“It’s a great-looking car, and everybody’s eagerly waiting to be the first to own one on the block. But information about it is just diddling out, and it’s making us all crazy,” says Mike Figueroa of Galena, Illinois, a former Corvette owner.

Figueroa, and many more like him, want to buy the next-generation Corvette — if they just knew when it will arrive.

General Motors won’t comment and officially doesn’t acknowledge that the car even exists. “We do not comment on future product,” Chevrolet spokesman Kevin Kelly said.

But here’s what we know and what’s being reported.

Originally targeted for a coming-out-party at the Detroit show in January, the C8 was reportedly delayed until late spring — and now later in the year, according to several industry sources. The chief culprit? Electrical gremlins, they say.

Observers have speculated that the Corvette C8’s debut could be coordinated with the 25th anniversary of the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in late August. The Corvette assembly plant in Bowling Green has undergone an overhaul in the last three years, including a massive paint-plant investment, to prepare for the mid-engine car.

A debut of the C8 in late August would also allow Chevy to showcase the car at Corvettes at Carlisle, a huge annual gathering of Corvette owners in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in late August.

Whatever the venue, the intense speculation speaks to how important this eighth-generation Corvette is to GM — and to the external pressures building on Chevy to produce the car.

Sales of C7 Corvettes have fallen dramatically this year — off 20 percent from a year ago — as buyers anticipate the mid-engine supercar. About 10,000 C7s reportedly languish unsold on dealer lots, sitting for an average of 232 days, unprecedented for the iconic sports car. Potential buyers like Figueroa say dealers are bending over backward to offer deals, which get sweeter the longer the C8 is delayed.

The good news for Chevy is the C7’s stale sales indicate huge pent-up demand for the C8.

The clock is also ticking on Corvette’s race program, which is expected to debut the car for the 2020 IMSA Weathertech racing season at next January’s Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. The current front-engine race car is getting long in the tooth against formidable competition like the mid-engine Ford GT. The race-car version of the C8 has been seen testing at tracks in Florida, Wisconsin and Germany.

While endurance-racing rules are famously opaque when it comes to official recognition of production cars, the Corvette race car effectively has to be licensed for competition by the end of 2019 in order to qualify for Daytona and LeMans next year. GM has traditionally introduced its production car before racing it. The front-engine C7, for example, went into production in September 2013 ahead of the C7-R’s 2014 Daytona debut.

The multitude of sightings of camouflaged cars — from Reuss’ ride in Arizona, to California, Colorado and Florida — suggest a mature exterior design ready for prime time.

The idea of a mid-engine Corvette actually dates back to legendary designer Zora Arkus-Duntov, who considered the layout in the early 1960s. But the program really picked up speed in 2007 when it was green-lighted by GM, only to be shelved by the Great Recession. Post-recession, it was full speed ahead.

But for all its groundwork, the C8 has been a development headache.

“The mid-engine car is the most protracted Corvette ever,” says ex-Car and Driver writer Don Sherman of Hagerty, the automotive publication. Sherman has made a career out of chasing the elusive ‘Vette.

Sherman speculates the C8’s growing pains have their roots in the car’s revolutionary nature: It is not just the first mid-engine Corvette, the C8 is a clean-sheet program.

“Shuffling the engine location isn’t that big a deal,” says Sherman. “But the Corvette team is using the C8 to re-invent the entire car.”

While Sherman’s latest reporting at Hagerty indicates some chassis-twisting issues with the high-horsepower mill, a multitude of sources indicate the biggest source of the C8’s delays involve the electrical system. The issue seems to be GM’s effort to move to a new, common electrical-architecture using a so-called CAN (computer area network). The Corvette has proved difficult to adapt.

Despite its exotic nature, Chevy is still expected to fall back on some familiar tools to keep the base car’s costs in line — a signature attribute of Corvette that has gained it a reputation as “the affordable supercar.” The standard engine is reportedly a good old push-rod 6.2-liter V-8 code-named the LT2, putting the power to wheels through a dual-clutch automatic transmission. The current LT1-base engine’s horsepower is expected to be pushed past the current 460 horses.

So endowed, industry observers expect the C8 to cost $4,000-$5,000 more than the current front-engine model. That would put its starting price in the neighborhood of $60,000 — still well below, say, a $92,000 Porsche 911.

The mid-engine beast may disappoint manual-gearbox customers, but it will still satisfy Corvette traditionalists by fitting two golf bags in the front truck, or “frunk.”

Unless, of course, you get the rumored hybrid model with an electric motor crowding out frunk space. Seems 1,000 horsepower comes with its sacrifices.

Payne: Tough Toyota Tundra tames the suburban frontier

Posted by Talbot Payne on March 22, 2019

The 2019 Toyota Tundra is a great tool for Metro Detroit’s rugged frontier roads.

The American truck market is where rugged pickups meet refined luxury — pickups like 2019 Toyota Tundra that I tested in Oakland Charter Township.

Which is appropriate because the township north of The Palace in Auburn Hills is where rugged farm country meets the frontier of luxurious development.

Here, successful Michiganians buy acres of farmland and woodland to build dream homes on the edge of Detroit’s metropolis. Huge 10,000-square-foot brick and stone homes spill across deforested yards. Gated communities back up against wooded streams. Modern castles reach for the sky on top of rocky hills.

These cloistered estates are conveniently located just minutes from shopping malls and interstates, yet they can only be reached by diabolical dirt roads that begin where the asphalt ends.

Dirt roads with names like Dutton and Brewster look like they were used in Normandy during the D-Day invasion. In February these arteries have been raked by the elements with bottomless potholes overlapping frozen mud ruts.

These are the byways for which my $46,610 Tundra tester with TRD Off-Road package was built.

I passed some of the most beautiful cribs I’ve seen, their owners struggling to reach them in sporty Cadillac CTS-Vs and lovely Volvo XC60s. A silver CTS-V looked like it would have preferred to be underwater than on this hellscape, its driver crawling along at 5 mph while the potholes beat the unibody chassis to a noodle.

My 381-horsepower, 5.7-liter V-8 Tundra drove by at 35 mph like Blake Griffin through a junior high team. Sitting on big-sidewall Michelins wrapped around 18-inch rims, the Tundra’s body-on-frame construction devoured the frozen mud moguls. The four-wheel-drive system churning like a buzz-saw through stale bread. BRRRAAAAWWWGH!

THONK! A rock thrown up by a tire clanged harmlessly off the steel skid-plate under the engine. The front tires skittered across an iced rut, the rear tires churning behind. This is how you commute to your remote domicile.

But arriving at your estate in a pickup doesn’t mean giving up luxury-car style. The Tundra is a handsome athlete.

Mind you, it’s no Ram 1500, which has all the truck boys drooling down at the rodeo. But its bold chrome grille, Midnight Black body armor and bling-tastic TRD off-road wheels demand respect.

The big fella has character, which is what you want filling up your dream home garage. The interior is as comfortable as your den with leather thrones, leather-wrapped steering wheel and an Entune Premium audio system pumping out your favorite tunes. My wife and her friends need a ladder to get into the rear seat, but once there, the short cab offers plenty of legroom (though I’d prefer a Crew Cab with its palatial backseat room).

The Tundra only pales in comparison to its Detroit competition, which is why the Toyota sold a mere 118,425 full-size pickups in 2018 compared to Ford (over 900,000), Chevy/GMC (over 800,000), and Ram (537,000). I know, I know, the Toyota only sells light-duty trucks while the Detroit Three sell Heavy Dutys and Super Dutys and Mega Kong Colossal Duties.

But the Tundra can’t even outsell its midsize little brother. The Tacoma more than doubled Tundra sales last year at 245,659. That’s right, the same brand that gets young buyers hooked on reliable Corollas/Camrys so that they buy five-door RAV4 SUVs when they have children can’t translate 246,000 Tacoma customers to buy full-size Tundras.

Well, it’s tough in the full-size pickup rodeo.

For one, the Tundra is long in the tooth compared to the Detroit megatrons. Its 381-horse V-8 and 6-speed transmission are a generation behind, say, the Chevy Silverado’s 420-horse V-8 or Ford F-150’s state-of-the-art 10-speed tranny.

My Tundra’s TRD package is tough as nails with Bilstein shocks. But the ride is a buckboard when on asphalt, unlike the comparable Ram Rebel’s comfy coil-spring rear setup. Throw the Tundra into a cloverleaf and — hold on, Bessy! — the numb steering and loose chassis make the lightweight Silverado feel like a Camaro by comparison.

Inside, the Tundra boasts nice wood and aluminum touches, but its dash, steering wheel and instrument layouts are antiquated next to the F-150’s thoughtful architecture. The Toyota’s clumsy automatic shifter feels stodgy. Even better are the Silverado and Ram with transmission solutions that open the center console to all kinds of mobile office space.

Show me a pickup and I’ll show you a neighbor who wants to borrow it — Please? Just for the weekend so I can get some mulch? — but even here the Toyota can’t innovate like the Detroit Three. It doesn’t have corner steps like the Silverado, MultiPro gate like the GMC Sierra or a best-in-class tow rating like the Ford.

What the Tundra does have is good ol’ Japanese value.

The V-8 may not have the Chevy’s low-end grunt, but the engine comes standard starting at just $35,000. Lots of trucks these days sport fuel-sippy four-bangers and V-6s, but a pickup and a V-8 go together like Thor and hammer.

Electronics are fast blurring the difference between luxury and mainstream, and the Japanese makers are at the forefront of this trend. The $19,000 Toyota Corolla sedan is loaded with standard features like adaptive cruise-control, automatic high-beams and lane-departure alert you can’t get on many luxury cars north of $50,000.

The Tundra comes equipped with this safety package at a price well below comparable Big Three competitors (though somehow Toyota hasn’t figured out Android Auto yet). Even the Tundra’s premium TRD off-road package — which includes Bilstein shocks, front tow hooks and floor mats — adds just $70 to the bottom line. Tesla floor mats cost $140, for goodness sake.

It’s all very impressive, and Toyota throws in its usual bulletproof reliability. It was the only full-size truck to get a 9 (out of 10) mechanical Initial Quality Rating from JD Power last year.

That’s reassuring as you ride your chrome-studded truck down the ox-cart roads of north Oakland on the way to your dream home.

Where Third World roads meet First World mansions, the Tundra pickup is an excellent bridge.

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne. Catch “Car Radio with Henry Payne” from noon-2 p.m. Saturdays on 910 AM Superstation.

