Nissan Versa Driven

Despite the fact that you put your complete trust in me, The Good Car Guy, to help develop your car opinions; assist in your vehicular decisions; and keep you up to date with all automotive abominations - you do need to drive cars for yourself.

Reading about cars, trucks, sport-utes, vans, and crossovers has helped me a great deal. As far as the Nissan Versa goes, however, other members of the auto press have let me down. They've laid out their impressions, performed their testing procedures, and offered them up for me to read. But, Nissan's latest small-car is better than what you and I have been led to believe.


Here's another but. The Versa is not better than expected in the way a BMW 335i exceeds expectations. It does not over-perform like a new Hyundai Veracruz. Nope. I was told the Versa was ugly, cheap, and boring. It is ugly. It is boring. But it isn't actually all that cheap. The BMW is even faster and smoother than expected. The Veracruz is even more luxurious and Lexus-like than you could have imagined. The Versa? Well, it's not nearly as chintzy you reckoned.


The Good Car Girl and I were scheduled for two trips to Prince Edward Island with departure dates from our home only eight days apart. The odometer of the Versa showed 748 kilometres upon return to the capital of Nova Scotia. The climate was dreadful - the Versa had little tanning opportunity on PEI beaches. Front and rear screen wipers were well tested. The rear wiper was particularly worthy of celebration.

Another positive which was unable to miss: Abundant space. In the front and rear passenger holds as well as the cargo bay, accessed via the rear hatch. Granted, this car - Nissan's small car in North America - is taller than Nissan's own midsize Altima. Space isn't everything, but do remember, Nissan's 'bigger' Sentra only offers four more cubic feet of interior space.

(In-car pics from northern Nova Scotia. Exterior - PEI.)


The Versa's 122 horsepower is class competitive, in a class that includes the Chevy Aveo, Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, Hyundai Accent, and Kia Rio. All of which are hundreds of pounds lighter. A typical on-ramp sequence goes like this: hyper throttle tip-in causes me to think we're accelerating quickly; I soon discover the 4-speed automatic transmission is sapping power as second gear slushes in; we are still approaching 80km/h at a decent pace; Christmas will come sooner than 110 km/h.


Put it this way. As compared to Yaris, Fit, et al; the extra torque and horsepower provided by Nissan's 1.8 litre four-cylinder is a nice benefit when accelerating from city stoplights. Once we arrive at a cruising highway clip though, 122 bhp being sent to the front wheels via a power-sapping automatic can't overcome 2700 pounds. So, the + is decent city acceleration. The big minus is pitiful highway passing power. Pitiful.

Back inside the car, most switches and controls impressed for such a low buck automobile. The steering wheel was one of the nicest in a sub $20K car I've ever experienced. Seating material is an initially impressive faux suedeish stuff. Initially impressive? Just. It looks expensive. But then friction causes your denim or khaki to cling to the junk when you simply wish to slightly rearrange your position. Insert *scream* here.

For a 5'2" female, the pedal positioning was apparently 'perfect'. Perfect, she said? Perfect? For a slightly taller-than-average male with size 11 shoes, pedal positioning was abysmal. The go-pedal was so close to the floor that only my toe could thrust the car forward. That's ankle twisting stuff. The brake pedal, in contrast to the throttle, was perched at a decent height. But it is so much closer to the driver than the gas that each switch from go to stop involved a thigh pullback on the ultra-cling seats. Place next *scream* here.

Screaming done. The off-ramp from the Trans-Canada towards the Dieppe Airport in New Brunswick was a wide, sweeping right hander which showed the true dynamic plight of the Versa. Understeer. What small front-driver doesn't understeer? There was some vibration coming through the wheel and pedals, but the flip side was a speck of feel. Feel? I thought I said this car was boring. And GCBC never attaches feel and boredom.

Feel is limited. The boredom stems from ugliness on the outside, the dark palette inside, the inability to quickly pass slow-moving traffic, and expected outside front wheel plowing. The Versa faces two strong competitors. Nissan's own Sentra is not too high up the pricing ladder and offers more 'prestige', if that's what you call that trait at this level. The Honda Fit is another surprisingly spacious small hatchback with stronger on-road dynamics.

The Versa is versatile. No doubt about that. It is also extremely capable in the daily grind of chores, errands, and commutes. Nevertheless, what do young; hip; urban; first-time buyers want? Fun. Nissan locked up the fun inside the 350Z.

NEWS FOR THE AUTO ENTHUSED

Once powerful, preeminent, and precious to many, the Ford Explorer now seems to be precious to nobody. At one time, not so long ago, Ford's midsize sport-ute was a perennial #3 on the American automotible sales charts.

Times they are a'changin'. Through the first five months of 2007, the Explorer has plummeted to #46. Want to hear more newsworthy statistics? There are no midsize SUV's in the top 20 and sales of vehicles like the Explorer, Chevrolet Trailblazer, and Toyota Highlander have dropped 43% since 1997.

J.D. Power says just 5% of American car and truck sales are midsize SUV's and only 17% of midsize SUV owners are trading in like-for-like. Although it may seem to you as though there are hulking SUV's everywhere, consumers aren't the only ones steering clear. Just two years ago there were 22 non-luxury midsize SUV's for sale, six more than at present......


The Volvo XC90 treasure hunt mentioned by The Good Car Guy on May 2nd has gone slightly awry. A Russian woman, Alana Zvereva, made her way through the online puzzles and real-life treasure hunt to win the competition, with a reward of the XC90 and $50,000 in gold coins. However, the company Volvo contracted to bury the treasure and coordinate the find near Gibraltar found a real treasure. The government of Spain put a stop to Odyssey Marine Exploration's efforts (as well as their Volvo work), thereby delaying Zvereva from collecting her prize - XC90 keys and her gold. Spanish authorities obviously deem themselves to be the owners of whatever is found at the bottom of their part of the ocean......


