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Payne: Je suis Charlie: Cartoonists in the cross-hairs
Posted by hpayne on January 16, 2015
I have never penned a cartoon mocking the Prophet Mohammed. Never mocked Jesus Christ. Or the Pope. It’s not my style of satire. It’s not the content that mainstream newspaper readers of The Detroit News expect.
But I have caricatured Christ multiple times. In good humor. For example, with a donkey lampooning the silly “What would Jesus drive?” protests against SUVs during the 2003 auto show.
It’s hard to believe drawing a religious figure’s likeness would lead to execution. Yet that is the fate that befell four of my cartoon peers in Paris last week at the hands of radical Islamists.
It doesn’t comfort me that their cartoons appeared in an edgy satirical magazine. It’s a thin line that separates different forms of expression — a line that terrorists don’t differentiate.
Their attack on Charlie Hebdo was an act of intimidation against anyone who doesn’t share their intolerant, doctrinaire world view. It’s an attack on all free people.
I’ve been buoyed by the strong, public reaction from Detroit-area Muslims and the 3 million people who bought Charlie Hedbo (traditionally an obscure, 30,000-circulation periodical) in its first publication since the Jan. 7 attack.
“Je suis Charlie,” the French chanted in the streets. I am Charlie.
In the first days after the attacks I was unsure if that sentiment would be shared.
“Satire, fairly or not, has always seemed less ‘serious’ than other forms of journalism, more of an indulgence,” wrote Fox News media reporter Howard Kurtz, echoing my own concerns that many would throw cartoonists under the bus. Kurtz rightly reasoned that “as the massacre at Charlie Hebdo reminds us, cartoonists, satirists and funnymen are often on the front lines of very risky battles.”
In the 25 years I have been in the cartoon business, Islamic attacks on controversial journalism have been a harbinger of worse violence to come.
In 1987, cartoonist Naji Salim Al-Ali fled Kuwait for England under death threats for his cartoons critical of Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini. Gunmen killed him on a London street.
In 1989, Iran took out a fatwa on author Salman Rushdie for his fictional “Satanic Verses” novel, deemed a mocking of Mohammed by Iran’s ruling imams. Yet Iran’s fanaticism prefaced decades of state-sponsored terror groups like Hezbollah.
In 2005, a Danish paper published a dozen cartoons of Mohammed to reassert the power of free speech, concerned that the terror attacks of 9/11 had cowed freedom of expression.
Clearly, satire isn’t the problem, but rather a tool radical Islamists use to advance their agenda.
Islam is not the first religion perverted by extremists. Post-Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan claimed itself the enforcer of Protestant values as it burned crosses on the lawns of blacks, Jews and Catholics. The way to confront such perversions of peaceful religions is for mainstream holy figures to denounce the fringe. As Christian churches did to the Klan. And as leading Detroit Muslims are doing in the wake of the Paris attacks.
I was joined on Fox 2 News’ “Let It Rip,” a day after the slaughter, by fellow newspaperman Osama Siblani, publisher of Metro Detroit’s Arab-American News, and Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi of Dearborn Heights. Both fiercely denounced the Charlie attacks.
Said the imam, who last week dedicated a Friday service to condemning the attack: “Freedom of speech comes with responsibility, but disagreement does not come with destruction.”
That’s how you fight terror. With military intelligence and strikes, yes. But also by marginalizing the extremists in our midst.
Shame is a powerful tool. As is humor.
Payne: Sculpted Nissan Murano is rolling art deco
Posted by hpayne on January 8, 2015
In a world of plain, boxlike, mid-sized SUVs, the Murano is a standout. A statement vehicle.
If Nissan can spare a copy of its stunning new Murano, it might consider a donation to the Josephine Ford Sculpture Garden behind the Detroit Institute of Arts. Passing patrons would surely find it more coherent than Calder’s “The X and its Tail.”
Contemplate the Murano’s finely sculptured grille, for example.
It has nothing to do with feeding air to the engine (accomplished by an opening along the SUV’s chin), and everything to do with aesthetics. The tulip-shaped, repeating chrome and plastic ribs are industrial art deco design at its finest and might be mistaken for a classic 1930s Cord were it not for the Nissan logo in the center.
Framed by two boomerang-shaped headlights, this startling fascia begins an art deco journey from stem to stern. Behold the “floating” greenhouse covering the passengers like an umbrella. Or those swollen, swept hips (akin to the 1938 Dubonnet Xenia perhaps?). Or the Murano’s jagged shoulder lines that echo California’s Sierra Nevada mountains — not far from where the ute was conceived by Nissan’s Los Angeles-based design team.
In a world of plain, boxlike, midsized SUVs like the Lexus RX350 or Jeep Grand Cherokee, the Murano (named for the island off Venice that produces world-famous glass creations) is a standout. A statement vehicle. It will get most of its show-room traffic on the flamboyant coasts of California, New York and Miami — but the vehicle it reminds me of most is the now-defunct Chrysler Pacifica.
Like the Murano, the chiseled, 2003 Pacifica was a refreshing crossover in a sea of ute boxes. Like Marilyn Monroe, alas, Pacifica was a troubled beauty. A cursed Chrysler child, it stumbled out of the nursery, was plagued by glitches, and suffered an early death. The Murano comes from more stable stock. Indeed, it too debuted as an ’03.
Now in its third generation, it has turned heads while providing solid performance. But the 2015 model is a whole new animal. It is the first production Nissan that features the brand’s layered, “V-motion” design language.
Did I say “features”? Make that “flaunts.” This is one racy automobile. It’s not for introverts. Gatsby would have killed for this car.
Its upscale pretensions don’t end at the ’30s-like curves on its exterior. The interior mirrors the outer shell with plunging dash lines enveloping the tulip-shaped center console. The piano-black console materials and stitched leather instrument shroud suggest more luxurious automakers like Cadillac and Mercedes. But where the controls of those vaunted brands can be as maddening to converse with as an eccentric billionaire, Murano proves the most sensible instruments this side of a Jeep.
Where is the menu for the center console? Always along the bottom of the screen. How do I reset the odometer? Button on the left dash.
The Murano’s feminine form can fool the eye into thinking this is a compact SUV. Inside, however, there is no doubt as to its midsize proportions. The center armrest could swallow an iPad. I am all elbows and knees, yet I had plenty of room in the front seats, my arms resting comfortably on the door rests — not the window sills.
The rear seats are cavernous (hey, Nissan, how about a Barcalounger-like, flip-up ottoman feature?). This ship could easily fit three rows — but unlike its Pacifica contemporary, the Murano’s upscale look is aimed at empty nesters and friends. The Pacifica was an extension of Chrysler’s minivan stable — a family vehicle with second
row captain’s chairs and a third-row bench.
I was introduced to this $30,445-plus figurine in Napa Valley. Wine country. I get it.
Invite another couple for a weekend escape. Park by a wine orchard and drink in the view. Pour them a glass of Chardonnay in the cup holders that drop between the rear seats (they recline like the fronts). Ahhhhh. This is your captain speaking: Relax and enjoy a quiet flight, and . …
What’s this? The Murano is all-wheel drive? And it’s built on the same sporty chassis as the Nissan Maxima? Hold on to those wine glasses folks.
In Napa they once mashed the grapes with their feet. Too bad they didn’t have an AWD Murano. Throw this baby in a wine vat, and it could churn grapes to wine in seconds.
I couldn’t find any wine-makers who would take me up on the offer, so I went off-roading on their muddy winery roads instead.
The AWD Murano comes nicely muscled with a standard 3.5-liter, 260-horsepower V-6 connected to the wheels by a … Continuously Variable Transmission? Say what? I fear the worst. CVTs may gain 20 percent fuel economy, but the plodding slush-boxes kill performance faster than general anesthesia. Thankfully, Nissan is aware of this — these are the same guys who make the wicked Nissan GTR, after all — and have engineered their CVT with “D-stop logic.” Translation: It’s still a CVT, but nicely masked by the upshifts of a proper automatic.
Thus equipped, Murano and I slipped and churned and waggled our way through a Napa winery after a California downpour. Now I know why Murano’s ugly-duckling cousin, the Subaru Outback, comes equipped with unsightly, black plastic, skirt cladding — it provides a protective coat against mud. By contrast, I felt bad dirtying my Arctic Blue Metallic Murano’s sumptuous side panels — crisply creased and highlighted with chrome. Sure, I would prefer a Nissan Titan on back roads compared to the Murano — but then I’ll take the crossover’s asphalt manners any day.
And since most metro folks spend 99.9 percent of their time on asphalt, the Murano gets the gold. That’s the beauty of this beauty — it’s as pretty as Erin Andrews and has her athletic skills to boot.
Not to say Murano is faultless. Art deco facade aside, its bulbous front hood is out of step with V-motion’s plunging curves. More like B-motion.
And be wary of the optional, albino interior. You don’t have to be a newspaper-stained wretch like me to imagine how quickly an all-white interior can get smudged. Fortunately, the black and tan interior trim is not only practical, but prettier than anything this side of a Merc.
I drove a fully-loaded, tech-stuffed, V-6 Murano for $43,745. That’s $10,000 less than a similarly-equipped Lexus RX350 that doesn’t have nearly the panache. Lexus has its own boomerang-like, show-me design on the way. And not a moment too soon.
Who said that SUVs aren’t art?
2015 Nissan Murano
Vehicle type: Front-engine, front-wheel or all-wheel drive, five-passenger sport utility vehicle
Price: $30,445 base ($43,745 as tested)
Power plant: 3.5-liter, dual overhead-cam V-6
Power: 260 horsepower, 240 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: Xtronic Continuously Variable Transmission
Performance: 0-60 mph, 7.1 seconds (Car & Driver)
Weight: 3,940-4,017 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA 21 mpg city/28 mpg highway/23 mpg combined
Report card
Highs: Art deco styling; lounge-like interior
Lows: Bulbous hood; dirt-magnet, albino interior option
Overall:★★★
Payne: What’s in (and out) for autos in 2015
Posted by hpayne on January 1, 2015
From Volt 2.0 to Dream Cruise burnouts, News’ auto critic Henry Payne looks at what’s hot (and not) in autos for 2015.
We ran the wheels off 2014 and now it’s been retired to the boneyard. As we turn the key — er, push the starter button — on a brand new year, what will be trending in all things automotive?
IN: Acura NSX
OUT: BMW i8
Last year belonged to Bimmer’s long-awaited, gorgeous, plug-in electric supercar. The $135,000 i8 is soooo 15 minutes ago. The curtain will rise on the long-awaited, gorgeous, plug-in electric, $100K-plus, NSX supercar at January’s Detroit show. The i8 employs an electric motor driving the front wheels and a twin-turbo, 1.8-liter gas engine spinning the rears for a combined 357 horsepower. The NSX’s similar drivetrain reportedly couples the electric motor with a 3.7-liter, twin-turbo V-6 for a combined, screaming 550 horsepower. Oh, lordy. I’m sure to lose my license this year …
IN: SUVs
OUT: sedans
How hot are SUVs? Even iconic sports-car maker Lotus is reportedly developing a Evora-based crossover. In 2014, purchases of new utes surpassed sedan sales. Once truck-based boxes, SUVs now cover every segment from the giant Chevy Suburban to the subcompact Chevy Trax. Based on car chassis, small lux SUVs are sexier-looking and sportier-handling as evidenced by entries like the BMW X1, Audi Q3, Lincoln MKC and so on. Meanwhile, the large sedan stable has stalled with rumors that horses like the Hyundai Azera and Ford Taurus may be retired to the glue factory.
IN: Chevy Volt
OUT: Chevy Volt
The General’s plug-in electric moonshot didn’t bring in sales like Toyota’s iconic hybrid Prius — though it did attract new customers to the showroom. Now comes Volt 2.0 with more performance and better range. Still, given the public stampede toward crossovers, why didn’t Chevy remake the Volt as a compact ute?
IN: Gasoline
OUT: Diesel
More expensive, diesel-powered chariots have struggled to make inroads in the U.S. despite 25 percent better fuel economy than gas-diet competitors. It ain’t getting any easier. With petrol prices plunging under $2-a-gallon, diesel remains above $3. That’s a 50 percent difference. Ouch.
IN: Matthew McConaughey and Ellen DeGeneres
OUT: Matthew McConaughey and Ellen DeGeneres
The “Interstellar” star’s eclectic, mumbling Lincoln ads became a cult hit — and the target of hilarious parodies from comedians like Ellen DeGeneres and Jim Carrey. Love ’em or hate ’em, the ads aren’t going away. McConaughey is under long-term contract with Lincoln, which means more mumbling in ’15. Which means more priceless material for DeGeneres & Co.
IN: Takata air bag recall
OUT: Chevy Cobalt recall
The General’s ignition switch crisis set off a soul-searching spasm at America’s biggest automaker. New CEO Mary Barra’s feet were immediately put to the fire. But a vehicle stall is usually survivable. Not so exploding airbag shrapnel. The Takata bag issue has already resulted in 21 million recalled vehicles. It is a ticking time bomb in auto dashboards and could shred one of the world’s biggest auto suppliers.
IN: FCA US LLC
OUT: Chrysler Group
Alphanumeric car names are all the rage. Now Fiat-Chrysler has brought the trend to its corporate moniker.
IN: Dodge Hellcat
OUT: Dodge Avenger and Grand Caravan
Led by swaggering CEO Tim Kuniskis, Dodge announced it is now FCA LLC’s performance brand. That means more rascals like the fire-breathing, 707-horsepower Charger Hellcat — and no room for milquetoast, mom-mobiles like midsize sedans or minivans.
IN: CT6
OUT: SRX
Cadillac gets a new HQ (NYC), a new boss (Johan de Nysschen) and new alphanumeric badges. Luxe sedans will henceforth start with “CT,” followed by a number designating their rung in the hierarchy (a new, full-size model, for example, will debut as the CT6). ATS will RIP ASAP. And FYI, SUVs — like the soon-to-be-redesigned SRX — will start with XT. But I bet the iconic Escalade name will remain. LOL.
IN: Grille sculpture
OUT: Functional grilles
As electric vehicles proliferate, their front ends will become purely decorative. Without air-hungry engines behind the front bumper, designers will be freed to be more creative. The Chevy Volt and Cadillac ELR grilles are decorative shields. You know Tesla can do better than a plastic egg on its S. Even gas-powered crossovers like the stylish new Nissan Murano use lower air intakes to feed the beast — leaving the lights and grille as a sculpted work of art. What’s next? Full frontal neon lights?
