runs from the grille through the headlights, over the fenders, flowing to the rear. Art, he called it, a living presence and personality. He added that the interior designers had accomplished the same thing, with tapered and undulating lines that go beyond a mere assembly of pieces. So the Enclave emerged as the benefit of some sort of karma, or timing, chemistry, or whatever it is that brings designers together on some vehicles, and might cause others to look like they were built by a committee whose members had never met.
Some high-strength steel in the frame and a half-dozen airbags and side curtains give the Enclave a five-star crash test rating, and all the latest rollover detection and stability control devices make it feel solid and secure in every maneuver.
Buick officials boldly asked us to compare the Enclave with the Lexus RX350 and the Acura MDX — two standards of the industry in midsize crossover SUVs with luxury tendencies. Buick ran sound tests to prove the Enclave was quieter than either, and I don’t disagree. But the RX350 is sleek and great looking, and I think the MDX is perhaps the best sporty-handling SUV on the planet, and even though Buick engineers disagreed with me, I’ve driven the MDX on a racetrack, and I’ve seen what it can do against huge snow drifts on the North Shore.
Buick officials boast that the Enclave has more room in the third-row seat than either, with easier access than either, and has significantly more storage room behind the third-row seat, as well as when the third row is folded down. They are undoubtedly correct in those measurements and boasts.The Enclave and its siblings are longer, and have more room behind the third-row seat, but the RX350 and the MDX are designed purposely to be more compact, and they have distinctly different personalities. Not everyone wants a third-row seat for adults, using it only for occasional use or small kids, and trade it off for handling agility.
But it is the highest of compliments that there is a Buick SUV now in showrooms that we are actively discussing as a viable alternative to the Lexus RX350 and the Acura MDX. High praise, indeed. We could go farther and proclaim the Buick Enclave as the best SUV ever built by GM.
Ford pins hopes on new models, new names for 2008
DEARBORN, Mich. — Here we are, up to our armpits in an enthusiastic variety of 2007 model cars, and major manufacturers are hustling, ever-huystling, to get the jump on the competition by unveiling some 2008 models. Ford Motor Company is among them.
Ford summoned automotive media to its Dearborn headquarters and then bused us over to its test facilities, where we got to briefly sample some of next year’s cars. Naturally, all models got updates from Ford, but here is a brief cross-section of what I was most enthused about:
MOST FUN/
The Ford Shelby GT. Biggest news is that there now is a Shelby Cobra-ized version of the Mustang in convertible form. The new Shelby GT is not to be confused with the Ford GT, the Mustang GT, the Shelby Mustang, or the Mustang Shelby GT500, or any other version, but it does come in both coupe and convertible form, the latter with a neat raised rollbar just behind the front bucket seats. It also comes in a new color, a neat vista blue with metallic silver striping running wide down the hood and over the trunk and down to the bumper. This one is not as hyper as the GT500, which has a supercharged 5.4-liter V8 with 500 fire-breathing horsepower. The new car comes off the normal Mustang GT assembly line at Flat Rock, Mich., then gets shipped to Carroll Shelby’s facility in Las Vegas, where Shelby’s fine touch gives it a distinctive new grille, little exterior tweaks here and there, such as hood pins, and specially set-up engine, brakes and suspension. The beauty of the Mustang GT is that it is a blast to drive, but it also can serve as an everyday driver. Same with the new Shelby GT, because it coaxes more power out of the 4.6-liter dual-overhead-cam V8 — from the Mustang GT’s 300 horsepower to 319 — but its handling and steering is more refined-performance than racetrack-performance. I like the looks of the Shelby GT a lot, and because it is plenty potent but still easily driveable, it might be the most marketable of all the Shelby/Cobra types. For good measure, you get a satin silver plaque affixed to the center console, listing the number of limited-edition Shelby GT you have bought, and also containing Shelby’s own unmistakable signature. There will, however, be only 2,300 of them made — an instant collector’s item.