Ferrari is celebrating its 60th year in business. They've held the special concours, introduced a special 612 Scaglietti, donated $296,000 - by way of auctioning Ferrari memorabilia - to pediatric clinics around Modena, and created a new web TV station. Hip, and indeed, hooray.....

Tiger wasn't cutting it at Buick. The world's best golfer, Tiger Woods has been Buick's pitchman since 1999. He's set to earn about $8million more with General Motors before 2009, but will now be used in OnStar ads and other GM-wide advertising rather than linking solely with Buick. Although golfing is a hot ticket for Buick-driving geriatric Floridians, Tiger doesn't seem to jibe with that image. He's 31, married to a former model, and doesn't look right in a Buick Lucerne.....


Automakers are apparently ticked off at the US Senate for passing a bill requiring 35 mpg average for all cars and trucks. The much weaker present standards are 27.5 and 22.2 miles per gallon averages for cars and trucks respectively. Senators want this to be effective by 2020. I drove a Nissan Versa 468 miles on a test drive last weekend (read about it real soon on GCBC) and averaged 33.6 mpg. This is 2007.....

Honda vs. Volkswagen will be back soon. The Nissan Versa - Driven, will be on the front page in short order as well.

It was Explorers of this generation that sold so well

ODD LOGIC - Hummer, Jeep, Mazda, smart

Jeep and Hummer versus Mazda and smart. That kind of comparison sounds complicated, complex, convoluted even. Get this - we're not talking about the rumoured (in history) of the smart formore, nor are we discussing Jeep's baby Compass.

Nope. Not in the least. The purpose of the post is to see how great the contrast is between a Jeep Grand Cherokee, a Hummer H3, Mazda's 3 and the smart fortwo. Granted, we will talk about the Grand Cherokee diesel, the smart fortwo diesel, and the gasoline-powered editions of both the Mazda and Hummer.

Environmentalists would lead you to believe that SUV's are bringing down the planet. (They happen to be ignoring the airplanes they use to fly around the country so that they can tell you about the bad SUV's, but that's another story.) Meanwhile, there is no dearth of justifiers for sport-utes on the planet. Farmers, boat-towers, horse owners and many others will tell you that all the smart's and Prius' and hi-po Lexus limo hybrids will never save the world from its fever.

Isn't there some room in between the extremists? What about applying some bare-bones mathematics in order to answer the questions that arise. There are a number of issues that come to my mind; long after viewing the Energuide statistics or the EuroUnion CO2 figures. Here's a few of them:

• People mpg, or people litres/100km in the case of this post
• Combined effect on humanity. Ya can't blame one Hummer owner for creating the poor air quality my part of the world will suffer through today
• Quantifiable life-long usage facts

Driven in typical circumstances by an average driver in a normal climate, the Hummer H3 will use about 13.6 litres of fuel every time it drives 100 kilometers. Jeep's Grand Cherokee, when equipped with a diesel engine, will drink 10.5 litres of diesel fuel every time the vehicle travels 100 kilometres. A Mazda3? 7.3L/100km. smart's fortwo diesel will sip just 4.2L/100km.

Put another way, it would take about three smarts to use as much fuel as the Hummer. You could almost afford to fuel two Mazda3's for the cost of fueling your Hummer. Beyond that, diesel fuel is about 11 cents cheaper than regular gasoline in my city. The 600 km round trip I recently took to Prince Edward Island would have cost $64.89 CDN in the Grand Cherokee CRD. The Hummer H3 would have cost $92.20. Oh, my Mastercard would have been charged with a total of $25.96 in the smart fortwo. Ouch.

But there's more to it than that. If you think of peoplelitres/100km and filled the smart with two people, you're sipping at just 2.1PL/100km. The Hummer would fare much better if considered as a passenger-filled sport utility - per passenger the Hummer would use just 2.72 litres each. The Jeep would be the smart's equivalent and the Mazda would be even better, at just 1.46 litres each.

Does this mean the Sierra Group and the Green Party should love Hummers ? Maybe no. But full Hummer H3's are actually an efficient means of traveling. There's no denying that five people in a Hummer arrive at any destination in a more efficient manner than one person in his smart fortwo.

However, a Hummer which has never met its owners wife and kids is an awfully ineffective means of transportation.

Skew the debate to the smart's side, and things get ugly. Take five smart fortwo owners who love carpooling. They drive their buddies to work every day. The five Mazda 3 owners across the street can't stand the thought of someone else drinking coffee in their zoom-zoom machine, hence they travel alone. The roundtrip commute is 30 kilometres. All the smart's combined use just 6.3 litres to make the journey. The five Mazda's suck up 10.95 litres. The smart, remember, was being used as a carpooling machine, and therefore each person uses just .63 litres per day. Each single-passenger Mazda uses 2.19 litres each day.

This has little to do with real life, but it does show how quickly efficiency/economy/effectiveness can be altered by extra passengers. It also proves the depth of difference thousands of tiny cars can make when purchased instead of a regular small car.

That's enlightening. Now go check my math.

CAR DESIGN & PERSONAL PREFERENCES

"Everything in moderation", my big brother said to me a couple weeks back. He was talking about Coca-Cola, butter, and french fries in relation to his marathoner's body. By contextual realignment, let me apply his statement thus: there are some habits - design, styling, accessorizing - in the automotive world that are 'good in their own way', but when taken to an extreme..... not so much.