IN: The Fields Era
OUT: The Mulally Era
The Boeing outsider, Alan Mulally, became an instant legend for rescuing the Dearborn automaker by returning its production to core products. Now comes his CEO successor, Mark Fields, the consummate Ford insider. Chairman Bill Ford wants to be to the connectivity revolution what his great-grandfather Henry was to the mobility revolution. Fields shares his passion.
IN: IndyCar
OUT: Formula One
F1 is the world’s most popular motorsport series. But its politically-correct hybrid powertrains made for higher costs, less competition and cars that sounded like lawnmowers. Ugh. Meanwhile, U.S-based IndyCar — longtime bridesmaid to F1, had a historic year. Eleven different drivers won races and the series (which includes a fling through Belle Isle’s park) gained viewers.
IN: Car apps
OUT: AM/FM radio
Customizable Internet music and traffic apps like Pandora, Spotify, Sirius XM, and Waze, etc. have invaded car consoles. Now comes Apple CarPlay. Can AM-FM survive?
IN: Uber
OUT: Taxi cabs
Even taxis aren’t immune from the digital revolution. App-driven cabbies like Uber and Lyft offered more affordable, more responsive service than taxi-cab dinosaurs. Anybody want to buy a New York taxi medallion?
IN: Line-lock burnouts
OUT: Dream Cruise burnouts
The Dream Cruise will never be the same. Thanks to the 2015 Ford Mustang’s line-lock innovation — which electronically locks the front brakes — you can now smoke your rear tires at a stop light without moving an inch. Whaddaya think of that, bicycle patrol?
IN: Push-button ignitions
OUT: Turn-key ignitions
Push button ignitions have been a luxury feature and the bane of valets (“Sir, did you walk away with the key in your pocket?”). Thanks to GM’s ignition key scandal, expect their use to accelerate into all vehicles.
IN: Managing Detroit automakers’ success
OUT: Managing Detroit automakers’ decline
The dark days of Detroit automaker bankruptcies have receded in the rear view mirror. With 2014 auto sales back at pre-recession levels, the Big 3 are back in black. Have they learned their lessons? The first challenge comes in 2015 with a new round of UAW contract talks.
IN: Heads-up displays
OUT: Tachometers
Originally a fighter jet innovation, heads-up displays — which project speed and other relevant criteria (like speed limits, my wife reminds me) in the driver’s line of sight over the hood — have proliferated into Cadillac, BMW and Hyundai cars. Meanwhile, with auto trannies ubiquitous, the traditional tachometer may get the boot.
Payne: Santa, can I have an Audi A3?
Posted by hpayne on December 20, 2014
Santa would love the red, gorgeous, fast Audi A3. But the Golf GTI’s hatchback may prove more practical for his toy bag.
It’s red. It’s pulled by 220 reindeer. And, man, does it fly. Ditch the sleigh, Santa, get an Audi A3.
I told him so last week. Right after I asked him for one myself.
Sure, a 6’5″ guy looked a little foolish on Santa’s knee (Don’t get too many 220 pounders, huh, Nick?) at my office Christmas party. But drive the crimson, 220-horsepower, all-wheel drive Vixen I had in my driveway for a week and you’ll be making a dash for the nearest mall Kringle too.
I first discovered the A3 on Hell, Michigan’s terrific twisties this fall when judging entrants for the North American Car of the Year. It was Heaven. This all-wheel drive athlete changes direction quicker than DeMarco Murray.
Compact SUVs may be hot as chestnuts roasting on an open fire, but the A3 heads an expanding class of $30K-something compact sport sedans that are wicked, affordable fun. Indeed, the $30K-$40K bandwidth is a mash of luxury and mainstream brands – Mercedes, Ford, BMW, Subaru, Buick – unthinkable a decade ago.
Makin’ a list, checkin’ it twice.
I’m a slobbering slave to branding. Priced at the high end of the $30 grand range, the sexy, all-wheel drive Mercedes CLA250, BMW 228i, and Audi make my heart race. Cross the fast-but-more-homely, AWD Subaru STI and Buick Regal GS from my list. The JV German team even makes me forget their E-Class, 3-series, and A4 varsity siblings which have grown fatter with time (haven’t we all). The new kids are whip quick, torquey, and every bit as lovely as their bigger-boned sisters.
But the A3 tops my list.
Audi dresses up its VW Golf-based chassis with all-wheel drive, a toned torso, and the brand’s signature full-fascia grille.
I could stare at the Bimmer all day, but even in this low-frills segment, BMW upcharges $4,045 for power leather seats. On the Audi they come standard. The four-door CLA is the supermodel of the bunch, but beauty is only skin deep as the Merc’s interior sports a tacky screen (literally. It’s tacked on to the dash), tight pedals, and a less-powerful, 208-reindeer – er, horse – power plant.
The A3’s screen rises from the dash like Excalibur from the water. Its eager, turbocharged 2.0-liter four-banger sprints from 0-60 a half-second quicker than the Benz. Like its rivals, the A3’s 250-plus pound-feet of torque kicks like Comet. I fling the Audi into a corner, 19-inch wheels churning, four tires gripping like glue. I nail the gas, and . . .
Passengers, we appreciate your patience while the turbocharger spools up. Thank you and enjoy your flight.
Turbo laaaaaaag. It’s an affliction all small-block turbos suffer – even the insanely fast, carbon-fiber-light Alfa Romeo 4C.
Note to list: Santa, I wish I had a V-8.
Like the buttery-smooth, normally-aspirated V-8 in a new Ford Mustang. Same $32,900 base price as the A3. Double the horsepower. Instant juice. And the curvy, Euro-styled Mustang will make heads spin like a CLA supermodel. Inside, the Ford’s round, cockpit vents mimic the Merc and Audi. The console, however, is all-American, with a touchscreen that is intuitively easier to use than the Europeans’ distracting, slow, rotary knobs.
Still, the ‘Stang comes with its own asterisk. It’ll accelerate like an F-14 off the USS Nimitz, but at 3,800 pounds, the big sled isn’t nearly as tossable as the little A3. Option Ford’s superb, 2.7-liter turbo and the Mustang is a more nimble 3,500 pounds (the AWD Audi weighs in at 3,300), but you’ll have shed the trademark V-8.
Like Santa Claus, it seems, the perfect $30-something sedan is a fairy tale. Or is it? Seems the answer has been right under my nose all along.
On the same chassis as the A3, the VW Golf offers a more affordable, $31,000, sporty four-door: The GTI. For $9 grand less, the seventh generation GTI packs the same 220-horsepower turbo mill as the A3. The same black leather seats. An intuitive, Ford-like touch screen. An ingenious, torque-vectoring differential system that makes the front-wheel drive, 3,000 pound GTI nearly as fun to flog as the AWD A3.
And the GTI boasts something none of the other, fast-backed sports sedans have: A roomy hatchback. That means lots of headroom for 6’5″ elves like me and yawning, 53 cubic-feet of cargo room with the seats down.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
2015 Audi A3
Vehicle type: Front-engine, all-wheel-drive, five-passenger sport sedan
Price: $32,900 base AWD ($40,545 as tested)
Power plant: 2.0-liter, dual overhead-cam, turbocharged 4-cylinder
Power: 220 horsepower, 258 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 5.8 seconds (manufacturer)
Weight: 3,362 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA 24 mpg city/33 mpg highway/27 mpg combined
Report card
Highs: Go-kart handling; Athletic proportions
Lows: Clumsy console rotary control; Cramped back seats
Overall:★★★★
Payne: Ford F-150, Vehicle of the Year
Posted by hpayne on December 18, 2014
F-150 is more than the Truck Wars top dog du jour. This pickup is a daring innovation on a new American frontier.
If this was the “2014 Sexiest Car Alive” column, I would pick the BMW i8. Like People magazine’s choice of Chris Hemsworth as the “Sexiest Man Alive,” the i8 is ripped, powerful as Thor, and attracts chicks like, well, Chris Hemsworth.
But when it comes to Vehicle of the Year, I’m a populist.
The rare $140,000 i8 will ship just 500 units anually and reportedly has a six-year waiting list at Detroit dealerships. Instead of never, how about a chariot you could drive forever? From 15-grand compacts to $50K sedans, what new vehicle raised the bar on performance, technology and livability without breaking the bank?
There were 45 new vehicles in the U.S. market and I wouldn’t kick any of them out of my garage (not even the Lexus RC-F Coupe which one legendary designer called a “fright pig.” When I heard its V-8 wail, I was in love). This year was an automotive cornucopia. We got updates on icons like the Ford Mustang, the return of the iconic Alfa Romeo, and more SUVs from sports car icon Porsche. Carmakers introduced electronic gizmos that check your blind spot and stop you before you hurt something (wow, isn’t that what the precogs did in Spielberg’s futuristic “Minority Report”?). M4 BMWs. Three-holer compacts. Not one, but two Hellcats.
I caressed, ogled and flogged nearly every one. Vehicle of the Year? The nominees, please.
Hyundai Genesis
There were lots of new lux toys in Santa’s workshop this year — Acura TLX with OMG AWD; Audi A3 that dances like Barishnikov, a Mercedes C-Class that makes Aphrodite look homely, BMW supermodels, and a Cadillac ATS that out-Bimmered the Bimmers in handling. But Hyundai whipped up a treat that was exgravaffordable. If that’s a word, it’s certainly one you rarely encounter in this segment. Yet Hyundai pulls it off. The Korean manufacturer carried its dress-for-success-for-less formula in the midsize market — see the curvy, 2011 Hyundai Sonata — into the luxe sedan segment.
Works for the Genesis, too.
The gorgeous Genesis does Audi style, BMW 5-series handling, Mercedes bends, and Lincoln livability — all in an irresistible, $38,950 base package. You read that right: $38.9K. That’s mid-size luxury for $10k less than a Lexus GS. Pair AWD with the 3.8L V-6 for $2,000 more and you get the torque of a V-8 and the grip of mountain lion.
Chrysler 200
The perennial ugly duckling of the mid-size sedan class, Chrysler produced a swan with the 200. Like the Aston Martin — er, Ford — Fusion, the 200 raised the bar for the common four-door sedan. And when optioned with AWD and a best-in-class, 292 horsepower V-6, the 200 (also like an AWD Fusion) pushed the volume sedan frontier. In a blind taste test with similarly priced luxury offerings from BMW and Audi, the 200 is the better buy.
But where the 200 really shines is inside the cockpit. In a digital age when hydraulic lines have given way to drive by wire and center consoles that have become entertainment centers, the 200 breaks new ground.
Not an inch of the 200’s console is wasted. Queen Elizabeth’s interior designers aren’t this fussy about detail. The dash is elegant. The screen is as intuitive as your smart phone. And the shift knob is reduced to a dial, turning the center console in to a piece of furniture full of drawers, cupholders, sliding doors, and a sub-zero refrigerator (just kidding about that last one). The ladies love it. I might protest the 200’s rather numb relationship with the road when driven hard — if my smitten wife would ever let me behind the wheel.
Volkswagen Golf GTI
In 1984, the GTI pioneered a hot hatch segment that now includes cyborgs like the Subaru WRX, Honda Civic SI, and those naughty Ford ST twins, Focus and Fiesta. Thirty years on, the seventh generation German pocket rocket is still the standard.
Indeed, the GTI is my automotive benchmark. It is autodom’s decathlete. At about $30K — nicely garnished — its sticker is the average price of new cars sold. Like an SUV, its hatchback design offers comfortable seating for four and configurable cargo space. Unlike an SUV, its low center of gravity and compact size make for better handling, city maneuverability, and fuel economy.
All that — and it’s more fun than a Waverunner on Lake Michigan. The GTI’s styling won’t wow like the Focus ST, but its timeless, clean lines wear well. It doesn’t have AWD like a WRX, but its hushed interior spoils you even as you flog it like a go-kart.
But my 2015 Vehicle of the Year is the over-dog. The pre-game favorite. The blockbuster that lived up to the hype. Yes, the …
Ford F-150
Like the 2014 Chevy Silverado and the 2012 RAM before that, it’s the F-150’s turn to be the new standard in pickups. More capable, more comfortable, more fuel efficient. Blah blah blah.
Yet it’s so much more than the Truck Wars top dog du jour. This pickup is a daring innovation on a new American frontier.
The Big Pickup market is evidence that Big Government is back. Washington’s demands are as important an engineering challenge as consumer needs. EPA bureaucrats have decided that the carbon dioxide they exhale is a threat to the planet. And while D.C.’s deacons exempt respiration from their list of human sins, autos get no such pass. Fuel efficiency must double by 2025. Which means Detroit engineers have to serve vehicles that meet both the dietary needs of tree-hugging, bark-chewing bureaucrats and stump-pulling, red meat-eating Neanderthals like you and me.
Ford bet the farm on an aluminum truck. It delivers. The F-150 makes no excuses for federal regulation, no moral appeal, no compromise. This is a pickup owner’s pickup. Beginning at just $26K, the F has a hammer’s power and a pocket knife’s dexterity with shrewd details like side mirror spotlights.
Ford’s federal strategy varies dramatically from the General which downsized into mid-size trucks with the credible Colorado-Canyon combo. Yet the F-150’s new, 2.7-liter Ecoboost equals the smaller trucks’ fuel efficiency. True, steel Fs were heavier than GM armor. Despite weight savings of 700 pounds from previous generations, the Ford beer can tips the scales just 200 pounds lighter than the Silverado according to Car&Driver.
Critics also quibble about Ecoboost’s inflated EPA numbers — but isn’t satisfying EPA the point? The feds get what they want; customers get what they want. And in the long run Ford’s aluminum revolution promises benefits across its vehicle lineup.
Ford may not be the sexiest vehicle alive, but when Chris Hemsworth does a rugged, remote photo shoot for People magazine on top of a windswept rock, he’ll drive a new F-150 to get there.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
2015 Ford F-150
Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear or four-wheel-drive, six-passenger pickup
Price: $26,615 (base model) – $60,705 (King Ranch)
Power plant: 3.5-liter V-6; 2.7-liter turbo “Ecoboost” V-6; 5.0-liter V-8; 3.5-liter turbo “Ecoboost” V-6
Power: 283 horsepower, 255 pound-feet of torque (3.5L V-6); 325 horsepower, 375 pound-feet of torque (2.7L Ecoboost V-6); 385 horsepower, 387 pound-feet of torque (V-8); 365 horsepower, 420 pound-feet of torque (3.5L Ecoboost)
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Performance: Towing capacity (4×4): 7,500 pounds (3.5L V-6; 8,400 (2.7L Ecoboost); 11,100 (V-8); 12,000 (3.5L Ecoboost)
Weight: 4,050 – 5,142 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA mpg: 18 city/25 highway/20 combined (3.5L V-6); EPA mpg: 18 city/26 highway/22 combined (2.7L Ecoboost); EPA mpg: 15 city/22 highway/18 combined (5.0L V-8); EPA mpg: 18 city/24 highway/20 combined (3.5L Ecoboost)
Report card
Highs: User-friendly details; aluminum’s better power-to-weight ratio
Lows: Turbos may not deliver expected fuel economy; aluminum’s insurance cost questions
Overall:★★★★
Payne: The Lexus NX goes SciFi
Posted by hpayne on December 11, 2014
Toyota’s CEO thinks his products are bland. So here comes the radically restyled, nimble-handling, SciFi NX SUV.
Lexus has the most radical styling out there.
Read that again. Say it out loud. Sounds weird, yes? How did Lexus and radical styling find their way into the same sentence? It’s like vanilla ice cream that makes your tongue burn. Or chic styles at the Dollar Store. Or sexy Rick Snyder.
But there sits the Lexus NX. And it is one edgy cat. Or space ship. Or bug zapper. Or whatever it looks like.
Lexus designers’ ears have been burning since 2009 when Toyota CEO — and certified motor-head — Akio Toyoda took the helm demanding more excitement from his cars. “Traditionally, Toyota’s design decisions have been driven by consensus among a large group of stakeholders,” read a Toyota press release at last winter’s Detroit auto show. “Under Akio Toyoda’s stated directive to invigorate Toyota products with energy, passion and “Waku-Doki” (translation: a palpable heart-pounding sense of excitement), the approval process has been streamlined.”
That is, Toyota’s boss thinks his products are boring. A yawn-fest. An auto-sized NyQuil pill. Has there ever been a more candid moment in image-obsessed, self-flattering Autodom?
And so we get the NX.
If early, 1990s Lexi resembled Mercedes, and the 2000s looked like — um, what did they look like again? — then the current Lexus lineup has come into its own. Bold. Slashing. Dissonant. A safe brand pushing the envelope. I like that.
Though I’m not sure history will judge it kindly. Sure, the NX is aimed at younger buyers. But will a SciFi design resonate? The NX looks like a Narn Cruiser from a Babylon 5 episode. And like all SciFi designs, its sharp, technical lines lack warmth. Most car faces are anthropomorphic, reflecting something human with eye-like headlights and mouth-like grilles.
Not Lexus. The NX gains its design inspiration from a spear with long, shaft-like lines ending in two arrowheads at the front end. The grille gets caught awkwardly between the two points. Viewed head on, the grille looks variously like an hour glass (the base 200t) or a giant bug zapper (the sporty F trim). Whatever, the arrowhead (or L for Lexus) theme echoes throughout the vehicle from lights to center console. The obsession reminds of other LOOK AT ME! designs like the 2002 Caddy CTS or the Taurus’s oval period.
As with those iris-burning designs, the NX will surely mellow over time. But for now it demands attention like a gorgeous model wearing a spiked mohawk. Will punk work on a luxury fashion runway that includes elegant models like the Lincoln MKC and BMW X3?
The NX-men are hardly the most radical mutants in the Toyota-wide design experiment. Across the pond in Europe, the tiny Toyota Aygo city car, for example, sports an X-graphic on its animal-esque nose that makes it look like Wolverine with war paint.
You wanted Waku-Doki, Akio-san? You got it.
The design edginess is a conscious attempt to broaden Lexus’ appeal beyond reliability, the trademark of Toyota products. At a coffee shop in Nashville where I drove the NX — would you like your Lexus with a denim interior, Mr. McGraw? — a store manager told me of giving up his BMW 3-series for a Toyota Prius hybrid. Why? Because the BMW was gorgeous but high maintenance. If Toyota/Lexus can deliver looks with practicality, why choose a Bimmer in the first place?
Also in contrast to German luxe-makers, Lexus has never resisted Americans’ interior demands. This Japanese manufacturer gets it: American live in their cars.
Have a car full of coffee quaffers? NX has a car full of cup holders. Have a ladies golf foursome every Saturday? Four golf bags will stack behind the second-row seat. Smart phone need juice? The center compartment sports a wireless charging tray.
And FYI, Lexus boasts the NX is a model of NVH and HMI (that’s Noise Vibration Harshness and Human Machine Interface for those not fluent in industry-speak).
Well … the NVH is A-OK. The HMI? AWOL.
The little ute has been fussed over for quiet and comfort. Its slippery, car-like styling (sure, the C-pillars have blind spots the size of a Ndamukong Suh, but that’s what the affordable, blind spot assist feature is for), and laser spot-welded chassis make for a library-quiet interior.
Which means you can contemplate the dashboard’s curiously poor HMI in silence. Lexus prefers German-like infotainment systems over superior American designs. Where Yankee consoles (think Jeep) centralize a touchscreen with redundant analog controls underneath, the NX sticks a non-touch screen high on the dash and then insists that you operate it with a touchpad waaaaay down here in front of the shift lever. Coordinating hand and eye works when stationary, but changing radio channels with your finger on a touch pad while driving is a challenge right out of a TV game show.
“Congratulations, Julie, you’ve managed to change from AM to FM and select a new station in less than a minute! You win a trip to Nashville!”
Lexus’s decision to mimic German handling is more understandable. The front- or all-wheel drive NX’s handling is wunderbar. It’s a crossover that looks like a car and aims to handle like one as well. The NX’s electric steering gives the pilot an immediate sense of security despite the ute’s high center of gravity. It’s firm, nicely-weighted, connected to the road.
Owners will likely test the handling limits of their NX only when in trouble, and when it comes they will find a Toyota RAV4-based chassis that is predictable in a corner and refreshingly free of plowing understeer.
While it strains to push the envelope outside, the NX is a reminder that Lexus has always been cutting edge under the hood.
Two fuel-sippers are on offer. A turbocharged 2.0-liter four for the $35,405 base 200t. A gas-electric hybrid powertrain in the NX 300h begins at $40,645. Even the swaggering F Sport ($37.5k) is on a diet. It gets the same, 235-horsepower turbo mill as the base model. What the F? After all, F models are designed to attract males to a female-heavy brand. In a bid for testosterone, Lexus offers a gimmicky active sound control option in the F Sport that allows you to turn up the exhaust volume inside. It’s a turn-off.
Best to enjoy the NX for what it is: A lush, efficient Lexus wrapped in a rad SciFi costume, dude.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Vehicle type: Front-engine, front or all-wheel-drive, five-passenger sport ute
Price: $35,405 base 200t ($42,235 for 300h hybrid model)
Power plant: 2.0-liter, turbocharged inline-4 (200t and F Sport); 2.5-liter dual overhead-cam inline-4 with nickel-metal-hydride battery-powered, AC electric motor assist (300h)
Power: 235 horsepower, 258 pound-feet of torque (200t, F Sport); 194 hp combined hybrid power rating (300h)
Transmission: Six-speed automatic (200t, F Sport); Continuously variable automatic (300h)
Performance: 0-60 mph, 7.0 seconds (200t AWD — manufacturer)
Weight: 3,940 pounds (base FWD); 4,050 (AWD)
Fuel economy: EPA 21 mpg city/28 mpg highway/24 mpg combined (200t FWD); 35 mpg city/31 mpg highway/33 mpg combined (300h); 22 mpg city/27 mpg highway/24 mpg combined (F Sport AWD)
Report card
Highs: Polarizing stylin’; Planted handling
Lows: Polarizing styling; Glitchy touch pad
Overall: ★★★
Payne: Q&Auto, Majoros – are sedans dead?
Posted by hpayne on December 8, 2014
Chevy marketing guru Steve Majoros has watched SUVs take over the industry. Now comes tiny Chevy Trax., the small SUV to end small cars?
Is the sedan a dinosaur?
“We’re not there yet. But . . . the smaller you go (in the market) it’s more of a trend,” says Chevy’s Steve Majoros, one of Detroit’s savviest marketing guys. “(SUVs) have more expression to them, more character to them. They fit the multi-dimensionality that people have in their lives.”
You know that digital technology is changing car interiors from safety systems like adaptive cruise control to consoles screens playing Pandora. But have you noticed that the exterior has received an extreme makeover as well? Sport utes long ago ceased being truck-based behemoths. They are now car-based crossovers with designs that think outside the box. SUV models match sedans segment for segment, from large lux (want a Audi Q7 or Audi A8?) to compacts (Ford Escape or Ford Focus?).
For the first time in history, according to IHS Automotive, SUV registrations this year outnumber sedans, 36.5 percent to 35.4 percent. That flips the table from just five years ago, when sedans led the way — 36.3 percent to 31.4. And it is a sea change since the ’80s when a “ute” was just a Utah college mascot.
From Chevy account manager at Campbell Ewald to Chevy marketing director for cars and crossovers, Majoros has watched this revolution unfold. His latest contribution to the trend? The cute Chevy Trax, the first mainstream ute in the subcompact segment. The youthful, energetic 49-year old has the resume of a grizzled veteran and the chin grizzle of a rock star. I sat down with Majoros at the Trax launch in San Diego to talk utes, Corsicas, and twenty-somethings.
Q: How did you get here?
Majoros: I am a marketing guy first and a motorhead second. I worked at Campbell Ewald for 25 years in Detroit. I was on the Chevy account, I love GM; I bled GM. Then Campbell Ewald lost the Chevy account, and that stung. I did a lot of new business in non-auto categories and it just wasn’t as interesting. I had to get back into (auto), and was fortunate enough to join GM.
Q: What was your first car?
Majoros: My first car was the family Impala. First car I purchased was a Chevy Corsica, small sedan. Then I’ve had an S-10 pickup, Blazers, Tahoes . . . .
Q: You and I are typical of our generation. First car a sedan. An SUV meant a truck. Now your 22-year old kid wants a small SUV as his first car. Why?
Majoros: The younger generation would rather have a sense of style and technology than other things. There is an emotional appeal to these vehicles. Our Global Connected Consumer team has a saying: “Young people want to bring their digital life into their vehicle and they want to bring their vehicle into their digital life.” I think my son’s generation has rejected the notion of the big vehicle – he’s not in a Tahoe state of mind. But he’s in a state of mind that he looks at this vehicle and it doesn’t look out of touch with what (his) friends are doing, what society’s doing, what the culture’s doing. He’s in a band. He’s taking two guitars, and drums, and it fits what he needs, and he doesn’t have to make an excuse for it. It checks a lot of boxes pragmatically and emotionally.
Q: Isn’t this trend perfect for Detroit which excels in SUVs but has struggled with sedans?
Majoros: Absolutely. Tahoes and Suburbans are great vehicles. I want that same sense of connection — that sense of pride — in small cars. It’s not the car I got because I had to, it’s the car I got because I wanted it. If you can connect that brand and then move them through portfolio? That’s a pretty good recipe.
Q: GM is first into the subcompact ute segment with the Buick Encore and now the Trax. How did Chevy decide to make this car?
Majoros: One, We’ve got an awful lot of smart people in product planning and product forecasting that knew what was going to happen. Two, we look at our dealer body and we ask them: what’s moving? Three, if we want Chevy to succeed then you ask: How do we bring people into the portfolio? The number one vehicle bringing new people to Chevy is Volt. Numbers 2-4 are Sonic, Spark, and Cruze. I fully expect Trax will do the same thing.
Payne: Subaru Outback’s sensible chic
Posted by hpayne on December 8, 2014
Outback has maintained the loyalty of Ben & Jerry’s-Chunky-Monkey-eating hipsters while making the most vanilla-looking cars on the planet. Who needs heels to climb Mt. Everest?
‘There’s nothing I can’t reach in my Subaru,” goesthe Subaru ad. I get carried away with that sometimes.
A new, 2015 Subaru Outback crossover arrived in my driveway just as the first winter storm pummeled Detroit last month. Armed with a ‘Ru, I was determined to pummel right back.
I jumped in. It fit like a glove. Surveyed the cockpit. All-wheel drive. Yup, it’s a Subaru all right. Tore out of my driveway through three inches of snow, stabbed the brakes, rotated the Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive with X Mode system (that’s AWD for short) at the apex, and … plowed straight across the road, through my neighbor’s lawn, and into a drainage ditch.
Dang. Fortunately, there nothing a Subaru can get me into that it can’t get me out of. With Outback’s healthy, 8.7-inch ground clearance and all four wheels churning, I straddled the ditch and eased effortlessly back onto the main road. A minor detour. No harm done.
Mrs. Payne called me at work a short time later. “Were those your tire marks across the neighbor’s lawn?” (Sigh. Murphy’s second law: Your wife or a cop will always be there when you screw up.)
I blame Subaru marketing.
The new Outback comes shod with the same torque-vectoring technology as their all-wheel drive sports sedan, the WRX STI. You’ll recall I blew up Laguna Seca Raceway in this $38K, heat-seeking missile last February thanks to its apex-hugging AWD system. Arm the more rugged Outback with the same technology? Banzai!
Thanks to the affordable off-road Outback and on-track STI, Subaru has managed the unusual feat of making loyalists (“evangelists” Subaru likes to call them) out of tree-huggers and motor-heads alike.
With its rugged, all-wheel personality, the versatile Outback has long been a favorite of liberal bark-munchers from Maine to Washington state. Meanwhile, the fire-breathing, Sopwith Camel-winged STI has been the envy of carbon-swigging, beer-belching hot rodders from California to the Carolinas.
The bipolar personality is not as illogical as it appears. The Outback caters to athletes who enjoy exploring the outdoors — the WRX to rally jocks who enjoy conquering the outdoors. But it all makes for some interesting bedfellows.
