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Payne: Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid Tesla-fighter is different shade of green
Posted by Talbot Payne on July 7, 2020
The 2020 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid offers a dual personality of green, all-electric driving — and massive AWD, 455-horsepower when the driver has a need for speed. (Photo: Henry Payne, The Detroit News)
Tesla Inc. has set the luxury world on fire, challenging establishment automakers with compelling, all-electric products with Apple-like design simplicity. No one has been able to match them — not the Jaguar i-PACE, not the Audi e-Tron, not the Cadillac ELR.
But maybe the solution isn’t beating Tesla at its game. Maybe it’s providing different answers for a different customer. The 2020 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid SUV is the antithesis of Tesla.
Playing in the same price ballpark as the $86,190 Tesla Model X SUV, the $81,150 Cayenne plug-in boasts similar performance and range but in a more practical, more conservatively styled package.
This vehicle that doesn’t wow with gull-wing doors — but with high IQ scores in industry dependability rankings. Tesla is a brash newcomer that wants to throw out the rule book, while Porsche has built respect over decades of racing success. Their games are as different as Federer and Nadal. Old school vs. new age.
I spent some time with Cayenne to see what it’s got.
The E-Hybrid is Porsche’s third generation hybrid — a commitment on par with Honda’s Insight (the first hybrid on our shores in 1999), and nearly equal to the fourth-gen Toyota Prius. These guys know hybrids, and, like the Japanese, Porsche has priced the E-Hybrid competitively with its regular Cayenne lineup (unlike the premium hybrid pricing of some other brands).
Cayenne E-Hybrid comes with old school, de rigueur virtue signaling — phosphorescent Acid Green “E-Hybrid” badging on the its flanks and tukus, as well as radiant green brake calipers. Less flashy customers can choose white or yellow calipers as part of Porsche’s typically dizzying array of options to personalize your car. But I like the Acid Green as a way to bring flavor to Cayenne’s vanilla design.
Cayenne has come a long way since its first ungainly attempt to translate Porsche 911-like, sports-car styling to a five-door ute. The new gen exudes masculinity even as it’s still one of the most conservatively styled SUVs out there.
That’s in stark relief with the Tesla Model X with its unmistakable egg shape, big hips and signature gull-wing doors. Interestingly, E-Hybrid comes at a time when the sleek, all-electric Porsche Taycan sedan has debuted as a direct competitor to the Tesla Model S sedan.
Cayenne’s conservative approach is in keeping with its appeal to luxury shoppers who want a quick green machine, but without the sacrifices of the full-electric lifestyle.
Own a Tesla and you’ll only visit service stations to buy newspapers. So, too, the Cayenne E-Hybrid. Plug it in overnight and Porsche claims 20 miles of electric juice for local commutes. Make that, plug into a 240-volt, Level 2 outlet and you’ll get 20 miles. Invest $2,000 for Level 2 installation, because a 110 volt-wall is terribly inconsistent.
On my 110-volt garage outlet I got seven miles in nine hours of charging. Ugh. Welcome to the uncertainties of the electric frontier. Fortunately, the gas engine will recharge the battery while driving for more, pure EV opportunities.
Turn the Porsche’s old-school dash key — on the left just like Porsche race cars of old — and the E-Hybrid defaulted to E-Power mode, allowing fully electric driving around town. Porsche achieves this with a bifurcated throttle. Let me explain.
Maintaining moderate throttle, I could drive on an electric charge over 70 mph on local interstates. A digital instrument gauge flanked the Porsche’s center tac, allowing me to monitor the range on E-Power. Bury the throttle for a quick maneuver and you’ll feel a noticeable detent in the throttle as it grabs the gas engine for help.
Stay on the shy side of the detent and the V-6 never engages. EPA says that 20-mile charge actually only translates to real-world 13 miles traveled. I can vouch for that. Such eggshell driving, of course, denied me the instant torque thrill of electric cars. Mash the throttle in a Model X and you’re suddenly Han Solo in a Millennium-Falcon, light-speed blur to 60 mph in just 4.4 seconds.
The downside of that thrill is massive range suck. Drive Up North and Tesla drivers will get their own eggshell time as the charging network thins out. Model X promises 353 miles of electric range at perfect, 55 mph driving — but access your inner Han Solo (or travel at over 70 mph) and range plummets.
That’s where plug-in hybrids like Porsche shine. Combined gas-electric range is an impressive 430 miles. And with gas stations everywhere, there’s no range anxiety even when you want to have fun — which is often in this rhino in tennis shoes.
The E-Hybrid is built for speed.
The 5,000-pound beast (400 shy of the Model X) matches the Tesla from 0-60. Thank the standard Sports Chrono package and its cool, steering-wheel-mounted Sport Response button (just like a 911), which allowed me to instantly switch from egg-shell E-Power mode to face-flattening Sport Plus mode. Hold on, honey!
Sport Plus accesses the full, combined gas engine/electric motor output of 455 horsepower, 516 pound feet of torque, which ignores the throttle detent and launches you straight to the moon.
With its instant torque, the electric motor effectively acts like a supercharger on top of the turbocharged 3.0-liter V6, eliminating turbo lag. The car rockets off the line as the 8-speed auto tranny fires off quick shifts, and Sport Mode adds appropriately louder exhaust note theme music.
Around 180-degree cloverleafs the rhino remained remarkably flat, its all-wheel-drive digging in as I fed more throttle. This confident handling translates to twisty roads Up North as well. The Model X, its battery creating a low center of gravity, is no slouch in the cornering department either.
Old-school Porsche is the rare brand that can match new age Tesla for engineering curiosity. Ogle the Model X’s graphics and big console tablet. Cayenne E-Hybrid is an airline cockpit by comparison, with a button for everything from volume to shock damping to radio source. Or you can use the touch screen to explore the ute’s myriad setups.
On basic tech items, however, Porsche noticeably lags. Voice commands are a Stone Age behind Tesla, and my $90,000 E-Hybrid mule was naked of driver-assist items like blind spot-assist and adaptive cruise control that are standard on $25,000 Nissan Sentras. Adaptive cruise is (cough) $6,250 extra.
Such shortcomings will be deal-breakers for new age EV buyers. But for luxe shoppers who just want a taste of EV with their Porsche DNA, Cayenne E-Hybrid is your answer.
2020 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid
Vehicle type: Front-engine, all-wheel drive, 5-passenger SUV
Price: $81,150, including $1,250 destination charge ($91,220 as tested)
Powerplant: 3.0-liter turbo V-6 combined with AC motor and 14.1 kWh lithium-ion battery
Power: 455 horsepower, 516 pound-feet of torque combined
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 4.4 seconds (Car and Driver); towing capacity, 7,716 pounds
Weight: 4,950 pounds est.
Fuel economy: EPA 24 city/ 26 highway/ 25 combined
Report card
Highs: Hybrid long range; Sports Response button take me to the moon
Lows: Lack of standard safety assist features; infotainment tech lags competitors
Overall: 3 stars
Woodward Dream Cruise canceled over COVID-19 concerns
Posted by Talbot Payne on July 1, 2020
The 26th annual Woodward Dream Cruise is officially parked.
According to Woodward Dream Inc., community events planned for the occasion, including the Aug. 15 Dream Cruise itself, are canceled due to public health concerns over COVID-19, organizers announced Monday.
The decision was made Monday and comes after the Dream Cruise posted on Facebook earlier in the month that the event was still “in neutral.”
However, the inaugural Woodward Dream Show, a gathering of the best of the cruise at M1 Concourse in Pontiac, is still scheduled to go on in August.
“The Dream Cruise is the largest car event in the world, but there is not a cure for COVID-19, there is not a vaccine,” Woodward Dream board president Michael Lary. “We have to be responsible for the we, not the me.”
The announcement comes as Woodward was packed Friday and Saturday with cruisers as the summer ritual builds to its Aug. 15 summit. Muscle cars, European sports cars, and jacked trucks preened up Woodward in Royal Oak before taking a 180-degree Michigan turn and heading back the other way.
Other cruisers were content to pitch their hoods and socialize with friends and family in parking lots along the avenue. That scene likely won’t change through August. Enthusiasts like Rich Fasi took to the Woodward Dream Cruise Facebook page to voice support: “Before it became a big corporate affair we cruised Woodward — we will ride again!”
Jhan Dolphin, a cruiser and vice president of auto supplier Prefix Corp., said: “I know hundreds of people who are planning to go. Cruising is outdoors, and people are safe in their cars.”
What will be missing are the big media and corporate sponsors that normally pepper the sidewalks with concessions and car displays. Venues such as Ford’s Mustang Alley, Kids Play Zone, Berkeley Cruise Parade, and GM’s Birmingham display will be absent, as will many smaller corporate gatherings as communities deny permits for tents.
Cities on the route long ago canceled their community events like Ferndale’s Light & Sirens cruise featuring emergency vehicles.
The Woodward Dream Inc. board, the official sanctioning body for the Cruise, was under heavy pressure from cities to cancel the vent. Three of the nine municipalities along the 10-mile route passed resolutions urging cancellation. None demanded the show go on.
Board president Lary said the rise in cases in Florida and Arizona had an effect on the decision.
“At the beginning of the summer, the conversation was about how a warmer summer climate would help. But there is still concern in June,” he said.
“These cities are run by elected officials that have an obligation to their constituents and how a gathering of this size impacts them locally.”
Cruisers have flocked to Metro Detroit’s main street for decades, and Lary conceded car lovers still have a right to bring their rides and lawn chairs to public property.
He said the state will not shut down M-1 on Aug. 15 and that regulations along the route will vary by community. While governments cannot prohibit businesses from renting their property to cruisers, they will likely deny permits for tents and other installations.
With tens of thousands of cruisers descending on Woodward in August, enthusiasts say organizers missed an opportunity to get out ahead of the event to make it safer.
“No one wants more rules, but people do want guidelines,” Dolphin said. “We understand the public health concerns, but that’s part of the problem with canceling the Cruise. People don’t know what to do, they want a message.”
Organizers had planned to coordinate with sponsors to issue public service announcements — both on Woodward between Ferndale and Pontiac as well as over the airwaves — to issue guidance, such as to social distance.
Neighboring states have begun to open to similar events.
At Mid-Ohio race track in Lexington, Ohio, last weekend, the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association held its annual Vintage Grand Prix. Coupled with Trans Am and Formula 4 and Formula Regional pro races, the weekend attracted thousands of fans to the sprawling, raceway complex.
SVRA organized the event and the venue was chock full of signs for social distancing, officials taking temperature checks and clusters of port-o-johns.
While Dream Cruise organizers are discouraging attendance at their own event, the Mid-Ohio experience suggests pent-up demand for events even as 36 states have reported increases in COVID increases this month.
“I think it’s important to give people some sense of normalcy,” said Prefix’s Dolphin, whose company organized a cruise event earlier this spring in Rochester.
Another major event planned for the Aug. 15 weekend is unfazed by the Dream Crusie announcement. The Woodward Dream Show will continue Aug. 13-15 as planned.
Organized by the Pontiac Motorsports Exposition, the event will take over the M1 Concourse car club off Woodward in Pontiac and feature three days of racing, exhibits and food.
It will feature a judged display of the cruise’s best American hot rods Aug. 13. Then an auto-themed fashion show and after dark, afterglow party for charity will follow. Aug. 14 will be track-focused with performance car hot laps, wrapping up Aug. 15 with an open invitation to car clubs.
“The Woodward Dream Show is moving forward in planning,” CEO Tim Hartge said. “We are designing an event that integrates a variety of protocols, including social distancing and other safety measures. Our event is ticketed, and we are limiting the number of attendees according to guidance from officials.”
The Dream Cruise’s charitable mission will take a major hit with the event’s cancellation.
Originally organized in 1995 to raise funds for a community soccer field, the Dream Cruise has benefited charities large and small over the years. Mustang Alley typically raises $100,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, while the Dman Foundation offers charity rides in Birmingham to disadvantaged youth.
“There are many pieces to the Dream Cruise pie,” Lary sid.
“We are concerned about the non-profit organizations that are going to be negatively impacted. The cruise does a huge amount of good for the community.”
