2011 Autoline After Hours Automotive Draft

Who would make the perfect automotive CEO? What if Alan Mulally was already taken? How about a chief designer — would you try and lure Ed Welburn away from GM? That’s the game we’re playing tonight as we perform the first-annual Autoline After Hours Automotive Draft. Just as in fantasy football, we’re assembling our top executive teams, and once a coveted executive has been picked, he or she is out of the running. Our team owners for the 2011 Draft are John McElroy from Dymaxion Motors, Peter De Lorenzo from Renzo Motors, Ed Lapham from DeWard Auto Group and Jim Hall from Automobiles Bistango. On site in our War Room will be Scott Burgess from The Detroit News and Mark Phelan from the Detroit Free Press with their play-by-play analysis of the draft picks. Our master of ceremonies will be none other than Frank Markus from Motor Trend. So tune in and get ready for the battle to begin; this is gonna be good!

 

Free Videos by Ustream.TV

Pop-out Chat Window

Autoline After Hours Tonight with Chris Borroni-Bird, GM Advanced Technology

This week we take an up-close peek at the next phase of transportation with our guest, Chris Borroni-Bird, the Director of Advanced Technology Vehicle Concepts for GM. We’ll be getting into the details of the EN-V program and even take a ride in one of the futuristic concepts. GM’s President of North America, Mark Reuss, suggested that an EN-V trial program could happen in Detroit, but what would it take to make that happen? As usual, we’ll be getting into some of the hottest topics of the week. John McElroy is joined in studio by the one and only Autoextremist Peter De Lorenzo as well as Charlie Vogelheim from Intellichoice.com.

 

Free Videos by Ustream.TV

Pop-out Chat Window

Got questions for Rapid Fire? Put “AAH Question” in the subject line and e-mail it to viewermail@autolinedetroit.tv

Or, leave us a message by calling 1-620-288-6546 or by clicking below!



(Live show will continue)

Quick Drive 2012 Prius v The Next Car In The Prius Family

Hybrid sales in the U.S. account about 2.5% of total sales, of that amount, 53% of those sales are Toyota Prius’.  There are 16 other car companies building hybrids and 30 other hybrid models on the market, but none of them can hold a candle to the Prius when it comes to sales and market acceptance.  The next question then becomes, is this level of sales all the market will hold, or are their opportunities to expand, sales and a brand.  Toyota is setting out to answer this question with the Prius v. 

There is no doubt, and Toyota executives acknowledge the fact that the Hollywood crowd had a significant impact in getting mainstream people interested in and purchasing Prius’.  However, as families grew, many outgrew their Prius and needed something with more space for said family and their related gear.  Sure some moved up to Toyota’s RAV4 or other crossovers and small SUV’s, but Toyota wanted an option for those that still wanted to drive a hybrid, or something with superior fuel economy.

What they have come up with is the Prius v, the first extension of the Prius family.  While the Prius v looks very similar in size to the current Prius, it is actually larger.  The Prius v has a three inch longer wheelbase, is six inches longer overall, 3 inches taller and one inch wider.  This all adds up to 58% more cargo space for the car which equals or exceeds 80% of CUV’s and small SUV’s in the market.  The extended wheelbase has a noticeable effect on rear seat room.  Rear seats can move forwards and backwards to alter legroom and or cargo area.  With the drivers seat adjusted for a 6’4” person, there is still plenty of room behind the drivers seat for that same 6’4” person to ride comfortably.  The Prius v weighs in at 236 pounds more than the current Prius and has an drag coefficient of .29 versus .25 from the standard Prius.

With additional width and height of the Prius v it makes a difference in how airy the cabin feels.  There is plenty of headroom for front and back seat passengers and the additional shoulder room is welcome.  Three adults should be able to fit comfortably in the back seat.

A few other things of note in the interior.  The Prius v carries the first sunroof offered in the line.  It is made of a resin that is 40% lighter than conventional glass and reflects 99% of all UV rays to keep the interior cooler and materials from fading.  The seat material used is a synthetic leather like surface that has a good feel to it yet is 50% lighter than conventional leather.  Toyota have also worked with JBL Audio on the sound system.  Not only are the related amps and speakers lighter than normal, they also draw less power.  At 100dB, a conventional system might draw 7.6 amps of power, the JBL Green Edge system only draws 3.9 amps.  If you crank up the volume to 105dB that difference grows to 11.7 amps for the conventional system versus 4.8 for the JBL system.  JBL claim that the 120 watt system available int eh Prius v is equal it a 600 watt conventional system.

Also debuting on the Prius v is Toyota’s new telematics system called Entune.  It works with iPhones and Android devices to provide connectivity for the system.  There are apps built into the Entune system, Bing for searching the navigation and other apps, but not the internet, Pandora, Open Table, iHeart Radio and others.  Entune requires that you download the corresponding applications onto your smartphone and then syncs them together to work seamlessly.

