Good season ends, better one awaits — if Hunter signs
The Major League Baseball season ended with a thud for the Minnesota Twins, even as it transformed itself into league playoffs – the most exciting baseball of the year. All the whining and moaning about the dismal turn of events that left the Twins on the outside looking in this October have subsided, so we can concentrate on the daily news of whether the Twins will retain Torii Hunter.
The signature to this season for the Twins might have been the vision of Hunter coming out of the Metrodome dugout to tip his cap to the fans, who were giving him an ovation in case it was his last home game in a Twins uniform. If not, the signature might have been Hunter delivering a key hit in Detroit or Boston on the Twins season-ending road trip. Both of those images came to me courtesy of Fox Sports North, and if those prove to be the final image we hold of the Twins, it will be sad, indeed.
True, there are other challenges facing the Twins, such as Johan Santana going into the final year of his contract, but there is no more pressing issue with the Twins than signing Hunter.
Those who put total emphasis on whether the team makes the playoffs or not should examine other teams in other markets, and realize how special it is to get that far. It is unusual, and should be appreciated, because most teams don’t make it. The Twins have been fortunate enough to win a tough division enough – including last year’s last-day pennant-winning effort – to make media critics and the most narrow-visioned fans expect that it should happen every year.
Comparing this season with last, look at several factors. In 2006, Joe Mauer was batting champ and local hero; Justin Morneau was most valuable player and drove in a lot of runs; Torii Hunter routinely made scintillating catches in center field and hit well – particularly in September, when he often lifted the club to victory; Michael Cuddyer came through as a clutch hitter who could throw guys out with his laser from right field; Lew Ford was a surprising bright light; Nick Punto and Jason Bartlett were the “piranhas†who ignited repeated rallies and starred in the field; Santana was Cy Young (again); Francisco Liriano was an exceptional young lefthander who burst upon the scene; Brad Radke pitched courageously and wisely to give the Twins a “Big Three†and allow young prospects to fill out the rotation; Joe Nathan was the closer to a superb bullpen.
This season, Liriano missed the whole season after arm surgery; Mauer was again a brilliant hitter, but suffered repeated leg injuries that knocked him out of action; Radke retired; Morneau hit with awesome power, but not regularity, suffering long stretched of ineffectiveness between burst of home runs; Santana pitched hard and well, but acquired a knack for giving up solid hits and home runs as foes seemed to start focusing on either his fastball or his changeup, first-pitch-hitting him often and with success; Nathan was still good, but frequently got his saves only after getting rocked for a few hits and/or runs, and the rest of the bullpen seemed to fade; Ford disappeared and made only brief appearances; Bartlett and Punto started out hitting miserably, but at least playing brilliant defensively, and when Bartlett finally hit respectably Punto continued to flirt with hitting below .200 until finally getting it together in September; Cuddyer continued to hit well and play strong right field.
And then there was Torii Hunter. The man was again The Man in center field, and he hit well and consistently throughout the season. Despite the ineffectiveness of all those Twins from shark to piranha in the batting order, Hunter not only kept hitting all season, but he secured his position as the face of the franchise.
True, Joe Mauer is the heroic local-boy-makes-good story and is the single most important player to the franchise. His long-term employment is a given, despite those cynics who complained that he “only hit singles and doubles†when he was hitting .350, and wailed that they couldn’t figure out why, mysteriously, nobody was on base for the home runs after Joe was sidelined by his strained muscle injury.
But after Mauer, Torii Hunter is THE primary factor in the Twins lineup, in their clubhouse, and in their face to the media. Always willing to talk, candidly, Hunter always is upbeat, punctuating his assessments with that smile that can warm up a whole stadium.One Twin Cities columnist ripped the Twins a couple weeks before the end of the season saying that the future is so bleak that the Twins won’t win next year with or without players such as Hunter and Santana.
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I disagree. If Mauer stays healthy, if Santana finds a way to more effectively alter his pitching pattern, if Morneau develops a little patience to look for his pitch, if everybody leaves Bartlett and Punto alone and realizes that they are great defensively and will come through with less pressure offensively, if Cuddyer keeps playing the way he’ll keep playing; if Liriano comes back with any similarity to the pitcher he was in 2006 – then the only thing between the Twins and pennant contention is clear.