They are the expression of personal preference. They are used by manufacturers to spice up their model ranges. Extra aggression, added luxury, image enhancing. But automakers forget the lesson, "Everything in moderation." And it appears that automakers as a whole, simply represented here by Jaguar; Subaru; Ford; and Hyundai - are losing the plot. When reading about car design and car designers the last number of years, words like minamilism, clean, untouched keep popping up. Phrases like, let the lines carry the design.

Put another way: there's no need for extras on every part of the body to convince people the car looks good. Here's a few examples of the trend. Remember, these cars are simply representative of a growing theme. They happen to be cars I am somewhat fond of.

Jaguar's 'gorgeous' new XK coupe and convertible are indeed handsome cats. Interestingly enough, upon the debut of the new XK, chief designer Ian Callum said that the XK really shouldn't be chosen with the wood interior finish. The aluminum was a far better choice. Wood may have its place. Aston Martin makes good use of it inside the DB9. The Chevrolet Corvette actually balsa wood in the floor where you can't see. However, you're stretching the idea when you consider that competing cars include ultra-modern cars like the Porsche 911, BMW 6-series, and Maserati GranTurismo. If the public already thinks you're stuck in the past, Jag.... offer aluminum only.

(Click the pictures for a larger view)

Subaru has long traded in the rally-car-for-the-road feel of the Subaru Impreza. Over the last short number of years the Impreza has gone through numerous styling changes. There has been one constant: the large rear wing. Most every STi features some appendage you could lay out and sunbathe on. Rarely would you see a WRX without a similarly broad, but much more discreet wing. To pull off the WRC look, one needs an F15 landing deck. Understandable. But when people ask the VW dealer to equip their Jetta likewise - please. The latest Civic sedan has such clean and eye-catching lines. Please resist. Some do not.

Go-faster stripes don't work. There is an unproved theory that go-faster stripes are actually go-slower stripes. That heavy extra coat of paint or hefty layer of stickers can't assist acceleration times, can it? I dare say it may not. Stripes and all other such extra paint applications do a fair job at making a modern F1 car look like a modern F1 car. Ugly, that is. (I'm trying to continue with the 'moderation' theme, but I'm struggling to discover the proper application of the dreaded stripes.) Regardless, somewhere out there - on Ford GT's and Shelby Mustangs for two - stripes belong. On the performance version of Ford's own Fiesta? No thanks.

A car does not possess big wheels without also ascertaining big tires. A larger diameter in your wheel/tire combo will have the effect of maximizing your contact patch with the road. A tire of the same width will have greater contact with the road if the diameter of the tire grows. Typically, though, as diameter goes so goes width. Added width increases this effect. As diameters increase, so must the profile of the tire decrease. The profile of the tire is the width of the actual band you see between wheel and fender. As the profile decreases, so your contact patch increases. Increasing contact patch increases the grip your tire has on the road, thereby aiding handling.

This simple science has given rappers; tuners; Hummer drivers who never go off-road; and even the typical consumer the impression that big wheels are a must. Plus they look good. Problem #1 is added weight vs. acceleration. Upsizing two inches on a Civic-sized car will inevitably deteriorate your drag strip times. Problem #2 is added weight vs. handling. The weight you're adding happens to be added right where you don't want extra mass. Your dubs are as unsprung as your sixteen's, and therefore producing exaggerated impacts and dull turn-in. However, they do look good. They draw the eye. And big wheels can be done tastefully, even on a tiny car like this Hyundai Accent.

Land Rover LR3 Driven

Priced a handsome $40,000 less than its stablemate, the Range Rover, Land Rover's LR3 impresses right off with it's heritage. This is the maker that brought the Defender and the aforementioned Range to market; not to mention the Discovery, which has been superseded by the LR3. A heritage of what, you ask? Off-roading, my friend. No silly soft-roaders these, not cute-utes, not simply made for climbing a curb in the urban jungle, but to take you and your's through the Sahara and down the shores of the Amazon. Since it's a Land Rover, you can count on at least some measure of tough-terrain alacrity. And with the LR3, Land Rover has made a vehicle with off-road skills and limits far greater than the skills you will drive it with and limits you will drive it to.



But what's this? A Landie that copes with a twisting road? It can't be. Well, the Range Rover and Freelander started the trend, the LR3 continues it, and the Range Rover Sport takes it to a whole 'nuther level. Not an out-and-out sporty SUV a la Infiniti FX, BMW X5, and Porsche Cayenne, but simply capable on road, something that was not frequently said of the previous Discovery, with its odd wheelbase/track width/height proportions. I was surprised at how little body roll there was in the LR3, but far more impressed with the high-speed stability. It's easy to think you're putting along, when you're actually flying.

This Land Rover has good on-road manners, the hefty weight is felt; but controlled and managed. I wouldn't really need a whole lot more power, a request for more but not a demand. The LR3 is not slow. The 4.4L works smoothly and somewhat quietly. There's a good firm brake pedal and weighty steering that is naturally not feelsome. Moving inside, you'll feel quality switches, like the control stalks and rubberized volume button. The only interior part that doesn't support this claim is the shifter gate, which is nonetheless modern. Even the blinker noise sounds exactly as you would expect in a Land Rover.

They've thought of everything, much of which I don't have room to tell you, suffice to say that the key fob can survive under water, the two-peice tailgate curves to allow you to reach in, and well.... every piece of metal and plastic was first considered, then produced.

