News from Chevrolet

What’s coming up for Chevrolet as far as new product goes? Well for starters there is talk about restyling the Malibu for 2008 which finally shows some styling elan. While the new iteration is a very nifty looking car, for me, I can't help but think back to the days when the Malibu morphed into the ultra cool Chevelle line that brought us the likes of the 396 and 454 cubic inch rat motors in the Super Sport Chevelles of the 60’s and very early ‘70’s. While it would be nice to see something like that happen again, I'm not sure I’ll hold my breath on that ever happening again but who knows.

Clearly the big news for Chevy is what I hope will be a 2008 debut of the all new Camaro. Lines are forming as we speak for this renaissance of an icon that has been missing far to long. While Ford owners as well as Ford may not be quaking in their garages, you know they’re fully aware that with this new iteration of the F-Body, and Dodge’s Challenger coming back, the pony car wars will be on full force. For those of us fortunate enough to have been there at the beginning, it can’t happen soon enough.

Other plans for the lineup sometime in ’09 include refreshing the HHR and the Colorado, a new mid-size CUV will be debuted, and an even more potent Corvette will happen. While Pontiac and Buick are in a way trying to reinvent themselves, Chevrolet is not a brand that has that problem. GM is just trying to make their lineup even better. To that end some future improvements, beyond what I’ve already mentioned will include a rear-wheel-drive Impala which I truly hope happens, and a microcar that was introduced at the New York auto show in April, in a 3 and 5 door configuration.

The car is even smaller than the new Mini Cooper and the Aveo, which is the smallest car Chevy offers to date. There have been questions as to whether or not the car would sell in the U.S.
but to my way of thinking, with the Smart Car making such a splash, the Microcar may just work. Don’t expect it before 2010 or 2011 though.

Clearly aimed at the youth market, the models feature very interesting color schemes which to me clearly define not only the demographic but also the psychographic of the target buyer. ‘There is some concern in the upper echelons of the industry that hip young people have no aesthetic sense but when I think back to my youth, what we did with our cars could certainly beg the same question.


Unique color choices range from an electric green for the Beat to a blaze orange for the Trax, and the most understated of the bunch is the dark purple that’s on the Groove. And how about those names, Cath and I keep threatening to do a show devoted to names of cars past and present one of these days.

Truth is though, with the ecology and economy growing ever more important in our lives, this little trio may jump start the American manufacturer’s development of small fuel efficient yet fun cars. All I can tell you is that after spending a full day on an Arizona road trip driving the tiny Smart Car for an article we did in AZ3Sixty’s magazine recently, I found the Smart Car more than capable and not uncomfortable at all. Except for the times an 18-wheeler blazed by us on the highway making us feel very small indeed.

Only time will tell whether or not we’ll embrace the “little” fuel efficient cars. I for one hope we do, at least for buzzing around town in. It would save a lot of money and actually, they're kinda fun to drive.

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Life's too short, just drive.

I’ve heard variations of that philosophy before of course, but never those exact words, and when I saw them for the first time, what followed blew me away. Part of what I read was; “maybe you’ve imagined yourself behind the wheel of a true Supercar like the Mercedes SLR McLaren.” Now in my opinion, any car aficionado to not have lusted for driving a McLaren, well then he or she wouldn’t be a true car nut. The phrase however, belongs to a group of people that put on the

World Class Driving event that began in Europe a few years ago, came to the States in 2006 when over 1500 people had the extreme pleasure of driving some of the most fantastic cars ever produced. Today, World Class Driving travels all over the world allowing a select few individuals to drive some of these incredible machines. Rod and I had the opportunity on a beautiful day in May to go to Sedona Arizona and spent some 150 miles worth of seat time in six of the most stunning cars I’ve ever had the privilege to drop my derriere in.
Imagine if you will, 12 hours of Sebring racer and one of the premier Ferrari drivers of all time, Didier Theys, handing you the keys to a beautiful yellow $170,000 Ferrari F430, then leading you out to cruise the streets and highways in one of the most beautiful locations in the world. How cool is that? To verbalize the exhilaration one feels when flicking through the gears with the steering wheel mounted paddle shifters, while listening to one of the most thrilling exhaust notes around coming from the 490 horsepower V8 sitting directly behind you, is virtually impossible.

Now try and imagine how you’d feel if Didier then tossed the keys to a black Porsche GT-3 and said follow me. I don’t know about you but Rod and I were both thinking that it was a bit of a let down after the F430, but I have to admit, it didn’t talk long to appreciate the racing heritage in the Porsche. Very different cars for sure but the GT-3 was certainly a blast to drive.
That was followed by a spin in the Ford GT which, truth be told, was a very surprising car. This is pure American muscle at its best. While the Italian and German cars are high rpm cars, the Ford GT is a brute at 500 horsepower and 500 lb-ft of pavement blistering muscle. This car screams from 0-60 in a breathtaking 3.4 seconds, and while following the Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder, and listening to the magnificent exhaust singing while downshifting, it was interesting to see just how easy it was to stay with the Gallardo without having to downshift the GT. Simply tickle the throttle and the monstrous 500 lb-ft of torque comes to life and moves the Ford with very little effort.

