Jim Kenzie's The Driver's Seat

Nissan Ram? Dodge Titan?

Chrysler had their 2009 full-line press preview last week; hence, all these posts about Chrysler recently.

Just about every auto scribe on the continent was there, so you also catch up with your colleagues at events like these.

Was hanging around the new Dodge Ram pick-up - not necessarily my kind of vehicle, but one does have to keep up-to-date, doesn't one? - and chatting with Paul Weissler who writes for, among others, Popular Mechanics magazine. Paul is one of the senior members of our profession, as well as one of the more technically astute, not to mention doggedly determined - and opinionated.

Not that that is a bad thing.

We began discussing the Nissan Titan family of vehicles (Titan, Pathfinder, Armada, Infiniti QX56). These were all US-designed and -built, in Nissan's attempt to grab pieces of what were at the time two of the largest and most profitable segments in the North American market, full-size pick-ups and SUVs.

That was then.

Not that I know that much about such vehicles, but even by my standards I never liked these big Nissans much. I found them all unattractive (admittedly, a subjective issue), cheap-looking inside, noisy and sluggish to drive.

Paul disagreed completely, which shows there is always room for differences of opinion. He can choose to be wrong if he likes.

Because I have someone pretty important on my side of this argument - Nissan. They have decided to get out of the full-size pick-up business, and have Chrysler build variants of the new Ram for them, starting in early 2011. At least part of the motivation for Nissan is to grab a share of the new full-size truck two-mode hybrid powertrain Chrysler is launching in Aspen and Durango this year, and in Ram in 2010.

The big Nissan SUVs will soldier on for at least another year or two, but I bet their replacements will be Chrysler-based also.

In return, Nissan will build a new Versa-based small car, something Chrysler desperately needs in this era of sky-rocketing fuel prices. I have also heard rumours of a Nissan-built compact pick-up which they would also share with Chrysler. This is a market segment Ford seems to have all to itself with the you-can-buy-a-brand-new-antique Ranger.

Interesting times.

I've Been Waiting For A [Car] Like You.

No wait - that was Foreigner. I always get them mixed up with Journey.

And it's the Dodge Journey I'm talking about here.

Some cars just sort of sneak up on you. Don't make a lot of noise; they just show up and next thing you know, you're impressed.

The Journey is billed as a mid-size cross-over. What it is sounds like something William Lyon Mackenzie King might have said - an SUV if necessary, but not necessarily an SUV.

In other words, a modern station wagon.

When I picked up my tester, I didn't even know what platform it was based on - Chrysler has quite the selection still.

Turns out its underpinnings are shared by the Chrysler Sebring / Dodge Avenger sedan. Functionally though, Journey is what the minivan-based Chrysler Pacifica was supposed to be, but never quite pulled off - a combination of SUV and minivan attributes, designed to offer space and comfort for up to seven people, with four-wheel drive capability if needed.

The best thing about it though - apart from the fact that it is a very pleasant vehicle to drive - is that it is downright cheap.  It starts around 20 grand, and loaded to the gunwales like my R/T tester, tops out around 35 large. That's about where the Pacifica started.

Need room? Short of cash?

Take a Journey to/from a Dodge dealership.

2009 Dodge Challenger SRT8

One lap of a proving grounds test track hardly provides the basis for a definitive evaluation of a new car.

But if it's all I can get for the moment, I won't turn it down, even if it meant standing out in the 30 degree sun for an hour at Chrysler's Proving Grounds near Chelsea Michigan yesterday, awaiting my shot at the 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT8.

You've probably seen a few of these booting around, especially if you live near the Brampton Assembly plant where they're made. Only 6400 2008 models were built, and most of them went to the United States, in a limited roll-out. The 2009s are being built now and a full launch takes place shortly.

Meanwhile, I can tell you that the new Challenger leaves a very favourable first impression. The Hemi V8 is very strong, and sounds fabulous. The car turns in well and maintains a flat, level stance in the corners.

It also looks good. Various Chrysler staffers have told me that when driving prototypes around, both in Canada and the US, they have never had so many civilians wave at them, call to them, come up to them in parking lots, follow them, take cell-phone pictures, as they have in this car.

Challenger always seemed to be third or fourth in the Pony Car Pantheon back in the late-'60s /early-'70. Ford Mustang of course, plus Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird probably ranked ahead of it, at least in image. Mustang is still going strong, and a new Camaro is just around the corner too.

