Automotive news from Metronews.ca

An affordable sports car that can throw punches in the heavyweight class

Malcolm Gunn, Wheelbase Media — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:15:38 -0400

If the $136,000 Audi R8 is a wallet-buster, the 2012 TT RS that’s now on sale in limited numbers will still pin you to your seat and plaster a big, fat grin on your kisser for about half that amount.

What’s this? A bargain Audi that can run with the vaunted R8 sports car?

Well, sort of. Although not nearly as fetching as the R8, the TT coupe-based RS projects plenty of style and performance that sets it apart from the other TT models in the lineup.

It’s doubtful that R8 owners will feel threatened by the TT RS, or vice versa. Each car has its own cachet that transcends the bottom line and both owners will likely be thoroughly satisfied with their purchases.

Flab free

Part of the secret to the car’s success is that the entire TT line is relatively flab-free. Fully 69 per cent of the structure is comprised of aluminum, while only 31 per cent is steel, a ratio that reduces the car’s heft by a claimed 48 per cent than if it were entirely constructed from steel. At about 1,500 kilograms, the RS weighs about the same as the Chevrolet Corvette coupe.

Manual transmission

As desirable as the RS is, you had better be one of the estimated five per cent of the nation’s drivers who prefer to shift for themselves, since a six-speed manual transmission is all you can get with this model. That seems limiting as most of the car’s direct competitors make available either an automatic or a faster-shifting dual-clutch automated manual gearbox.

Engine

What R8 buyers are paying the big bucks for is a mid-ship-mounted 430-horsepower V8, superb balance and supercar good looks. Meanwhile, the TT RS makes do with a comparatively puny front-mounted 360-horsepower 2.5-litre turbocharged five-cylinder engine. Because the RS is turbocharged it makes 343 pound-feet of torque compared to the R8’s 317.

Changing the radio game

Justin Pritchard, for Metro — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:11:26 -0400

For drivers using their vehicle as a personal listening space, satellite radio has made terrestrial radio obsolete — but a new breed of ‘Internet’ radio may make satellite radio a thing of the past, too.

Satellite radio is great. There’s plenty of selection. The audio quality is good. You’ll never have your listening interrupted to hear about the latest furniture sale or public service announcement about proper hand-washing.

Oh, and you can’t drive out of range of a station since the signal is beamed down from space rather than across an expanse of land by an antenna.

But satellite radio, like terrestrial radio, is one-way.

Don’t like what you hear? Change the channel.

And when you do, your most favourite song in the universe will come on while you listen to an OK song on another station — meaning you’ll miss a chunk of it.

This leads to station anxiety and rapid toggling between numerous station presets to decide where to tune in. The result can be hearing fragments of songs, and it’s a real pain in the butt.

But high-selection, in-car listening has advanced — and if you’ve got a Smartphone and a car stereo with auxiliary or Bluetooth input, that “better” listening experience is a cinch to tap into.

In Canada, the big-dog Internet radio service is called Slacker Radio.

The gist?

Imagine having only a few stations to choose from. Even as few as one. And they only play songs you’ll probably like. And if they don’t, you can instantly skip a song, or even ban it from playing on your station ever again. Like a song? Give it a ‘heart’ and you’ll hear more of it.

Using Slacker is like having a fancy, DJ-assisted, music-spitting computer program feeding your ears only the tunes they like. And the basic service, which hooked me after trying it on a whim, should prove a more appealing and customized alternative to satellite radio for many.

It’s free, too. The free service is fantastic, and two premium services are available optionally for less than your satellite radio subscription.

Using Slacker is as simple as visiting their site (slacker.com), signing up with your email address, selecting a ‘seed’ list of songs and beginning to listen to music you can enjoy, like or dislike.

Numerous genres are available, and the premium memberships even allow on-device storage of entire stations, or on-demand playback of any song or album available.

Wide awake, no java needed

Malcolm Gunn, Wheelbase Media — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 23:10:21 -0400

There’s a backlit icon of a simmering coffee cup on the 2012 SLK’s control panel that, for anyone unfamiliar with the latest in Mercedes-Benz safety gadgetry, is certain to cause confusion.

Could it be this particular well-optioned roadster comes with its own coffee maker? Or perhaps the symbol flashes intermittently whenever a Starbucks comes into view? Impossible to say, since the owner’s manual, a critical tome considering SLK’s techno-laden content, was AWOL.

“They’re frequently missing after the cars are returned so we keep them here in the office,” explained a Mercedes-Benz press-fleet overseer. The missing manual limited the range of plausible explanations to the ridiculous.

