Archive | February, 2009

2009 Mercedes-Benz E320 BlueTec Review

By on February 12, 2009 in Features, Reviews

By Roger Boylan

02.12.2009

Karl Benz gave the world the automobile in January 1886, earning himself a place in history, not just for putting the first actual combustion-powered car on the road, but also for building, under the name Mercedes-Benz, a monument to automotive ingenuity and elegance.

Actually, the “Mercedes” name didn’t appear on a car until 1901, in which year Emil Jellinek, a temperamental wealthy patron (whose favorite term for the Benz directors was “donkeys”), threatened to walk away if his daughter Mercedes were not honored by having her name applied to the machines in which her Pappi was investing so many of his plentiful Reichsmarks. “The name is both exotic and attractive,” said Jellinek, with bland disingenuousness. (One imagines Mercedes standing by, gazing up in mute adoration.) “It can be easily pronounced and it sounds good.” Continue Reading →

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Preview: ECO Motor Company EMC3 Commuter

By on February 11, 2009 in Features

By Kevin Miller

02.11.2009

Newcastle, Washington, is a suburban enclave about 10 miles southeast of Seattle. Best known for its tony golf club and upscale housing developments, Newcastle is also the home of ECO Motor Company. The upstart company is set to launch its three-wheeled EMC3 Commuter to US customers in April, so I headed to their headquarters for a sit-down with David Joner, the company’s CEO to chat about the upcoming commuter car.

The EMC3 starts at $13,995, is estimated to get 60+ MPG, and looks like nothing else on the road in the US; it is a three-wheeled vehicle with two wheels up front and one in the rear. A 54 HP, 1.0 liter, three-cylinder engine drives the front wheels through either a manual or optional automatic transaxle. There is room for two passengers and two sets of golf clubs in the car’s cabin. The cabin is enclosed by a convertible top. Continue Reading →

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Finally Official: 2010 Saab 9-3X

By on February 11, 2009 in News

By Kevin Miller

02.11.2009

Rumored for months to be in the pipeline, Saab today issued a press release confirming the existence of the 9-3X. The release indicated the vehicle will premiere at the Geneva Motor Show in March, with its US debut at the New York Auto Show in April. The 9-3X is a new addition to the 9-3 range, and will be available this autumn in North America as a 2010 model year vehicle.

The 9-3X is essentially an all-wheel drive 9-3 SportCombi which has been raised 1.4 inches to handle more-rugged off-road driving conditions. New front and rear bumpers feature dark gray cladding, that is also present on the side sills and the edges of the wheel arches. The cladding is complemented by matte aluminum lower-door décor strips and skid panels. Roof rails, chrome-ringed front fog lamps, and visible, twin round exhaust tailpipes are standard. Newly designed, multi-spoke 17-inch alloy wheels are intended to communicate the 9-3X’s ability to handle varied road conditions. Inside, the 9-3X builds from the standard 9-3 motif, employing a dark metallic finish to the door trims, glove box and gearshift surround. Continue Reading →

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2010 Ford Taurus SHO Details Revealed

By on February 11, 2009 in News

By Kevin Miller

02.11.2009

At the Chicago Auto Show today, Ford has released long-awaited details of the upcoming 2010 Taurus SHO. Hot on the heels of the introduction of the basic Taurus in Detroit last month, the next generation of the fabled sport sedan will be equipped with a twin-turbocharged 3.5 liter EcoBoost V6, all-wheel drive, and a paddle-shifted six-speed automatic gearbox. Exterior features of the Taurus SHO include premium painted wheels, wrapped in standard low-profile 19-inch Goodyear Eagle or optional 20-inch Michelin high-performance tires, a decklid-mounted spoiler and twin chrome exhaust tips.

