Reviewed: 2012 Kia Optima Turbo

Ten months ago when we had the non-Turbo version of the Optima in for review, we declared it the best sedan on the market for under $30,000.  With the Turbo model we wanted to see if it could be even better.  So here on Rumblestrip.NET we are taking a look at the 2012 Kia Optima Turbo.

First Drive: 2012 Toyota Prius c

It’s been twelve years since the Toyota Prius first came on to the American stage.  Thought of as a science experiment then, and in many ways it was, now in it’s third generation the Prius Liftback IS the face of Toyota.

While the hybrid and plugin electric market may only be 2.5% of all vehicle sales in the U.S., the Prius accounts for more than 50% of those sales.  The most shocking statistic is that 96% of all Prius’ sold, are still on the road today.  Looking to expand the sales of the Prius, Toyota have expanded the sub-brand of Prius into four models, with the goal of the Prius family of vehicles surpassing Camry in sales  

The first expansion of the Prius family was the Prius v, not quite a crossover, yet more than a wagon, it was Toyota’s move to get growing and active families more space to fit their lifestyle without compromising fuel economy or the integrity of the Prius name.  The Plugin Prius will be the current Liftback model that will have the ability to drive 15 miles on pure electric, then revert back to a standard Prius Hybrid once the charge has been depleted.  The last component is the source of our review, and that is the Prius c.  It is a B-segment car, which will be competing against the likes of Toyota’s own Yaris and iQ, along with the Mazda2, Ford Fiesta, Chevy Spark, Honda Fit, Nissan Versa, Kia Rio and Hyundai Accent.

Powering the Prius c is an updated version of the venerable 1.5 liter inline four cylinder engine.  It has been updated to improve efficiency with lighter weight valve springs, lighter tension weight piston rings along with a few other items like the elimination of an accessory belt so now that the power steering, air conditioning and water pump are all driven via electric motors to reduce drag and friction and improve fuel economy.  This is paired with a Ni-MH battery pack that is about 2/3rds the size of the one found in the Liftback, which provides an additional 25.9 horsepower to the 73 horsepower engine.  The transaxle in the Prius c is an all electric unit that has no belts.

Fuel economy is the raison d’etre in the Prius family and the Prius c will deliver that in spades.  Rated by the EPA 53 city, 46 highway and 50 combined.  We had the opportunity to drive for a short 25 mile loop that was an equal mix of surface roads and highway.  On the surface roads we pulled down 63.5 mpg without really making an effort  to maximize fuel economy, and at the end of the loop we had a combined 54.7 mpg, and that was while driving highway speeds of 70-75 mph.  Keeping with the rest if the Prius family, the c also has start/stop technology, so that the car is running only when it needs to when stopped in traffic.  If you are in stop and go driving, this is an excellent way to save a few extras drops of fuel.

Lest you think this B-segment car is cramped inside, it is not.  Front seat passengers have plenty of room, no fear of rubbing shoulders with your passenger.  For back seat passengers, two normal sized adults will be able to ride comfortably.  We had the drivers seat set for us at 5’11”, then jumped in the back seat behind and were able to get in and out with no problem, and our knees were not touching the back of the driver seat either.

The rear seats do fold in a 60/40 arrangement allowing for good load flexibility, bicycles and snowboards will have no problem fitting inside.  With the seats up there is 17.1 cubic feet of space in the hatch area, which should be more than enough room for day to day items, or runs to the grocery store.

In the upper trim levels Toyota have made Softex synthetic leather an option.  Listening to their consumers, Toyota have eliminated the use of natural leather in the Prius family of cars.  The Softext in our test car, was comfortable, had a quality feel to it, and was grippy so that we did not slide around in the seat.

There will be four trim levels to the Prius c, One, Two, Three and Four.  Stepping up to trim level’s Three and Four will net you a smart key, which offers the ability to not have to take the key out of your pocket to get in the car, or need it for starting.  The upper two levels also get you the top end audio system with navigation.  It has a 6.1 in touch screen with AM/FM/SirusXM/HD Radio and also will play CD’s along with MP3 and WMA files through a six speaker system.

All trim levels have bluetooth as standard but trim levels Three and Four allow for advanced voice recognition.  The top end audio system also includes Entune.  Entune is a system that Toyota have developed that works with the data connection on your smart phone to supply Pandora, iHeart Radio, OpenTable, MovieTickets.com along with real time traffic, weather, fuel prices, sports scores and weather to you.

You register on a specific Toyota website with your cars VIN number, and then you can assign up to four different phones to the system so that everyone can taylor the system to themselves, if multiple people in a household share the car.

The Prius c also contains a 3.5 inch TFT display to the right of the offset digital speedometer.  There are multiple levels of menus to explore within.  Items like energy monitors, drive information, scoring the last 100 drives and how economical the current one is, 5 minute consumption.  There is an ECO Savings level where you can program the current cost of gas in, and also the mpg of another vehicle to see how much you are saving with the Prius c.  It also calculates the current cost of your current trip, and past trips, and brake it down into a cost per mile.  It will also grade you on how economically you are driving and braking on a scale of 1-5 and display it in a bar graph.

Many people worry about safety in cars that are as small as the Prius c.  To address this Toyota is including nine standard airbags along with items like ABS, traction control, vehicle stability control, brake assist, brake force distribution and smart stop. 

Smart stop is a system that intervenes when both the brake and gas peddles are pressed at the same time.  In a panic situation one might press down hard on both peddles without meaning to.  The system senses this, and disengages the gas, it also incorporates a hill assist into the system so that if you are on a hill and stopped, you do not roll backwards when transferring from the brake peddle to the gas peddle.