It is the image of Torii Hunter, portraying a seek-and-destroy missile in center field for the Twins, and frustrating those “by-the-book†analysts who hate it when guys swing at the first pitch. Hunter often swings at the first pitch, and, I would bet, probably leads the Major Leagues in hitting first-pitch home runs. The critics who go by the book in baseball need to get the new, unabridged “book†by Torii Hunter.
Owner Carl Pohlad is getting his new stadium, even though he is only financing one-third of it. The taxpayers weren’t asked for their vote in favor of their financial participation in underwriting the cost of building the stadium. But if I were to vote, my vote would hang in the balance – pending the signing to a long-term contract of Torii Hunter. He wants a lot of money, and he deserves it. He wants a 5-year contract, and I say, “Great! He’ll be around a while.Ââ€
For those who think no player is worth an exorbitant contract, they are right. But pro athletes get what they can get, and that’s the unfortunate but realistic state of pro sports these days. That said, very few Major League players are worth as much as Torii Hunter is to the Twins.
Some might say Santana is worth more. Not true. Pitchers are vitally important, and I love watching Johan pitch, even though Ron Gardenhire’s astute managing falls into the pitch-count trap that has prevented Santana from extending the length of his starts. He may never throw a complete game, and I heard a national television analyst say that he’s just not the type of pitcher who can go the distance. Of course he is, although he is now programmed to go seven innings instead of nine.
The fact is, Santana or any other starting pitcher has a chance to dominate and win a game one time out of every five or six games. In some of those games, a team’s ace will be going against an equal team’s ace, and then the odds of him winning drop to 50-50. Joe Mauer can find a way to help win every game, as long as he can stay healthy, but catching is such a rugged chore, he will definitely get some days off, especially with a backup as impressive as Mike Redmond. Justin Morneau can win some games when he’s on one of his homer hot streaks. But Torii Hunter is the player with the best chance of winning every single game of the season.
Skeptical? Consider the absolute worst-case scenario: It’s the spring of 2010, and the new outdoor ballpark (which should be named Pohlad Park if ol’ Carl had only chosen to spend a billion of his own on the project) has opened and the game is underway. One of the Twins socks a high, long drive to center field, but – curses! — the — the other team’s center-fielder leaps up and reaches over the fence to rob the home team of a home run. That center-fielder could be Torii Hunter, wearing a visiting uniform, committing his grinning larceny in a new ballpark…which we don’t need if the Twins fail to sign Torii Hunter.
Alpha moves H3 to forefront of Hummer battalion
Alpha signifies the start of the alphabet, or the No. 1 item in a group, such as the alpha-male as boss of a wolfpack. For 2008, Alpha could make the Hummer H3 No. 1 for a number of folks who are seeking a rugged-looking SUV but with a more civilized and user-friendly personality.
That is no less a feat than for a wolf pup to work his way up from pack outcast to alpha-male, because Hummer had established itself as a military-oriented vehicle that could be seen on every newscast, carrying soldiers in Iraq war circumstances.
The H3 is the baby of the Hummer family, and over the past three years it was considered the nice, but somewhat puny, newcomer. Measuring 16 inches shorter than the H2, with a wheelbase almost a foot shorter, it could get by with a 5-cylinder engine moving its 4,800-plus pounds. Not with much urgency, true, so even though it cornrered smoothly, it didn’t exactly make the turn with enough relish so you could play the hot dog. So to speak.
That’s where the 2008 Alpha upgrade comes in. The basic Hummer H3 still comes with the 3.7-liter, inline 5-cylinder, with its 242 horsepower, but if you add the name “Alpha†to the H3 designation, you have jumped to a much snappier vehicle with a 5.3-liter V8.
Now, the 5.3 isn’t exactly the leader in power or technology, even in GM’s arsenal. It is a pushrod V8, but it represents a huge increase in power, potential, and performance in the H3 that lifts it to a new level. It develops 300 horsepower at 5,200 RPMs, with 320 foot-pounds of torque at 4,000 RPMs. In actual performance, that move the hefty but compact H3 from 0-60 in about 9 seconds, which may not press your head against the headrest on takeoff, but feels like the Batmobile compared to the 5-banger.
The 4-speed automatic is OK, although a 5-speed would be better, and why GM didn’t equip it with its new 6-speed automatic is a question any prospective buyer should ask. But the H3’s agility, handling and steering precision are…well, think about it. You would never mention “agility, handling and steering precision†in the same sentence, when discussing any other Hummer model.
There is a price to pay to go Alpha. The base H3 starts at right around $30,000, while the new H3 Alpha starts at nearly $10,000 more than that. Still, it might be worth the difference.
