RealityDriven

Review: 2007 Saturn SKY Red Line

by Steve Lovett, Senior Editor

When the SKY was introduced this spring, it marked a turning point for the Saturn brand. It showcased the new design vocabulary that has been infused with the DNA of the Aura, Outlook and soon to be produced Astra. The SKY stood out with its stunning proportions and signature cues such as the boomerang grille bar, angled front lamps, wide stance, and chrome-bisected rear lamps. The vehicle has been a showstopper for the brand, but they didn’t stop there.

Saturn recently announced the Red Line version of this already sporty nimble roadster. There are quite a few upgrades in this package. Let’s start with the engine. Replacing the relatively tame 2.4L 177hp VVT inline-4 is a new, turbocharged unit. The new ECOTEC Turbo VVT powerplant displaces a smaller 2.0L but produces 260hp and 260ft-lb of torque across a wide power band. This new engine is GM’s first gasoline engine with Direct Injection technology, which uses a high-pressure fuel rail and unique injectors which result in much more precise fuel metering. Despite the huge increase in power, the Red Line SKY actually delivers better fuel economy than the base model. That’s a true win-win situation.

Other important upgrades include a standard limited slip differential as well as Good Year Eagle F1 high-performance tires to keep that power planted. With this kind of power in a 3,000lb car, the added traction is certainly appreciated. In case an overzealous driver manages to defeat these upgraded systems, the Red Line SKY includes a performance calibrated Stabiltrak stability control system, complete with a selectable competitive algorithim for track days. The suspension is also tweaked for even better handling, but still delivers a compliant ride.

On the exterior, the Red Line can be identified by its Red Line and turbo badges, the dual exhausts, silver accent colored gills and brake cooling outlets in the front fascia. A stylish spoiler is an option, and appears very well integrated.

Saturn makes the SKY available with 9 different paint colors, three interior colors and two colors for the cloth top. The model I’m driving arrived in a fetching combination of midnight blue paint, tan top, and two-tone black and tan interior. This palette is set off by a stunning set of 18” polished aluminum wheels. This combination gives the car an upscale, almost British quality. Exterior fits and finishes were quite good, except for some gathering in the rear buttresses of the cloth top.

Interior design is first rate, except for some notable ergonomic flaws which I’ll address in my driving impressions. The Red line includes unique embroidery in the seats as well as the floor mats. It also includes a leather wrapped wheel and shift knob as well as aluminum sill plates. Making this one stylish interior to look at.

Overall, the car has the appearance of a true winner. The style is absolutely, “stand-out” and it seems to have the hardware now to back it up. Next, we’ll evaluate driving impressions with about 2000 miles behind the wheel of this beauty. Stay tuned.

The 2,200 Mile Test Drive: Ford Fusion SE

     by Chris Olliff, Senior Editor

Ahhh…the open road. There is nothing quite like taking your first trip in a new car. It is sort of like meeting that guy or girl before the first date….you think you know what to expect, but surprises arise the more you spend time with them. And so it is with a new car, as once you get past the smell and the radio channel programming, you can never “become one” with the car until your first trip. When you say “I Do” and sign the papers, its yours now. There are no give backs, take-aways, or retreats of any kind.

This is well and good, but there is one problem here. There are things about every new car that you find out after ownership, as if the short test drive was just a tease….

I had the opportunity to drive a 2006 Ford Fusion on a 2,200 mile trip. Now, those of you that know me well..you can breathe easily now as I did not buy this car. The car was a loaner, as I decided to let my 1986 BMW rest and sit this one out. During this 6 day adventure, I got to know this Fusion SE well and would like to share some observations with you. I will do a more formal review of this car another time…

The vehicle in question was a 2006, Ford Fusion SE with the 2.3 liter 4 cylinder engine. The main options on this car were a 6 in-dash CD changer, and that’s it. It was gold in color, and did not attract ANY looks at all, not even from Ford Taurus or late 1990s Chevy Lumina owners. I won’t say the car is not modern looking and handsome, it just does not stand out al all. That’s right single Gents….you won’t be picking up ladies with this car!