Pricing for the Prius c in trim level One starts at $19,710, Level Two is $20,760, Level Three is $22,395 and Level Four is $23,990, all prices include the $760 destination fee.  While this is certainly on the higher end of the B-Segment price structure, cars like Ford’s Fiesta can quickly top $20,000 as well once they are optioned up.  The base price of the Prius c is about a $2,000 premium over the Yaris to give some context.

Out on the road the Prius c drives very well.  While the handling can’t be called sporty, it is very competent.  It is very agile, has a better ride quality than the Prius Liftback or v, and also transmits less road noise through the tires than the Liftback or v as well.  The Prius c engineers took extra time to mitigate as much NVH from the car as possible and their work shows.

Acceleration in city traffic from 0-40 miles an hour is good, though not quick.  Merging onto the highway the power can be best described as adequate.  It is able to get on to freeways and merge without drama, and while you may feel you need to be going faster or accelerating quicker, once you look at the speedometer, you will see you’ve already gotten up to the speed of surrounding traffic.  The car can engage an EV mode where it can run up to a mile with a max speed of 25 miles an hour.   

The Prius c was able to run 75 miles an hour on the highway with no issues, it was not moved around by semi’s going past, it felt very stable, and the interior is quiet enough to hold a conversation in a normal tone of voice. 

While the other versions of the Prius have never excited us all that much, we feel that the c is the first Prius that we can get behind.  It truly was a fun and satisfying car to drive.  In a time when gas is again approaching $4/gallon in the U.S., having a car that can pull down 50 mpg is an attractive proposition.  And when that proposition asks very few compromises from you, it’s even more so.  No the car is not a sports car, or a sporty car, what it is, is a small car that gets the job done, can be well equipped, and you don’t mind driving.  While in the past, and even now with the Liftback and the v, the Prius’ could be described as automotive appliances, the c does not have that vibe, it feels like a car first, a hybrid second.

Reviewed: 2011 Lexus IS-F, Japan’s Stealth Fighter

With the exception of the LF-A when you think Lexus, you think conservative, understated luxury car.  Lexus has always been the “safe” choice when you wanted a luxury car, but didn’t want something from Germany.

The IS range from Lexus tends to fly under the radar.  Most people tend to focus on three models in it’s lineup.  The top end LS, the mid level ES and the RX crossover.  While there is nothing wrong with those vehicles, they don’t come within a solar system of what you might consider engaging drivers cars, but that’s not what they were designed to be either.

The IS is the exception to that rule.  Even in it’s standard IS 350 guise, the IS does not feel “blandtastic” it does have strong elements that at times make you scratch your head and wonder how did this one make it through.  That’s before we get to the IS-F.

If you like fun and engaging cars to drive, then the Lexus IS-F is for you.  It starts under the hood with a 416 horsepower 5.0 liter V8 which sends power to the rear wheels via an eight speed automatic gear box.  It should be required in owning or driving this car that you either (a) have a radar detector, (b) have an attorney on retainer, or (c) be on good terms with your local police department. 

Why you ask?  Because once you hit about 3500 rpms the exhaust note is so glorious, that you want to keep hearing it!  We hope which ever engineers were responsible for tuning the exhaust note got a large bonus because this is one of THE GREAT V8 exhaust notes of all time!

The suspension also gets an upgrade over the standard IS 350.  The ride is firmer, but it is also not harsh, it is something that is very livable in everyday driving.  The IS-F does corner flatter and is quicker to change directions when called on to do so quickly.

As fantastic as the engine is, the brakes on the IS-F are equally as good.  The pure stopping power can generate enough negative g-forces to make you think your eyeballs will come out of their sockets.  Yet unlike many big brake systems, it doesn’t feel light a light switch which is either on or off, there is a nice linear travel, with excellent feedback.  The brake system is sourced from Brembo and have 14.2 inch discs up front with six piston calipers and 13.6 out back with two piston calipers.

Inside the car has all the luxury touches one would expect in a $60,000 car.  The leather is of good quality and the micro-fiber inserts in the seats give it an even more upscale touch.  In hot or cold clients the micro-fiber is much more comfortable than leather, while waiting for the cabin to come up or down to temperature.  It also offers better traction for your backside when you decide to push the car hard.

Looking onto the instrument cluster, a 9000 rpm tachometer is dead center and dominates your view.  While the tach may go to 9,000 shift are handled closer to 7,000.  There are a series of lights that change from yellow to red as you close in on the redline helping you if you are choosing to shift up manually in the gearbox.  

Best be quick with those shifts as the engine revs very quickly!  In first or second gear it is not difficult to bounce the engine off the rev limiter because the engine revs so quickly.  There is a digital readout on the tach to tell you your speed, to go along with a smaller speedometer to the right of the tach.

The IS-F has an optional Mark Levinson audio package that comes with navigation.  If you are familiar with the system in other Lexus models, it’s features are similar.  To our ear, it could use a little more base, and a little more “presence” in delivering the audio, and that is true in listening to several different genres of music, from classical, to jazz, rock and trip hop.

Fuel economy is not unreasonable for the IS-F, the EPA rates the car at 16 city/23 highway/18 combined.  Our experience with the car says those numbers are very close, and that is when were were not shy with the right foot!  Take it a little easier on the loud peddle and you will see the number increase.  We saw fuel economy at almost 20 in the city and 24 on the highway driving in a more restrained manner.

The IS-F has to rate as the most fun cars to drive in the Lexus lineup outside the $400,000 LF-A.  The best part of the LF-A is that it doesn’t scream performance car, even though there are some very aggressive styling cues.  There will be many a shocked BMW M3 driver when they see the IS-F’s taillights disappearing into the distance, and that may be the point, excellence in performance doesn’t have to be flashy, just quiet professionalism.


