Reviews

Feb 4 2012

2012 BMW ActiveHybrid 5

2012 BMW ActiveHybrid 5
This ActiveHybrid 5 is essentially a 535i sedan that pollutes less, travels farther on each of its 17.7 gallons of fuel, is painted BMW’s alternative-propulsion color of choice, Bluewater Metallic, and weighs 330 pounds more due to its electric motor, electric power unit motherboard and lithium-ion battery pack. Both CO2 emissions and range are said to improve by roughly 16 percent in a car that performs up to par with a 535i, so it’s a likeable proposition. Sticking with the standard 17-inch wheel/tire setup and setting the Driving Dynamics Control to Eco Pro mode, that’d make the CO2 rate 240 grams per mile – an impressive stat that most Americans still don’t care about – and an average EPA city/hwy combined fuel economy score of around 31 miles per gallon.

With a base price of $61,845, the ActiveHybrid 5 will cost 17.8 percent more than the $52,500 535i when it arrives at U.S. dealers in late March. For comparison’s sake, the ActiveHybrid 750i costs 15.1 percent more than the 750i and the recently discontinued ActiveHybrid X6 ran a whopping 26.8 percent more than the X6 xDrive50i.

Source: AutoBlog

Jan 19 2012

2013 Volkswagen CC

2013 Volkswagen CC

For the 2013 model year, the CC is receiving a mid-life updo in the form of several small but important touches. The unfortunate news is that many of the premium upgrades happening in this freshened CC for the European market will not come out to play in North America. But enough of them will, making a First Drive the proper thing to do. Besides, it’s the least we could do when VW has finally changed the name of the car worldwide from the European “Passat CC” to the simpler “CC” moniker favored Stateside.

Whereas the 2.0-liter inline TSI four-cylinder in Europe yields up to 208 horsepower (SAE rated), the United States version in the CC still rates 200 hp. As to the desirable 3.6-liter V6 engine, Europeans get 295 hp, while the U.S. remains 280 hp strong. The new exterior paint seen here, Black Oak Brown Metallic, is really a handsome shade, but sadly it won’t be crossing the ocean either. Likewise, these very slick optional 18×8-inch Lakeville alloys on our VR6 4Motion will stay in Europe, the U.S. car holding onto the standard Interlagos design. And no 19×8-inch optional Lugano alloys available either. Poop.

While this is beginning to sound like VW’s Grinch stole Christmas, all of the major aesthetic changes in the exterior and interior look will indeed come over on the boat from the Emden factory in northern Germany. These include an all-new front fascia, more pronounced skirts between axles, all-new bi-xenon headlights and LED taillights, a hood sans power bulge, and greater chrome accents outside and inside. Still, ’tis a shame we don’t get the added beef in the engines, several Phaeton-like optional safety technologies, very upmarket optional adjustable front seats with heat and massage functions, or the wider range of exterior and interior color schemes.

Two range changes specific to the North America CC are the temporary substitution of a Sport Plus trim for the current R-Line trim and the creation of a front-wheel-drive Lux model available with the 3.6-liter V6. The racier R-Line look will make more of a splash this time around as a special edition later on. The explanation for the availability of the VR6 engine in a standard chassis with spinning front tires is that there is a temporary capacity challenge for VR6 4Motion production due to higher-than-expected demand worldwide. This new model offering should do a nice job of filling the wide price gap between the top 2.0T Lux Limited trim and 3.6 4Motion Executive trim.

For now, the freshened CC is the only Volkswagen model with the vertical chrome slats in the grille, but this will change as other models in the lineup reach their refreshening dates. The new satin-finish chromed plastic accents on the inside lend the CC a certain elegance, though the plastic is fairly common to the touch.

Source: AutoBlog

Jan 6 2012

2012 Chevrolet Sonic LTZ review

2012 Chevrolet Sonic LTZ review
Hundreds of thousands of Aveos have been dumped here over the years, often into rental car fleets where they would have even greater opportunity to reflect poorly on GM. The company sold some 48,000 Aveos in 2010, over 28,000 in 2011, and stragglers on dealer lots continue to find new homes even as you read this. So it’s no wonder the “new” GM doesn’t want us talking about the Sonic as its replacement. But that it is. And thankfully, it’s a good one. We’d even be willing to call it great if GM would work on a few of the details.

That’s not entirely a criticism, as in this class of cars some style is needed, if for no other reason than to distract you from some of the corners that get cut in the interest of affordability. Indeed, the Sonic has a few interior shortcomings, most notably the coarse headliner, which seems less like a finished product than the substrate for one. While the dash is a broad expanse of grey plastics, just as you’d expect, that didn’t bother us at all. The “leatherette” seating did, as it’s got a rubbery taxicab texture that should either be upgraded to real hide, or just be banished altogether. The cloth seats we’ve enjoyed in other Chevys are much preferred.

Speaking of which, under the hood of our Sonic was the same 1.8-liter, four-cylinder that serves as the budget engine option in the Cruze, making the same 138 horsepower and 125 lb-ft of torque as in its bigger brother. The 1.8-liter Ecotec provides ample motivation, but we’d be lying if we didn’t say we were disappointed our Sonic was not equipped with the available 1.4-liter turbo, also shared with the Cruze. Doubling down on that disappointment was the transmission, as our Sonic was saddled with a six-speed automatic. Sonics with the 1.8-liter can be had with a five-speed manual transmission, while the tranny in the 1.4-liter has an extra gear. The automatic will probably serve the interests of the commuter crowd well enough, but we found it annoying – and not just because we would have preferred to do the shifting ourselves. The automatic transmission in our Sonic shifted rather slowly and wasn’t particularly smooth either. Even the Sonic auto-box’s manual shift mode is GM’s standard button-on-the-shifter design that requires moving the shifter to the manual detent before using the shift buttons, and the whole thing is too much of a pain to bother with.

We would be more willing to issue a pass on the automatic transmission if we felt like it were set up for maximum fuel economy, but here is where insult piled atop injury. We only saw 29 miles per gallon overall during our week in the Sonic, in which we traveled some 600 miles, the majority on the highway. Yet this wasn’t unusually low, as it’s right in line with the EPA combined estimate of 28. It’s the 1.4-liter Sonic manual that posts the impressive fuel economy numbers, hitting 40 mpg on the highway and still returning 29 in town. Our 1.8-liter Sonic’s official numbers are just 25 city and 35 highway, which just doesn’t seem good enough when the plain-Jane Ford Fiesta automatic is rated at 29/39 and the three-year-old Honda Fit even gets an EPA combined rating of 31.

Source: AutoBlog

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