ON THE TABLE

April 14, 2010

 Toyota. After the seemingly weekly recalls, the Washington hearings (aka "The Debacle"), the endless mea culpas by Mr. Toyoda, the daily hand-wringing in the media, the Irv Miller email, and on and on and on, here comes Consumers Reports saying that they're recommending that consumers don't buy the 2010 Lexus GX 460 SUV because it may be prone to rollovers in emergency handling situations. "When pushed to its limits on a handling course on Consumer Reports' test track, the rear of the GX that Consumer Reports purchased slid out until the vehicle was almost sideways before the electronic stability control system was able to regain control," the magazine said in an issued statement. "Consumer Reports believes that in real-world driving, that situation could lead to a rollover accident, which could cause serious injury or death." Toyota, of course, denies that there are any problems with the vehicle in question, but guess what? Toyota has temporarily suspended sales of the Lexus GX 460 SUV. Just when Toyota thought they were finally clear of The Shit, they get pulled back in. Will Shiny Happy Toyota buyers still buy Toyotas? Absolutely. But will the constant erosion of Toyota's image in the media start taking its toll? It already has.

 Ford. The automaker takes its burgeoning touchy-feely tendencies to the next step by creating a "Your Ideas" space on its interactive consumer site, The Ford Story (www.thefordstory.com). "Your Ideas" welcomes visitors to submit, share, review and rate each other's automotive feature ideas, and, according to Ford PR is "Ford's latest demonstration of collaborative efforts to engage 'automotive outsiders' to help share ideas, develop the next must-have technologies, and drive the spirit of open innovation." And the descent into Hell for this business continues as the industry insists on dumbing itself down in the interest of "sharing" and "group hugs." Pathetic.

Ed Whitacre. The GM CEO says things are looking "solid" for the company's first quarter results in an internal memo that got leaked to Reuters. Thanks, Big Ed!

BMW. Ward’s Automotive Group announced the winners of its 2010 interiors of the year award, and guess what? The BMW 5-Series GT won for "Design Versatility." Let us interpret this award for you. It's a polite way of saying that we have absolutely no fucking clue as to why anyone would buy this rolling monument to tedium to begin with, but as long as you don't have to see yourself coming and going and you don't have to admit to anyone you know that the monstrosity in the parking lot is yours, and versatility is a particular predilection of yours, then have at it.

Chrysler. This week's AE Headline That Made Us Have No Interest In Reading Any Further: "Chrysler teams with NASA for R & D."

Twitter. The California company added "Promoted Tweets" to its repertoire this week, aka paid ads. The horror, the horror.

(Photos courtesy of MINI)
"In response to high dealer demand," according to MINI USA, a limited number of the MINI John Cooper Works World Championship 50 special edition vehicles will be available in the U.S. Dealers will get 50 of the hand-built vehicles, beginning late spring/early summer. The special edition model was first shown to the public during the 2009 MINI United Festival in Silverstone, England. The worldwide production run has been confirmed for just 250 vehicles. Inspired and influenced by John Cooper’s son, Mike Cooper, the limited MINI special edition is a tribute to both the birth of the brand and John Cooper’s first Formula One title victory 50 years ago. In the summer of 1959 Alec Issigonis presented his concept for an all-new small car, with its transverse-mounted front four-cylinder engine, and space for four occupants plus luggage. That same year, sports car constructor John Cooper won his first Formula One World Championship title with Jack Brabham at the wheel. Based on a MINI John Cooper Works Hardtop, the World Championship 50 vehicle is painted a special color called Connaught Green, harking back to the famous color of British race cars of the 1950s and 60s era. It is combined with the roof and bonnet stripes in Pepper White. The vehicle is then equipped with the John Cooper Works Aero Kit, gloss black versions of the 17” Challenge spoke wheels, custom numbered side scuttles, a unique Championship Red Lounge Leather interior and carbon fiber accents throughout. It also features special floormats with red stitching that matches the red stitching found on the shifter and parking brake boots. John Cooper Works’ signature adorns a special plaque that is affixed to the instrument panel trim. The MINI John Cooper Works World Champion 50 Edition will be $39,600; Destination and Handling costs are $700, bringing the total to $40,300.

