Fiat 500 vs Mini Cooper vs Volkswagen Beetle - Old And New

With the introduction of the Nuova Fiat 500 to North America three European nations have reincarnated their iconic cars for a new era. Naturally, this means France must do something to refresh the look and feel and architecture of the Citroen 2CV. The 2011 Fiat 500 is a little too cheap to be a direct competitor for the Mini Cooper and far too cool to be a direct competitor for the Volkswagen New Beetle. 

Tiny, but not too small, the Fiat 500 - or Cinquecento Nuova in Italian - will be a highly efficient and fun-to-drive remake of the original 1950s Cinquecento, the car which put Italy on wheels by moving the game on from the handsome Fiat 500 Topolino. Of course, like the Volkswagen Type 1 Beetle, the old 500 was rear-engined. Both the new 500 and the New Beetle are front-engined, front-wheel drive hatchbacks, leaving the rear-engined market to the smart fortwo and Porsche 911. As for the fascimile quotient, the new Fiat 500 really is a spectacular-looking machine. Not as delicate as the original, the latest 500 does modernize in all the right places while maintaining the alluring shape.

BMW has been able to keep demand alive for the modern Mini Cooper by continually adding new models and attempting to make sure potential owners realize their car need not look like any other new Mini on the road. The second-generation new Mini gained girth in all the wrong places. Thus, there is no doubt that 50 years from now the first-gen replacement for the Issigonis-designed Mini will be more collectable. But even though Mini's facsimile quotient is tremendously high, the new Mini has always been able to do what the Volkswagen New Beetle couldn't: remain cool. 

Although it may not seem like it now, the Volkswagen New Beetle was a hot ticket when it first arrived in North America back in the late 90s. If we're to be honest, we'll all admit the popularity of the 1998 Volkswagen New Beetle stemmed mainly from the obsession many had with the original Type 1 Beetle of decades past. The New Beetle wasn't - and isn't - as practical as the Mk4 Volkswagen Golf on which it's based; nor was it a sportier or faster or cheaper alternative. No, the Volkswagen New Beetle was and is a fashion purchase. Volkswagen sold 55,842 New Beetles in America in 1998. Far less successful now, the New Beetle still manages to put up decent numbers: 730 in the U.S. in October; 15,477 in 2010 through Hallowe'en. Comparing the style of the New Beetle with the original isn't a flattering experience for the newer car. Overly bulbous, the New Beetle's design works too hard to be cheerful. The original Type 1 Beetle just was a happy-go-lucky car, no effort required. That said, the facsimile quotient is very high.

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Audi RS5 vs BMW M3 vs Mercedes C63 AMG vs Lexus ISF in evo Issue 151

Brit auto enthusiast magazine evo tested two V8 coupes and two V8 sedans - all directly comparable - for issue 151. The whole issue, in fact, was obsessed with speed, so a comparison test with an average horsepower output of 439 seemed fitting. As you'd expect, evo's editors favoured the BMW M3 Competition, but the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG was well-loved. Surprisingly, the 2011 Lexus ISF has always been well-received by evo, surprising if only because Lexus has really only ever attempted to do hardcore sportiness twice; once with this car and once with the Lexus LFA. Placing fourth in a comparison test of four cars isn't flattering, but the 2011 Audi RS5 was lauded for its engine and terrific build quality.

More curious than the RS5's last-place finish in the road test was its first-place finish on the Bedford Autodrome's West Circuit. Besting the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG by about two seconds on a short "1.8 miles of fast and technical tarmac" isn't easy for a less-powerful car. Moreover, beating the 2011 BMW M3 Competition (Frozen Gray, remember?), even by a tenth of a second, is equal to usurping the Crown.

But hold on one second. The text of evo's laptime article, written by Roger Green, is consequential. Words like, "It's last, by a long way", from John Barker's comparison test fade into the background as Green complements the Audi RS5's brakes and transmission and its speed through O'Rouge and Tower corners. But Green also states that the RS5 cedes poise and fluidity to lateral grip and traction, that it lacks adjustability and is slow through hairpin turns because of the heavy front end.

With the Lexus and Mercedes-Benz bagged, the BMW M3 Competition's "balance is just so", the steering said to be best-in-test, and the sort of adjustability and grip "that means you never need miss an apex." So how did the very fast and very capable BMW M3 fail to lap faster than the Audi RS5? Blame it on brakes.

Ah, but hasn't BMW been keen to improve the brakes of their M-badged cars of late? Indeed, but these brakes are fitted to the hard-driven evo long-term M3. They were fading on lap one. evo has lapped a BMW M3 a whole second faster than the Audi RS5 in the past. 

