Automotive News & Reviews, Cars & Prices, Test Drives, Crashes

Reader Review of the Week: 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX

Posted on 25. Aug, 2011 by admin.

“Bullyboy” from Raleigh, N.C., already was a loyal owner of a Subaru WRX sedan, but he was looking for something that could better accommodate his recreational gear. So what did he do? He bought a Subaru WRX hatchback, of course. The hatchback is better at hauling Bullboy’s gear, and he likes the improvements to the newer WRX’s mechanics, particularly with the manual transmission. Continue reading the full review to find out more. Once you’re done, write a review about your own car here.

“A grown man should not love an inanimate object this much.

“I debated quite a while about trading in my 2007 WRX TR sedan for a 2011 WRX five-door. The main reason was that I needed interior space for my carbon triathlon bike and snowboards. (I didn't want to strap them to the roof.) After three months, all I have to say is that it was one of the best decisions I have made in quite some time.

“The interior: Rear volume is ample/perfect for hauling gear, the design is clean and simple (as it should be in a sports car), road noise is minimal even at highway speeds, front cabin volume is very comfortable such that two larger adults will not feel like they are shoulder to shoulder.

“The performance/handling: the five-speed gearing is perfect (in the ‘07 I used to hover between 3rd and 4th doing 45 mph — now I am solidly in 3rd and don’t need 4th until close to 55 mph), the wider stance is a lot more fun in corners and turns, the stock exhaust sounds great and NOT like your grandmother’s Subaru. The WRX moves like a jack rabbit being chased by a pack of wolves … a calm confidence knowing that it will see tomorrow.

“My only issue with the WRX is the inability to get the All Weather Package and leather seats in the base model trim. These options are only available in the Premium and Limited trims (which also come with a sunroof as standard equipment). I have no use for a sunroof (temps/weather/pollen in the Mid-Atlantic region make them unusable for all but about two months of the year), plus being over 6 feet tall, I find they tend to consume too much head room.”

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PUTC Guests On The RoundAbout Show

Posted on 16. Feb, 2011 by admin.

Over the weekend, the car-loving crew of the RoundAbout Show asked us to come on and talk about trucks, the Chicago Auto Show and much more, including the new Ram 1500 Tradesman.

Check out the podcast devoted to the weird, under-reported and often humourous side of automotive news and car culture. It was a blast!

Download MP3 | | |

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First Drive Review: 2012 Nissan NV Series Vans

Posted on 03. Feb, 2011 by admin.

Nissan’s all-electric Leaf small car may be getting the lion’s share of attention these days, but the company’s all-new NV full-size vans are the most researched vehicles the company has ever built, according to Nissan execs on hand in Miami for this week’s first drive with journalists.

Nissan has spent six years creating its North American light-commercial vehicle group from scratch. During that time, a team of former Detroit Three managers and engineers identified full-size vans as a market opportunity because their research showed van owners’ needs weren’t being met, according to Larry Dominique, Nissan’s vice president of product planning for North America.

“There are no more dissatisfied customers than the people who drive [full-size vans] around, Dominique said. “Most people hate their vans. We asked what needs we could address to make them happier, and that’s what you see in these vans.”

Nissan’s target buyers? Many are current full-size pickup owners who used to be van owners. To attract these buyers, Nissan has combined some of the best attributes of both vehicles in its NV vans.

The pickup truck design elements are obvious before you even step inside.

Instead of a conventional short-nose configuration, where part of the engine sits in the cab next to the driver, the NV has a long-nose front end, like a full-size pickup. Nissan positioned the engine ahead of the A-pillar and firewall. That’s not surprising, since the NV is based on a heavily modified version of the Nissan Titan half-ton pickup’s body-on-frame platform.

Nissan is offering a broad lineup from Job 1. There are three NV models to choose from: the light-duty NV1500 and heavy-duty NV2500 HD and NV3500 HD. A 261-horsepower, 4.0-liter V-6 is available for the NV 1500 and 2500, and a 317-hp, 5.6-liter V-8 is available for the NV 2500 and 3500. There’s also a choice of standard and high-roof models, with the latter offering enough room for a 6-foot 3-inch person to stand upright in the cargo space. Two-wheel drive is the only driveline available.

