Jim Kenzie's The Driver's Seat

Canadian Car/Truck of the Year - Test Fest Tidbit, 2 of a series

It was "Deutschland uber (almost) Alles" at this year's Test Fest.

Of the nine car categories and three utility vehicle categories, German brands won seven, the Japanese won four, and domestic brands only one.

It was a particularly tough session for General Motors. They really are building some of the best cars they have ever built, cars that do (or should) stack up against the best the world has to offer. Which is why they're running this "May the Best Car Win" ad campaign, and offering to buy your car back if you don't like it.

I had figured going in that at least two of GM's entries would fare well.

Not well enough.

The Buick LaCrosse scored third in Family Car Over $30,000, behind Ford Taurus and Ford Fusion Hybrid. I voted in that category and had LaCrosse ahead of both Fords, but not enough of my colleagues agreed. It scored well in styling inside and out, and in quality. It was easily the quickest of the lot, ride and handling were about dead even, but the Buick took a metre and a half more to stop from 100 km/h, and that counted fairly heavily against it.

While the LaCrosse certainly felt roomy to me, with the most comfortable back seat, appearances obviously can be deceiving because the measurements don't appear to bear that out. Odd, given that Buick deliberately designed the car to appeal to Chinese customers, many of whom like to be driven by chauffeurs, and trunk space was even sacrificed for more rear seat room.

So I don't know how they got that wrong.

The Chevrolet Equinox finished second to the Subaru Outback in SUV/SUV Under $35,000, although GM must take some heart knowing it outpointed the Toyota Venza. Again. the Chevy had the quickest 0 - 100 km/h sprint time, but was also the best braker, albeit by a small margin. The very impressive Subaru also scored major 'emissions' points by virtue of earning a PZEV (Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle) rating.

So for GM, it was a case of better luck next year.

Toyota Leaves Formula One

Toyota's decision to leave Formula One comes as no real surprise. The company is struggling with unprecedented financial losses, not to mention an 'unintended acceleration' issue which is concentrated (so far) in the United Litigious States.

Like Honda last year, Toyota simply couldn't afford to keep funnelling hundreds of millions of dollars annually into a project that never recorded a single victory in eight years of competition.

It was proof if more proof were needed that while "there is no substitute for cubic dollars" is an important mantra in car racing, it isn't the only factor, witness the ability of Ross Brawn to take the ashes of the Honda team and turn it almost literally overnight into a World Champion outfit.

Can some smart guy take the shattered remains of Toyota's F1 project and replicate Brawn's Phoenix-like story?

I doubt it.

The Toyota engine was at various times among the most powerful and fastest in the field, so maybe there is some potential there. But the pace of F1 engine development is such that yesterday's pole-sitter is tomorrow's boat anchor, and without Toyota's engine development facilities and bottomless pit of cash, it's hard to see how this could work.

I'm sure many post-mortems will be conducted on why Toyota failed, when outfits like Red Bull, for example, came from approximately nowhere to succeed.

Choosing yesterday-men (or never-men) like Ralf Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella as their number one drivers didn't help.

Changing the Top Dude every couple of years didn't help either. They started with Ove Anderssen, who had stickhandled many of Toyota's World Rally Championship successes. Having a rally guy run your F1 team might seem odd, but it didn't stop Jean Todt from winning a boatload of titles for Ferrari.

Anderssen lasted two years, but it seems Toyota changed their Top Dude every two years after that, and they never got the continuity that seems necessary to develop a successful squad.

Locating the team in Cologne Germany, rather than closer to Toyota's Headquarters in Japan, or in the nexus of F1 development in the British Midlands, also didn't help. Again, Ferrari is the only team which succeeds on its own, but Ferrari is Ferrari, and even many of their top players are British-Midlands-sourced.

Including, of course, Ross Brawn, who with Todt, South African Rory Byrne and Michael Schumacher, forged one of the greatest F1 dynasties of all time.

With Honda, Toyota and BMW gone, and Renault on the verge, the era of factory-supported F1 teams seems over. Mercedes-Benz continues its association with various teams, with McLaren being their semi-factory outfit. They also supply engines to the likes of Brawn, to the obvious benefit of both companies, and appear set to buy a majority interest in that team.

Ferrari is of course part of Italian mega-car maker Fiat, but they existed as a racing organization long before they got bought out, and they operate pretty much independently.

There are many F1 fans who don't see this as a Bad Thing. Car company marketing plans and budgets come and go; someone like Frank Williams - well, all he does is racing, and you KNOW he'll be fielding a team next year, and the year after that, and the year after that.