Here are some things that I noticed over time driving this vehicle:

 

1) The back window is very small and the third brake light obscures the view of vehicles behind you. Not a very good speeding car, this one, as you can never make out if the car behind you is a cop or not.

2) The chemicals in the rear shelf seemed to evaporate and cause the back window to develop a film over it. I have borrowed this car before, and have to clean this window to see out.

3) The side view mirrors are set low, so they line up ½ half with the door body and the other ½ with the lower part of the side window. Its as if the car was dropped as a baby and things never came back to normal. This creates a weird feeling in the driver’s seat, as if something was left undone.

4) There is no temperature gauge for the outside, as most vehicles offer today. Yes, there is a tidy computer display that tells fuel range, two trip meters, average speed, and two useless timers. Get rid of a timer and provide a proper outside temperature reading. Also, as is the problem in most US made cars, you have to toggle between the trip meter and the odometer…why not just have both displayed on the same screen?

5) The upper storage door in the dash is hard to close. It has a nice rubberized lining to keep things from making noise, but the lining gets caught up around the latch too easily. They should have cut the lining as to not interfere with the latch. My experience with this was so bad; I thought the storage useless…

What did I like? The car has a very large trunk, and it has a long fuel range. You can drive from Atlanta to Jacksonville on one tank! I also liked the seats, as I had no back or leg pains after 10 hours of driving. And, finally, the stereo sounded great and had good bass.

So, there is my list of observations that came about during my 2,200 mile trip with the Ford Fusion SE. Are these issues enough for me to phone my divorce lawyer?... no…but they never would have been seen as loud and clear on the initial test drive….

I wonder what it would be like if we could all drive our best new car pick 2000 miles before purchasing. Would we still say “I DO”…. ?

- Chris Olliff

Hatchbacks and Stationwagons Deserve More Respect, (And So Do Their Drivers)

 by Atul H. Patel, Editor-in-Chief

“My name is Atul, and I drive a stationwagon.” At least that’s what a lot of people would want me to say in some kind of stationwagon owner’s anonymous support group. This mostly occurs because I don’t have a wife and kids. To them I say, my Saab 9-3 SportCombi wagon (and most wagons) are faster, more efficient, lighter, better-handling, safer, and definitely sportier than many so-called Sport Utility Vehicles.  SUVs may have more power but the power to weight ratio is better with a wagon than most SUVs.  My 9-3 even holds about the same amount of stuff as some small to mid-sized SUVs.

Even though I catch flack for owning and driving a wagon (and a hatchback), it’s hard to argue with the fact that they are more practical than sedans. For instance, I can put my bicycle back there without taking the front wheel off and I can even put two with one of the front wheels removed. I’ve had my 1997 Saab 900 for almost ten years. My hatchback has saved me hundreds of dollars in U-Haul rental expenses when I was starting off. Hand-me-down furniture fit well in the back whereas a sedan would not have been able to hold any of the dressers, chairs, and tables that I brought from Cleveland to Detroit.   I fit a 32” tube TV which I purchased and my car saved the day when my friend bought a similar TV and could not get it home in her car.

On the efficiency front, my 1997 Saab has averaged 26.5 mpg with about 40% city driving and the 2006 has averaged 28 mpg with about 70% highway miles. This real world fuel economy is competitive with hybrid SUV’s like the Ford Escape hybrid and the Toyota Highlander hybrid. I think I deserve a tax credit too.

In terms of safety, a lighter, lower, better handling vehicle is better at avoiding accidents. I would rather avoid and accident and get to my destination without delay than get into one and suffer less damage, possibly hurting others in smaller vehicles. In an SUV, rollovers are more likely and those really snarl traffic, let alone putting vehicle occupants in a dizzying dangerous situation, (especially if seatbelts aren’t being used in the rear seats).