We sampled the NV 2500 V-6 and NV 3500 V-8 standard and high-roof vans on the highways and crowded surface streets around south Florida.

Standard Roof NV3500 HD S 5.6-liter V-8

The first van we drove was the NV3500 HD with the 5.6-liter V-8 and five-speed automatic transmission. It’s the same powertrain that propels the Nissan Titan half-ton pickup.

Inside, we immediately noticed the extra legroom in the foot wells. The long-nose layout allowed our legs to naturally extend and relax instead of being pushed back toward the chair. In the area that would normally be occupied by an engine “doghouse” was a pair of cup holders and storage cubby.

Between the driver and passenger seats was a generous storage bin plus pull out storage drawers beneath the chairs.

Unloaded, the NV3500 weighed about 5,900 pounds, some 500 pounds more than a crew-cab Nissan Titan. We’ve always liked the performance and liveliness of Nissan’s 5.6-liter V-8 in the Titan, and it performed similarly in the NV. Jumping on the freeway was a snap, even with the relatively conservative 3.54-to-1 rear axle ratio.

A major mechanical difference between the NV vans and Titan is the use of heavy-duty recirculating ball steering instead of light-duty rack and pinion. The change makes sense, since the vans can manage 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of payload, depending on the model. Steering was a bit heavy and numb at times, but Nissan said it’s still being tuned for production.

If you buy an NV van, you’ll probably rarely drive the truck completely empty, like we did. In this scenario, ride quality was comfortable. The truck skipped a bit on rough pavement, but no more so than an unloaded pickup.

Nissan has done a nice job engineering the seats for ride comfort, though an air suspension option is not available for severe duty use. Extra-sturdy construction used in the seat bottom bolster near the door should keep wear to a minimum even if the driver frequently enters and exits the truck.

We stopped briefly at a Lowe’s hardware store, where our van was loaded with several hundred pounds of construction supplies to be donated to Habitat for Humanity. The cargo floor has six “D” ring mounting points that are rated up to 1,124 pounds. They made it easy to strap the pallet securely in the van.

Nissan has also delivered in the engineering of the cargo doors. They’re designed to open and fold to the sides of the van – up to 243 degrees – like in the smaller Ford Transit Connect van. This feature is unique in full-size vans and makes for a safer loading experience on tight surface streets. The doors provide unimpeded access to the back of the van and greatly reduce the chance of another vehicle coming along and knocking the doors off their hinges.

Load floor space is also excellent. There’s 54.3 inches of space between the wheel housings. That’s three more than Ford’s E-Series vans and enough room to lay down a 4-by-8 sheet of plywood flat with room to spare. Cargo length at the floor is 120 inches and 111 inches at the belt line.

When it goes on sale, the van will be available with a painted steel floor or with optional soft-feel material, which makes it difficult to push heavy objects on. A laminated floor option is expected later in the year.

The NV has dedicated mount points in the cargo area. There’s no drilling or cutting to install racks and bins. Nissan’s upfit hardware comes from a partnership with Adrian Steel, a well-known van cargo management and storage product maker.

We departed Lowe’s to drop off the supplies at Habitat for Humanity’s warehouse. The V-8 shrugged off the extra heft as we drove over Florida’s flat roads. Ride quality improved a bit, as the NV’s rear leaf springs soaked up the weight.

Nissan isn’t required to provide fuel economy figures for its vans because all three models have gross combined weight ratings above 8,500 pounds. Commercial reps on hand said the NV vans will meet or beat the competition, but that remains to be seen. In the NV3500 HD, we averaged 12.1 mpg in mostly city driving conditions, according to the van’s trip computer.