The last couple of F1 seasons have actually produced some great racing, with the championships coming down to (almost) the wire.

Now it's back to 'privateers'. A couple of new teams are scheduled to line up in Melbourne Australia next spring. Toyota's departure also re-opens the door to Swiss-based Sauber, which now without the benefit/albatross of BMW involvement, has an opportunity to return.

May the best team win.

What is WRONG with the Metropolitan Toronto Police Department??

It's bad enough that the Metro cops charged a Toronto store owner for defending his property against a shoplifter with a 30-year long record of victimizing his community. (At least they dropped the kidnapping charge, but at what point did that EVER make sense??)

But according to Brad Diamond, producer and host of TSN'S Motoring 2009, they are STILL charging drivers for something that is patently NOT illegal - flashing headlights to warn oncoming drivers of radar fishing holes.

Brad told me the other day that THREE of his friends have recently been ticketed for this. The Highway Traffic Act section the cops trot out is either the "alternating high beam" provision, which (a) does NOT describe what your lights do when you flash them; they do NOT "alternate" - right/left/right - they go on/off/on; and (b) was put into the HTA not to ambush drivers wishing to help the police slow speeders down but to prevent tow truck operators from using these police-car-style alternating high beams to try and get traffic out of their way so they can be first on the scene of a collision to hook the poor victims; or, the "failure to use dipped beams during daylight hours" provision, which is so ridiculous it would only even occur to a cop who is way behind on his quota.

Brad and I fought his "alternating" charge earlier this year; as soon as the prosecutor saw we were fighting it, all of a sudden "The Crown has no evidence to present in this case your Honour", even though we SAW the cop who laid the spurious charge just outside the court room. If they had no evidence, why was the charge laid in the first place? Because they know most people won't fight it, and if they do fight it, the Crown won't have a legal leg to stand on.

I cannot believe any Justice of the Peace would buy the "dipped beam" argument either, but my Dad, who was a lawyer, said you never know until the gavel drops.

My advice - if you get hit with either of these nonsense charges, FIGHT THEM.

No wonder the police refer to THEMSELVES as "The World's Largest Street Gang". I only wish they were joking.

Come on, boys and girls. If you're running these scams, who is going to take all those hand-held cell phone users off the streets?

Memo to Metro Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair: GET A GRIP!

At least, as far as I know, the Metro cops haven't sunk as low as this photo suggests the Halton Region cops have. For all a couple of photography experts I consulted can figure, this photo, taken in Georgetown, was NOT Photoshopped. BTW, the tiny print on the top of the sign on the car's roof? It does NOT say "TAXI" - it says "POLICE". At least they aren't lying - just being downright dirty.

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Canadian Car/Truck of the Year - Test Fest Tidbit, 1 of a series

Hybrids are the future, right? The cars that will bring us all into a new, greener paradise?

Not if the preliminary results of the 2010 Canadian Car/Truck of the Year Test Fest last week are any indication.

As near as I can make out, six hybrid models were entered.

One - the Lexus HS 250h - was disqualified before the event even began.

Another - the Lexus RX 450h - won the SUV/CUV over $60,000 category.

The other four - Honda Insight (Small Car over $21,000), Toyota Prius (Family Car under $30,000), Ford Fusion Hybrid (Family Car over $30,000), and Mercedes-Benz S400h (Prestige Car over $75,000) - all got smoked, you should pardon the expression.

(OK, Fusion Hybrid finished a close second to Ford Taurus; the others weren't even in their respective ballparks.)

And speaking of smoked, there were three Diesel cars entered - Volkswagen Golf Wagon TDI (Family Car under $30,000), BMW 335d (Luxury Car over $75,000), and Volkswagen Touareg TDI Clean Diesel (SUV/CUV $35,000 - $60,000) - and ALL THREE won their categories.

Regular readers will know I'm something of a Diesel fan, having owned three - 1982 GMC Suburban, 1991 VW Jetta TDI, and the current Kenzie Family Bus, a 2003 VW Jetta Wagon TDI.

Looks like my journalist colleagues are starting to figure it out too.

The Golf and BMW now vie with Mazda3 sedan, Mazda3 Sport, Ford Taurus, Volkswagen GTI, Porsche Panamera and Audi A5 Cabriolet for Overall Car of the Year; the Touareg takes on the Lexus Hybrid and the Subaru Outback for Utility Vehicle of the Year.

For what it's worth, my bets - usually the kiss of death - are on the VW Golf Wagon and Subaru Outback.