Now there is the issue of introducing a big-engined performance car in the teeth of a fuel price spike and increasing concerns about the environment.

But the early returns suggest that there will be a strong and willing, albeit small, market for this car.

More details when we get a chance to spend more time in the beast.

(NOTE: These photos were not taken in Chelsea, in case you were wondering where Michigan got those desert-like hills.)

Gasoline pricing and our American friends

The Americans have been whining recently about the price of gasoline. Sales of gas guzzlers are down by double-digit percentages.

I happened to be in Ann Arbor Michigan today, and had to fill up the Nissan Murano I was driving. Mid-grade premium was $4.37 a US gallon.

That works out to about a buck-eight a litre.

Well, boo hoo.

Get used to it, guys. You've had gasoline that has essentially been free for so long you forget that it too has a price.

Welcome to the rest of the world's world.

Another drive-safe story from George

Here's another story submitted by my friend George Daszkowski. We obviously think alike. He didn't tell me where he found it, but I'll add that when he lets me know.

And I have always liked Seattle.

*************
SEATTLE Washington - Even if you're going the speed limit it might not be enough to prevent you from getting a ticket if you're holding up traffic in the fast lane.

State troopers are on a mission to make sure the left lane on area freeways is used for its intended purpose: passing.

"We're doing 58, 59 miles an hour and they are just sitting there, traffic's passing them on the right hand side," Trooper Keith Leary said while pointing out a car in the left lane of Interstate 5. "That's exactly what we don't want to see happen."

The driver, Brasta Bonifcho, said he was surprised what he was doing was illegal.

"I didn't know that, I really didn't know that," he said. "I am guilty, no question about it."

Leary reminded Bonifcho that drivers need to stay in the right lanes unless they're passing another vehicle.

Everyone pulled over during Leary's patrol said they thought it wasn't a problem as long as they were going the speed limit. But the law says otherwise.

"It is a traffic infraction to drive continuously in the left lane of a multilane roadway when it impedes the flow of other traffic," the statute reads.

The reason for the law is to help keep traffic moving and to diffuse potential road rage situations.

"It just takes one thing to set them off," Leary said of frustrated drivers stuck behind slower moving vehicles. "If we can alleviate one of those things, maybe we can avoid an assault."

The State Patrol said several recent collisions caused by slow vehicles in the passing lane have prompted increased enforcement of the law along area interstates.

Drivers in the HOV lanes are exempt from the rule, but anyone else could be facing a $124 ticket.

****************

Warms the cockles of my heart, that does. Not sure where the cockles are, but they're warm.

BTW, Ontario drivers, our Highway Traffic Act also bans driving in the left or centre lanes of a multi-lane road unless passing or preparing to turn left.

So move the heck over!

Dumb TV ads

Is it just me, or does anybody else get irritated when TV shows or commercials show people driving stupid?

Not car commercials - they know they are being scrutinized, so no-one is ever not wearing a seat belt in a car ad. OK, often they show cars driving too fast or racing or some such.

An example of what I'm talking about is a new TV ad for a non-alcoholic beverage (which I won't identify - why would I give them a free plug?) in which a woman stands up through the sunroof of a car while it is still moving. Apart from maybe standing up in the bed of a pick-up truck, there aren't too many more dangerous things you could do.

Oddly, earlier in the ad she IS wearing a seat belt.

Dumb.

This road is groovy, man

Are there any road construction people, designers, engineers out there who could answer a couple of questions?

After winter has ravaged our roads, many of them get their surfaces ground off, leaving deep longitudinal ridges. I gather this is to produce a highly-textured sub-surface so the new top coat will bond properly.

Here's the first question - why do they leave it like that for months on end? Is it like beef and cheese, it improves with age?

Probably not.

So, why don't they resurface it immediately?

This roughened road is murder on some cars, like the little Smart I drove a couple of months ago. It got tossed all over the place on this stuff. Bordered on unacceptably dangerous.

And in all cars it is terribly noisy and uncomfortable.

I have "notionally" invented a solution to this problem  - the Asphalt Zamboni.

I say "notionally" because in Annie Hall, Woody Allen describes how movies get made: “Right now it’s only a notion, but I think I can get the money to make it into a concept, and later turn it into an idea.”

I have no money - just a notion.