If the original H3 was intended to lure less-aggressive guys, or perhaps capture the growing female segment, the H3 Alpha has a realistic chance for doing exactly that. The square exterior still has the squashed-down roof that leaves narrow windows, for a diminished outward view. But the revised interior is decidedly occupant-friendly. Instrumentation is new and nicely laid out, and from the inside, if you didn’t know you were in a Hummer, you would definitely think you were in some “normal†SUV.
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Same with the sound system. A six CD changer is among the featurs of the Monsoon sound system, which finishes off the super-domesticated interior of the H3 Alpha. Even a fairly contemporary feature, such as the rear-view video, has been given special treatment. On most vehicles, the navigation screen is where the rear video is displayed, but on the H3 Alpha, shifting to reverse causes a little screen to zip out from the right edge of the rear-view mirror. Having the display there means it is easily seen along with the normal mirror.
Such creature features are a departure for anything with the Hummer name, although differences in driving may be best appreciated by taking a turn in, say, the old H1. You climb aboard, and while it is easily the widest vehicle you’ve ever entered, there is a huge carpeted hump in the middle, which separates all four bucket seats by footage, rather than inches. The large and armored troop-carrying Hummer H1 also provides a regular test of lane-staying concentration in normal traffic, and the unbelieving looks from virtually everybody you could see through those thin-slit windows was another matter, because not all those looks were endearing. Even for a governor.
Yes, it could be obtained for the street, with a giant diesel engine. General Motors used to send engines and parts to Hummer, and the H2 came along as a smaller and less-warlike alternative to the H1, with its testosterone level reduced from overload to more reasonable levels with drivetrains from Tahoes and Suburbans. With General Motors having taken over the company , it followed that the next step would be to create a quite-civilized and manageable smaller vehicle.
So the H3, the third vehicle in the Hummer collection, began life in 2005, and was far more maneuverable than the H2, if also much less powerful. For 2008, however, the Alpha retains all the off-road-ability, as the two giant tow-rings in front and one at the rear might indicate, but the flashy red paint job tips off the Alpha, which make the H3 a logical alternative for those seeking the macho demeanor, or for anyone who wants a strong-running, modern and capable SUV.
Ford finds renewed Focus in Sync for 2008
SEATTLE, WASH. — Hop into your “car of the future,†start it up, and hit the road. You’ve digested the local and national news and weather on your favorite radio station, and it’s time for some tunes. Tap a steering-wheel-remote button with your right thumb, and, without taking your hands from the wheel or your eyes from the road, the car asks for a command. Say: “USB,†and it connects to the MP3 player you had connected to the USB jack. Say “Neil Young,†and it immediately begins to play the newly released music from a 1971 concert at Massey Hall in Toronto.
Say the name of a different playlist, and say, “Shuffle,†and immediately your favorite tunes are playing in random order through the high-tech sound system.
Oops! You forgot to tell your wife something before you left, so you click the phone steering-wheel button, and — still without taking your eyes off the road or hands off the wheel – you are asked whether you want to retrieve voice messages, have text messages read aloud to you, or make a call. Say, “Call Joan†— if your wife’s name happens to be the same as my wife’s name, and immediately the car calls your wife’s cell-phone. In a couple of seconds, you are talking to her via the car’s sound system.
There are some cars that will do some of those things already, but the most sophisticated system I’ve experienced is no longer a “car of the future” trick, but will be available from any Ford dealer as soon as the renovated 2008 Focus hits the showrooms. Ford has worked out an extremely user-friendly deal with Microsoft, to install and coordinate a system called Sync into the Focus, and it will be available in a dozen Ford vehicles by the end of the 2008 model year.
That’s why Ford summoned auto journalists to Seattle, which is the home base of Bill Gates’s Microsoft empire. We even got to visit the “Redmond Campus†at Microsoft’s headquarters in the Seattle suburb of Redmond. If you’re using a computer to work, correspond, or just live nowadays, you are familiar with Microsoft. Yes, you may be frustrated at how often the Microsoft “Windows†operating system acts like “Big Brother†to dominate your computer, but Microsoft officials point out that the company also makes many of the operating system things for Apple, its largest competitor.
Besides, Sync is programmed to work with every system, offering a vast array of possibilities from within your Focus. You can code your Bluetooth wireless phone into the system, and it installs all your preset names, numbers and messages into Sync. It can handle and keep separate a dozen phones at once, readily identifying which is being used at that moment. It won’t allow anyone else access to private numbers on your phone, responding only to whatever phone it detects as belonging to the person accessing it.