2019 Toyota Tundra

Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear- or four-wheel drive, five-passenger pickup

Price: $33,015 base, including $1,495 destination fee ($46,610 4×4 Limited Double Cab as tested)

Powerplant: 4.6-liter V-8 (standard engine); 5.7-liter V-8

Power: 310 horsepower, 327 pound-feet of torque (4.6-liter); 381 horsepower, 401 pound-feet of torque (5.7-liter)

Transmission: 6-speed automatic

Performance: 0-60 mph, 6.5 sec. (5.7L, Car and Driver); maximum towing, 9,900 pounds

Weight: 5,530 pounds (as tested)

Fuel economy: EPA: 15 city/19 highway/16 combined (4.6-liter standard 4×2); 13 city/17 highway/14 combined (5.7-liter 4×4 as tested)

Report card

Highs: Standard features galore; Toyota tough

Lows:Lacks refinement of Detroit Three competitors; V-8 a generation behind

Overall: 3 stars

Detroit Grand Prix poster contest winner crowned

Posted by Talbot Payne on March 22, 2019

Detroit — For the the 30th time this May, the Detroit Grand Prix roars into the Motor City. And for the 30th time it will have a gorgeous, color poster for fans to take home in memory of the event.

This year the official commemorative poster for the 2019 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear comes courtesy of Allie Fedak, a junior designer at the College for Creative Studies.

Fedak’s festive design of Belle Isle’s Scott Fountain flanked by a race car and winning podium of drivers captured the attention of a panel of seven judges (including this author) — as well as more than 100 IndyCar fans online. Last year’s Grand Prix located the winner’s circle in front of the fountain for the first time, making it one of the most dramatic backdrops in the sport.

“I don’t know how to put into words what winning this competition means,” said Fedak, who let out a shriek when her name was announced. “I wanted to create the most ideal celebration of the Grand Prix possible with the car crossing the finish line and also in the winner’s circle.”

Fedak’s design took the gold out of a field of five strong CCS contenders that included juniors Jonathan Kimble, Gabby Lipski, K. Rose Valerius, and Haley Smith.

Valerius’s design was chosen runner-up, and Smith grabbed bronze.

“The beauty of what these students at CCS create every year in this competition is amazing,” Grand Prix chairman Bud Denker said. “We had five great designs we saw today and it was hard to choose one of them, but Allie is our winner, and she is going to be a great ambassador with her excitement and enthusiasm.”

The posters have become collectors items across the Grand Prix’s four decades, and a switch from Formula One racing on the streets of Detroit to the current IndyCar race course on Belle Isle.

For the last seven years, the Grand Prix has worked with CCS for the poster contest. This year, 18 students from the school’s Intermediate digital illustration class — under the watchful eye of professor Brian Kotulis — submitted entries. The field was then narrowed to five for presentation Wednesday before the poster jury.

In addition to providing a memento for the walls of IndyCar fans, Kotulis says the poster process is a career-building experience for students.

“In addition to developing a contextual narrative with their art,” said the CCS professor, “the designers have to speak to the audience that they are trying to engage. The strongest entries brought a natural interest to the forefront as well doing justice to their client.”

Fedak’s work has just begun. She now will work with veteran Detroit Grand Prix designer Jim Tocco to finalize her design over the next month. The final, official poster will be unveiled April 30 when 2017 IndyCar champ Josef Newgarten comes to town for the annual Grand Prix media lunch with the Detroit Sports Media organization.

The 2019 poster will available for purchase then at www.DetroitGP.com.

Poster contest judges

► Bud Denker, Grand Prix chairman

► Stuart Cooper, GM industrial design manager

► Jeanette Puig-Pey, Lear Corporation global design manager

► Jamie Edmonds, WDIV-TV Channel 4 (NBC) sports reporter/anchor

► Henry Payne, Detroit News editorial cartoonist and auto columnist

► Ryan Ford, Detroit Free Press assistant sports editor

► Vince Carducci, dean of undergraduate studies at College for Creative Studies

Cadillac’s CTS sedan gets a refresh and new name – the CT5

Posted by Talbot Payne on March 20, 2019

Cadillac introduced a renamed and reskinned mid-size sedan Monday as the brand reboots under a new president, a new Warren headquarters and a youthful marketing campaign.

The car formerly known as the CTS now carries the CT5 badge, another step in Cadillac’s new alphanumeric system for cars beginning with the CT6 sedan. A CT4 replacing the ATS small sedan is expected this year.

The bones of the CT5 remain the same, but the sedan gets a major cosmetic refresh inside and out. Exterior panels are all new as the CT5 adopts the design cues of the Escala concept car that has wowed auto show audiences. Inside, the plush CT5 adopts a monostable shifter now common in Cadillacs (and the Chevy Bolt EV), as well as a console-based rotary infotainment controller first seen in the XT6.

The rotary controller allows drivers the ability to access the screen by touch or remote. It’s a significant shift away from the haptic-touch CUE system that alienated some customers in the last-generation car.

The CTS was a historic car for Cadillac in 2003 when it replaced the Catera mid-size sedan and signaled Caddy’s shift away from conventional nameplates and toward a more athletic brand competing head-on with German brands like BMW and Audi.

The striking appearance and ambitious technology of the third-generation CTS earned it the 2013 Detroit News Vehicle of the Year award. The performance V-series trim of the current CTS has the same 640-horse 6.2-liter supercharged V-8 as the Corvette Z06 track monster.

The 2020 CT5 will be available with a 2.0-liter turbo-4 or a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6. A V-series performance variant will likely follow.

The CT5 follows the XT6 in adopting Cadillac’s new nomenclature that highlights the car’s torque. (Torque is the low-end pulling power of a motor).

Determined to familiarize a new generation of customers with the brand’s transition to electric cars — Cadillac is promising 20 EVs by 2023, and electric cars have  prodigious torque under acceleration) — the rear of the CT5 will carry a badge with with the metric newton-meter measurement of torque.

“We have a foot in two worlds,” says Cadillac President Steve Carlisle, referring to the brand’s near-term push to sell more gas-powered SUVs while it develops a new, electrified platform for next decade.

Once a leader in plug-in hybrid technology, GM is abandoning that strategy for an all-electric future paced by its first EV crossover targeted for 2022.

The reveal of the CT5 comes via Cadillac’s YouTube channel, a first for the brand as it seeks to appeal to a younger demographic with technology, music, and electrification. A video series title the “Sensory Symphony” will tease the CT5 leading up to the vehicle’s coming out party at the New York Auto Show on April 17.

The videos use so-called “autonomous sensory meridian response” or ASMR technology  — which causes the skin of some listeners to tingle — to bring the car’s sounds to life. The videos follow a series of Cadillac ads featuring Childish Gambino to introduce its XT6 SUV at the Oscars.

“We’re going back to the musical part of our heritage that we feel resonates with females and youth,” said Carlisle.

The CT5 comes to market as the brand’s sedan halo, the CT6, is apparently heading out to pasture. The CT6 is in production until next January, after which its Hamtramck production facility is scheduled to idle.

The CT5 will be built at GM’s Lansing Grand River facility, which recently received an infusion of $211 million.

Caddy’s new sedan will be offered in a Premium or Sport trim, with the Sport distinguished by a black-out, mesh grille. More refinement can be added through a Platinum package for both models.

Model 3 with a hatch: Tesla reveals ‘sexy’ Model Y ute

Posted by Talbot Payne on March 15, 2019

Say hello to the Tesla Model Y crossover, the taller Model 3.

The compact SUV was introduced by CEO Elon Musk at the electric brand’s California design studio Thursday night – bringing Tesla’s production lineup to four vehicles: Model S sedan, Model 3 sedan, Model X SUV, and Model Y.

The quartet has been dubbed “S3XY” by Tesla fans, and Musk reveled in the acronym all evening.

“We are bringing sexy back!” he thrilled to an appreciative audience of Tesla employees.

The unveil followed months of speculation as to how the Model Y would differ from Tesla’s popular Model 3 sedan – the best-selling luxury vehicle in the U.S. in 2018 – upon which it is based. After Tesla teased a silhouette of the car, Internet artists speculated on a variety of designs. But in the flesh the Model Y looks very similar to the 3 with its smooth, grille-less front end, high headlights, panoramic roof, and bulbous rear end.

While sitting higher than the Model 3 (think a Subaru Crosstrek SUV compared to near identical twin Subaru Impreza hatchback) the Model Y will still benefit from a low center of gravity thanks to big-battery placement under the passenger compartment. From the event, the Y appears to have the same, austere interior of the Model 3 with most controls in a 15-inch, horizontal, tablet touchscreen. Musk even promises a similar zero-60 time to the Performance Model 3 – 3.5 seconds – from the Model Y’s own Performance trim.

The major differences with the Model Y are interior cargo and storage. Essential for SUVs, the Model Y gains a hatchback opening over the Model 3’s conventional sedan truck lid. Fold the seats flat and Tesla promises 66 cubic-feet of cargo room – significantly more than the 3.

Buyers will also be able to option a third row (add $3,000) for up to seven-passenger seating – unusual for a compact SUV, but made possible by the absence of a driver-train running through the cabin as with conventional, gas-powered cars. You get “frunk” storage under the hood as well.

Why Y? Because the compact SUV is the hottest segment in the market. Musk was bullish on his new ute’s prospects: “I think we’ll do more Model Ys than the X, S, and 3 combined.”

The Model 3 will start at $39,000 with a 230-mile-range, “standard” battery which is $4,000 higher than the price of an entry-level, 220-mile Model 3 sedan.

A long-range, $47,000 version of the Y will be optioned with 300 miles range (10 less than a comparable Model 3) as well as an AWD model and the hyper-quick Performance model which starts at $60,000.

All trims except the standard car are available for order online at Tesla.com with deliveries beginning this fall.

The compact Model 3 broke the Internet when it was unveiled in March 2016 on the same stage. Some 200,000 customers ordered it online over the next 24 hours.

Tesla’s first SUV – the three-row, $82,000 Model X – debuted in 2012 on the same mid-size architecture as the $76,000 Model S sedan. The X added dazzling falcon-wing doors that were head-turning, but caused development delays and have been a reliability headache for service centers.

“We actually got carried away with the Model X,” said Musk on Thursday. “It was a Faberge egg meets a space ship.”

There are no such gizmos on the Model Y given its importance as a mass-production car that — along with the Model 3 — is key to the company’s profitability.

“The Model Y is the first Tesla that really feels like something from a mainstream car brand: a vehicle designed to make a company money, not make a statement,” said Edmunds auto analyst Jessica Caldwell. “Despite its derivative design, it’s not unrealistic to think that the Model Y could end up being Tesla’s best-selling vehicle.”

Musk gave a typically disjointed press conference. His unique, even geeky, stage appearances have become as anticipated as the late Steve Jobs’ introduction of Apple products. Hailed by pundits as a real-life Tony Stark, Musk’s companies — including Tesla, the SpaceX re-usable rocket maker, and the tunnel-making Boring Co. — have captured the imagination of millions.

Tesla’s CEO recounted the company’s history, touching on its interaction with Detroit manufacturers like GM (whose California assembly plant he inherited) and Ford.

“We thought it would be great to have a Model E,” he laughed referencing the Model 3 sedan’s initial badge cribbed from Ford’s legendary “Model” naming convention. “But Ford threatened to sue. Ford killed SEX!”

While the Model Y should be a volume-seller, it enters the market with plenty of question marks, foremost being where will it be manufactured. Musk did not offer any answers to that riddle. Tesla’s Fremont assembly plant outside San Francisco is the likely source despite its capacity issues – Tesla has erected a tent in the parking lot to meet demand for the Models 3, S and X.