Payne: High-speed Jeep Gladiator Mojave conquers the Mounds
Posted by Talbot Payne on July 1, 2020
There are two kinds of auto enthusiasts: those who get their thrills on-road, and those who get them off-road.
A sports car racer for decades, I’m an on-roader. But the 2020 Jeep Gladiator Mojave pickup could convert me.
The Mojave is the latest variation of the tree-chewing, midsize Gladiator pickup designed for folks who want to explore the far corners of the earth. In this case, especially those with a need for speed. Unlike the Gladiator Rubicon which is built for rock-crawling, the Mojave wants to run. For a track rat like me, that sounds awfully appealing.
I’ve been hustling performance cars to Hell, Michigan, and back in the COVID-19 lockdown to test their limits. But for the Gladiator Mojave, I headed north from my coronavirus hideout to the Mounds off-road vehicle park near Flint. The Mounds has everything an off-road rebel needs: rock piles, swamp trails, sandy hills, high-speed dirt flats.
The Mounds is thick with Jeep Wranglers exploring every inch of its 118-acre playground. They mingle with giant, jacked pickups and swarms of ATVs and dirt bikes crawling over its hills and gullies. With its detachable front sway bars and front-and-rear locking axles, the Gladiator Rubicon — like the Wrangler Rubicon — loves the tight, uneven stuff.
The Gladiator Mojave, on the other hand, dreams of being a Ford Raptor. Ford’s high-speed, Baja-desert-friendly F-150 is a singular warhorse. In the saddle with 450 horsepower under the hood and sophisticated Fox shocks under the fenders, I conquered the Borrego desert in Southern California a few years back, hitting triple-digit speeds on the sandy flats.
It was extraordinary. But like a killer whale, the Raptor needs a lot of ocean to feed, and southern California — or the Baja peninsula — is a long way to go to stretch the big Ford’s legs. Gladiator Mojave aims to bring those pleasures closer to home. Like Flint.
Unlike the Raptor, the new Gladiator doesn’t have a new engine or get-outta-the-way bodywork. But it did feature Jeep’s throaty 285-horse V-6 and a unique hood scoop that sets it apart from brother Rubicon pickup. More important, it is raised an inch above Rubicon with trusty Fox performance shocks.
I shifted the Mojave’s transfer case to four-wheel drive, turned traction-control off and nailed the V-6 across the Mounds’ open, northwest trails. This is terrain where the dirt bikers like to open it up, and I picked up speed quickly, the Fox shocks absorbing the trail’s imperfections.
This might be hairy stuff in the ginormous Raptor, but the Mojave was in its element. A 75-degree left-hander loomed, and I slowed — then slewed it sideways across a water-filled dip. Gladiator’s dimensions allowed me to rotate the pickup beautifully, then I was back on the throttle as the big, 33-inch knobby tires sprayed the cabin with water.
Good thing I kept the doors on.
When you’re not splashing through Mother Nature at high speed, you can remove the doors and roof of the Mojave just like the Rubicon to get closer to nature. Just don’t wear your dinner clothes.
With the pickup bed out back, the panels are easy to stow. Of course, the dirt bikers I was riding with were eyeballing that bed as potential bike transport. They had arrived in regular, light-duty pickups, but the Mojave adds the tantalizing twin possibility: When you’re tired of running the hills in isolation on your bikes, you can pile into the Mojave for some communal dirt-kicking on the trails.
“Hey, can we come with you?” said one of the bikers who had already figured this out.
The Mojave is happy at low speeds, too. The Mounds has a number of tight scramble areas that favor Jeeps over big trucks. With the transfer case in four-wheel low, I flipped a console switch to lock the rear axle and gain better traction. The Gladiator Rubicon takes this capability one step further with twin locking axles and decoupling sway-bars for serious rock-crawling, if that’s your thing.
Naturally, all of this scene-chewing hardware doesn’t come cheap. The base Gladiator starts at $35,000 and the base Mojave at $45,000. My tester was an eye-watering $60,945, just $7,500 cheaper than the Ford Raptor I tested a couple of years ago.
What you get for that coin is a unique vehicle that is good at addition as well as subtraction. Subtract the doors and hood for that unique outdoors experience. Then ogle the additions that Jeep has brought to its console.
The Uconnect infotainment system is one of the industry’s best, with easy-to-use menus so you can blast your favorite Sirius XM station while pulverizing trails in the middle of nowhere. Where Uconnect is shy of the industry’s best is in the navigation department, Jeep has thoughtfully made Apple CarPlay and Android Auto standard on the Mojave.
Leaving the house for my off-road adventure, I plugged my Samsung phone into a USB port in a dash festooned with connectivity. The infotainment screen now duplicated my phone screen. A long hold on the steering wheel awakened Google Assistant. I asked her to chart a course to the Mounds. We were off.
Like my performance car trips to Hell, the hour drive to the Mounds gave me a chance to assess the Mojave’s livability on a long trip. I hope you like loud.
With all those removable panels, roll bar and cloth roof, the Jeep is hardly equipped for sound insulation like some of its mid-size truck peers. A Ford Ranger is a sealed tomb by comparison. Go topless on your ride and good luck hearing Google Assistant’s directions (fortunately the instrument display graphics are fine). The big, knobby tire howl adds its own soundtrack.
But the advantage of those high-tech, multi-valve Fox shocks is the Gladiator Mojave rides more smoothly on the road than the Rubicon. Smooth as in mattress smooth. The Mojave does tend to wander in lane thanks to its high ride height, but the overall experience is good for your backside when you arrive at your destination.
If that destination is a metropolitan area, you’ll find the Gladiator easier to maneuver than a huge, full-size truck. Then, like a sports car, it can transform into a weekend off-road thrill ride. Which this on-road racer finds very appealing.
2020 Jeep Gladiator Mojave
Vehicle type: Front-engine, four-wheel drive, 5-passenger pickup
Price: $45,370, including $1,495 destination charge ($60,945 as tested)
Powerplant: 3.6-liter V-6
Power: 285 horsepower, 260 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: 6-speed manual, 8-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 8.3 seconds (Car and Driver est.);
Weight: 4,974 pounds (automatic as tested)
Fuel economy: EPA: 17 mpg city/22 highway/19 combined
Report card
Highs: Comfortable ride on road; carries dirt bikes or hits the dirt itself
Lows: Noisy on-road; gets pricey with add-ons
Overall: 4 stars
American Festival of Speed aims to be major car event in Pontiac
Posted by Talbot Payne on June 18, 2020
A group of 1970s Shadow Can Am cars do laps around M1 Concourse. The 2021 American Festival of Speed will feature similar cars on the track.
Pontiac – Imagine the sounds of supercars on the track. The sights of people ogling the latest cars for charity. Manufacturers spinning their muscle cars on the skid pad. Imagine it, not in Detroit, but in Pontiac.
The American Festival of Speed is coming in fall 2021 as Pontiac’s M1 Concourse aims to become the site of one of the premier automotive events in the U.S.
Paired with another new event called the Woodward Dream Show — which debuts this August during what is supposed to be Woodward Dream Cruise week — the events will be coordinated under the umbrella of the Pontiac Motorsports Exposition. They will be explicitly modeled after the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival, England’s world-renowned motoring exhibitions.
The events come as the North American International Auto Show tries again in June 2021 to reinvent itself in downtown Detroit as a Goodwood-like outdoor festival after the pandemic shut down its first event this year.
Pontiac Motorsports Exposition CEO Tim Hartge acknowledges what he sees as the friendly rivalry between the shows.
“But we have a race track,” he said while overlooking the 1.5-mile Champion Motor Speedway here. “We’ve got an experiential marketplace. It hits all the senses. The NAIAS doesn’t have that.”
Where Goodwood’s events takes over the estate of English nobleman Lord March, the Motorsports Exposition events will occupy M1 Concourse, a private club for auto owners.
“We’re modeling it after Goodwood, and we want manufacturers to come, too. The theme of both shows is ‘Past, Present and Future,’ which is cool because we want to bring electric-sports racing out here, too,” said Hartge, a motorhead who drives a Ford Mustang Bullitt. “We want to have a demonstration of these kind of cars. And we’ll give the manufacturers a chance to do a demo day if the want to bring out their Hellcats or their GT500s.”
Goodwood’s Festival of Speed is a Disneyland of automotive attractions — past shows have featured everything from race cars suspended on giant Popsicle sticks, to the premiere of the 2020 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 — that attracts some 150,000 people each year.
The American Festival of Speed will sport its own automotive royalty next year when it honors Jim Hall, the legendary race driver and entrepreneur who powered his 1960s Chaparral Can Am cars with Chevy engines. Hall will bring three of his priceless Chaparrals and will be honored with the festival’s first Master of Motorsports Award. Hartge says the Chaparrals will make a tour of the track between regular, timed runs of international supercars just like the hillclimb course that anchors Goodwood’s weekend.
European luxury-makers have vacated the Detroit auto show, but as the 2020 Cayman intro suggests, they might find the upscale digs of M1 more enticing.
“Static car shows have a problem. Manufacturers and the public want experiential events,” said Hartge. “We have all the senses engaged here on 87 acres.”
Pontiac Motorsports Exposition has ambitions beyond just sleek chariots. Like the NAIAS has benefited Detroit, Hartge says the American Festival of Speed — to be held Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 2021 — is part of a much larger vision for Pontiac. The festival will even have a major charity event, called the Charity Ball, like the Detroit auto show.
For a taste of what the facility can do, the Woodward Dream Show will debut this Aug. 13-15 during what is traditionally Woodward Dream Cruise week. But with cities from Ferndale to Birmingham canceling Dream Cruise events because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Dream Show could become a focal point.
M1 Concourse has already become the unofficial launch of Cruise week with the annual Roadkill Nights blowout — though the event has been sidelined this year. Sponsored by Dodge for the last five years, it showcased drag racing on Woodward for about 47,000 attendees while offering hot laps on the race track and drifting around M1’s skid pad.
Acknowledging concern about the coronavirus, Hartge said tickets will help regulate crowd size and will be sold online to minimize hand-to-hand contact. The Dream Show will conform to government and social distancing guidelines. M1 will offer sanitizing stations, gloves and masks.
Three days of racing, exhibits and food are planned. The Dream Show will open Aug. 13 with a judged display of the Dream Cruise’s best American hot rods. An auto-themed fashion show and After Dark-Afterglow party will follow. Aug. 14 will be track-focused with single-lap, timed runs featuring performance cars. Aug. 15 is an open invitation to car clubs to take over M1’s lawns and asphalt.
The event will be capped off Aug. 15 with a Woodward Avenue parade to Pontiac’s downtown loop and Wide Track Drive.
“Pontiac is the next place besides Detroit that is natural for rehabilitation,” said Hartge who notes M1 Concourse sits on the site of a former GM plant that dates to 1908. “Let’s help the businesses here. The goal is to put Pontiac back on the map as an automotive capital.”
Woodward Dream Show
Aug. 13: noon to 8 p.m.
Aug. 14: 9 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Saturday, Aug 15: 9 a.m.-7 p.m.
Tickets (on sale in July): $35, single day. $57.50, 2-day pass. $85, three-day pass. All-day parking is $15.
For tickets, visit WoodwardDreamShow.com.
American Festival of Speed
Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 2021
Details pending.
Roadkill Nights is the latest Woodward Dream Cruise casualty of COVID-19
Posted by Talbot Payne on June 18, 2020
There will be no drag racing on Woodward this year. At least not legally.
The sixth annual Roadkill Nights has been canceled for Aug. 7-8, the latest victim of the COVID-19 pandemic. Roadkill, which shut down a section of Woodward Avenue in Pontiac for legal drag racing, has been the official kickoff for Woodward Dream Cruise week.
It joins staples like Mustang Alley and Ferndale’s Lights & Sirens Cruise on the sidelines as cities up and down Woodward have canceled their events scheduled for the Aug. 15 Cruise.
The exception is the inaugural Woodward Dream Show which is scheduled to go on as planned Aug.13-15 at Pontiac’s M1 Concourse, making it a focal point of attention when cruisers and their families gather later this summer.