First Drive – 2013 Lexus GS: Ready To Take On Germany’s Best

When Lexus first brought the GS to market it was targeted as the “sporty sedan” where the LS was the “luxury sedan”, but somewhere along road, the GS became soft, and the idea of it be comparable to a BMW 5 Series was tossed aside.  With the latest iteration of the GS, Lexus are looking to change that conversation.

Right off the bat, Lexus are saying that they had the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes E-Class directly in their crosshairs as they developed the new GS.  A part of going after the Germans with the GS is the debut of the new Lexus design language in the front end.  Like it, love it, or hate it, get used to it, because this IS the new face of Lexus.  

Part of philosophy with the new GS was set forth by Akio Toyoda himself when he said this car must have emotion in the styling, and emotion in the driving.  He wanted the car to be able to stand out, and stand on it’s own, not just blend into the background.  It is this point of view which Lexus believe that they will be able to achieve a 50% conquest rate with new buyers to the Lexus GS.

 

There will be three distinct versions of the GS, a Luxury, a Hybrid, and the F-Sport.  We will focus on the Hybrid first.  The idea with the Hybrid was more a focus on “Performance Hybrid” rather than “Economy Hybrid”.  Think of the Hybrid as a V8 replacement, rather than say the CT200h which is focused on economy.  The Hybrid is also the only GS model that will have LED headlamps available.

The Luxury level is firmly targeted at the E-Class Mercedes.  The ride is tuned a little softer, there will be a special leather used, a three zone climate control system (two front, one back), 18 way power adjust seats and the driving dynamics are focused on a well controlled ride, rather than a “plush” ride.

The F-Sport is exactly what you’d think it would be.  It is going after the 5 Series BMW and M-Sport trimmed 5 Series (not M5) with is multi level suspension settings, active rear steering, and electronic engine and steering controls that greatly sharpen everything when you go into Sport and Sport+ modes.

Power for the GS will be a 3.5 liter V6 that features both Direct Injection and Port Injection, it will provide 306 horsepower and 277 torques, backed up by a six speed automatic transmission.  When asked why a six speed automatic and not an eight speed auto which has become de rigueur in the last twelve months, Lexus responded, that they did not believe they could get the driving dynamics they wanted with an eight speed.  They felt it would “always be hunting for the right gear”.

The Hybrid also uses the 3.5 liter V6 but converts it to an Atkinson Cycle engine, very common for hybrids, and couples it with a an electric motor to give it a combined power rating of 338 horsepower.  The reason for an Atkinson Cycle engine is that it is 35% more efficient and with the Hybrid system, it will return over 30MPG in the EPA combined cycle.  Though Lexus did not have the final EPA numbers at this press intro, they were very confident of the number.

 

Lexus have also worked on the packaging of the batteries for the Hybrid system, allowing a much larger trunk for the GS then in the previous generation.  There is some intrusion in space over the non-Hybrid versions of the GS, but it is far less then before.

There was also a focus on aero and NVH tuning so as to make the Hybrid a quiet as possible when driving on the highways.

The quality of materials in the two cars we spent time with at the launch, the F-Sport and the Hybrid were excellent.  We really like the way the Hybrid was trimmed out with a bamboo trim that felt very substantial.  Most wood trim on cars today is little more then a very thin vernier, in the Lexus it looked and felt more like solid chucks of wood.  This was most apparent in the steering wheel. Again, most wood trimmed wheels have an almost a plastic feel to them, with the GS it felt as though it was a sold piece of bamboo that you were holding on to.

We also drove the Hybrid on the short and tight infield road course at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and it did not disappoint. The car felt very composed around the track which contained both long sweeping corners and areas that put an emphasis on quick changes of direction.  While not a car that you are going to take out for lapping day at the track, it will feel very competent on twisty back roads should you choose to drive in a spirited manner.

The F-Sport is a bit of a revelation.  Driven back to back with a BMW 5 Series that was available for comparison around the race track, the GS was every bit as good, and in many ways BETTER then the BMW.  While the steering may not have felt quite as connected as the BMW, it was much more direct, and the GS had much less body roll!  

There is a noticeable change in the manor of ride, handling and throttle responsiveness with the different settings that are available.  In “normal” modes the F-Sport is more compliant, but as soon as you dial up either Sport or Sport+, things change for the better.

This does not mean that out on the open road the ride is harsh.  We took the F-Sport for a 30+ mile loop which included highway runs and surface streets.  On the day we were driving the GS, it also included 50+ MPH cross winds on the highway.  Lets touch on this last part first.  Number one, there was no way the car was not going to be moving around with winds that strong, however, there were no abrupt movements it felt more like a gentle push.  In contrast you could see the Semi-trucks on the road moving around quite a bit.  In addition the cabin remained very quiet.  You did not hear the sounds of the strong winds making it into the cabin, so Lexus should be commended for their work in the wind tunnel to make these thing possible.

Driving in Sport+ on the highway the ride felt firm and controlled without a hint of harshness.  If you enjoy more of the European firm and sporty ride, then you will enjoy this setting.  Set in standard mode, it smooths things out just a bit, and may be the better call if you have to drive on roads that aren’t in the best of shape.

Also out on the road we got to crank up the 830 watt Mark Levinson stereo system and tried it with some high quality music that we brought along.  If we have one gripe with the Levinson audio systems that Lexus use it’s that they lack a bit of bass.  We are not talking about obnoxious bass that you associate with too loud systems blasting hip hop, it’s more not hearing and feeling kick drums, bass guitar, or in the case of Jazz and Classical music, stand up bass or Cello missing power, feeling and emotion from the music.  That is purely a personal take on our part, but it’s something we noticed.

Out on the road we cranked up a little Allman Brothers Live At The Fillmore and lets just say, if you aren’t paying attention, you will be in triple digit speeds without knowing it.  In the middle of “Whipping Post” we looked down at to see the speedometer touching three digits and immediately got off the gas, even though it felt as we weren’t doing much over 70 on the freeway with a 75MPH limit.