Fortunately, an experienced Mercedes-Benz brand hand came to the rescue, appropriately enough while parked outside one of the Seattle-based caffeine purveyor’s outlets. After admiring the SLK from top to bottom, he spied the tiny cup-and-saucer symbol and explained that it denotes “Attention Assist,” which is a safety feature that’s programmed to sense certain driving behaviours associated with fatigue and issues both visual and audible warnings to the driver suggesting he or she take a break.

The smell of fresh-brewed Pike Place Roast wafting out from the air vents could probably work just as well.

Attention Assist is a fine idea, but it’s hard to imagine anyone nodding off in what is one of the more exciting M-B models on the market and the best SLK that the German automaker has devised to date.

The SLK has steadily evolved since its 1997-model-year North American debut. The current generation now looks less like an inaccurate representation of its larger SL-class relation and, at least from the front, now resembles its twin. Both cars feature nearly identical upright grilles, headlight pods and extended hoods, along with similar retractable hard-shell roofs. Of course, what they don’t even come close to sharing is their respective price tags; the $56,000 base SLK is offered at less than one-half the wallet hit of the SL.

Of course the SLK lacks the new-for-2013 SL550’s 429-horsepower twin-turbo V8, but the 302-horsepower V6 and accompanying seven-speed automatic transmission in the SLK350 is no slacker.

The warp-factor model of the triumvirate is the SLK55 AMG that receives the full aero kit treatment, unique nosepiece and fancier wheels. It also sends its power to the pavement using a 415-horsepower 5.5-litre V8 and earns a 4.5-second zero-to-60-m.p.h. (96 km/h) time.

Within the SLK range, though, the 350 in my possession has a certain just-right feel. Around town, the V6 operates in a docile fashion, but can quickly flex its muscles when a squirt of passing thrust is summoned, or when attacking a freeway on-ramp. During these measures, the engine instantly clears its throat and delivers a distinctive, yet dignified growl while the seven-speed automatic imperceptibly kicks down into the appropriate gear. The SLK makes the entire process seem so easy and in no small measure enhances driving confidence.

Also easy is the two-seater’s power-operated conversion to convertible from coupe status. The trunk lid pivots rearward while the hard tonneau cover flips upward and the two-piece roof stacks into its containment spot, followed by the trunk lid resuming its original position. The whole lowering/raising sideshow consumes about 20 seconds.

The test model was equipped with the available Magic Sky Control, consisting of a glass roof panel that changes to opaque from clear with the flip of a switch. Also included is constantly adjusting shock-damping control and a faster-acting Direct-Steer system that reduces by 25 per cent the number of lock-to-lock steering wheel turns. About the only item of concern on the well-appointed SLK was its matte-finish Designo Glacier Grey colour scheme. The idea of an as-tested $78,500 Mercedes wearing what amounts to a really dull paint job might seem anathema to some buyers. It also carries a sternly worded missive warning of dire consequences should the finish ever be polished.

The SLK test stretched into a week of mostly sunny skies and light Pacific Ocean-scented breezes on Vancouver Island. In other words, perfect sports-car weather in a part of the world attracts plenty of them.

And likely not one of their grinning drivers, including one SLK350 pilot in particular, required a cup-and-saucer advisory to keep the adrenaline flowing.

Ready for summer driving?

Malcolm Gunn, Wheelbase Media — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 22:43:15 -0400

Break out the SPF 50 and the Ray-Ban sunglasses because the Mini Cooper Roadster just arrived.

The two-seat convertible — a first for the Mini brand and a companion to the recently launched Coupe — adds some visual spice to the Mini’s broadening model lineup that already includes a four-passenger drop-top. Admittedly, it seems a bit odd that BMW-owned Mini would now have two not-so-distinct convertibles that are constructed off the same platform and share the same mechanical bits. Furthermore, the two-seat Roadster lists for only $300 less than the standard four-place convertible.

Ah, but there’s a point that’s being overlooked. The Roadster swaps out the rear bench that isn’t particularly roomy in the first place for an actual trunk (another Mini first). We’re not talking cavernous space here by any means (it has a bit less volume than the Coupe’s trunk) but it’s enough to store a few decent-sized travel bags or a set or two of golf clubs regardless of whether the top is up or down.

The Roadster’s styling is far less controversial than that of the helmet-headed Coupe and it looks better with the roof up than the existing Mini convertible. Combined with a windshield that has been tilted back an additional 13 degrees, the Roadster is one of the best looking of the bunch.