Perhaps the niftiest feature in the LR3 is the Terrain Response system . Select your mode of driving from five options: on-road, snow, mud, sand or rocks, and the TR will calibrate the differentials, throttle mapping, and any other electronic doo-dad to the optimal setting. Land Rover has done extensive testing so that the thresholds for each setting will keep you safe and secure. Even if you don't do any serious rock-crawling, Land Rover has still set up the vehicle to be the safest and most capable it can be when you select your type of road. And it's easy; just turn the knob, no computers to sort through at all. That being the case, the only thing I adjusted in my light-duty off-roading was the adjustable ride height feature of the air suspension, which allowed me more leeway when traversing a particularly large dip near the indoor soccer field on the Mainland Commons.

I've heard it said that the LR3 doesn't offer the upscale luxury ambience the Range Rover does. Considering the price gap, I wonder what people expect. The cheaper brother does well. There are two fixed glass roof sections for the rearmost rows, and a normal sunroof for those in the front. Seating is stadium style as you move to the rear, allowing both the second row and third a better view. Optionally, a navigation system allows you to find your way back off-road when there are no maps by leaving Hansel and Grettle-like droppings along your route. (Land Rover calls them waypoints.) A stereo system by harmon kardon is specially tuned to the acoustics in the Land Rover. From 9 to 13 speakers, 240 to 550 watts, a 6-CD changer and input capability for your iPod, this is indeed specially tuned. Naturally there's power everything and lots of leather, and if you're used to a Discovery, you'll like the space in the LR3.


In the end, how do I characterize the LR3? (See important link here)Well, it's far more than an off-roader, and with its boxy industrial look it carries on well from the Disco, with a 300 bhp V8 it moves along alright, and it handles pretty much any road you throw at it with poise. But whereas the Discovery, often due to faults, had such character; and where the Range Rover has such character because of its position atop the SUV elite, the Land Rover LR3 stands out for another reason. Yes, it is a Land Rover through and through, but it is the all around competence that characterizes the vehicle and thus wins me over. (I SAID, see important link here)

INTEGRA MEMORIAL - RIP

Acura was introduced to me in 1986. Some readers would know how many years had passed between my birth and 1986 and laugh mockingly. Others would know that even in those few short years it had been impressed on me that I should learn about cars. So I knew what an Acura was.

Acura Integra's seemed a worthy real-life dream car to a young boy. A Porsche poster on the wall, a Lamborghini calendar.... but an Acura Integra would do just fine, thanks. Time moved on; junior high school; and newer and better versions of the Integra. GS-R. Lovely title. Type-R. That's evocative.

I've driven a few. The final generation switched names. RSX had so much less sway with me despite the fact that it really was a natural progression. The biggest loss was steering feel; the biggest gain was made in maturity.

Trolling through automotive websites this morning revealed something to me that I already knew. The Integra is gone. The RSX has gone up to that racetrack in the sky with Plymouth's Barracuda, the Honda Prelude, and all good incarnations of the Toyota Supra.

In memoriam, I post an article written about the final Acura RSX Type-S which originally appeared elsewhere a couple years ago. Integra - I salute you.

ARE YOU A TYPE-S PERSONALITY?

You may not be familiar with the statistic of horsepower per litre. Nevertheless, the figure achieved by Acura’s new $33,000 RSX Type-S of 105 bhp per litre approaches that of even Ferrari’s new F430 supercar in all its high-revving 483 prancing-horse glory. Is this important to you? Whether it is or not, the feat of engineering achieved in this sporty two-door by Acura’s parent Honda, is worthy of praise.

So with a 210 bhp 2.0L engine - up ten bhp from last year due to a super-light camshaft from the old Integra Type-R - paired exclusively to a 6-speed manual transmission driving the front wheels, you may wonder with what sporting cars this Acura competes. The Toyota Celica is soon to be out of production and the Hyundai Tiburon is a successful entry from Korea. But interestingly enough, right in the family fold we find the Honda Accord EX-V6 MT on sale for about $1,300 more than the Type-S; offering 30 extra horses; and basically standing toe to toe equipment wise. So why would you buy the Acura?

Consider the changes that differentiate the ‘05 Type-S from the ‘04: lowered and stiffened suspension for youthful consumers, more conservative front and rear fascias for the more “experienced” buyers, deeper ground effects and a small lip spoiler, a slightly altered interior that features new gauges and more heavily bolstered seats, and of course, the aforementioned extra 10 bhp. Lest we forget, Acura’s trademark of no available options produces this fully loaded 2-door.

The key therefore, when comparing with the Accord, is that stiffened suspension. Certainly the Accord handles, but it’s handling is suited more to the older, less hard-core buyer, whereas the Type-S is seeking out younger drivers. As well, the Accord is available without that “MT” suffix, meaning, an automatic is standard EX fare. For you to get a self-shifter in the RSX, you need to forego the Type-S model.

25 year-old Adam Durling is one young man who loves the RSX. And that he should, being a salesperson for Atlantic Acura. “We likely have one of the smallest remaining inventories in the city,” Adam tells me, “We sell what we get with no problem.”

Unfortunately for Atlantic Acura, they are based on the busy Bedford Highway, so when Adam and I exited the dealership we directed ourselves right to Joseph Howe Dr. and the Bi-Hi instead of left to some of my favoured proving grounds. The Acura still proved its power early on in my drive, especially if I increased revs heartily. Low-down power belies the model’s torque figure of only 143 lbs-ft. My only criticism of this high-tech engine is that to succeed in fully enjoying its full capacity and its noisemaking, it needs to be wound out thoroughly. Unlike the Accord which features far more torque. Handling is very impressive for a front-wheel drive car, marred only by the stiff ride of the Type-S and somewhat numb steering. It should not be ignored that there are three RSX models below the Type-S, all featuring a more comfortable ride, albeit with only 160 bhp and less equipment in some cases. These three models - base RSX, RSX Premium, and RSX Premium with leather - account for 80% of RSX sales at Atlantic Acura due to their substantially lower stickers.

