Winding Road Magazine
Driven: 2010 Ford Transit Connect
This wasn’t what we were expecting for a “first drive” experience. Instead of being let loose on Metro Detroit’s highways and byways, we were given a carefully planned route in and around the quaint town of Royal Oak and were told to make pit stops at three different businesses along the way. We talked with a catering company, kitchen and bath remodeling shop, and florist supply service about the ways in which the Transit Connect could be a useful tool for small companies who normally had to rely on large cargo vans (Dodge Sprinter, Ford E-Series) or light-duty trucks for their shipping and delivery services. The Transit Connect’s small size, low price point ($21,475 MSRP), and easy-to-maneuver qualities make it a great solution for businesses looking to affordably haul. And the icing on the cake? The little Ford van is pretty good to drive, too.
Driven: 2010 Ford Taurus SHO
Charging into any of a thousand deep green tunnels of trees, twin turbos spin 170,000 rpm just in front of the firewall. The all-wheel-drive bites into the asphalt tossed across North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Only way deep, way hot into the corner do the tires begin to sound off. Nanoseconds before, the steering already communicated the impending understeer. The paddle shifter calls for a three-to-two downshift. It engages with a rev-match in 0.75 milliseconds. Nail the throttle for instant power. Clipping a leaf-strewn apex just for effect. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
Blog: General Motors 4.0 – Pay Attention to the Genesis
By happenstance, we had the Chevrolet Corvette and the Hyundai Genesis Coupe in the office during the same week recently. I found driving these two sports coupes back-to-back a fascinating exercise with implications for GM 4.0 and GM CEO Fritz Henderson. Below is my (imagined) consultative letter to Fritz.
Keepers: BMW M3 E46
Let’s be honest, every generation of the M3 is a keeper. Balance, grip, performance, you’ve heard all this before. In 23 years of M3 production, approximately 2863 various adjectives, adverbs, present and past participles, sexually-charged metaphors, and other automotive clichés have been blasted across print and electronic media, describing the greatness of the car. Far be it for us to add to the hype, so we’ll simply say yeah, it’s that good, and the third-generation E46 model is among the finest of the breed, delivering a driving experience that is pure M-ness. M-ness…guess that makes 2864.
Driven: 2010 Porsche Panamera
We’ve personally been present at all of the Panamera events leading up to today’s long awaited drive and we can say honestly that the Porsche luxury liner has looked better and better to us with each walk-around. Whether witnessing in the clouds above Shanghai, in the passenger seat at the company’s Weissach tech center, or driving it here in the Bavarian Alps, we are now certain that the Panamera is at the very least a trueblood modern day Porsche.
Keepers: Turbo Dodges—Community
One thing is for certain when it comes to Turbo Dodges; they’re backed by a very broad, dedicated enthusiast community that ranges from armchair admirers to technical wizards who can rattle off specific engine tolerances and decode VINs, while rebuilding transmissions, and yes, I do mean multiple transmissions at once. Having that kind of support base makes owning a turbo Dodge even sweeter, and for the enthusiasts who happen upon one of the rarer model/engine combos, it’s borderline necessary.
Driven: 2010 Chevrolet Equinox
General Motors, among financial turmoil and brand sell-offs, has decided to use its most well known brand to usher in the new generation of GM. The vehicle it chose to do it with, however is a crossover: the 2010 Chevrolet Equinox. Why? Because the company is confident that it will sell. The redesigned, reengineered Equinox, in the mind of the company, is the perfect package of comfort, safety, utility, and, most importantly, value.
Keepers: Turbo Dodges—Shopping
Stepping into the world of turbo Dodges can be somewhat intimidating for the uninitiated. While our first Keepers report on these cars covered only four vehicles (arguably the pinnacle of Dodge’s turbo efforts of the time), in reality the 2.2 turbo and later variants were used in everything from sleeper sedans, hatchbacks, in-your-face sports cars, or even minivans. The good news here is that no matter what you’re into, there’s likely a turbo Dodge to suit your tastes. Even better, because so many of these power plants were produced, parts are cheap and relatively easy to come by, with some rare exceptions that we’ll discuss below. The downside however is trying to weed through the layers of lingo to determine which combination is right for you, and admittedly that can take a bit of effort. To help with that, here’s a little primer for the turbo-inclined enthusiast looking for the best boost-per-buck.
Driven: 2010 Kia Forte
While sitting around a candlelit table at Chandler’s Crabhouse in downtown Seattle, we talked with other journalists about our recent drive in Kia’s all-new Forte sedan—the replacement for the long-running Spectra. We discussed our generally lukewarm driving impressions, but still resolved that the Forte is a good competitor in the compact segment. One colleague said, “If I only write about the drive experience, it could come off as a bad review—but it isn’t actually a bad car at all.” So stay with us here, because while there may not be any juicy, exciting, sports-car-type bits about the Kia Forte, it’s still a perfectly adequate player in a segment that needs to appeal to the widest variety of shoppers. Think about the Nissan Sentra, Toyota Corolla, and Ford Focus sedans—these cars are tragically vanilla, but they still sell in droves. And so the Kia Forte comes to town, bringing with it a bigger pile of standard equipment, attractive design, and a very low price point. None of these cars are particularly exciting, and the Forte still manages to seal up the whole compact sedan package better than these aforementioned competitors.