The Model Y enters the U.S. market after Tesla hit its federal tax credit sales ceiling at the end of last year. After selling 200,000 cars, the $7,500 credit will gradually disappear this year. Sales of the Model 3 have apparently already been impacted. The sedan reportedly sold 6,500 and 5,750 cars in January and February, respectively, compared to 18,650 and 25,250 in the last two months of 2018 (Figures come from InsideEVs.com; Tesla does not publish its sales figures.).

The Model Y debuts as the Model 3 makes its first foray into Europe, with sales especially strong in Norway which gives away massive tax breaks to EV buyers.

Tesla is also expected to introduce a pickup later this year as the brand tries to maintain its gaping lead in EV sales as competitors like Rivian, Polestar and Audi bring electrics to market. Anticipating the flood of Tesla SUVs hitting the road, the Silicon Valley company is also ramping up its charging infrastructure by introducing its 250 kW Version 3 chargers which boast delivery of 75 miles of range in just five minutes.

Current Tesla chargers have 120 kW of power.

Cadillac’s new badging system torques comprehension

Posted by Talbot Payne on March 15, 2019

That 400 that will be on the back of the new Cadillac XT6 SUV designates the newton-meters of torque the engine produces. Torque represents the low-end pulling power of an engine. (Photo: GM)

As Cadillac moves its headquarters from New York to Warren, its ZIP code isn’t the only alphanumeric that’s changing.

The brand is undergoing a wholesale shift in auto re-badging. Again.

In a luxury auto market notorious for alphabet-soup badges, Cadillac will thicken the stew even further. In addition to changing its XT-badged SUVs and CT-badged sedans and introducing a “Y-brand” trim strategy, vehicles beginning with the XT6 SUV will get a new engine designation in order to signal the brand’s transition to full-electric over the next decade.

Look out Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 S, here comes the Cadillac XT6 AWD 400.

Beginning with the XT6 SUV, the new alphanumeric on the rear of the car will designate torque and engine type, such as 400 for the XT6. That’s 400 newton-meters of torque — not pound-feet for us Americans — because most of the markets Cadillac sells in are metric. (Torque, for the uninitiated, measures the low-end grunt of an engine. Horsepower is a measurement of power that peaks at higher engine rpms.)

Cadillac is determined to convert us to the metric system. And to electric cars.

CEO Mary Barra has declared that General Motors’ future is “zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion” as it moves to electric autonomous cars. The engine badging is a nod to that transition.

Its purpose it to communicate power and performance not just for internal combustion engines, but for electric propulsion, Cadillac President Steve Carlisle said.

“What we’re seeking to accomplish with this strategy is starting a conversation about the transition in drivetrain technology. When you think about electric propulsion – when you think about a convention for engine naming — you’re not talking about displacements anymore.”

The new torque convention replaces designations like the “2.0T” that currently appears on a CTS sedan which emphasized an engine’s displacement in liters (that’s 2 liters, more metrics) and turbocharging. The new torque-badging will keep the “T,” by the way — for turbo, not torque. Got it?

The engine designation comes as Cadillac is in the midst of wholesale change of its model alphanumeric for the second time since just the turn of century.

As Cadillac repositioned itself as a high-tech, high-performance Nürburgring-tested brand to do battle against the Germans, the CTS replaced the Catera mid-size sedan in 2002. It started a trend that broomed classic car names like Seville and Deville in favor of more athletic sedans. Only the three-row bling-tastic Escalade badge — a nod to old-world Cadillac land yachts — remained.

With the SUV revolution came the SRX ute. But badge convention has also been upended as Cadillac tries to catch up with the German alphanumeric trifecta of BMW (the X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6 and X7), Audi (the Q3, Q5, Q7 and Q8) and Mercedes-Benz (the GLA, GLC, GLE and GLS).

Caddy SUVs now begin with XT (the XT4, XT5 and XT6). Sedans begin with C.

Thus, while you catch up with SRX badge change to XT5, it will also get a “400” designation since is shares the same 400 newton-meter (that’s 271 pound-feet) 3.6-liter V-6 engine as the XT6.

Your head hurt yet? There’s more.

Cadillac is also changing its trim convention to the alphanumeric “Y strategy” to simplify its buffet of Luxury, Premium, Premium Luxury, Premium Performance and Platinum.

From here on, the XT6 will only be available as a Sport or Premium model. Want some good ol’ Caddy bling? You can add a Platinum package to either.

Mercifully, the AWD badge (all-wheel drive) will remain unchanged. When the XT6 arrives at dealers in June, here’s a handy tailgate translator: The XT6 badge will be to the northwest. AWD (if optioned) will be below that in the southwest corner. The 400 (newton-meters) will be at the northeast corner.

Cadillac’s fickle badge allegiance is not unusual in the Motor City. It seems to be in the water. After changing its proper-name badging to alphanumerics last decade, Lincoln is changing back traditional names like Nautilus and Aviator.

The ever-changing name-game drives auto analysts crazy, who complain it muddies consumer loyalty compared to the consistency of, say, BMW’s 3-series (since 1975) or its X3 ute (since 2003).

Fans of Cadillac’s Performance V-series badge can breathe easy. A 464-horsepower, 445 pound-feet torque (aka, 600 newton-meters) model will get no torque badging because, well, an ATS V-Series 600TT would be overkill. Everyone knows a V-series has grunt.

But just you wait. Because later this year, Cadillac will be replacing the ATS with a re-badged CT4.

Payne: Jeep Compass earns stripes in icy outback

Posted by Talbot Payne on March 15, 2019

Jeep country: On icy, uphill Route 9 though the Zion Canyon pass, the Jeep Compass Trailhawk never put a foot wrong. (Photo: Henry Payne, The Detroit News)

At Zion National Park in Utah, the day had dawned grisly with howling winds, blowing snow and icy roads. But Mrs. Payne and I had planned a day trip to Bryce Canyon on the other side of Zion canyon’s snowy cliff tops.

“What’s Route 9 like over to Bryce?” I asked a snowplow driver after rolling down my window. The twisted, mountainous two-lane is the only way to get there.

“No problem. You’ve got a Jeep,” came the reply.

On that kind of confidence Jeep has built one of the most recognized brands on the planet. Beginning with the rock-climbing, terrain-shredding Wrangler, Jeep fields a juggernaut of SUVs perfectly timed for the market’s embrace of all things ute. Every Jeep carries the Wrangler’s DNA, right down to the compact Compass Trailhawk I had acquired for a weekend trip from Vegas into the rocky outback of southern Utah.

The Compass, new in 2017, is part of a Jeep strategy to expand its empire beyond the core Wrangler and Grand Cherokee fan base and into entry-level buyers. Much like Honda hooks customers with  the Fit, Civic and HR-V starters, Jeep has flooded the market with its own compact trifecta — the Renegade, Compass and Cherokee.

My trip from the valley of sin to the summit of snow would be a test of whether Compass is a worthy gateway drug.

First impressions are dynamite.

I like the rebellious Jeep Renegade, but at some point you’ll grow out of it. Eventually your tastes lean from your baseball card collection to grown-up things like art galleries and nice cafes and Grand Cherokees. The Compass’ conservative body, thin headlights and seven-slot grille echo the family patriarch Grand Cherokee.

Budget-conscious shoppers will opt for the Latitude trim. It comes with the typically robust Jeep all-wheel drive that throws torque to whichever wheel needs it most and handles all the nasty weather you’ll find. But the heart isn’t always sensible.

I am a sucker for the Trailhawk trim with its blacked-out hood and roof, two-inch suspension lift, front-and-aft tow hooks and knobby Falken tires. Dress it in Spitfire Orange and my knees turn to jelly.

This beast oozes Jeep authenticity and vaults it above mere-mortal brands. Never mind that the Compass is tattooed with non-functional design touches like a fake seven-slot grille (for enhanced aerodynamics, the engine is fed by a lower intake).

This is the Jeep Wrangler that everyone always wanted as their first car — but without the compromises of rough, noisy ride.

The Trailhawk can go just about anywhere with its impressive front departure-angle, four skid plate and four-wheel drive lock and crawl modes. And I rarely resisted the temptation.

I turned off Interstate 15 from Vegas-to-Zion to test the Jeep’s capabilities in deep snow, dirt and rocky terrain until my wife finally told me to stick to the asphalt if we were going to arrive at the hotel before next week.

I relented, but not before discovering that wet sand (the Southwest is essentially a big, red sandbox) is the most diabolical terrain. Stop moving and it would swallow the tires like quicksand.

Back on asphalt, the Compass is at its most mediocre.

Despite its marriage to a modern nine-speed tranny, the 2.4-liter engine is a dog. Mash the pedal to the floor to pass traffic, and the world seems to slow down as the four-banger labors to pick up steam. Snails have better acceleration. I raced a desert tortoise out of a Utah stoplight and the tortoise won.

Once up to speed I longed for adaptive cruise-control that is common now on competitors like Subaru, Honda and Toyota. My wife’s $28,000 Subaru Impreza hatchback, for example, comes standard with adaptive cruise and blind-spot assist. As does a $20,000 Toyota Corolla. Not my $35,000 Compass.

Happily, there are cabin features to forgive these shortcomings. Beginning with the best-in-auto uConnect touchscreen infotainment system which benefits most Fiat Chrysler products including Ram, Dodge, even Maserati.

It’s intuitive, quick, easy to navigate — and works with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone apps. In the vast Southwest, navigation is essential, yet the apps mean you get Google Maps navigation that you know and love without having to pay $1,195 for Fiat Chrysler’s inferior navigation system. Within moments of climbing aboard, Mrs. Payne had our route mapped.

Forgiveness abounds. The console is tight on storage, in part because of the unique terrain mode dial with settings for snow, sand, mud, rock and Mars (I made that last one up).

The automatic door locks make a violent sound — WHAP! — when the gearshift moves from park to drive. But inside, accommodations are roomy and your giraffe-sized reviewer could comfortably sit behind himself in the rear seat.

Even the milquetoast engine is forgiven when churning across Route 9 to Bryce in near white-out conditions.

The Compass clawed up Zion’s ice-caked roads without putting a foot wrong. Such competence makes you acutely aware that the danger is not the road but other people on it. States might consider requiring driver’s license tests be conducted in the winter, because I swear many of us have no idea how to drive in snow.

Our path was littered with creative ways to crash at 30 miles per hour and less. In Zion Park, a Cadillac CTS zigged when he should have zagged and T-boned a hapless Toyota Camry that had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In a Route 9 tunnel, a Honda CR-Z pinballed from one wall to the other, breaking its front suspension. In Bryce, a Chevy Cruze pilot miscalculated a 15-mile-per-hour left turn and beached himself in a snowbank.

Common to all these accidents was the drivers’ faith that a car will steer on slick roads as it does on dry. It won’t. It will plow straight ahead. The Compass is no exception. But steer gingerly into a slick bend, then apply throttle on exit and the ute grips like a Rottweiler on a postman’s leg.