High Roof NV3500 HD S 5.6-liter V-8

After dropping off the construction supplies, we changed vans. This time, we chose the high roof NV3500 HD. It was a duplicate of the standard roof version, except its added height allows tall people (up to 6 feet, 3 inches) to stand upright in the cargo area.

The tall roof configuration is similar to that of the Mercedes (formerly Dodge) Sprinter, but whereas the Sprinter starts at $36,000 with a standard 3.0-liter V-6, the NV starts about $10 thousand less for the high roof.

We drove the high roof completely empty and found no issue with power and ride. The only major difference we noticed was the extra wind noise the taller profile brought into the cabin. It sounds like a window was open at speeds as low as 45 mph. Wind noise would likely drop by adding optional interior side paneling to insulate the bare metal walls or with racks and shelving full of tools and supplies.

Noise levels in the cockpit area were very low. It was easy to have a conversation with our driving partner without ever having to raise our voices.

The high roof rode comfortably, and we soon forgot we were driving a van with an 8.8-foot-tall profile. It will be a bad day for the driver who forgets just how tall this version is and drives into the roof of a garage or tunnel. It almost warrants a warning on the windshield so the driver doesn’t forget.

Standard Roof NV2500 HD SV 4.0-liter V-6

The last NV we drove was the six-cylinder standard roof version. Even though it had the standard engine, it featured SV trim, which adds electric window and mirror controls and a power driver’s seat. It also came with two 120-volt 400-watt power outlets in addition to two standard 12-volt power outlets.

Despite a rear axle with a 3.36 ring and pinion, the 261-hp engine had good off-the-line performance, but we’re concerned about its strength in mountainous regions and cities like San Francisco, with its steep hills, when the NV is loaded to its max. We have the same concern about GM's lower-rated 195 hp 4.3-liter V-6 but that engine is limited to use in the half-ton Chevy Express and GMC Savana vans, while Nissan offers the V-6 in both the light-duty NV 1500 and three-quarter-ton mover 2500 HD we drove.

Our drive in the V-6 lasted only several miles, so we couldn’t get a feel for its fuel economy. In the Nissan Frontier, the same engine is about three miles per gallon better in fuel economy than the Titan. Both the V-8 and V-6 vans share the same five-speed transmission and transmission gear ratios.

All NV vans come with a manual shift option, which can be controlled on the transmission’s steering-column-mounted shift stalk. We tried it out and found it worked acceptably, upshifting and downshifting on demand.

The NV2500 seemed a bit more squirrelly driving around empty compared with the heavier-sprung NV3500. The rear axle chirped a bit under moderate push while making turns. Weighted down with stuff in back, we’d expect the truck would settle down just fine in the handling.

Looks

Compared to full-size vans from Ford, General Motors and Mercedes-Benz, the NV offers the best combination of price and functionality in the segment. No other full-size van provides its unique combination of features and capability out of the box at close to its starting price of $24,590. But that advantage comes with a unique consequence: The NV is ugly.

We’re confounded by the van’s looks. We understand that form follows function and don’t mind the squared-off back end, but the front end could benefit from rhinoplasty, stat. It should be about 20 percent smaller than it is. There’s so much chrome on the front end of high end models, we wonder how Earth’s chrome mines are ever going to keep up with demand should the NV become the sales success Nissan hopes it does.

Nissan expects that 80 percent of sales will have basic white paint jobs, but red, silver, blue and black are also available.

In a unique program, Nissan will let NV buyers design up to 70 square feet of custom vinyl graphics at no cost to call attention to the owner’s business, though we don’t think attention will be any problem driving this van.

Future Options

There are no plans to offer a diesel engine option in the near future, unlike the Sprinter, which offers a standard diesel V-6.

While most pickup truck owners are enthusiastic about a diesel engine, that’s not the same with van buyers, Dominique said. We don’t disagree. Higher upfront purchase costs for diesel engines because of added expense to meet U.S. emissions, plus higher fuel costs, conspire to make it unlikely we’ll see a diesel for the NV vans anytime soon.

Cargo vans will be the only version available at the start of sales, but a 12-passenger version is likely by early 2012 or sooner.