 

On the inside of the car one thing that dominates the dash is the massive 12.3” LCD display.  Lexus have cleverly designed it so that it can be one large screen, or it can be broken up into three smaller ones if say you want audio information, an overall GPS man plus turn by turn directions all at the same time.

There has also been a large upgrade to the quality of feel in the mouse interface.  The new changes make it much more direct, and there is better haptic feedback as you get close to menu items.

 

Also included is the Lexus Enform system.  It will start with apps such as Facebook, Yelp, Pandora, MovieTix, iHeart Radio, bing and Open Table to start.  You will download the apps onto your iPhone, Android or BlackBerry, and then connect via USB to the car.  Enform will use your phones data plan to connect with the cloud and provide you with all the information, the Lexus Enform system in the car provides an nice interface in which to interact with it.

Overall we came away very impressed with the GS, and a quick informal poll of those in our wave for the drive and those who had just finished, were pretty much in agreement that if Lexus can get the word out on this car as it comes to market in mid February, it should have a hit on it’s hands.  The GS will come a surprise to many who view Lexus’ as nothing more than Sub Zero refrigerators, they are very nice refrigerators, but at the end of the day they are refrigerators.  The GS is likely to change that perception, and we look forward to having a chance to spend more time with the car in the near future.

 

Reviewed: 2011 Ford F-150, V6 Power Takes On The World

There was a time, not all that long ago, that having a six cylinder in your half ton pickup was a non issue.  Everyone who made full sized half ton pickups had a quality six cylinder in their lineup that, while it may have been the base engine, got the job done.

We had some experience with the Ford 300 straight six back in the late 80’s and early 90’s.  The fuel injected straight six had a ton of torque and unless you were trying to tow 7,000 pounds didn’t sweat the work load.

Sometime in the late 90’s the culture determined that unless you had a V8 under the hood of your half ton, (insert Arnold Schwarzenegger voice over), “you, were a girly man!”  It was said you need a big V8, even if all you ever towed was a small Bass boat, or a couple of jet ski’s and the most you ever brought home from the home improvement store were three 4×8 sheets of plywood.  In the era when gas was $2/gallon, that was fine, but now when gas is $3.50 or more a gallon, things change.

Ford along with everyone else got caught out when in 2008 fuel prices spiked from $2.75 a gallon to $4.25 a gallon in two months, and sales of full size trucks fell off a cliff.  Not wanting to get caught out again Ford put together a program where they would revamp their entire engine line for the F150 pickup so they could retain their crown of the “best selling vehicle in the U.S.” and with it, keep money flowing into the company, since pickups and SUV’s are where a majority of the profits come from.

We had the opportunity to drive the two new V6 powered F150’s in back to back weeks.  We started out with the base 302 horsepower 3.7 liter V6, then the week after we had the 365 horsepower 3.5 liter EcoBoost V6.  The question to be answered is, by going with a V6 are you missing anything by not having a V8. 

The first F150 we had was was a 4×2 Supercrew in XLT trim.  Perhaps it’s our perception, but the Ford F150 seems to have gotten much wider in the last couple iterations.  The F150 now feels as large as the F250.  These truck are extremely wide inside, and outside as well.  The truck is every bit of seven feet wide, so you will be taking up most of the lane driving down the road, and if you live in an older neighborhood, it’s tight going down the street if cars are parked on both sides of the road.

In the Supercrew, the back seat leg room is huge.  There may be more leg room for back seat passengers then on a BMW 750iL sedan!  Seating in the back is comfortable too.  You can put three large people in the back and not have any complaints even if you have a  drive of several hours.  For the driver and passenger, the captains chairs were comfortable and had plenty of adjustment for us to find the ideal spot. 

The cloth that we had in our XLT model is quite good.  It had good heft and thickness and felt like it would hold up for a long time, even under hard use.  We would like to have seen the USB and AUX jacks that are are at the bottom of the center stack, moved into the center console which is absolutely huge.  This is not necessary for aesthetic reasons, more ones of security.  Even though the F150 sits up so high, you can still see wires connecting to devices in the cab, that just invites problems.

The F-150’s now have the 4.3” information screen that debuted in the SuperDuties a couple years ago in between the the speedometer and the tach.  This multi function display is laid out well and provides good information to the driver in an easy to navigate menus.  It has more information then you will probably need, but always nice to have.  There are sub menus that are relevant for off roading and for towing along with the usual trip/distance measurements, diagnostics and the clever average and instant fuel economy gages which are blended into one.

 

Once you are accustomed to the size of the truck, it drives quite well.  While we didn’t have a chance to hook up anything to tow while we had the 3.7 V6 it did make a few trips to Lowes for supplies.  No, a 4×8 sheet of plywood will not lay flat in the bed, however, when propped up to fit, it didn’t protrude much past the upright tailgate.  We would recommend getting the step that makes getting into the bed of the truck easier.  Unless you have a 36”+ inseam, it’s a big step to climb up into the bed of the truck.

 

We would also recommend the back up camera option as well.  Living in an older neighborhood, one built in the nineteen teens and twenty’s backing out of the driveway was a bit of an adventure a few times.  On one occasion we had to get out of the truck to  see just how much further we could back up without hitting the car parked on the other side of the street as it could not be seen in the rearview or sideview mirrors.

Now the big question is, does the 3.7 V6 have enough power?  The answer is yes.  While one could always use more power, the base V6 felt fine.  Again we didn’t load it up with a ton of weight in the bed, or tow anything heavy, but for driving around and hauling a few things it was fine.  The only thing that struck us as odd, is that under full throttle, this engine shifts at 7,000 rpm’s.  It’s very un-truck like and it takes a little getting used to having the power is up higher in the rev range then most traditional truck buyers are used to.  The question remains though is how people who will tow with the base engine will feel when they don’t have the majority of their torque right off idle.