Most assuredly then, a fine-fettled BMW M3 Competition would likely take the Audi RS5 by a hefty measure. Before you look at the laptimes and performance data, keep prices in mind. The Audi RS5's price-as-tested in the UK was £74,510. evo's BMW M3 Competition is a £64,885 car, the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG slightly less-expensive at £64,025. These three make the Lexus ISF look like a bargain at £56,540.

0-60 mph figures and laptimes can be seen after the jump.

Audi RS5: 0-60 mph in 4.3 seconds
BMW M3 Competition: 0-60 mph in 4.3 seconds
Lexus ISF: 0-60 mph in 4.7 seconds
Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG: 0-60 mph in 4.4 seconds

Audi RS5: 0-100 mph in 10.6 seconds
BMW M3 Competition: 0-100 mph in 10.3 seconds
Lexus ISF: 0-100 mph in 10.9 seconds
Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG: 0-100 mph in 9.7 seconds

Audi RS5: 0-140 mph in 23.6 seconds
BMW M3 Competition: 0-140 mph in 22 seconds
Lexus ISF: 0-140 mph in 23.6 seconds
Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG: 0-140 mph in 19.1 seconds

Audi RS5: 100-0 in 4.2 seconds/285 feet
BMW M3 Competition: 100-0 in 4.3 seconds/300 feet
Lexus ISF: 100-0 in 4.4 seconds
Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG: 100-0 in 4.5 seconds/321 feet

Bedford Autodrome West Circuit Laptimes
Audi RS5 - 1:26.9
BMW M3 Competition - 1:27
Lexus ISF - 1:28.1
Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG - 1:28.8

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Canada Auto Sales Recap - October 2010

In October, Chrysler and Dodge combined to sell just 891 cars in Canada. Yes, Dodge and Jeep sales were up, but the eight cars of Fiat's North American arm was out-sold by the Ford division's six different car models by a rate of 5 to 1.

With November sales results just around the corner, a look at the sales success of luxury automakers in Canada becomes more interesting. BMW has sold 22,440 vehicles in Canada in the first ten months of 2010. Mercedes-Benz sold 24,082 in the same period. The total at Toyota's luxury brand, Lexus, is half that of Mercedes-Benz. Lincoln is ahead of Cadillac. Lamborghini Canada has sold 61 cars in 2010, up from 30 in 2009.

Among Ford's trucks, SUVs, and crossovers, only the Ford Flex and Ford Ranger (and the discontinued Ford Taurus X) have posted declining sales in 2010. Flex sales are off 2009's pace by 20.2%.

At the end of October 2009, General Motors had sold 16,304 copies of the Pontiac Torrent, GMC Terrain, and Chevrolet Equinox. As of October 31/2010, GM had sold 23,570 of those three vehicles. Terrain sales, as you would expect of a new vehicle, are up 996%. Equinox sales have jumped 62.5%. Sales of the defunct Torrent, it must be said, are down 99.7%.

Excluding the not-for-sale-in-2009 Acura ZDX, only two Acura models have posted sales increases in 2010. The TSX is up 1 - that's 1 unit - to 1756 through the end of October. RDX sales are up 5.6%. Overall, Acura's down 3.4%.

Kia's truck family, which includes the miniminivan Rondo, in addition to the Sportage, Sedona, Borrego and Sorento, was up 58.2% in October. Borrego sales were down, as were sales of the Rondo. Sedona sales climbed from 86 to 137. Sportage sales increased 33.4%. But the real winner, as has been the case for months, was the Sorento. The old Sorento was never the hottest of sellers, capable though it may have been. Contrasting the new model's sales with the old is like comparing the iPod and Zune. Sorento sales were up 3144% in October.

Is Jaguar back on track? Er, not yet. 2010 is ten months old; Jaguar sales in Canada are down 4.2%.

Will the Mazda 3 be Canada's best-selling car? Not this year. One thing's for sure: Mazda needs the 3. The 3 accounted for more than half of all Mazda sales in Canada in October and has been responsible for more than 60% of all Mazda Canada sales in 2010.

Here are some other greatly improved vehicles posting greatly improved sales as well as a few with distinctly downcast outlooks in October.