Publisher's Note: This week's "Quick Take" covers two dramatically different automobiles, a 2010 Suzuki Kizashi SE and a 2009 Audi R8 5.2 FSI quattro Coupe. First off let me talk about the Suzuki. I'm going to be right up front here because make no mistake, my first reaction to the Suzuki was a giant "whatever." A car company that seems to be in a perpetual struggle for its existence - at least here in this market - Suzuki's automotive products have traditionally held little appeal for me. As in zero. As a matter of fact, in the vast spectrum of automobile choices available Suzuki wouldn't even merit a mention - let alone consideration - as far as I'm concerned. That is until I drove the Kizashi. Decently proportioned, our Platinum Metallic Kizashi came off as being competently rendered. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's handsome, but it's surprisingly well done. Unexpected even. The Kizashi is solid and almost Germanic in feel - the door closing "thunk" was almost BMW-like - with excellent dynamic behavior, steering feel and braking performance. The 2.4-liter, 16-valve, 180HP engine delivered good response and impressive fuel mileage (the Kizashi's EPA rating is 23 mpg city/30 mpg hwy and we saw 28 mpg per tank for our largely urban cycle of driving) - however the one glaring drawback - of course - was its CVT automatic. You should know by now that CVTs are one of our least favorite automotive developments of the last 10 years, easy. And although the Kizashi's set-up delivered excellent mileage, the car would be in an entirely different strata of consideration if it had a double-clutch automatic. Ah well. The short story is that after spending a week in the Kizashi I have to say that I came away impressed. With a $21,499 base price and an as-tested price of $21,754 (inc. Premium Floor Mat Set - $125, and Premium Metallic Paint - $130), the Suzuki is a screaming deal, as WordGirl would say. And when you go into a vehicle evaluation just looking for things to tee-off on, that's indeed saying something. (Now whether or not Suzuki as a company can stay afloat in this country? That's another column entirely.)

Those of you expecting me to rave about the V10-powered Audi R8 after I had already equated the V8 R8 to a near-religious experience might be a little surprised at what I have to say. Don't get me wrong, because the 5.2-liter, 525HP, DOHC, direct-injected (FSI in Audi parlance) V10 is simply heroic in sound and scintillating in performance. Take an R8 that was already magnificent with "just" 420HP and add 105HP more and you get the picture. And let me just mention that sound again, because when you hammer that big V10 shrieking right behind your shoulders you simply can't get enough of that glorious wail and that ass-kicking thrust (you'll discover that you'll absolutely need - and will use - its outstanding brakes hard). Kevin Cogan once famously said when asked about the thrill of racing at Indianapolis that, "It's like a drug they don't sell." And here's a warning: The V10-powered Audi supercar indeed qualifies as an addiction for well-heeled enthusiasts who have the means to indulge, so be careful out there. Resident Autoextremist hot shoe racer Tim Gaffney had a chance to give our Brilliant Red tester a brief workout and suffice to say, after our run the best we could muster was a reverential "wow," and we agreed that we'd both be in jail in no time if we had one at our disposal on a daily basis. I mean, what can you say? It's just a spectacular car. But. And you're probably asking right about now how can there possibly be a "but" here? And I'll tell you why, because our R8 V10 was unfortunately equipped with an "R-Tronic" automatic, which essentially damn near ruined the experience for me. After having been spoiled by some stunningly outstanding double-clutch automatic transmissions of late - Audi's own S4 with its superb S-Tronic gearbox being Example No. 1 - the performance of the traditional - and strikingly obsolete - R-Tronic gearbox in the big booming Audi bordered on the criminal. As a matter of fact I have only experienced one transmission that disappointed me more in an automobile and that's the one that can be found in Daimler's smart car. It's that bad. Jerky, slow and functionally inelegant, the R-Tronic gives new meaning to the word "recalcitrant." How can such a magnificent automobile be strapped with such a lousy gearbox? I'm sure it's all about the timing of the development cycle of the car vis-a-vis the development of the double-clutch automatics, blah-blah-blah, but I don't care. It's flat-out inexcusable. In the meantime if you get one make sure you get it with the 6-speed manual gearbox. Trust me. Our full-zoot R8 V10 stickered for $171,600 (Base price $155,100, Carbon fiber engine compartment trim, $3,600, Enhanced leather package, $3,500, Carbon fiber sigma interior inlays, $2,500, Carbon sigma side blade, $2,300, Black alcantara headliner, $1,300, Gas Guzzler tax, $2,100, Destination Charge, $1,200), and even though I absolutely loved the V10 motor, given the choice between an Audi R8 with the V8 and a 6-speed manual vs. a V10 with the R-Tronic, I would take the V8-powered car all day long (for $44,000 less, too, when comparing our testers), that's how much I detested the automatic in the more expensive R8. I'm sure Audi has already addressed this glaring deficiency for an upcoming model change, at least I certainly hope so. Over and out for now. - PMD

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Publisher's Note: Check-out John McElroy's daily news show covering everything about the auto biz by clicking on the graphic below. Good stuff guaranteed. - PMD

See another live episode of "Autoline After Hours" hosted by Autoline Detroit's John McElroy, with Peter De Lorenzo and friends this Thursday evening, at 7:00PM EDT at www.autolinedetroit.tv.

 

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