RealityDriven

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.