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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

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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.

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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.
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Autoline After Hours Tonight with Russ Clark, Chevrolet Product Marketing Director

This week we get the skinny on some of Chevrolet‘s upcoming products as we talk to Russ Clark, the Product Marketing Director for the brand. In particular we’ll be asking him about the next-gen Malibu and the Chevy Sonic, but we’ll also be asking him about the news that the redesigned Impala will be built in Detroit alongside the Volt and Malibu. John McElroy and the Autoextremist, Peter De Lorenzo, will also be talking about the upcoming Indy 500 weekend, which marks the 100th anniversary of the race. They’ll be talking about the four women who will be running on Sunday and how some of the big teams choked in qualification. John will also be joined in studio by Todd Lassa from Motor Trend.

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Reviewed 2010 Ford Raptor 6.2 – A Thirty Gallon Bucket Of Awesomesauce

Nothing succeeds like success, and few things are as enjoyable as excess and that, in a nutshell, is the Ford Raptor.  Built to give people a street replica of a Baja racer, but something far more than just a sticker job with some “special-edition-badging”, the Raptor feels as if with just a little prep, you could go out and run it in the 8100 class.

The Raptor starts out as a short bed, extended cab (crew cab available for 2011) and then goes in for some serious gym work.  There are 12 inches of suspension travel in the front and 13 in the rear, 35” tall BF Goodrich off road tires and some killer FOX Racing shocks on all four corners 

The front grill is unique to the Raptor, along with some additional running lights both on the front and in the back.  Our test unit came with the optional $1,075 graphics package, which is a blocky representation of dirt being thrown up on the truck.  It’s something that we’d skip.  We’ve seen the Raptor in several colors, our black test unit, Blue and in Silver without the graphics package and we prefer the cleaner look.  If we want the look of dirt on the side of the truck, we’ll take it into the dirt and mud and put it there the traditional way, thank you.

The five and a half foot box on the Raptor seems small and perhaps it is, but there is an optional bed extender that we would probably get. Also, Ford offers the integrated tailgate step as an option.  Neither was on our test vehicle but we can say, unless you have a 38” inseam, we’d highly recommend that tailgate step.  With the truck sitting as high as it does, getting up into the bed is not the easiest of tasks.

 

Not only does the truck sit high, but also, it is quite wide.  Our driveway is seven feet wide and the edges of the tires went over the edges and onto the grass on both sides!  Being that wide, it takes a bit of getting used to driving down the road as it takes up almost the entire width of the lane.  If you live in an area where the roads are narrow, it’s something that you’ll have to be mindful of when traffic approaches in the opposite direction.

There is a nice slab of steel for you to step up into in the cabin of the Raptor.  The step serves three purposes, (a) a step duh! (b) a nice skid plate when you go off roading to protect your doors, and (c) a payback mechanism for door dings.  If someone opens their door next to hou without paying attention, rather than your door getting a nick in it, their door will get a nice dent in its edge, coming against that nice bit of plate steel!

 

Once you climb up into the cabin, you have a lot of room. Driver and passengers are separated by a wide center console, which has a very deep storage bin.  There are also four auxiliary switches built in for your future modification needs like auxiliary lights,  winches, etc. Our test unit had the optional orange seat accents that are a take-it-or-leave-it thing.  They offered a nice contrast to the rest of the interior, but it may be a bit too much for others.  The steering wheel has a nice meaty feel to it and when you hold it at the ten and two position, it feels custom molded to your hands.

Being an extended cab model there is a back seat for three.  It’s a fairly useable space, though we wouldn’t want to ride back there for a long time unless the people in the front two seats were on the shorter end of the scale.  With the seats adjusted back for a six-foot plus person, legroom is tight; set for people of normal height, it’s okay.

 

Our test unit was also equipped with the 700-watt Sony sound system with full SYNC and navigation system.  This is not a cheep option at $2,430 but it’s so well done, it’s hard to argue not ordering this.  One thing that will be very useful is that SYNC, with the nav system, can direct you to the nearest gas station via voice command.  It’s a place you’ll become very intimate with, owning and driving the Raptor: the gas station, that is.

The big upgrade that came later in the 2010 model year was the availability of the 6.2-liter engine, which is now the only available engine for 2011.  While the old 5.4-liter engine can trace its roots back to the early 90’s 4.6 V8 that appeared in the Crown Vic, this is an all-new engine for Ford.  411 horsepower and 434 lb/ft of torque are the ratings for the 6.2 and unlike the 5.4, it has power across the entire range.  While we would never complain if more power was available, we can say that we were very happy  with what was on tap for this power plant, save one thing and we’ll get to that in just a second.  Driving in the city, getting on the highway, or just when you feel the need to romp on the gas, the 6.2 has power on demand and makes life oh so enjoyable.