Subaru is as at home partnering with environmental groups like the National Park Foundation as it is with high-performance oil companies like Motul. Heck, my wife and I have as much use for greenies as a fish does for a bicycle. Yet we own a compact Impreza wagon because it is the perfect intersection of sport and utility — it shares the same platform as the WRX, yet provides my wife the winter security of AWD.
The Outback, on the other hand, should never be mistaken for a sports car. My accidental, off-road antics being Exhibit A.
I attacked my snowy, cul-de-sac turn like a STI might attack a dirt road. But the Outback is 10 inches longer and walks around on stilts compared to the squat STI. Result? Neighbor’s-lawn-exploring understeer. Oops.
Once I stopped treating the tree-hugger like a motor-head, the Outback is a joy.
It is affordable and competent. Night or day. Sun or snow. Its buttons are where they should be. Roomy, heated front seats. Plenty more room in the heated rear seats to seat more. Lotsa cargo space in the hatch for their stuff. The Outback isn’t so big that you have to worry about collecting a wall while backing out of a parking space — and isn’t so small you have to worry about getting flattened against a wall by a wayward pickup. It does what you ask. It’s as loyal as a beagle.
“It’s not every day you find a companion as loyal as a Subaru,” goes another adorable ‘Ru ad. “Love. It’s what makes a Subaru a Subaru.”
Which is a good thing too, because only a mother could love something as homely as the Outback.
Not ugly, mind you. Just homely. Which is a major improvement from the turn-of-the-century Subarus which were as frightful to look at as a bulldog in an argyle sweater. Indeed, one of Subaru’s most remarkable attributes is that it has maintained the loyalty of Baby Boom, Ben & Jerry’s-Chunky-Monkey-eating hipsters while making the most vanilla-looking cars on the planet.
Mindful of this shortcoming, Subaru has been making regular trips to the beauty parlor, and the 2015 Outback — like the remade WRX and Legacy sedan before it, has received a fashionably handsome hexagon grille.
Outback is part of a Subaru lineup that crams the mid-size segment with remarkably affordable vehicles. At a ridiculously low $26,995, the Outback sits on the same chassis as the Legacy sedan. For five grand less you can get the Subaru Crosstrek crossover which is similarly twinned with the compact Impreza sedan. Crammed between them is the Forester crossover. That’s a lot of product in a $22K-$27K space.
Outback owners swear by its bulletproof dependability, AWD durability, and award-winning safety credentials (run one off a Lake Michigan pier and it’ll probably float to safety on its eight air bags). So they can be forgiven its shortcomings.
The Outback (like Brother Legacy) is noticeably noisier than its competition despite an acoustic glass upgrade. The 2.5-liter BOXER engine buzz is drowned out only by the wind howling across the slim A-pillars. Despite its friendlier grille, the Outback’s flanks are plain while the black cladding along its skirts is as out of place as knee pads on a cheerleader.
“So what?” an Outback would say if it could talk.
Plain is hip, people. Do rock climbers wear heels? Do mountain climbers pack Perrier in their canteens?
The Outback is the anti-brand brand. If you lust for brand identity then you can pay $52,000 for a BMW X5 with 13-cubic feet less interior volume. Or $31K for a much smaller Jeep Cherokee. The Outback was a hip crossover before anybody knew what a crossover was. In fact, the Outback is really a station wagon sitting 8.7 inches off the ground.
As for me and my wife, we’ll stick with our Impreza wagon. Though come spring I’ll keep my eye out for a mouth-breathing, 305-horsepower WRX STI in my driveway. I wonder what my wife will say when she sees I’ve been doing doughnuts in our lawn …
2015 Subaru Outback
Vehicle type: Front-engine, all-wheel-drive, five passenger crossover
Price: $26,995 base ($31,535 as tested)
Power plant: 2.5-liter, dual overhead-cam, BOXER 4-cylinder
Power: 175 horsepower, 174 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: Continuously-variable automatic transmission with six-speed manual paddles
Performance: 0-60 mph, 9.3 seconds (manufacturer); towing: 2,700 lbs.
Weight: 3,593 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA 25 mpg city/33 mpg highway/28 mpg combined
Report card
Highs: Gobs of interior room; all-wheel drive
Lows: Noisier than most; vanilla styling
Overall: ★★★
Payne: Q&Auto: When Motor City became Bomber City
Posted by hpayne on November 22, 2014
Baime’s latest epic is “Arsenal of Democracy,” a sprawling tale of World War II, wartime Detroit, and Ford family intrigue.
The auto industry has a history of big moments and big egos. And no one tells its stories better than A.J. Baime.
Baime’s latest epic is “Arsenal of Democracy,” a sprawling tale of World War II, wartime Detroit, and Ford family intrigue. Run, don’t walk, to the nearest bookstore and buy it for Christmas. The book’s title is taken from President Roosevelt’s 1940 rallying cry for a joint military-industrial “arsenal of democracy” that would help England defeat Hitler’s Germany.
But what drew Baime into the project was the conflict within the Ford family between a pro-war son, Edsel, and his pacifist father, Henry. Baime uncovered these raw nerves while writing another epic, “Go Like Hell,”about another trans-Atlantic battle — the bitter rivalry between Edsel’s son, Henry Ford II, and Enzo Ferrari for world racing dominance.
“Hell” is now in development as a movie with 20th Century Fox. Its reported co-stars? Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. “There have been a lot of very good racing movies made — but a long time since a great one was made,” muses Baime. “My dream is that is that this will be the one.”
Baime recently tore through Detroit on book tour. I sat down with him to talk about war, Fords, and muskrat meat.
Q: What’s “Arsenal of Democracy” about?
Baime: It’s about FDR’s vision to win WW2. It was going to be a war of mass production and naturally Detroit and its automobile industry would play the starring role.
Q: Why is Ford’s Willow Run plant, which built the B-24 Liberator bomber, the book’s center?
Baime: I focus in Willow Run for a variety of reasons. But most importantly because it’s the best story and has everything in it. It’s that one story that illuminates everything that was happening on the home front.
Q: Did General Motors, Chrysler, Ford actually become full-time munitions makers?
Baime: That is correct. Ford was actually the last car company to roll a car off the assembly line. If memory serves, it was February 22, 1942 — not long after Pearl Harbor. These companies started building things for the war effort. All kinds of amazing things. Chrysler built field kitchens. Ford built the B24 bomber but also built invasion gliders up in Kingsford. And tanks and tank engines . . . .
Q: So where did people find cars?
Baime: During the war there was an amazing amount of stuff that was difficult to find. You couldn’t buy a new car. You weren’t allowed to drive very much because of strict rules to replace tires. Everything was used for the war effort. Every raw ingredient. There was a shortage of aluminum, rubber, and gasoline because all of those things were needed for the war. You couldn’t get a steak anywhere. People would actually go to their butcher stores and buy muskrat and horse meat.
Q: In the auto industry today we’re used to breakneck, four-year product cycles. But that’s nothing compared to the production promises of Willow Run is it?
Baime: They broke ground on Willow Run (in March, 1941) – and they expected to be turning out bombers in 14 months. They had to remove an orchard first. The idea was to build the biggest airplane factory under in the world under one roof. And to build the biggest, fastest, most destructive bomber. (This at) a time when no airplane — let alone a 60,000-pound bomber — had been mass-produced.
Q: A bomber contains a million parts and the goal was to make one an hour?
Baime: They finally achieved the goal just after D-Day in June, 1944. By end of the war, this one factory was building 70 percent of the B-24 bombers. The B24 is the most mass-produced military aircraft in history.
Q: How did Ford build bombers while company’s founder, Henry Ford, was opposed to the war?
Baime: It was very difficult on a number of levels. There’s this incredibly dark battle between good and evil within the company — within the family — that really came to a climax at the same time as WW2 came to a climax.
Q: Ironically, Edsel Ford died of cancer before the end of the war. So his father survives him is the war hero?
Baime: Henry Ford opposed entry into the war right up until Pearl Harbor. But the Willow Run factory captured the imagination of the masses — even in Europe. Ford was deemed a war hero.
Q: You a gearhead?
Baime: I am. I grew up playing with matchbox cars and watching Dukes of Hazzard. I always loved cars and motor racing – and the big epic stories the industry has produced, the dark side of industrial progress, the heroes. But right now my Subaru’s battery is dead and I can’t get my car running.
Payne: VW GTI is a cheap thrill
Posted by hpayne on November 15, 2014
After a week with the superstar, supercar BMW i8 (stay tuned for my review next Thursday), I am in withdrawal. Despondent. Needy. What can fill the void of a hybrid luxury sports car with 357 horsepower, 420 pound-feet of torque, and a body that would make Kate Upton jealous?
May I recommend the Volkswagen Golf GTI?
Not that the German hot hatch will make you forget the i8. It won’t. But the VW will remind you that you don’t have to spend $140,000 to get a thrill. At $30 grand – the average price of a new car – this fun-box will give a pricier BMW 3-series sedan fits.
Sure, the GTI doesn’t have the celebrity status of the i8, but it’s plenty sexy with its signature, 18-inch wheels. And as any tabloid star will tell you, celebrity can be exhausting. You can’t hide in an i8. Muscle cars wanted to challenge me. SUVs full of picture-snapping families sidled next to me. Street gawkers wanted to know its every detail.
Like beautiful people, beautiful cars come with paparazzi.
But they are often, like the i8, short on practical amenities like headroom, legroom, luggage room. Heck, the backseat inspiration of the i8 seemed to be my college clothes trunk. Purses have more room than the rear luggage compartment. The beauty of the GTI is that you can comfortably accommodate three friends and their baggage for a weekend Up North – and have a blast getting there on twisty Route 66.
Since the GTI washed up on our shores in 1983, it has inspired a whole segment of pocket rockets including the Ford Focus ST and Subaru WRX. GTI accounts for a whopping 50 percent of Golf sales and debuted its seventh generation this year – a spicy bratwurst I reviewed for you in June.
Not content with that firecracker, VW this fall added a performance package option — 10 more horsepower, more stopping power, more cornering power (and if that isn’t enough spice to curl your taste buds, the speed nerds at APR will sell you an engine chip upgrade worth another 100 ponies).
So I dragged my sullen, post-i8 depression into this randy rocket – and perked right up. Mrs. Payne thanks you, VW.
The GTI fits like a glove. Sure, the bolstered seats aren’t made from organic unicorn hide like the i8 — but they are leather nonetheless. The Autobahn-trim cabin comes with lux-like amenities — heated seats, leather steering wheel, voice-command audio – plus features the i8 lacks: A proper touch screen and 6 cup holders (proof that not all German makers are numb to the needs of car-dwelling Americans).
Stomp on the gas and . . . a twinge of i8 nostalgia returns. The 220 horsepower, 2.0-liter four banger hesitates before the turbo awakes. The i8’s 227 horse, 1.5-liter twin-turbo three would do the same were it not for its complimentary electric motor. Sigh, I do miss that instant, hybrid torque . . . but then the turbo cavalry arrives and the GTI explodes down the road like a bullet out of a rifle.
Approach a sharp bend and the big, fire-engine red, GTI –monogrammed brakes stick like glue. Electric steering is perfectly weighted. The short wheelbase rotates on a dime. This is front wheel drive? Where’s the push? Exit the corner. Back on the juice. Glorious.
And all this for just $34,000. Ditch the lighting package and opt for a stick (the only way to fly) and you’re under $30 grand. I could buy everyone in my family of four one for the price of an i8 – and have enough left over to buy a used ’13 for my sister for Christmas.
But aren’t steroid-fed athletes a maintenance nightmare? Actually, the quality experts at JD Power give it a Performance Award.
Except, ahem, for the water pump.
Every Golf owner knows their water pump is cursed. It’s the GTI’s Achilles Heel. My son drove his 2013 GTI to California this summer. Flattened the back seats. Got all his stuff in the hatch. The perfect cross-country car. His water pump failed on arrival in San Francisco (at least it has the courtesy of not failing in the middle of Death Valley).
So save for a water pump. And $1500 for the performance package. Or you can save another $10 grand for the next GTI upgrade: The Golf R400. Which VW will tease at the Los Angeles Auto Show next week. Which has all-wheel-drive. And (ahem) 394 horsepower. And a 3.9 second zero-60 time. That’s right. A 2.0-liter turbo V-dub with the same acceleration as a 6.2-liter Corvette C7.
Do I miss the BMW i8? The what?
2015 VW GTI
Vehicle type: Front-engine, front-wheel-drive, five-passenger compact hatchback
Price: $25,215 base ($34,005 Autobahn edition as tested)
Power plant: 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder
Power: 220 horsepower, 258 pound-feet torque
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Performance: Zero-60: 5.6 seconds (Motor Trend); 153 mph
Weight: 3,105 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA 25 city/33 highway/28 combined
Report card
Highs: No torque steer under hard acceleration; Will terrorize 3-series
Lows: Options push price into mid-30k; Hit/miss voice commands
Overall: ★★★★
GMC Canyon/Chevy Colorado: Urban cowboys
Posted by hpayne on November 13, 2014
I love my full-sized pickup. But, boy, have they gotten big. Godzilla big. Swing-my-tail-and-I-might-take-out-a-block-of-condos big. Thus the GMC Canyon and Chevy Colorado.
I love my big, full-size pickup. Wide as the Mississippi and three states long, it can tow my race trailer, pull stumps up by their roots, and empty a Home Depot of mulch.
But in town it can be a misfit toy.
Like Ndamukong Suh in a china shop, the big beast always seem one step from trouble. A sudden swerve? Dang, I just squashed a Toyota Corolla. A drive-through lunch? Oops, I took out the menu board. Parallel parking? Fuhgettaboutit.
Today’s full-size pickups are modern marvels: Comfortable, quiet, as capable as a Swiss Army knife, as durable as Bill Cosby. But, boy, have they gotten big. Godzilla big. Swing-my-tail-and-I-might-take-out-a-block-of-condos big.
Thus the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon. For the urban cowboy that wants the capabilities of a Chevy Silverado in a Chevy Equinox-sized package, General Motors offers a pair of midsized trucks. Smaller, cheaper, more maneuverable, but with all the sedan-like, 21st century interior amenities that truck customers have come to expect.
You’re scratching your head. But didn’t GM abandon the midsize market just three years ago as sales stagnated? Haven’t consumers made the choice for full-size trucks?