Dodge has been a sponsor for Roadkill Nights. Tim Kuniskis, Fiat Chrysler’s global chief of passenger cars — and a dedicated cruiser — lamented the cancellation given its status as a “must-attend event for performance enthusiasts for the past five years.”
Cruisers are expected to flock to Woodward whether the Dream Cruise is officially canceled or not. Woodward has already been busy, despite COVD-19 concerns, as cruisers have hit the strip and congregated with friends who have a long winter in hibernation.
RoadKill Nights had turned the heat up a notch by shutting down Woodward north of St. Joseph Mercy Parkland hospital and inviting 140 of the top drag racers from around the country to compete for a $30,000 purse in their street-legal rods. Roadkill Nights also offered interactive opportunists for fans to take thrill rides in 700-plus horsepower Dodge muscle cars around the adjacent M1 Concourse.
The new Woodward Dream Show Aug. 13-15 will feature a hot rod contest, supercar shootout on the M1 race track, as well as food trucks and other family activities. The Oakland police will lead a Dream Show parade up Woodward on Aug. 15.
Organizers say coronavirus protocols will be followed.
“We will encourage distancing and masks,” said CEO Tim Hartge. “Ticketing will be online. Sanitizing stations, gloves, and masks will be available.”
Payne: Hyundai Sonata Hybrid has OMG mpg and looks, ho-hum performance
Posted by Talbot Payne on June 18, 2020
They should have named the Hyundai Sonata the “Hyundai OMG.” The mid-size sedan is a non-stop wow emoji.
There was the February Super Bowl ad featuring Boston celebrity jaws dropping in unison as actor John Krasinski demonstrated the Sonata’s self-parking feature. “Smaht pahk!” We couldn’t get it out of our heads. OMG.
I couldn’t get the Sonata’s good looks out of my head the first time I saw it. It still turns my head — like the other day when an all-black Sonata rolled my way in Oakland County, its signature LED running lights giving it a sinister look. The black Audi A4 behind it looked … almost as good. OMG.
Now comes the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid boasting the best fuel economy in class: 52 mpg. OMG.
At least on paper. In practice the hybrid is the least OMG feature of the Sonatas I’ve tested. And it still leaves me thirsting for the Sonata N performance version that will couple the car’s tight handling with an alleged 295 horsepower. I tasted the N earlier this year on windy roads through Arizona and it was a treat.
Until its arrival, drivetrains aren’t the Sonata’s strong suit. And that’s not just because I’ve got a lead foot instead of a green thumb. Indeed, I’ve been impressed by the industry’s latest hybrids, particularly new value entries from compact SUVs like the Ford Escape, Honda CRV and Toyota RAV4, which have exhibited feisty character even as they sipped gas from the pump.
But the Sonata Hybrid was surprisingly tepid. Especially since it gains 12 more horsepower than the regular Sonata’s turbocharged 1.6-liter 4-cylinder. The regular Sonata’s 1.6-liter made me yearn for the Sonata N — and the Sonata Hybrid made me yearn for the 1.6-liter.
Where the Escape and CR-V hybrids use their electric motor for an electrifying kick off the line, the Sonata seems to maximize the battery for that OMG mpg. The Hybrid’s acceleration is sleepy. The hand-off from electric to gas is as smooth as a middle-school track relay, with the 2.0-liter engine shouting as if someone stepped on its foot.
But I’ve been spoiled, dear reader, by the Ford and Honda hybrids’ dexterity, and the Sonata is not in their league. What’s more, my week in the premium Hyundai Hybrid Limited returned just 35 mpg — a far cry from the advertised 47 mpg.
That 52 mpg I spoke of belongs to the starter Hyundai Hybrid Blue model, which retails for $28,725 — with a $30,875 SEL and Limited model clocking in at $36,275. The latter pair achieve 47 mpg.
Those prices are in contrast to, say, the Honda CRV Hybrid, which is a ridiculous bargain at just $27,000 with lots of pep, 38 mpg and all the inherent advantages of SUVs like hatchback storage, all-wheel-drive and rear-seat headroom.
So the Sonata Hybrid will have to sell itself on sex appeal. And in that area it is loaded.
Every time I got annoyed with the Hybrid’s awkward drivetrain, I would stand back and ogle its curves.
The heavily sculpted sides (with this much stamped sheet metal how does the standard Sonata start at just $23,000?) sweep rearward to a gorgeous tail-section, a Lincoln-like horizontal taillight graphic providing the perfect punctuation. There is exquisite detail — like the delicate winglets on the taillight to aid aerodynamic flow and the signature LED running lights that parallel the hood.
The standard Sonata grille is distinctive like the mouth of a carp. Too big. The hybrid tones it down with some elegant chrome piping and a sweeping lower chrome piece that echoes the rear taillight. But the Hybrid Limited exterior’s OMG feature is the solar roof. Yes, a solar roof.
Embedded in the black sweep of the coupe-like greenhouse you can make out subtle traces etched to and fro to catch the sun. Dramatic looking, though less dramatic in operation. Hyundai says the solar roof will gain the driver 2 miles on a tank of gas. Like the drivetrain, it’s not worth the premium price in my book … but it’s a talker.
The interior on my Limited model was even more stunning, the seats swathed in tanned leather, the instruments fully digital.
The dash reminds of a Mercedes, which indicates just how high this mainstream sedan has aimed. A fully digital cockpit and infotainment display flows across the horizontal dash. The Hyundai can’t match the Mercedes’ exquisite detail — what can? — but the graphics are engaging and Sonata Hybrid does it all for tens of thousands of dollars less. No other sedan in class can match it.
The console offers more luxury touches, including a so-called “trigger shifter” that I first encountered on the Acura NSX supercar, of all things. I fell in love with it on the Acura and find Hyundai’s version just as useful. It’s different without being annoying — while also saving console space for knick-knack and smartphone storage.
The infotainment system features are useful, particularly Apple CarPlay and Android Auto navigation that allow the sedan luxe-like navigation skills. Drill deeper and you’ll find — yes, another OMG moment.
While most drivers will be content to play their own music, streaming services or Sirius XM’s multiple channels, Hyundai offers another escape: Sounds of Nature.
There are the soothing sounds of Snowy Village and Warm Fireplace. And Open Air Cafe, Calm Sea Waves and Lively Forest. Mrs. Payne balked at Rainy Day because she found it dreary. But the sounds are a reminder of Hyundai’s determination to make the Sonata a unique experience.
Available with the nav package, the feature’s also available on other Sonatas — not just the hybrid. Which brings me back to the question of the hybrid’s value. Indeed, the hybrid is oddly missing the “Smaht pahk” feature that got everyone all worked up about the Sonata in the first place.
Sonata says it’s coming, which is good thing because when you’re paying 36 grand for a sedan you want all the OMG you can get.
2020 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
Vehicle type: Front-engine, front-wheel drive, 5-passenger sedan
Price: $28,725, including $975 destination charge ($36,275 Limited as tested)
Powerplant: 2.0-liter inline 4-cylinder mated to AC motor and lithium-ion battery
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Power: 192 horsepower (combined system output)
Weight: 3,530 pounds as tested
Performance: 0-60 mph, 8.0 seconds (Car and Driver est.); top speed, 120 mph
Fuel economy: EPA est. mpg: 50 city/54 highway/52 combined (Hybrid Blue); 45 city/51 highway/47 combined (Hybrid SEL and Limited)
Report card
Highs: 47-52 mpg; luxury-class interior
Lows: Granola performance; pricey compared to competitive SUV hybrids
Overall: ★★★
Ford rolls out its first Mustang Mach 1 since 2004
Posted by Talbot Payne on June 16, 2020
With signature matte-black hood stripe, howling V-8 engine and extensive handling upgrades, the legendary Mach 1 Ford Mustang has been reborn for 2021.
Purists might miss the hood shaker and grille lights, though.
Ford unveiled the special edition Mach 1 in its birthday suit on Tuesday after teasing the car in camouflage two weeks ago. With 480 horsepower (nearly double that of the original, 250-horse coupe that debuted in 1969) and 420 pound-feet of torque like the outgoing Mustang Bullitt special edition model, Mach 1 features a unique fascia, paint scheme and performance pieces from its sibling GT350 and GT500 track monsters.
“It is the new pinnacle of 5.0-liter, Mustang performance,” said Mustang marketing chief Jim Owens, who says Mach 1 is defined by three criteria: handling, straight-line speed and style.
Likely to start around $50,000 when it hits dealers next spring, the Mach 1 is the most capable, 5.0-liter V-8 engine-fired stallion in the sixth-generation Mustang stable. It will reside in the middle of a performance lineup that ranges from the affordable 2.3-liter Ecoboost High Performance turbo-4 cylinder model all the way to the track-stomping $70.000, 760-horsepower GT500. The last Mach 1 was produced as part of Mustang’s fourth-gen, 2004 lineup.
Mach 1 and Mach E were spied circulating Pontiac’s M1 Concourse race track together last week, gaining footage that may appear in future marketing campaigns.
The 2021 Mach 1’s wardrobe pays homage to previous generations that sold from 1969-1978 and 2003-2004. A signature, low-gloss black stripe is prominent on the hood, as are rocker panel stripes down the sides. Unlike the ’69 original, the Mach 1 logo is separated from the stripe to stand alone behind the front fenders. The rear fascia is also painted matte black similar to predecessors.
An appearance package is available in Fighter Jet Gray with a choice of three stripe colors: white, red, and orange. Brake calipers are painted orange.
Purists will be disappointed that the 2021 Mach 1 is not optioned with a shaker (a hood scoop poking through a hole in the hood) for better engine breathing as in previous generations. “The 5.0-liter engine is focused on performance output, and it didn’t need (the shaker),” said Owens.
Budget issues may have been in play given massive amounts of money Ford is spending to bring the Mach E to market.
Another signature piece of hardware – twin lights in the grille – also are compromised compared to past models. Where the 1969 Mach 1 used the grille lights for extra lighting at night, the round inserts are plastic-capped and for show only on the new car.
“We have no doubt some of our customers will punch them out for increased cooling modifications,” smiled Owens.
The Mach 1 will be track ready.
Cooling the 305-cubic inch beast within was a priority of engineers. Two heat exchangers and other hardware are added behind the unique Mach 1 fascia for better breathing. A huge, new underbelly pan with special airfoils for cooling and downforce is the vehicle’s most significant aero upgrade, and the Mach 1 gets extensive suspension upgrades like bigger sway bars and stiffer springs.
Out back, bazooka-sized, 4.5-inch chrome exhaust tips signal the Mach 1’s intentions.
Buyers who want even more capability can add a Handling Package that consists of sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires (a step up from standard Michelin 4S treads) wrapped around unique 19-inch wheels. Also included are a rear spoiler taken from the GT500, upgraded front splitter and aero tweaks around the fenders. Ford says it will increase downforce on track by 150%.
Inside, purists will revel in the standard, manual, six-speed shifter (with rev-matching for the first time) topped off by a cue ball. An automatic 10-speed transmission is also available. Behind the fat steering wheel is a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, and the dash is stamped with a chassis number badge.
In addition to Fighter Jet Gray, the Mach 1 can be dressed in an array of Skittle colors including Velocity Blue, Twister Orange and Grabber Yellow.
Seating can also be had with right-hand drive in foreign markets where the Mach 1 will also be sold. Mustang is the best-selling two-seat sports car in the world across 147 countries.
Remade Nissan Rogue SUV headlines looks, tech while ignoring hybrid
Posted by Talbot Payne on June 16, 2020
Nissan introduced a comprehensively redesigned model of its Rogue compact SUV Monday, the second best-selling SUV in America.
The descendent of the stunning X-Motion Concept Car that debuted at the Detroit Auto Show in 2018, the Rogue embodies the concept’s ambitions of bold SUV styling with a suite of high-tech innovations. Interestingly, the Rogue eschews the trend toward hybridization that has marked the recent launch of its close competitors, the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V and top-selling Toyota RAV4.