Fuel economy for the base V6 in two wheel drive is rated at 17 city and 23 highway and 19 combined.  We saw 18 combined and 22 on the highway, so the readings are about spot on.  The base sticker on our XLT was $31,810, then with options came to $34,880.  It seems a bit high priced, however, go and option out a pickup from ANY manufacturer these days and they get expensive in a hurry.  Long gone are the days you could get a full sized half ton for low to mid $20,000’s.  Then again, the interior of trucks today are as nice as some near luxury cars!

Next up we had the EcoBoost V6 F150, again a Supercrew but this time it was a 4×4 and in Lariat trim.  The move to the EcoBoost V6 is an attempt by Ford to offer the power of the larger V8’s in this case the 6.2 V8, yet retain better fuel economy.  While the EcoBoost is down on horsepower to the 6.2, 365 vs. 411, they are near equal on torque.  

No matter how much advertising is thrown at you about “we have more horespower then insert brand here” in a truck intended for work, TORQUE is the most important thing.  You want as much as you can get, as low in the rpm range as you can get it.  With the EcoBoost, Ford is not only able to match torque numbers of the 6.2 V8, but through the use of careful computer tuning they can create a near flat torque curve so that 80-90 percent of torque is available from 2,000 rpm’s on.  The EcoBoost is rated to tow 11,000 and while we wanted to try that out, the person we know with the 32’ race car trailer was out of town, so we were again unable to hook up anything meaningful to really test this engine.

While testing by sites like PickupTrucks.com has shown that when towing at near max capacity the advantage in fuel economy between the EcoBoost and the 6.2 V8 is negligible, it’s when driving around in “normal conditions” that the EcoBoost really shines.  We had some experience with the 6.2 in the Raptor that we tested some time back, and while that is a bit unique due to the 35” tires and it’s elevated stance, the best highway fuel economy we got in the Raptor as 14 mpg and we had to be very light footed to achieve that, 12-13 mpg was more the norm.  With this 4×4 Supercrew we pulled down 20 mpg on a 550 mile trip to Indiana and back.

 

Power with the EcoBoost is very good, in fact it didn’t take very much throttle to begin to feel the traction control coming in.  Put your foot down with the traction control turned off, and in two wheel drive, it would smoke the tires with easy.  Get the EcoBoost and the F-150 is an entertaining truck to drive.

The interior of the Lariat package was nice, but the level of materials in a few spots left something to be desired.  The leather material on the dash is paper thin, and didn’t have a real quality feel to it.  The wood grain for some of the interior trim looked nice, but the veneer appeared to be about 2 millimeters thick.  There was also quite a bit of hard plastic to be found as well, and while this IS a press vehicle with 8,000 miles on the clock, the fit and finish is not what we have come to expect from Ford of late. 

We bring these issues up because the out the door price on this very well equipped truck as $49,115.  Now, I don’t care who you are, when you are paying just shy of fifty large for a new vehicle there are some expectations that come with it, and we have to say, that the interior of this F-150 didn’t live up to it.  The rest of the truck was great.  It rode very well for a 4×4, it was very quiet in the cabin, the Sync and Nav systems worked well, but that price tag gives you cause to make that Jeremy Clarkson sucking air between his teeth sound that he’s not best pleased. 

We could knock $4,000 of the price pretty easy by ditching the $2,495 Sony Navigation Radio package and $1,450 for the Lariat Chrome package, and maybe another $995 for the sunroof, but we are still talking about a mid $40,000 truck at that point!  Again we know the cost of pickup trucks has gone up dramatically in the past decade, it’s just that we still have a hard time wrapping our head around those figures, and we know we aren’t the only ones.

Overall we do have to say, if you plan to tow frequently and with bigger loads you should feel very comfortable getting the EcoBoost V6.  Ford has spent quite a bit of time and money making sure it will hold up as good as any V8, and we think you will like the results.

In the end we like these F150’s, the base V6 does a fantastic job and will suit most people who don’t have need to tow very heavy loads.  Most contractors could get away with this V6 and be happy with it.  If we were to buy a new F150 we have to seriously consider this 3.7 V6 because the most we would be towing is 5,000 pounds and that would be maybe six or eight times a year to go to the race track, though that weight is at the top end of it’s tow rating.

To get the EcoBoost isn’t an expensive option up front, but to try and get one out the door for under $40,000 takes a lot of doing.  That said over 50% of the F-150’s coming off dealer lots right now are equipped with the V6’s and dealers are having a hard time keeping EcoBoost’s in stock, so no matter what some may think, consumers are voting with their wallet, and Ford appears to have hit it out of the park with these two engines.

The F-150 continues to be the best selling vehicle in the U.S. year after year, even when gas has become much more expensive, F Series trucks continue to sell at around 50,000 units a month and for October 2011 specifically 40% of those were EcoBoost models, it will be interesting to see if GM, Dodge, Toyota and Nissan follow Ford down this path, or come up with something of their own.  We should find out very soon.

Have a look at all of our photos of these two trucks below.

Reviewed: 2011 Volkswagen Jetta TDI

Earlier this year we had the opportunity to spend a week with the all new Jetta, in this case the 2011 2.5 SEL model, and came away with some good impressions.  We also got some great feedback from that post which was most appreciated.  What we really wanted to try though was the TDI Clean Diesel version of the car.

Recently we got to spend a week with the TDI Jetta and these our our thoughts:

First Drive: 2012 Scion iQ Small Package Big Ideas

How much car do you really need?  That is what Toyota’s Scion brand is asking with the iQ it’s bringing to the market beginning in December.  Available in Japan and Europe for several years now this micro-compact is being targeted at Gen-Y buyers who live in very condensed urban environments.