Interior features are abundant on the Type-S, proving this is not simply a sporty car, but a sporty car with a dose of luxury. Automatic climate control, Bose 6-speaker stereo system with a subwoofer and a 6-CD changer, cruise control, leather seating, and a power sunroof are all standard equipment. Interior quality is, at the least, what you would expect from a Honda product; at the most, it will exceed your expectations with its solid door thunk and nicely weighted controls. Also, despite the rear seats paucity of space, this small hatchback includes a spacious cargo area which transitions to cavernous when the seats are folded down; a characteristic most true coupes would not offer. One advantage of the small capacity engine in the Type-S is the potential for 40 miles per gallon , aided by i-VTEC, a common feature on Honda/Acura engines these days.

It’s important before a vehicle purchase to consider what type of buyer you really are. If, for instance, you are a performance-oriented buyer, you will likely have to spend more than $33,000 to have a more capable all-around accelerator and handler than the Acura RSX Type-S.

THE WEEK THAT WAS

As a medium-strength summer flu struck me down, I reminisced about the happenings in automobiledom over the second full week of June 2007. What will it be remembered for?

Hyundai's second-generation Santa Fe has been placed on the list of 'Top Safety Picks' by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The tests performed on the Santa Fe by the IIHS are different from NHTSA, with front and side impacts as well a test which measures whiplash protection. Electronic Stability Control is a must in the sight of this institute, which is funded by insurance companies themselves.....


The completely revived company known as Aston Martin - formerly a decades-long money loser - is becoming a mainstay in endurance and sports car racing. Work to change the DB9 into the DBR9 was contracted out to Prodrive; a company that since found itself as part of Aston Martin's ownership group. Bigger news has been heard emanating from Gaydon this week, however. The V8 Vantage racer known as 'N24' will be offered to British car consumers. At a cost. Of almost $200K. The racing version of one of the world's most beautiful automobiles has a 30 extra horsepower, adjustable suspension, a roll cage to clearly mark the car out as, hmm, slightly different. The diet foisted upon the smallest Aston has dropped its weight to just 2,930 pounds. Britian's SVA system makes the sale of this car possible, thru the addition to the race car of a hand brake, license plate lights, revised exhaust, and a steering column lock. This car is basically the equivalent of a roadgoing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, a car which does not exist.....

Hopefully this news won't crush your dreams: if you're still contemplating over your Bentley Brooklands vs. house conundrum, stick with the house. Deliveries of Bentley's biggest and boldest won't begin until next year but the first year's production of the hand-built; 530bhp; 184mph; 774 lb ft torque monster is sold out. Sorry to break it to you - you just didn't put your name on that waiting list soon enough.....

By the end of this decade Hyundai hopes to sell a hybrid version of the Avante/Elantra in Korea. Gasoline will not fuel this hybrid though. Aiding the electric motor will be liquefied petroleum gas....

The Japanese giant has declared that a system known as Valvematic, developed by Toyota itself, will improve efficiency by 5-10 percent while reducing CO2 emissions and adding a dose of horsepower. And get this - Toyota did not connect this news with the h-word. They used phrases like, 'the gasoline engine', and 'while conventional engines', and even dared to talk about 'dynamic performance'. Basically, Toyota said, the system 'adjusts the volume of air taken in by continuously controlling the intake valve lift volume and timing of valve opening and closing'. Many an automotive engineer has proclaimed that there is plenty of life left in the internal combustion gasoline engine. Toyota plans to overhaul its whole gasoline and transmission lineup within the next few years. Meanwhile, the introduction of the next Prius has been pushed back to the spring of 2009. Matsushita Electric, a working partner with Toyota, is attempting to forge ahead with a lithium-ion battery rather than the nickel-metal-hydride, but safety concerns induced a holdup......

Finally, will Lewis Hamilton make you think about watching Formula 1 racing this year? Perhaps Indianapolis tomorrow? The rookie has been on the podium for the first six races of his career. He won his first ever race in Montreal last Sunday. However, he is just 22 years old, and I ask myself why my driving skill did not develop as quickly Mr. Hamilton's?

SURVEY SAYS....

Harbour Consulting may not strike you as familiar right from the off, but J.D. Power may well carry some sway in your books. Research completed by Harbour shows that - surprise - Toyota was the most efficient automaker, circa 2006, in North America. Ford's performance was not so stellar, but did show improvement compared with 2005.

J.D. Power's Initial Quality Survey should never play a large role in car-buying decisions, but when used as a tool to compare Ford with Ford, or BMW with BMW, or Land Rover with Land Rover year over year, Initial Quality stats carry meaning. People, especially automotive sales consultants, are tempted to ignore the 'Initial' part of the title, and hang their coats on this survey rather than long-term reliability and dependability.

Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler all proved themselves to be improved in the year 2006. In North America; Toyota can build a vehicle in 29.93 labour hours. General Motors needs just 32.26, while DaimlerChrysler required 32.9 hours. Nissan fared almost as well as Toyota; better than Japanese headquartered Honda; at just 29.97. Honda's automobiles are paragons of efficiency, and the manufacturing of said vehicles would not need much improvement to rank at the top. 31.63 labour hours is not too shabby.

