Why does Bob Lutz insist on comparing GM vehicles to those of his former employer, BMW? In the Sept. 21 issue of Automotive News, he says this about the new GMC Terrain, a “truckier” looking version of the Chevy Equinox crossover SUV: “We will run Terrain competitive ads against the BMW X3. We won’t be [...]
Posts under ‘Auto News and Views’
When “Small” Was a Two-Ton Word
My mother was unimpressed with her first ride in a Cadillac. It was a 1977 Seville, and the car belonged to her friend and co-worker. More accurately, it was the woman’s husband’s “baby.” He’d always wanted a Cadillac, and he was one of many that were smitten by the first-gen Seville’s svelte styling. But my [...]
Rotary Ruminations
In a recent post, I referenced my fifth-grade science project, a car of the then-near-future powered by a Wankel rotary engine. But I was mistaken. I think it was sixth grade. So I was 11, not 10. That was spring 1975, and I was merely synthesizing what I was reading in Motor Trend at the [...]
(Super) Chevy “Celebrity”
Can you tell from my blog entries that I like the new Camaro? In my post “Perfect Pony?” I discussed good proportions for a modern ponycar. Chevy prefers the term “sports car” to avoid that lineage to the original Mustang, but the Camaro is no sports car. At first glance, the published specs for the [...]
Driving the MINI Diesel
This past September, participating in the International Motor Press Association (IMPA) annual test Day in the Poconos, I drove a MINI Cooper diesel evaluation model along some of the back roads near Split Rock Resort. I’m partial to the MINI to start with; if this model were offered in the U.S., I might prefer it [...]
All American Racers?
I originally wrote the following as a sidebar to a “Dodge Wins Daytona 500″ story for Mopar Action magazine earlier this year. It was not published, however. The car in the photo, in case you can’t tell by the decal tail lights, is a “Camry.” All American Racers … Sort of. When Toyota clinched its [...]
Win on Sunday, Bankrupt on Monday?
Rob Kinnan’s editorial in the September issue of Hot Rod magazine (“Wake Up Call”) suggests a new money-saving move for Chrysler, Ford and GM: dump factory support for NASCAR. Sounds controversial, no? I think it’s a good idea, for all the reasons Kinnan cites in his column. Earlier this year, I wrote a piece for [...]
Perfect Pony?
Writing about the possibility of a 4-cylinder turbo Camaro in a previous post reminded me of the car I always thought was the “perfect ponycar” back in the 1990s – the first-generation Mercedes-Benz CLK (1997-2002). Benz owners, and maybe my friends at the brand, might shudder at those words all falling in the same sentence. [...]
Sign of the Times, Part 2
The day after General Motors announced that it would close four truck plants in response to collapsing SUV sales, I was in Bear Mountain State Park in New York driving a General Motors SUV … and getting 50 miles per gallon. It was the Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell vehicle, and you can believe what you [...]
Sign of the Times
“Four-Cylinder Camaro.” Now there are three words that, in a perfect world, would never come together. It’s true, though, GM is studying the “feasibility” of a 4-cylinder Camaro. It’s difficult to look at pix of the upcoming Camaro and not hear only the rumbling of an LS3 V8 through dual tailpipes. So, is GM mad [...]