Should any of the aforementioned projectiles have come the Compass’ way, I’m confident its traction and brakes would have been up to the task of avoiding them.

Fortunately, about half the vehicles in Utah are capable pickups. And half of the other 50 percent are Jeeps.

A wise choice. Just ask a snowplow driver.

Jeep Compass 

Vehicle type: Front-engine, all-wheel drive, five-passenger crossover

Price: $23,340 base, including $1,495 destination fee ($35,160 Trailhawk 4×4 as tested)

Powerplant: 2.4-liter, inline 4-cylinder

Power: 180 horsepower, 175 pound-feet of torque

Transmission: 6-speed manual (4×2 and 4×4 models); 6-speed automatic (4×2 only); 9-speed automatic (4×4)

Performance: 0-60 mph, 9.3 seconds (Car and Driver); towing, 2,000 pounds (4×4 recommended)

Weight: 3,633 pounds (Trailhawk 4×4 as tested)

Fuel economy: EPA: 22 city/30 highway/25 combined (24 mpg observed on Utah trip, Trailhawk 4×4)

Report card

Highs: Go-anywhere ruggedness; mature looks

Lows: Milquetoast engine; lacks standard features of competitors

Overall: 3 stars

 

Mustang state-of-the-art: ‘Not your grandpa’s GT500’

Posted by Talbot Payne on March 15, 2019

Ford engineers grafted a 3-D printed mockup of the front of the 2020 Ford GT500 onto a standard Mustang GT for wind tunnel testing. (Photo: Ford)

Allen Park — You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. But you can teach an old Mustang.

The ferocious 2020 Ford Mustang GT500 is one of the most anticipated products of the year. It was one of the main attractions at January’s Detroit auto show, packing the Ford display with rubberneckers. Only the third evolution of the legendary GT500 badge, the beast boasts the obscene horsepower numbers and muscular stance that owners have come to expect.

But this pony is a 21st-century winged cyborg. It’s the product of extensive aerodynamic and thermal development processes alien to its comparatively crude 1967 ancestor.

The latest GT500 was developed using a network of testing facilities: supercomputers, 3-D printers, race simulators, wind tunnels and race tracks.

When it goes on sale this summer, the GT500 will be a ground-hugging, ear-splitting track monster with an electronic, dual-clutch automatic transmission and 440-pound feet of downforce to keep it on the ground.

“This is not your grandpa’s GT500,” says Shelby Mustang marketing chief Jim Owens, who notes that the original ’67 car came to market without the benefit of wind-tunnel testing – much less supercomputers.

“The original Cobra GT500 was a straight-line monster. This new model can do a sub 11-second quarter-mile, but also carve apexes on race tracks. With modern technology like supercomputers, our gifted engineers can develop the car more quickly.”

Engineers like Matt Trantor, vehicle dynamics supervisor for Ford Performance, who oversaw the GT500’s development. Thanks to the latest electronic tools, his team compressed the typical two-year development process to six months.

“That allows us to make the right decisions — we don’t have to wait until we create a tool and part,” says Trantor. “We start in computational fluid dynamics programs to figure out all the cooling and aero requirements of the car. They point us to the directions of the best parts. We use the latest technology to print those parts. We put them on the car and take them to a … wind tunnel.”

Early aero mockups of the GT500 depended heavily on 3-D printed parts, crafted at Ford’s Advanced Manufacturing Center in Redford, that were fitted to the front end of a standard Mustang GT. It then underwent extensive aerodynamics testing at Ford’s wind tunnel facility in Allen Park, and on the country’s most sophisticated wind tunnel: the Windshear facility built by the Haas Formula One racing team in Concord, North Carolina.

So sophisticated have production vehicles like the GT500 become that they need Windshear’s so-called “moving ground plane” engineering that can simulate ground effects on a moving surface while accelerating the car to 180 mph. The Haas simulator is used by F1, NASCAR and high-end production sports cars.

Aerodynamic engineer Matt Titus races a Spec Mazda Miata when he’s not honing the GT500 in wind tunnels. “We did over 300 simulations in the virtual world, then we 3-D printed car parts and took it in the wind tunnel,” he says.

The technology is light years beyond the ’60s science used on the original Cobra. Aerodynamic terms like “wings” and “splitters” were still in their infancy. On the high bankings of the Daytona International Speedway 50 years ago, Porsche racing prototypes would shift lanes involuntarily as they reached speeds of 190 mph.

Those speeds were alien to a high-performance production car like the 1967 GT500 that was equipped with a 355-horsepower 7-liter engine and a top speed of 150 mph. Today’s production GT500, by contrast, will double the original car’s horsepower while topping out at speeds in excess of 180.

Armed with gigabytes of wind tunnel data, the Ford Performance team then fed their results to North Carolina-based car simulators where race drivers tested the digital car on multiple tracks.

The time for building prototypes had come.

Sculpted by designer Mel Betancourt and his team, the GT500 is new from the A-pillar forward. The front end is engineered to feed the hungry, supercharged 5.2-liter V-8. Where the original Snake counted on a single, oversized radiator to cool its V-8, the 2020 car uses six strategically located heat exchangers across the front clip, including the main radiator.

The prototype began a national track odyssey to be tested on Virginia International Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway. It would also visit NOLA, Gingerman Raceway in west Michigan, and Ford’s Dearborn Proving Grounds.

Test-driver and vehicle-dynamics engineer Steve Thompson and racer Billy Johnson flogged the pony mercilessly to push the limits.

“When we built the first prototypes and took them to the track, I think most of the team was just amazed at how spot-on the car was,” says Trantor. “How good it handled. How good the aero was. How good the sustainable power was.”

The GT500 track edition uses the same high rear-wing off the Mustang GT4 race car that won the 2018 Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge championship.

But there is still a little old school in the Mustang parts bin.

“A 20-minute track session generates the same heat rejection as F-250 diesel pulling 35,000 pounds up a grade,” says Trantor. “That’s serious cooling capability in a much smaller front-engine package. To get the flow rates up for the cooling system, they actually share the same dual thermostat.”

Expect the high-tech GT500 to cost north of $70,000 when it goes on sale later this year. The original ’67 car stickered for $4,195.

Born of high expectations, Chevy Cruze hits the end of the line

Posted by Talbot Payne on March 9, 2019

An American flag drapes the hood of the last Chevrolet Cruze as it comes off the assembly line at a General Motors plant where 1,700 hourly positions are being eliminated perhaps for good, on Wednesday, March 6, 2019, in Lordstown, Ohio. The factory near Youngstown is the first of five North American auto plants that GM plans to shut down by next year. (Photo: AP)

So long, Chevy Cruze, you burned so very brightly.

The last Cruze came off the Lordstown assembly line in Ohio on Wednesday as General Motors Co. shut down the plant and abandoned the compact sedan segment. The move comes as GM has signaled a shift away from sedans and into SUVs and electric vehicles as it idles five plants in the U.S. and Canada that make the Cruze, Chevrolet Impala, Chevrolet Volt, Buick Lacrosse, Cadillac XTS and Cadillac CT6.

The Cruze leaves behind 142,617 customers who bought the car in 2018 – a mid-level talent in a robust, if shrinking, 2.5-million small-car sales segment in the U.S.

The Cruze enjoyed a short but thrilling roller-coaster ride over its eight-year career.

Slotted between the subcompact Sonic and mid-size Malibu, the Cruze was Chevrolet’s third compact entry in three decades, following the Cavalier and Cobalt. It debuted in 2011 at an opportune time, riding America’s shift to small sedans as the Great Recession squeezed incomes, and memories of $4 a gallon gas were fresh.

Its debut was emotional for GM, coming as the most significant model launch since the company’s reorganization under a federally led bankruptcy.

“This is everything for us,” then-GM President of North American operations Mark Reuss said at the car’s Ohio launch in 2010. “The rebirth of the American economy starts right here at Lordstown with a world-class, high-volume car built in the heartland of America.”

Getting up to 48 miles per gallon on the highway, the Cruze cruised to a peak of 273,060 sales in 2014 before crashing to earth as the U.S/ economy rebounded, gas prices stabilized at around $2 a gallon and America fell back in love with sport utility vehicles.

The new badge proved a nice diversion for the brand, too, as the discontinued Cobalt became a lightning rod for bad news after a faulty ignition switch caused multiple fatalities. And with consistent volumes over 200,000 sales, GM invested in multiple variations including diesel-powered and hatchback models.

“The Cruze stands out by providing a comfortable ride, a surprisingly large trunk and several high-tech, luxury-adjacent features,” Car and Driver magazine enthused at the time. The Cruze was an early adopter of technology features like like 4G WiFi and smartphone app connectivity that were popular with young buyers. Despite its strengths, the Cruze never broke the magazine’s Top 10 picks like segment icons Honda Civic and Volkswagen Golf.

“We’ve already seen those Cruze customers migrating to the Trax. And we’re seeing an uplift in sales to the Equinox also,” said a Chevy spokesman. The Trax is a subcompact SUV that starts at $22,195, and the compact Equinox starts at $24,995

Analysts say that the price-jump to equivalent SUVs – and reliable sedan entries from Asian automakers – poses a risk for the brand.

“Chevy hopes most of those customers will go to utility vehicles,” says IHS Markit senior auto analyst Stephanie Brinley. “But there are people who still prefer sedans, so there is the risk they will buy a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla instead.”

The Civic and Corolla have been the perennial best-sellers in the segment at over 300,000 units sold annually in the U.S. Both are manufactured in America’s heartland by non-union labor – the Civic in Indiana and the Corolla in Mississippi – even as Cruze’s Ohio home lays off its UAW workforce.

The Japanese badges proved formidable for upstarts like the Cruze, which spanned two generations over eight model years. The Corolla (11 generations of new cars) and the Civic (10 generations) have been in the U.S. market for about 50 years.

“That could be part of the Japanese success,” says IHS’s Brinley. “Chevy had to retrain the automotive buyer whenever they came out with a new model name.”

That branding will continue to be a challenge moving forward, experts say. The Cruze’s demise is part of a larger shift for GM away from gas-powered vehicles towards a future of electric and autonomous vehicles. CEO Mary Barra envisions an all-electric future she refers to as “zero accidents, zero emissions and zero congestion.”

The company’s autonomous-vehicle development unit GM Cruise LLC is  is working on an autonomous vehicle called the Cruise AV that will compete against established ride-sharing brands like Uber and Lyft. And GM is putting enormous capital into 20 new, all-electric, zero-emission vehicles by 2023.

For now, GM electric vehicles like the $37,000 Chevy Bolt EV are well out of the reach of Cruze buyers.

“The conversion to electric is not going to be a straight transition,” says Brinley. “You can’t move compact Cruze buyers into Bolt EVs. It’s going to be the next generation of buyer that’s going to switch to EVs. A lot is expected to happen between now and then.”