Purchase Information

250 Nissan dealers have been signed up around the country to sell NV vans. They’ve committed to upgrading their service bays to handle the tall and heavy vehicles and will offer special service hours for commercial customers – up to 60 hours per week.

Nissan will finance NV buyers with special tools and options, including custom payment arrangements and rolling upfit costs into scheduled vehicle payments. As mentioned earlier, buyers can get up to 70 square feet of customized vinyl wrap free of charge to place on the exterior of their vans for promotion and advertising.

An incentive program offers substantial benefits to qualified commercial customers, including a choice of one of the following packages at no charge: A cargo partition and three 44-inch shelving units on either high-roof or standard roof models, or a cargo partition and a three-bar utility rack for standard roof models, or a cargo partition and an interior ladder keeper for high-roof models.

What we like:

• Comfortable seating for driver and passenger
• No-nonsense functional cargo layout that’s ready for immediate upfit
• Low step-in height to cargo space
• Cargo doors open up to 243-degrees – moving out of the way of traffic in tight loading conditions
• Cavernous space in the high roof model with a starting purchase price almost $10,000 less than Mercedes Sprinter
• Tows up to 9,500 pounds with V-8 and up to 7,000 pounds with V-6
• Strong V-8 performance
• Excellent visibility (for a full-size van)

What we don’t:

• Uninspired front-end styling that doesn't measure up to cargo management and driver comfort innovations
• No telescoping steering wheel option
• Lack of standard USB ports and Bluetooth wireless connectivity for cell phones
• Soft load floor option makes it difficult to push heavy materials around cargo area
• Unknown maintenance and performance record – for both the van and Nissan's new commercial dealers
• Trailer sway control not available for towing

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2010 Pickup Truck Holiday Gift Guide

Posted on 26. Nov, 2010 by admin.

By Larry Edsall for PickupTrucks.com

The ho-ho holidays are fast approaching, so here’s our gift guide for the special pickup truck owner on your shopping list.

Wait a minute! We probably should rephrase that first paragraph because we think all pickup truck owners are special (and if you’re reading this, you no doubt agree), and therefore deserving of more than one of the following gifts:

’55 Chevy E-Rod

So you want a classic pickup truck but you also want to be environmentally responsible when you drive it? Well, you can do what GM Performance Parts did and build a '55 Chevy E-Rod pickup. Well, actually GM Performance Parts had GM designer Dave Ross work up the details and then had Ken Lingenfelter Performance do the construction.

You start with a 1955 Chevy 3100 Series pickup reproduction body from Dynacorn, a California company that stamps old-style vehicle bodies out of new steel. The body mounts on the chassis from a Chevy Trailblazer SS, though Eibach springs lower the stance and they also bolted on four-wheel disc brakes. Wheels and tires are from a Chevy Silverado.

Now, inserted a GM Performance Parts 5.3-liter E-Rod crate engine that comes with 315 horsepower, 335 pound-feet of torque, but also with catalytic converters and other modern technology to make it clean and green as well as fast and mean.

GM used a 4L65E automatic transmission with SuperMatic controller system (the E-Rod crate engine also is available for manual transmission use) with a 9.5-inch, 4.10-ratio rear axle with Eaton limited slip, BeCool radiator and Painless wiring.

GM added a wood-floor in the pickup bed, a custom grill, hidden fuel filler and various restoration parts from Classic Industries. Inside, you can get as customized as you want. GM used an Ididit steering column and Vintage Air system.

For more information, visit http://www.gmperformanceparts.com.

Make your Ram a Runner

Maybe it’s because of all those years working with Jeep guys who prefer to modify their vehicles for special use applications – from rock crawling to mud bogging, but while Ford provides its Raptor ready from the factory, Ram and Mopar think you’d prefer to do the work yourself to turn your Ram pickup into a desert-ready Ram Runner.

