All Entries Tagged With: "ADL"
Key To Saab’s Future, The 9-X Biohybrid Returns To Home Away From Home
By Gunnar Heinrich
SAAB public relations man extraordinaire Jan Willem-Vester sent yours (and countless others, no doubt) a press release announcing that Saab is holding a really big party for owners and fans in its home away from home – Massachusetts – us New English really love our Saabs.
If you haven’t read ADL’s Turbo X Drive in Beantown this past Spring, do so here >
Saab’s Stage: Bostonian Spring
The Turbo X Spectacular! The Talk In Herb’s Garden
The Turbo X Spectacular! Part II: Lost (Briefly) In Beantown
The Turbo X Spectacular! Part III: Thrashing Saab’s Best
So from Sonnet to Viggen, every bit of Saab’s past will be on view in the town of Devens from tomorrow August 21st through Sunday, August 24th.
Flying over from Sweden to make this party is the very special – nay, crucial – 9-X Biohybrid concept: a svelte Swede that brings the Scandinavian anti-bling of Bang & Olufsen and must sell like Ikea.
The challenge is whether Saab can keep it real enough for the fans and cheap enough for the accountants. There’s been talk that the someday-production-car is already being downsized (but hopefully not downgraded) from the original show car that debuted last March (see the concept in our video here).
Fuel efficiency is the likely rationale, though flexibility of platform to match future Opels and Chevys is also probable. Which would be fine so long as the production version of the 9-X (aka 9-1X) looks, feels, and smells nothing like them whatsoever.
[Linked: Motor Trend]
Busy, Busy, Busy: ADL Production Update
By Gunnar Heinrich
DEAREST reader, surely you’ve not thought that I’ve forgotten you?
It’s been a very busy last week and a half for Team ADL. Luckily, our contributors Christopher and Steane have both done their part by pitching in to keep the words rolling forth on these blog pages. Major domos to them.
Triangulating between Gotham, Lime Rock, and Block Island, production has had the crew running in sixth gear @ 6000 RPM. It’s been dense.
Here are a few tasty details…
- SoCal transplant Alexandra Harbushka voyaged with the crew out to Block Island (a six mile wide block of hills and beaches 12 miles off Rhode Island’s shoreline) to lend her consumer’s viewpoint in determining which convertible – the 128i or 328i was the better buy. Mercifully, no moped riders were hurt in the course of taping.
- We wanted to capture a performance comparison test between Richard’s E39 M5 (see M5/M6/550i video) and Hardy’s current gen. 550i. The two sedans’ specs are so close – we figured we’d answer the question that nobody seems to have yet asked but some have surely wondered – would a standard 5-Series now have the capability to beat a previous gen. M car? So, we scheduled time at Lime Rock Park to make that happen. Third lap into the warm up and the M5 lost its brakes. Coming to find out, in a recent service RD’s trusted mechanic forgot to change the fluid. By lap three the liquid in the reservoir simply boiled.
- We then pitted the talented Mr. Drackett and his enflamed 550i against Cadillac’s supercharged, 4.4 Liter, 443 horsepower V8 XLR-V. My uncle, former NHRA record holder Joe Ficca, took the reins of the big Caddy. Several hot laps, plenty of tyre squeal, and some sideways action later – both drivers’ lap times returned just a consistent two second difference. You’ll have to watch the video, to see which car won…
Quick shout outs to the folks at A&M Specialists, BMW NA, GM, Fred Mackerodt, Lime Rock, and the Block Island Chamber of Commerce – without you parking on the island would not have been possible.
10 Days + 2 BMW Droptops = TBD
By Gunnar Heinrich
THE CLOCK started last Friday morning when the thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent folks from Automotive & Media Specialists (they really were great guys) delivered unto me in quantity one (each): a fire-engine red over black BMW 328i convertible and an electro-psychedelic blue over gray 128i convertible.
Eager to ascertain which auto proved the more efficacious in stimulating the brain’s fun receptors, yours put both cars through a rigorous series of scientific tests to examine how well both drop tops withstand the twin forces of sun and southern New England shoreline.
I’m somewhat flummoxed to report that initial results proved inconclusive and that further testing is required.
So, as the week rolls on, I will update on my various findings. And since it would be imprudent not to share in the sounds and sights of these various … examinations, the ADL production team is set to tape the testing.
Ahem ~
BMW M6 or Mercedes-Benz 560SEC?
By Gunnar Heinrich
BUYING British car mags is painful on the wallet.
What costs the British reader a few quid costs those of us who suffer the low Greenback in excess of ten bucks Stateside.
T’is a shame, really.