Let me explain. What changed is those limo-riding geniuses in Washington decided to make vehicles better. Buckle up, kids. When the auto industry gets detoured through the Beltway swamp even three-ton 4x4s can get stuck in the regulatory mud.
On Mondays and Wednesdays, our pols are busy shutting down domestic oil production. But on Tuesdays and Thursdays (Fridays they drill for campaign contributions) they are making America less dependent on foreign oil. So in 2009 they mandated that, by 2025, auto fuel economy must increase by, ahem … 99 percent.
That includes trucks.
Ford answered the call by light-weighting its pickup fleet with aluminum — at about the cost of the annual GDP of Portugal. Less weight = better fuel economy. But for bankrupt GM a multi-billion bet on aluminum was not an option. Plan B: Hang on, Mary, we’re doin’ a U-turn back to the smaller, midsize truck market. Smaller trucks = better fuel economy.
The result is a fascinating war of strategies between the world’s two biggest truck armies. Aluminum F-150s vs. the twin steel tanks of GM full-size and midsize pickups. It’s offense vs. defense. Broncos vs. Seahawks. Superman vs. Batman. It should be good.
In fielding its light infantry, GM didn’t just remake the tinny, midsize trucks of the last war. The Canyon and Colorado pickups are weapons remade from the ground up.
When life throws you lemons, make lemonade.
Consumer trends may aid GM’s choice as well. A funny thing happened to the compact SUV market in the short time GM has been away from compact trucks: It grew. Boy, did it grow. Compact SUV sales jumped 21 percent in 2013 and have continued as the fastest growing sales segment in 2014. Jack’s beanstalk didn’t grow this fast.
Some ex-Canyon/Colorado customers turned to bigger pickups, but most, says GM, went into small utes like the Equinox and GMC Terrain. Midsize pickup sales have stalled at 250,000 units a year without Detroit trucks. The Toyota Tacoma, the segment leader, hasn’t been updated since 2004. It’s as if the local deli hadn’t updated its menu in eight years. The patrons have turned surly. Surveys finds them the No. 2 most disgruntled customers in the industry. They fled to the SUV buffet across the street.
But what if someone made a compact ute with a box in back?
Not just a box, but seats with the same room as your ute? Quiet interiors insulated with triple-sealed doors? Center consoles engorged with nav screens, Internet radio, and 4G Internet hot spots?
All that and the Colorado brings an Impala-like, more aerodynamic front cab design that might appeal to cross-shopping crossover buyers. But I particularly like the Canyon. The GMC is more old school pickup with its iconic, Sierra-like, bold grill. But for a couple grand more than the Colorado, it comes with stitched, soft dash materials that scores a trifecta: It blows away the foreign competition; matches its bigger, full-size siblings; and mimics the scores of attractive, compact utes that advertise in the Canyon’s $25,000-$40,000 neighborhood.
I took a Canyon Super Crew around the neighborhood to my truck buddies. My own, handpicked urban cowboy focus group. They ate it up. Its easy, step-up rear corners. Its strong tailgate. Its roomy interior. Sure, the Canyon — built on the Sierra pickup rail platform and leaf springs — rides like a bronco compared to the car-like unibody of a GMC Terrain. But at nearly the same price as the Terrain, it’s more rugged while offering the same interior comforts.
Sold, right?
But here’s where the Ford aluminum strategy gets interesting. My urban cowboys loved their first date — but before they got hitched to Canyon, they all wanted to know how its price and fuel mileage compared to a full-size pickup.
I know, I know. Truck guys are brand loyal. A Red Sox fan will never root for the Yankees. And a GM pickup owner will never buy a Ford. But with the new F150, Ford has redefined full-size pickups.
At 4,800 pounds — 780 pounds less than its previous generation — Ford contends that its 2.7-liter, 325 horsepower, 375 pound-feet of torque, V6 Ecoboost, aluminum F150 may rival Ram diesel’s class-leading, combined 23 mpg when EPA figures are announced later this year. Heck, Ford’s non-turbo, 3.5-liter V6 will probably better 20 mpg in its new aluminum shell.
By comparison, a 4,500-pound, 3.6-liter, 305 horsepower, 269 pound-feet of torque, steel Canyon boasts 20 mpg combined EPA mileage rating (17 city/24 highway). That’s better than the mid-size competition, but not F150.
Bigger is better fuel economy? Take a bow, Ford.
But where Colorado-Canyon may not save at the gas pump, it’ll save you at purchase. You’ll need that bigger F150 truck bed to carry the $8,000 more in dollar bills to buy it. The 2.7L Ecoboost Ford V6 comes in at $46, 615. The Canyon? Just $38,915.
Is a full-size pickup worth eight grand more? Is the Canyon worth four grand more than the aging, V6 Tacoma? Your needs will tell the tale. I need a big pickup that will tow a trailer of race cars while seating five overfed adults. If your needs are more modest — say a family trip with a 5,000-pound bass boat — then the Canyon might be enough.
That and you can park the GMC in a downtown Detroit parking garage without a tugboat.
Next week’s Drive review: 2014 BMW i8 vs. 1979 BMW M1
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
2015 GMC Canyon/Chevy Colorado
Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear or four-wheel-drive, five-passenger pickup
Price: $22,805 base ($38,915 Canyon Crew long box as tested)
Power plant: 2.5-liter dual-overhead-cam inline 4-cylinder; 3.6-liter, dual-overhead-cam V6
Power: 200 horsepower, 191 pound-feet torque (4-cyl); 305 horsepower, 269 pound-feet torque (V6)
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Performance: Payload: 1,470 pounds; Trailering: 7,000 pounds (AWD 6’2″ box as tested)
Weight: 4,500 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA 19 city/25 highway/21 combined (4-cyl); EPA 17 city/24 highway/20 combined (V6)
Report card
Highs: Ute with a box; Quiet interior
Lows: Good ol’ rough truck ride; Can get pricey
Overall: ★★★
Payne: Q&Auto – IndyCar champ Will Power
Posted by hpayne on November 8, 2014
This was Will Power’s year as he won his first IndyCar championship. I sat down with the boyish-looking 33-year old to talk Detroit, oval tracks, and racing movies.
Will Power won the inaugural Quicken Loans Office Grand Prix last week … on a tricycle.
It’s been that kind of year for the talented, Australian-born racer. He won three Verizon IndyCar races in 2014 on his way to his first series championship after three years a runner-up.
In Detroit to kick off ticket sales for the 2015 Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, Power and Penske teammate Helio Castroneves did some trike racing on Quicken Loans main call center floor (Quicken sponsors the Saturday and Sunday IndyCar races. Other heats feature sports cars and trucks) in the Chase Bank building downtown. The media ate it up. So did Quicken employees who got to rub shoulders with both winners of the 2014 Dual in Detroit.
The veteran car jockeys are friends, fierce competitors — and very different men. Three-time Indy 500 champ Castroneves is a racing rock star. Nicknamed “Spiderman” for his trademark fence-climb when he wins, the electric Brazilian is a TV celebrity with two appearances on “Dancing with the Stars” to his credit. The soft-spoken, boyish-looking Power doesn’t have a nickname (Will Power is pun enough) or TV show — though he was in the 2013 animated snail-racer movie, “Turbo.”
“I played a journalist and had one line: ‘It’s a freak of nature,’ ” he laughs in recalling his big screen debut.
One of the world’s elite drivers, Power too is a freak of nature. I sat down with him at Quicken’s HQ to talk Detroit, oval tracks, and racing movies.
Q: After three years runner up, how big was it to win this year?
Power: It was huge for me … after having been so close three times before. It was my most solid year as far as being good at every discipline where in the past I was super-dominant on street courses — not so much on oval. This year it was very even. Oval was almost my strength this year.
Q: You were in “Turbo.” What’s your favorite racing movie?
Power: “Days of Thunder” is a cool movie. “Rush” is very accurate. The “Senna” documentary is probably the best I’ve seen — very real.
Q: Do you still live in Australia?
Power: I live in Charlotte, North Carolina where the Penske team is based. I lived in Indianapolis before that. I have a wife but no kids — we might work on that next year. The team is based (in Carolina) because they also have a NASCAR team and everything is under the same roof.
Q: We just had the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin. Have you raced in Formula One?
Power: I tested a Minardi car back in 2004.
Q: How do you compare F1 and IndyCar?
Power: IndyCar is very spec. Everyone has the same stuff so it really comes down to the driving team and the engineers to get the most out of that. Which has made for this unbelievably competitive environment that we race in. There are 22 cars and 22 guys that can win every week. Formula One is more about the equipment. It’s difficult to get a gauge on drivers because everyone’s equipment is different.
Q: Do you still have F1 aspirations or do you prefer IndyCar?
Power: I enjoy racing IndyCar. It would be difficult to get into F1 at my age (Ed. Note: Power is 33). They’re looking for young guys who are going to spend some time there.
Q: How do you like the Detroit course?
Power: It’s a very good track. What makes a good race track is being able to pass. There’s nothing worse than watching a procession. It’s a fun track to drive — pretty technical. It’s spectator friendly as well.
Q: Detroit will be the only dual race on this year’s schedule. How do you like the duals?
Power: I love (them). I think they are a great idea. We go there to race. Why waste two days practicing and qualifying when you can race for two days? We practice on Friday and should be racing on Saturday and Sunday. The streets are closed down for us, so we should take absolute advantage of that.
Q: Is Detroit particularly tough?
Power: It depends on the temperature and the day. But it’s pretty tough to drive these cars now.
Q: What’s your daily driver?
Power: A Chevy Tahoe. The new one’s really nice.
Q: What’s your dream car?
Power: I’d probably like one of the Porsches. I’m not sure which one. I’m not a big car guy. I’m a race car guy, but I’m not into buying expensive cars.
Payne: Dodge Charger’s got room with vroom
Posted by hpayne on November 6, 2014
In the Age of the SUV, the Charger redefines sedan performance. This is a roomy sedan that’ll hunt down Pruises for breakfast.
The 707-horsepower, 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat goes 0-60 in 3.7 seconds, hits a top speed of 204 mph, and reaches a quarter mile in 11 seconds flat.
You know, a family car.
I wink. I smile. But in the Age of the Sport Ute, Dodge’s large sedan is pure genius. It may be the 21st century but we Americans still prefer riding high in SUVs like the horse-drawn carriages of the 19th. To compete with these domesticated elephants, Dodge offers the Hellcat and its Charger siblings. Performance sedans for those who want vroom with room.
The full-size sedan segment is fat with stylish four-doors like the Toyota Avalon, Ford Taurus, and Chevy Impala. But these sedans are an endangered species thanks to stylish, roomy, sport utes produced by their own brandmates. Take the Impala, a stunning divan on wheels which ultimately must compete with a handsome Chevy Traverse SUV that is roomier with better visibility.
Chrysler fields the most iconic SUV of them all, the Jeep. But you’ll never mistake a Charger for a Jeep.
Carpool to school and it’ll hunt down Priuses for breakfast. Even the growling, base V6 is politically incorrect. Look in the mirror and its specter is chilling. Where the previous gen Charger bullied with its gaping, truck-like mouth, the new Charger adopts racier family features first seen on the Dodge Dart. Dart, meet harpoon. A narrow, blacked-out grille makes a brooding mono-brow across the Charger’s wide face. Like the pupils of a black panther, the darkened, swept headlights glow with white LEDs. The kids’ll scream for it.
Behind this fearsome maw is a jaw-full of sharp teeth. Unlike segment competitors that introduce themselves with 4-cylinders, the $27,995, starter SE announces itself with a V6 – the same 292-horsepower mill that premium Chrysler 200s use to terrorize the mid-size sedan class. For just $12k more you’re at the reigns of the R/T Hemi V8’s 485 horses.
Key to this inspiration is Dodge’s barrel-chested, drag-racing CEO Tim Kuniskis who spits out facts about the Charger lineup like a Gatling gun. Dodge commercials celebrate the Charger as the natural evolution of a company founded by the speeding, brawling, bare-knuckled Dodge brothers. I bet Kuniskis could whip ’em both.
He’s certainly punishing the competition. Charger sales have increased 63 percent in five years, increasing market share by over three percent. “We don’t want to compete on a spread sheet,” says Kuniskis, who, at 45, is the average age of the Charger’s much-young-than-segment buyer.
“I want people to day: ‘Damn, that’s a nice car.'”
To drive home the Charger’s performance statement, Kuniskis has bred the ferocious, Charger Hellcat. Just as he did the two-door Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat when the iconic two-door muscle car debuted this summer. Two Hellcats? Do we have to choose?
Steady yourselves, muscle-car veterans. I’d choose the Charger.
When my speed-starved son sprung for his first car this year he bought a four-door, 200 horsepower, VW GTI hot hatch. Without any sacrifice in performance he can comfortably escort a double date to dinner. The same principle applies with the four-door Hellcat. Indeed, thanks to a slipperier drag coefficient, the Charger actually puts up gaudier numbers than its Challenger stable-mate: It’s 0.2 ticks quicker down the quarter mile, and eclipses the 200-mph mark while the coupe manages “just” 199 mph.
All that while comfortably fitting 6’5″ ball-players like me in its cavernous, ute-like backseats. Besides, what would the kids rather see you pick them up at school in? A vintage Challenger trying to relive the ’60s, or a rockin’ Charger bod that looks like it jumped out of a Sega Ultimate Street Racing game?
When I tested the Challenger Hellcat at Portland Raceway this June, I thrilled at its raw, asphalt-chewing power.
But at my test of the Charger Hellcat on a rain-soaked drive from Washington, DC to West Virginia, I was treated to a demonstration of the car’s life-saving electronic systems. Purchasers of mega-horsepower muscle cars beware – these beasts are nitroglycerine on four wheels. Explosive. Unstable if not treated with respect.
As a life-long racer, I’ve developed instincts with high-torque, high-power-to-weight ratio cars. But my drive partner in the 700-plus horsepower Hellcat, a longtime friend and colleague, had not.
Entering an empty four lane on our way to Summit Point Raceway in the wet, he stomped on the throttle and the Hellcat bit back. Suddenly, we were swerving across two lanes like Ahab clinging to Moby Dick. With each wag of the 4,575-pound Charger’s tail, the big fish porpoised further out of the driver’s control. I braced myself. This was going to be a real tank slapper. Like a wayward bowling ball at Star Lanes, we were doomed for the gutters.