I feel I’m not alone though. The trend towards hatchbacks is catching on. In Europe, hatchbacks have been considered to be more upscale than sedans. Hatchbacks and wagons are becoming more popular in North America too. The Mazda 3, Audi A3, Honda Fit, and MINI are all considered cool and I believe my Saab 9-3 SportCombi looks sharp as well. (Notice how the Saab marketing folks had to disguise the fact that it’s a wagon by calling it something other than a stationwagon.) We are such a sensitive society.

I declare this the dawn of a new era, a time when hatchbacks and wagons are not only practical, but respectable and cool. They’re not just for families with kids anymore.

My How Things Have Changed

    by Chis Olliff, Senior Editor

When I moved to Detroit just 7 years ago, things were different. Besides the fact that no one knew about Bluetooth, IPODs, self-parking vehicles, ect….The auto industry was actually a fun, exciting place to work. I remember as a “welcome to Michigan” event, my good friend Steve brought a fleet vehicle from GM for us to take on an off-road adventure. There were many fun rides in different vehicles from the GM competitive fleet, such as my memorable ride to Frankenmuth in the back of a BMW 740IL traveling up I95 at 100mph. Uh……I mean…..75mph. And, who could forget sloshing around in my first Michigan winter in an Audi TT with summer tires….who could know that a car with ABS could slide all the way through an icy intersection…

Fast forward to 2006…. Gone are the vast and fun multi-brand competitive fleets at GM and Ford in the name of cost savings, and gone are the big team lunches we would all go on. Heck, I hear that you can not even get a Ford fleet vehicle to take home if you work there.

Besides all of the missing perks, the main thing that has changed is passion and excitement. No one seems to be excited to work in the industry anymore. With all the talks about big financial losses, layoffs, and buy-outs, it seems that most folks in this town are more focused on survival than more motivational factors. And this is not limited to the general level. It seems now that, instead of an overall attitude of “making the best products out there”, many engineering and design meetings are now about how to keep costs in line and get the cheapest solution. Granted, fuel and material costs have put a damper on things, but the passion and drive has definitely been lower of late. I guess a big sign of the of the times is the large number of die hard workers who have signed up to take a package and move out of the industry.

I think through all of this, one of the main things I have learned is that you can be passionate about something and not have to work in that industry. No one around here loves cars more than I do, but I have lost my interest in working in the industry. Yes, the ideal situation is to do what you love, but sometimes things change and you must adapt accordingly. Just ask the guy on the assembly line who has poured his life into building cars and now must either go back to school of find a new job in a new state.

Perhaps, in the next five or so years, the industry will pick up and the cycle will start again. There will be others to follow in our steps, and we can only hope that their road has less bumps than ours…

The Great Diesel Engine

 by Chris Olliff, Senior Editor

Since I was a boy, I have been fascinated by the diesel engine. My friends down the street had a 1978 Mercedes Benz 300D (non-turbo). You could hear that car coming for miles, and the 2 to 3 shift on the transmission seemed to take as long as the Iraq war.  Who could forget the great smoke screens they could produce, and the wonderful black out feature….they could soil the rear of a car and cover the license plate to make any get-a-way car proud. I was especially fond of watching the Mercedes in-line 5 shake like a dog when wet upon start up. Ahhh…the fond memories…

Or should I say…..THE HORROR……

Yes, you can take the bag off your head and stand up. We know who you are, you are one of the few, the proud, the ex-GM diesel owners! What do you get when you take a 5.7 liter V8 gas engine and convert it to diesel power….a GM publicity nightmare…  Who could forget that sound, the sound of the engine running. If you closed your eyes, you would have thought that someone put a bunch of loose bits of metal in your engine to run amok. Also, there was excitement over how to jump start a GM diesel, as they had TWO batteries!  But, most of all, the fun of owning a GM diesel was betting your friends how long the thing would go without warping the cylinder head. Yes, this problem was so bad, that some vehicles were converted back to gasoline by GM. You see, diesel engines run on compression and they need thicker metal in the engine to handle the higher pressures. The GM 5.7 converted engine could not handle the pressure…(no pun intended)

Soooo….Where does this leave us? Well, most Americans think a diesel is smelly, slow, loud, and not that reliable thanks to the great GM diesel of the 1980s.  So bad are the memories, that GM and Ford are reluctant to re-introduce the diesel to the market in the US. Add to this the fact that pumping diesel fuel can be as nasty as cleaning up cat poo, it is slimy and smelly and foams up. If you get it on your hands, it is not a pleasant experience.