Blog: Chevrolet Volt—Enthusiast Driver’s Car?
Reading the comments on our Tesla drive, and about the Volt’s roughly $32,500 pricing (after subtracting the $7500 federal incentive), got me to thinking that we may misunderstand the Volt and other battery-powered cars. I haven’t driven the Volt, so only time will tell, but here’s the logic.
Keepers: The Turbo Dodges
In the pursuit of finding cars worth keeping, there’s not always a clear connection between pedigree, price and performance. Sometimes, cars that people expect to be good turn out to be rubbish, despite their ancestry. And sometimes, you come across performance heroes in the most unlikely of places.
Keepers: Honda S2000 – Community
Current or future S2000 owners are blessed with an active enthusiast community spread across the U.S. as well as several countries overseas. And we’re not just talking about occasional parking lot gatherings; these folks love the S2000 but more importantly, they love driving the S2000. Three websites—S2Ki.com , S2Kca.com , and S2000.com —should be in every S2000 owner’s bookmark list because they are the definitive sites to visit for complete model information. Within these digital library stacks are a wealth of information, including technical help and aftermarket performance tips, all crafted from the folks who know these cars best.
Keepers: Honda S2000—Shopping
Traditionally, even well maintained sports cars tend to be maintenance-heavy due to their high-strung personalities. There is good news, however, for all you would-be Honda S2000 owners, because the S2000—aside from being a high-strung sports car—is still a Honda. That means high levels of reliability despite its performance car status.
List: 2009 Lotus Elise SC from Las Vegas to Menlo Park, the Hard Way
Recently, Winding Road mainstay Rex Roy took a pretty magical two-day drive from Las Vegas, Nevada to Menlo Park, California in a 2009 Lotus Elise SC. Not one to let the time pass idly; Rex captured some amazing photographs along the way. Click through the gallery above where Rex narrates his journey for our benefit. Trust us, this was a good one.
Blog: Getting Environmental Policy Right
’ve said that the domestic automakers will emerge from their recent financial difficulties in better shape than in recent memory. My point in that blog was that the so-called bailout of the Detroit Three is the news, but it isn’t the key issue. The Detroit Three will restructure and emerge in decent shape.
I’ve also said we should care about what happens after that point. That’s because if there’s one lesson from the problems of the automakers it should be that apparently simple decisions often have lasting negative consequences. What we are deciding now are the policies for 7-20 years from now regarding fuel usage.
List: The Top Ten Motorcycle Helmets by Owner Satisfaction
J.D. Power and Associates has recently completed a customer survey, which asks users which motorcycle helmets are the most satisfying. While we tend to be pretty satisfied by any helmet that keeps our brains soundly inside of our heads, The JDP folks clearly chose to dig deeper. The survey measured satisfaction based on three key factors: ventilation, face shield, and design and styling. Helmet owners were asked for ratings on eleven attributes:
Keepers: Honda S2000
In the broad realm of performance motoring, there are essentially three classifications of enthusiasts: Those who seek pure power, those who seek pure finesse, and those who seek a balance of the two. For those seeking finesse, top-down sports motoring doesn’t get much better than the Honda S2000, and while the high-revving, 240 horsepower four banger under hood won’t satisfy the power hungry, it does propel the S2000 with enough punch to get an inexperienced driver into trouble, and boy does it sound good doing it.
Driven: 2010 Lexus HS250h
Don’t call it a Prius. First of all, the Lexus HS250h only gets a combined fuel economy average of 35 miles per gallon, compared to the Prius’s 50. They appeal to separate segments, have different engines, and the HS has many features unavailable to the Prius. The two cars even look totally different. The HS has had enough of being compared to its downmarket Toyota cousin.
First Look: 2010 BMW 5-Series Gran Turismo
We first saw the BMW 5-Series GT Concept at this year’s Geneva Motor Show, but now the official images and details about the Funky Five have been released, set for a 2010 model year debut. In a way, the 5 GT follows in the footsteps of the BMW X6 in the world of gender-bending vehicles. The GT will fall in between the new 5-Series sedan and wagon in terms of interior volume and size.
Blog: A New Lease on Life for Detroit
The daily headlines have been full of news about the bailout of the U.S. auto industry from its various problems. As interesting as such details are, I’d like to suggest that they aren’t the important part of the story for automotive enthusiasts. In a dramatically changing automobile industry, what we’ve witnessed up ‘til now is more like the preparation for the invasion of Iraq. We’re entering the phase where we actually invade. But the hard parts and the decisive parts start after that. Or, if you prefer a happier analogy, we’ve been witnessing the prep for the wedding. Now we’re about to go in to the wedding ceremony and then off on a honeymoon. After that, the hard work and – we hope – good times begin. Ongoing life isn’t a wedding ceremony or a battle, and we would do well not to confuse the two.
SVT Contours Star At Spring Zing
Ford’s Tempo replacement in the mid-1990s only had a six-year production run, but when engineers from Ford’s Special Vehicle Team (SVT) got their hands on the Contour for the 1998 model year, few people could’ve anticipated the cult following that would follow.