And then, like the hand of God, the electronic control system saved us.
Cutting throttle, applying brakes, shaving the car’s pitch and yaw, the Charger’s computer brain took over and brought the beast back from beyond. Riding in the backseat, SRT chief engineer Russ Ruedisueli was quiet – no doubt admiring his engineers’ handiwork (and saying a prayer of thanks).
Stability control. Don’t leave home without it.
The non-incident highlights the Charger’s biggest shortcoming, its girth. At a time when the new 3,800-pound 2015 Mustang has pushed the muscle car envelope with a sophisticated suspension, the powerful Charger and Challenger can feel like Bambi on new legs. Dodge benchmarked the $63,995 Hellcat to a BMW M5. It can whip the porky Bimmer in a straight-line, but it can’t match its road feel.
With a strict diet and upgraded corners, the head-turning Charger could win every argument in the muscle car class.
Its technical specs are jaw-dropping – from a standard eight-speed transmission to available autonomous, collision avoidance. Its lush interior is unsurpassed in the segment with a stylish, aluminum-bezeled console bordering the superb, family-friendly UConnect infotainment system. At remote Summit Point on deadline, my laptop failed me. The UConnect’s WiFi hotspot was my only lifeline to the outside world.
When my son looks to upsize from his four-door GTI, the Charger will look like steak compared to SUV gristle. But what if he had a Dodge competitor to his compact V-Dub? What if Dodge translated Charger’s youthful performance cred to a four-door hot hatch for first generation buyers? Utilitarian. Fast. With a hemi under the hood.
Whaddaya think, Kuniskis?
2015 Dodge Charger
Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear or all-wheel-drive, five-passenger sedan
Price: $28,990 base ($64,990 Hellcat as tested)
Power plant: 3.6-liter V6; 5.7-liter Hemi V8: 6.4-Liter Hemi V8; 6.2-Liter, supercharged Hemi V8
Power: 292 or 300horsepower, 280 pound-feet of torque (V6); 370 horsepower, 395 pound-feet of torque (5.7L V8); 485 horsepower, 475 pound-feet of torque (6.4L V8); 707 horsepower, 650 pound-feet of torque (6.2L superchargedV8)
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph: 3.7 seconds (manufacturer); Top speed: 204 mph
Weight: 4,575 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA 19 city/31 highway/23 combined (3.6L V6); 18 city/27 highway/21 combined (AWD 3.6L V6); 16 city/25 highway/19 combined (5.7L V8); 15 city/25 highway/18 combined (6.4L V8); 13 city/22 highway/16 combined (6.2L V8)
Report card
Highs: Inspired styling; Dude, 707 kicking horses
Lows: Porky; Know your own power
Overall: ★★★★
Payne: Volvo XC60 gets X-citing
Posted by hpayne on November 4, 2014
From the sculpted grille to those signature boomerang taillights, the sexy Swede will turn 007’s head faster than Britt Eckland in “Man with a Golden Gun.” But would he use it as a getaway car?
I’ve struggled with Sweden’s twin stereotypes. How could a country that boasts the world’s most beautiful women also be home to Volvo — the homeliest luxury carmaker on the planet?
Swedish lasses have been desired by men everywhere. Volvo’s four-wheeled boxes have been coveted by bespectacled, granola-chewing nerds. Tiger Woods-ex Elin Nordegren looked as out of place in a Volvo as her golfer husband did in a Buick.
Well, scrap the caricature.
It’s cool to covet Swedish blondes and Volvos. Even now I wager you’re looking up from this page to follow a Nordic beauty in a stunning Volvo down the street. Perhaps she’s in an S60 sedan. Or a V60 wagon.
Or today’s focus, the XC60 – the prettiest small crossover on a very talented, very crowded small crossover stage.
My driveway has been besieged by new utes this year as every manufacturer from Detroit to Deutschland flogs its small crossover entry. The styles vary from Lincoln’s ya-gotta-c MKC to Lexus’s in-excess NX. But once ugly-duckling Volvo is an XC60 swan.
From the sculpted grille to the tapered hips to those signature boomerang taillights, the XC60 will turn James Bond’s head faster than Britt Ekland in “Man with a Golden Gun.” But would 007 use it as a getaway car?
It’s no Aston DB5. But let’s be real. In our post-sedan world, if Bond needs to hijack a passing vehicle, it’s likely to be a ute. And as SUVs go, the XC is one sweet ride.
Which surprised me since — true to its caricature — the Volvo is a tank. At 4,277 pounds it tips the scales as one of the heaviest crossovers in class thanks to all-wheel-drive, a turbocharged V6, and enough safety systems to stop an incoming nuke. Someone’s been snacking on Swedish meatballs and cream sauce. This sled is 600 pounds heavier than an Audi Q3. Wrestle the Big Swede into a corner and you feel the weight shift before … the magic kicks in.
A moment while I pull my motor-head brothers aside …
We didn’t think this Chinese ownership thing would work, did we? When Ford off-loaded Volvo to Geely for a song in the depths of the Great Recession we thought it was the end, right? Lights out? Swedish homicide by a clueless, communist conglomerate?
Wrong. Volvo has thrived under Chinese ownership just as Jaguar — also cast off by Ford — has roared under India’s Tata. The secret? The Chinese and Indian owners haven’t micromanaged their talented, adopted children. They’ve let them do their thing. Thus the jaw-dropping Jaguar F-Type. Thus the elegant XC60.
“We’re still headquartered in Sweden where the magic still happens,” says Volvo spokesperson Laura Venezia.
“Geely certainly lets Volvo be Volvo,” adds Tony Nicolosi, CEO of Volvo North America. Which means the big beast has paws aided by torque-vectoring all-wheel drive. The same kind of outer-wheel spinning, inner-wheel braking AWD magic that makes the Subaru WRX a rocket ship and turns the Volvo on a dime. Gripping the nicely-weighted, heated, leather steering wheel, I could rotate the XC60 into a corner with precision (ahem, for a SUV) then stampede out of the exit with 300 turbocharged horses.
Oh, the ladies love this hunk.
ncluding my gold-maned wife. Once inside, however, her concerns turned to more practical Volvo engineering touches like safety and child seats. For all its style and performance, the XC60 hasn’t forgotten its roots.
The Swedish SUV is the only vehicle in class to offer standard crash prevention braking. No wonder it gets the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s highest score. Through the magic of radar and lasers, the Volvo will stop on its own under 30 mph if it detects a collision. It’s also available with an array of safety features like adaptive cruise control, pedestrian detection, and blind-spot assist.
Got kiddies? The Volvo’s lush, black-and-white stitched leather interior comes equipped with built-in rear booster seats.
Mrs. Payne even discovered the button (on the typically maddening European center console — OK, the Volvo ain’t perfect) that flips down the rear headrests — THWACK! — thus waking up inattentive teens in the back. Though I told her I was sure that feature is for laying the seats flat for an extended trunk.
Whatever. The point is that the XC60 is the total package — a safety-first performance vehicle that hotties can line up to buy. This lux entry justifies its fully-loaded, $52K sticker. Myself? I would hold off a while longer. In a couple of years the AWD XC60 will bow with the brand’s Drive-E, turbocharged and supercharged, 2.0-liter, 302 horsepower inline turbo 4 with eight-speed transmission.
And it will be cheaper and more fuel-efficient (Drive-E currently only comes in a front-wheel drive package). Magic.
Supercharging and turbocharging. Another pair of Swedes that look good together.
2015 Volvo XC60
Vehicle type: Front-engine, front and all-wheel-drive, five-passenger sport utility vehicle
Price: $36,675 base ($52,225 AWD, turbo-6 as tested)
Power plant: 2.0-liter, turbocharged in-line 4-cylinder; 3.2-liter in-line V6; 2.0-liter turbocharged “Drive-E” inline-4: 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-6
Power: 240 horsepower, 258 pound-feet of torque (4-cyl.); 240 horsepower, 236 pound-feet of torque (3.2 inline-6); 302 horsepower, 295 pound-feet of torque (Drive-E turbo-4); 300 horsepower, 325 pound-feet of torque (turbo inline-6);
Transmission: Six or eight-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph: 6.2 seconds (Edmunds.com)
Weight: 4,277 pounds (AWD turbo-6 as tested)
Fuel economy: EPA 24 city/31 highway/27 combined (2.0L turbo-4); 18 city/25 highway/20 combined (3.2L 6-cyl); 22 city/30 highway/25 combined (Drive-E turbo-4); 17 city/24 highway/20 combined (3.0L turbo-6)
Report card
Highs: Not the same ol’ homely Volvo; Still the same ol’ safety underneath
Lows: Thirsty 6-cyl engines; Quirky console
Overall: ★★★★
Payne: Luxe Lincoln MKC a must-c
Posted by hpayne on October 30, 2014
I was born and raised in the South. We southerners like to say Midwesterners are the nicest Americans without a drawl. Take the Lincoln MKC.
This is one friendly vehicle. Walk toward it and the rear LED lights glow, the mirrors open like sunflowers to the sun, the doors unlock as your fingers slip inside the handle. Is it the key in my pocket or you just happy to see me?
What’s next? A hug?
That warmth is an asset in a hot compact luxury segment headlined by the ruthlessly efficient Acura RDX and the Teutonic twins BMW X3 and Audi Q3. As early entrants in the segment, the RDX and X3 set the standard for reliability and power.
Ford’s luxury lineup has failed to impress in the sedan and large SUV segments. The MKC is a fresh look in a fresh segment. It succeeds where its siblings have failed. Unlike the MKZ sedan, the C looks athletic. Unlike the MKX midsize SUV, it’s a pretty face.
The Escape had already established Ford’s Global C platform as a fit chassis. The MKC makes it alluring. Its adaption of Lincoln’s winged grille-design language soars. Maybe it’s the Halloween holiday, but the MKC’s face reminds me of Catwoman’s mask. Sexy. Mysterious. A high, nicely-sculpted belt line keeps your stare. Curvy hips — imagine Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman — swell over the rear wheels before tapering into the feline superhero’s — ahem, Lincoln’s — signature, LED-lit tail.
Beauty with sacrifices
Like the Audi A3, the MKC’s narrower greenhouse suggests sedan-like elegance. This modification is most striking compared to the BMW X3’s bigger, boxier greenhouse. Dare I suggest a BMW looks homely? Only compared to the sleek Lincoln and Audi.
I’ve been smitten with the Audi line’s lines for years, but the Lincoln gives Q3 a run in the swimsuit competition. So pretty is the MKC that it has attracted that hunky, drawling, mumbling Matthew McConaughey as a spokesman for the brand.
Beauty comes with sacrifice, however, as the higher sill line in the MKC and Q3 reduces visibility. The X3 lets the sunlight in. Its C-pillar visibility is superb compared to the Lincoln’s tapered, blind rear quarter window.
The Lincoln’s beauty is more than skin deep. This lass brings lots of personality.
Come inside the Lincoln’s lush, intuitive interior. Detroit’s automakers know intuitively that Americans live in their cars. You’ve heard me applaud the Chrysler 200 as the most driver-friendly midsize sedan. The MKC is the class of small lux. Its interior engineers must eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with customers because they anticipate their needs like a mirror.
But the elegant Lincoln and Audi — both new this year — aim for something higher. In fact, they typify why compact SUV is the market to watch. Like the Ford Escape and Mazda CX-5 in the mainstream compact crossover segment, they promise sexy styling and nimble handling that make sedans chew their fingernails. Utes with hot bods? Muscle beach is getting crowded.
That a Lincoln would even turn heads is newsworthy.
Tired of shifter stalks that grow like weeds in the middle of your console? The Lincoln simplifies automatic shifting to five buttons on the dash. This not only conforms to the push-button nature of the console — touchscreen, climate controls — but also frees up the center aisle for more storage space and climbing between seats (how many times have you been hemmed in by a parking garage wall on your left and had to climb over the gear shifter to get out of the passenger side?)
Worried about distracted driving? Like an oversized game console, the MKC locates all of the car’s essential functions on four, tidy quadrants of the steering wheel.
Miss the visibility of boxier SUVs? The C offers driver assist features like blind spot assist, park assist, rear camera, even a front collision alert when you approach, say, Cyrus the bull in the middle of the road in that McConaughey ad (he’s weirding me out).
This customer care follows you ’round back. Arms full of suitcases? Golf bags? McConaughey DVDs? You can open the rear lift gate with a swing of your foot under the bumper. Once open, a cavernous, vertical space awaits so that you can pile it all in — and still load four pals.
The Audi matches the Lincoln in interior comfort but falls short in usability. It must be a cultural thing. Germans, after all, spend less time in their cars and more time on the throttle. Trying to navigate an address on the Q3’s rotary dial-controlled, non-touch screen will drive you to the looney bin. Fortunately, the Q3 will get you there in a hurry.
Comfort over athleticism
The AWD Audi dances like a sports car. Flogging the taut crossover over Hell, Michigan’s heavenly roads, I had a ball. This is German personality. Is it what ute-users are looking for? Lincoln thinks not. It extends soft luxury interior to soft exterior ride. Indeed, sister Escape is more athletic than the MKC.
Which takes us to the bottom line.
So confident is Lincoln that you’ll love the MKC, it has given it a BMW-esque sticker price. I’m not so confident. Brand in this greyhound-eat-greyhound segment must be earned.
My AWD, 2.3-liter, full-loaded, ruby red, ebony premium-leather MKC came in at a pricey $49,265. Sure, the 2.3-liter Ecoboost’s 285 horses will blow you away. But it won’t blow away a 2.0-liter Q3’s 2.0-liter turbo. Though the Q3’s mill possesses just 210 hp, Top Speed.com rates their 0-60 times equal. Yet the loaded Audi stickers for about $40,000.
Lincoln should also worry about the Ford Escape in its rear-view mirror. My Escape-smitten neighbor, the lovely Mrs. Walbridge, was captured by my MKC. She fell in love with its looks. With its center console. With Matthew McConaughey. Then she read the sticker.
Her loaded, comely (if not Hollywood handsome) Titanium Escape matches its lux mate nav-system-for-nav-system, liftgate-kick-for-liftgate-kick, but it set her back just 38 grand. Is the Lincoln lawyer really worth it?