More consumers would likely enjoy reading UK sourced commentary on the auto industry were it not for the price and cheap preponderance of dirt cheap US based auto rags.
This is especially true when considering classic automobiles – the British do a better job of covering the classics than their Yank counterparts who pay the past mere lip service.
Earlier this week, ADL scribe Christopher Davis wrote a thoughtful piece extolling the virtues of BMW’s original (E24) M6 (known across the Pond as “M635CSi”). Mr. Davis preferred the M6 to Mercedes’ legendary 560SEC.
W126 fan that I am, I countered in comments that the 560SEC was the better car.
Lucky for us, there’s a third party to sort it out.
UK auto magazine Practical Classics - whose cover features the oh-so-practical Daimler V8 and Wolseley 1300 – set up a competition between three titans of the Eighties: the M635CSi; Jaguar’s XJS, and the 560SEC AMG.
Needless to say, the writers heaped praise on all three coupés.
Of the M6: “In its Recaro embrace, [the M6 will] whisk you to 60mph in just six seconds, climbing to the redline without peaks or valleys- lots of valves and cams spin together in a highly organised campaign for power.”
The XJS: “Aside from the fact you probably banged your head when you got in – GT conformation doesn’t come free – and the view from the rear window is, well, there isn’t one, the Jag is the most comfortable of the lot.”
And the 560SEC AMG: “AMG’s 560SEC doesn’t mess about with things like subtelty – quite the opposite. But it’s beautifully put together…”
Their summation was, however, marked. And favored the big Benz.
“During the Eighties, BMW was in danger of labelling its drivers nouveau riche. The Benz was the perfect solution. When launched, there weren’t yet words to describe its excellence. And 20 years on they still feel fantastic to drive.”
Fantastic, indeed.
[Linked: Practical Classics]
First Reaction: BMW 7-Series
By Gunnar Heinrich
BMW’s recently revealed next generation 7-Series (F02), a technical tour-de-force of the (über popular) Bavarian automaker’s best efforts to cosset and propel vehicle occupants in equal measure, has received a muted reception from the auto press.
Frankly, for many there’s little cause to celebrate an ode to excess in such a dour economic climate – even if the big 7 stands a little leaner thanks to aluminum trimmings and is a little more frugal on the go-juice thanks to extra smart electronic engine management.
But that’s not really the base of why BMW’s flagship is being treated to the deafening silence of media apathy. It’s the lack of shock factor.
Munich played it safe.
Chris Bangle teamed with and tempered by protégé Adrian Van Hooydonk has brought back a little self restraint and conservatism to Bavarian design sprache.
Shock! There are even tributes to be the marque’s past in the “concave and convex” curves of the sedan’s slightly less flamed broiled body .
E32 generation fans (of which I include myself as a kindred spirit) can find plenty of tips of the Tyrolean hat to the hallmarks of the roundel’s late 80s/early 90s style in the sedan’s taller, more angular profile, signature inverse hockey-puck taillights, and the reintroduced driver-oriented front cabin.
Gone is the column shifter and returned is the gear shifter that is – as God intended – back on the center console separating both front seats.
BMW’s design team have dialed back largesse and dialed in intimacy; a fundamental and sorely missed aspect in the current generation 7’s layout.
Trouble is, for all the keen effort in reconciling the Bangle But trunk, the vehicle’s front shows a sallow void of imagination. If the low snouted predecessor 7s like the E32 or E38 generations appeared like voracious Tiger sharks ready to hone in on pray, this new 7 transmits the creepy Megamouth.
But these grappling notes represent the first take of many to follow. What can be summed up in these early days is that the new 7 is set to eclipse its predecessor visually by being conservative. A feat both easily accomplished and entirely welcomed.
[Linked: TMR]
Retrospective: BMW E24 M6
By Christopher P. Davis
AT first glance BMW’s original M6 looks horribly angular.
The 2+2 coupé looks stiff – stolid, even. But look at it once more. If you think back to those decadent go-go days (or remember watching Wall Street) slowly the car for all its stodgy portent starts to make a lot of sense.
You can’t help but be drawn to it.
Paul Bracq, the same man who designed the Mercedes-Benz 600 (after changing employers MB-BMW), penned the “younger” Bavarian coupe. The styling, I now realize is a masterpiece of utilitarian simplicity.
It best represents the traditional German ethos of form following function.
Although the M6 is not as a beautiful as Mercedes’ S-Class coupé (W126 SEC) that Stuttgart produced at the same time, it does represent a more youthful demographic. BMW slotted the M6 (or M635CSi) for a man in his 40s, the SEC was for the a gentleman well past his 50s.