• Toyota 4Runner up 1114%
• Audi A8 up 1250%
• Volkswagen Touareg down 97.2%
• Suzuki Equator down 92.9%
• Lexus GX up 683%
• Toyota Prius down 70.7%
• Mitsubishi Endeavor up 256%
• Dodge Dakota down 84.6%
• Dodge Avenger down 91.6% 
• BMW 5-Series up 136%
• Cadillac STS down 72.7%
• Hummer H3 down 96.4%
• Mazda RX-8 down 85.5%
• Mazda B-Series up 495%

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The Audi A5's ridiculous popularity in Canada - 33 times more popular than the BMW 6-Series in October; 7.6 times more popular than the also-gorgeous Audi TT in October - is well-deserved and only a bit surprising. Month after month the Audi A5/S5 duo puts up numbers high enough, to be Audi's second-best-selling car. Out-selling everything on the Graph below except for the 2011 Ford Mustang ain't an easy task for a car that starts at $46,200. Audi A5 sales are up 85.6% in 2010.

As for the disparaging remarks regarding the current BMW 6-Series, they should be given some context. A new 6-Series has already debuted. For most people, having seen the advent of the F12 2011 BMW 6-Series, the current car lacks appeal. Thus, sales are in free-fall, down 66% through the first ten months of 2010; down 50% in October 2010. This comes in a month in which Porsche 911 sales nearly doubled from October 2009 levels. It's worth noting that Nissan GT-R sales have been chopped in half. By the end of October 2009, Nissan had sold 122 GT-Rs in Canada. This year, that number has dropped to 59. Nissan GT-R sales in October 2010 were down 67%.

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Midsize Luxury Car Sales And Large Luxury Car Sales In Canada - October 2010

Is Hyundai on a roll? You better believe it. The 2011 Hyundai Sonata is a good-looking hit, the 2011 Hyundai Elantra will be a hit, and sales are up, up, up every month. In fact, the Hyundai division is out-selling the Honda division through the first ten months of 2010 by 1458 units. But the Genesis? Well, that's a different story.

Unlike the U.S. midsize luxury car sales chart which showcases the Hyundai Genesis and Hyundai Genesis Coupe as one unit, Hyundai separates the two in Canadian sales reports. (You can see the Genesis Coupe in Sporty Car Sales Graphs.) Lacking the Genesis Coupe's volume, the Hyundai Genesis sedan ranked below the Lincoln MKS, Infiniti M, and Audi A6, not to mention the popular midsize luxury cars from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Acura, and Lexus. Worse than ranking poorly is the fact that Hyundai Genesis sedan sales were down 53.6% from October 2009 and are down 15.2% on the year.

As of this point, Korea has no competitor for the large luxury car segment - and it's more likely that The Good Car Guy will place the 2011 Hyundai Equus in the midsize luxury car category with the Genesis - but there are four Germans, one Brit, and one Japanese car. Lexus LS sales are down 10% in 2010. Jaguar XJ sales are up 126% but still trail the LS's year-to-date total by 37. Audi A8 sales were up 1250% in October 2010 from a very lowly 2 A8s sold in October 2009. A8 sales are up 12.2% on the year, thanks mainly to October's gains. Porsche has very little of 2009 to compare this year's year-to-date sales with, but Panamera sales did rise 50% from September 2010. The long-standing limo rival between the BMW 7-Series and Mercedes-Benz S-Class went to BMW in October but Mercedes-Benz holds the Canadian lead for the calendar year so far, with a little help from the CL-Class. 7-Series sales in October were up; S-Class/CL-Class sales were down.

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Midsize Car Sales And Large Car Sales In Canada - October 2010

When the Toyota Camry joins up with anything to manifest the longest line on a Graph, you'd assume the Camry was making up the vast majority of those sales, right? Well, you'd be wrong. In Canada in October 2010, the Toyota Venza was responsible for 1169 of the pair's 1756 sales. 

The true best-selling midsize car in Canada in October was the Honda Accord, though one suspects a handful of the Accord's 1515 sales were of the abominable Crosstour variety. Accord sales were up 18.7%. The 2011 Hyundai Sonata was another strong player but even Hyundai's 76.4% improvement to 1071 sales couldn't touch the Ford Fusion or Nissan Altima's totals.

Ford Canada also showed strength in the large car segment. Detaching the Chrysler 300's 239 sales from the Dodge Charger's 129 sales places the Ford Taurus in first spot among large cars. The Chevrolet Impala suffered a 68% drop; Dodge Charger sales fell 85%. 

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Small Car Sales And Entry/Small Luxury Car Sales In Canada - October 2010

Helped by deals and by being one of the better small cars available, the Honda Civic zoom-zoomed past the competition in Canada and beat its nearest rival by 2164 sales in October 2010. There's more on the top sellers from the first Graph you'll see below in both Canada's Best-Selling Cars list from October 2010 and the Best-Selling Japanese Cars In Canada from October 2010. On a more interesting note...

