Flogged A Fusion

I had the chance to drive a Ford Fusion today. Ford invited me (as a potential customer, not as a blogger) to come to the Detroit edition of the Ford Racing Technology Tour, which is a Nascar themed marketing event, intended to show off the new Ford products to the Nascar crowd.

The Detroit edition was held in the ample parking lot of the Pontiac Silverdome, former home of the Detroit Lions, now home to monster truck races.

Ford set up several short autocross style tracks where one could test drive a Fusion, Mustang, F-150, 500, or Freestyle. The 2006 Explorer ("Audi-face") had a course which featured several large piles of dirt, which had been trucked to the parking lot to form obstacles, on which one could test out the vehicle's off-road capabilities.

I skipped the lower-rank Nascar driver autographs that were available, such as Jon Wood (Clorox/Wisk #47), and the pack-the-Freestyle-with-stuff challenge, and went straight to the Fusion autocross. After getting my ID tag punched (only one ride per vehicle per customer), I strapped into the seat of a red V6 Fusion, with a cute blonde in the passenger seat, wearing a black and red Champ Car uniform. The Mustang, Fusion, and Explorer rides had a Champ Car person in the passenger seat, for safety, The F-150, 500, and Freestyle were solo rides.

My co-pilot told me she was a driver, so I asked to to watch me drive and give me pointers when we were done. After easing around the first turn, I went WOT and tore around the track as fast as I could, squealing tires most of the way. I don't think I ever broke 35MPH, because of the windy design of the course, but I didn't look at the speedometer, so I'm not sure.

I tried to do a good job of it, using some trail braking, tipping back in at apex, and keeping as tight a line as I could. After about 1 minute of fun, I ran out of track. Champ Car girl wasn't impressed--"You really want to use a 9:00 and 3:00 hold on the steering wheel", she said, bored. "You will have much better control if you need to make a correction". She was right.

The Fusion was not a bad ride. It was quiet. It had nicely weighted steering, good linear brake feel, and fairly crisp dynamics. There was some body roll, but not an excessive amount. I have driven the Mazda6, which is the platform-mate of the Fusion, and the Fusion is not as tight. When I hit hard corners, handling seemed very neutral, and I never really went into over-steer or under-steer, though I was usually making the tires shriek.

I was not overly impressed by the power. There didn't seem to be a lot of torque, at the lower speeds of the autocross, so I never felt like I was getting a lot of acceleration. Maybe the transmission was shifting up into too high a gear for the activity. The tires were howling, but I didn't feel that I was driving that fast.

These are just quick impressions, though, based on about 1 minute of hard driving at low speeds with tight turns. Overall, my impression of the Fusion was that it was solid, comfortable, and fun, but not as fun as a Mazda6.

The 500 was actually fairly entertaining to race around the autocross track. It has more body roll than the Fusion, which is emphasized by its tall stance. I drove an AWD/CVT version, which allowed me to spool the engine up to near redline very quickly. Taking the corners at speed was fun: when the tires started to shriek, the car actually seemed to want to oversteer, and I could feel the car moving sideways a little bit, as the AWD probably kicked in.

The Mustang was very nice, but the track was much too short. After the starting straightaway, where you could get a nice chirp on the 1-2 shift, there really wasn't room to go fast, just lots of tight turns. The Mustang was much more tightly glued down than the Fusion, of course.

The Explorer ride was nothing special, just a slow crawl up a few piles of dirt. Not my bag.

There were a number of interesting cars on display. Several Nascar cars, including a cut-away model showing the inner structure of the car. The star of the Nascar area was the Fusion car, which of course is exactly the same shape as the Taurus, but has different graphics. There was also a Focus rally car. A number of modified Mustangs were on display, Roush and other tuners. There was a Ford GT, which was unlocked, and visitors were welcome to sit in the car and fondle the interior. Which I did.

I should have some digital photos to post from the event soon, taken by one of the employees at the event.

Smart Cars Mistaken For Food

An amusing story from the U.K.: visitors to a safari park driving Smart cars have been stalked by the lions. From The Scotsman:

Hair-raising accounts have emerged of the tiny two-seater vehicle, designed for nipping into tight parking spaces on congested city streets, becoming the automotive prey of choice for lions at the Knowsley Safari Park in Merseyside.