By contrast, the made-in-Tennessee Nissan comes with one engine option, an upgraded version of its reliable, sippy 2.5-liter 4-cylinder. While adding a premium Platinum trim for the first time, Rogue seems intent on pursuing Nissan’s strategy to offer best-in-class value at the cheaper end of the biggest segment in autodom. By contrast, Toyota offers a plug-in hybrid model that starts at nearly $40,000.
The Rogue’s upright, sculpted body is dramatically different from the outgoing 2020 model with its rounder, more potato-shaped lines. The upright grill and big shoulders of the compact ute reflect the X-Motion Concept as well as Americans’ preference for truck-like designs. The RAV4’s recent remake cribbed heavily from its Tacoma pickup.
Signature Nissan design touches like the V-Motion grille and floating roof are still in evidence, but otherwise the third-gen Rogue is a break from the past. Even the headlights have moved, with the Rogue deploying its peepers in the middle of the front-fascia underneath daytime running lights – a style made popular by Hyundai and the Chevy Blazer.
The Rogue’s engine is also offered in the mid-size Altima sedan. Unlike the Altima, however, the Rogue does not offer a more-powerful, turbocharged 2.0-liter. The Rogue is content to see its mill get a 6% bump in power to 181 horses to drive both front-wheel and all-wheel drive models.
The Rogue gets 30 mpg combined EPA fuel economy in front-wheel drive and 29 mpg in all-wheel drive.
Open the doors and Rogue turns up the high-tech.
Rogue cleverly piggy-backed on the “Star Wars” franchise in 2017 to offer a limited “Rogue One: Star Wars Limited Edition” model as well as introduce its ProPilot Assist feature. There will be no “Star Wars” movie to co-brand with this fall when the 2021 Rogue hits dealerships, but the SUV continues to push sci-fi, self-driving capabilities in the family segment.
Standard on the Nissan is a suite of driver-assist systems called Nissan Safety Shield 360 which includes auto high-beams, lane-keep assist, automatic emergency-braking with pedestrian detection, and blind-spot assist. Nissan says its adaptive-cruise ProPilot Assist system has been improved with less abrupt braking.
Taking it up a notch, ProPilot Assist with Navi-link (available on higher trims) will automatically adapt speed to road conditions. When deployed, it uses GPS to slow for curves as well as interstate off-ramps. Adaptive cruise will automatically start driving again after 30 seconds if stopped at a light – safety technology familiar to high-end luxury cars like Audi and Tesla. Nissan says their Gen Y target audience prizes safety in the SUV class.
Other luxury features like a 12.3-inch digital instrument display and Cadillac-like head-up display will also be available.
Passengers can enjoy these treats encased in a roomier cabin made quieter by acoustic front glass and underbody panels. Headroom, rear-seat legroom, and cargo space are all enhanced even as the Rogue’s length has contracted slightly.
The dash is crowned by a tablet infotainment screen with 9.0-inch option available. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto come standard. The center console has been remade with a Nissan-first electronic shifter that opens room for sub-console storage as well a rotary terrain-mode selector. Again mimicking luxury cars, the console storage box features a “butterfly” door so internal USB ports can better be connected to backseat passengers.
Backseat occupants get their own amenities like reclining and heated seats as well as tri-zone climate control. Leave anything in the back seats and a Rear Door Alert reminder sounds. This latest feature was innovated by GMC a few years back, but Rogue is not shy in adopting useful innovations pioneered by others.
Like the Honda CR-V, Rogue’s rear doors open to nearly 90 degrees for better ingress and egress. And, borrowing from the Ford Escape, the rear tailgate can be kicked open as an option on upper trims. More cleverness abounds in the cargo area where has placed a tray to store milk cartons so they don’t tumble under aggressive driving.
Likely starting around $26,000 when it hits dealer lots, the 2021 Nissan Rogue will be aiming for the 411,000-unit record it sold in 2019.
Payne: The mighty Ram 2500 Power Wagon is a beast, on-road and off
Posted by Talbot Payne on June 11, 2020
Positioned above light duty variants like the Ram Rebel and Ford Raptor, the 2020 Ram 2500 Power Wagon is a heavy-duty beast.
You want a monster Hemi V-8-powered, stump-pulling Ram 1500 pickup truck? You wimp.
Real men and women drive Ram 2500 Power Wagons.
The heavy-duty version of Ram’s light-duty truck that arrived in my driveway could pull my house off its foundation — assuming I can get in it. I walked out into my driveway and looked up.
Dressed entirely in black and an alleged 6-foot-7 tall (it seemed taller than that next to my mere 6-foot-5 frame), the Power Wagon loomed over me with a face that would make Thanos flinch. It’s a beast. I think the designers took their inspiration from a humpback whale swallowing an ocean of krill.
I stepped up on the rocker rail, then hoisted myself into the passenger seat with the A-pillar handle. On the passenger side, the 5-foot-5 Mrs. Payne needed our roof ladder to get in.
The 2500 reminded me of an older off-road Ram pickup — mega-modified with five-inch suspension lift and 38-inch tires — that dragged our Jeep Wrangler out of a ditch at the Mounds off-road park a few years back. But this beast doesn’t need after-market mods.
The Power Wagon comes from the manufacturer fully equipped to take on the outback. That’s the badge’s calling card, having carved out a new heavy-duty segment above and beyond famed light-duty performance trucks like the Ford Raptor, Chevy Silverado Z71 and sibling Ram Rebel. When a hammer isn’t enough, the Power Wagon offers a sledgehammer.
Ram’s crosstown rivals have followed suit with their own truncheons, the GMC Sierra AT4 and the Ford Super Duty Tremor.
The Power Wagon stands tall with massive 33-inch Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac tires inside swollen fender wells. They add additional ground clearance over the usual 30-inchers for a total of 14.2 inches. Armed with armadillo-like skid plates, the Power Wagon has a ridiculous front approach angle of 29 degrees (the iconic Jeep Wrangler Rubicon is 33) and is rated for wading through 30 inches of water.
Power Wagon is a truck nerd’s dream. Behold the twin locking-differentials, like a Jeep Rubicon’s. There’s a separate floor-mounted four-wheel-drive transfer case for low-speed rock crawling. And for when the going really gets tough, the 2500 adds an extra link to its upper axle mount — call it Articulink — which combines with electronically disconnecting front anti-roll bars to give the monster 26 inches of front-wheel articulation for crawling over rocks. Dude!
That’s the quandary of the auto enthusiast. How much is enough? A sportscar-holic myself, I find a $30,000 Mazda MX-5 Miata plenty of enjoyment for a two-seat sports car. But if I had the coin to buy an $80,000, 495-horse Corvette C8? I’d buy even if I never took the thing to a track. I’d buy it because it exists.
When I drove up to English Gardens in the Power Wagon, a staffer’s jaw dropped.
“That’s a killer truck,” he said.
We motorheads live or an invitation to talk power, which we did while loading 10 bags of mulch into the 6-foot-4 box. That’s right, this beast is taller than its bed is long.
Power Wagon shrugged off the added weight as we hustled back home. It can shoulder a payload of 1,510 pounds and tow 10,580 pounds. That tow number, however, isn’t anywhere close to the 2500 Heavy Duty’s 19,780-pound capability since Power Wagon has softer springs for playing off-road.
If you want mega-towing, get the Ram diesel. The Power Wagon’s more playful character means a 6.4-liter Hemi V-8 under the hood and a tailpipe the size of Alaskan pipeline. The big V-8 loves to run, and I was more than happy to give it the gas — WAUUUUUGHHH! — through Oakland County while drinking half the oil reserves of Texas. There’s a glut of crude during the coronavirus crisis so I did my part to draw it down.
Back at the ranch — well, cul-de-sac — we unloaded the mulch into a wheelbarrow that exposed one of the Power Wagon’s rare flaws: How to climb into the bed easily?
Chevy and GMC offer the best solution — a corner bumper-step. But this being the truck wars, it would be sacrilege to follow GM’s lead. Nossir. Ford has invented a sort of Noah’s staff that sprouts from the bumper to help owners into the bed. Cool, but wouldn’t a bumper step be easier? The Tesla Cybertruck will allegedly kneel in back to allow access.
Ram just ignores the idea altogether. Which means you’ll have to clamber up into this thing like your childhood bunk bed. The good news is the side-bed toolboxes remind you how clever Ram can be. They provide a place for tools so they don’t bounce around.
But the real show is inside, where Ram sports the best interior in truckdom. Like Tesla, the cabin is oriented around a huge 12-inch vertical screen that communicated the cabin’s larger refinement. Gears are accessed not by a steering-mounted stalk, but by a space-saving rotary dial. Back seats are massive — Lew Alcindor and Walt Chamberlain could play a comfortable game of cards back there — and there is more storage beneath the floor if needed.
The Ram is festooned with the latest electronics, from adaptive cruise-control to blind-spot assist to 360-degree surround camera.
The latter two are helpful since the Power Wagon is to urban areas what Moby Dick is to a pond. Too big.
I wandered over to Auto Europe to drop off wheels from one of my sports cars and treaded carefully lest I accidentally crush the odd Lotus Esprit or Mercedes Coupe in the parking lot. I picked up fast food from the Clarkston Culver’s and the person at the window looked up at me.
But Clarkston felt more comfortable than Birmingham: No gridded streets. No tight parking lots. Just miles of country road for opening up the big V-8, and farms and woods that need stuff loaded into the back.
When the urge hits and you want to go exploring, off-road parks like the Mounds aren’t too far away. Because you never know when some city slicker in a Jeep Wrangler might need a tow out of the mud with the Power Wagon’s 12,000-pound winch.
2020 Ram 2500 Power Wagon
Vehicle type: Front-engine, four-wheel drive, 5-passenger, crew-cab pickup
Price: $55,045, including $1,695 destination charge ($69,890 as tested)
Powerplant: 6.4-liter Hemi V-8
Power: 410 horsepower, 429 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 8.4 seconds (Car and Driver); towing, 10,580 pounds
Weight: 6,996 pounds
Fuel economy: NA
Report card
Highs: Rules the road; best interior in truckdom
Lows: Too big for urban America; drinks petrol
Overall: 3 stars
Flop of BlueIndy car-share reflects broader ride-hailing challenges
Posted by Talbot Payne on June 10, 2020
The electric-car sharing future has got the blues.
BlueIndy, a pioneering car-sharing service in Indianapolis that launched in 2014, quietly closed last month. Beset by losses, the decision to pull the plug on BlueIndy’s electric cars came before the global coronavirus pandemic – and as other similar services have also shut their doors.
Now the post-pandemic landscape is creating more uncertainty for the nascent industry as the public pulls back from the idea of sharing potentially contaminated vehicles.
“The challenge is the same for everyone in the mobility space over the years, particularly car-sharing,” said Guidehouse Insight auto analyst Sam Abuelsamid. “It’s a really hard business to make money in. BlueIndy is not the only one to go under. We’ve seen a number of these go out of business over last few months – GM announced they shut Maven down after scaling back last year. And Share Now, that BMW/Daimler venture, announced they were pulling out of North American market.”
Widely hailed when it was introduced in 2014 as the Midwest’s first adoption of green city cars like Europe (BlueIndy featured the same Pininfarina-designed Bollore BlueCars that populate the electric car fleet in Paris), the service never caught on.
In its wake, Blue Indy leaves 250 battery-powered cars, electric-charging structure and recriminations over a city council that spent $7 million on the program without voter approval. Half of the cars have been sent to a scrapyard for dismantling while the other half have reportedly been relocated to Los Angeles for use in a similar car-sharing operation.
The program’s cute little EVs were sprinkled throughout Indianapolis and available to rent and return. The service was available for a one-time fee or annual membership. One-time users paid $8 for 20 minutes; an annual membership was $9.99 per month, not including additional charges for more time at the wheel.
The service had hoped to reach 15,000 members, 500 cars and 200 charging stations, but peaked instead at 3,000 members, 250 cars and 92 stations as interest waned after a well-publicized start. France’s Bolore was the primary investor, but the program also received support from Indiana institutions including Indianapolis Power & Light utility, which invested more than $3 million to extend electric lines to the chargers.
Former Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard hoped to give to give the Midwest city a progressive feel. Car-sharing and ride-hailing services like Uber have been touted as modern alternatives for less-dense cities without expensive, public-transit rail systems.