If you’ve driven the current generation of Toyota Prius then the driving dynamics of the Prius v will be very familiar.  The Prius v does seem to ride a bit better, tar strips, bumps and pot holes don’t seem as noticeable, the Prius v also rides a bit quieter as well.  We did notice a difference in sound level between the drivers seat and the passengers seat.  In the drivers seat we noticed more wind and road noises then we did in the passengers seat, and the person we did the drive with made the same comments.

Both of us felt that a big culprit to the ride and noise issues were the tires selected for the car.  Just like the standard Prius, the Prius v has low rolling resistance tires that aren’t the most compliant of rubber.  We’d like to see what effect to the mileage a set of “conventional” tires would have, and what difference that would have for the ride and comfort of the car as well.  Tossed into corners the Prius v understeers as you would expect and the back end can get a little light as well, but we don’t believe anyone has illusions of this car being anything resembling sporty.The Prius v has electric steering and while providing a very light feel, provides little feedback.  The front end of the car feels “out there” as in, input goes into the steering wheel and the car turns, but there is no connected feel. 

If you like and enjoy the current Prius then you will like the Prius v as well.  If you are a fan of the Prius, but your family needs more cargo space and room, but your don’t want a traditional crossover or small SUV then this might be your answer.  The Prius v is rated by the EPA at 44 city, 40 highway and 42 combined.  The Prius v is also classified by the EPA as a midsize wagon.  In our 40 mile loop of two lane back roads we saw 41 mpg, and we weren’t taking it easy.

There will be three trim packages available the 2, 3 and 5 which correspond to current Prius options packages.  Other markets will see the Prius v sold as a seven passenger vehicle, but not in North America, Toyota’s market research said that people were more interested in cargo room then extra seating.  Also by going with a five passenger rather than a seven passenger configuration, Toyota were able to charge several thousand dollars less for the vehicle. 

The Prius v will go on sale in the fall with mid October being the target time frame.  Toyota believe that they will be able to sell 25,000 to 30,000 of the Prius v’s a year without having any impact on current Prius sales, pricing when it goes on sale will be slightly higher than the current Prius, but no official pricing has been announced.

If you’d like to see the rest of the photo’s for the Prius v please check out the photo gallery

Reviewed 2011 Volkswagen Jetta: Sometimes The Auto Critics Are Wrong

Some times the car critics are wrong.  That should come as no shock, after all, 75% the people who do car reviews are writing it for themselves and for their peers.  What the public in general might be looking for is irrelevant, it’s what THEY decide is important is what really matters, and if you aren’t on board 100%, well then, you can’t play in their sandbox.

If you never had any dealings with the previous generation of the Volkswagen Jetta, then you would have to wonder why there are few good words in the press about the new version of the car.  Even Consumer Reports has called it one of the most disappointing updates to car in recent memory.  Here is the thing, while the previous generation Jetta was a great car, it didn’t sell all that well because, even in lower spec trim, it was often as expensive, if not more expensive then other cars in it’s class when they were fully loaded.

For the 2011 Jetta, Volkswagen took a different tact.  Since most people say they will spend more money for quality, but never do when it’s time to pull out the checkbook, VW called their bluff.  The new Jetta has some materials in it that are not up to the level of the previous generation, it comes with a twist beam rear suspension rather than an independent rear suspension, and it’s driving dynamics have been softened, the level of the materials in the interior aren’t class leading, yet the car is selling in record numbers, mostly because it stickers for $3,000 to $5,000 less than the previous generation.

95% of the people who own and buy the Volkswagen Jetta couldn’t distinguish the difference between an IRS and a twist beam rear suspension if you let them drive them back to back, nor do they care.  While some people still viewed the Jetta as a 3 series BMW at a discount, most viewed it as a mid-sized car that was a bit smaller on the inside then it’s peers.  In increasing the size of the new Jetta, it is now on par or larger then most everything else for interior room.

The interior is pleasant enough.  Again if you were to read a number of reviews you’d think it was all hard plastic from the mid 1990’s, but that’s not the case.  Sure there are cars in this class that might have a slightly higher grade of materials, but there is plenty of soft touch surfaces inside.  Yes, everything could be a bit better, but VW tried that before and it didn’t work. 


If there was something that did frustrate us with the car it was the infotainment system.  It was not very intuitive, and the direction, once you could find them in the owners manual, were as clear as squid ink.  We did figure everything out after a time, but we can’t say there weren’t a few not for prime time words used in the process.

Something else that the critics would have you believe is that the 2.5 liter five cylinder is as smooth as 16 grit sandpaper.  OK, so it’s not silky like a 4.2 liter Jaguar inline 6, but what is?  The five cylinder runs well, has really good torque, paired with the five speed manual transmission we described the performance to to others as “plucky”.  As we said the car has really good low end torque, not V8 level torque, but with the number of small four cylinders we’ve driven of late that have NO power below 4,000 rpms, it was nice.  There was torque steer, but it wasn’t objectionable.  In fact, it was enjoyable to drive.