While larger, more substantial vehicles visiting the park barely raise an eyebrow among the safari's pride of lions, those touring in Smart cars are routinely chased by aggressive lionesses.

Animal experts point out that the vehicle is of a similar size to the lions' principal prey - antelope, gazelle and wildebeest.

Last year, one couple visiting the park in their Smart vehicle attracted unwanted attention; when lions approached their car, the driver sped up, then watched with mounting horror as three or four lions began pelting after him.
...

Yesterday, Mr Ross said: "The lions are used to seeing saloons and family cars, but they had never seen a Smart before.

"They are also likely to want to play with it. The Smart car is obviously much smaller than other cars and so the lions take more of an interest in it."

I wonder if they try to mate with Jaguars?

Maybe Americans are onto something, driving larger vehicles.

Culture Shock For Gisela Zetsche

Dieter Zetche's wife, Gisela, is in legal trouble in Bloomfield Township, MI. She hosted some parties where teenagers were served beer, like in Germany. The police found out, and she has a court date on September 13th, charged with a misdemeanor for hosting an open house party, punishable by a $500 fine or 90 days in jail. The punishment is a relative slap on the wrist, and she may even get out of it with some kind of community service agreement. Maybe a public service announcement.

The description of the bust reads rather comically (to me). I imagine drunk suburban rich kids diving for the bushes while the cops are pounding on the front door.

At the latest party in June, attended by 100 youths, Gisela Zetsche was present but her husband was not, witnesses said. Police responding to a complaint charged her with allowing minors to drink alcohol.

...

At 11:56 p.m., a neighbor called the township police to complain about the noise and that minors were drinking and tossing things at passing cars. Two officers arrived at 12:37 a.m., later saying they could smell the alcohol from the roadway 50 yards away.

"The cops are coming," a youth yelled when the two officers walked into the back yard. Most of the teens ran into the house, up the stairs and out the front door. They left behind a dozen cars, including a 2005 Saab, 2004 BMW and 2005 Volkswagen Jetta.

The officers stopped 30 kids and found 10 others hiding in closets throughout the 5,100-square-foot home. Two others were caught trying to drive away.
...

The police administered Breathalyzer tests to the 42 youths, and half were found to be drinking. The 14 boys and seven girls were charged with minor in possession of alcohol, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $500 fine and 90 days in jail.

Detroit News article here.

Zeta Coming (Again)

According to the Detroit Free Press, GM is planning large rear wheel drive cars for Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Buick, likely including the long awaited return of the Camaro, code named Zeta. (Sounds familiar, no?)

The first of these big new cars will go on sale in mid-2006 as the Holden VE Commodore sedan in Australia.

...

A concept vehicle showing what one of the U.S. production cars -- perhaps with a Camaro nameplate -- will look like could be shown as early as 2006, according to a source familiar with the program. The cars should go on sale in the United States in 2008 or 2009. It's not clear which of GM's U.S. brands will get a Zeta model first.

This is good news, but I do have one comment. If the US cars are slated for 2008 or 2009MY production, in this business, it means that the vehicles are only in their early planning and prototype stages now. Which means that GM only recently decided what it was going to do.

What took so long? Why all the flip-flopping?

New MPH Magasine Web Site

The car magazine MPH (web edition edited by ex Autoblog writer David Thomas, and new employer of C&D's Daniel Pund) has re-launched its web site, and apparently is trying to become a more serious source for auto news and opinion.

It would help if they would lay off the T&A displays, for those of us who may be surfing from work now and then. Nothing like having your boss walk by your desk and see a barely dressed girl flashing on your monitor.

MPH will be hosting a blog, in addition to the more traditional car mag features, such as car reviews and spy shots.

Detroit Free Press Pans Hybrid Toyota Highlander

The Detroit Free Press' Mark Phelan has rated the Toyota Highlander Hybrid "not good enough".

"Oh yeah. They're all like that."

That's how a Toyota spokesman responded when I pointed out loose, poorly fitted pieces in the company's high-profile, high-tech and high-priced Highlander gas-electric hybrid SUV.

In addition to poor fitting interior trim, which is usually unheard of for Toyota, Phelan criticizes the cheap fabric seat covering, which is not appropriate for a vehicle with a $37,000 price. He was also unimpressed with his fuel economy, of only 20.6MPG, compared to the EPA rating of 27/31. The electric power steering felt numb.

