Inspiring Badge Envy

Once supplies run out, you and I won't be able to buy the wonderful Pontiac G8 anymore.

But according to Jalopnik, we'll be able to enjoy the thrill of being pulled over by them, as GM plans to import them as police vehicles.

Lexus RX350 Review

And the Volkswagen Beetle award for subtle refinement goes to....

Okay, that's a bit of a stretch. But let me toss you in the Wayback Machine here. At the top of this article is the 2010 Lexus RX 350. Now here's what that vehicle (then called the RX 300) looked like 11 model years ago, in 1999:



Of all the vehicles on the road today, I'm betting only the Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis are still that instantly identifiable as the same car over that 11 year span.

It's a case of not messing with success, yet (as VW did with the Beetle) making constant changes and refinements.

We're talking about a ton more power (275 horses today compared to 210 then), slightly better fuel mileage (18 city/25 highway now versus 17 city/22 highway in '99) and a much nicer environment from which to drive.



Best of all, the refinements come at only a slightly higher price. In 1999, base price was $32,950. In 2010, $36,800. Less than $4,000 in 11 years.

Our tester added 19 inch alloy wheels, a heads-up display, bi-xenon headlamps with automatic high beams, heated and ventilated front seats, a Mark Levinson audio system with DVD changer and 15 speakers, a nav system with XM NavTraffic and NavWeather (I find being able to see real-time radar more beneficial than real-time traffic...especially in monsoon season in the Desert Southwest)...the Premium Package with leather, moonroof, auto-dimming miror, power rear door, and the ominously named Pre-Collision System with Dyanmic Radar Cruise Control.

Yeah, it all adds up. Bottom line: $49,300 including $875 delivery. Still, that's a lot of luxury and a lot of features coming in this side of $50K.

As I noted in last year's review of the last-gen RX, I wondered a decade ago whether anyone would buy a vehicle so funny-looking (I called it the "Lunar Rover"). Not only have they, but in sufficient numbers that the styling endures.

David E. Davis, Jr: "I've never told this story in public before..."

Car and Driver's David E. Davis, Jr., guesting on Autoline After Hours, tells the story of his departure from Automobile, the magazine he founded in 1986 with Rupert Murdoch.

It involves allegations of treachery, which inspires DED, Jr. to dream of a piano falling from an airplane and onto former protege' (now Automobile Editor-In-Chief )Jean Jennings. Scroll in to 14:55 and let it roll for a minute until the host and other guests start squirming.

Also: Davis' story of his 1968 firing from C/D (about 10:30), and what inspired his 1985 resignation from his second tour at the magazine (11:43).



And if you have the time, what follows is a very good discussion about Cash For Clunkers, the state of the automotive industry, Cerberus and more between David, host John McElroy, Autoextremist.com's Peter DeLorenzo and BusinessWeek's David Welch.

The New Order of Things Automotive

Can't tell the players without a scorecard in the brave new post-carpocalyptic world? Mint.com's got you covered with a handy chart, suitable for framing. Click the image above to enlarge.

Thanks for a great first year!

Hard to believe, but TireKicker turns 1 on Monday, August 24. Thanks for your visits, hits, clicks, links and recommendations. You've taken us from a blank computer screen to 151 posts and counting. And the best is yet to come!

Nissan Armada Titanium Review

When I first booked a week in the Nissan Armada Titanium, I had exactly the wrong idea.

The name "Titanium" had me thinking this would be a new top-of-the-line trim level.

Nope. It's actually a mid-level version...adding leather, 20 inch wheels, a backup camera without requiring a navigation system, keyless ignition and a Bluetooth hands-free phone interface to the stuff found standard on the base SE, for a little less than $5,000 extra.

While the SE is probably the smartest buy, the Titanium gets you a lot of neat features without springing for the top-of-the-line Platinum (interior shown below), which throws in navigation, DVD entertainment, a sunroof and sonar for 7 grand more than the Titanium and a whopping 12 large over the SE.