For now, then, Cruze buyers who want to stick with Chevy sedans will have to move down to a smaller $16,295 subcompact Spark or up to a $22,685 midsize Malibu – the Malibu starting at about the same price as a subcompact Trax SUV.

The good news for GM, say Brinley and GM representatives, is sedan buyers increasingly are comfortable with switching to SUVs. A GM spokesman said there is no wall anymore between sedan customers willing to shop for SUVs.

Versions of the Cruze will continue to be sold in foreign markets with production in Argentina, China, Mexico and South Korea.

What a 45-cent Michigan gas tax would cost you annually

Posted by Talbot Payne on March 9, 2019

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s state budget proposes an additional 45 cents-per-gallon gas tax to fix Michigan roads, which would make the state’s fees the highest in the nation. So how big a hole would that put in your wallet?

Depending on what you drive and how far you drive, it would vary. But for a driver in an average vehicle racking up the average number of miles per year, there’s an answer: an additional $255 annually.

The Detroit News calculated the annual cost for owners of a variety of vehicles, from that hypothetical average car, to popular SUVs, pickups and electrics.

Michiganians drive an average of 14,121 miles per year, according to the Federal Highway Administration. The average vehicle fuel economy for 2017 model-year vehicles was 24.9 miles per gallon, according to Environmental Protection Agency figures released Wednesday.

Do the math, and a 45-cent surcharge would add up to that $255 per year. That’s on top of the average current fuel bill of $1,389, assuming gasoline stays at the current $2.45 per gallon average price around the state.

Think you’re off the hook if you drive a battery-powered vehicle? Think again.

Under Gov. Rick Snyder’s tax plan of 2015, a byzantine formula cooked up by the state made sure electric cars didn’t escape paying their fair share to fix the roads. We’ll spare you the details, other than this: The annual fee for a hybrid-electric would jump from $47.50 to $160 under the Whitmer plan; for a pure EV, that fee would jump from $135 to $360.

Here’s the additional cost that would be incurred by drivers of five popular models. (All calculations assume they will be driven the average 14,121 miles per year.)

The best-selling vehicle in Michigan – the 27-mile-per-gallon all-wheel drive 1.5-liter Chevy Equinox – currently costs $1,281 annually to fuel up. The new gas tax would add $235 a year. Take the family to from Detroit to Mackinac Island to ride the horse-drawn carriages (unaffected by the gas hike), and your gas bill would rise by $4.80 to $30.47.

If you own the best-selling pickup in the land – the 19 mpg Ford F-150 with its popular 3.5-liter Ecoboost V-6 – you’re currently shelling our $1,820 at the pump annually.  With the new tax, you’d need to carry another $334 in your jeans.

Drive a diesel? You’d pay the same 45-cent per gallon surcharge. That means a 22 mpg 2018 Ram 1500 turbo V-6 would cost $289 more to operate a year over the current $1,957 you’d pay if diesel fuel stayed steady at $3.05 per gallon.

For the 52 mpg Toyota Prius, the perennial best-selling hybrid car, the new gas tax would hit twice – on fuel (a $122 annual increase) and registration fee (a $112.50 increase) for a total of $234.50. That’s on top of the $712.50 combined cost of fuel ($665) and registration fee ($47.50) paid today.

The Chevy Bolt EV, of course, never visits a gas pump. Charge it at home at DTE Energy’s regular residential rate of 15 cents per kWh and it’ll cost you an unchanged $593 on your electric bill (install an additional, 240-volt fast charger and dedicated electric meter,  and the utility will reduce that to $431 a year). The added registration fee, as we noted earlier, would jump from $135 to $360.

Payne: Entry-level Mercedes A220 samples S-class luxury

Posted by Talbot Payne on March 9, 2019

Starting at $33,475, the Mercedes A220 offers an entry-level Merc with the classiness of a $100k-plus S-class.

Say hello to the entry-level Mercedes A220. Honey, I shrunk the S-class.

I have driven the King of Luxury, the Mercedes S560 (S for Simba) 4MATIC, and it is an exquisite thing. Gorgeous looks, smooth all-wheel drive power, an interior fit for a, well, king. It also costs a king’s ransom to own with a sticker that starts — starts — north of $100,000. And that’s before you add fundamentals like blind-spot assist. I tested a S560 Coupe last year that tipped the scales at $152,195 (cough).

Emerge from a drive with your spouse — drunk on luxury, giggling like schoolchildren — in this divan on wheels and you’ll seriously consider blowing your savings for a summer home to afford it.

You: Comfy cabin up north for weekend getaways with a kitchen and porch looking out on God’s green creation … or a Mercedes?

Spouse: Oh, the Mercedes, hands down.

You’ll come to your senses eventually. But the wonderful thing about the new entry-level compact A220 sedan is you can sample S-class luxury in an affordable package. Like one-third the price of that coupe.

Hooking customers on a delicious appetizer to reel them in for the more expensive entrée later in life is not a new idea for Mercedes. Five years ago, the German brand introduced the CLA sedan, the first Mercedes under $30,000.

It was a knockout. A gorgeous, slinky Barbie doll. And just as empty inside. The CLA’s interior seemed an afterthought. Its fit and finish were sloppy, the infotainment screen tacked on to the dash like someone had nailed an Apple tablet there. Reviews were lukewarm even as it warmed new customers to the brand.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try the A220.

Compact sedan 2.0 is a revelation, a junior S-class. Except for decadent items like seat-belt extenders, quilted seats, night vision and a rear wine-bar (OK, I made that last one up), the A220 cub offers everything Simba has.

(Pause to catch breath)

Nineteen-inch multi-spoke wheels. All-wheel drive. Automatic high-beams. Automatic windshield wipers. Personalized settings including interior lighting. Multi-way seats. And more.

If you want it all, a fully loaded A220 will ring the cash register at $50,660 — a steep bill, but still a third of a loaded S560. And that’s the point. The entry-level buyer gets a real taste of what a five-star luxury menu is like. It’s delicious.

Faced with this smorgasbord of options, customers might naturally separate the caviar from the tenderloin to arrive at their preferred order. Spec a Mercedes A220 with the all-wheel drive AMG package (which gets you that “Diamond Block” grille and multi-spoke wheels), panoramic roof and red-leather interior (well, a little caviar never hurts), and you will walk away with a properly premium Merc for about $43,000.

Regular readers of this column will recognize that price point as VW Golf R territory, my favorite all-around mainstream car. Can the Mercedes justify its three-pointed star snobbery at the same price point as the rockin’ roomy V-dub?

The Golf R exposes the A220’s biggest weakness — powertrain.

Simba 560 boasts a buttery smooth twin-turbo V-8. It’s a velvet hammer, one of the industry’s gems. The A220 literally saws big brother’s mill in half to a 2.0-liter single-turbo four-cylinder.

That’s four cylinders, like the VW.

That’s quite a compromise, and it’s readily apparent when you put the A220’s hammer down. The eight-speed dual-clutch tranny and turbo are buttery smooth under the cane (though oddly balky at low speed, like a young cub still testing its legs). But they can’t hide the dull buzz of four cylinders straining to put out 188 horsepower.

The Golf R, by contrast, pushes out a gob-smacking 288 horses and will run rings around the Mercedes through Michigan hill country.

Still, the new A220 oozes style from that lovely grille to the LED-piped taillights to the first-class cabin inside.

Automakers have been forced to raise their game by Silicon Valley and its revolutionary Teslas. The Model S and Model 3 have thumped German sedans in sales with phone-like operating systems. Mercedes-Benz User Experience (MBUX) is up to the task.

A220 comes with multiple infotainment controllers — touchscreen, the aforementioned steering-wheel mini touch-pads and console touch-pad. But the MBUX voice commands are so good — so phone-like — I usually ignored the hardware. I drove around town talking to the car — its “Hi, Mercedes” command like Android’s “Hey, Google” — and rarely took my hand off the wheel.

Hi, Mercedes, set the temperature to 72 degrees.
Navigate to Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
Play Sirius XM Comedy Greats channel.

It understood my hillbilly West Virginia accent like an old friend.

That luxury separates the A220 from the mainstream. Sure, it looks stubby next to Simba (what doesn’t), but the cub has the family DNA, and that’s what counts.

Visuals matter, too. The Golf R is a VW hatchback. The A220 is a gem smoothed by Mercedes craftsmen.

Even the CLA has benefited from the A220’s transformation as it will now be offered as the compact-class “coupe” version with the same interior. So if the A220 is too conservative and underpowered, then let the pricier CLA turn up the heat with its raked roof and 221 ponies.

The beauty of Michigan, of course, is it can test any beauty’s temperament in winter weather. The A220 proved it was no diva, but an all-season athlete. German politicians have spent the last three decades warning of global-warming induced snowless winters. Thank goodness German engineers ignored them.

As Michigan February dumped snow and ice, the A220 and I took to the roads like skiers to Pine Knob. The all-wheel drive system is superb under throttle, allowing me enough juice to power-drift around snowy corners (unlike many nanny systems out here) — and then stopping with superb anti-lock brakes.

At $42,000, that is quite a cub. And you’ll still have money left over for that little cottage up north.

2019 Mercedes A220

Vehicle type: Front-engine, front- and all-wheel drive, five-passenger sedan

Price: $33,475 base, including $975 destination fee ($50,660 4MATIC model as tested)

Powerplant: 2.0-liter, turbocharged, inline-4 cylinder

Power: 188 horsepower; 221 pound-feet of torque

Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch automatic

Performance: 0-60 mph, 7.1 seconds (mfr.); top speed: 130 mph

Weight: 3,285 pounds (3,417 4MATIC as tested)

Fuel economy: EPA 25 city/33 highway/28 combined

Report card

Highs: Intimate MBUX connectivity; first-class interior

Lows: Weak turbo-4; price tag may have you looking to upgrade to C-class instead

Overall: 3 stars

Payne: The fun and frustration of a Tesla Model 3 owner

Posted by Talbot Payne on March 9, 2019

Despite 302 miles of range when Henry Payne left home in Oakland County, Michigan’s cold weather would degrade the battery so that the Tesla Model 3 would only have 48 percent of range left when it arrived in Marshall, Michigan, 114 miles away (228 mile round trip). (Photo: Henry Payne, The Detroit News)

Tesla announced last week that my Model 3 sedan will soon get a 5 percent increase in power and 15-mile extension in range. In a software update. Delivered over-the-air while my car sits in the garage.

I’ve never owned a car that did that before.

But I’ve also never had to wait two months for a simple parts repair due to Tesla’s Michigan service model of Mobile Repair Units. With Tesla dealer-service centers banned in the state, a front-bumper sensor repair dragged on for weeks.

My first Michigan winter with the Model 3 has been full of such paradoxes in a premium brand that has defied industry convention. I crave its electric torque, yet am anxious about its range limitations. I marvel at its electronic advances, yet worry about quality issues. It’s the coolest car I’ve owned, yet I caution potential buyers on its limitations.