At just 10 feet long the Scion iQ is the shortest car being sold in North America save the SMART FourTwo, and the less said about the SMART car the better.  While in theory the iQ and the FourTwo are priced similarly and are targeting a similar demographic, the Scion iQ is so far and above the SMART as to make the FourTwo look as sophisticated as the Wright Brothers Flyer in the world of the 787 Dreamliner.  

Priced at $15,995, which includes destination charges, the iQ is not the cheapest car on the market, but it is very well equipped and very well built.  Standard features include vehicle stability control, electric power steering, keyless entry and Bluetooth connectivity.  While there are no soft touch surfaces in the iQ, one wouldn’t expect them  at this price point either.  That said, the quality of the materials along with the fit and finish of the interior are certainly better than in larger and more expensive B and C segment cars we’ve driven in the past year.  “It’s a real car,” Scion Vice President Jack Hollis said. “It drives and feels like a Corolla, but it’s in this tiny package.”

The iQ will not have any factory options available, however, like all Scions there were be a plethora of accessories for the iQ available at Dealers to customize and personalize the iQ.  There will be one option, which is a lowering kit for the iQ, along with larger 18” wheels which Jack Hollis said looks “amazing on this car”.

In North America where bigger is always better, and in cars and trucks perceived as safer, the iQ comes will 11 airbags, and is expected to achieve an IIHS Top Safety Pick when it’s results are released.  There are are the usual airbags for driver and passenger knees, side bolster and side curtains, but two innovative airbags in the iQ are ones in the seat bottom that lift the knees up to prevent the driver from submarining under the steering wheel and a rear curtain airbag that covers the rear glass area to protect rear seat passengers from a rear end crash.

While technically the iQ is a four seat car, it is really a 3+1 as only the smallest of people will be able to sit behind the driver.  The rear seat room behind the passenger is acceptable for anyone under six feet tall.  

The packaging of the iQ is very clever.  The two front seats are offset (the passenger sits farther forward) to create rear seat leg room. The fuel tank is located under the passenger floor, the engine and transmission have been engineered to push the front wheels as far forward as possible to create more cabin space by eliminating wheel well intrusion into the cabin.  It allows to iQ to be very short, 10 feet in length, but, the iQ is very wide for such a short car.  In fact, the cabin width is as wide, if not wider than a Toyota Corolla!  You would think that driver and passenger shoulders would be touching in the iQ but it feels very much like a C segment car from the front seats.

Driving the iQ as we did, mostly in an urban setting, is quite enjoyable.  Given how short the wheelbase of the car is, the ride is not overly choppy or harsh.  The ride is firm, but acceptably so.  The steering in fairly direct, maybe not go kart sharp, but still very good.  The only transmission offered in the iQ for North America is the Toyota CVT.  We have to say that the CVT in the iQ may be the best we’ve ever driven!  It was for the most part a non factor, and that may be the highest praise we can give that style of transmission.  When asked about the availability of a manual transmission for the car, Jack Hollis said that while he, and many others at Scion North America would like to see that as an option, the fact that 95% of Gen Y’ers don’t know how to drive a manual, is an issue, plus the fact that the car is targeted at the urban environment, a CVT was a better choice.

What is astonishing about driving the iQ is just how tight the turning radius is.  It’s not a joke to say that the iQ can “turn on a dime and give you eight cents change”.  The actual turning radius of the car is 12.9 feet!!  The iQ can almost turn within it’s own length!  Parking the iQ is very easy as well.  While you can’t see the nose of the car while seated behind the wheel, the nose of the car isn’t much past your feet being on the peddles.  Rear visibility is good as well, and again the rear bumper is four inches past the rear glass, so distance is easy to judge.

The engine powering the iQ is Toyota’s 1.3 liter inline four cylinder, and with the CVT transmission it returns fuel economy in the iQ is 36mpg city, 37 highway and 37 combined.  Acceleration feels good in urban environments.  While the actual 0-60 numbers are around 10 seconds, the iQ feels much zippier than that.  On the freeway the iQ wasn’t buffeted around by large semis.  While our highway segment was short with the car, it was enough to get a good take away.  We wouldn’t want to take a four hour drive on the highway all the time with the iQ, but if your commute includes highway time, this Scion will do just fine.  Wind noise at speed is also very low, in part due the aero sculpting of the the car in the wind tunnel.  It’s had to believe, but the iQ had a drag coefficient of just .31!

The Scion iQ will be available in dealers on the West Coast beginning in early December, and roll out across the rest of the country in stages through March.  Scion are looking to sell about 2,000 iQ’s per month once the car is released across the country, and they do expect sales to be concentrated in areas like L.A., San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, New York and Chicago, areas where the iQ would fit well into tight urban environments.

Going in we didn’t know what to expect with the iQ, really all we’d ever really seen of it were segments from Fifth Gear and Top Gear.  It will make a great commuter car, a great car for college students, or a car for people who live in cities who need cars for things like going to the grocery store, or running a number of errands where a Zip car service or public transportation wouldn’t work out.  We have to say walking away from our drive, that the iQ is a very impressive little car. 

Have a look at the full gallery of pictures of the iQ.

 

 

First Drive: 2012 Toyota Camry

Over the last 18 months, Toyota has done everything they could to make everyone forget about the unintended acceleration headlines they had to deal with.  Just as that was disappearing, the disastrous earthquake and tsunami caused a disruption to the entire manufacturing base.  This event caused a shutdown of plants, a shortage of parts and a sharp drop in sales and profits.

Now that both of those issues have been put behind them, Toyota is looking to have a full court press in refreshing their lineup with the new Camry, the Prius V, Tacoma pickup and the Scion iQ to name a few that will be rolled out over the next several months.