“We think it’s the perfect city to do this,” BlueIndy General Manager Scott Prince told the Indianapolis Business Journal in 2014. “If we had the world’s greatest mass-transit system today, this arguably would not be the first city we’d be launching in in America.”
GM’s Maven pulled out of eight of its 17 markets — including Chicago and New York — last year before the COVID-19 outbreak halted the business in its tracks this April. The BMW-Daimler joint venture Share Now was focused on major American and Canadian cities like Seattle, New York and Montreal, but folded its cards late last year.
As BlueIndy indicates, the car-sharing services were struggling before the COVID-19 crisis. The post-pandemic landscape looks even more challenging.
“The concern a lot of people have now, and this applies to car-sharing, ride-sharing — all the transit options — is when you get into one of these vehicles and you don’t know when it was last cleaned,” said analyst Abuelsamid. “There might have been somebody in there 15 minutes before who was sick.”
A survey taken this May by the IBM Institute for Business Value of 25,000 U.S. adults found significant change in attitude toward ride-sharing services, The survey found a shift away from public transit and ride-sharing toward individual transportation.
“More than half of people surveyed who used ride-sharing apps and services said they would either use these less or stop using these services completely,” concluded the IBM study. “More than 17% of people surveyed said that they intend to use their personal vehicle more as a result of COVID-19, with approximately 1 in 4 saying they will use it as their exclusive mode of transportation going forward.”
BlueIndy got mixed reviews from users.
Green advocate Mary Beatty, 65, told the IndyStar she was drawn to BlueIndy becasue of her belief in renewable energy. But they encountered issues when they took the EV to the airport.
“It was so difficult trying to put our luggage in, and we couldn’t figure out how to open the hatch,” she told the newspaper. “The quality of the car was not good and kind of frightening because it is a lightweight car and did not handle well on the highway.”
Abuelsamid said that the cars did not meet federal safety standards, so they could be used in a ride-sharing capacity. Some customers complained of the car’s cheap build. Others complained of poor customer service as well as lack of convenience.
“There was a pretty big learning curve, and it didn’t make it a user-friendly experience, even for someone who was motivated,” said Beatty. “After our membership expired we didn’t renew.”
1st Ford Escape Plug-In Hybrid gets best-in-class 100 MPGe
Posted by Talbot Payne on June 10, 2020
Ford announced the first-ever plug-in model of its Escape SUV today, part of the brand’s full-court press to bring electrification to its lineup.
Based on the $26,130 compact Escape that is the best-selling truck that isn’t a pickup in the Blue Oval’s lineup, the Escape Plug-In Hybrid will start at $34,285 and achieve best-in-class100 MPGe. On a full charge, the Escape Plug-In can go 37 miles on battery power alone before the gas engine kicks in.
The plug-in is the second hybrid model offered in the Escape lineup after the Escape Hybrid, which starts at $29,000.The plug-in model runs on the same electric motor-assisted, 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine as the Escape Hybrid, but then adds a more-robust 14.4-kWh lithium-ion battery beneath the second-row seats for extended battery range.
Escape pioneered hybrids in the SUV segment in 2005, but the 2020 models are the first offered since 2012.
Ford is ditching its sedan lineup including the Ford Fusion Energi, which was a mid-size plug-in car.Ford says green-oriented customers won’t miss it as the Escape Plugin’s 37-mile, all-battery range trumps the Energi by 11 more miles while offering a hatchback with four times the cargo volume.
The Escape Plug-In will go head-to-head against the pricier $39,220 Toyota RAV4 Prime with an estimated 42-mile battery-only range and 94 MPGe. The RAV4 Prime offers 302 horsepower, versus the Ford’s 221 ponies.
The Plug-in Hybrid will only come in front-wheel drive, unlike the RAV4 Prime and Escape Hybrid which have available all-wheel drive.
In addition to its green chops, the Escape features a sliding rear seat which adds 6 inches of legroom. It comes standard with Ford Co-Pilot360 safety features including blind-spot assist and autonomic high-beams.
On a standard, 110-volt Level 1 wall outlet, the the Escape Plug-In can reach full charge in 10-11 hours. Install a 240-volt Level 2 charger, and that charge time drops to 3.5 hours.
The Escape Plug-In Hybrid is part of Ford’s investment of more than $11.5 billion in electrified vehicles. The plug-in model available on every Escape trim level except S and SE Sport, and hits dealer lots this summer.
Against the odds: Detroit 3, foreign transplants play to strengths in COVID crisis
Posted by Talbot Payne on June 5, 2020
The challenging COVID-19 auto market has been a tale of two camps: the Detroit Three and foreign transplants.
Defying many predictions that consumer demand would collapse amid pandemic lockdowns, both have recorded better-than-expected sales in the months of April and May even as they have pursued different strategies playing to their strengths.
Detroit manufacturers have focused heavily on pickups, a market they dominate, to maintain profitability. Asian and European automakers have minimal presence in the uniquely American truck market. Instead, they have focused on sedan markets — largely vacated by Detroit makers — while also flooding SUV segments with more product.
Detroit Three pickup sales, for example, surged to five percent more than forecast pre-COVID, a remarkable achievement given that industry forecasts were for 80% industry sales declines at the beginning of March. So strong were pickup sales that the Detroit Three in April achieved 50% market share — a whopping 13% higher than average.
As a whole, industry retail sales were off only 12% as of June 1 compared to pre-COVID forecast — and a March 29 bottom of -59%. While tanking media markets like New York and California got the headlines, Hyundai actually gained year-over-year sales in 37 states.
“At the beginning of (April) we expected a doomsday scenario … that predicted the industry was going to be down roughly 80%,” said Hyundai North America sales chief Randy Parker. “The good news is the industry performed much better than we expected. We were only down 13% (total) in May. Take out fleet and our retail was actually flat.”
Like all automakers, Hyundai has seen fleet sales (down 79%) crater along with the travel industry: “We went to 84-month loans on our Tucson and Elantra models,” continued Parker. “We dialed that back a bit in May. Tucson’s a hot seller for us — crossovers and SUVs are selling very, very strong. We want to fish where the fish are — we wanted to make sure we got our fair share.”
Like other foreign automakers, Hyundai — which has hovered around 4.5% market share over the last decade — has flooded the U.S. market with SUVs. All-new Venue, Kona, and Palisade badges have been introduced in the last two years. Outside of pickups, the best-selling vehicles in America are the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V and Nissan Rogue SUVs.
Continuing pre-COVID trends, SUV share of the market is now at a record 55.3%. Next to pickups, the volume compact SUV segment showed the smallest decline — 11% — from pre-virus forecasts.
That is the common battleground in the U.S. market.
The Detroit Three — which invented the SUV going back to the Jeep Cherokee, Ford Explorer and Jeep Wrangler — try to defend their territory against surging foreign competitors. Toyota is dropping three new family vehicles this year and next alone: the Highlander and Venza SUVs as well as the Sienna minivan.
Hyundai’s Palisade SUV has drawn a bullseye around the Ford Explorer, long a midsize sales leader, and the Palisade has been one of the hottest-selling vehicles this year. Its cause was helped by the fact that its production in South Korea only shut down for a few days, allowing continued shipments to the U.S. while competitor plants sat idle.
“Palisade production coming from South Korea (had) no hiccups,” said Parker. “One of the advantages of Palisade is plants have been up and running.”
Volkswagen, once synonymous with cars like the Beetle and Golf, also thrived with such new SUV entries in the U.S. market as its Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport.
“Demand in April was stronger than expected, and we’re seeing that trend continue in May,” said Duncan Movassaghi, VW executive VP of sales. “Our share of sales from SUVs has grown from 15% in 2016 to more than 50% now. We’ve had strong deals in the market, so it’s been a good time to buy.”
But while foreign makers shy from taking on Detroit’s Big Four of Ford F-150/Chevy Silverado/GMC Sierra/Ram in the pickup aisle, so has Detroit ceded the sedan market to foreign makers.
Smelling opportunity to bring in new buyers and gain market share, all foreign makers have new compact and mid-size sedans in U.S. showrooms. For Hyundai’s part, it has been aggressive during COVID with its Elantra compact and midsize Sonata.
“We gained share in both segments. Those are our bread and butter. We are gaining share in segments where consumers still want to buy passenger cars,” said sales chief Parker.
As diverse as their segment strategies are, both domestic and foreign automakers pursued similar, heavy incentive pricing and online programs to keep inventory moving. Zero percent financing on 84-month loan deals hit record levels for the last two months with incentive levels per vehicle hitting a record $5,000 in early May.
As states began to open in late May and factories got back up to speed, manufacturers began to pull back on incentive deals which analysts say could cool sales into the usually hot summer months.
“Reduced incentives are being driven by lower inventories but pose a threat to the sales recovery,” said J.D Power data analyst Tyson Jominy. “We may see much tougher month of June compared to May.”
But carmakers are also eyeing consumer shifts forced by the unprecedented COVID crisis that may benefit their business in the long run.
“I think his pandemic is reminding people of the value of individual mobility,” said VW sales chief Movassaghi. “The appeal of getting into a crowded subway train or the back of someone else’s Uber is diminished for the time being. A car has always been a sanctuary, and I think we’re seeing a resurgence of that.”
Payne: Turning back the clock in a ’64 VW Beetle
Posted by Talbot Payne on June 5, 2020
The 1964 VW Bug’s distinctive profile in front of the classic Vinsetta Garage on Woodward Avenue, Royal Oak.
The year 1964 seems like yesterday. And a lifetime ago.
Its highlights still reverberate through our culture today. The Beatles first tour of America. The release of Mary Poppins, just remade in 2018. The 1964 Civil Rights Act. Carroll Shelby’s triumph over Ferrari at LeMans, setting in motion the war that would be Ford v Ferrari. The debut of the Ford Mustang.
Yet, I just drove a ’64 Volkswagen Beetle, and 1964 couldn’t seem more remote. The automobile has been utterly transformed in the last six decades.
Chugging across Oakland County’s twisty roads, the Bug felt heavy despite weighing only 1,728 pounds, about 1,200 pounds lighter than its modern successor, the Jetta. The Bug didn’t have power steering, now a standard item. That’s not the only thing.
A lot of that absent weight is lack of safety equipment and sound insulation, and my Beetle was LOUD. Its signature 40-horsepower, 1.2-liter flat-4 cylinder engine may be behind the rear wheels, but its warble was ever-present in the cockpit. I rowed all four gears with a stick shift as long as an oar protruding from the floorboards as I merged onto I-75. If you owned a Beetle in 1964, you learned to drive a manual — no automatic available.
No tachometer either — you had to shift by sound. Man, we have it easy today.
After what seemed an eternity I reached the Beetle’s top speed of … 72. Just above the speed limit. I kept to the right lane as traffic whizzed by me at 80 mph, the Bug wandering unsteadily in its lane, the bubble roof buffeted by crosswinds.
But it wasn’t nearly as tall as the vehicles around me, most of them Detroit Three pickups … and something called SUVs, the best-selling vehicles in Michigan. You couldn’t find the term SUV in a ’64 dictionary. Webster’s didn’t adopt the term until 1986.
The first Beetles arrived for sale in the U.S. market in 1949. Two were sold. From those humble beginnings, the Bug would become on of the world’s all-time bestsellers and lay the foundation for what is today the world’s biggest-selling automaker, Volkswagen AG.
By 1964, six of 10 foreign cars sold in the United States were a Bug. Mine sold for $1,563, the equivalent of 13 grand in today’s greenbacks. Try to find a new car for that price.
But the entry-level Bug — competing against the likes of the Chevy Corvair (also featuring a flat-cylinder, rear-engine design) — was hardly the best-selling vehicle in America. That crown belonged to the Chevy Impala, which sold nearly 900,000 models that year. In 1965, the Impala would set an all-time, single-year sales record of 1,074,925 units.
As I steered the Bug onto Woodward Avenue, I saw few Impalas. The nameplate expires this year. The top-selling non-pickup in the U.S. now is the Toyota RAV4 SUV, and the Impala’s production plant is being converted to make electric vehicles to compete against EV-maker Tesla Inc.