Re-imagining the auto business is central to Tesla’s appeal and a key reason I ordered a $57,000 Model 3 in 2016. From online ordering to smartphone-like updates to electrification to its own dealer network, the start-up automaker is challenging industry norms just as tech peers Apple and Amazon upended cellphone and retail markets.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and Mercedes-Benz and Volvo’s Polestar brand have followed the Silicon Valley-based company’s lead in connectivity and electrification. But as my experience suggests, the jury is still out on innovations like battery-power and mobile service.

I had charged my car to near-capacity, 302-miles range (310 is the max) overnight for the 228-mile round-trip.

“Navigate to Eaton Corporation, Marshall, Michigan” I barked at the car just as I would Google Maps on my Android phone, and it quickly charted my route. It also told me I would have less than half of battery capacity remaining when I arrived and would have to recharge at a Tesla Supercharger station nearby to get back home.

What?

The car’s computer was honest enough to tell me what most EV advocates only whisper — that battery range degrades significantly in cold weather. At the speed limit in 30-degree December temps, I would only get 70 percent of battery range, burning 154 miles of range to roll up 114 miles on the odometer.

As the mercury dropped below 20 degrees in this winter of the polar vortex, my range has degraded as much as 50 percent.

The drive to Marshall was typically invigorating. Not just because of the Model 3’s wicked acceleration and handling (cloverleafs are a blast), but because of the opportunity to test the car’s latest upgrade: navigate on Autopilot.

Autopilot has been controversial (not least because its name suggests airliner-like full self-driving) for allegedly being engaged in numerous accidents. Properly driven as a semi-autonomous Level 2 system, it is quite good. And it got better with the upgrade.

Once on the highway, I put the Model 3 on Autopilot, rested my hand on the steering wheel (the car will squawk at you if you go hands-free) and relaxed. When I reached my off-ramp the Tesla’s big center screen displayed a blue line suggesting I move right to exit.

I toggled the right turn signal and the Model 3 automatically changed lanes — but not before my blind-spot indicator lit up red to warn me I should let another car pass first. Both features were unavailable before the software update the night before.

The Model 3 computer had accurately predicted my cold-weather range degradation. With just 148 miles of range left, I would not be able to return home without recharging on the Marshall Supercharger.

I charged for 45 minutes, adding 110 miles of range for insurance should I need to make a detour. Two other Model 3s shared the station with me, one of them a businessman from Chicago who regularly makes 500-mile round trips to Ann Arbor, stopping twice for lengthy Supercharger refills.

“Best car I have ever owned,” he said. “But these long recharging stops are wearing on me.”

He was considering switching to a gas-powered vehicle to make the trip, leaving the Tesla behind in Chicago as an urban commuter.

For all of Tesla’s ambitions as a mass-market automaker, such inconveniences are why many believe EVs are niche vehicles limited to urban commuters or luxury enthusiasts with other cars in the stable.

Two more days passed before my first Model 3 service issue since taking delivery in late October.

Automatic lane-change stopped working, as did Summon (another neat trick where you can remote-control-drive the Model 3 out of a tight parking space). I called my service center … in Cleveland.

Michigan is one of 27 states at war with Tesla dealer/service centers (though it allows Tesla “galleries” where cars can be seen but not ordered). If I was to get serviced, it would be by house-call from a Mobile Unit.

The good news was the service center knew what was wrong (and my car was otherwise perfectly driveable).

“How do you know that from Cleveland?” I asked.

“Because I’m looking at your car on my computer just like a smartphone.”

The bad news: I would have to wait weeks for a Mobile Repair Unit to show up at my house.

In Tesla’s backyard where its cars are common, the company uses a mix of dealerships (“stores” in Tesla parlance), over-the-air fixes and mobile units for repairs. But in Michigan, where Tesla’s suit overturning the Legislature’s ban on company-owned stores is pending in the state Supreme Court, the automaker is dependent on over-the-air and traveling technicians.

Given the rapid growth of Model 3 sales to all 50 states, service has been strained and there have been long waits for parts from the mothership.

“My top priority this year is making service amazing,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a conference call with journalists last week.

That promise, too, may be paradoxical, as Tesla plans to shut down some service centers to cut costs so it can deliver the long-promised base Model 3 at $35,000. That will make the company even more dependent on mobile housecalls.

My friendly traveling mechanic replaced the sensor as well as an LTE Wi-Fi card that had gone bad after just 1,700 miles.

Tesla owners are beta-testers for the most audacious automotive start-up in my lifetime. While waiting for service I got an over-the-air software update for security, climate controls … and an electronic whoopee cushion to prank passengers.

Such details help make the sometimes-bumpy journey worthwhile.

Payne: Ram 3500 Heavy Duty is king of the beasts

Posted by Talbot Payne on February 28, 2019

There are the horsepower wars and there are the torque wars.

At the horsepower end we have a sports-car arms race to 1,000 horsepower: Dodge 717-horse Hellcats, 755-horse Corvette ZR1s, 759-horse Lamborghini Aventador SVJs, 840-horse Dodge SRT Demons. And at the top of the heap, the 1,500-horsepower Bugatti Chiron, which is more expensive than Buckingham Palace, goes zero-60 mph in 2.3 seconds and will hit 261 mph if you can find an airport runway long enough.

I was born with the need for speed. I drool over these numbers, but I’ll admit they are irrelevant to daily driving. There’s not a public road in Michigan where you can explore these vehicles 200-plus mph magnificence. Boasting more horsepower than a NASCAR, they must be tracked to be appreciated — and even then, they’ll bite your head off if you aren’t careful.

The torque wars, on the other hand, are much more practical, as evidenced by their more sober model nomenclature. Think 250, 350, 3500, 4500.

Consider the new 2019 Ram 3500 Heavy Duty, the first pickup to reach the holy grail of 1,000 pound-feet of torque.

That low-end grunt translates into figures as gob-smacking as the horsepower kings. The Ram can tow 35,100 pounds, which is about the weight of a Class A mobile home.

Or a Case 580C front-loader backhoe and a pallet of bricks on a flat-bed, gooseneck trailer. I know that because I just hauled it up a 5-degree grade for four miles in Nevada. At 40 mph. On a two-lane public road.

 Ram’s designers have supersized to 2500 and 3500 Heavy Dutys without losing the light duty’s DNA. (Housekeeping note: Heavy Dutys come with a smorgasbord of options — six trims and three engines — which would take us all day to discuss. So this missive concentrates on the top-dog 3500 with 1,000-torque oil-burner.)

The grille is taller and wider — 30 percent wider than the last-gen 3500 — but still dripping with chrome and nicely integrated with the headlights. There is a wonderful simplicity of form in the Ram compared to its competitors. The Chevy Silverado’s design, for example, has inspired its own social media memes as people try to figure it out. There is no such confusion with Ram, a result exterior designer Mike Gilliam credits with Ram’s divorce from Dodge a few years back — a split that forced Ram to come up with its own identity.

Speaking of distractions, the interior is a rolling living room isolated from the heavy lifting going on outside. It’s a different animal from my trusty 2003 turbo-diesel Ram 3500 race-car hauler with its unmistakable wokka-wokka-wokka diesel soundtrack.

The new Ram is whisper-quiet by comparison, the diesel only noticeable under heavy throttle. Chief engineer Rod Romain says comprehensive sound deadening — laminated front and side glass, anti-vibration devices, active noise-cancellation, the works — has cut interior noise by 10 decibels, or half that of the previous truck.

Cupped in silence, passengers can admire the interior details like twin glove boxes and branded dash logo on the upper-trim Longhorn model. There are sub-floor rear storage buckets, a 12-inch quick-response, Tesla-like screen is available in the Limited and Longhorn models.

My favorite interior detail is the Mega Cab, which suits this truck’s mega-capabilities. If you’re not content with the already-palatial Crew Cab, the mega-cab will allow your worn-out construction mates to man-sprawl in the backseat, complete with reclining seatbacks.

This interior refinement is in contrast to the raw muscle under Kong’s skin.

Drive around town in an unladen diesel Ram 3500 and it instantly feels different from the light-duty. The shifter is on the steering column, not the console as with the 1500’s rotary version. The stalk is necessary to accommodate the 6-speed Aisin transmission that’s designed to tame the 6.7-liter Cummins gorilla under the hood. The ride is choppier, too, thanks to good ol’ rear-leaf springs (coupled with an air suspension) to deal with the Herculean loads. There is no maddening stop/start system, hooray — but plenty of mpg-friendly tweaks like cylinder deactivation and class-best drag co-efficient.

Put your foot in it and the Cummins responds with low-end diesel grunt before the turbo kicks in above 2,000 rpms. The 8,000-pound truck practically explodes down the road. My old 2003 model peters out over 2-grand, but the new truck is just getting interested.

Hook this locomotive up to a 16,000-pound horse trailer on a long grade and it’ll pull to the moon.

From a full stop on a graded two-lane near Lake Mead, the Ram heavyweight clean-and-jerked the trailer like an Olympic gold medalist. Then it kept going: 30 mph. 40 mph. 50. Good grief, what a specimen.

Riding shotgun with me was Ram boss Jim Morrison, who tows horses with his Ram HD. Romain, Cappa, Morrison … this is a truck developed by people who use them.

Under the full load of 35,100 pounds, Kong pulled at a steady 40 mph up the four-mile grade before finally tailing off to 33 mph at the top.

Tow these kind of numbers with 1,000 pound-feet of torque and businesses become more efficient. More horses can ride in trailers. And auto racers can tow more sport cars to the race track where we can safely push the limits of 700 horsepower.

2019 Ram 3500 Heavy Duty

Vehicle type: Front-engine, four-wheel drive, five-passenger pickup

Price: $35,090 base, including $1,695 destination fee ($86,300 3500 Laramie Dualie as tested)

Powerplant: 6.4-liter Hemi V-8 (standard engine); turbocharged, 6.7-liter, inline 6-cylinder Cummins diesel

Power: 410 horsepower, 4,429 pound-feet of torque (Hemi V-8); 370 horsepower, 850 pound-feet of torque (standard diesel); 450 horsepower, 1,000 pound-feet of torque (high-output diesel)

Transmission: 8-speed automatic (Hemi V-8); 6-speed Torqueflight automatic (standard diesel); 6-speed Aisin automatic (high-output diesel)

Performance: 0-60 mph, NA; maximum towing, 35,100 pounds

Weight: 5,477-8,396 pounds

Fuel economy: EPA: NA (Heavy-duty trucks are outside EPA weight classes)

Report card

Highs: Monster with manners; 35,100-pound towing — need we say more?

Lows:Have to pay for standard safety features found on a $25,000 sedan; towing fuel consumption will suck your wallet dry

Overall: 4 stars

 

 

Cadillac is Oscars auto host

Posted by Talbot Payne on February 28, 2019

The 91st annual Academy Awards will not have a host this year (unless rumors that Whoopi Goldberg will make a surprise appearance are correct), but the show will have an exclusive automotive partner.

Cadillac has landed a leading role throughout the Oscars weekend.