All in all, while the Highlander hybrid does offer good performance and some fuel savings, those benefits are not great enough to outpace competitive SUVs like the TrailBlazer, Nissan Pathfinder and the Ford Escape hybrid or overcome the fit and finish defects in the one I tested.

You can read the whole review here.

The Ugliest Mustang Ever

Ford has built a limited run of New York Yankees edition Mustangs. They are white with blue pinstripes and giant Yankees logos.

They look awful. I hate the pinstripes, which are vertical on the sides of the car and completely clash with the lines of the body.

See a low-res TV commercial here, courtesy of MuscularMustangs.com.

Update: MyFordDreams has a much better picture.

Solstice Spotting

I went out for a walk in my neighborhood, and I spy a brand new Pontiac Solstice nestled in next to the neighbor's Chevy Malibu. It was most likely a GM exec car, as it did not have a manufacturer plate (??M ???) or a dealer plate.









The car is gorgeous.

Will it save GM? No, not on its own. But if GM keeps building cars with this much sex appeal, GM will save itself.

Sherlock Strikes Back [Blogging]

One of the posters at the leftie blog Daily Kos hotlinked to an image created and posted by Joe Scherlock. Since Kos has a large number of readers, Kos was in effect stealing bandwidth from Joe.

Joe retaliated, in hilarious fashion. Check it out here.

Ford: Toyota Undermining Hybrid Production

In today's Detroit News, a report that Ford is claiming that suppliers which are part owned by Toyota are unable to sufficiently increase production of hybrid parts, such as the Aisin planetary transmission in the Escape HEV.

Ford suspects it may be getting squeezed out by its Japanese rivals. With the fall launch of the gas-electric Mercury Mariner, Ford is tripling its hybrid SUV lineup over three years. But its transmission supplier, Aisin Seiki Co. Ltd., can boost deliveries by only 20 percent, to 24,000 transmissions annually.

"Aisin, which is minority-controlled by Toyota, has interesting shareholders they have to answer to," said Mary Ann Wright, director of Ford's hybrid programs research and advanced engineering.

I am surprised by the blatant hammering of Aisin in the public press. These are heavy handed tactics. What does Ford expect--that a Toyota supplier, which is probably much better treated by Toyota than by Ford, would choose to give more business to Ford over Toyota? If Aisin has limited capacity, wouldn't they give the business to their best customer?

This may be a ploy by Ford to deflect criticism from the Greenies that it is not producing enough hybrids.

Also, given that the profit margins on hybrids tend to be negative, does Ford really want to dramatically increase production?

Torres baby born, Susan Torres RIP [Culture]

Yesterday, Susan Anne Catherine Torres was born via cesarian section, 2 months premature. Today, Susan Torres, the brain-dead mom who was serving as an incubator, was disconnected from life support and died.



Welcome, baby Torres, and RIP Susan. I am sure that Susan Torres' soul is elated at her accomplishment. Her brain may have been dead, but her body fought to the end, sustained her babies life, and somehow remained alive, despite being attacked by cancer.

The Torres family has racked up huge medical bills to achieve this. If you can help, please visit http://www.susantorresfund.org

Italian Traffic Movie [Humor]

Heh. Some of the funniest scenes are the "un-PC" ones, like the handicapped parking, or the dog that get squashed because the driver didn't swerve.

http://windward.nodalpoint.net/doc/media/liikenne.swf

(HT: Autoblog)

Ford Ditches Mathers

Ford was, according to a Detroit News item, approached by representatives of rapper Eminem (Marshal Mathers), asking for a hot new vehicle for a rap video. At first, Ford was going to give them pre-production Fusions, but then they figured out that Mather's rap is not exactly family oriented music.

Ford: Eminem lyrics too shady

The Detroit News

Ford Motor Co. marketers were thrilled two months ago after being approached by representatives of Detroit superstar Eminem. For his next music video, the rapper wanted a hot vehicle not yet on the market, Ford says. The automaker offered its upcoming Ford Fusion midsize sedan and Eminem's people agreed. Boom! Instant street cred for a key new vehicle. But Ford marketers cringed when they saw the title of Eminem's new single: "Ass Like That." And when they read the lyrics -- essentially middle school locker humor that rhymes -- the fledgling alliance with Slim Shady crumbled. "It wasn't any problem with Eminem," said Ford spokesman Jon Harmon. "It was just that the song was over the top. It just wasn't Ford." An Emimen spokesman said he wasn't aware of any dealings with Ford.

