finding the signal in an industry filled with noise
Redline is a sad 5500 rpm, 1000 revs less than the inline-five found in the Chevrolet Colorado pickup. Just when the Rabbit’s lump starts to sing, you have to shift. That said, there’s plenty of torque available to lug in higher gears all day long… – Car and Driver
Apparently VW’s product planners have been monitoring VW enthusiast message boards; the ‘07 GTI and GLI are to receive the slightly lower springs and DSG launch control features the rest of the world gets.
(Now how about a 4MOTION model or some sort of limited slip device?)
“It took 90 years to build Mercedes’ image of quality, and less than 10 years to damage it severely. Dieter Zetsche has been directing the brand’s fate for a year. The quality of Mercedes cars has noticeably improved over that period, but a year is much too short a time to expect lasting results.” – Guido Reinking, editor of Automobilwoche as quoted in Automotive News
I went with a friend of mine to pick up his car after alignment the other day, and as I reviewed the alignment printout eyed the ‘thrust angle’ specification first – it was not at 0 or .01, not at .02. it read .03, far greater than I find acceptable for my own cars. (Thrust angle is the angle at which the car is going down the road – the greater the thrust angle the farther to one side the rear tires are in relation to the front).
So I looked at the rest of the specs – it was the toe at the rear that bothered me; there wasn’t symmetry – one rear wheel was toed in 50% more than the other.
We questioned the tech on why that wasn’t brought in closer and were told, “I hate to give you the Dobbs answer but it is within specification.”
That phrase is a red flag, Read the rest of this entry »
Growing up, most boys like sports cars, the less practical and more phallic the better. Not me. I was into the AMG Hammer (and later the 500E), the E34 M5, the Saab 900s and 9000s and even the underpowered Merkur Scorpio but short of Porsche’s 944, Nissan’s Z or E30 M3 or 325is nothing less practical really set my heart aflame.
It wasn’t so much a matter of practicality but rather of point to point times – often the less racy a car looks and the higher it sits the more speed you can carry. Amazing how fast your average speed climbs when you’re less worried about potholes, blind spots, and law enforcement.
All else being equal I would always desire a 5 door hatch or wagon most, then the sedan, then the coupe, then the convertible.
But over time I’ve learned something that complicates things: that all else is never equal in the automotive world, whether the brochure says so or not. Read the rest of this entry »
If they do, they’ll know how I feel about the recent, Bangle induced, dynamic flaws in their cars.
Large, heavy wheels, unfeasibly low ride heights and absurdly low tire profiles (and the run-flat tires they pretty much mandated) have literally made it impossible for BMW’s engineers to achieve the magic blend of communication and refinement that BMW was once best at.
This photo gallery gives me reason to think there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Read the rest of this entry »
Click here.
(And don’t think you have to get a large truck or SUV to get the job done – a few people I know prefer the BMW X5 4.4i to the Suburbans etc. they’d owned because its easier to feel in control of the vehicle whether somethings dragging behind you or not. Plus you have a really fun car to drive when the trailer’s unhitched).
Perhaps we should define ‘safer’.
Safer for the occupants? Less likely to kill someone?.
My definition of ‘safer’ is a car that is less likely to get in an accident – some call this active (rather than passive) safety. Light cars can brake and change direction smartly, while Electronic Stability Control ensures the driver doesn’t panic and overcorrect.
As with many things in life it comes down to the relationship between stiffness and mass. You want the strongest car possible for a given weight. Adding stiffness while also adding weight is less desirable, as is losing stiffness when you subtract weight.
If you check out the crash performance of cars in offset collisions you’ll notice that it’s not the heaviest cars that protect their occupants best when striking a barrier, its the ones that have the best structural engineering, something that can’t be seen by the naked eye. Now if we’re talking two cars hitting one another, that complicates things… but that’s why I’m big on car control clinics and ESP.
Imagine a Range Rover Sport that accelerates slightly faster, has the same top speed, and gets 30+% greater fuel economy.
That’s what the 268hp V8 turbodiesel model – not available in the U.S. – promises. The V6 turbodiesel was already consdered the pick of the litter by European journalists; hopefully Land Rover will have the good sense to import the new V8 version as soon as our diesel fuel switches to low sulphur content.
...until the revised interior is released.
(With most revisions, there’s a lot more upgraded than they release to the press so you can expect improved reliability and refinement as possible bonuses).