The hair-drying Roadster deserves its sports-car appellation. And, with pricing that ranges from $30,500 to $41,500, consider it an alternative to the league-leading Mazda Miata and an extra-fun way to celebrate the summer season.

Staying planted
To reduce the Roadster body’s tendency to twist — which is pretty normal behaviour when the roof is removed — Mini installed additional structural bracing in the trunk area and other key spots. And to help keep the rear end planted, a trunk-mounted spoiler automatically deploys once the vehicle reaches 80 km/h.

Lowering the lid
The black-only cloth top that includes a heated glass rear window is secured in place with a twist of a single windshield-mounted lever. The spring-loaded lid lowers flat into its stowage spot by pressing a button located between the roll bars. The outer portion of the top remains exposed after the folding process.

Engine
The Roadster gets the same basic trio of engines as every other Mini model, beginning with a 121-horsepower 1.6-litre four-cylinder for base models. A turbocharged 1.6 comes in the S version, while a tweaked-up 208-horsepower 1.6 is part of the John Cooper Works (JCW) package.

Government not doing everything to protect car buyers

Todd Bourgon, for Metro Canada — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:18:20 -0400

Imagine this: You see the advertised price of a product. You go to the store, pay the cashier the amount advertised (plus taxes, of course!) and you leave to enjoy your new purchase.

Sounds reasonable right? When it comes to car advertisements, that’s not always the case.

I asked the TADA’s director of government relations, Frank Notte, to tell me why this happens. The following is his response:

“Ontario’s new Motor Vehicle Dealers Act came into effect on Jan. 1, 2010. This groundbreaking provincial legislation updated decade-old rules pertaining to contracts, disclosures, warranties and business practices. One major aspect of the new law is “all-in pricing” regulations.

All-in pricing means the advertised price is the final price consumers can expect to pay for the vehicle. The only amount of money that doesn’t have to be included is taxes and licensing fees.

Gone are the days of an advertised price, with other fees and charges like freight and Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI) appearing in fine print. The Toronto Automobile Dealers Association fully supports all-in pricing. It makes the car-buying experience much easier and allows more transparency for consumers.

Believe it or not, the law only applies sometimes! Sadly, the Ontario government decided to exempt advertisements placed by auto manufacturers from all-in pricing regulations. That means that auto manufacturers don’t have to play by the same rules as automobile dealers and advertise the “all-in” price.

Often, consumers will see the ads placed by a manufacturer and visit their local dealership to inquire about a vehicle.

Too many times, the consumer is surprised to learn the price as advertised by the manufacturer is not the actual price they can expect to pay to drive the car off the lot. This upsets the consumer, frustrates the dealer, and nobody wins.

Consumers have enough to consider when buying a car — often the second most expensive purchase of their lifetime. They shouldn’t have to worry about which advertised price is the actual selling price, and they certainly shouldn’t have to read ads with a magnifying glass, an accountant and lawyer present to make sure they fully understand all the legal fine print.

You can affect change. Contact your MPP and tell them that all auto advertising should be subject to all-in pricing — consumer protection depends on it.

Aerio offered AWD and solid reliability

Justin Pritchard, Metro Canada — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:10:05 -0400

The Suzuki Aerio Wagon was a machine that tackled a plethora of tasks exceptionally well — while earning itself a reputation for its high value proposition and access to cheap All Wheel Drive (AWD).

Retired to clear way for the Suzuki SX4 after 2006, the Aerio was aimed at active, value-minded shoppers after a vehicle with plenty of flexibility and space.

Engine

Power came from four cylinder engines — namely a two-litre, 141 horsepower unit or a 2.3-litre unit with 155. The latter engine was fitted to 2004 and later Aerio models.

What Owners Like

Owners love the surprisingly upscale and high quality feel imparted by the little wagon, and many say their machines are holding up well over the years. All Wheel Drive traction on slippery roads is also highly rated.

What Owners Dislike

Complaints typically centre around quirky styling and a noisy ride at speed.

Common Issues

Have the Aerio’s brake system inspected for pad and rotor condition, as many owners say the Aerio wears out braking components at a faster-than-expected rate.

The two-litre engine may emit some lifter noise for a few seconds after startup, though if the sound is persistent, the engine may require expensive replacement lifters. Note that this problem seems focused on 2002 and 2003 models.

Be sure to check out the keyless access system too, as many owners report its failure over time. Finally, budget for a full fluid change and tune-up if you’re unsure of the service history of the model you’re considering.

Verdict

Common, significant or systematic problems seem to be few and far between. Aerio appears an adequately safe bet for the shopper after some uniqueness, utility, and an inexpensive AWD system.