Parked in my garage next to the black Beetle was a black Tesla Model 3, which has made the term “frunk” fashionable for the 21st century. The term is derived from “front truck” — an added storage convenience made possible by EVs opening the front engine bay by storing their electric motor/battery drivetrain in the floor. Original Beetle owners know what a frunk is.
That dashboard is the most obvious difference between the ’64 Bug and today’s chariots. And I’m not just talking about the Tesla’s radical, tablet-dominated interior. Modern compacts are stuffed with electronics from Sirius XM to auto climate controls to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto navigation apps.
The Beetle’s dash was still innovative. The Bug featured sidentical glovebox cut-outs at each end of the dash so the steering wheel could be located on either side for sale abroad.
Glovebox aside, my ’64 Bug had a radio to hear the Beatles. Period. No traction control button. No head up display. No climate controls. Want to heat the cabin? A valve on the floor let in hot air from the engine bay. My ride had a sunroof option introduced for 1964.
My racing buddy Jim grew up in a ’62 Bug in New Hampshire. His family took it to the ski slopes in the wintertime — ski rack (now a collector’s item) mounted on the back while the weight of its engine over the rear wheels helped it gain traction through the snow.
That rear-wheel drive also made the Bug a surprisingly fun car to drive. With a well-engineered unibody chassis and rear-drive, I could naturally drift it around tight corners. I set up a mock autocross course in an Oakland County parking lot and had a blast (to the limits of my sliding around in the un-bolstered couch seat). Still, the car’s upright aerodynamics never made it a natural performance car despite its Herbie the Love Bug movie racing legend.
I grew up racing a 1966 Porsche 906 — with a comically giant steering wheel just like the Bug’s — from the same era. Like the Bug, the ’60s cemented Porsche’s international reputation as supreme engineering made it the brand to beat in 24-hour racing. Porsche still references its ’60s icons to sell today’s production cars.
There’s gold in these 1964 legends. One of the Shelby Daytona Le Mans cars that took it to Ferrari in ’64 has sold for $7.25 million at auction. 1964 was the last year of production for the Ferrari 250 GTO, a model that fetched $32 million at auction last decade.
My ’64 V-dub might become a collector’s item as well.
Though the Bug was re-introduced in 1998 as a Jetta-based, front-engine “New Beetle” with modern amenities, the rear-drive original will forever be the brand’s touchstone. My Beetle was one of three meticulously restored to star as “Max” in VW’s 2009 “Das Auto” commercials. Speaking with a German accent into a microphone, Max the Beetle introduced the brand’s all-new Tiguan SUV to the U.S .market.
With its big peepers and beetle shape, everybody loves the Beetle. I got regular waves from passersby. Maybe the Beatles’ 1964 smash hit, “Can’t Buy Me Love,” had it wrong.
1964 Volkswagen Bug
Vehicle type: Rear-engine, rear-wheel drive, 5-passenger coupe
Price: $1,563 in 1964 ($13,000 in 2020 dollars)
Powerplant: 1.2-liter, “boxer” flat 4-cylinder
Power: 40 horsepower, 56 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: 4-speed manual
Performance: 0-60 mph, an eternity
Weight: 1,728 pounds (curb weight)
Fuel economy: 31.5 mpg
Report card
Highs: Adorable; rear-drive handling
Lows: Zero-60 in eternity; where’s the infotainment system?
Overall: 4 stars (I’m a sentimental fool)
Out of Ohio, remade Acura TLX challenges Cadillac, BMW performance
Posted by Talbot Payne on June 5, 2020
The 2021 Acura TLX brings back Acura’s Type S performance model equipped with a high-powered turbo-V6. (Photo: Acura, Acura)
The Cadillac CT4 and CT5 aren’t the only important luxury sedans being built in the Great Lakes states this year.
Acura has introduced its all-new, 2021 Acura TLX, one of only two Asian luxury sedans made in the USA (Lexus’ ES sedan is Kentucky-produced). The TLX will be bolted together in Marysville, Ohio — just down the road from the Performance Manufacturing Center which produces the Acura NSX, the only mid-engine supercar made in the U.S. in addition to the Corvette C8.
Though SUVs dominate the American market, the athletic TLX — like the Lansing-made Cadillacs — is key to defining its brand’s performance aspirations. With all-new, turbocharged 4- and-6-cylinder engines, dramatic styling and a BMW M-fighting Type S badge, the TLX completes Acura’s return to performance prominence.
“It’s one of the most important pieces for us as we rebuild the brand for the future of Acura,” said Acura North America chief Jon Ikeda.
Once an enthusiast brand with such icons as the Integra and free-revving RSX Type S, Acura lost its way in the early 21st century. With the NSX supercar introduced in 2016, Acura began its return to performance under a new brand mantra — Precision Crafted Performance — and a new leader, Ikeda, who came to the company as a designer in 1989 inspired by its performance cred.
To underline its renewed focus, Acura partnered with Troy-based Penske Corp. to race in the IMSA Weathertech sports car series.
The Acura Precision Concept car, introduced at the 2016 Detroit auto show, and Acura Precision Interior Concept defined the brand’s new design direction. The TLX sedan — along with the popular RDX SUV introduced in 2019 — are the first manifestations of those concepts.
The TLX is longer (by 3.7 inches) and wider (by 2.2) than the outgoing model with signature “Jewel Eye” headlights staring out from under a long, low hood. Body panels are deeply sculpted with the car sitting back on wide haunches like a predator ready to pounce. The 113-inch wheelbase now exceeds the BMW 3-series though it is shy of the Cadillac CT5’s class-leading 116 inches.
“We doubled down on the things that sports sedans do best: styling, performance, emotion,” said global development boss Max Ernst.
The interior takes cues from the NSX with “trigger”-style gear and drive mode selector anchoring the console. A tablet infotainment screen, recessed in the dash, is controlled by a touch pad. The pad has received mixed reviews in the similarly equipped RDX, which Acura hopes to alleviate with a hand-rest pad located at its base.
But the key to the TLX’s transformation lies under the skin. The chassis has been stiffened by 50 percent, and a race car-like double wishbone suspension added to the front end for better handling.
“The new TLX platform shares nothing with its predecessors, and not with anything else in our model lineup,” said Ernst, referencing past Acuras that shared the same bones as Hondas. “It’s an Acura-exclusive sports sedan.”
Despite its makeover, TLX remains a front-wheel-drive biased car with transverse-mounted engines, putting it at a disadvantage to class rear-wheel-drive athletes like the Caddy, Bimmer, Genesis G70 and Alfa Romeo Giulia. But the new suspension should help — as will its highly regarded, optional SH-AWD (super-handling all-wheel-drive) system.
SH-AWD is standard on the much-anticipated Type S performance model. This hottie — dressed in 20-inch wheels, Brembo brakes, and huge, corner front air intakes — also introduces an all-new turbocharged, 3.0-liter V-6 engine so the Acura can run with the big dogs. The base turbo-4 engine is no slouch either, boasting a best-in-class 272 horsepower for 4-cylinder engines (a whopping 66 more horsepower than the last gen’s 2.4-liter 4-banger).
Targeted at the U.S. market, the TLX has deep American roots. Its body was styled in California and engineered in Ohio. It will be manufactured exclusively in Marysville with its engines coming from Anna, Ohio, and its 10-speed automatic transmission from Tallapoosa, Georgia.
For all its performance ambitions, the TLX will retain Acura’s claim as one of the best values in class. Its RDX SUV sibling comes standard with AcuraWatch, which offers such safety goodies as adaptive cruise control and blind-spot assist for thousands of dollars less than competitors. AcuraWatch will be standard on TLX also.
The TLX will also offer 27 programmable, interior light themes, 16-way leather seats and four drive modes.
Expect the TLX to arrive this fall with a starting price around $35,000 — thousands less than BMW and Cadillac competitors and competitive with Korea-made Genesis. The Type S model will follow in spring 2021.
Ford Mustang brings back iconic Mach 1 alongside electric Mach-E
Posted by Talbot Payne on June 3, 2020
Ford Motor Co. is reviving the storied Mustang Mach 1 badge for 2021, just in time to go on sale next to the futuristic Mach E electric SUV.
The fire-breathing, V8-powered Mach 1 will be the old-school bookend to Ford’s performance lineup as it introduces its stealthy, high-torque Mach-E — which Ford says is the battery-powered future of the company. The Mach-E is the first electric SUV ever produced by Mustang as it expands the legendary pony car beyond its two-door sports car roots.
Ford says the Mach 1 will be Mustang’s most track-focused coupe. It will replace the Bullitt badge as a limited-edition, V-8 performance model slotted between the $36,725 GT and top-of-the-line, supercharged $71,495 GT500. Mustang is the world’s most popular sports car with over 100,000 copies sold globally each year.
“Mach 1 has a special place in Mustang history,” said Dave Pericak, director of Ford icons. “Like the original, the all-new Mustang Mach 1 will be true to its heritage, delivering great looks and as the most track-capable 5.0-liter Mustang ever.”
Just as the iconic, fastback Mach 1 helped define the 1960s muscle car era when it was introduced in ’69, so does Ford hope the Mach-E will define the emerging electric car era of the 2020s.
“The timing is undeniable with the introduction of the Mach-E,” said Karl Brauer, auto analyst, muscle car enthusiast and executive publisher of Kelley Blue Book. “The heritage of the Mach I invokes a sense of speed, and the Mach-E brings a distinctive name to the electric space with that heritage behind it.”
Badging aside, the Mach 1 and Mach-E couldn’t be more different. The iconic fastback coupe that debuted during the ’60s golden era of muscle cars returns as Mustang’s ultimate, naturally-aspirated, 5.0-liter V8 beast. When it debuted in 1969, the Mach 1 set design cues that would carry through three generations of the Mach 1. The last Mach 1 was produced from 2003-2004.
The original Mach 1 featured quad headlights with the inner pair inset in the grille. Camouflaged shots of the 2021 Mach 1 released by Ford show round air intakes in the grille reminiscent of the ’69 car’s lights. The inlets might take the place of the Mach 1’s traditional hood scoop in order to cool the 5.0-liter V-8 beast within.
The Mach 1 traditionally features a hood scoop and a “shaker” option (a hood scoop that sticks through a hole in the hood), though Ford gave no indication of the latter. Rear photos do indicate that the 2021 Mach 1 will, however, continue the traditional rear wing and bazooka-sized quad tailpipes. Expect the new Mach 1 to also feature a signature matte black hood stripe and front spoiler.
By contrast, the battery-powered Mach-E will not exhale through rear tailpipes because it will be powered by either one or two electric motors. The latter version will get the performance GT moniker and boast 459 horsepower and 612-pound feet of torque — competitive with the Mach 1’s power stats which should be similar to the Bullitt’s 480 horsepower and 420-pound feet of torque. The Mach 1 will have to hustle to stay with the EV’s sub-4 second zero-60 time.
Expect dramatically different interiors as the Mach 1 will feature Mustang’s familiar dash and instrument displays with round, aviation-style air vents, while the Mach-E EV interior will be spartan with a big tablet center screen like its chief Tesla Model Y competitor.
In an indication of the expense of electric cars versus their gas-powered cousins, the Mach-E will start at $44,995 ($61,600 for the GT) while the Mach 1 will likely start at a price similar to the $48,905 Bullitt it replaces.
With the Mustang Bullitt and GT350 models slated for the chopping block at the end of the 2020 model year, the 2021 Mustang Mach 1 should take its traditional place as the most capable, normally-aspirated V-8 Mustang in the showroom.
“Starting in 1969, the Mach 1 was the best-known, highest-volume, highest profile performance version of the Mustang,” said KBB’s Brauer.
The first generation Mach 1 was re-imagined in 1974 as a hatchback version — a body style that the Mach-E EV will revive in SUV form. The Mach 1 badge returned for a third generation in 2003-2004 with a more athletic suspension and performance Brembo brakes. Photos indicate the new Mach 1 will also feature Brembos.
“Mach 1 has always been that bridge between base Mustangs and the Shelby models,” said Ted Ryan, heritage brand manager, Ford Archives. Now, Ford hopes it will help build a bridge to a new electric era of the performance automobile.