While we in America ran from the diesel engine as if running from a skunk, Europe embraced the technology and made it better. Today, over 50% of the vehicles in  Europe are Diesels, and they have what Americans love: TORQUE. So, why should we car about all of this?

Recently, the US has adopted lower sulfur Diesel fuel, which has been used in Europe for some time now. This allows for the engines to use higher pressure injection systems and better particulate cleaning devises. These higher injection pressures have enabled the diesel engine to have performance as good as or better than gasoline engines. What this translates into for you and me is that we will be able to buy diesels that are not any noisier than what we drive now, do not smoke at all, have a higher level of durability, and will get 27% to 30% better fuel economy than their gas counterparts.

Ok, so what’s the catch? Great question! Basically, a vehicle with a diesel engine may cost up to $2,000 more for that option. As most of you search for your calculators to figure out the return on your investment, don’t forget that that cost is more than half of the premium you would pay to drive a hybrid. Keep in mind that the hybrids have not been consistent with their fuel economy ratings, but a diesel will be more consistent in all types of driving styles. You will not have to “pilot” your diesel vehicle like you do in a Prius, and you won’t have to hide because your car resembles a stapler.

So there you have it…..a modern diesel may have nasty fuel to pump (which I hear is better in the lower sulfur form), but it has many benefits over any other car out there. Many foreign car companies have plans to bring diesels to the US market in the next few years, and we can only hope that the folks at GM and Ford will come out of their fox holes and take another chance on the diesel car. No more needing to wear bags over our heads or wait until Christmas for our diesels to reach 60mph, the new diesels are awesome! 

Don’t take my word for it, drive one yourself….

The Hidden Force Behind SUV Sales

 by Steve Lovett, Senior Editor

With fuel prices near all-time highs, and average fuel economy somewhat stagnant, much attention is being paid to the need of SUVs. Many are questioning the necessity of these and other light trucks such for family duty.

When I was a small child, I remember many road trips with my family of four. We’d load up ourselves and all our stuff in our 1979 Ford Pinto Squire 2-door wagon and traverse much of the countryside. We had plenty of room for ourselves and our baggage, and never had a complaint. And we weren’t alone. Many families were perfectly content with daily use and vacation travel in small and midsized cars. One of our editors at this publication can remember cross-country trips with 5 passengers in a Plymouth Horizon.

So why do today’s families drive vehicles that are so much larger than they drove 25 years ago? Have people become larger? While obesity rates are on the rise, this is hardly the reason. Do we carry more gear? Not likely. Not enough to make up the difference between a Pinto and an Expedition. 

The hidden cause behind the shift to light trucks being necessary for family transport is an increased emphasis on child safety. Twenty-five years ago, kids didn’t wear seat belts. Booster seats were for restaurants, and nobody used child safety seats. As a result, we could do more with less. Back in those days, people believed that you really didn’t need to wear seat belts, especially if you were in the back. Back seats were a virtual cocoon, which protected its occupants against anything that could possibly happen. John Kapla, an engineer in Detroit recalls, “I remember there were three kids. On trips, one of us slept across the rear seat, one slept across the floor and the third slept across the rear package shelf.” And that felt fine, everyone was safe because they were in the back seat.

Fast forward. Today’s kids are growing up riding bikes with helmets and knee pads. When I grew up we had knee pads alright; they were called scabs! Child safety seats, booster seats and seat belts are now the norm. Britney Spears was publicly lambasted recently for driving with her infant in her arms. Today, there is a completely different outlook on child safety.