Although all the parts you’ll need aren’t available yet – though a bunch more are coming early in the new year – right now you can get the Phase 1 suspension kit that includes the upper control arms and shocks that will keep your truck comfortable on pavement while allowing you to assault swales at up to 40 miles per hour without a crash landing.

Coming next is the full Stage 2 suspension kit that includes ball joints, unique bypass shocks, and other hardware needed to provide 14-inches of wheel travel.

Also in the pipeline are flared fenders, an off-road front bumper and a spare tire mount for the pickup bed.

For more information, visit http://www.mopar.com.

Cool Tool Storage

Tulsa-based Swivel Storage Solutions has introduced a line of tool cabinets that disdain the traditional pull-out drawer system for drawers that swivel open.

What’s the advantage? According to Swivel, drawers open more easily; dirt, dust and debris don’t get affect operation; there’s fewer moving parts, the drawers can support more weight when opened; and they open fully around a hidden steel pivot pole so you don’t have to go reaching back into some narrow and dark area to find your tools.

Boxes are designed for all sorts of applications, from a corner to a cube arrangement, on rollers or mounted in a vehicle.

For more information, visit http://www.swivel.pro.

TrailCan Utility Box

Rampage Products of Corona, California specializes in products for Jeeps, but its newest output “can” benefit pickup drivers as well. It’s the TrailCan Utility Box.

It looks like your standard locking Gerry Can for carrying extra fuel, but it’s actually a locking storage container with locking drawers and a removable tray, and all made from powder-coated steel.

It fits in a standard gas can mount in your pickup bed or up on the roof. The suggested retail price is $159.95.

For more information, visit http://www.rampageproducts.com.

Reach E-Z Extendable Reacher

Du-Ha of Fergus Falls, Minnesota makes storage solutions for pickup truck owners, and now it’s devised an implement to help you reach things at the far end of your pickup bed. The Reach E-Z Extendable Reacher expands from 5-feet to 7-feet in length so you can reach or move to rearrange stuff without having to climb up into the bed or even remove a tonneau cover.

It also has a brush attachment and transforms it into a snow-removal tool or even a shop broom. Du-Ha says that the Extendable Reacher also can be used for retrieving duck decoys and lines or for hanging holiday lights on your house or trees.

There’s also a clip that attaches the Reacher to the inside of your truck bed, an ice scraper attachment and a flashlight attachment so you can see what’s way back there under a tonneau.

The price is $34.95.

For more information, visit http://www.reache-z.com.

BedWood

Show your wife pages 8-9 and 10-11 from this catalog and she’ll get excited thinking you’re ready to redo the floors in your house. Arrayed across the pages are photographic samples of wood finishes ranging from ash to red oak, flamed birch to curly maple, Honduras mahogany to South African paduak, Brazilian cherry to Peruvian walnut.

Now try telling her that you’re going to do the floor of her kitchen but the bed of your pickup truck, because the catalog in hand comes from BedWood and Parts, which provides 40 exotic and domestic show-quality wood finishes for pickup truck beds, and can fit Ford, Chevy and Dodge pickups from 1917 to those now rolling off Big Three assembly lines, and there are applications for the Toyota Tundra and El Caminos.

Jeff Major, who founded the company based in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, notes that BedWood kits also can be used in hot rods, and that the BedWood RetroLiner is an “easy-to-install” wood floor for late model pickups and utility vehicles – and fits without any drilling or cutting.

For more information, visit http://www.bedwoodandparts.com.

Ezy-Lift

Struggle to lift, say, a quad or an engine block or anything else of heft into the bed of your pickup? One solution can be an Ezy-Lift.

Produced by Ezy-Lift of Houston, an Ezy-Lift mounts inside your pickup bed, pivots back under a push-button control unit so that heavy object can be attached, and then power pivots back toward the front of the bed so the object can be placed and secured.

Prices range from $4,750 for a unit that lifts 1,000 pounds to $6,150 for one that lifts a ton to $12,950 for the Grizzly that can deal with a 3,000-pound lift.

There also are trailer-mounted units, and Ezy-Lifts for quad-style tractors and carts.