Red light, green light? Your cellphone could know the answer

Jil McIntosh, Metro Canada — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:59:36 -0400

Red lights are crucial for traffic safety, but they can be hard on your gasoline consumption. Every time you stop for a red light, you use more fuel when idling and getting started again.

Fuel-efficient drivers will try to regulate their speed so they reach the lights as they turn green, but that’s not always easy to do. Instead, a project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is using cellphone technology to figure out just when your next light is going to change.

Since many people dock their smartphones on the dash for navigation, the researchers used them to devise a system called SignalGuru.

The cellphone cameras, which point at the street when the screen is facing the driver, photograph traffic lights as the vehicle approaches them.

“The camera is used to study the pattern of the traffic signal,” says Emmanouil Koukoumidis, visiting researcher at MIT.

“The information is downloaded from the mobile phones of drivers who have been through the intersection. Then we gather and process it, and we do what is called ‘machine learning.’”

The collaborative system amasses information about each intersection, using maps and GPS to determine when the vehicle is approaching the traffic light. It then turns on the camera and captures video frames, determining exactly when the light changes from red to green.

Using this information, along with pictures taken previously, SignalGuru “studies the past” to determine the exact time the light will turn green in the future.

“It will know that the intersection is red but it will turn green in 30 seconds, so if you drive at 40 km/h instead of 45 or 50, by the time you hit the intersection it will be green so you can cruise through without stopping,” Koukoumidis says.

Using Boston as a model, the researchers calculated that drivers could save 20 per cent of fuel with the system.

The system is currently only a research prototype, although Koukoumidis has been contacted by commercial truck drivers interested in it, since large trucks use equally large amounts of fuel moving away from a stop.

The database could also potentially capture and process other important information such as gas station prices, the location of city buses, or the availability of parking spots.

Wary of going it alone, automakers eye up dance partners

Mike Goetz, Metro — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400

The messages from some of the automakers at last week’s Geneva auto show were somewhat contradictory. Come look at all this great stuff we’re building — way better than that crap the other guys build. Hey other guys, wouldn’t mind a bit of help over here…

Just before the show, General Motors and the Peugeot-Citroen group announced an alliance, which will see GM will take a seven per cent share of the French automaker.

The arrangement is not unlike several that have developed over the last decade or so, between other auto titans, who have no intention of merging or allowing one partner to eventually swallow the other.

These new arrangements are all about trying to save costs on huge, global engineering programs.

Basically they’re saying, we’ll share development costs, because they’re crazy expensive, then afterwards, we’ll put them in our respective brand offerings and compete against each other like heck.

May the better man win, when it comes to exploiting that technology we both worked on.

With their vast R&D budgets and resources, you’d think most automakers would be big enough on their own, but analysts cite that looming fuel efficiency and emission targets are scaring the pants off some players, especially ones that don’t have everything yet lined up in their pipelines.

And no one wants to bet the farm on one emerging technology, be it electric, hybrid, diesel, hydrogen, CNG, etc.

Another incentive to build alliances is to make sure you’re not shut out of emerging markets.

A mature market is much harder to penetrate and less profitable. That’s one of the reasons Chrysler-Fiat wants its next development dance partner to come from Asia (Mazda? Suzuki?), where it doesn’t yet have a big presence.

Another reason is that the European marketplace isn’t looking so good for the foreseeable future. Best go somewhere else for growth.

Another enabler of this trend is Volkswagen. The German automaker has gone on record, and made the point again at this year’s show in Geneva, that it will spend over $70 billion over the next five years, to become the world’s biggest automaker in both sales and profitability by 2018.

Currently standing in its way are GM and Toyota. If you are going to step into a ring with a bulked-up VW, you might want to bulk up a little yourself.

Toyota and BMW recently decided to trade respective technologies (hybrid batteries, diesel engines).

The Nissan-Renault alliance is going strong, and also works with Mercedes-Benz on a couple of projects. Those are just of few of the inter-company initiatives out there. And more will surely come.

Will this make life harder on the small, quirkier manufacturers? Likely not. It hasn’t yet.

The Geneva show was again full of specialty makes with weird ideas. You can’t stop creative thought and drive, especially when someone, yet again, wants to build a car company in their vision. So it seems all good.

And it feels strangely hopeful too, and humane even, that some of the biggest companies in the world can figure out a way to work together, and at the same time, compete so fiercely in the marketplace.

It’s heart warming … It’s life affirming … It’s … Hold on … Suddenly feeling verklempt … Please talk amongst yourselves.