 

When you buy a truck like the Raptor, fuel mileage is probably not high on your list of concerns.  If you can afford a $48,525 pickup truck, you aren’t worried about a trade off of gas in the tank or food on the table for your family.  All that said, when the window sticker says in bold face type, “FUEL ECONOMY RATINGS NOT REQUIRED ON THIS VEHICLE,” you know people at the Whole Foods store aren’t going to be smiling at you when you park in their lot.

To see what we could do for mileage, we went on the highway at night so there was little traffic, set the cruise at 75-mph and drove for 45 miles.  According to the readout on the dash, 14.1mpg is what we got.  There is an upside; in city driving, your mileage will only fall off about 2-3mpg.  Therein lies the rub: the motor has enough power to make the truck feel great yet the problem is that it comes at a pretty big cost in fuel economy although the 5.4 was not any better.

The engine we’d love to see under the hood of the Raptor is the EcoBoost V6.  Not that we’d expect it to get 20mpg, but if it could get something close to 18, that would be huge.  The EcoBoost is about to come on line for other F-150 trucks and Ford is going to run it in this year’s Baja 1000 so maybe, for 2012 or 2013, it will be an option.  It has similar power and torque numbers to the 6.2, but at a higher efficiency.  We’ll have to wait for the official EPA numbers to come out on the EcoBoost F-150 before we can calculate what that would mean for the Raptor.  Look: save it, we know where you are going.  Yes, we’d kill to have a turbo diesel, but you can find the PowerStroke Raptor at notgoingtohappen.com, all right?

The Raptor is equipped with a six-speed automatic transmission and it does a good job.  In our highway mileage test, 75 miles an hour in sixth gear was 2100 rpm.  The transmission shifted smoothly and precisely and there was no slushy vague feeling in it.  It also had a tow/haul mode and an option to shift it manually.  While our test unit did have the trailer-towing package with brake controller, we didn’t have the opportunity to hook it up and pull anything in our few days with the truck.

 

On the roads and on the highways, the Raptor rides firm but it’s not jarring.  This is no Town Car pillow top ride; it is an off road truck after all but it is a comfortable ride.  For as high of a center of gravity as the Raptor has, and as tall as the tires are, it handles fairly well.  It’s nimble enough to handle tight parking garages and just fits under the 6’8” height limit of most parking structures around us.

While we didn’t get to truly run the Raptor off road on trails or fire roads, we did find a few fields to rip it up on, and the s&*t eating grin on our face didn’t go away for hours!  There were hidden ruts and holes in the field and the Raptor went over them like it was nothing.  Given what we believe the shock valving and spring rates to be, to a point, the faster you go, the smoother the ride should be.

There is one dangerous aspect to the Raptor: to your driving record that is. The truck goes 90 on the highway like most cars go 60.  There were several times we looked down on the speedometer and had to do a check up.  The Raptor is smooth and quiet at those speeds.  Most tires geared for off road are also quite noisy at highway speeds, not so with these BFG’s.  They made no more noise than your standard all season radials on the family sedan.

 

People love the Raptor. It doesn’t matter if it’s the young kids in the neighborhood, people in the Costco parking lot, or just driving down the road; people look at you and smile, tell you that it’s a cool truck and give you a thumbs up.  When you buy something like the Raptor, it’s doubtful that you are looking for affirmation from others about your purchase, but it is a nice thing to have.

The Ford Raptor is everything you hoped it would be and more, that’s why we describe it as a 30 gallon bucket of awesomesauce.  It’s a truck that exceeds your expectations, and you are always looking for an excuse to go out and drive it, even if it’s just on surface streets.  We wish we would have had the time to head out to Chrysler’s off road course in Chelsea, MI to really pound it on some trails and mud, but it wasn’t in the cards and couldn’t be arranged.

Would we buy this with our own money, you bet!  It’s a truck that’s worth $48,000?  If you consider that a similarly optioned F-150 FX4 is $43,000, then you would have to add wheels, tires and suspension, etc., to bring it up to the Raptor’s level, you are coming out at the same or higher cost, so yes.  Almost $50,000 for a pickup truck is amazing, but Ford, Chevy and Dodge, can all get you into three quarter and one ton trucks from north of $60,000 these days, so I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. 

If you get the chance, go drive a Raptor 6.2, you won’t be able to wipe the smile from your face for weeks and that, more than anything, is why trucks like this exist.