Payne: To Hell and back in Honda Civic Type R hellion
Posted by Talbot Payne on May 28, 2020
The 2020 Honda Civic Type R has 306 horsepower, four doors, a hatchback, red seats, insane handling, the latest electronics and a rear wing the size of the Sopwith Camel. Sounds like heaven to me.
So I took it to Hell.
I’ve spent a lot of time traveling back and forth to Michigan’s devilish burg during the coronavirus clampdown. With the state’s best roads and unlikely name, Hell has always been a fun diversion. The North American Car of the Year jury used to hold our annual test there before we outgrew local facilities. Lunch meeting in Ann Arbor? I’ll detour on the way back to test a car’s limits.
But with national vehicle test programs grounded by COVID-19, Hell has become my test loop to push a performance vehicle’s envelope. Is it comfortable on the two-hour round trip? Does it get good gas mileage? Have modern safety features like adaptive cruise-control? Does it inspire confidence on roller-coaster roads?
Hell’s a fabulous all-around test. And a showcase for the $37,950 Civic Type R’s impressive all-around game of affordable speed, comfort and utility.
At the end of a good workout this spring, I found but one weakness: With a healthy $3,175 price jump since it was introduced as a 2018 model, Type R has ceded ground to the $37,884 Subaru WRX STI and $30,675 Hyundai Veloster N for pocket-rocket affordability.
Nail the imperturbable R over Hankerd Road’s heaving high-speed blind turns and you’ll swear it’s Velcroed to the pavement, so flat is its chassis. The only limit to the sports car’s speed was my fear of cresting a brow to find one of Michigan’s finest in a squad car (their presence ubiquitous in these COVID times).
But before I get too deep into Hell’s twisties, a quick primer on the Type R.
When Honda took the 10th-generation $20,806 2015 Civic to Germany’s Nurburgring race track to benchmark against the Audi A3, the Type R was the ultimate goal. King Civic offers top-of-class room, features and handling across a vast lineup that includes sedan, Sport hatchback, Si performance coupe — and then peaks at the Type R. It’s like watching the evolution of Michael Jordan from high school star to six-time NBA champion.
New for 2020, the Type R brings significant upgrades like standard Honda Sensing (adaptive cruise-control, lane-keep assist, emergency braking), which helps explain the price hike. And it adds minor tweaks like a new front spoiler, suede steering wheel and body-colored fascia gills.
They were minor tweaks because the Type R is hardly modest. The body is smeared with goth makeup: black grille, black wheels, black window trim.
My black ’n’ Championship White menace looked like it had been assembled from a drawer-full of knives. Sharp angles were everywhere from its front splitter fangs to its rocker panels to the twin shark-fin endplates that held the rear wing. Type R telegraphs its road-carving abilities.
Open the door and the red bolstered seats warn this thing is devil’s spawn. Yet as I set out on my journey to Hell, the Type R felt more Civic than R-rated. Despite a hungry bark at startup that exhales through a trio of center-mounted exhaust pipes, the Type R is quite civilized to drive in Comfort mode. (I’ll get to other, more aggressive modes in a bit). Adaptive cruise is standard, even with a manual transmission.
At stoplights I had to blip the engine a couple of times to make sure the engine hadn’t stalled, so quiet is the idle. And while the ride is expectedly firm, Mrs. Payne found the R’s roomy, thoughtful interior a laudable travel companion (even as she feared how quickly it could turn, Hyde-like, into a highway heathen).
Civic’s infotainment commands trail recent segment entries like the Nissan Sentra and Subaru Impreza, but standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto neutralize that advantage in a jiffy. I plugged in my phone and told Google Assistant to take me to Hell. Who needs a fancy-pants premium navigation system?
The hatchback’s utility is self-explanatory (a big reason SUVs are so popular today), but Civic goes a step further. It adds sub-cargo storage and a pull-across shade to conceal items in the cargo bay that makes the common snap-on shade seem needlessly complicated. That thoughtfulness is matched up front by a configurable console of sliding cupholders and cubbies.
My first hot-hatch was a cramped two-door VW GTI. But the Type R rocket ship has 1.5 inches more rear legroom than a midsize Acura TLX luxury sedan, for goodness sake, while weighing 500 pounds less with 16 more horsepower.
The Type R’s lightweight 3,121 pounds was evident as I assaulted the Exit 148A clover leaf upon exiting I-96 for U.S. 23 South.
Despite roads slicked by spring rain, Type R danced around the 180-degree downhill turn, its chassis flat as a pancake. As I dialed in more throttle, the front-wheel drive system predictably pushed. But when the road surface unexpectedly changed from concrete to greasy asphalt — briefly causing the R to skitter laterally — there was no nervous tail wag like a rear-wheel drive car.
Flattening the throttle onto Route 23, the heretofore quiet cabin erupted. I had dialed the mode-select switch to Race (what did you think R stood for?) and the 2.0-liter turbo-4 roared with hunger. Its 295-pound feet of torque might have ripped the front tires out of their fenders were it not for modern electronics and clever suspension engineering.
Exiting slippery turns in second gear, I could easily get wheelspin, but R never felt out of sorts. The notchy, manual box is the best thing this side of a Porsche, and the tranny automatically rev-matched on downshifts so I didn’t fuss with heel-and-toe.
All this capability in a $38,000 package. Sure you want a smaller 306-horse Audi S3 for $10,000 more? Subaru STI, however, will match Type R’s price, while also packing impressive standard features. With all-wheel drive (a $2,000 value), the Subie puts the power down better in slick conditions while offering similar horsepower and interior room. As the ’Ru moves toward a 2022 model with an estimated 400 horsepower, the Type R will be challenged.
For now, though, there’s no beating a hot hatch for convenience. It makes a trip to Hell heavenly.
2020 Honda Civic Type R
Vehicle type: Front-engine, front-wheel drive, 5-passenger hatchback
Price: $37,950, including $955 destination charge
Powerplant: 2.0-liter, turbocharged inline 4-cylinder
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Weight: 3,121 pounds
Price: $37,950
Power: 306 horsepower, 295 pound-feet torque
Performance: 0-60 mph, 5.0 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed, 170 mph
Fuel economy: EPA est. mpg: 22 city/28 highway/25 combined
Report card
Highs: Insane grip for a FWD car; modern amenities for daily driving
Lows: Boy-racer styling not for everyone; price up from $34,800 in 2018
Overall: ★★★★
Self-proclaimed mayor revved to reopen Mich. joyriding, canoeing hotspot
Posted by Talbot Payne on May 28, 2020
The mayor of Hell has seen worse than the COVID-19 crisis.
John Colone was mistakenly pronounced dead and zipped into a body bag after taking fire in Vietnam. But he returned to his native Hell, Michigan, to become a successful businessman and booster for one of the state’s most cherished getaway spots for sports car joyriding.
His businesses — Hellhole Bar, Screams Ice Cream, Hell Mini-Golf, Hell Wedding Chapel and Hell Canoe & Kayak Rental — have been shut down for months now, and he knows Michiganians are getting antsy. But he can wait a little while longer.
“We’re getting a lot of calls,” said the self-proclaimed mayor in this unincorporated town as the songbirds — and revving engines — of spring lit up Hell’s hills and twisty roads 45 minutes west of Detroit in Livingston County. “We’re cleaning and anxious to get back open, but we’re following the governor’s orders.”
As springtime warms Hell’s roads, Colone thrills at the sight of auto enthusiasts — “People love the roads and the curves and the corners” — bringing their wheels to Hell’s legendary country roads to stretch their legs.
“There were a couple of Porsches out here earlier today when I came out,” he said. “Some guys came out here last week with a radar and clocked a Corvette at 123 mph. Why come to Hell? People need to have something to do in this crisis.”
Hell, population 72, is a uniquely Michigan town. At its heart is a man who has seen the world but whose heart belongs here.
Colone was born 74 years ago with oil in his blood.
“I’ve always been a car guy. My first real car … was a ’59 Plymouth. Mine was called Abaddon — everyone had a name for their car back then. In the Old Testament, Abaddon was the angel from Hell. That stuff always came with me — I’ve always had love for this little town.”
He’s owned a variety of hot rods over the years including a ground-shaking Dodge Viper and currently tools around town in a ’36 Dodge two-door sedan with the license plate “4HellMI.”
Colone returned to Hell after his own crisis in Vietnam in 1968.
He was a squad leader for the 101st Airborne. “My goal is to live until I’m 101,” said Colone.
His battalion was on patrol in Kim Lien, the birthplace of revolutionary Ho Chi Minh, when a firefight broke out.
“I was shot three times on Feb. 19,” remembers Colone, who was shot in the leg, arm and neck and zipped into a body bag, toe tag and all. “We were crossing over a river when all of a sudden everything broke loose. We lost 17 guys in a battalion of 23.”
A guy named Dan Marshall helped him. “Then he got shot, and I remember him saying he wasn’t going to make it. He told me to tell his mom he loved her.”
He found her in Hawaii 30 years later and delivered the message.
After returning to the United States to heal, he worked for auto dealers and learned the craft of selling cars. He returned to Livingston Country in 1977 to buy Pinckney Chrysler-Dodge.
Over 22 years, he built a successful dealership known for selling Vipers and shutting down the streets of Hell every year with the “Hell of a Cruise,” a fundraiser for the Livingston County United Way that brought out 1,700 cars at its peak.
“There were 63 places to have burnouts,” he said of the cruise that started in Pinckney, ran through Gregory and Unadilla, and ended up on Patterson Lake Road through Hell. “It took us probably three hours to get through Hell with everyone doing burnouts.”
After selling the dealership in 1999, Colone got bored and set about growing his group of Hell businesses.
He’s not the first character to put Hell on the map. The town was settled in 1838 by George Reese, his wife, and five children. Reese built a mill and a general store on the banks of Hell Creek. He ground the local farmers’ abundance of grain into flour and ran a whiskey still.
“So that first seven to 10 bushels of grain became moonshine,” recounts Colone. “And a lot of times horses would come home without riders — and wagons without drivers — and somebody would ask the wife: ‘Where’s your husband?’ The reply was always: ‘He’s gone to Hell.’”
According to local legend, when the state came by in 1841 and asked George what he was going to name his town, he said, “Call it Hell for all I care. Everyone else does.“
The town has officially been Hell since 1841. And today, it’s a destination for kayakers and canoeists who want to paddle from Bruin Lake to Hell Creek. Or flog a sports car over the twisties of Patterson Lake Road.
Enter Screams Ice Cream. When it reopens, Colone will sell you a coffee mug emblazoned with the acronym HUGS — short for the Hell, Unadilla, Gregory and Stockbridge roads where motorheads like to play.
“Anytime you go into a store or restaurant, you’ll get a free mug of coffee and a hug,” said Colone as a Lotus Esprit raced by.
Although for now, social distancing is putting brakes on the hugs.
Payne: Mazda’s sporty MX-5 Miata is a great escape
Posted by Talbot Payne on May 28, 2020
Two months into the COVID-19 shutdown, Michigan motorheads were taking to their sports cars for some therapeutic social-distancing. Metro Detroit’s Woodward Avenue, suburban twisties and country roads were suddenly full of spring songbirds: the sharp call of the Porsche flat-six, the gurgling growl of the Mustang V-8, the throaty bark of the Corvette.
One of my favorite getaway rides is the 2020 Mazda MX-5 Miata roadster.
That’s assuming you can still fit in it, of course. Living within a few feet of my refrigerator in lockdown for weeks with limited access to my usual sports routines had me concerned when the MX-5 arrived in my driveway in late April.
I’m 6-foot-5 and probably that wide by now. Could I still fold into the wee Mazda’s cabin? It wasn’t easy. The Miata should come with a giant shoehorn — if it had more than 4.6 cubic feet of cargo space to put it in. I wedged in sideways between the steering wheel and seatback, then yanked the manual bar to pull the seat all the way back.
It was already back. I always underestimate just how tiny this mouse is.
I rotated my giant frame, stuffing my head into the roof, both knees in the dash, then adjusting the steering column in my lap. Watching my friend John — a fellow ex-basketball player with another inch on me — perform the same feat was like watching toothpaste being stuffed back into its tube.