For more information, visit http://www.ezylift.com.

Invis-a-Rack

There are times when you need to carry ladders, a couple of canoes or other objects that are too large to fit inside a truck bed, but there also are times when you don’t want a commercial-looking rack sticking up into the air above your bed.

Now there’s Invis-A-Rack, a rack that folds out of sight when not in use.

The systems producers, based in Sparta, North Carolina, say their rack system can be installed in about 10 minutes via theft-resistant bolts that clamp (no drilling) the black power-coated aluminum racks to the underside of pickup bed rails. The system comprises four housings that pivot upward and then attach to each other to create one goalpost-like elevated bar at each end of the bed. The system can hold up to 500 pounds.

An Invis-A-Rack for a 6-foot bed costs $779 and an 8-foot model is $799.

For more information, visit http://www.invisarack.com.

Rhino-Rack Foxwing awning

Rhino-Rack is an Australian company that produces roof racks, roof boxes, and roof-top carriers for skis, snowboards, kayaks and small boats. But what caught our eye was the company’s Foxwing awning system. The awning attaches to vehicle’s roof racks and provides up to 270 degrees of shade as it unfolds like a bat’s wing. The awning material is UV-resistant, rip-stop polycotton canvas and is held above head height by telescopic poles and guy ropes.

There are units designed for the driver’s or passenger’s side, and each covers the side and back of the vehicle, in the case of a pickup truck, shading the bed.

The price is $599. The awnings and other Rhino-Rack products are available from dealers listed on the company’s website.

For more information, visit http://www.rhinorack.com.

Cornhusker Neon Signs

For more than two decades, Cornhusker Sign & Mfg. Corp of Gretna, Nebraska, has been producing neon signs and clocks. While not pickup specific, the powder-coated steel and neon garage signs are oh-so-cool, and the company can customize a sign proclaiming the garage as your own.

The signs are 2 feet tall and 4 feet wide, or slightly taller and two feet longer with a working clock included. Prices ranged from $600 – $1,300, and you can get a sign personalized with your favorite pickup truck owner’s name for another $100 – $300.

Signs have pull-chain on/off switches and have UL-listed transformers with protection circuitry.

For more information, visit http://www.cornhuskersign.com.

Chevy Pickup Tailgate Shelf

The Sunbelt Marketing Group of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina has been in business since 1993, producing and selling officially licensed Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Disney products, from signs to key chains to paper towel dispensers. More recently, it has added automotive-themed products, including display shelves that look like a vehicle’s nose or tailgate has broken through your wall.

For example, there’s a 20 x 6 ¾ x 15 ¼-inch shelf unit that looks like a back end of a 1976 Chevy pickup truck, with the tailgate pivoting down to provide a display area.

There’s also a full line of 1948 Ford F-1 stuff, from a table lamp to book ends to a nightlight (the truck’s headlamps light up) to a key rack. There’s also a scale-version of a truck’s front-clip that’s been turned into a wall display area with a tempered glass shelf that spans the hood.

Prices range from $10 to $50.

For more information, visit http://www.sunbeltgifts.com.

How to Make Your Car (or Truck) Last Forever

Ignore the “Car” in the title of this book. Everything in this wonderfully illustrated, 176-page, $24.99 volume applies to your pickup truck as well.

Written by Tom Torbjornsen, for four decades an auto mechanic and since 1991 host of America’s Car Show on the radio, consider How to Make Your Car Last Forever as the real owner’s manual for your truck.

In words and detailed photography, the book shows and tells you how and when to do the maintenance needed to keep your truck on the road if not forever, then for at least a couple hundred thousand miles.

Torbjornsen also guides you through the jungle of extended warranties, tells you when its time to retire and replace your truck, and even includes a chapter on “How to Kill a Car” or a truck.

How to Make Your Car Last Forever is part of Motorbooks' Workshop series.

For more information, visit http://www.motorbooks.com.

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Pushing the 2011 Honda CR-Z Into The Red

Posted on 22. Oct, 2010 by admin.