If you’ve ever installed one of these bulky child safety seats in a vehicle, it becomes very clear why larger, three row vehicles are now necessary. These seats are not only heavy and cumbersome, but they take up a lot of real estate. So much, that two seats in the second-row of a sedan almost touch one another in the center, and three abreast is simply out of the question. Not to mention space to store bottles, toys and other gear. John Kapla’s family today would abeslutely require a three-row light truck of some sort, likely a Caravan or Suburban. It’s simply a reality for families today.

Are today’s families buying utility that they don’t need? Are they buying SUVs and vans to keep up with the Jones’? No. They are simply doing what we did twenty-five years ago in the context of today. They’re buying vehicles that allow them to transport their families and their stuff with safety and comfort. Back then, safety was simply the back seat. Today it’s the added complexity of the child safety seat.

Twenty-First Century Chrome: A Return to Ornamentation

     by Steve Lovett, Senior Editor

I’ve seen many trends come and go. More often than not, I’m happy to see them go and don’t mind if the door hits them on the way out. Many older automotive trappings come to mind: pin-striping, wire wheel covers, faux convertible tops…

While all of these things added something to the appearance of the vehicles which were saddled with them, none have the flair and grace of what I’m noticing now; the return of ornamentation. Through the 60’s and 70’s ornamentation was the name of the game. Think of older Cadillacs, Town-Cars, even Caravelle’s. In fact body ornamentation almost overtook the emphasis on the vehicles themselves. Then as we entered the 80’s and 90’s, the clean, unadorned look ruled the day. Almost overnight, chrome, fake wood and metallic accents went away. Everything on the exterior was body color, including bumpers, mirrors, beltlines etc, and everything on the interior became monotone plastic. Ford’s Taurus was the epitome of this cleaner more European design.

Now that quality has improved and engineering is less of a differentiator, we are now seeing a justified return of body ornamentation to spice up and differentiate models.

Take the front-quarter-panel gills on Range Rover models. These gills are reminiscent of those on 70’s era Ford LTD’s. While non-functional, they have the appearance of helping the powerful engine behind it breath, inhaling and exhaling for performance. Their similarity to gills on a shark is no coincidence. In fact Corvette has been using this cue for its past 3 generations. Land Rover is not alone in its adoption of this stylish cue. It can be found on the Saturn SKY, Jaguar XK, Aston Martin Rapide and even the Dodge Nitro.

Another example is heat extractors on hoods. While these have been used in various muscle cars over the years, a new more opulent execution is taking form. Take the extractors on the 2007 Saturn SKY. They blend sharp angular design, with proper proportions of chrome and wonderful, flush craftsmanship. This level of detail and sophistication is available on a car that is under $25,000. The Cadillac Escalade (so called King of Bling) brings a high level of ornamentation to the GMT900 platform. The fine detailing of chrome within each of the eighteen ports of it’s massive grill is extraordinary in it’s feeling of quality and opulence. Each section has it’s own individual cross-hair pattern of chrome that is simply magical in its appearance. Escalade also features open gills in it’s front quarter panels with a chrome surround and bisecting jeweled bar.

Ornamentation is also on the comeback with vehicle interiors. Just ten years ago, vehicle interiors were a single-tone, low-gloss oasis of black & grey plastics. Today the return of woods, metals, and exposed stitching on leathers give a much richer appearance. The return of the analog  clock is a fine example. First to the recent trend was Infiniti, with it’s first generation I-30. This compact rear-drive sedan offered is passengers a view of a tasteful, jewel-like clock in the center of the instrument panel. It was not the easiest to read, with no improvement in functionality, but it looked precise. Since then, other automakers have rushed to this trend, adding ornamental clocks to everything from Chryslers to Cadillacs.  When you look at new vehicle interiors, notice the use of chrome in any perimeter area. The surrounds of cup holders, clocks, door handles, vents, gauges, gauge clusters all of these and more are now being penned with chrome outlines.

I believe ornamentation is here to stay. Now that quality and performance are becoming price of entry, these emotionally driving details are just as important to make an impact on consumers.