The 2011 Ford Fiesta is starting to finally make a name for itself. Although the long-standing Canadian favourite and significantly less-expensive Hyundai Accent is still dominant, and while the Nissan Versa and Toyota Yaris both out-sold the Fiesta, the Ford's 868 total made it one of the best-selling American cars in Canada last month. There is also now a more realistic supply of Fiesta on Canadian Ford dealer lots. But with the 2012 Fiat 500 soon to be a challenger at Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep stores, can the Fiesta grab a consistent thousand sales per month?

BMW certainly grabs its 1000+ sales per month with the famous 3-Series. Available in four different bodystyles and with five different engines, BMW has a 3-Series to meet just about anyone's needs, so long as "anyone" has $37,650, the price of the 323i. One change marked in October 2010's rundown of small and small-priced luxury cars is the switcheroo between Germany's two other 3-Seriesesque cars. The Audi A4 held off the Mercedes-Benz C-Class for second place honours by a scant two units. Good for Audi, nonetheless. Hopefully plenty of those A4s sold were painted in Teak Brown Metallic.

CLICK GRAPH FOR LARGER VIEW

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Minivan Sales In Canada - October 2010

There's no denying Chrysler and Dodge's hold on the Canadian minivan market is based partially on price. You get the full-size minivan type, not the small sort like the Kia Rondo or Mazda 5 but the price is more Kia/Mazda-like than Honda/Toyota like. The new 2011 Honda Odyssey is priced from $29,990. The 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan starts at $20,945 and tops out (before options) at $27,990 for the SXT Plus.

Even so, the 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan and 2011 Chrysler Town & Country will feature a 283-bhp 3.6L V6, an improved interior, and slightly rejigged styling. Adding greater appeal to a minivan that's already wildly successful will pay off. To what extent? 64% of all minivans sold in Canada in October 2010 were either Dodges or Chryslers. Chrysler only sold 452 of'em, but still. The duo is unbeatable. 

Can Chrysler/Dodge grab two-thirds of the minivan market in Canada; 75% even? To add to the first part of the theory, yes, Chrysler can grab even more of the minivan market, but only if prices stay low.

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Smart Fortwo Blower Problem: Blower Doesn't Blow

GoodCarBadCar.net's long-term 2009 smart fortwo refuses to blow hot hair. In fact, the smart car isn't blowing any kind of air whatsoever. The fan speed has five settings: off, 1, 2, 3, and 4. (Fan speed 2 is actually symbolized as a fan.) Temperature controls are in celsuis, from sub-18C to 26+C. The blower can be set to defrost, upper-cabin, foot-level-cabin, or combinations of the three. Regardless of the setting, GCBC's long-term smart fortwo won't blow a'tall.

Curiously, this off-the-wall problem is well-chronicled at smartcarofamerica.com. That smart could've been having these problems, safety problems that they are, as far back as late 2008 and done nothing about it is appalling. Imagine The Good Car Guy driving along as the temperatures outdoors rise and rain starts to fall. The car instantly fogs up and what're we to do? Turn the blower on, right? Except the blower refuses to blow.

Thankfully, our local smart dealership, O'Regan's Mercedes-Benz/smart, is close by. But this is Sunday. The problem may have started Friday - the fan was taking its time turning on but then blowing full blast - but only on Saturday night was the blower problem full-blown. After many minutes of waiting, The Good Car Girl eventually found heat when she was about ready to arrive back at GCBC Towers. During 15-20 minutes away from GCBC Towers today, November 20/2010, a Sunday, the smart car's blower never came on. The temperature was, according to the smart's thermometer, -1C (30.2F). We hope to land the smart at O'Regan's tomorrow for a quick fix. Oh, and within the last couple weeks, the long-term smart's steering wheel has started to peel away at the 12 o'clock position. Along with the smart's blinker knob problem from the summer, this all goes against the initial feeling we had that the smart felt like it was built more like a Benz than a Bajaj.

*Update*
November 22/2010 @ 4:52pm
GoodCarBadCar.net's long-term 2009 smart fortwo has been fitted with a new blower motor. The car was at O'Regan's Mercedes-Benz from 9:30 to the time the repair was completed, under warranty, at 4:00 this afternoon. A thorough exterior wash has made the smart as shiny as new, too. It became apparent after feeling and hearing the effects of the new blower motor that the old blower's performance over the last couple weeks had gradually worsened, even when it was operating "correctly". The charge for this repair, had it not been under warranty, would have been at least $225 but could have been as high as $400+ when taking retail parts costs and labour into consideration.

