Auto News 5

Designers have been thinking about design and efficiency for years," Freeman Thomas tells us. "But it really hadn't risen to the top of the agenda until fuel prices got up there and got everyone's attention. We've now become part of the problem-solving exercise.

With all the talk of fuel economy these days, you might be fooled into thinking that 25 mpg on the EPA's highway test is impressive for a mid-size car. I don't think it is. 25 mpg is, however, an impressive result for a 4700-lb vehicle that can carry eight passengers in quiet comfort. When it comes to hauling people and stuff, the minivan was a better alternative twenty years ago, it was a better alternative to all of those big, ungainly SUVs people insisted on driving, and it's still a better alternative today.

I'm not the biggest Range Rover guy, but I really enjoyed my time with this SUV. Although I know the ute is still a capable off-roader (so too are most Land Rovers), I was able to play with this toy only on the street - the environment that most, if not all, Range Rover Sport models are destined for.

The Automotive News Green Car Conference & Exhibition was held November 14 in a conference center just outside the worried city of Detroit. While automotive industry leaders were in Washington, D.C. looking for loans, hundreds of event attendees were learning about the future of green transportation. What follows is a synopsis of our findings.

Experts agree that world is moving toward vehicles powered by electric motors (EV-Motoring). The transition will be long and gradual, taking decades. Regarding infrastructure, it's a good thing that EVs aren't prolific today, because the world presently isn't ready for electric vehicles. Much work remains to be done.

It's no secret the Detroit automakers are hurting, but it seems to be a huge secret that each of the Detroit automakers is already building cars people want. Here are the top five products you can buy now, or by spring, from the Detroit 3 as well as the top five future products that Detroit is still developing as you read this.

There have been electric cars almost as long as there have been cars, but for the last eighty years of the electric car's life, it has been relegated to the farthest fringes of the automotive universe. Electrics have been held back by their batteries, which don't pack nearly as much energy as a tank of gasoline and therefore hobble these cars with a painfully short driving range.

A stylish, debonair machine, the kind of car that makes you want to dress smartly. The keyless entry and starting is seamless (not all of them are). The steering is a bit overboosted at parking speeds, but it's fine once you're moving along. Nice, light efforts in the shifter and clutch - too bad so many buyers are likely to bypass the manual. Their loss. Every generation of Audi's MMI (multi media interface) is easier to use than the one before, but it's still not quite perfect. Poised over-the-road handling, and plentiful thrust when you let the engine climb deep into the rev range. Overall, a classy coupe for those who don't entertain boy-racer fantasies.

Corvette ZR1 rage is spreading with viral intensity. Montana collector Dave Ressler bid a million bucks at a charity auction to own the first production ZR1. A Chevrolet dealer in Texas allegedly charged $400,000 apiece for two such Corvettes. After British journalists blitzed the Bonneville Salt Flats in one ZR1, German writers raced another press car around a 7.8-mile circular track near Nardo, Italy.

While the electric model was busy stealing the show, something was noticeably missing at the 2009 Los Angeles auto show: a drop-top Mini. That's because the wraps on the all-new 2009 Mini Cooper and Mini Cooper S Convertibles weren't pulled off until just now.

For the vast majority of this magazine's readers (and, I would guess, a full majority of its writers), exotic cars are an exercise in voyeurism. I enjoy reading Ferrari reviews not because I need to make an educated purchase decision, but because I want to know what it feels like to mat the throttle of an F430 on an increasing-radius on-ramp. I want to hear about how the Bugatti Veyron's acceleration feels like a blind-side sack from Rodney Harrison or learn why, exactly, a Morgan Roadster uses wooden body framing instead of the possibly more-effective metal variety. And does the Morgan warranty cover termites? This is information I need to know.

The financial bear has taken a deep bite out of every sports car's hide. During October, entry-level roadster sales plummeted by more than fifty percent versus a year ago. Honda S2000 and Pontiac Solstice sales were down by two-thirds.

America is ready for an electric city car, and Mitsubishi, not Toyota, might just be the company to give it to us. Our brief drive of the i MiEV (Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle) during last spring's New York auto show convinced us that this four-door Martian-mobile could play in Philadelphia, if not Peoria.

When a car is badged iQ, it needs to be more clever than its competition, cars like the Smart, the Mini Cooper, and the Fiat 500. To eclipse those vehicles, Toyota chose a radically different vehicle architecture that measures just less than ten feet in length, five and a half feet in width, and five feet in height. That makes the iQ about as wide and as tall as a Corolla and less than a foot longer than a Smart, and yet it can seat up to four people. An optical illusion? A magician's masterpiece? Wishful thinking? None of it. The automaker simply evolved the original microcompact Smart car architecture conceived by Mr. Swatch, Nicolas Hayek. The crucial move-apart from installing a front-mounted drivetrain-was to bring the passenger seat forward by half a length, thereby making room for a full-size third seat in row two. Next to it, there's just about enough space to accommodate a child, but only if the driver is willing to move close to the steering wheel. Where the Smart has its powertrain, the iQ has its trunk. It isn't huge, but the space can be easily expanded by tipping the rear seatbacks forward.

With the economy on the verge of melting down, fuel prices at outrageous levels, and global warming threatening to torch your prized rhododendrons, it might be wise to look for a more economical car when the lease on your current Volkswagen Jetta ends. You could replace your Jetta with a Smart ForTwo, use about a third less fuel, and drive around with a smug smile on your face in the belief that your little car is saving the world. Then again, you'd have to throw out your significant other, find a new home for the dog, and sell the kids, because the Smart isn't big enough to carry all of you. Oh, the dilemma.

No one is better than Americans at blurring the lines between wants and needs, and the sudden upheaval in the car market is proof of that. In the past few months of this year, small-car sales have shot up, while sales of large SUVs and pickups have dropped sharply. American car buyers' needs haven't changed; consumers have just realized that they never actually needed those gas guzzlers in the first place. And now they're seeking ways to contain their fuel bills.

The visionary who slipped an Opel Corsa onto General Motors' stand at last January's North American International Auto Show in Detroit is the individual currently strutting corporate halls with the "I told you so!" look on his face. If only Saturn's general manager, Jill Lajdziak, had mustered the courage to splash an ARRIVING THIS FALL banner over the electric-blue Corsa OPC hatchback. A fun, affordable fuel-sipper would be the perfect addition to the Opel-sired Astra, Aura, and Vue models already gracing Saturn showrooms and an excellent alternative to the Korean-built Chevy Aveo and Pontiac G3 at the gimme-mileage end of GM's product range.

Nissan knows as well as anyone the dangers in redesigning a popular car. Through the 1990s, it "improved" its Z-car until the bloated 300ZX carried virtually none of the charm (not to mention the sales volume) of the original 240Z. Nissan returned the line to its former glory with the 350Z, and has been rewarded with a brilliantly successful six-year run. And with the 2009 370Z, which is making its debut this week at the Los Angeles auto show, it has proved it has finally learned how to build on success.