Okay, now we jump out of the GT and get to slip into the sweet sounding lime green Lambo and I must tell you, it simply doesn’t get much better then cruising in Sedona Arizona in May, in a Gallardo Spyder. The exhaust was echoing off the canyon walls begging you to downshift just to listen to the exhaust note. So I did. This car without a doubt has the sweetest albeit most raucous exhaust sound you’ll ever hear and I’m here to tell you, this 500 horsepower car is fast, agile and incredibly fun to drive.

The fastest and most race-like car there was the Noble M400. Noble rolling chassis' are shipped from the manufacturing facility in Port Elizabeth, South Africa without the engine or transmission. The Noble® M400 is sold in limited quantities as a component rolling chassis only. The units come factory assembled, painted, upholstered, with full instrumentation and brakes systems, along with suspension, exhaust wheels and tires. The engine and transaxle has to be installed by the buyer or under the buyer's supervision by an independent contractor. The car computer is mapped to 425 horsepower, and with the ratio of pony power to weight, this car performs with the best in the world, and actually better then most but as Rod said, in reality, this is pretty much a street legal race car.

And then there was the Mercedes SLR McLaren. Almost 620 horsepower and a mind numbing 595 lb-ft of torque moves this huge Supercar down the highway in the blink of an eye. At almost $500,000.00, this is the only car that we had to have a co-pilot with, and truth be told, I simply didn’t care. Make no mistake; this is not a plush cruiser. This is a serious performer with seats that wrap around you giving you the impression of being in the cockpit of a very luxurious race car, and in truth, that’s not a bad analogy. While the Ferrari and Lamborghini are undoubtedly exotics, and the Ford GT is all about muscle with the Noble being all about racing, the SLR McLaren is about everything. Stunning styling, one of the most iniquitous stances you’ll ever see on a car, an interior that’s second to none and performance that is intimidating to everyone else on the road, and in truth, it can be just a bit intimidating behind the wheel. When I had the opportunity, and permission, to “get on it” just a bit, I was dumbfounded at how seamless this car was as we shot from 60 to…. Well, let’s just say I had to back off without even coming close to taxing this very potent engine.

There is a lot more to come on the website in the near future as Rod and I write more, and share some video with you about the incredible day we had with World Class Driving. You must go to their website; www.wcdriving.com and find out where they’ll be next, and if there is anyway you can do it, well as Nike says, just do it, or more importantly, as Jean-Paul Libert and his crew say, “life is to short: just drive.

Is the interactive technology race in cars going too far?

We just did a radio show about the dangers of driving while texting, after hearing about five teenage girls that were killed because phone records show the driver was texting moments before the crash. We also talked about the fact that in this hi-tech world the problem is hardly limited to youngsters, who generally are much more savvy then boomers when it comes to this kind of technology. We also know that way too many of us are guilty of being distracted while driving whether it's a cell phone, blackberry or even the vehicle itself.

The question is how much of a good thing is too much? It certainly can be said that the technical advances in vehicles today are for the most part a good thing and I must admit for the most part that I am a fan, safety and navigation systems are two prime examples. It's important to point out however, that most Nav systems have a fail safe where no input can happen when the vehicle is in motion. However, with the tremendous demand by consumers for more sophisticated systems, I'm wondering if the manufacturers need to start thinking about just how dangerous technology can be.

Because vehicles are so easy to drive today, they're quieter and so solid on the road that there is a false sense of security for people behind the wheel. That quality lends itself to driving at a much higher rate of speed then in the past when you could actually feel the speed of the car. Also, there is more traffic on the roads and trying to stay a safe distance from the car in front of you is virtually impossible on today's roads.

Now add the fact that most ergonomic controls are to the right of the driver and so complicated that it necessitates taking one's eyes of the road to use, you begin to understand just how dangerous our highways are becoming. Having had the privilege over the last 13 years to drive and review vehicles for the manufacturers, my partner and I have driven the BMW7 Series with its 700 plus idrive system, the Audi's with a similar system that is so complicated that one needs to take a class to learn how to use the system. But this problem is not limited to hi-end luxury models. The most basic cars today have at the least a very sophisticated sound system that even with controls in the steering wheel, changing out CD's, or plugging in an mp3 system can be very distracting.

The dichotomy is that the wireless and interactive technology market is worth some $3.5 billion dollars today and that number is expected to grow to over $15 billion by 2015. That's a pretty big piece of pie for manufacturers, so once again the question is, how much it too much? Should controls be installed that render some of the technology inoperative while the vehicle is in motion or should drivers be left to monitor themselves? I'm not sure I know the answer to that but I'd love to hear your thoughts and maybe even have you address them on our radio show.

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