Pop culture fact: Cliff Barnes of Dallas drove a non-M version of the 6 for many episodes.
No matter how much I like the 560SEC, I have to concede that the M6 is the better car. In this coupé, BMW engineered one of the first edgy performance grand touring cars that set a high standard of driving enjoyment, performance, and comfort that remains admirable two decades on.
M POWER
With M Power under the hood, the more youthful Bimmer wrought beastlike power. The US catalyst version of the 3.5 liter inline six produced 256 bhp and 243 lb feet of torque (Euro versions: 282 hp and 246 lb-ft)- stats similar to a late model Mercedes-Benz E350 (albeit SAE horsepower standards were different in the 80s).
Coupled with a 5-Speed manual transmission a good specimen will still rocket from 0-60 in 6.8 seconds – certainly not a laggard, even by standards set by today’s sub-five second sprinters.
Only 5,855 M6s were produced from 1983 to 1989 and only 1,767 of these were delivered to the North American Market.
A TALE OF RESTRAINT
I first became aware of this model a short time ago, during a perusal of one of my favorite classic car dealer websites. The example they were offering for sale amazingly had only 1,640 miles on the clock.
Its description was an terrific story of restraint. A father had wanted to commemorate his son’s completion of medical school. So he purchased a 1988 M6 finished in Cinnabar Red and White Lotus Leather for the young grad. In the 20 years the newly minted doctor owned it, he put an average of less than 100 miles per year on it.
When I read this story I was immediately enchanted with the car and had instant admiration for the doctor. To be able to drive such a truly awesome car, so little, is an amazing feat in self restraint.
Then again, the BMW E24 M6 for all it stylistic restraint in era that never knew the meaning of the word, is at its base one amazing car.
[Linked: BMW CCA E24 M6 Board]
Happy Fourth of July
By Gunnar Heinrich
KICK some tyres. Light some fires. Happy Independence Day, America.
On this day of remembrance and celebration, it’s a good time to celebrate the independence of our mobility. Freed from buses, planes, trains, horse and buggy, and pachyderms, the automobile has given us liberty to roam where we choose, when choose, and how we choose.
May we never take it for granted. And may events never take it from us.
Happy Fourth.
[Linked: GM Centennial Celebrated]
To Advance, The General Falls Back
By: Christopher P. Davis
I’M going to throw it out there: GM Makes Good Cars – really.
Sure, most of them are not deluxe, but they perform the basic job of a car – the movement to and from points A and B – with admirable dispatch.
I’ve recently experienced a broad sampling of GM’s brands, and while none could waft quite as professionally as the LS460 that whisked me and three others to golf last week, they did perform commendably well and far better than anything Detroit ever made in the 90s.
I’ve rode in a number of Cadillac Escalades, and while I wasn’t obligated to feel the pain of shelling out at Shell, I can say that they ride smoothly, their cargo capacities are voluminous, and they’ll tow your powerboat or horse trailer with aplomb.
Even the entry-level Chevy Trailblazer has its merits.
Its styling is that of a traditional SUV – if you want to move something, you put in a box. The Trailblazer I took for a spin had an impressive Bose Sound System, and rather quick to start heated seats. Its Vortec engine cruises around 65 at a steady 1700rpm – good for the powerplant’s longevity.
With this knowledge in hand, it’s hard to believe that GM’s Common Stock has fallen to levels unseen since the days when we liked Ike.
Sure, they bled billions last quarter. And, yeah, the unions’ demands have a lot to do with the fiscal pressure GM’s under.
Add fuel prices, globalization, and the fact that Ike wouldn’t recognize the American way if he were planted in Moraine, Ohio and what you find is a company that’s struggling to live despite delivering on quality.
General Motors Corporation for too long ran successfully, if unilaterally, on the premise that when Joe America worked his way up the corporate ladder he would simultaneously work his way up through GM’s brands. You’d start out with a Chevrolet and work you hardest for the boss’ Cadillac.
GM thrived in the white picket-fence Leave it to Beaver era.
Sadly, that was then when GM owned the American market. Today, it short term leases an American time-share.
Recognition has hit the General and as such Detroit has made some steps towards the 21st century; including axing Oldsmobile, and starting the (slow) shift towards fuel efficiency. But, their biggest step yet to be taken is to convince a Shell-shocked public that GM is moving on from the glutinous 90s.
Cars like the Chevy Volt, Escalade & Tahoe Hybrids, and some of their upcoming compacts are changing the General’s look for the Greener.
They need to and will (Because no matter what any nihilistic pundit says, GM isn’t going anywhere) keep up this progressive track in the coming years. Once the image of everybody and there brother driving a Suburban – and getting a couple gallons to the mile leaves GM, the crucial 18-35 market will be interested.