Just as an ice-making Zamboni scrapes away old ice, melts it and lays down a new surface, so my Asphalt Zamboni would grind off the old crap (like they do now), pitch the scrapings into an oven on the back of the machine where ultra-hot burners would melt them down again. Then it would spread a new layer of pavement, tamping it down with a big roller at the very end of the machine.

One pass, and presto! New road.

Question number two: Do you know if anyone else has already tried to turn this notion into a concept?

It sounds like it should work.

One way or an other, they have to figure out how to fix these roads more quickly.

**** UPDATE ****

A commentor notes that there is such a thing as a "Pavement Zamboni". At least, there has been a patent application for one: 

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/EP0426892.html

Darn it. There goes another shot at a financially secure retirement.

Another perspective on traffic safety

My friend George Daszkowski sent me this link:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/traffic/2

Fascinating stuff, with some new-to-me statistical twists.

If it sounds familiar, it is more-or-less exactly what I've been whining about with respect to traffic safety for the past quarter of a century. Maybe it will sound more important , and better attract the attention of Ontario's powers-that-be, coming from the big-shot Atlantic Monthly magazine? I said earlier it might have been in the on-line edition only, but I just got this month's issue - it's the one magazine I always read, cover-to-cover - and there it is print too.

One thing the author does miss which explains a big part of the difference - maybe all of the difference - between traffic fatality rates in the US and the United Kingdom is the wide disparity of seat belt wearing rates. from nearly universal in the UK, to still lingering around 70 - 75 percent in the States.

Canada's rate is of course 'way better than the US, closer to but not quite as good as the UK. Too bad we can't develop statistics comparing Canada and the UK - wonder if anybody has?

We're not in the habit of directing you to other web sites - please come back.

Gas price increase? What gas price increase?

******

The fast-moving world of blogging! Last evening I noticed that the blown-down signs have been put back up, and the For Sale signs have been removed. Has someone bought our little store? Did my blog entry help that happen? If so, where's my commission?

The fuel price sign hasn't changed yet, however. I took some photos of it all yesterday - here's what it looked like last night. Wonder if it'll be different when I drive by it again in about 30 minutes? Log in again this evening to find out.

******

Our little Speyside General Store and gas bar closed just before Christmas.

A shame, really. It has been a focal point for our little community, not to mention a refreshment haven for Bruce Trail hikers, for at least the 34 years we've lived out here.

But now the wind has blown some of the signs down, and no-one has done anything about it.

Nor have they changed the signs advertising the price of fuel. $1.07.9 a litre for unleaded regular, 97.9 for Diesel.

Ouch.

That was only six months ago.

The store is for sale, so if any of you have ever dreamed of owning a little general store in the country, here's your chance.

You should be able to increase revenues by raising the price for fuel.

Mercedes-Benz - only in Canada, you say?

We automotive journalists call ourselves the 'usual suspects'. Most of us attend the same press events, and drive the same fleet of press test cars.

Some of us even like each other, even if we are competitors and don't always agree, on cars or anything else.

But once in while, I'll see that Dave or Graeme or somebody is driving a car I have already been in. I'll ask, "What do you think?" and I'll get an immediate thumbs-up.

One such car is the Mercedes-Benz C230 4Matic Sport, a brilliant red version of which is making the rounds as I type.

At Wheels, our policy is that whoever did the preview test of the vehicle at its launch (in this case, me) does not do the subsequent full road test, the objective being to give you the reader a broader range of opinion.

So I won't go into it in a lot of detail here.

But this particular model really seems to have nailed it, and my colleagues all seem to agree.

Despite the 230 part of the name, the engine is a 2.5 litre V6 (why do the marketing people keep doing this?) With 201 horsepower, 27 less than the 3.0, performance is still plenty brisk, yet fuel consumption is lower, admittedly marginally so, but still an increasingly important issue for Canadians.

4Matic - Mercedes' term for four-wheel drive - is likewise ideally suited to our market.

And, at $42,500, it is - by Mercedes' standards anyway - remarkably affordable, always a concern for us tight-fisted Canucks.

In fact, this configuration - 4Matic, 2.5 litre engine - is produced by Mercedes exclusively for Canada, a rare occurrence, especially in the luxury market.

How's it doing?

Gangbusters, according to Mercedes-Benz Canada.

Now, it is the consumers' opinion that car makers really care about.

But we like it too.