Cars.com’s editors recently drove the sporty Honda CR-Z hybrid on a mileage challenge using its standard drive setting with the objective of replicating how most people drive most of the time. The 2011 CR-Z lets you select Econ, Normal and Sport modes, and they kept it in Normal mode at all times on the mileage challenge, with the trip computer registering 37.7 mpg over 330 miles. However, when switched to the more responsive Sport mode and driven in a sporty manner, can the CR-Z still return good gas mileage? I flogged a manual-transmission CR-Z for a weekend and drove it like a sporty car, not a hybrid, to see if the self-proclaimed “Sport Hybrid Coupe” could be efficient in that sportiest of modes.

Gears were revved out, throttle blips were used to rev-match downshifts and I drove it hard over the weekend. As a result, the speedometer’s efficiency ring, which changes color to indicate fuel-conscious driving, was illuminated in an angry red color throughout the weekend.

After a few traffic-filled commutes into Chicago from the suburbs and a weekend of thrashing — totaling 280 miles — the CR-Z’s trip computer registered 36.6 mpg. The six-speed manual transmission model we tested is EPA rated at 31/37 mpg city/highway, which makes the returned mileage impressive. A 1.1-mpg ding for getting the best driving experience out of the CR-Z is well worth it. I'm confident that number could be improved if I drove more efficiently and switched to Econ mode, though I wasn't tempted to after getting used to the CR-Z's very non-hybridlike driving characteristics.

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NHTSA Revamps Five-Star Safety Ratings

Posted on 02. Oct, 2010 by admin.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced changes to its five-star New Car Assessment Program, which will begin with more than 50 2011 model-year vehicles. The changes range from a new side-pole test to the use of a wider range of test-dummy sizes, which better represent occupants of all sizes. The new regimen also records more data, which is then analyzed and weighted to produce a single overall safety rating to accompany the existing separate frontal- and side-impact crash-test ratings and rollover-resistance ratings. The program will also “highlight” equipped safety features that help prevent crashes.

Today, we’ll tell you about the changes to the program. On Tuesday we’ll have comprehensive coverage of the first 33 cars, crossovers, SUVs and minivans tested by government under the program. More than 50 models will be tested this year. 

Side Pole Test
The pole test, which simulates a car sliding sideways into a tree or post, can reveal weaknesses that aren't reflected in the traditional barrier test, in which the test car is T-boned by a sled that's roughly the weight and height of a midsize sedan. The new NCAP combines both tests' results into a single side rating.

Head injuries from both side tests now factor into the star rating. The previous program recorded head acceleration but didn't include the results in the star ratings — one of Cars.com's greatest objections. Side-impact collisions are more likely than frontal crashes to cause head injuries, which are among the most dangerous and potentially fatal. (In previous NCAP tests, head-acceleration data could earn a vehicle the “safety concern” citation, but it's too easy to glance at a star rating and think a vehicle's score is acceptable.)

New Dummies, More Data
The program's new crash-test dummies cover a wider range of sizes, and all of them collect more data than their forebears did. This gives a clearer picture of the trauma occupants experience in a collision, so the vehicles whose star ratings are substantially lower may have uncovered weaknesses the previous dummies didn't, according to NHTSA.

What Hasn't Changed
NCAP rollover ratings remain unchanged along with the methodology.
As before, the rollover rating estimates a vehicle's propensity to roll over, not the protection it provides when a rollover occurs. The star rating is based on a calculation of the vehicle's dimensions and center of gravity. The test subjects vehicles to a panic maneuver and reports whether it raises two wheels off the ground. The results supplement the star rating with a “tip” or “no-tip” notation.

NHTSA vs. IIHS
How does the new government testing array compare against those from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety? When you see the scores on Tuesday you’ll get some stark contrasts. The difference in ratings come down to the types of tests and how they’re conducted by the two groups.

The new NCAP pole test is one IIHS doesn't conduct. In the side barrier test, the NCAP sled that's used to ram test vehicles is roughly the height and weight of a midsize car. IIHS' version emulates a full-size pickup truck.