BEST NEW-OLD IDEA/
The Taurus and Taurus X. There is no benefit in any “I told you so” stuff here, but when Ford came out with a new and larger sedan a couple years ago and said it was going to call it the Five Hundred — spelled out, please — and had a more compact car coming called the Fusion, I wrote that it seemed curious that Ford would forfeit all the name equity it had built up by discontinuing the Taurus. For 2008, Ford has announced it is renaming the Five Hundred the Taurus, in order to try to recapture all the name equity it had built up in what was the top-selling car in the U.S. for several years until the Honda Accord and then the Toyota Camry passed it. Hmmmm. After a year or so of mild selling, the Five Hundred — spelled out or not — failed to attract large numbers of customers with its mild styling and meaningless name. Along with the name, Ford has affixed its new corporate grille, similar to the Fusion, on the front of the new Taurus, and more significantly it has replaced the less-than-thrilling 3.0-liter V6 with its smooth but audibly boring CVT (continuously variable transmission). In their place, Ford has plunked its new high-tech, Edge-based 3.5-liter V6, and a new six-speed automatic transmission. Same huge interior and trunk, same comfort for all occupants, and renewed punch and performance. The Freestyle, by the way, also has been replaced by the Taurus X, and X marks the spot where another Fusion-styled horizontal-bar grille and the same Taurus drivetrain resides. Will the once-loyal Ford customers flock back to the flock to get a new Taurus? We’ll see.
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STRANGEST “NEW” IDEA/
Focus. The Focus has done a good job of being a pretty good compact car. Some liked it, a few loved it, but Ford treated it like a displeasing orphan, compared to the European Focus. A couple years ago, when Ford affiliate Volvo turned out a spectacular compact sedan in the S40, and affiliate Mazda came out with a similarly spectacular Mazda3, Ford came up with a gem. The European Focus rode on the Volvo S40’s rock-solid and safe platform, and got the Mazda3’s brilliant 2.0/2.3-liter four-cylinder engine, with a suspension tuned by the experts at Ford of Germany. Great combination, and reports are outstanding. So Ford introduces a new 2008 Focus in the U.S., and it not only has its looks improved, it adds a two-door coupe that looks positively sporty. So finally, I asked, is this the U.S. version of the European Focus? “No,” was the answer. No, this is a mostly-cosmetic remake of the U.S. Focus. The new Focus that will be based on the European Focus won’t come until the “next” remake of the Focus. In this era of sharing platforms and components — Volvo and Mazda platforms outfit the Ford Five Hundred, oops-Taurus, the Fusion, the Edge, and practically everything — then why is it cost-effective to make a sensational Focus for Europe and a pretty good Focus in the U.S.?
BEST ROAD TO FUEL-EFFICIENCY/
Ford Escape Hybrid. Around the Ford road-course at the test facility, I drove the new Escape Hybrid and the Mariner Hybrid, its sister ship from Mercury, and first I registered 28.5 miles per gallon. That is good for an SUV — any SUV. But it wasn’t good enough for me, because I was sure I could do better, by altering my driving, and using the brakes for regenerative duty while accelerating more moderately. Sure enough, I then coaxed it up to 33.8 miles per gallon. Now THAT is good for any SUV. Hybrids can work on any vehicle, from economy cars to high-performance vehicles, and up to the SUVs that make the most profit and are therefore stressed by some companies. If Ford would expand and put the Escape’s electric/gas engine package on other vehicles, such as the Fusion, Taurus, and on other SUVs, they could be the right vehicles for the right time.
Of course, Ford has various other redone vehicles for 2008, but coming on the heels (wheels?) of the Edge, MKX, MKZ, and others from Lincoln, Mercury and Ford, if these new models catch the public’s fancy, all could be well for Ford. The company deserves it, in light of recent news items that further underscores the problems at Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. All are struggling and hoping to turn their fortunes upward. Ford has an edge, you should pardon the expression, because it is ahead of its domestic rivals in some key technologies, such as hybrids. Now it needs to make a bold move toward, say, turbo-diesels, and its upward momentum could build quickly.
In recent months, the word that Ford was going to sell off Jaguar, Aston Martin, and Land Rover was somewhat anticipated. But last week, word started to spread that Ford also was planning to sell Volvo. That is a surprise, because Volvo has been very good for Ford, but the reason behind the scenes is that Volvo as an entity could command more money than Jag, Aston Martin, and Land Rover — combined.
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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