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2011 Hyundai Elantra Gallery And Style Analysis

Does the 2011 Hyundai Elantra have a bad angle? Those in disagreement with The Good Car Guy will point out that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But that's only if there's anyone who disagrees with fact that the next Hyundai Elantra is the best-looking C-segment car available in North America.

From the rear, the Elantra is miniaturized 2011 Sonata, only with lines which flow more smoothly. The front is maybe a bit cartoonish, but the drama of the slightly grinning face and windblown headlamps is only let down by the interrupting character line on either side of the grille. The line is fine, but it'd be better if it faded in and out as it approached and vacated the grille area. The profile view of the new Elantra is made more memorable with a defining line striking through the door handles. Apart from that, there are gracefully swollen wheelarches and an artfully crafted greenhouse.

Moving inside, the only shock apparent is the dirty dead pedal Hyundai mistakenly left uncleaned for promo photos. (Intentional? To make the pictures more realistic? That'd be unprecedented.) The concave swing of the IP as it curves toward the stereo controls is a little.... er, odd, but odd is good, right? If there were more "odd" out there then cars wouldn't look like bulbous carbon copies of each other.

The most important factor Hyundai has homed in on is the 2011 Elantra's desirability. Compared with the 2011 Toyota Corolla, the Elantra is exciting enough to raise readings on sphygmomanometers. The Kia Forte looks classy but can't match for the Elantra's ambience. Even the 2011 Honda Civic, somewhat dramatic when released for MY2006, looks quite boring beside the Elantra. The Elantra makes the Chevrolet Cruze verge on forgettable. Only the 2012 Ford Focus seems stylish enough to tackle the Elantra. Both are said to be 40 miles per gallon cars, too.

Check out plenty of 2011 Hyundai Elantra pictures in the Gallery below.



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Large SUV Sales And Large Luxury SUV Sales In Canada - October 2010

Let's be clear: GoodCarBadCar.net is as willing as any other website to give credit where credit is due. But the Ford Expedition was not Canada's best-selling large SUV in October 2010. In many Graphs, The Good Car Guy combines identical vehicles for the purposes of saving space. Think of the Ford Escape and Mazda Tribute, for example. In the Large SUV Sales chart, however, there's no need to save space. Thus, the Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon, and GMC Yukon XL are separated. Combined, even as duos - regular and stretched - the GM brutes have the Expedition beat. It is kind of interesting that the Suburban out-sold the Tahoe in October, but at volumes these low, anomalies happen.

As for Large Luxury SUVs, GM is not the victor. No, the crown goes to the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen.... in concert with the more mainstream Mercedes-Benz GL-Class.

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Midsize SUV Sales And Midsize Luxury SUV Sales In Canada - October 2010

In the midsize SUV sales segment(s), volume is large. Challenging for the overall title of best-selling midsize SUV in Canada in October 2010 is the Jeep Grand Cherokee. How did it get to 1315? Sales jumped 500% from October 2009, not an easy feat regardless of how low volume was before. The true victor, the 2011 Ford Edge, posted sales of 975 in October 2009 but zoomed to 1367 last month; likewise, not an easy feat. 

Even among the luxury competitors, sales are strong. Lexus RX sales fell 23% and it still topped the class. How 'bout those uppity European SUVs? Well, the Mercedes-Benz ML is no RX in terms of volume, but if your lemonade stand saw revenue of over $21 million from just one product in one month in a small market, you'd probably be pleased. Graphs on midsize SUV sales and midsize luxury SUV sales in Canada for October 2010 are below.

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Small SUV Sales And Small Luxury SUV Sales In Canada - October 2010

From Nissan's perspective, The Good Car Guy's test of the 2011 Nissan Juke was a roaring success. And though 83 sales a month doesn't sound like much, the Juke was only on sale in Canada for about a week in October. While the Juke is by no means directly comparable to the 2011 Mitsubishi RVR - the Outlander Sport in the States - it's quite likely that Juke sales in November or December will surpass the RVR. There's more on Nissan Canada's October 2010 here.

There's likely no other automotive category more competitive than the small luxury SUV segment. Some would like to see the Cadillac SRX pushed out of the arena, or have the Lexus RX thrown in. Regardless, even the RX's 659 October sales sounds like a reachable total for the others. Only the Volvo XC60 and Land Rover LR2 seem ignored. So what's gonna happen to the LR2 when the 2011 Land Rover Evoque steals the show? 

Graphs representing October 2010 Canadian auto sales for small SUVs and small luxury SUVs are below.

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