The brand’s “Rise” campaign will include transforming the red carpet with the luxury brand’s logo, debuting four SUV-focused TV ads and the #KeepRising Twitter hashtag, and pairing with celebrities like best-actress nominee Yalitza Aparicio of “Roma” and musician Childish Gambino (aka actor Donald Glover).

Even GM’s Detroit headquarters got in on the act Friday when the Renaissance Center lit up with the Cadillac crest.

At the center of the campaign is the iconic crest re-imagined, its four, blue horizontal elements forming a rising staircase. That staircase theme punctuates each of the four TV ads – and will literally form blue stairs for Hollywood stars to ascend to the red-carpet stage during the pre-ceremony “Oscars Live On The Red Carpet.”

The installation will be the focus of two celebrity interviews who will share their #KeepRising stories from the blue steps – followed by a Cadillac commercial.

“’Rise’ gives life to the spirit of perseverance that has always been part of Cadillac,” says chief marketing officer Deborah Wahl. “The new crest treatment illustrates the brand’s determination and will to succeed — the same traits possessed by those winners who ascend the staircase to the stage at the Academy Awards. It’s the perfect platform to showcase our aspirational Cadillac SUV lineup.”

Now in its sixth year as the Oscars’ auto sponsor, Cadillac has paired its aspirational brand with award nominees achieving their dreams.

The Rise campaign is a departure from the brand’s ambitious, four-ad 2015 Oscars package that introduced a “Dare Greatly” campaign dovetailing with Caddy’s move to New York City. That campaign also debuted the brand’s flagship CT6, a sedan whose future is in question as the brand focuses on SUVs.

For 2019, Cadillac has moved back to its Metro Detroit home, and the commercials film its vehicles in a variety of rural and urban environments.

With the introduction of the 2020 XT6 at this year’s Detroit auto show, Cadillac for the first time boasts a full SUV lineup, including the compact XT4, midsize XT5, full-size XT6 and truck-based Escalade mega-ute.

While reinventing itself for the 21st century as a sporty, high-tech brand – its V-series sports sedans have won critical raves – Cadillac has struggled against German competitors as it missed the marketplace shift to SUVs.

With its ute family and “Rise” campaign, Cadillac hopes to capture the public’s imagination starting with the Super Bowl of the movie awards season.

SUVs dominate the Oscars commercials. The title spot, “Rise Above,” celebrates success. “May the road rose up to meet you. May the wind be at your back. Rise above,” intones a female voice as a flock of white SUVs flies by to Childish Gambino’s “Me and Your Mama.”

Other commercials highlight the Escalade, XT4 and XT5.

Cadillac kicked off the weekend Thursday night with a party at West Hollywood’s swank Chateau Marmont hotel. Awards attendees will be chauffeured to weekend events in CT6 sedans and Escalades. The Oscars air at 8 p.m. Sunday on ABC, host or no host.

Payne: Best bargains, Mazda CX-5 vs. Subaru Forester

Posted by Talbot Payne on February 21, 2019

The $30,000 price point is the meat of the U.S. market. It’s where America lives. The average cost of a new vehicle is just over $35,000 and the average vehicle is a compact crossover, the biggest segment in all of autodom.

So it figures that two of the best bargains to be found are at opposite ends of the $30,000-$40,000 aisle: the near-premium Mazda CX-5 and the blue-light special Subaru Forester.

If neither of these vehicles flips your switch, then you need to get your switch fixed.

Pound-for-buck, the Mazda CX-5 is the best SUV on the planet. With premium looks to rival any luxury entry, consider how my CX-5’s top grade, new-for-2019 Signature trim stacks up against luxury’s best-selling compact ute, the Audi Q5.

The $39,155 CX-5 offers the same high-tech standard features — all-wheel drive and leather interior — as a comparable $54,795 Q5, but has more interior room, more cargo room, more horsepower and more torque. That’s right, more horsepower and torque.

At a time when electronics have quickly narrowed the gap between first class and coach, there are many mainstream cars that exude a luxury vibe with premium accessories like adaptive cruise-control, digital instrument displays and sculpted bods. But power has always been the separator.

Until now.

In addition to its trusty 2.5-liter four-banger, the CX-5 is now optioned with the same terrific 2.5 liter turbo-four with 250 horses and 310 pound-feet of torque that’s found in big-brother CX-9. That means two more ponies than Audi, 22 more pound-feet of torque, and .02 seconds quicker to 60 mph. For $15,000 less. Mazda drops the mike.

Through the twisties of Oakland County, the CX-5 is a joy. I flatten the throttle and the 6-speed — despite being a smaller-ratio box than the 8-9 speeds increasingly common today — effortlessly downshifts to the necessary gear, before popping off buttery-smooth shifts as I increase throttle.

The response is aided by that gob-smacking torque number — more than a $50,000 Porsche Macan — and a nimble, 3,825-pound chassis that is 300 pounds lighter than a BMW X3.

But I know what you are thinking, dear reader. That $39,000 is still a lot to pay for an SUV. Especially if exiting apexes under full throttle is not high on your list of ute priorities. You’re just looking for an attractive, daily commuter that can deliver you to your destination sun, sleet, or snow.

If the CX-5 is a bargain Audi Q5, then the Subaru Forester is a bargain CX-5.

Start with looks: The Sport model in my driveway has come a long way from the rough Subaru Tribeca that used to be the face of Subaru. The Forester isn’t in the Mazda’s league — long nose, athletic shoulders, narrow greenhouse — but the Forester is nice to look at.

Carrying Subaru’s standard, signature all-wheel drive, the Forester has the upgraded brand look that attracted Mrs. Payne to the Subaru Impreza back in 2014. An ugly duckling no more, Subaru finally settled on a wardrobe that wouldn’t scare customers. It gets them inside to experience the brand’s wholesome goodness.

My Sport model was aggressively outfitted with a blacked-out grille and red rocker-panel highlights. That sporty look doesn’t translate to the drivetrain, which is a familiar 182-horse four-banger mated to a continuously variable transmission. Though 250 pounds lighter than the Mazda, the Forester won’t inspire you to consume asphalt — but it might encourage you to leave the road entirely.

With multiple off-road modes, the Forester gives off a rugged vibe that will instill confidence in Subaru’s core audience of weekend hikers.

I grunted around a sprawling construction site with the Forester — the Mazda’s pretty chrome kisser and Audi’s expensive price tag discourage such activity — dialing its mode selector to Mud.

The cloth-seat Forester comes standard with the same safety-assist goodies as its more expensive competitors — adaptive cruise-control, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto connectivity, blind-spot assist — though the leather-wrapped Mazda’s refinement is a step above with its Audi-like dash. The QX-5 copies the Audi’s tablet-like infotainment screen controlled by a remote rotary knob — but offers better ergonomics versus the German’s overengineered console.

The Mazda’s i-Activsense driver-assist system is terrific. Located in the center of the instrument cluster, it creates an electronic cocoon that keeps you informed as to where other vehicles are lurking (in your blind-spot, for example). Premium looks, premium tech.

The Subaru’s dash is chunkier, its touchscreen within reach for those who prefer jabbing with their fingers. What the Forester lacks in design sophistication it makes up for in customer-friendly ergonomics.

Subaru adds a second console screen above the dash with car-related details of your choice. That thoughtfulness abounds through the cabin as the Subaru bests the Audi and Mazda in nearly every interior metric (Mazda just nips the Subaru in rear leg-room) — most importantly, cargo room.

Where the Audi and Mazda opt for more athletic looks, the Subaru adds a fat caboose for more storage. It’s a reasonable priority, given the five-door-hatch SUV advantage. Even with the shortest wheelbase of the three cars, the Forester’s roomier interior packaging is optimized for the SUV customer.

Brand matters, and the four-ring Audi Q5 has ridden its good looks, athleticism and German engineering to 69,750 in 2018 sales — second only to the iconic Lexus RX as best-selling luxury SUV.

But $55,000 is a lot of dough, and the Mazda and Subaru bring their own brand credibility at a much lower price. Mazda has invested heavily in motor racing over the years to polish a reputation for fun and sex appeal. The influence of the Miata sports car is everywhere, even in this SUV. The only thing missing on my Machine Gray CX-5 Signature tester was Mazda’s sexy Soul Red paint scheme. For another $595, it’s worth it.

The Subaru looks better in mud than in red, and that’s a compliment. As the best compact SUV value money can buy, it sacrifices nothing in utility while still offering a distinctive personality.

Thanks to vehicles like the CX-5 and Forester, customers can shop for the average car without feeling average.

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne. Catch “Car Radio with Henry Payne” from noon-2 p.m. Saturdays on 910 AM Superstation.

2019 Mazda CX-5 Signature

Vehicle type: Front-engine, all-wheel drive, five-passenger crossover

Price: $37,885 base, including $995 destination fee ($39,155 as tested)

Powerplant: Turbocharged, 2.5-liter inline 4-cylinder

Power: 250 horsepower (227 on regular gas), 310 pound-feet of torque

Transmission: 6-speed automatic

Performance: 0-60 mph, 6.2 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed, 130 mph

Weight: 3,825 pounds

Fuel economy: EPA: 22 city/27 highway/24 combined

Report card

Highs: Luxury ute at mainstream price; terrific i-Activsense surround safety-assist

Lows: Less cargo room; could use a bigger console screen, but I’m reaching here

Overall: 4 stars

2019 Subaru Forester Sport

Vehicle type: Front-engine, all-wheel drive, five-passenger crossover

Price: $29,770 base, including $975 destination fee ($31,815 as tested)

Powerplant: 2.5-liter inline 4-cylinder

Power: 182 horsepower; 176 pound-feet of torque

Transmission: Continuously variable transmission

Performance: 0-60 mph, 8.5 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed, 127 mph

Weight: 3,531 pounds

Fuel economy: EPA: 26 city/33 highway/29 combined

Report card

Highs: Standard features galore, tough off-road and on

Lows: Acceleration requires patience; chunky interior design

Overall: 3 stars

First-ever Silverado pace-truck leads Daytona 500

Posted by Talbot Payne on February 20, 2019

The headlines report that General Motors is betting on self-driving electric Rivian pickup trucks. But this weekend, GM’s Chevy brand will pace the field in the Daytona 500’s first-ever pace-truck — the hands-on V-8-powered Silverado pickup.

Behind the wheel? None other than NASCAR racing legend Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The blue pace truck is part of a national marketing blitz for the all-new Silverado — remade from the ground up for 2019 — that is the highest-volume, most-profitable vehicle that GM manufactures. With 585,582 in 2018 sales, the full-size pickup was second only to perennial sales-leader Ford F-Series as the best-selling truck in America.

Add up sales of the Silverado, sister GMC Sierra and midsize Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon, and GM sold 973,471 pickups last year — more than any other automaker.

The trucks are cash cows that feed GM’s ambitious investment in electric and autonomous vehicles, including a possible piece of Rivian, an electric pickup maker which promises a semi-autonomous, 400-mile range EV pickup for the 2021 model year.

But for the 2019 model year, it’s all about Silverado.