More tempting is the base 2.0-liter, 240-horse MKC which only lightens the wallet to the tune of $44,931. That might be worth that lovely face. And that Midwest-friendly welcome. And the fact that Lincoln is producing world-class luxe again.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
2015 Lincoln MKC
Vehicle type: Front-engine, front or all-wheel-drive, five-passenger compact SUV
Price: $34,890 base ($49,265 as tested)
Power plant: 2.0-liter inline-4 turbo; 2.3-liter inline-4 turbo
Power: 240 horsepower, 270 pound-feet of torque (2.0L); 285 horsepower, 305 pound-feet of torque (2.3L)
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph: 6.6 seconds (Car & Driver)
Weight: 3,963 pounds (AWD as tested)
Fuel economy: EPA 19 city/26 highway/22 combined (2.0L AWD); EPA 18 city/26 highway/21 combined (2.3L AWD)
Report card
Highs: Looks like Catwoman; best-in-class console
Lows: Heavy; demands a heavy wallet
Overall: ★★★★
Internet car radio poses bigger threat for local AM-FM
Posted by hpayne on October 25, 2014
Twenty-five years ago, carmakers decorated their auto exteriors with eye-catching wood trim. Today, the wood is on the inside, complementing flashy center consoles with seven-inch, digital touch screens.
The car dashboard is being transformed and it’s taking AM-FM radio with it.
Just as it did newspapers and broadcast television, the Internet revolution is roiling the local broadcast landscape that has long held a monopoly on the car radio.
With center console infotainment systems, the in-car landscape has undergone a seismic shift started by satellite radio two decades ago and accelerated by Internet players like Pandora, Spotify, and iHeartRadio.
Now, AM-FM stations face a tipping point as Apple CarPlay, Google’s Android Auto, and in-car Wi-Fi hot spots fundamentally change the user interface in vehicles from radio to Internet.
“The center stack has changed from two dials and three buttons to very complex systems that contain so many different options,” says Paul Jacobs, vice president of Jacobs Media, a radio consulting firm in Bingham Farms. “The radio industry needs to work very hard to make sure radio remains vital in the car of the future.”
Jacobs Media hosted the Second Annual DASH conference in Detroit last week, bringing together radio executives, automakers, and auto suppliers from all over the country.
“It’s a much more competitive landscape,” says Steve Chessare, who manages three Detroit stations — WRIF-101.1 FM, WCSX-94.7 FM, and Sports Radio 105.1 — for Greater Media. “It’s more important than ever to create content that people want to engage in.”
It’s a new landscape. Beginning with this year’s Chevy Malibu, every new generation GM vehicle will come with a Wi-Fi hot spot that will allow up to seven devices to connect directly to the Internet.
In December, the Hyundai Sonata promises to be the first car compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Audio so that drivers can plug in their iPhones and mimic their interface on a vehicle’s screen.
That means customers can more easily bypass the AM-FM dial and go straight to their favorite Internet radio service. By allowing consumers greater control over their music choices, services like Spotify have proven popular with users — especially young listeners.
“It’s like the introduction of central door lock mechanisms,” says radio consultant Larry Rosin, president of Edison Research in New Jersey. “Once you don’t have to reach across the car to lock the doors, you never want to go back. It’s the same with the choice Internet radio offers.”
Advertisers are following the users.
While local media ad revenue in the U.S. is expected to increase 2.8 percent (to $151 billion) by 2017, that growth is expected to come almost entirely online. According to BIA/Kelsey, online advertising will rise 13.8 percent per year, while traditional advertising — TV, print, radio and yellow pages — is expected to remain flat (at $107 billion).
According to an estimate by Statista, there are some 160 million digital radio listeners — a number expected to hit 183 million by 2018.
That trend is driving once-big radio players like Walt Disney Co., which has radio stations that cover 42 percent of the country, out of the industry. Disney is selling 23 stations and going digital with Radio Disney kids programming.
Unlike newspapers which have seen customers move away from home delivery, the Internet radio revolution is not driving listeners out of the car. Just the opposite.
According to Jacobs Media, half of radio listening is in the car, with that percentage increasing with each new generation. For example, 45 percent of baby boomers get their radio fix in the car compared to nearly 60 percent of Generation Y. One-fifth of cars on the road are “connected” via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. With 90 percent of Gen Y drivers carrying a smartphone — versus 65 percent of baby boomers — in-car connectivity for new cars is a must.
While AM-FM radio remains the leading infotainment priority of new car buyers in Jacobs’ survey (89 percent), 66 percent of respondents say an iPod connector is important, 51 percent say Bluetooth, and 25 percent satellite radio.
“The mainstay of local broadcast radio is news and traffic,” says John Wordock, executive editor of the Wall Street Journal Radio Networks. “But I think apps may eventually cut into radio’s monopoly on traffic reports in the car.”
Edison’s Rosin points to growing Internet traffic sites like Waze, which calculates real-time traffic based on driver inputs to determine the fastest way to reach your destination.
“No one cares about traffic reports but their own,” says Rosin, who told the DASH conference that radio traffic reports may go the way of the dinosaurs.
How will local radio compete? Rosin and Jacobs agree that stations must stay current with digital apps. They also agree that content is king and AM — long second sister to FM — may have the secret sauce given the strength of talk radio.
“The way to compete is to continue to invest in local talent and great local content,” says Jacobs. “People don’t listen to stations, they listen to personalities.”
Greater Media’s Chessare says his stations are pushing online apps as well as their own Internet sites. Their online advertising is up 43 percent this year.
Jacobs was encouraged by what he saw at the DASH conference as radio owners and car dealers agreed to collaborate on making radio operation — programming presets, finding radio bands — part of the car-owning regimen.
“I just bought a brand new Jeep Wrangler and the salesman had me in the car for 45 minutes showing me all the different things the car could do,” says Greater Media’s Chessare. “Cars are so complex these days. We need to be pushing dealers — and incentivizing dealers — to walk customers through the cars’ features in their showrooms.”
“The car is the No. 1 listening location,” adds Jacobs. “It is also the No. 1 revenue category. So it is imperative that the radio industry get to know the auto industry better. Radio needs to get a seat at the table making sure they are delivering their content in a way automakers want in order to ensure they have a place in the center stack of the future.”
Toyota Camry’s extreme makeover
Posted by hpayne on October 23, 2014
The 2015 Toyota Camry gets a dash of sex appeal to keep up with the hotties in its mid-size sedan class.
Upon testing the new, 2015 Toyota Camry XSE (S for “sport”), I was not overcome with the urge to crash a wedding, steal the bride, and outrun the groomsmen in their classic, sky-blue convertible. Mrs. Payne would have greeted me at the front door with a rolling pin.
But the latest Toyota ad campaign suggests that Camry-buying, single men might find such ideas irresistible. Acting on impulse? Feeding primal urges?
This is the message of a Toyota Camry ad?
If you’re shocked, you haven’t visited the mid-size sedan aisle in a while. This once quiet, predictable quarter of the auto department store was as sexy as the washing machine display at Sears. The appliances were functional. Efficient. Boxy. King Camry ruled. Japanese quality was the coin of the realm. Everyone dressed the same. Public displays of
emotion were frowned upon. Muzak played over the sound system.
Then that rebel, the Hyundai Sonata, showed some leg and the whole place turned into a Studio 54 disco party.
The 2010 Sonata’s racy body turned heads. The Ford Fusion followed with a pouty grille and come-hither headlights so convincing you thought Aston Martin had made a grocery hauler. Then came Chrysler 200 with its lusty lights and feminine lines. Want to mambo with your midsize? The athletic Mazda 6 not only turned heads on the showroom floor, it could cut some serious rug, too.
After years of jelly-bean shaped look-alikes, these cars made hearts beat faster. They stirred . . . emotions.
The Camry appliance watched warily. Sure, its reputation for quality continued to draw customers, but it could see eyes wandering. Ooooh, that Fusion is pretty. Loooove those Hyundai lines. And their JD Power quality ratings were improving all the time.
If quality was becoming a universal ingredient, then how would Camry stand out? Toyota’s 2012 redesign created more concern. Dealers reportedly murmured that the new car was too bland. It reinforced Camry’s reputation as a vanilla brand. Hadn’t Jeremy Clarkson of “Top Gear” written a column titled, “Can’t sleep? Look at a Camry?”
“(It is) by far the dullest shaped body I have ever seen in my whole life,” wrote the renowned auto personality. “All I need to do now is think about the shape and I come over all drowsy.”
Ouch. Even Chevy’s own cure for insomnia, the Malibu, was reading the reviews. Faced with its own dealer revolt, GM had completely remade the ‘Bu in 2014 to address its somnolescent qualities. Wasn’t the Camry just a better-engineered Malibu? And didn’t Malibu just win JD Power’s Initial Quality Survey for best mid-sized sedan?
So just three years after the reborn ’12 Camry, we have the reborn ’15 Camry: More style, more handling, more … emotion.
It largely works. The Camry is no Fusion, but it is distinctive. Clarkson will have to find another cure for insomnia.
Toyota spent a reported $200 million in upgrading the sheet metal, chassis, and interior of the car. That’s a lotta dimes for a cost-conscious manufacturer that prides itself on getting it right the first time.
Behold the new car’s slimmer, less slab-like torso thanks to a lower beltline. But most striking is the plastic surgery around front. The Camry’s new kisser borrows heavily from Toyota’s Lexus lux brand, which has itself undergone an expensive face-lift. The Lexus is the best example of Akio Toyoda’s directive (when the CEO speaks, people listen) that Toyota products stir passion. Beginning with Akio himself, no doubt. A certified car guy. Ooooh, that Fusion is pretty!
The Camry’s hour-glass grille design reminds you of just how radical the Lexus looks. Indeed, some Lexus buyers may admire the Camry’s more measured interpretation. The new face comes in two guises — L and the racier S.
My preference is for the L style. Its thin, horizontal accents complete an elegant sculpture. The black, honeycomb S-maw echoes the Lexus F-Sport’s spindle grille. In the rearview mirrors it looks like the cow-catcher of an approaching locomotive. But it doesn’t intimidate like the Lexus. It’s cheap, plastic construction smacks of a pretender. An oversized Corolla S.
Were I that single dude, I would steal the bride in the LE hybrid.
Not only will the beauty warm to its less beastly face, but the sedan’s excellent, electric-assisted acceleration and chassis balance (thanks to 150 pounds of battery in the trunk balancing the four-banger up front) will put distance on your pursuers. On a hard flog through northern Florida, your intrepid writer found the hybrid well-balanced — rotating into corners with a tire-squalling vigor not normally associated with tree-hugging transport. And I had a ready alibi if pulled over: “There must be some mistake, officer. This is a hybrid.”
Not that you can’t appreciate the electric powertrain. My test mule boasted an impressive 572-mile range — meaning you could outrun the groomsmen before looking for a hotel for the night. Back the Camry down to 40 mph and it’ll run on battery alone for long stretches — stretching that range even further.
As you get to know your passenger in the Camry’s roomy, hushed cabin, she’ll marvel at the stylish, chrome-lined console. The standard, 4.3″ touch screen is outstanding, complemented by bigger, piano black touch keys. The screen’s usability will distract her while you fiddle with the Camry’s less driver-friendly details which smack, like the plastic grille on the S models, of cheapness. The holdover, notchy, shifter is clunky. And beware the (optional) adaptive cruise control, which will cease working below 20 mph, giving you a nasty surprise as you approach a stopped car ahead.
Full adaptive next time, please.
Indeed, next time will come quickly in this ruthless segment. One gets the sense that Toyota is especially concerned about Hyundai’s Sonata, which has also picked up makeup tips from its luxury superior, the Genesis. What’s more, the Hyundai’s handsome appliance starts at $21,960 – nearly $2k under the $23,795 Camry. Hyundai quality? Four JD Power stars, just like its revered Japanese competitor. And the Korean model weighs in with a hybrid and two superb 4-cylinder turbo engines which provide V-6 power while opening more room for Sonata’s segment-leading cargo space.
The Camry, meanwhile, stubbornly sticks to a V6 that make up just 6 percent of sales — even less than the 10 percent hybrid. Interior room matters. After the wedding-crashing theatrics, the talk will surely turn to kiddies.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
2015 Toyota Camry
Vehicle type: Front-engine, front-wheel-drive, five-passenger sedan
Price: $23,795 base ($32,987 Camry Hybrid LE as tested)
Power plant: 2.5-liter DOHC 4-cylinder; 3.5-liter DOHC V-6; Hybrid engine: 2.5-Liter DOHC 4-cylinder with Nickel-Metal Hydride AC-motor assist
Power: 178 horsepower, 170 pound-feet of torque (4-cyl.); 268 horsepower, 248 pound-feet of torque (V-6); 200 horsepower (hybrid)
Transmission: Six-speed automatic or continuously-variable transmission (Hybrid only)
Performance: 0-60 mph: 6.6 seconds (V-6 — manufacturer)
Weight: 3,240 pounds (3,485 hybrid as tested)
Fuel economy: EPA 25 city/35 highway/28 combined (2.5L 4-cyl); 25 city/35 highway/28 combined (2.7L 4-cyl); 21 city/31 highway/25 combined (V-6); 43 city/39 highway/41 combined (Hybrid)
Highs: Runs like a Swiss watch; Hushed cabin
Lows: Plasticy S-trim fascia; Only partial adaptive cruise control
Overall: ★★★
Corvette vs. Porsche track showdown
Posted by hpayne on October 18, 2014
Who has the edge in this historic rivalry? I took them on Autobahn race track to find out.
Red Sox vs. Yankees. Coke vs. Pepsi. Corvette vs. Porsche.
The Detroit vs. Stuttgart sports car faceoff ranks as one of our great rivalries.
Growing up the son of a Porsche owner in West Virginia, I knew which side I was on. Now as a proud Detroiter and a Porsche owner, I’m on the fence. I admire both. As a pup, I watched the local Corvette and Porsche clubs face off in weekend autocrosses. USA vs. Germany. Domestic vs. import. Horsepower vs. handling. It has always been so.
If a Ford vs. Ferrari racing rivalry briefly blossomed in the 1960s, the Vette-Porsche rivalry has endured. Each generation gets better. The competition today has never been more intense. The 2014 Porsche Cayman is the best handling Porsche under $100k. Ever. The 2014 Corvette is the best handling ‘Vette. Ever.