The heart of the new 2010 Taurus SHO is a 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged EcoBoost V-6 engine, generating an estimated 365 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 350 ft.-lbs. of torque at 3,500 rpm. Claiming V8 power with V6 efficiency, this is Ford’s most powerful EcoBoost engine. A key feature of this EcoBoost engine is gasoline direct injection. This type of direct injection of fuel into the cylinder during the intake stroke produces a well-mixed air-fuel charge, improving volumetric efficiency and lowering the likelihood of knock. As noted above, the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 uses twin turbochargers, as opposed to a single unit. Using two smaller turbochargers allows the engine to avoid the “turbo lag” often prevalent in earlier-generation turbocharged vehicles. Continue Reading →

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General Motors to Cut Staff and Lower Salaries

By on February 10, 2009 in News

By  Kevin Gordon

02.10.2009

Following the ongoing trend of bad news for the automotive industry, GM is planning a staff and salary reduction. General Motors Corporation will cut 10,000 salaried workers or 14% of its workforce. Additionally, GM will temporarily reduce the salaries of a large number of those salaried workers that remain. Executives are not excluded from the plan, with a rule that executive salaries will be reduced by ten percent. Other pay reductions will range from three to seven percent.  The ranks of salaried employees will shrink from 73,000 to 63,000. Of these reductions 3,400 employees will be based in the United States.

These actions are part of the plan that GM had to submit to Congress in order to qualify for bailout funding from the federal government. This move is also to continue to reassure the government that GM is a viable company. The announcement follows the news that GM will extend more employee buyouts and early retirements and also trails GM buying out 5,100 salaried employees three months ago. Unlike previous actions, the employee cuts in this round will be done through involuntary layoffs; a large number of these eliminations will be complete by May 1. The laid off workers will receive a severance, have the option to carry their benefits forward (for an undisclosed period of time), and will receive help finding work.

A GM spokesperson said in a statement: “These difficult actions are necessitated by a severe drop in vehicle sales worldwide and by the need to restructure GM for long-term viability.” A severe drop may be an understatement, as U.S., auto sales fell to a twenty-seven year low in January.

Continue Reading →

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Procter & Gamble to Enter Car Wash Business — With the Help of a Bald Guy Named Mr. Clean

By on February 10, 2009 in Editorials, News

Wait… what?

By David Surace

02.10.2009

Procter and Gamble (P&G for short), the brand monolith that stands behind many of your favorite household products, like Swiffer, Gillette and Pampers, has brought its weight to bear in a previously unfamiliar realm: your neighborhood car wash. It appears that the burly, baldish Mr. Clean has been hired to do the job, and he’s not messing around, either. In fact, in the same way that McDonald’s changed our perception of the hamburger joint, the Mr. Clean Performance Car Wash is hoping to change the way we think about the places that wash our cars.

I mean, let’s face it: aside from a few rare exceptions, car washes are typically confusing, dirty, inconsistent or all of the above. The array of alternatives–for those who don’t live in a town with an excellent family-run establishment or a trusted detailer who will do the work in your driveway–pretty much comes down to coin-operated joints, the robo-wash at your gas station, or the questionable wash you get at your dealer service department after an oil change (if you’re not a fan of swirl-marks, here’s a tip: tell them not to do it).

Continue Reading →

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2009 Toyota RAV4 Sport 4×4 V6 Review

By on February 10, 2009 in Reviews

By Chris Haak

02.10.2009

Knowing that Toyota cut its teeth as an automaker by first mastering small vehicles, and only recently venturing into behemoth territory with the likes of the Sequoia and Tundra, I was eager to see what Toyota could do with its smallest US-sold crossover, having sampled the Sequoia last year.  I was particularly excited to learn that my test vehicle would have the available 269-horsepower 3.5 liter V6, which I’d heard can move the RAV4 quite briskly around town.  Even better was that the weather forecast called for snow during the time I had the RAV4 in my garage.  I wasn’t sure how well it’d do in the snow, but I was pretty confident its abilities would exceed those of my RWD Cadillac CTS.

Like many Toyotas, the RAV4 Sport isn’t what I’d call an attractive vehicle, but at least it lacks the bloated puffiness of some of Toyota’s larger models such as the Sequoia and Highlander.  It’s a fairly clean, conservative shape.  Without a trained eye, it’s very difficult to distinguish between the current RAV4 and the previous generation from the front end.  On its profile, the RAV4′s most interesting feature is its upswept beltline into the D-pillar.  Before driving the RAV4, I assumed that this would create a significant blind spot, but in reality, it wasn’t an issue for me.  The Sport model I tested featured 18″ aluminum wheels, shod with run-flat tires that really filled the wheelwells nicely.  I’m not a big fan of run-flat tires because of the ride/handling compromises the stiff sidewalls require, not to mention the idea that if you’re on a long journey, you cannot continue the journey with a spare tire – you have to replace or repair the tire beyond the 50-mile limit.  The advantage of the run-flats on the RAV4 is that the ungainly externally-mounted spare tire cover seen on most of the RAV4s on the road is absent when there’s no need for a spare tire.  The rear door is one huge, side-hinged piece.  I found it to be somewhat odd; I believe that a top-hinged strut-supported rear opening would be a preferable design, because the side-hinged door is REALLY big and heavy, and even worse when the RAV4 is parked facing downhill. Continue Reading →