American luxury brands get hipper and younger, with hipper, younger design talent

Mike Goetz, Metro — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Not saying every recreational golfer in Florida over the age of 70 prefers a big, white Cadillac, just saying there might be a few.

Cadillac certainly appreciates its older clientele, but like all domestic luxury makes, it probably wouldn’t mind a few more buyers who didn’t prefer elastic-waistband jeans worn nice and high over the hip.

It’s no secret that younger customers who shop in luxury segments seem to have taken more of a shining to offshore-based makes, like Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, etc.

Cadillac has already made huge demographic ground on those makes over the last decade, by introducing very edgy, modern-looking machinery. The upcoming XTS and ATS models will certainly push the median Cadillac buyer ages younger.

Lincoln, on the other hand, is still waiting for its bigger turnaround. It won’t be long in coming. Over the last 18 months Lincoln has been completely re-organized, re-staffed and re-focussed. For one thing, it now has a separate design office and staff apart from Ford, within the mothership’s sprawling facilities in Dearborn, Michigan.

And the new man heading up Lincoln design embodies pretty much what Lincoln hopes to become — Max Wolff is youngish (39), fashionable, worldly, and driven. His last gig was at GM, where he did work at Cadillac, and at GM’s design studios in Australia and Korea. The move to bring the Australian to Lincoln about 12 months ago makes perfect sense — if you want your vehicles to be hipper and younger, why not hire younger, hipper people to create them?

The personable Wolff was at the Toronto auto show this year, accompanying the Lincoln MKZ Concept.

“The MKZ concept is an indication of where we want to take the brand going forward, and it certainly doesn’t have any aesthetic link to any Lincoln of the past,” noted Wolff.

“We want to start communicating that a bit more, that Lincoln is a progressive luxury brand and we’re looking forward more so than backwards.”

Buick is another domestic luxury brand hoping to attract a younger demographic, and it also appears to be leaning on young design talent to get there.

At the Detroit auto show I met Magdelena Kokoszynsku, one of the interior designers for Buick’s new, compact crossover, called Encore.

Young and female, she seems an antithesis to what one might perceive to be the typical Buick target customer, but she begs to differ…

“Our generation doesn’t yet have that relationship (with Buick). For us, it’s almost like a fresh brand. I’ve never seen Buick as an ‘old person’ vehicle. To me, it’s new, fresh, and up and coming brand.”

Buick recruited the native New Yorker directly from art school.

Another force pushing American luxury makes forward, whether they like it or not, is the global nature of the auto industry.

They need to create vehicles that speak to luxury customers in every part of the world, and not just those white-panted golfers in the Sunshine State.

Softer grille is the new style

Malcolm Gunn, Wheelbase Media — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:40:49 -0400

It has been said that the eyes are the window to the soul. In automotive terms, perhaps the same can be said for the grille.

More specifically, Honda’s eight-passenger Pilot that was redesigned for the 2009 model year projected a go-anywhere strength and ruggedness.

Too tough, maybe. A restyle for 2012 softens the look for friendlier, more aesthetically pleasing demeanor.

Added to the grille adjustment, the Pilot receives new headlamps along with new and repositioned turn signals and a revised front air dam that reduces fuel-robbing aerodynamic drag.

What remains pretty much hidden from view is the Pilot’s familial connection to Honda’s premium-division Acura MDX.

Both of these unique wagons share the same basic platform, but from that point the comparison pretty much ends.

The Pilot’s squared-off shape reinforces its sport utility-vehicle leanings, although ground-clearance limitations restrict the fun to boulder-free terrain and shin-deep – as opposed to knee-deep – mud. Even so, fording a 48-centimetre-deep body of standing water is apparently no problem for this rig.

Taken in its entirety, the modestly tweaked 2012 Pilot isn’t a whole lot different.

But in a category where impressions count, this Honda puts its best face forward and backs it up with sufficient comfort and capability to win the day.

Four-wheel-drive
When the going gets tough, the Pilot’s available four-wheel-drive system (VTM-4) automatically engages to direct additional torque to the rear wheels as needed before the fronts lose traction.

Power is also distributed aft when accelerating from a stop on slippery surfaces.

Passenger pleasure
For enhanced passenger pleasure, the Pilot has improved noise-reducing seals beneath the body panels, added insulation inside the door pillars and “quieter” acoustic windshield glass.

The cabin features a restyled dashboard, gauges and central panel stack.

Engine
Honda has coaxed greater operating economy from the standard 250-horsepower 3.5-litre V6 with internal-friction-reducing coatings, by improving alternator performance and with higher efficiency spark plugs. Additional mods include a more efficient power-steering pump.