The one I had recently was a four-wheel drive version, a $2,800 premium over the 2wd Titanium. But Nissan's people held the line on optional equipment (just $220 for floormats and a rear cargo mat), showing just how good a stock Titanium is. And that kept the bottom line to $46,940 with delivery charges...by no means cheap, but a relief after a series of 50-grand plus full-size SUVs.

It's still big...very big...and it still gets marginal gas mileage (even with a 5-speed automatic, the 317-horsepower 5.6 liter V8 is only EPA rated at 12 city/18 highway). But if your needs dictate a full-size SUV, the Armada should be considered and the Titanium strikes me as a reasonable way to step up from the SE (which is the real bargain of the bunch).

Chevy Aveo LT Review

Scroll to bottom of review for update.

TireKicker Phrase I Never Expected To Write #1:

"The Chevy Aveo is a good car. It's worth a look, a test drive and possibly a place in your driveway or garage."

If they gave a "Most Improved Player" award to cars, the new Aveo would win it, hands-down.

I'll get to how good the '09 Aveo is in a second, but here's what it had to overcome: Raised on the somewhat snarky automotive writings of David E. Davis, Jr., Jean (Lindamood) Jennings, John Phillips, P.J. O'Rourke and others, I've got a smart-aleck streak in me (okay, it was there before I ever picked up a car magazine).

After testing the first Aveo five years ago, someone asked me what I thought. I broke into song, using my best Harry Belafonte impression (to the tune of The Banana Boat Song [Day-O]):



A-Veo

A-Ve-e-e-o

A-Veo come and me wanna walk home

A-Veo

A-Ve-e-e-o

A-Veo come and me wanna walk home

Is piece of crap Korean car

A-Veo come and me wanna walk home

Is piece of crap Korean car

A-Veo come and me wanna walk home.

There may have been more. I really don't remember. But it was that bad. A bottom-line Daewoo freshly acquired by GM with no time to do anything but slap a couple of Chevy badges on it and ship it to the USA.

Well, time and development are wonderful things. Yes, the Aveo is still small, inexpensive and Korean-built, but now it's Korean as in "keeping up with Hyundai's growth curve".

You either like or don't like the shape of a subcompact hatchback. There's not much room to work with, so most look like the Aveo from the windshield back. Chevy's taken the step of adding what's becoming the family nose (the bold, split grille from the Malibu) to the Aveo...giving it a longer hood and making the entire car look quite a bit more substantial.

Inside, well...somebody's been inside a Volkswagen recently. Better-than decent plastics, the top half of the dash grained like VW, in a tasteful two-tone (the tester was the mid-range 1LT trim level). Every surface attractive to the eye and to the touch.

The $13,595 base price brings with it a year in OnStar's Safe & Sound plan, air conditioning, a rear window defogger, a tilt steering column, front and rear floor mats, and armrest, height and lumbar adjustments for the driver's seat, and a 180-watt premium audio system with six speakers, AM/FM/CD and iPod jack. GM's vehicle fleet folks loaded it from there...$425 for power windows, door locks and remote keyless entry, $925 for a 4-speed automatic transmission, $440 for anti-lock brakes and $250 for cruise control. Total tab: $16,295, including delivery.

That puts it in the reach of some tempting larger alternatives like Honda Civic. But the payoff is at the gas pump: The EPA says 25 city and 34 highway...both believeable figures based on how little the fuel tank needle moved during my week with the car.

Oh, and the safety statistics are impressive too: Five stars for driver and passenger in the frontal crash test, four stars for both in the side crash and rollover tests.

Like everything but the price? The base LS model starts at $12,625. If you can live with rolling up your own windows, locking your own doors, not having a remote and living with four instead of six speakers (and less wattage) for the audio system, you're set...especially if you live someplace where air conditioning isn't a must. If you need air, then it's a dealer-installed option, the price is likely to be at the dealer's discretion, and you're probably dead even or better off stepping up $900 to the 1LT and getting it standard from the factory.

Even without the grim first-gen Aveo to compare it to, the new Aveo is a solid pick for subcompact buyers.

UPDATE: Some mid-year changes have been made and they're not good. First, base price is up for the 1LT...it's now $14,100.