The Camry, while not the most expensive Toyota by a long shot, is in many ways the flagship of the company, how goes sales of the Camry, so goes the fortunes of Toyota.  Since 1983 Toyota have sold 15 million Camry’s worldwide, and 9.7 million of those sales were in North America.  The Camry has claimed the title of “Best selling car in America” 13 of the last 14 years. 

While not a completely new car, the 2012 Camry is a major mid cycle refresh for the car.  The chassis is the same, however, all the sheet metal is new, and only 10% of the parts are carry over.  The one thing that people will notice is how little the Camry has changed in appearance.  There is a new front and rear end look to the cars, but it is not dramatically different. 

When queried about the very conservative looks of the new Camry, officials at Toyota mentioned that styling was far down on the items Camry buyers found important.  Items such as quality, reliability, dependability and fuel economy ranked higher in importance than styling. 

However, the paradox is that Toyota would like to lower the average age of the Camry purchaser from 60 as it currently is, to something in the mid to late 40’s, and to do that the Camry needs to stand out as something more than “blandtastic”.  There are other sedans in the segment that are conservative in appearance, yet cut a much more striking appearance.  To best describe the looks of the Camry, is to say it looks like the suit you get from The Men’s Warehouse in a 3 for 1 sale, and something like the Kia Optima looks like it’s right off the Brooks Brothers rack.  Both are “conservative”, however, one makes a much better first impression. 

The interior to the Camry is a nice update, though there is no new ground broken here.  Of note, while the pricing of the Camry is less than the outgoing model, the interior looks and feels as if is of a higher quality.   One very interesting part of the instrument cluster, however, is the fuel economy gage on the right side of the pod.  The average fuel economy is shown on a mechanical gage, much like the instant fuel economy gage of old BMW’s and then the instant fuel economy is shown asa series of green lights along the outside of that gage.  It’s a different take, and for the most part we like the execution.

One item that will be an option for the 2012 Camry is the Entune infotainment system.  The system works in combination with your iPhone or Android phone. You download the apps to your phone, then they work in conjunction with the Toyota system to provide access to Pandora, Open Table, navigation and more.  The Entune uses your phone for an internet connection, it does not have a 3G/4G system built in.  The Entune system also uses speech recognition software from Nuance and Voice Products to make for a better experience when you use voice commands to navigate the system.

One thing that Toyota was proud of was that they were able to bring the Camry to market with the same or higher levels of content, and do it at a lower price then the outgoing model.  Pricing for the Camry line looks like this:

Model Price +/-2010 Model

LE $22,500    -$200

SE $23,000 -$1,000

XLE $24,725 -$2,000

 

Hybrid

SE $25,900 -$1,150

XLE $27,400    -$800

 

*all pricing excludes $760 destination fees.

 

While not finalized the 2012 Camry is expected to carry a 5 Star safety rating from the IIHS, it will have 10 airbags, an optional blind spot warning system and back up camera.

Fuel economy for the Camry will be at or above the class leaders:

 

Engine City Highway Combined

I-4 25    35      28

V-6 21    30      25

Hybrid 43    39      41

 

The mix is expected to be 75% four cylinder, 14% V6 and 11% Hybrid for sales.

 

We had a chance to take a short drive in a Hybrid model of the Camry.  It was an SE model with cloth interior and standard radio.  When driven in “Eco Mode” it feels as if only 100 of the 200 horsepower available is there to be used.  Acceleration is anything but brisk and on ramps and passing opportunities need to be planned carefully.   

In standard mode, the car feels much more responsive.  We tried a little experiment to see just how the different modes responded to throttle position.  While holding a steady throttle, we exited out of “Eco Mode” into “Normal Mode” and immediately began a rapid acceleration.  This was confirmed by another journalist we were driving with trying the same thing, and having the same exact results.  This showed us that “Eco Mode” requires much larger throttle movements to achieve any forward movement.   

If we had to guess, a good driver using a light throttle would get better results then an average driver using “Eco Mode” in a standard manor. 

The handling of the Camry is not inspired, in fact taking a gentle on/off ramp at anything more than 35 miles an hour started the tires howling.  The ride is fine, not fantastic, the interior is fairly quiet, maybe a bit better than average. 

The regenerative brakes in the Camry feel as if they are a generation behind others.  Ford, GM and Honda all have a much more “natural” feel to their re-gen brakes in the latest models, in the Camry, there seemed to be no consistency in the peddle feel.  In hard stops this is even more exaggerated where there seems to be no action in the first bit of travel and then hard braking all of a sudden. 

It should be noted that we were driving a pre-production model of the 2012 Camry and there might be some final calibration that will be dialed in for the production cars. 

Fit and finish for the 2012 Camry are what you would expect from Toyota.  It is solidly built, the materials have a quality feel to them, door closing has a solid sound, we found nothing to complain about when it came to build quality. 

Overall, our take on the new Camry is that we are underwhelmed.  For us, Toyota played it WAY to conservative in this refresh.  This segment of the market has become ultra competitive, it’s a close in knife fight between five or six manufactures, and it feels as if Toyota approached this as if it was still 2005 and they were unopposed in the market from anyone other than Honda. 

While there is nothing wrong with the Camry, there is nothing that stands out either.  Toyota may feel as if they didn’t need to move the needle with this car since it still one of, if not the top selling passenger car in North America.  However, with the average age of a Camry buyer being 60, that demographic while having money to spend, isn’t going to help you grow new sales, rather you may just be able to hold on for a short period of time before it begins to shrink. 

Hyundai’s Sonata, Kia’s Optima, Chevy’s upcoming Malibu and an all new Ford Fusion on the way, are making statements, and appealing to younger buyers.  The strength of these players is bound to eat into Toyota’s sales for the Camry, maybe not today or tomorrow, but certainly in the very near future. 