The styling on the new Jetta has also been very controversial because it is so safe.  Again, Volkswagen took the temperature of the market with this car, it looked at what the best selling cars in the segment are, Civic, Altima and Corolla, and decided that bold styling is not something that people look for.  Ford with the new Focus and Hyundai with the new Elantra are trying to change that, but if you look at the Mazda3, it hasn’t worked  for that model.

Fuel mileage for the Jetta was also good.  It is rated by the EPA at 23 city and 33 highway.  We put 400 miles on the Jetta, and saw 27 combined and 34.5 on a 90 mile highway loop.  As always we did not try to drive for maximum mpg, rather we drove this car as if it were our own.

In the end we came away very surprised with the new Jetta given everything that we had read, and had been told by other colleagues.  It is a very solid car, and very good value.  Our SEL model stickered at $23,065.  It had an upgraded touch screen stereo with SatNav, 17” alloys, sunroof, and electronic limited slip differential.  It is almost the same price as the Hyundai Elantra Limited we tested a couple months back, and while the Hyundai has better styling, and may cost a few dollars less, the Jetta was more fun to drive and returned the same gas mileage, even though the Hyundai is rated MUCH higher.

So, as we said at the top, sometime the critics are wrong, VW took a shot in judging that what the market wanted was good value, and they have been rewarded with sales of the Jetta up 70% over the previous model!  Customers often say they want one thing, but when it comes time to scratch a check actual cost and perceived value end up being  the deciding factor.  Sure the new Jetta could be higher spec, but at what cost to the sticker price and at what cost to total sales?

Go drive a Jetta and decide for yourself, but we think you will come away thinking, “what was all the bashing about from the automotive elite?”  If VW wants to send us another one for review we’d be happy to drive it, just this time can we get the TDI please??!!

Check out our photo gallery to see all the images of the 2011 Jetta.

Autoline After Hours Tonight with Peter Robinson, Wheels Magazine

This week while we’re enjoying some beers on the set, our special guest will just be having his first cup of coffee. That’s because Peter Robinson, contributing editor for Wheels magazine, will be Skyping in all the way from the land down under — a difference of 14 hours. We’ll be asking him about the latest automotive issues in Australia and find out what Aussie-derived platforms we can expect stateside. We’ll also get into the news of the week including California’s EV mandate that says 5.5% of all vehicles sold must be EVs by 2018. Also, CAR says that reaching the CAFE goal of 62 MPG will cost an additional $4,000 – $9,000. John McElroy is joined in studio by the one and only Autoextremist Peter De Lorenzo.

 

Free Videos by Ustream.TV

Pop-out Chat Window

Got questions for Rapid Fire? Put “AAH Question” in the subject line and e-mail it to viewermail@autolinedetroit.tv

Or, leave us a message by calling 1-620-288-6546 or by clicking below!



(Live show will continue)

 

Autoline After Hours Tonight with Francois Castaing, Former VP of Vehicle Engineering, Chrysler

This week we welcome Francois Castaing who was the VP of Vehicle Engineering at Chrysler back when the company was making boatloads of money. We’ll ask him about what he’s doing these days including his effort to raise money for the Detroit Science Center. As usual we’ll be parsing the news of the week including GM’s Dan Akerson, and the controversial comments he made about the Lincoln brand. We’ll also find out why Peter De Lorenzo, the Autoextremist, is lobbying Ford to return to Le Mans. John McElroy is also joined in studio by AAH founding member Jason Vines.

 

Free Videos by Ustream.TV
Pop-out Chat Window

Got questions for Rapid Fire? Put “AAH Question” in the subject line and e-mail it to viewermail@autolinedetroit.tv
Or, leave us a message by calling 1-620-288-6546 or by clicking below!

(Live show will continue)

Autoline After Hours Tonight with Tim Colbeck, Saab Cars North America

This week we pose one very important question to Saab’s U.S. COO, Tim Colbeck: how is this company going to survive? If the company is in fact manufacturing cars again, how are its dealers going to keep their heads above water while they wait for product to arrive in showrooms? And how is Saab going to get the message out to the world that it is alive and well? John McElroy and the Autoextremist, Peter De Lorenzo, will also talk about the news of the week including the announcement of Ford’s three-cylinder EcoBoost engine. They’ll also talk about why three pony cars outsold all hybrids in May, combined. All that and much more on this edition of Autoline After Hours.
Free Videos by Ustream.TV
Pop-out Chat Window

Got questions for Rapid Fire? Put “AAH Question” in the subject line and e-mail it to viewermail@autolinedetroit.tv
Or, leave us a message by calling 1-620-288-6546 or by clicking below!

(Live show will continue)