You can also code Microsoft’s own “Zune†music system, or Apple’s competing iPod, or any other, and Sync will digest and operate any function by voice command. Whatever you’re doing is displayed on a small screen on the top of the dashboard, so if you do feel the urge to glance at it, your eyes only need to move a tiny bit before returning to the road. Sync will allow you to operate any portable device, including a USB flash drive, if you’ve coded information or music onto it.
Once you’ve got the tunes playing, you can click up to the next one with another thumb switch, or you can just call out the command to play a certain title, artist, album title, or genre. Auto journalists may be more conditioned to new car features, but we also are an impatient lot that tends to trust our hunches and experiences to guess at what might work ergonomically. And we had little-to-no trouble making Sync work.
Tom Gibbons, the corporate vice president for specialized devices and applications in the entertainment and devices division of Microsoft, seems to have coordinated everything except, perhaps, a way to shorten his professional title. He explained how Sync came to be, and how, in our emerging and current digital lifestyle, the emphasis was on making it user-friendly to operate, and also readily update-able to cope with whatever might be coming next from any gadget manufacturer.
“When I first got into a Focus with Sync installed, I didn’t read any directions,†Gibbons said. “We wanted a system that anyone could get into and use without reading any directions. We had talked to Ford often, and wanted to make sure our vision was the same for Sync – otherwise you can’t get two elephants to dance.Ââ€
Great analogy. Microsoft is an elephant in the china shop of electronic gadgetry, and Ford is an elephant in the automotive business. From Ford’s standpoint, being identified as an elephant is far superior to be seen as a dinosaur, and the new Focus not only meets the standards of the highest-tech operating system convenience, but as an entirely revised compact car.
While every new-car buyer seems to want the latest in gadgetry these days, the cars they seek fluctuate. The trend toward large SUVs has abated, and Ford marketing wizard George Pipas said that the only two automotive categories that are growing right now are crossover SUVs and small cars. That trend has found that people who have bought larger cars are moving down to smaller vehicles, and those who have bought cars in the “B†(subcompact) or “C†(compact) segments are staying there.
Ford’s plan for the immediate future is to become more competitive in the combined B-C segment, which will take some doing. Pipas points out that Toyota has six cars in that combined segment, while Ford has one – the Focus. A problem with U.S. manufacturers is that while concentrating on more profitable large cars and SUVs, they have allowed the small-car segment to escape. So to speak. Seventy-six percent of the B-C segment belongs to import brands.
“We’ve been very short-sighted,†Pipas said, adding that he agrees with new Ford CEO Alan Mulally’s view. “Don’t look at the Focus as a profit center, but as a portal. Our participation in the segment gives us a portal to the battleground.Ââ€
Over the last two decades, bean-counters and zealous U.S. car-maker advocates boasted of kissing off the small-car segment while building high-profit larger vehicles, but Pipas and others now realize that the hundreds of thousands of small-car buyers who bought a Corolla or Civic not only found they had a good car, but it was good enough that that 76 percent of small-car buyers also purchased good reason to stay with Toyota or Honda or other import brands.
The new car could be renamed the “Portal,†but it remains the Focus, and it remains the U.S. Focus. It is not the long-awaited European Focus, where it is a high-end small car, with a platform from the Volvo S40, a powerful engine from Mazda, and sophisticated suspension engineered by Ford of Germany. In Europe, popularity of small cars has led to a strong market for premium small cars, and Ford has decided the current European Focus would be too expensive, and would leave Ford without an entry in the inexpensive B-C fight.
So a revised model of the current Focus is, in Pipas’s view, the most important vehicle Ford is introducing. It must give Ford a slice of the B-C segment, while awaiting the help that is on the way. Ford showed a new Verve last week at the Frankfurt Auto Show, and it is basically a new version of the Fiesta-sized “B†car, which will be coming to the U.S. in another year or two. Once that is established, the next-generation revision of the Focus will probably be the European model.
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For now, though, the new Focus needn’t be a letdown. The existing Focus has been a worthy compact, fairly fun to drive, and quite economical and dependable. The new model improves on every aspect. The design shows off a new grille with well-styled headlights that turn up and lead to the top line of the silhouette. A neatly indented panel accents the side, and the new car is immediately identifiable as being different. Same with the suspension, which has been firmed up for far better cornering stability, and with the interior, which has a satin-silver dashboard, different instrument panel, and much improved seats.