Which reigns supreme? I took them on the track to settle it.
I tell pals who consider buying these thoroughbreds to track them. They are that good. You simply cannot explore their enormous potential at 80 mph – or 90, or 120 – on I-75. Their sophisticated chassis and multilink suspensions can achieve a neck-knotting 1-plus G on track.
Autobahn race track, for example. Located south of Chicago, it is fast, technical, and a favorite testing ground for amateur racers like myself. It also hosts a fleet of exotic sports cars courtesy of local dealers. Like fighters on a runway, they are lined up on the tarmac each weekend for pilots who want to explore the envelope: Maserati GranTurismo, BMW M4, Audi R8, Camaro ZL1. . .
I took out the 2014, 3.4-liter, mid-engine Porsche Cayman S and the 2014, 6.2-liter, front-engine Corvette C7 Stingray convertible for a fling.
The Cayman’s coupe construction increases chassis rigidity by 40 percent over its sister Boxster convertible. By contrast, the Stingray’s aluminum chassis does not depend on its B-pillar for stiffness, according to Chevy engineers – meaning the drop top gives away little to its coupe mate other than a roof.
Both Yank and Kraut are fabulous. Both represent their national stereotypes.
Taught and sleek, Porsche’s best handling sports car (take a backseat, 911) is tidy as a German manor. Trained on the demanding twists and turns of the legendary Nurburgring, the Cayman is wonderfully predictable. It’s the most drivable sports car on the road today.
Like a Hollywood celebrity, the C7 is gorgeous, loud, and loaded with personality. More stable than its C6 predecessor, the nearly 3,400-pound beast still moves around on Autobahn’s signature switchbacks. In turns 9 and 10, steering input is required as the chassis whiplashes from side to side. While the Porsche skips through with minimal fuss, the Vette is all knees and elbows, clawing its way across the asphalt to finally . . . pounce on to the back straight.
Unleash the Kraken. Where the 325-horsepower, 273-pound feet of torque Porsche gives a determined bark, the 455-horse, 460-pound feet Corvette roars like a lion. Freed from the thicket of twisties – Cayman territory – the lion hits the open savanna with authority.
The Vette gulps asphalt, its front maw gaping as if to devour the Cayman up ahead. As it reaches its prey . . .
. . . another thicket of turns. The Cayman slips away again through the Turn 11-12 chicane. And so it goes lap after lap. The Porsche darts. The Stingray surges. Yin and yang.
It’s why this rivalry rivets us. Two athletes getting the job done in different ways.
My track sessions were crowded with cars, so I didn’t bother with lap times. But around another great American course — the high speed, 4.1-mileVirginia International Raceway — Car & Driver clocked the C7 nearly 9 seconds faster. All hail horsepower.
And affordability. The C7 may be comparatively ragged, but Porsche’s handling refinement comes at a price: $83,000 compared to the Vette’s $75 grand. And Motown’s finest doesn’t sacrifice refinement inside. It’s gorgeous, leather dash and bolstered seats are the match of German royalty.
Porsche has exploited its performance brand to expand into SUVs (Cayenne and Macan) and sports sedans (the Panamera). With their sports car DNA, these sleds have become the best-selling Porsches ever, raking in profits undreamed of in the sports car-only days.
Were it not part of the GM empire, one wonders if Corvette, too, might have multiplied as utes and sedans. Howja’ like a Corvette CUV-7 next to your C7? Alas, Corvette soldiers on as a single car.
Rumor has it, however, that the 2017 C8 will be mid-engine. A ruthless V-8 located, Cayman-like, behind the driver’s ear. Be afraid Porsche. Be very afraid.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
2014 Corvette Stingray
Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, two-passenger sports car
Price: $53,995 base (about $75,000 convertible as tested)
Power plant: 6.2-liter V-8
Power: 455 horsepower, 460 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60: 3.9 seconds (Car & Driver)
Weight: 3,362 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA 16 mpg city/28 mpg highway/ 20 mpg combined
2014 Porsche Cayman S
Vehicle type: Mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive, two-passenger sports car
Price: $63,800 base (about $83,000 as tested)
Power plant: 3.4L horizontally opposed 6-cyl
Power: 325 horsepower, 273 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60: 4.2 seconds (Motor Trend)
Weight: 3,152 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA 21 mpg city/30 mpg highway/ 24 mpg combined
The 21st-century Roadmaster: Chevy Traverse
Posted by hpayne on October 15, 2014
Shed a tear for the Roadmaster. The Chevy Traverse advances the wagon concept by maintaining everything we loved about 20th-century wagons while stuffing it with 21st-century technology.
If Rip Van Winkle awoke today from an afternoon nap in 1995, the first thing he would do is get a shave. The second thing he would do is get gas for his big family station wagon.
At that point, ol’ Rip might wonder what planet he was on.
Has there been any greater physical change in our world in the last 20 years than the disappearance of the station wagon from our landscape? (Okay, that and folks aren’t holding brick-sized cellphones to their heads anymore.) It’s how you know you’re watching a movie from last century. Today, sport utes dominate the family driveway.
Auto historians will tell you that 1970s mpg mandates killed the wagon. But I’m convinced it was Clark Griswold.
Griswold, as played by Chevy Chase in the 1983 classic “National Lampoon’s “Vacation,” drove his long-suffering family cross country in a Wagon Queen Family Truckster — a pea green, wood-paneled, fun-eating caricature of the American wagon.
The resulting fiasco was the cultural death-knell for the once-popular family vehicle.
By the mid-nineties, wagons were as hip as eight-track tape players. Minivans were the new family transport, and they in turn were being replaced by large SUVs. The rear-wheel-drive Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon was the last hurrah. Manufactured from 1991-96, the final Roadmasters (along with sister ships the Chevy Caprice and Cadillac Fleetwood) rolled off the Arlington, Texas assembly line that was being retooled for front-wheel drive utes.
Fast forward 20 years and what should Rip buy? Say hello to the 2014 Chevy Traverse. The Roadmaster has been reincarnated as an SUV.
But unlike Clark Griswold, Rip won’t need to be conned by car salesman Eugene Levy to get into the Chevy. Thanks to vehicles like the gorgeous, sleek Traverse, we hardly miss the wagon. From its wrap-around, Impala-style grille to its high-tech console to its signature Pentagon-rear window, the Traverse can haul eight passengers like the Roadmaster while turning heads, entertaining the kiddies, and still flexing some good ol’ American muscle.
Still, Rip and I wipe a tear from our cheeks. There are some nostalgia pieces that wagon diehards will miss. So let’s get to know our family haulers.
Why compare a Buick and Chevy, you ask? Why not apples to apples? Why not the 1995 Chevy Caprice wagon and the Chevy Traverse? Fair question. Convenience, for
one. My pal (and Rip Van Winkle stand-in), The Detroit News personal finance guru Brian O’Connor, owns a ’95 Roadmaster wagon. It has 194,000 miles. He’s ready for a new ride.
But there are practical, market considerations as well. The all-wheel drive Traverse stickers at $47,355 which is about the same price — adjusted for inflation — as a Roadmaster would sell for today. The Traverse’s Buick Enclave twin, by contrast, would lighten the wallet another $8,000. And, since the Roadmaster was the Brontosaurus of the Wagon Era, perhaps it would make sense to compare it to the equivalent SUV-saurus, the Chevy Suburban. But the Suburban — 130-inch wheelbase vs. the Buick’s 116 — is in another class of big. Manhattanites are buying Suburbans as luxury apartments.
Apples to apples? The Traverse’s 119-inch wheelbase is more Roadmaster like.
If the Chevy is the 21st-century station wagon, its seating position is decidedly 19th-century. Federal mpg laws inspired truck-based sport utes, but Americans’ preference to ride horse-like — high in the saddle — accelerated their popularity. The lower Roadmaster feels like you’re sitting on a Shetland pony. On its knees.
I’m no physicist, but the laws of nature dictate that the Traverse should feel less stable compared to the wagon’s lower-center of gravity. But utes have evolved with better chassis engineering. Built on GM’s sedan-like, unibody Lambda platform, the Traverse is a long way from the truck-based SUVs of 20 years ago. Add GM’s Stabilitrak electronic stability control system and the Traverse is remarkably stable for a 2 ½-ton vehicle.
The 4,700-pound Roadmaster, by contrast, is as nimble as an ocean liner.
Navigating high-speed turns requires considerable concentration. It pitches like it’s in choppy seas. The Buick could use a tug boat.
This ICBM may not turn, but it’s a rocket in a straight line. Stomp on the gas and the small-block, 5.7-liter, 260-horse V-8 in the beast’s belly — yes, the same small black as in a 1990-vintage ‘Vette — roars with authority. So this is why they called it “master.” Glorious. But the V-6 Traverse matches it. The six-holer pumps out 28 more horses (288 total) — while trailing the surly V-8’s 335 pound-feet of torque with “only” 270 pound-feet. Naturally, that kind of power works up an appetite and the V-6 only gains 1 mpg (19 vs. 18) on the old nail — but if you want fuel economy, buy a Spark.
The Traverse and Roadmaster take strikingly different approaches to wood. The Buick wears a full coat of the stuff. Lucky it’s vintage vinyl or the Roadmaster would have been plagued by woodpeckers. The Chevy is more modest, saving its wood grain paneling for the dash which is beautifully appointed. Indeed, the Traverse advances
the wagon concept by maintaining everything we loved about 20th-century wagons while stuffing it with 21st-century technology.
The Traverse’s center console is a candy box of goodies from a 6.5-inch MyLink, color infotainment touchscreen to controls for collision alert, blind-spot assist, hands-free calling, heated steering wheel, dual-climate control, Bluetooth connectivity, and a direct line to the Oval Office (just kidding about that last one). The Roadmaster? It has a radio.
Mimicking the wagon, you can flatten the second and third seats in the Traverse if you need to move a grandfather clock — or just need a place to sleep for the night. The Traverse also offers the option of a second-row, digital entertainment center and “smart-sliding” captain’s chairs that bow like Queen Elizabeth’s subjects when you want to get into the third row.
A moment of silence for the rear-facing, third-row bench, please. I spent much of my childhood facing backwards in third-row wagon seats. Our own private space capsule. This led to innovations like the Roadmaster’s rear door which was built to open like a door, lay flat like a pickup tailgate, and re-enter the earth’s atmosphere at 17,000 mph (OK, made that up, too). The modern Traverse’s rear hatch is automatic (more digital wizardry), but it only knows how to go up. Score one for Roadmaster.
Wipe away that tear, Rip, and get a new Traverse. Then join us again in another 20 years. By then steering wheels should have disappeared in favor of self-diving Google cars.
2014 Chevrolet Traverse
Vehicle type: Front-engine, front and all-wheel-drive, seven-or-eight-passenger sport utility vehicle
Price: $31,670 base ($47,355)
Power plant: 3.6-liter direct-injection V-6
Power: 288 horsepower, 270 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Performance: Towing capacity: 5,200 pounds
Weight: 4,956 pounds (test vehicle)
Fuel economy: EPA 16 mpg city/23 mpg highway/19 mpg combined
Report card
Highs: Attractive styling; cavernous cargo space
Lows: 5,000 pound porker; Big blind spots
Overall: ★★★★
Q&Auto: Marketing guru Scott, built Ford tough
Posted by hpayne on October 11, 2014
Unlike a stereotypical truck guy, Scott is a lean drink of water. Fittingly, his lean F150 breaks the truck stereotype, too.
7,000-pound gross vehicle weight rating, that’s a lotta room for equipment (or more 6-foot truck guys) in back.
“Aluminum has given us a great opportunity to improve the truck: More capability, more durability, better performance, better efficiency, better handling dynamics, and at an affordable price,” says the 36-year Ford veteran, rattling off bullet points like a 6-speed tranny rifles gears. The F-150 has been the best–selling truck every year that Scott has been at Ford and he thinks the aluminum revolution is a good reason it’ll be on top for 36 more.
“Eighty percent of our customers know aluminum works,” he says of the lightweight metal that has girded battle ships and race cars alike. “My job is to convince the other 20 percent.”
I rode with Scott on a F-150 test drive outside San Antonio, Texas where we talked tin, toughness, and the 1000 miles of Baja.
Q: What did you drive to the Dream Cruise?
Scott: A new F-150.
Q: As a pickup truck guy would you rather be at the Cruise or another event?
Scott: I’d probably like it more at the Baja 1000 (Ed. note: the brutal, 1000-mile, off-road race on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula). It’s really about toughness and durability.
Q: How long have you been with Ford?
Scott: Thirty-six years. The last 13 years as truck marketing manager. The first 20 years of my career I was in sales in different locations around the country. In 1997 I was Explorer brand manager. Then I had all the SUVs for three years. Then in 2002 I took the truck marketing job.
Q: Is the F-150 a game changer?
Scott: Absolutely. It’s the new standard for full-sized pickups.
Q: Aluminum’s benefits are well known. Why not an aluminum truck until now?
Scott: A combination of factors. We had to be prepared to manufacture a vehicle with aluminum. To master different joining techniques with aluminum. The materials supply was an issue. So a whole host of issues combined to say that now was the right time. Having it all coincide with the needs of the buyer in terms of being a better performing, more capable, more efficient truck.
Q: Ford has done aluminum before with Jaguar. It produced an aluminum-bodied Ford Taurus prototype in the early ’90s. So why not do aluminum first in a sports car like Mustang? Why bet big on your franchise vehicle, the F-150?
Scott: Light-weighting makes the most sense in a truck. Because you can take weight out of the truck and reinvest that weight reduction in more capability like towing and hauling that a customer values so highly.
Q: Does this make it easier for Ford to transition to aluminum in other vehicles?
Scott: Certainly we will have learned a lot about making that conversion. So the next vehicle will be easier, yes.
Q: There is huge brand loyalty in this segment. How do you convince a RAM or Chevy buyer that this is a game changer?
Scott: Our success at launch is going to be determined by maintaining the high loyalty we have with our current customers. We’ll be successful if we can maintain . . . that owner base which is the largest in the market. As for conquests, that is a bonus.
Q: This truck is loaded. How did you keep price down with aluminum and all that tech?
Scott: You have to have mentality that price is governed by the market environment — and where your competition is. Affordability has to be in the forefront. That means we have to be efficient as we build it.