Good move on Ford's part--the kids who value "street cred" don't have money to buy new cars. The Fusion is not supposed to be a Scion--it is supposed to be Ford's bread-and-butter family sedan. Leave songs like "Ass Like That" to Chrysler's marketing group, which revels in a lack of taste. (Remember "Concorde", or "Size Does Matter"?)

Australian Beer Ad [Humor]

Biggest. Beer. Ad. Ever.

Here.

(HT: Trollhattan Saab)

Ford Sells Ranger EV's

Unlike GM, which responded to environmentalist protestors with a single digit salute, (some were even arrested) when they demanded the right to buy off-lease EV-1's, Ford has decided to allow people to purchase the remaining 200 Ranger EV's. LA Times article here.

It is a minor, and mostly symbolic gesture, in an attempt to curry favor with the Greenies. It is good public relations, on Ford's part, and it won't cost Ford much money, but I doubt it will generate any lasting goodwill from the likes of the Rainforest Action Network or the Blue Water Network.

The RAN publicly accuses Ford of intentionally "underproducing" hybrids, to slow down the development of the hybrid market. The BWN is currently lambasting Volvo for selling SUV's. It would rather have Volvo go out of business, than do they best they can.

That's the real goal.

UAW's Viagra Benefit

I heard an amazing thing today, driving in to work. WJR's (AM760) Paul W. Smith was interviewing The Car Connection's Paul Eisenstein. According to Eisenstein, who has it from a reliable source, GM spends about $15,000,000 a year providing Viagra to its active and retired healthcare beneficiaries.

[Insert your own bad puns here]

When the ship is in danger of sinking, I think it is wise to give up on medical treatments which are in the cosmetic or "quality of life" category. Let the retirees pay for their own Viagra.

Baby Mirror Safety

We have friends who have a baby, and along with the rear facing car seat, mounted in the rear seat of the car, they use one of those little mirrors so they can watch the baby without having to crawl back into the back seat.



Recently, the mom went to a free carseat clinic put on by the local police department. After checking the car seat installation, the officer told her that baby mirrors are a safety hazard. In a crash, the mirror could detach and become projectile, hitting the baby or the other passengers of the car. Instead, he told her, "If you want to check the baby, have someone ride in back, or just pull over. If you are looking at the baby mirror, you aren't looking at the road".

This is an excellent point, and one that I did not think of before.

If you do want a baby mirror, I would consider a hard-mount, maybe by screwing the base onto the rear pillar, or bolting it down through the rear deck.

The Jaguar Daimler

Jaguar owns the rights to the Daimler name. According to the Detroit News, Jaguar is going to build a car in the $100,000 range, placed above its current high end car, the XJR. They may call it the Daimler.

I have two questions.

First, why does Jaguar think they will make money in this market, when VW (Phaeton), Mercedes (Maybach), and BMW (Rolls Royce) are struggling? Will they be able to add enough value and cachet to their current platform, to make it desirable, while at the same time keeping things common enough that costs will be low?

Second, does Jaguar think that U.S. consumers, even high-end ones, will keep the Jaguar Daimler brand separate from the DaimlerChrysler corporate name? Shouldn't Jaguar be worrying about fixing the Jaguar name, first and foremost? They are bleeding money.

Do You Use Engine Braking?

Autoguy has finally joined civilization, and taken up the art of manual gear selection.

Ben Kraal argues that "gears are for going, brakes are for stopping", and advises against engine braking.

A question for my fellow gear rowers:

Do you use engine braking to help you slow down, by keeping the car in gear and just stepping on the brake, waiting to clutch-in until the RPMs drop to near the stall point?

Or do you always clutch-in at the start of braking, and use only the brakes to stop?

Or, do you drive like a "race car driver", and downshift before braking, to maximize engine braking? And, I believe, maximize clutch wear!

In my experience, there is less braking effort required if you use technique #1 above, and I suspect less brake wear. If you rely only on "foot" braking when driving downhill, you will boil your fluid, and have little braking power at all.

Some people claim that keeping the engine in gear will put additional stress on the drivetrain. I don't see how this is so, but then again, I'm an electrical engineer.

Carnival of Cars #3

AutoMuse has done the honors, this time, and posted Carnival of Cars 7-11 (#3).