It also comes in either 4-door or an all-new 2-door coupe. Either can be had in basic S, mid-range SE, or top-level SES. The 2.0-liter Mazda-based 4-cylinder engine has 140 horsepower and 136 foot-pounds of torque with either a 4-speed automatic or a 5-speed manual. The engine works well with the automatic, and, typically, has a sportier and peppier demeanor with the stick, and should achieve 30-35 miles per gallon.
The S model starts at $14,695, with the SE at $15,695, and the SES at $16,695 for the coupe and $16,995 for the sedan.
All models have the improved handling and styling, and much-improved safety features on their front-wheel-drive Focuses. The Sync feature comes standard on the top SES models, and is an available option at $399 on the middle SE models.
The Focus, therefore, is pivotal to allow Ford to focus on the B-C segment, and Sync could be an enormous tool to help synchronize that plan.
Malibu, CTS, VUE, Saab 9-3 pace GM’s 2008 fleet
JOLIET, ILL. — The 2008 model year could be pivotal in General Motors’ attempt to hold off Toyota’s surge to be the top-selling auto manufacturer in the world, and after a sample of most of the GM arsenal – including all-new models of Cadillac CTS, Chevrolet Malibu, Saturn VUE, Saab 9-3, and the functional two-mode hybrid GMC Yukon SUV – the General appears the best its been equipped for the battle.
The Malibu may be the spotlight vehicle for GM overall, because it is all-new and impressive, even though we didn’t get a chance to drive the display model. The new Malibu will be pushed hard for Car of the Year consideration, although it is a fraternal twin to the Saturn Aura, the 2007 Car of the Year, and shares the Opel Vectra platform from GM’s German affiliate.
Cadillac, which led the current GM redesigning charge with the CTS, has slightly restyled and thoroughly tightened the new CTS, giving its potent 3.6-liter V6 a healthy upgrade in power. The Yukon Hybrid was much more impressive than the PR-only previous GM truck hybrid, which only kept the accessories functioning while shutting down the big V8 engine at stoplights. The VUE is a dazzling redesign for 2008, worthy of its own review. But the star of the show, in my mind, was the new Saab 9-3, which has what I declare is my favorite General Motors engine.
The site of the one-day display was the Autobahn Country Club, a wonderful suburban Chicago place where members can belong to a country club that offers the chance to drive on a road-racing track instead of to play golf. So we got to try out the new stuff on the road course as well as on regional streets and highways.
One of the highlights of the day was to sit at a lunch table with Mark LaNeve, who used to be at Cadillac and now is general manager of sales, service and marketing for General Motors. LaNeve is sort of out of the Bob Lutz mold, an executive who isn’t shy about making bold statements, and, like GM’s most prominent vice president, LaNeve also is at his best when he varies from the prepared text.
“This will be an exciting couple of years, not just for GM, but for the whole industry,†said LaNeve, “We are engaged in global competition, and the winners are going be the companies that can compete globally. We are truly global…one global enterprise in design, engineering and manufacturing.Ââ€
The script explained how GM has tightened itself with shorter life cycles, better quality, lower cost, and reducing reliance on rental sales and incentives to improve profit margins, and said, “After working incredibly hard to get our product quality to world-class levels…†but LaNeve’s actual comments were more candid and incisive.
“When we were great,†he said, “we had trend-setting design and technology. We’ve got to get back to that. As for quality and our production processes, we’ve got that taken care of…We’re not going to fool the public with clever marketing. The companies that make great products are going to win, and we are truly focused on building great products.Ââ€
LaNeve also told the assembled Midwest Auto Media Association members that GM and Chevrolet trucks are well in place, but Chevrolet had the “need to re-establish it as having the best cars.Ââ€
I was both surprised and impressed by those comments. GM’s public statements never acknowledged the shortcomings most of the media had been chronicling over the last two decades. It was arrogance that contributed greatly to GM’s weakening, and it is truly refreshing to hear an executive admit that GM had faltered, and is – present tense — in the process of re-establishing its quality, and correcting the problems.
The Malibu, LaNeve said, will be the “new star of the lineup,†with that intention. “We didn’t build a replacement for the Malibu, we built what we think is best for that part of the market – a completely new car. We kept the Malibu name, and frankly, I’m tired of new names.†Market research interviewed buyers considering Camry, Accord, Altima and Sonata, he added, and asked what it would take to get them to consider a Chevy.