How tiny is the MX-5 cabin? It doesn’t have room for cupholders. Instead, clip-on cupholders are provided that hang off the center console into the passenger seat. How tiny? There isn’t room for a glovebox under the dash so it’s located in the firewall behind the driver.
The cabin might have less shoulder room than Delta coach class. You can smell what your passenger had for breakfast. I recommend driving with intimate acquaintances, so I took Mrs. Payne for an afternoon outing.
First things first. I popped the cloth roof, then — in one motion — buried it in the boot. Click and it’s done, as easy as storing a blanket in a dresser drawer. The spring air was invigorating and my cranium relieved. My wife eyed my head sticking above the windshield nervously — is it now the car’s roll bar? — but her worries were fleeting as the wind swept her hair back and the pleasure of a topless sports car washed over us.
Once stuffed into the wee Mazda, it is pure joy. You don’t so much sit in a Miata as wear it. Like hand in glove, the car is an extension of me.
The Miata is Mazda’s halo vehicle, its sporty DNA infecting everything in the Japanese maker’s lineup including its three-row CX-9 SUV. For 30 years MX-5 has stayed true to its purpose: serving fun in an affordable package.
While other performance cars have grown (looking at you, Mini Cooper) the 2020 MX-5 is remarkably similar in size to the 1989 original. The fourth-generation model tips the scales at 2,339 pound, just 119 heavier than Gen One. The MX-5 has been a lot more disciplined in its diet over the years than I have.
“Mazda is dedicated to the purity of the MX-5 Miata,” says Mazda in its press materials. “The Guinness World Record holder for the best-selling two-seater sports car.” Here’s to purity.
As important, the Miata has actually gotten cheaper over time, costing about $200 less in inflation-adjusted dollars today than 1989 despite gaining 50 more horsepower, the latest safety features and a suite of modern electronics.
New for 2020, for example, MX-5 sports standard features like blind-spot assist, rear-traffic alert, lane-departure warning and 7-inch tablet touchscreen. Step up to the Club and Grand Touring models (like my $32,790 tester) and you get Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, too.
The latter is my wife’s favorite feature, and she immediately plugged in her iPhone and we set course for Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor for lunch. Satisfied that I could still fit in the MX-5, I figured a Reuben sandwich wouldn’t hurt.
With our Google guide leading the way, heated leather seats and the automatic climate-control cranked to 75 degrees, the Miata’s open cabin was surprisingly comfortable on a 60-degree spring day. My wife and I could even converse above the wind noise given our close proximity.
The discomfort comes in proximity to other vehicles. On I-696, I was acutely aware of how small the Miata was compared to the rest of the auto kingdom. My mouse was surrounded by herds of SUV wildebeests and towering semi-truck elephants. On two occasions, SUVs cut across my nose, oblivious to my presence. So good is the roadster’s visibility, however, that I could see all four corners of my steed at all times.
After lunch, we headed to Huron River Road in Washtenaw County, its berms busy with boaters and hikers escaping from another COVID-induced Groundhog Day.
Despite the traffic, there was still room to play. The Huron River is a delightfully twisted, natural Miata habitat. The roadster’s light weight means a healthy power-to-weight ratio, and I rowed the 2.0-liter four-banger hard over dips and turns. My Grand Touring model amped up the sportiness with Bilstein dampers for a firmer ride, but the MX-5 is never harsh.
True to its wee ’60s English sports car forefathers, MX-5 still comes with a manual transmission and I recommend it highly. Its shifts are precise and the car’s pedal placement perfect for easy heel-and-toe downshifts — even in my size 15s.
The Miata may give up storage space to its affordable Subaru BRZ/Toyota 86 competitors, but its engine is more responsive. And unlike muscular, high-horsepower Corvette and Mustang convertibles that need more acreage to stretch their V-8 legs, Miata can be flung around on small rural roads with plenty of room to spare.
Perhaps the MX-5’s most underrated feature is its styling. Mazda took a big gamble in its Gen 4 upgrade by ditching its retro-Lotus styling for a more 21st-century Mazda design. It’s stunning, and the MX-5’s athletic lines and lean face are always easy on the eyes.
It might inspire me to lose a few pounds myself after this COVID thing is over.
2020 Mazda MX-5 Miata
Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear-wheel drive, 2-passenger sports car
Price: $27,500, including $920 destination charge ($32,790 Grand Touring model as tested)
Powerplant: 2.0-liter four-cylinder
Power: 181 horsepower, 151 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: 6-speed manual (as tested); 6-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 5.7 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed, 140 mph
Weight: 2,339 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA 26 city/ 34 highway/ 29 combined (manual); 26 city/ 35 highway/ 30 combined (automatic)
Report card
Highs: Throwback purist’s sports car; modern electronics
Lows: Tight fit for 6-footers; limited storage space
Overall: 4 stars
GM working on semi-autonomous Ultra Cruise to operate on all roads
Posted by Talbot Payne on May 28, 2020
General Motors Co. is working on a comprehensive Tesla-fighting Ultra Cruise semi-autonomous system for its passenger cars. And its fully autonomous Cruise Origin vehicle may moonlight delivering packages in addition to delivering people to their destinations.
The revelations came from global product development chief Doug Parks, as he promised that GM’s vision for self-driving transportation is on track during the COVID crisis.
“There (have been) no changes over last two months except some slight austerity,” Parks said Tuesday during a conference call for the Citi 2020 Car of the Future Symposium. “We absolutely still believe in this future. We think it will dramatically change the way people and packages move around.”
GM’s Super Cruise and Tesla’s Autopilot have been market leaders in bringing driver-assist, so-called Level 2 driving to passenger cars. On fully autonomous Level 4-5 vehicles, they have diverged: Tesla is pursuing a future which owners would be able to share their cars as part of a broader robotaxi fleet called the Tesla Network. GM, by contrast, is developing its Origin robotaxi under a separate Cruise entity in San Francisco.
On the passenger-car side, GM’s Super Cruise and Tesla’s Navigate on Autopilot are “geo-fenced” systems designed for hands-free driving as long as vehicles are on divided, limited-access highways such as interstates.
First introduced on the Cadillac CT6 sedan in 2017, Super Cruise uses a more comprehensive suite of hardware — including lidar along with infrared sensors to monitor driver attention — to navigate and automatically change lanes. Tesla’s camera-and-radar-based system offers similar capability, but also allows self-driving on secondary roads.
Parks says Ultra Cruise — an internal GM name for now — aims to expand Super Cruise’s highway autonomy to all roads.
“Super Cruise is about all highways all the time and increased capability. The downside is when you get off the (highway) you don’t have it,” Park told the symposium. “What Ultra Cruise (is) trying to do is take that same capability off the highway. So Ultra Cruise would be all the Super Cruise plus neighborhoods, cities, subdivisions. We’re not saying Ultra Cruise will be fully autonomous 100% of the time, although that could be one of the end games.”
Tesla’s pioneering Autopilot system, available on all its vehicles, recently received an over-the-air update that automatically stops for red lights and stop signs. The system, however, requires constant attention by the driver. Though Parks didn’t go into more detail, Ultra Cruise would presumably work similarly, but alloa the driver to remain hands-free for longer.
Guidehouse Insight auto analyst Sam Abuelsamid expects GM to be more conservative in rolling out Ultra Cruise than Tesla.
“GM will do a lot more development before delivery,” said Abuelsamid. “GM has targeted 2023 when their systems can work in conjunction with, say, city V2X infrastructure where cars communicates with roadside sensors.”
Parks said it’s important to keep costs down on passenger cars. “We’re focused on how can we give drivers additional capability above and beyond the highway at a priceable level. How can we continue to add self-assist capability to people’s cars without tens of thousands of dollars?”
GM sees more expensive equipment like lidar as essential for Origin, the bread-loaf shaped people mover that GM’s Cruise division introduced in San Francisco this January. Jointly developed with Honda, Origin AV has no steering wheel, and is built on the same battery-powered “skateboard platform” that supports the Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyric SUV.
Parks acknowledged that coronavirus may bring new challenges in a world in where passengers may balk at ride-sharing shoulder-to-shoulder.
“The thing that maybe it is changing, potentially, is the whole social distancing. Will everyone want to be packed in one of those? Maybe, maybe not,” said the GM executive. “So we’re still happy to take one or two people in the vehicle, so maybe it’s not completely packed.”
But he said other opportunities might open like package delivery, a service that Origin (and other vehicles like Rivian trucks under contract with Amazon) was also designed for.
“You could almost argue on the other side of COVID, there is more package delivery, not less. So if we can reconfigure and deliver packages off-peak and then deliver people on-peak, that’s still very much within our operating window.”
Sons of Prius: Toyota Sienna minivan and Venza SUV go hybrid-only
Posted by Talbot Payne on May 19, 2020
The Toyota Prius is now the proud father of a minivan and SUV.
Toyota unveiled Monday the hybrid-powered 2021 Sienna minivan and mid-size Venza crossover, the first vehicles outside the iconic Prius compact to be powered by hybrid-electric drivetrains only.
Toyota’s new products come as the industry is rapidly moving to electrify its vehicle lineup to satisfy strict government emission mandates around the world. Cadillac, for example, promises that 100% of its lineup will be battery-powered by 2030, while Honda says 80% of its global product will be electrified by then.
“With the addition of the Sienna and Venza we are taking two giant steps closer to two very important goals: electrification across 100% of our lineup, and hybrid model comprising 25% of our sales – all by 2025,” said Toyota North America auto operations chief Bob Carter.
The Sienna and Venza were introduced via a virtual news conference with Carter unveiling the minivan from Toyota’s North American headquarters in Plano, Texas. Vice President for Toyota North America Jack Hollis took the wraps off the Venza from his home in Dallas. Both vehicles are based on Toyota’s TNGK global platform with the Sienna assembled in Princeton, Kentucky, and the Venza in Japan.
The presentation featured a cameo from the Prius ( which means “to go before”) which Carter hailed as “that funny-looking car (that) arrived in America and forever changed this industry.” Embraced by green activists and Hollywood celebrities 20 years ago, the Prius was the first battery-powered car to sell more than 100,000 units in the U.S. —though those numbers have crashed in the SUV era.
The hybrid mantle has been taken up by Toyota’s best-selling compact RAV4; its affordable, $30,000 hybrid version now outselling Prius. The RAV4 has been joined by similar hybrids including the Ford Escape and Honda CR-V.
The Sienna and Venza, however, are major hybrid leaps in family segments that have traditionally offered standard gas-powered V-6 engines. The new Toyotas will use a similar hybrid system to the RAV4 with a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine assisted by two electric motors.
Carter promised best-in-class, budget-friendly 33 mpg – well clear of the current Sienna’s 22 mpg. The Toyota will also comes loaded with standard, “Toyota Safety Sense 2.0” safety features like adaptive cruise-control and blind-spot assist. Standard electronic goodies include Apple CarPlay and kick-open sliding side doors. All-wheel drive, a vacuum cleaner, second-row ottoman and a refrigerator will also be available.
The Sienna, its front end inspired by the Shinkansen Japanese Bullet Train, takes a page from the Pacifica’s book with a sleek “anti-minivan” design. The body style echoes the 2020 Highlander SUV right down to the racy Supra-like rear fenders. The minivan will offer a sporty XSE model with blacked-out trim to look cool when picking up the kiddies from school.
Toyota is resuscitating the Venza after it exited the market in 2015. Slotted between the RAV4 and Highlander, the Venza aims to capture empty-nesters who like the roominess of the Highlander but don’t need the third-row seat.
The mid-size SUV wars have heated up in recent years as crossovers have become the dominant mode of transportation. The segment has seen stylish new additions including the Chevy Blazer, Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport and Honda Passport.
The reborn Venza aims to compete with a strong value play including standard all-wheel drive and 40 mpg. The Venza also revamps its styling and offers a “Star Gaze” panoramic roof that can be electronically switched between transparent glass and “frosted” pane that only lets in light.
The Venza comes standard with lots of tech including adaptive cruise and blind-spot assist like the Sienna. Expect to see it in showrooms this summer.