It’s possible to be conservative with the design and execution of a car, and still make it feel special. To use an earlier example, buying a Camry is like buying a suit at The Men’s Warehouse, it’s save, it’s not cheep, however, it’s not special.

 

Reviewed: 2011 Buick Regal CXL Turbo Sedan

Eighteen months ago, when we had the opportunity to drive the new Buick Lacrosse, it completely blew us away. It completely reset expectations for what a Buick could be.  It truly was the redefinition of a brand.

The follow-up to the Lacrosse for Buick is the new Regal, though it is actually the Opel Insignia redone for North America.  Having been bred in Germany expectations for this car were quite high, perhaps too high.  Much of the enthusiast press had already tagged this car as a performance sedan to go after the BMW Three series, especially in turbo form.  While this car may share similar dimensions with said BMW, make no mistake this car is no Three series competitor. Rather, the Buick Regal is a more than competent sedan, that while not an enthusiast car, certainly won’t embarrass itself when called upon to up the pace. 

As Buick is being reborn and rebranded from GM’s bankruptcy, there has been a question among the press, as to whom Buick is targeting, and what other brands they consider to be competitors.  The two brands that immediately come to mind Buick may be shooting for are Acura and Lexus.  Buick certainly has Acura covered and the quality of their cars are at least as good if not much better than their equivalent Lexus counterparts. On top of that, the Buicks have some style and personality unlike the cars from Lexus. 

The exterior styling of the Buick Regal, while not groundbreaking, nor extraordinary, is nonetheless very pleasing to the eye and does have character. You could say, that the car even has a bit of elegance in its design. Maybe the better term for it it would be graceful. The design language certainly is a carryover from what we saw with the Lacrosse and even a little bit with the Enclave, which was really the first of the new exterior design language. 

Inside the Regal, the quality of the materials are very pleasing and while the leather of the seats was not buttery soft, the material did have a nice thickness to its feel.  The use of hard plastics was kept to an absolute minimum, and the materials had a nice soft touch and good graining. That said, there were some interesting omissions from our Regal test car.  Number one, if there was a trunk release button inside the car it was not to be found.  Number two, at the price level of our test car, which was a fully optioned CXL Turbo model, there was no backup camera, no remote start, nor proximity locks.  While some of this may seem very nit picky, we recently had a  Kia Optima in for review that was $7000 less expensive than the Regal, yet had all of these features.  As competitive as this market segment is, it’s these little things that can make or break a car’s acceptance. 

The Telematics system worked very well we had no problems pairing our iPod, nor our Blackberry phone to the system.  As part of the option package there was a Harman Kardon nine speaker stereo system, and we have to say it’s one of the best factory installed systems we have yet experienced. We tested it with a number of genres including jazz, techno, classical and rock, and it held up well to all of these. For example, we had an old “Everything But The Girl” album playing, and got some looks from how much the system was bumping, all without distortion. On top of that Tracie Thorn’s vocals made you feel as if you were in a small club with her. 

The driver seat is multi adjustable including lumbar and side bolsters. We had no problem finding a comfortable driving position that were sure would be good for 500+ miles.  Back seat room was also very good, a six-foot person would have no problem being comfortable for an extended period of time. The trunk of the Buick Regal is also quite substantial. While it missed out on our bimonthly Costco, Trader Joe, Meijer’s runs we have no doubt he would’ve swallowed all of that with ease.

While many people expected the turbo model to be a performance car, our take away was that much like Hyundai and Kia the use of a turbo four-cylinder is more a replacement for a V6 then it is to be a performance model. While the Buick regal Turbo certainly has good power, it’s not going to blow you away. The level of power is certainly more than acceptable and the four-cylinder engine is very smooth, it never had us wishing that there was a V6 upfront instead. Fuel mileage for our Regal Turbo is rated by the EPA at 18 city 28 highway and 22 combined. Our results sow 21 in city driving and 32 on the highway, which we were pleased with. 

The Regal Turbo gives you the option of two additional suspension settings, a sport mode and a touring mode. The difference between the two can be felt, the sport mode did firm things up, and you certainly felt more of the road through the seat. However, the majority of our time with the car we chose neither. In the standard mode the car rode very well and ate up highway miles, it dealt nicely with the bomb craters that we have for roads in Southeast Michigan. There was no harshness to the suspension in dealing with several large potholes, which, in other cars, have caused unpleasantness.  The steering could have used a little more feedback and road feel, it wasn’t bad but it would have been nice for just a little more. The car was responsive to direction change, and held lines nicely when we tested it on a few off ramps. 

Our test car had a base price of $28,745, the top level option equipment package added $5690 to the total giving and as delivered price including destination of $35,185. The way Buick have decided to option this car is to offer the choice of seven different packages rather than mix-and-match choices, and there were no options that were not included in this car. At 35 grand the Buick is in a tough price range. For essentially the same money you can get a well-equipped though not loaded  La Crosse, which to this day is still one of our favorite cars we tested over the last two or three years. The Regal is certainly a match for any Lexus IS or Acura TL and would probably offer better value for money, but it’s the omission of a few little things that keep us from having the same reaction to the Regal that we did for the Lacrosse. 

At the end of the day the Buick Regal Turbo is a very good effort. While we are a bit disappointed that it not our socks off like the Lacrosse did we were still pleased to see that Buick is continuing its efforts to redefine its brand and deliver quality products that are much more than you would expect.

 

Reviewed: 2012 Ford Focus Titanium

Back in January we had the opportunity to head out to Los Angeles for the press launch of the 2012 Ford Focus and came away very impressed with the car.  However, we only got to spend a couple of hours with the car, we wanted to know, it those good first impressions would hold out on a longer review.

So, did we end up liking the Focus as much as we did in California?  How did it stack up against the Hyundai Elantra? Have a look at the video to find out!