The resulting input, LaNeve said, led to the new Malibu . “We wanted to build a car that looks $40,000, for half of that. In the 1980s and ’90s, we really didn’t build cars like that.Ââ€
The 2008 Malibu will start at $19,995, right on target. “And that will include an automatic transmission,†LeNeve said. “The Accord, Camry, and Altima don’t offer an automatic at their base price. I’m not going to say that’s a ‘bait and switch,’ but…Ââ€
After his speech, I had to challenge LaNeve on only that one comment, which was spontaneous and unscripted. “Does the Malibu come with a stick shift?†I asked him. After saying that the automatic could be manually shifted, he said that no, it didn’t come with a manual.
“Well then, the Accord, Camry, and Altima do offer sticks, so they offer something the Malibu doesn’t offer,†I pointed out. “Their automatics aren’t that expensive, so maybe their ‘bait and switch’ is your ‘switch and bait.’ ”
At that point, Steve Hill, manager of GM’s North Central Region, came to LaNeve’s defense. “Only 2 percent of midsize buyers buy manual transmissions,†he said.
“Maybe, but that number might be higher if Chevy offered one,†I shot back. “Zero percent of Malibu buyers will be able to buy a stick.Ââ€
So the low percentage of stick-shift buyers is where market research can prompt a self-fulfilling prophecy, considering that none of the GM midsize offerings have one available. That, however, was about the only slip I found in the whole presentation.
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A Malibu Hybrid also will be introduced with the Malibu fleet this fall, which could also lift the brand name in public estimation. “We’ve lost a lot of ground in the midsize segment,†LaNeve added. “We’re not proud of it, but we know what we did wrong, and we’re correcting it. We don’t think high fuel prices are temporary, or that there’s public concern with global climate change.Ââ€
With GM’s new crop of vehicles, including hybrids, Flex-Fuel E85 vehicles, and other technology, LaNeve said “I’m very optimistic – more than I’ve ever been.Ââ€
The CTS, like the Malibu, Aura, VUE, and other GM cars, will deploy a more powerful version of the outstanding 3.6 V6, which has dual overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder, and variable valve-timing. Power, however, has not been the engine’s problem. It has not delivered up to the standards of its EPA estimates.
The one version of the rapidly expanding 3.6 is the one GM sends to Australia, where its Holden affiliate reduces its displacement to 2.8 liters, and tubrocharges it, then sends it to Sweden where Saab puts it into the 9-3 model. I drove the Corvette, which was awesome on the road course, and the CTS, VUE, Buick Lucerne Super, and other vehicles, but the most impressive was the Saab 9-3 Conti wagon, which has the 2.8 V6 turbo with a 6-speed stick. It was fantastic.
Chevy dealers will do well with the Malibu, but they’d better hope their sportiest customers don’t check out the Saab dealer before deciding.
New Caravan, Town & Country — mobile family rooms
CARLSBAD, CA. — New engines and transmissions, improved driving dynamics that approach sports-car maneuverability, and creature-features that offer a family room on wheels — complete with swivel seats around a card table and ambient lighting, plus enough media alternatives to offer enough cable TV, DVD and music outlets to keep the rowdiest riders mesmerized — are among ingredients intended to make the 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country take the minivan market to new heights.
Minivans? Yes, minivans. The introduction of the fifth-generation models for 2008 was truly a family affair, as Chrysler assured that auto journalists wouldn’t bypass the minivan reintroduction by inviting their entire families — as many as could stand to live in the same room at the Four Seasons Hotel in Carlsbad. The whole family went on road tests, and each family got a minivan for a free extra day of touring the San Diego area. Those with small children had a great time, and it was a chance for my two adult sons to join my wife, Joan, and me for an interesting reunion.
Every eligible driver was asked to take a turn driving on the freeways and through the mountains near San Diego, and we intended to do that, to fully appreciate the 35 new features on the longer, wider and roomier vehicles. Joan drove her share, but Jeff only got a short bit, and Jack, who is often my assistant, never drove. Joan explained it best: “They would have driven, but they got in the back seats, and every time we went anywhere, they immediately fell asleep. Funny, but that is exactly what they did when they were little. At least they proved the rear seats must be comfortable.”
I had a good time driving various models of both vehicles, and I particularly liked the Dodge Caravan Sport, which has the 4.0-liter V6 that is the largest of three engines, a six-speed automatic, and not only firmed up suspension, but revised steering to add resistance and eliminate the too-light feeling of many power-boosted front-wheel-drive vehicles. Both versions come with a 3.3-liter overhead-cam V6 with 175 horsepower/205 foot-pounds of torque; a 3.8-liter pushrod V6 with 197/230 figures; or the 4.0 overhead-cam V6 251/259 power/torque numbers. The 3.3 was adequate, although it comes only with the four-speed automatic, while the two larger displacements get the six-speed automatic.
Even the base models have good handling, but the Sport package on the Caravan tempted me to push it on one steep and curving downhill four-lane. Traffic was spotty, and I slalomed right, left, and back right to easily filter through. I could tell it was handling well when I felt as though I hadn’t gotten near the limit, but the rest of the family chirped aboI should be aware that this was no BMW I was driving. No, but it sure handled well, and when Joan got her turn behind the wheel, she saw what I meant.
“When I first drove it on the highway through the mountains, I was afraid to go too fast, because I thought it might be a little tippy,” she said. “But after I got used to it, I couldn’t believe how well it handled, and I drove it a lot harder. The only problems were other cars that weren’t going as fast.”
The Dodge Grand Caravan comes in base SE form starting at $22,470 with the 3.3 engine and a second-row bench seat, and with three equipment levels and six option packages. Moving up to the Caravan SXT, starting price is $27,535, with the 3.8 engine, “stow and go” second-row seating, four standard equipment levels and six option packages. One of those standard equipment levels is the Sport package with the 4.0 and firmer suspension.
The Town & Country has three models, with the LX starting at $23,190 with the 3.3 and the bench; the Touring starts at $28,430 with the 3.8; and the Limited starts at $36,400 and has the 4.0 and loads of luxury touches. Three standard equipement packages and four option packages. The top-dog Limited has enough standard stuff that it offers only one option package, and it offers eight stand-alone options.
We can deal with the driving dynamics, suspension improvements, and increased safety from higher-strength steel and improved body stiffness after later test-drive weeks, but for the introduction, the appearance and features are foremost. More interior room was attained by lengthening the vans by 2 inches, and widening the roof by 6 inches. One of the primary features the last time Chrysler updated the minivans was the addition of “Stow and Go” seating for 2004, where quite-large storage bins were built into the floor, and the seats could actually fold and disappear down into them to create a large, flat floor. Folding down all the seats reduce the vans from seven passenger to two, but allows hauling 4×8 sheets of plywood.
The biggest new feature for both 2008 models is “Swivel and Go,” a new plan with captain’s chairs in the second row that spin 180 degrees to face the rear bench seat, and a table installs to fit perfectly. We didn’t have the chance to play a family scrabble game, or a picnic, and we decided to hit the famous “In and Out” burger joint, but we ate inside. However, the potential for a traveling family is expanded greatly by the table and swivel chairs, which have seat-anchored shoulder belts that still work when the seats swivel.
Available ambient halo lighting gives occupants family-room atmosphere at night without bothering the driver. Movable pinpoint LED reading lights, similar to airplane reading lights, let passengers read, play games, or be aimed anywhere, without interfering with the driver’s vision. The front console is large enough to hold something as large as a purse, and it slides 21 inches rearward in two different segments to serve either first or second row seats, or both.
The entertainment system is truly over the top. A dual-DVD system plays different things on separate screens for second and third row occupants, and wireless headphones keep the sound isolated from the front row, where the driver can be listening to a ballgame or to Sirius satellite radio. Dual audio-video jacks, a 115-volt inverter, and a 12-volt power outlet in the C-pillar eliminate the need for auxiliary converters, as gaming systems can plug in directly. Aside from playing a video game on one screen and watching a DVD moving on another, a passenger can choose to watch a unique live television broadcast, as the minivans are first in the industry to offer Sirius backseat satellite television, with the Disney Channel, Cartoon Network Mobile, and Nickelodeon Mobile all arranged for viewing. Those are definite kid-aimed channels — which also can be viewed on the front seat navigation screen if the vehicle is parked — but how far can we be from ESPN, Showtime, or a local network telecast is available?
For the discriminating family that wants still more, the MyGIG system has AM-FM-CD-DVD-MP3-satellite radio-navigation capabilities on a 20-gigabyte hard drive, which has voice commands and touch-screen use, a USB port, and a jukebox feature for personalization. The device can rip files directly from an MP3 and store more than 1,200 songs. All of that plays through a premium 7.1 digital surround sound system available with a 506-watt amplifier, 11 channels and 46 watts per channel, and an 8-inch, 2-channel, dual-voice coil subwoofer.