The NCAP frontal crash test runs a vehicle into a solid wall, mimicking a direct head-on collision. This is less realistic, or at least less common, than the type of crash represented in the IIHS test. The IIHS barrier is deformable — to emulate another vehicle — and engages one-half of the test vehicle's front end rather than its entire width. Though this test is arguably more real-world, the NCAP frontal test isn't without merit. Because it's a different type of collision, it provides different information than the IIHS test, and both are useful in determining a car's crashworthiness. The same can be said of the other differences in methodology.

NCAP's rollover rating predicts the likelihood that a vehicle will roll over; IIHS' roof-strength test estimates how much protection it will provide if it does happen. Both organizations have historically stated that they consider their work complementary, not contradictory.

Crash Avoidance Technologies
The new program also “highlights” what the organization calls crash avoidance technologies — active safety features that serve to prevent collisions. Currently, the features are limited to electronic stability control, lane departure warning and forward collision warning systems. NHTSA doesn't test the features; it only mentions on SaferCar.gov if the model offers the feature. On dealer lots, the part of the window sticker for the star ratings won't cite the features, while theoretically, the manufacturer-listed features, which take up much of the sticker, could. Often these features vary throughout a specific model’s lineup with top trims equipped with more of these features or specific option packages.

Remember to check back with KickingTires on Tuesday for the full set of scores.

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Designers Take Stab at Making Better Mileage Stickers

Posted on 29. Sep, 2010 by admin.

Yesterday, we reported that potential car shoppers found both of the EPA’s proposed new fuel-economy stickers to be confusing , according to a survey. Both stickers have come under criticism during the 60-day discussion period allotted by the EPA.

The trouble with designing these labels basically comes down to organizing and objectively conveying the fuel efficiency of not only new gasoline-powered cars, but the new compressed-gas, diesel, electric and hydrogen cars coming down the pipeline.

It’s a daunting task and one which even the EPA’s designers have stumbled over, but can anyone do any better?

Translogic, a tech-oriented automotive blog, seems to think so. The website asked three of its favorite design firms to come up with a better fuel-economy sticker. What they delivered is pretty interesting: Draplin Design Co. uses a tear-shaped grading system, which gets decidedly grimmer as the vehicle gets dirtier.

The design firm Scipt & Seal throws out the “A, B, C” grading system and replaces that with a percentage score representing the car’s efficiency. The score would also be backed by a color – blue, purple or green – which would visually represent the car’s fuel efficiency, in ascending order.

GRID, the last firm and the one we liked the best (shown above), removes the “peachiness” of the grading system and the colored hues and just shows hardcore data in an organized fashion similar to today’s existing EPA fuel stickers, except that it’s loaded with more information. Important numbers like combined mpg, monthly fuel costs and annual CO2 emissions are displayed prominently.

Check out a few of the designs below and get more information and photos about what the designers were thinking at Translogic.

Reimagining the Fuel Economy Label (Translogic)

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Feds: Cash for Clunkers Worked, but Uncertainties Remain

Posted on 30. Apr, 2010 by admin.

The Cash for Clunkers program succeeded in its broad, basic objectives of providing economic stimulus to a struggling industry, but ultimately the results are difficult to gauge, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office.

Despite Cash for Clunker’s success, the GAO found that “the extent of the program’s stimulative effect on the economy is uncertain.” For instance, some of the sales may have happened regardless of the program, although the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 88% of the 677,842 vehicles sold under the program were to buyers who otherwise would have stayed home.

The program's other goal was to improve fuel economy, and it did. The average fuel economy of the vehicles traded in was 15.7 mpg, while the new cars purchased or leased averaged 24.9 mpg. But because new vehicles tend to have far better mileage, the GAO says it’s reasonable that many of the new cars would have been more efficient anyway.

According to the Department of Transportation, NHTSA had limited time to design and implement the program’s consumer survey, which may make it harder to study for future policy decisions.

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