Ignore all extra costs related to extended build times bar employee wages; and one can easily see a big reason for Ford's dreary financial statements. Although 35.1 labour hours per vehicle in 2006 is better than their 2005 average, it ain't that much better. If all that mattered was worker cost, and if a worker cost just $20/hr, Ford would still pay out $103.40 more per vehicle than Toyota. There's hundreds of millions of $ being thrown around simply because of lax efficiency standards. In reality, says Harbour Consulting, the gap between the best (Toyota) and the worst (Ford) is 2.16 labour hours narrower than it was in 2005, but the actual cost per vehicle caught in that gap is around $300.00. Ouch.

Ford makes up for that dreadful news in the J.D. Power study. JDP depends on the reporting of manufacturing defects and design problems by automobile owners. Ford/Lincoln/Mercury owners are quite impressed with their vehicles in the first 90 days of ownership. The Mustang is the most problem free midsize sporty car. Mercury and Lincoln Fusionalikes, the Milan and MKZ, ranked as the best midsized car and best entry premium car. Lincoln's luxed-up F150 pickup, the Mark LT, was the top ranked SUV, and the oh-so-famous Mazda roadster, MX-5 Miata, came in at #1 in the compact sporty car category.

Jaguar was at one time infamous for electrical glitches and blown gaskets. Now, at least over the first 90 days of ownership, Jaguars are as trouble free as Toyotas. Porsche ranked at the top of the list for overall brands. Ford-owned SUV maker Land Rover was the most-improved brand, while still finishing a conspicuous l-a-s-t. Queen Elizabeth has never seemed to mind the fact that her fave sport-utes have 1.7 problems per vehicle. Granted, I've never seen a shot of Prince Philip helping his wife out of the back seat of a Porsche, a brand which suffers just 90 problems per 100 vehicles, or 0.9 per car. Perhaps then the Land Rover would not seem so dependable.

In individual categories winners included: Kia Rio, Honda Civic, Mazda MX-5, Porsche Boxster, Lincoln MKZ, Mercedes E-class, Audi A8/Benz S-class, M-B SL-class, Ford Mustang, Mercury Milan, Pontiac Grand Prix, Honda CR-V, Toyota 4Runner, Toyota Sequoia, Lexus RX, Lincoln Mark LT, Chevrolet Silverado Classic HD, Toyota Tacoma, and Chevrolet Express.

Translated, Kia Rios give owners less trouble in the first 90 days than would an Echo/Yaris from Toyota. Interesting.

REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY

Favouritism is not a healthy kind of thing. However, apart from and outside of my traditional, respectful, and unbiased journalism... I play favourites. And one of my favourites is Subaru. Subaru goes their own way, and I like that.

But this once; just this once, I need to pick on Subaru. Only as an example of a wider trend in the automotive world; only as a major caterer to consumer excess . This problem is not endemic to Subaru or its engineers. Nevertheless, their first SUV supplies fodder for my complaints as well as anything else on the road.

Subaru's B9 Tribeca, a shot of which you see above, has been superseded by the Subaru Tribeca. No B9; no aero-inspired nose; and no complete lack of power. In other words, you now have a more traditionally named vehicle with a more conservative nose and a touch more zip.

Incidentally, the touch more zip comes with no extra sip. Subaru has upped the size of its flat-six engine (horizontally opposed cylinders, 'boxer' style, like a Porsche) from 3.0L to 3.6L, thereby increasing horsepower by eleven and torque by 32 lb-ft. This all adds up to a trucklet which does not offend with its snout - while also not standing out - and happens to offer no increasing offense to the green crowd because it uses no more fuel than its smaller engined, less powerful predecessor. Phew, long explanation.

What's the problem? There's no problem, per se. A slight conundrum. If automotive engineers, at Subaru and every other car company, are capable of making bigger; more powerful engines with identical fuel economy to smaller; weaker engines - does that not mean that the reverse should also be true? Make similarly sized engines; equal in force, with better efficiency?

Seems possible. Fueleconomy.gov shows the '07 B9 Tribeca with the exact same city/highway ratings as the '08 Tribeca. 16 city/21 highway for a combined 18 US mpg. The 2008 is approximately 600cc bigger in the engine bay. Had Subaru kept the size down and applied the same technology and mechanical know-how, how would the '08 be rated at Fueleconomy.gov?

But we consumers would have none of that. While we all suggest that car makers and oil producers are kissing cousins, we also request more power. More power is one very good way to consume more fuel. Try it with your electricity company - turn on all your lights 24/7 for one month and watch your bill rise. Subaru has given us what we want - more horses under the hood with better efficiency. Yes, better efficiency. Think about it.

Run ten work horses around your farm for one hour. At the end your horses will want to drink. Let's guess sixteen gallons of water. If you found another group of horses, thirteen strong, which could run around your farm in just 3/4 of an hour, finishing all the work your previous batch of horses completed, drinking the same sixteen gallons of water the previous batch did, would you prefer them? Of course. They're more efficient. They drink the same amount, but do everything faster. Likewise the new Tribeca.

You thought I would condemn Subaru. Nah, they're just supplying North America with the vehicle North Americans want. Is it time for more fuel efficient cars and trucks? Yes. But we still want our power; society's willingness to sacrifice has not hit the automotive mainstream yet. We can't blame Subaru for giving car buyers exactly what they requested, even if Fueleconomy.gov had little to update on their Subie page.

GETAWAY IN THE PT CRUISER

Apart from our first day's drive through Shenandoah, and even during that drive, we'd been constricted by varying degrees of heavy traffic. It was time to breakaway.

The PT Cruiser was serving us well, and we could already see that the gas gauge (skewed though they all may be) was behaving friendly. On Wednesday, May the 23rd we checked out of our hotel in Chantilly and made a beeline for Leesburg, Virginia. Leesburg Corner Premium Outlets was a must see - and must buy - during our 12-day vacation. We resisted the urge to spend like crazy, and during a long trot back to the PT we were grateful we hadn't. Unseasonably warm temperatures made lugging a dehydrating experience, and so we were once again appreciative of the Chrysler's good air-con system.