But more troubling is the smell in our second Aveo tester this year. There is a strict no-smoking rule in press vehicles...and like all strict rules...especially aimed at journalists...it occasionally gets ignored. Doesn't happen as much as it used to, really.

But the Aveo smelled like someone smoked a carton of the worst cigarettes on earth and then tried to cover it up with a can of air freshener.

And nothing got rid of it...not even Ozium.

I parked it after a day and a half. Couldn't stand to be in it.

The GM reps took the car in and had someone try to find the problem....was it in the HVAC ducts? In the compressor?

Nope.

It was in the seats. More accurately...the glue for the seats. When it gets hot...as it does in Phoenix in the summer...it smells like this.

Now, it's never exactly cold in Phoenix...a locked car in sunlight in January can get over 90 degrees inside...and the first car didn't smell like this, so I don't know what's up. Maybe some have it and some don't.

But if you go shopping for an Aveo...spend some time in it before you let the salesman turn on the air, okay?

Ford Focus SES Coupe Review

I began my automotive journalism career 12 years ago this fall by testing a small Ford coupe that impressed me more than I expected. So it's kind of appropriate that this, the 150th TireKicker post (first anniversary is August 24), is also about a small Ford coupe that impressed me more than I expected.

The Ford Focus has been a bit of a disappointment simply because there's a better one being sold in Europe. But there are two bits of good news: We'll be getting the Euro Focus (or something very close to it) in a year or two...and the American version is being constantly improved and refined in the meantime.

The SES I drove had a 2 liter DOHC four, a 5-speed manual that's one of the best I've had from Ford and 17 inch wheels.



Inside, air, SYNC, and auxilary audio jacks are all standard.

Options on the tester included leather heated bucket seats, a moonroof and an upgrade to the audiophile sound system...as well as anti-lock brakes (which really, really should be standard).

Base price: $17.570. As tested: $20.615.

EPA estimates: 24 city/35 highway.

Now in that range, there's a lot of competition (it takes 26 city to make the TireKicker Top Ten Fuel Savers...and a lot of compacts are priced in that $17,000-$20,000 range), but the Focus is now good enough that it's able to run in that crowded pack.

Ford Transit Connect Review

Is this the future of small business vehicles in America?

It is if enough florists, caterers, handymen, plumbers and electricians decide they don't really need full-size pickups and vans.

The Ford Transit Connect has sold 600,000 copies in 58 countries since 2003. Now, Ford brings it to the USA.

Selling points?

A low base price...starting at $20,780.

Fuel economy....EPA estimates are 22 city/25 highway.

Innovative technology....more on which later.



The interior is more Focus than F-150...but it's roomy and especially well put together.

In work vehicles, it's what's in back that counts...and thanks to a low load floor and tall roofline, the Transit Connect has a surprising amount of room for tools of whatever trade you're in.



The innovative tech? In-dash computing which allows internet access, scheduling, invoicing and more....right from the driver's seat with a wireless keyboard. It's a $1,395 option.

Add another $1,220 and you get Tool Link. Put radio frequency tracking tags on your tools and Tool Link keeps track of them. Leave the office or a work site without your full complement of stuff...and you get an alert on the in-dash display before you can drive away...saving the cost of return trips for forgotten items or replacements for things lost.



Ford is even offering a wagon version that seats five (base price $21,135) to sell to consumers who like the cargo space. There's also a strong possibility that these will become the next-gen taxicab as the Crown Victoria ends production.



Ford hosted a Transit Connect event for journalists, dealers and small business owners on Monday (7/13) at Firebird Raceway in Phoenix. And that's where we learned the other selling point: Maneuverability. The Transit Connect handled the slalom course like no E-Series van ever could (except, perhaps with Firebird's next-door neighbor Bob Bondurant at the wheel).

As we took the course, we noticed that one of the group had actually knocked over one...but only one...of the cones. Arizona Driver photographer Randall Bohl actually caught the culprit in the act:



But tinted glass and the driver's side A-pillar conceals the identity of the culprit. That is, until Arizona Driver publisher Joe Sage spent a little time with Photoshop:



The object in mid-air would be ABC15's $4,000 video camera.

Thanks, Joe.

Here's the story as I did it for ABC15: