Hyundai renews Azera with FWD luxury
Renewed Azera makes a giant step into the luxury front-wheel-drive class.
By John Gilbert
Remember the Hyundai Azera? It was a very nice and contemporary sedan, but it seemed to disappear from any promotional considerations because of the recent flurry of Hyundai’s high-style new vehicles. But that is about to change. The all-new and restyled Azera steps to the front of the class as perhaps the most dramatic example of Hyundai’s self-acclaimed “fluidic design.”
While a cut below Hyundai’s super-luxury Equus and the mid-luxury Genesis, the Azera is the company’s luxury front-wheel-drive car, just for those of us who live in area’s where winter driving is a challenge as well as a necessity. At the same time, Azera abandons being relegated to the list of “forgettable” nice cars, to command a prominent place on the “unforgettable” side of the ledger.
One of the reasons for the large pre-availability popularity of the Azera, which will hit showrooms in mid-March, is that it was a star of Hyundai’s advertising strategy to engulf recent television extravaganzas like the Grammys and Academy Awards. The Azera commercials were so good many viewers might remember them better than Adele, Taylor Swift, Meryl Streep, or “The Artist.”
The Azera’s splashy introduction came just in time, too, because it will show up at dealerships just after the Upper Midwest suddenly decided to have winter, after all. There’s nothing like a foot or two of snow to snap drivers back into the reality of the advantages of front-wheel drive. Rear-drive advocates rave about the highly sophisticated new traction-control systems that make rear-drive cars more capable in winter conditions, but the same applications work on front-wheel-drive too, and further the inherent advantages FWD starts out with in conquering slippery driving challenges. Read more
BMW 3-Series dazzles at introduction
All-new sixth generation BMW 335i Sport paused to appreciate California's Hwy. 1 near Big Sur.
By John Gilbert
MONTEREY, CALIF. — All is fair in love, war, and new car introductions, apparently. But if it’s BMW, some things seem unfair. BMW summoned North American auto writers for first test-drives of the sixth generation BMW 3 Series. We knew going in we were going to be driving the latest iteration of a sedan that every other car maker identifies as the benchmark they used for any new vehicle.
First impression shows a refined kidney-shaped grille, with headlights that are stretched horizontally, enclosed in an elongated housing that reaches from the outer edges to the grille, and they are overlined with a sloping line that changes the personality of the car. BMWs always have looked a little bit like raptors, face on, and the new 3 looks more like an extra-aggressive and maybe hungry raptor on the prowl, capable of diving and pouncing on its prey from wherever it chooses.
It looks larger because it is, and its power now comes from a pair of highly refined turbocharged engines — either a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder, giving the 328 model 240 horsepower at 5,000 RPMs and 260 foot-pounds of torque at a mere 1,250 RPMs, or the familiar 3.0-liter in-line 6, with 300 horsepower at 5,800 RPMs and 300 foot-pounds of torque holding that peak from 1,250 to 5,000 RPMs. A 6-speed manual or 8-speed automatic — smooth-shifting, but not a direct-sequential twin-clutch device — which can be upgraded to a sport package with steering wheel paddles to manually make or hold shifts. The smooth abundance of power indicates BMW has maintained its perch at the top of my personal rating of auto-world technology.
There are three trim groupings, with the Sport Line identifiable by 8 high-gloss black vertical bars in its grille, the Luxury Line with 11 chrome bars, and the Modern Line with 11 satin-silver bars. There are more exceptions than models, however, because you can get the 4 or the 6 in any version, and you can upgrade to sport application if desired. Also, a wagon version is coming, and so are a hybrid, a pure-electric version, and the highest-performing M3, all of which should be showing up by the end of summer. There will be no diesel for the 2012 calendar year.
Prices provoke my old axiom for BMW. The 328i with the 4 starts at $35,795, and the 335i with the 6 starts at $43,295. My axiom about the cost of a BMW: “Exorbitantly priced, but worth every penny.” Read more
Chicago Auto Show: Less news, more fun
Built nearby, the 2013 Ford Fusion was popular at the Chicago Auto Show.
By John Gilbert
CHICAGO, ILL. — The 2012 Chicago Auto Show — which runs through the weekend of February 19-20 — is not the site of a lot of strikingly new vehicles, but it easily maintains its position as the most casual and most fun of the “big four” U.S. auto shows. The setting was a good opportunity for Ford and Chrysler to show off future stars, with Ford’s 2013 Fusion and the 2013 Dodge Dart both being built in the Chicago area, within shouting distance of McCormick Place.
This is the 100th Chicago Auto Show, and it runs through the February 18-19 weekend, presenting a wide array of the newest and hottest products in the auto world. In that category are Hyundai, from South Korea, by way of Montgomery, Ala., and Volkswagen, from Germany, by way of Chattanooga,Tenn., which have evidence of rising to the top of the industry by winning awards even while promising to win more.
Hyundai's North American Car of the Year Elantra unveiled a stylish Coupe.
Just when it seems that Hyundai might pause to reflect on the North American Car of the Year award presented to its compact Elantra in January at the Detroit show, Hyundai instead stole much of the media-day show by unveiling two new models of the new Elantra — a flashy 2-door sporty coupe, and a 5-door hatchback Elantra GT, with a special sporty stance, suspension and flavor.
Top Hyundai executives John Krafcik and Michael O’Brien took turns at the podium. Krafcik said while enjoying the awards, the Elantra added an achievement in a Popular Mechanics comparison of cars that can reach 40 miles per gallon in real-world driving. “Compared to the Ford Focus, it was pretty close,” said Krafcik. “The Elantra got 47.6 mpg in the test, and the Focus got 47.5, at 55 miles per hour. But at 70 mph, the Elantra got 39.3 mpg, and the Focus 33.5. Our biggest problem is we can’t build enough of them at our Montgomery plant.”
With that, out came the new coupe and the GT, rolling on-stage simultaneously from opposite ends to flank the award-winning sedan. O’Brien said: “The Elantra now is the only compact with three styles — the sedan, coupe, and [5-door] GT.” Read more
2013 Fusion sets Detroit standard
Detroit Auto Show media mobbed the Ford Fusion after its introduction.
By John Gilbert
DETROIT, MI. — Is it too early to proclaim a breakthrough vehicle for 2013? If the Detroit Auto Show press preview is any indication, the completely renovated Ford Fusion makes a bold stand as the early leader among a Cobo Hall filled with impressive automotive statements for styling and technical advancement.
But there was plenty of competition, also. Ford unveiled the new Fusion a month ago to selected auto journalists, under the promise of secrecy until the Monday, January 9, first press day of the 2012 show, which runs through January 22. If that was to assure thorough technical understanding of the new car, Chrysler did the same thing with its all-new Dodge Dart, which was shown as a concept car last year at the Chicago Auto Show, and was shown in production form with similar orders of nondisclosure, for the new compact with the old name, based on the Alfa Romeo Giuletta.
Familiar name in an all-new compact, the stylish Dodge Dart is based on the Alfa Romeo Giuletta platform.
Chevrolet, which recently introduced its new Malibu, unveiled at the show an RS model of its just-released subcompact Sonic, and introduced two other youthful performance cars, the TRU 140S, and the 130R rear-drive coupe. And Cadillac previewed its compact ATS sedan, then displayed at the show its XTS, a sleek sedan that will replace both the departed STS and larger DTS.
The press preview started with Monday morning’s naming of the Hyundai Elantra as 2012 North American Car of the Year, and the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque as North American Truck of the Year. The Elantra amassed 174 points from the 50 jury members, who could apportion 10 voting points among among the three finalists. Second was the Volkswagen Passat at 161, with the Ford Focus third at 155, in one of the closes races in the award’s 19-year history. The Evoque accumulated 254 points, outrunning the Honda CR-V’s 142, and the BMW X3, which placed third with 94 points.
It is the first victory for Land Rover, while Hyundai won with the Genesis two years ago, was runner-up with its iconic Sonata last year, and wins again with the Elantra. John Krafcik, president and CEO of Hyundai of America, vowed the Korean company intends to continue on its current rise, and after the introduction of the sporty new Veloster upgrading to a turbocharged model, and a Genesis coupe with high-tech upgrades, Krafcik said, “Hyundai has become known as a terrific value brand, and we are now becoming a valuable brand.”
Restyled Fusion offers a 100-mpg Hybrid model with 500 patents on the technology.
But the Domestic Three — formerly known as the Big Three — soon took over the spotlight amid an array of compacts, compact utility, hybrids and futuristic styling concepts. The Fusion was a little bit of all those features, with eye-popping lines, and became arguably the most talked-about introduction at the show, forcing an abrupt transition from displays of the best of the 2012 models to the newest coming vehicles for 2013. Read more
Car-of-the-Year finalists battle to the end
Made-in-U.S. Volkswagen Passat joins Ford Focus and Hyundai Elantra as 2012 Car-of-the-Year finalists.
By John Gilbert
The most competitive battle for North American Car of the Year and Truck of the Year has boiled down to three finalists in both categories, and with time running out before the early January voting deadline, the choices are difficult.
In my 19 years on the jury, there hasn’t been another year where the field has been as balanced and diverse as this one. Unlike car magazines, which attract multi-page advertising sections, and revenue, to accompany their “car of the year†selections, the 50 independent automotive media jurors from all over North America consider our award the purest. No outside advertising or influences intrude, and we pay dues that go toward creating our very impressive sculptured award, which is presented on the first press day of the Detroit International Auto Show in January.
Candidates must be all new or significantly revised to be considered new, and the first round of votes eliminated some very strong candidates. We now have one more round of voting, after a couple of weeks, spent scurrying to get one more test-driving taste of most, if not all, of the finalists.
Car of the Year finalists, alphabetically, are:Â Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra, and Volkswagen Passat. Truck of the Year finalists are:Â BMW X3, Honda CR-V, and Range Rover Evoque. Strong candidates, all., and they left some impressive others behind in preliminary voting. In the cars, the three finalists span North America, Europe, and Asia, with the U.S., Germany, and Korea represented in the truck battle, with two European designs and one from Japan.
When the votes were tallied, the Elantra outpointed the runner-up Passat and the Focus to win the car award, and the Evoque gave Land Rover its first victory by claiming truck honors ahead of the runner-up CR-V and the BMW X3. But here is a capsule view of all three finalists in both categories. Read more
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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