The new Silverado is distinguished by its narrow headlights and grille — design elements adapted from the Chevy Camaro muscle car, which will be racing against NASCAR Ford Mustangs and Toyota Camrys for the 500 win.

Prior to the pickup, Chevrolet has paced the Daytona 500 a dozen times with pace cars: seven with Camaro and five with Corvette.

GM promises a high-tech future of “zero crashes, zero crashes and zero congestion” featuring driverless, robot electric cars. But Sunday’s race will feature one of the most recognizable drivers of all time, Earnhardt Jr., himself a two-time winner of the 500.

“I’ve had a lot of fun and a lot of success at Daytona over the years, and now I can’t wait to get out on that track in a Silverado,” he said. “Away from the track I’ve driven Chevy trucks all my life, and I’m excited to have this unique experience of pacing the Daytona 500.”

Earnhardt isn’t the first celebrity face behind at the truck’s helm. Emmet Brickowski, the animated star of “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part,” steers a Lego version of the truck through a promotional ad for the movie now in theaters. The truck also makes a cameo appearance in the film.

Lego constructed a full-size version of the Silverado that debuted at the Detroit auto show in January. The Lego truck is at the Chicago Auto Show this week as part of a national show tour.

Chevy is flooding the airwaves with three national ads for the SIlverado to tout its light-weighted steel chassis, best-in-class bed size and remote-drop tailgate. But for Daytona, what really matters on Sunday is the truck’s 106-mph top speed as Earnhardt puts the hammer down and leads the pack of race cars to the green flag.

Payne: Hawaii-inspired Hyundai Kona EV meets Detroit winter

Posted by Talbot Payne on February 20, 2019

I have been to Kona, the beautiful western region of Hawaii’s big island from which the Hyundai Kona electric SUV got its name.

Kona’s sandy beaches, palm trees and temperate climate contrast with the frigid Detroit January snow globe in which I first tested the cute new ute.

The Hyundai EV’s 258-mile battery range might have been calculated in the 80-degree paradise where cars cruise the sun-kissed coast, popping into the Kona Commons Shopping Center charging station to top off on electrons while browsing the local Target. If it had been calculated on my snow-caked commutes around Metro Detroit’s winter tundra desperately seeking a charging station, the figures would have been more modest.

Like half.

Which is a shame because I really, really like EVs like the Kona. The Hyundai is a direct competitor to the Chevy Bolt, the hatchback that beat the Tesla Model 3 to market as the first electric to boast 200-plus miles of range. Like the Tesla and Bolt, the Hyundai’s inherent physics make for a fun, different daily driver.

With its batteries under the floor (Hyundai’s clever architecture can accommodate gas or electric drivetrains without altering interior space), the Kona’s low center of gravity offers excellent handling despite its taller sport-utility stature. And the Kona copies the Bolt’s clever regenerative paddle feature — steering-wheel-mounted paddles that use the electric motor to brake and recharge the battery.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s no Model 3 — the Tesla sedan’s rear-wheel-drive layout puts it on par with the best German luxe athletes. But the Bolt and Kona front-wheel-drive platforms offer better all-weather potential.

Which is why EV’s battery Achilles heel is so maddening.

With temps in the low teens on the last Saturday of the Detroit auto show, I aimed my $44,650 Kona Ultimate model downtown. The robust 64-kWh battery pack stores about 75 percent of the energy of my $57,500 Model 3. But it still packs an impressive 290 pound-feet of torque so I could nail the throttle for quick passes on the Lodge.

Stoplight acceleration is similarly instantaneous. The front tires chirping on the cold pavement for a healthy 6.4-second zero-60 dash (a 10th of a second quicker than the Bolt).

Toggling the regen paddle as well as using the Eco drive-mode setting for maximum regeneration, I never touched the brake pedal on the trip downtown. I told you EVs are different.

GM, Amazon eye electric-truck maker Rivian

Posted by Talbot Payne on February 13, 2019

The hottest thing at the Los Angeles Auto Show this year was an electric-truck maker not named Tesla. That may be why General Motors Co. and Amazon.com Inc. are reportedly in talks to take minority stakes in Rivian Automotive LLC.

The Plymouth-based company shocked the industry in Los Angeles with a mature prototype of its R1T pickup that is targeted to hit the market in 2021. Tesla, which has said it is developing an electric pickup, has not showed a prototype.

A potential deal with GM would make a lot of sense, given GM’s ambitions in the electric vehicle and autonomous space where it has promised “to create a world with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion.”

Amazon declined comment. Rivian and GM issued statements praising one another without denying the reports: “We admire Rivian’s contribution to a future of zero emissions and an all-electric future,” GM said in a statement. And a Rivian spokesperson said: “We respect GM’s vision of the future of mobility but have no immediate comment on this story.”

The stylish 400-mile-range pickup shown in Los Angeles looked unlike anything else in the market. Rivian promised a roomy battery-in-the-floor, “skateboard” architecture aimed at upscale, outdoorsy customers who buy Range Rovers. Its base $69,000 model boasts clever “frunk” storage behind the grille and a Tesla-like 105-kWh battery. An upscale, $100,000-plus model would increase that to 180 kWh and a range of 400 miles.

But it wasn’t just the specs that impressed investors. It was Rivian’s mature business model.

Rivian founder and CEO R.J. Scaringe, a 36-year-old Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate, had assembled a team of 700 employees to work on the Rivian pickup and its sister SUV, the seven-seat R1S. Half of the employees — including industry luminaries like ex-McLaren director of engineering Mark Vinnels and ex-Jeep design chief Jeff Hammoud — were located right under the Detroit Three’s noses in Plymouth.

With $450 million raised from a Saudi Arabia-based investment group, Japan’s Su­mitomo and London’s Standard Chartered Bank, he had purchased Mitsubishi’s ex-manufacturing plant in Normal, Ill., with plans to pump out 20,000 units in 2021.

Like Tesla, Rivian plans to build a national supercharging network for its vehicles.

A potential investment by GM and Amazon into the electric-pickup maker would be consistent with the companies’ deepening interest in the autonomous vehicle space, especially for the Detroit automaker. And it would continue a quickening trend in the space: partnering with rivals to manage the staggering costs and complexity of development of EVs and autonomous-vehicles, and to move quickly for competitive advantage.

GM’s has consistently followed a strategy of entering into partnerships to push new technology. The company outsourced significant work on its electric Chevrolet Bolt — primarily to LG to develop the electric drivetrain — according to manufacturing consulting firm Munro & Associates.

The Bolt is the cornerstone of GM’s Cruise Automation LLC subsidiary, another joint investment with Honda Motor Co. which plans to bring self-driving cars to market later this year.

“Entering partnerships with a company like Rivian would be consistent with GM’s ‘best-in-breed’ outsourcing strategy,” says veteran truck expert Andre Smirnov of TFLTruck.com, who cites previous GM truck partnerships for its Duramax engines and Allison transmissions.

Just last week, Aurora Innovation Inc. — an autonomous technology start-up led by Chris Urmson, one of the founders of Google autonomous vehicle unit Waymo — said it had raised $530 million from an investor consortium that included Amazon and Sequoia Capital, which secured a board seat with Aurora.

For GM, an investment in Rivian would extend its record of securing tie-ups to speed its way to realizing its all-electric future. Last May, GM said SoftBank Vision Fund would invest $2.25 billion in its GM Cruise LLC unit to commercialize autonomous-vehicle development. And in October, Honda Motor Co. agreed to invest $2 billion over 12 years to jointly pursue large-scale deployment of self-driving technology.

“Together,” GM CEO Mary Barra said in a statement outlining the Honda partnership, “we can provide Cruise with the world’s best design, engineering and manufacturing expertise, and global reach to establish them as the leader in autonomous vehicle technology — while they move to deploy self-driving vehicles at scale.”

Payne: The 1,000-hp Chevy Suburban mega-ute is here

Posted by Talbot Payne on February 13, 2019

Move over 700-horsepower Dodge Challenger Hellcat and Ford Mustang GT500. Here come the 1,000-horse mega-utes.

Car-mod shop Specialty Vehicle Engineering this week announced its 2019 Chevy Tahoe and Suburban SUVs — the first, 1,000-horsepower, three-row SUVs. That’s five-door, three-row family utes with four-digit horsepower — or 30 percent more than America’s most storied muscle coupes.

The Chevy SVEs follow the 1,012-horsepower, two-row, Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk from Hennessey Performance Engineering as utes have joined sports cars in the horsepower wars.

“The SVE SUVs are for customers who want to have something different than what’s in their neighbor’s garages,” says SVE president and founder Ed Hamburger. “Size matters.”

A veteran aftermarket performance engineer, Hamburger cut his teeth in drag racing and NASCAR before going into the specialty cars business last decade. While not a household name like Detroit’s Lingenfelter or Roush, Hamburger’s companies claim status as GM’s No. 1 specialty carmaker and have pushed out an eye-popping 65,000 GM-mods in the last two decades.

SVE also sells the Yenko Camaro and Corvette — 1,000-horsepower versions of Chevy’s iconic sports cars (licensing the famous Yenko muscle car badge of 1960-70s fame) so you can have a diverse garage of four-digit horsepower beasts. Other SVE products include 800-horse upgrades to the Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups and the Cadillac Escalade luxury SUV.

Like Roush and its Ford partnership, SVE’s mega-utes can be ordered at participating local dealerships. Chevy ships your SUV to Tom’s River, New Jersey, where Hamburger and his mad scientists work their magic. The finished vehicle is then sent to the dealer for delivery.

At its core is a custom-built version of Chevy’s monster 6.2-liter V-8 engine. Hamburger bores it out to 6.8-liters, then stuffs it with a forged steel crankshaft, forged aluminum pistons, and super-sized supercharger. For less-deep pockets, SVE makes a Stage I, 810-horsepower version available for a mere $44,995.

Both versions are warrantied for three years/36,000 miles or until it sucks dry the world’s oil reserves.

Hamburger leaves performance spec numbers to the nut magazines, but says production tires limit top speed to 155 mph. Throw on performance-rated rubber and he estimates it will hit 180 mph before aerodynamics cry foul. That should get the family to the cabin up north — where the mega-ute can pull stumps out of the ground with its 875 pound-feet of torque.

The sleeker Yenko Camaro and Corvette mods are 200 mph-plus capable. SVE’s V-8 mills meet U.S. (and Michigan) emissions standards, but not the more stringent standards set by California and 13 other states.

To distinguish it from the average, 355-horse Chevy hauler, the SVE comes with dual, stainless-steel exhaust tips blowing out the side, 1,000-hp badging on the hood and tailgate, and special embroidered headrests.

For those concerned this is too stealthy, options include 22-inch chrome alloy wheels, satin-finish clear-coat paint wrap, and a suspension package that will lower the steel rhino two inches.

If GM products aren’t your bag, check out HSV — Hamburger’s Specialty Vehicles — which makes high-powered Jeep and Dodge mutants as well.

For more information visit Specialty Vehicle Engineering at www.specialtyvehicleengineering.com