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TrueDelta Releases Quarterly Reliability Results

By on February 9, 2009 in News

By Michael Karesh

02.09.2009

TrueDelta released updated results for its Car Reliability Survey a few days ago. These include owner experiences through the end of 2008, and so are about eight months ahead of other publicly available car reliability information.

One benefit of our prompt quarterly updates: some 2009s are included. Most notable: the 2009 Hyundai Genesis (review coming to Autosavant in a few weeks), with a repair rate close to the average. Since the Genesis was all-new, and most Hyundais are much less complex, Hyundai could easily have botched this one. They didn’t. All of the reported repairs have been minor electrical, which is the most common type of problem reported for recently purchased new cars.

Aside from the level of complexity, same goes for the 2008.5 / 2009 Pontiac G8 and 2009 Subaru Forester. They’re also all-new, and have similarly average repair rates. The redesigned 2009 Nissan Murano and 2009 Toyota Corolla and refreshed 2009 Hyundai Sonata check in just enough better than the others–the difference is only one or two extra repair trips per ten cars per year–to rate “better than average.” Toyota has dropped the ball a couple of times in recent years, but their small cars still tend to be glitch-free. Continue Reading →

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The Iconic Fiat Coupé – Chris Bangle’s Finest Hour?

By on February 9, 2009 in Features

By Andy Bannister

02.09.2009

Last week’s news that Chris Bangle is leaving BMW to pursue a design career outside the auto industry once again raised the debate about whether his one-of-a-kind styling influence has helped or hindered the prospects of the German company.

Most commentators didn’t refer, however, to his work before joining BMW. Bangle started in a low-key way at Opel before transferring to Fiat, where he was heavily involved in the look of one of that company’s seminal products of the 1990s – its ground breaking Coupé, invariably dubbed a “baby Ferrari”.

A true one-off product which burst on the scene at the Brussels Motor Show in 1993, the Coupé was a glorious return to form for Fiat, which was once the master of this niche of the market, but had been effectively absent for well over a decade. Continue Reading →

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GM’s Bob Lutz To Step Down as Product Development Chief in April, Retire by Year End

By on February 9, 2009 in News

By Chris Haak

02.09.2009

General Motors’ “car czar,” Robert Lutz, will step down from his current role as Vice Chairman – Global Product Development effective April 1, 2009.  At that point, he will become Vice Chairman – Senior Advisor until his retirement on December 31, 2009.  Forty year GM veteran Tom Stephens, currently Executive Vice President, Global Powertrain and Global Quality will assume the role of Vice Chairman – Global Product Development on April 1.  Stephens (pictured below) will report to GM COO Fritz Henderson, whereas Lutz reported to CEO Rick Wagoner.

Bob Lutz joined GM in September 2001 after an already-long career in the auto industry (outlined here in more detail).  He began at GM in 1963, worked for BMW, Ford, then Chrysler.  He was a candidate to succeed Lee Iacocca as Chrysler CEO, but Iacocca chose Bob Eaton instead, the Daimler acquisition happened, and Lutz retired from Chrysler to become the CEO of Exide battery until GM came calling.

Today’s GM is certainly not the model of either operational or product development efficiency that some competitors’ organizations are, but over the past seven years, Bob Lutz has made a gigantic impact toward improving a very dysfunctional organization.  GM had individual fiefdoms in Europe, Asia/Pacific and North America doing their own work in product development, and the result was an enormous amount of wasted redundant efforts – or worse, underwhelming efforts that were ugly, unreliable, and tarnished GM’s reputation for a generation of buyers.  Stupidity such as the fact that although the 2004 Chevy Malibu and 2004 Saab 9-3 were both ostensibly underpinned by GM’s Epsilon platform, GM had allowed Europe and North America to differ on key hard points, meaning that two sets of parts had to be developed for each version of the Epsilon platform even under the skin and that European versions could not be assembled in the US or vice versa. Continue Reading →

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