But until then Tokyo will advance, and Detroit will retreat.
In this week’s Barron’s Randall W. Forsyth wrote, “Barron’s continues to think that the General, armed with an array of competitive, high-quality offerings and reduced labor costs, will come back.”
So I guess I’m not the only one. The resurgence of GM will take time. But come it will. And why not? GM makes good cars.
[Linked: ADL Archive | Barron's]
Vintage Benz Photo Montage For The Enjoyment of Online Teutonophiles
By Gunnar Heinrich
I could go on writing posts about late 80s Benzes. So, I will.
What registers most about the amount of good content featuring old German cars is that there’s a severe lack of good content featuring old German cars.
For the Teutonic aficionado, the online absence of professional photos, thoughtful commentary, and accurate data on the late model cars that many of us love is sad, to be sure.
So, ADL is doing its part to fix that.
And considering the number of ADL posts written last week that featured some of Stuttgart’s finest, yours thought it best to consolidate the various scanned images from my own 1986 Mercedes-Benz North America brochure and to create one, centralized post to encapsulate the whole lot.
Click to enlarge. And enjoy.
You know I do.
On The Way To A Round Of Eighteen In A Lexus LS460
By Christopher P. Davis
THE fine workers of Tahara-Aichi have done it yet again – they’ve produced a full size luxury sedan that gives its Teutonic colleagues a run for their money (In fact a run for less money – MSRP starts around $60,000).
As I embarked upon my usual Wednesday golf game this week, one my friends had just taken delivery of his new Lexus LS460. He offered to pick me up, and with gas prices the way they are; I jumped at the chance (It also gave me the basis with which to write this article).
He had already picked someone else up, so I was relegated to the rear bench seat. With three sets of full size golf clubs, what would seem like an exorbitant amount of shoes, and a surprising amount of junk (my friend hangs onto things) there was still a great deal of room in the trunk.
So, I climbed into the cavernous back seat (Although this was not the extended wheelbase “L” version it was still quite big) and buckled up. I had oodles of legroom. Even with a 6-foot tall comrade in front of me.
Size wise, the car felt somewhere between a Mercedes E-Class and S-Class, though technically it’s grosser like the latter. At 116.9 inches, the short wheelbase model is within an inch of an Audi A8 SWB in length.
The leather was soft and supple. The seats were some of the most comfortable I’ve sat in. Even for rear seats, they seemed to embrace you.
Two courtesy mirrors are installed on the headliner in the rear – a nice feature, fun to play with and occasionally useful. A large, leather and wood armrest folds down from between the rear seats. Two cup holders pop out from the front. When it is opened, a storage compartment is revealed, and also two knobs, and a button.
The two knobs control the heating level of the rear-heated seats. The button in the center raises and lowers the rear sunscreen. For warmer days, like this past Wednesday, the LS460 has four rear air conditioning vents (two in the center console and one on each of the B-pillars), to keep you cool.
For those sitting upfront, Lexus’ best is equipped with heated and cooled front seats – something that is quite nice after hitting the links.
Asia is a center for technology and the LS460 succeeds at fitting in. The user interface is intuitive and useful (Read: No iDrive here). Although I didn’t play with it, I was impressed with the ease that my tech-challenged friend, changed the radio station (LS 460 has AM/FM & XM), punched things in the Navigation system, and used the integrated Bluetooth speakerphone all while driving.
Everything was broadcast throughout the passenger cabin with a superb Mark Levinson 19-Speaker sound system – Bloomberg never sounded so good!
I have to say that the Bluetooth speaker system is the best I have ever been party to. People on both ends have no issues hearing one another. In the car you don’t have to shout to be heard on the other end either. And the Air Conditioning – even with a high fan speed had little, if any affect on the call quality.
The Lexus LS460 is one of those automobiles that lies about its rate of progress. Sixty feels like nothing, 100 feels like 50. Three hundred eighty horses under the reins of an eight-speed auto never felt so tame. From the backseat, at least.
It’s a quiet car on so many levels.
Aside from the vocally absent V8, the sedan is a sleeper. It’s elegant, it’s luxurious, and it’s so understated. There’s nothing flashy about he car, the rear is subtle, the sides are subtle, and the grill is subtle.
It’s a luxury car for the 21st century.
No longer is it “Politically Correct” or “Social Responsible” to have overt flash, and unless you’re a rapper – Bling is out. What’s in, is quiet luxury, subtle wealth, and by proxy the Lexus LS460.
[Linked: ThePassionatePursuit]