Incidentally, the new Dodge minivan is the Grand Caravan, because the previous standard issue Caravan has disappeared, with only the longer version available. My suggestion is that since the Grand Caravan is all that remains, can’t we be allowed to just call it the Caravan — as every buyer will, anyway? Probably not. Meanwhile, you might say “Town and Country,” but the official vehicle is the Chrysler “Town & Country,” with the ampersand instead of the word “and.” Ah, well…
Chrysler claims to have invented the minivan segment in 1983. We can quibble about Volkswagen’s flower-child-powered Microbus beating the Caravan/Voyager vans by more than a couple of decades, but they were bit players, and there is no question that the segment became a full-blown phenomenon once the Chrysler minivans made their debut. The Caravan and Voyager were so successful that Chrysler added the more luxurious Town and Country for the 1990 model year, and since the Voyager vanished with the demise of Plymouth, the remaining continued owning the marketplace.
Competitors came and went. Ford and General Motors tried rear-engine, front-engine, captive-import, and bizarre-looking minivans in hopes of cutting into Caravan country, but they not only failed, they have faded from the scene. Tough new competitors include the Honda Odyssey, Nissan Quest, Toyota Sienna, and Kia Sedona, all of which offer serious alternatives. But Chrysler has sold 12 million minivans through the first four generations, led by the Dodge Caravan segment leader for 23 consecutive years, with a 22-percent share of all minivans sold.
As for the look, Chrysler design manager Jeff Gale explained the task to create two distinct personalities. The Town and Country aims for luxury treatment, although while officials stressed the new grille resembles the 300 sedan’s look, it more resembles the more horizontal Pacifica and Sebring. The Dodge Grand Caravan has a distinct Dodge flair, with the narrower side glass and more-planted stance remindful of the Charger. Gale, incidentally, has a 3-year-old, and 9-month-old twins, so his family embodies the minivan target.
“The Dodge has a bold, powerful, capable look, with a large chrome grille and the large Ram emblem,” Gale said. “It’s at home wth the Avenger in style, and has a little bit of the Charger’s sinister eyebrow over the headlights. With the Chrysler, there is a little 300C in the headlights and details, and the chrome detail in the moldings, underlining the windows, and on the moldings and door handles. The idea was strong for the Dodge and luxury for the Chrysler.”
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With front-wheel drive refined with the new suspension, the attractive look of the new vans and the increased versatility reinforced my steadfast theory on minivans: About 90 percent of the people who buy or have bought SUVs would have been better served by buying minivans, but the averted their most logical choice because of image. Still, minivans may be stodgy enough that owners don’t stand around the water cooler boasting about owning one, but minivans keep selling at the rate of about 1.1 million units a year, and projections are for an increase as baby-boomers start acquiring grandchildren they’d like to haul around.
Recollections of wonderful family-trip stories and about getting 200,000 miles and then giving the minivan to their kid, who is still driving it, became legend, and it seems unfair that minivans, which are better than ever, must overload with features to attract otherwise-rational buyers who might overlook them. It’s to the point that I quite frequently get calls and emails that include virtually identical content:
Caller: “We have three kids so we need something bigger than a car, and I’m wondering which SUV you would recommend.”
After finding out that their trips include youth sports, car-pooling, and day-to-day grocery store, shopping center and work commuting, I say: “Have you considered a minivan?”
Caller (who might be male or female), says: “A minivan? No way.”
So I ask: “Why not?”
The caller says: “They’re too trendy. Everybody always had a minivan, and they’re ‘soccer mom’ things.”
I pause a bit, and then say: “So you don’t want to consider a minivan because it’s trendy, yet you are considering an SUV, which is the trendiest vehicle ever built — and, it costs more, has less room, less versatility, and gets considerably less fuel economy?”
They take that in, then they agree with my assessment. Most may have gone out and bought an SUV in recent years, but high fuel prices have curtailed sales of oversized SUVs. Many have downsized to crossover SUVs. If they ultimately decide to check out minivans, the new 2008 Grand Caravan and Town & Country could revive the idea that minivans not only can survive, they remain the most logical family hauler.
As for those family trips that might seem endless to youngsters, all the new audio-video features causes Larry Lyons, Chrysler’s project manager, to predict: “The kids will change from ‘Are we there yet?’ to ‘Oh, we’re here already.’ ”