Muscle and hybrids battle for attention

Acura and Cadillac unveil sporty wagons, Nissan and Toyota tempt market with cool vans

Apr 02, 2010

Special to the Star

NEW YORK—You sometimes wonder why New Yorkers even have an auto show, given that the only cars they ever see are yellow and have “taxi” on the roof.

But it is still The Big Apple, and many car companies still use it to launch their new cars.

There are plenty of North American premiers here, but as usual I’ll concentrate on world firsts.

That said, with the Internet being what it is, there weren’t a lot of surprises.

Roughly, in alphabetical order:

Station wagons make a lot of sense. Same footprint and centre of gravity as a sedan, but with much more room and practicality.

Build them, however, and they will not come, at least not in North America. Acura tries again with the pretty Acura TSX Sport Wagon — like the TSX sedan, essentially a European Accord dipped in gold.

The 2.4 L, 201 horse twin-cam four, five-speed paddle-shifted automatic and Euro-tuned suspension should make this a nimble performer, but unless Acura knows something that no one but Volvo seems to know, it probably won’t account for much more than 10 per cent of TSX sales, as most customers will probably opt for one of Acura’s indistinguishable three-letter-badged Crossovers.

An exterior refresh of the BMW X5 crossover (they call it the Sports Activity Vehicle) is reinforced with two new engines, the single-turbo 300 hp 3.0 L, which makes the X5 as quick (0-to-100 km/h) as last year’s 4.4 litre V8, and a 4.0 L, 425 hp twin-turbo V8. The price differential between those two is about 20 grand. Is a one-second-sprint-time- advantage really worth that?

The best engine option remains the carryover 325-horse 3.0 L diesel. Great torque and way better fuel consumption.

BMW also showed the new 5-series for the first time on this continent, along with an Alpina 7-series and uprated Z4 roadster.

Back to wagons: Cadillac’s gorgeous CTS Sport Wagon will likely remain nailed to showroom floors across the continent. Perhaps the added power of the 556-horse supercharged Corvette ZR-1 V8 will give the CTS-V variant a boost?

It seems that the Chevrolet Cruze, which replaces the Cobalt later this year, has had more launches than the Porsche Panamera. At New York, Chevy highlighted the ECO model, with aerodynamic improvements and low rolling resistance tires, which combine with the 1.4 L turbo gasoline engine and six-speed manual or automatic transmissions to give the car near-hybrid fuel consumption.

Near-Hybrid acceleration too, however, with a 10-plus-second 0-to-100 km/h time.

Ford announced another joint venture with software provider Microsoft (the first being their SYNC infotainment system) called “hohm.” It is a software package intended to interface with the power grid, your home and your electric car to determine what would be the most efficient way to recharge the little darling, like the Focus Electric.

I still have grave doubts about the, um, potential for widespread acceptance of electric vehicles on this continent, but greater minds than mine seem to think they’re inevitable.

Ford also won the slam-dunk award for announcing a hybrid version of the Lincoln MKZ. Given that the MKZ is essentially the same car as the Ford Fusion whose Hybrid has been well-received, well, why would Ford not do this?

Hyundai adds two new engine options to its striking new Sonata mid-size sedan. A gasoline/electric Hybrid, which drives a conventional six-speed automatic (rather than a CVT like most competitors) and uses lithium-polymer batteries (said to be thinner, easier to cool and more efficient than lithium-ion or nickel-metal hydride) also gains various external tweaks for model identification and, not co-incidentally, better aerodynamics. Formal fuel economy statistics are not yet available, but Sonata Hybrid could well surpass Ford Fusion Hybrid on that count.

A 2.0 L turbo Sonata will be that model’s sportiest version, with 274 hp (versus the base car’s 198) yet with only fractionally worse fuel consumption.

The new Infiniti QX56 is based on the Japanese-market Patrol platform, instead of the unloved (at least by me) Titan pickup. The new truck should be considerably more nimble than its ponderous predecessor (it could hardly be worse) and the 5.6 L V8 gets a 25 per cent increase in power (to 400 horses) yet with 10 per cent better fuel economy, thanks largely to direct fuel injection.

The Kia side of the Hyundai house offers the Optima (in the U.S.; “Magentis” in Canada), which is Kia’s version of the Sonata. Kia has been putting a lot of emphasis on their chief stylist Peter Schreyer, formerly with Audi. His take on the new mid-size sedan is perhaps even more striking, if more Euro-conservative, than the Sonata. Not at all sure about that grille, though.

Mercedes-Benz calls their R-Class an “SUV Tourer,’’ but if it looks, walks and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck; this looks, walks and quacks like a minivan. A new front end, rather like its mechanically-related factory-mate GL-Series SUV, relieves some of the awkwardness in its profile. The spacious and well-appointed interior remains essentially unchanged; it remains to be seen if Mercedes can find a market for this unusual vehicle.

Mercedes-Benz also showed the GT-3 racing version of the AMG variant of the gullwing SLS sports car. It is expected to be available for various race series only (no roadgoing version) in 2011.

The Nissan Juke was revealed at Geneva last month, and while it was said to be coming to North America, that was hard to believe given our conservative tastes in styling. Then again Kia Soul has turned a few heads, so Juke arrives essentially unchanged. Front- and four-wheel drive versions will be offered. Juke is built on Nissan/Renault’s Global B platform, as is Cube. Now if they only renamed that vehicle the “Box’’ (hey, that’d work) you could get one of each and you’d have .?.. Sorry.

The Scion tC was well received when it launched in 2004. But especially in the innovation-loving sporty coupe segment, six years is an eternity, and sales have plummeted. Judging from the crowds surrounding the new tC at New York, that will change, as more aggressive bodywork, a larger, more powerful engine and six-speed manual or automatic transmissions should be just the ticket.

Scion was originally rejected by Toyota Canada; its dealers felt that the lineup of tiny xA hatch and xB microvan would siphon sales from the then-just-arriving Echo subcompact. However, U.S. experience has shown that there is surprisingly little cross-shopping between the brands, and that Scion brings in a different customer. As a result, the Scion show comes to Canada this fall, with xA, xB and — perhaps a few weeks later — tC being the cast of characters.

Subaru is upgrading the mighty WRX STi with revised suspension for even better handing. A four-door notchback joins the four-door hatch. The slightly less frantic WRX graduates to the so-called wide-body version of the Impreza bodyshell, previously used only by the STi. You might think that this loss of visual exclusivity would make the considerably more expensive STi harder to shove out the showroom door, but Subaru feels the STi’s massive power, trick rally-bred centre differential, Brembo brakes and strong image will continue to appeal to the hard-core enthusiast.

Due to a misunderstanding of shuttle times, I missed the bus back to the hotel from the Javits Center in the lower west side. Ernst Lieb, who rose from the parts department in Mercedes-Benz Canada to president, first of MB Canada, then Australia, and now U.S., saw me and a colleague standing forlornly on the sidewalk. Due to a change in his plans, he did not need his chauffeur-driven AMG S-Class, which was waiting for him, so he told the driver to take us back. Easily the fastest cab I ever was in.

In rush hour.

In Downtown Manhattan.

Alongside all those yellow cars with lights on the roof.