PT Cruiser's MSRP's begin at a notch over $15,000 in the States, a speck over $20K in Canada. The engine room holds a 150bhp 4-cylinder that really should make more power, considering its size, but it does punch out healthy torque. 165 lb-ft right in the midrange at 4000rpm. At the bare-bones pricing you ought to expect a bare-bones vehicle, because a bare-bones vehicle is what you'll be getting. Considering you're at the price of a fully-equipped Honda Fit, power windows and AM/FM/CD aren't overwhelmingly convincing pieces of equipment. Cruiser's have never been considered luxury vehicles, though. Spacious style statements, yes, luxury cars, no. Most switches and knobs for such practical things like folding seats and door handles are where you'd expect them to be located, and regardless of your perch; you will have space.

All of this is noted because from Leesburg we had a bit of a drive. After passing through Maryland we were soon in Gettysburg, home to the most momentous Civil War battle of them all. From Gettysburg we traveled to Pittsburgh on a mixture of fun, impressive roads and turnpike. Uck, turnpike.

We were welcomed onto the Penn Turnpike by wailing sirens. Siren sound derived from a bunch of emergency vehicles heading for the site of six tractor trailers piled up. I don't mean to sound insensitive or cold, but truck drivers on the pike drive with high levels of aggression, impatience, and disregard for dangerous situations. Bumper-to-bumper when traffic is light, bumper-to-bumper when traffic is heavy. They're frequently cruising at higher speeds than the rest of the car traffic. In retrospect, the six trucks piled up was not surprising whatsoever.

Highway '30' from Gettysburg leading to the turnpike station in Breezewood was epic. Spiraling downward hundreds of metres, little-to-no-traffic, and quaint homes everywhere we looked. The town of Chambersburg fit the all-American image to a T. We had a few short minutes in the Fort Loudon forest, which did not fail to impress us with the thickness of its trees and eye-opening surroundings. (I had a Benadryl in me, it takes something to fully open one's eyes when Benadryled up.)

Chambersburg Road, Lincoln Highway, Highway 30... whatever name you use for that road, I suggest you travel it when given the opportunity. Chrysler PT Cruiser not required, and maybe not even suggested. Perhaps the use of a turbo would help, as in the GT. The convertible Cruiser would do fine, too. Some aspects of the road truly inspired roof-down moments.

Top right - most roads surrounding main battlefields in Gettysburg
will lead to Highway 30. Above, wish there was more time for the PT Cruiser to be
parked in front of La Bella Italia, the must-eat location in Gettysburg.

D.C. RUSH HOUR - VIA PT CRUISER

Leaving the District of Columbia, it seems to take quite some time to rid yourself of 'city', regardless of what direction you're traveling. Driving in to Washington offers up the reverse scenario - you may be far from the capital, but you're in 'city' and will not lack that surrounding until you arrive at your destination.

In our case the destination was the Smithsonian Metrorail station, although we used the Metro Center station (just two stops prior) the next trip into Washington. The thought of negotiating National Capital Region traffic all the way from Chantilly, Virginia to the downtown core of the nation's capital does not frighten me. It sickens me.

Sitting in a car for an extended period of time is what I make a career of - but I believe the car should be moving. There were periods of the drive where traffic seemed to disappear. During mass exodus to the off-ramp number one I thought we were home free to the Vienna/Fairfax Metrorail station.

I was wrong.

There was a mass exodus to the off-ramp, but there was also a mass in-gathering at the on-ramp, which was frequently a 3/4 mile appendage. Sitting still resumed. The PT Cruiser was both an utter disaster and complete joy during this stagnant activity. The former; due to its poor radio reception. Each radio station lasted about 1/4 mile, before I resumed the search for another station. The search usually lasted about 1/2 mile. Complete joy; the air-con was a powerful thing and the seats never caused an ache. It's a pain to achieve zero miles per gallon guzzled, but the overall figure of 30mpg (US) over the duration of the trip made up for those six trips to the station and back.

I eventually discovered that we were eligible for the left-most lane on the major highways. The left-most is not there for vehicles passing (ha!) but is actually designated as the HOV lane. In my line of work, HOV stands for high-output vehicles. But I did not see a single Corvette Zo6, Dodge Ram SRT-10 or any other American muscle cruise the HOV lane.

I realized that the vehicles I was looking for weren't really high-output by specific definition. Corvettes actually have a very low specific output - plenty of power, but its all derived from a massive powerplant. A BMW M3 or Honda S2000 would be more fitting in the HOV lane.

I saw neither.

So it made then made sense to me that HOV applies to Huge Obedient Virginians, of which there are many. Realizing that this classification would be difficult for police to patrol since I myself could not always tell which lane occupier was obedient, I devalued this possible explanation.

Just joking. HOV lanes are for high occupancy vehicles. Hybrids are also permitted access. Unfortunately, cheaters abound. Nothing can stop you from signaling, or just cutting someone off. Lone drivers were frequent abusers. In most areas the lane was faster moving, but it was not an uncommon site to see HOV users struggle in their quest for the right-most lane to the off-ramps.

The hybrid glorification is, and always has been, a bit odd. Your dentist's Lexus GS450h is listed as a 23mpg vehicle by www.fueleconomy.gov, but your friend's Mazda3 hatchback is a 25mpg vehicle. They're equally efficient in the city, but the Lexus uses premium fuel. The Lexus puts out 0.7 tons of extra greenhouses gases every year compared with the Mazda, would be wasting more interior space when inhabited by only one person, and is only two notches better on one Air Pollution Score; worse on another.

Yet the Lexus roams freely in the high-occupancy vehicles lane while the Mazda3 and many like it are restricted. Common sense, anyone? Can I sell you some logic? Could I offer you, Gov. Tim Kaine and Mayor Fenty, a complimentary dose of rationale?

Two Chantilly departure times, separated by only 25 minutes, resulted in a doubling of our travel time to the Vienna/Fairfax station. Much of the extra 20 minutes was sitting on the off-ramp leading to the station's parking garage. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority trains are ugly on the outside and move like a large boat on high seas. The advantage, of course, is precise timing. There were no HOV lanes underground, no aggressive dump truck drivers. If my memory serves us correct, we sat in two traffic jams near Foggy Bottom with a total-time-wasted of about 28 seconds. Not bad. Traveling the trains wasn't cheap, $30 for two of us for just four individual trips. Parking was priced nicely, at just $3.75 a day. Better than that was the simple availability of parking. Don't try parking in D.C. at this time of year. Discouragement ensues after discovering the constant blockading of streets at sundry times; expense; and general frustration.

Leading to the station, multitudes of Porsches made me take notice. The 911 has lost its exclusivity. Once in Washington, Grand Marquis, large Cadillacs, and Suburbans take centre stage. As expected.

AMERICAN SENSIBILITIES - THRU PT'S WINDOW

Genuine confusion reigned. During the week leading up to Saturday, May 19th, CNN was all over the rising gas prices; the alleged price gouging; and the awful timing of soon-coming Memorial Day weekend.

As you might guess, I'm a frequent reader of American automotive media. I follow the sales statistics and talk to some Americans as well. So why are Suburbans, Escalades, GX470's, Expeditions, Durangos, 4Runner's, Pathfinders, and Navigators all cruising by our PT Cruiser 15 mph over the speed limit? And don't you answer, "Because if they can afford those vehicles they can afford the fuel." The driver of a 7-year old black Expedition is not so rich that he can perpetually cruise at 130kmh all day, every day.



A more serious questions I asked The Good Car Girl was, "Why do the people with the fuel efficient vehicles, such as hybrids and maxi city cars, follow the same practice?" Shouldn't they know better? Perhaps the issue is just that: they do not know better. Perhaps Americans are unaware that their complaints do not match up with their behaviour. Realizing that there is a fuel 'crisis' and that you have a 15mpg truck does not mean you must turn that 15mpg truck into a 12mpg truck. For every 10kmh over 100, you use about 10% more fuel.

During the Democrats debate last night, most candidates were asked what they would do now to lower fuel prices. Lower? Lower? Americans do not grasp the magnitude of their comfortable situation. Our driving through Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania cost us $92.00 in the United States, but would have cost $142.00 here in my hometown. At current exchange rates, the figure would still reflect the price disparity in fuel. That $142 CDN is about $135 USD.

So why are they complaining so viciously? Complaints at least as viciously as our's, and likely a bit more whiny. I was under the impression that US consumers were beginning to 'buy small'. Through those facts we must also remember the vehicles already on the road. Leading up to Hurricane Katrina, and even after, car buyers were purchasing/leasing record numbers of large SUV's and trucks. Those vehicles don't suddenly disappear during a fuel 'crisis' when some buyers begin trading in for smaller vehicles.

The step-down approach to Canadian car buying has always intrigued me. Whereas Camry and Accord dominate sales in the USA - Civic, Corolla, and Mazda3 do so here. So when American consumers wish to make a conscious conservation effort, they step down a level to the Civic or Corolla at the same time as Canadian buyers cry out for more cars like the Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris.

It actually took us by surprise on Shadyside Avenue in Pittsburgh. 'It' being a Honda Fit. Was everybody in Virginia and Washington keeping them in their garages? I could understand why the Yaris' were missing. Yaris buyers would be quite prone to purchasing a Scion xB, and buy them they do.

The American fascination with the SUV has not been lost on me; I've lived there. Canadians have a connection with the sport-ute as well, but clearly aren't so passionate. What awed me was the speed at which the SUV's travel, the number of large SUV's with only one human aboard, and the number of SUV's still dominating the landscape. As of May 2007 Americans did not have mainstream access to smart fortwo's, but I still expected to see a larger contingent of small vehicles. Yet small cars failed to appear before my eyes. Canadians love their CR-V's; Rav4's; Tuscon's; and Escapes. Americans love their Pilots, Highlanders, Veracruz's, and Edges.
I deem nobody as stupid, but I'm not against accusing people of being annoying. Analyze this for a second.

You know those people who walk to the fridge; open the door; see tons of food; and say, "I'm hungry. But there isn't really anything I want." Those people are complaining about a situation that is actually catering to them. All you have to do is take the bread, meat, mustard, and pickles and make a sandwich. Kind of like people who could simply slow down a notch, trade-in to something smaller, and walk to the convenience store but instead say, "Gas is way too expensive, they're gouging me; and this shouldn't be a free market. At least not when it comes to gas."

It's starting to bother me. You're willing to pay for it - you keep paying for it - you will not stop paying for it - why should they lower the price for people who continue to buy gas even as they raise the price? And if you can't - since you can't; do anything about the prices, why not change your behaviour?

I believe that east-coast Canadians are beginning to change their behaviour. However, many people in the mid-Atlantic states, especially Virginia, are not changing a thing. And before you ask how we drive, consider this: Fueleconomy.gov says a Chrysler PT Cruiser like the one we drove will achieve 19 mpg in the city, 24 on the highway. After 950 miles, we used a gallon every 30 miles.