Even though I'm a long time and well known Toyota hater, I have to say I'm actually starting to feel sorry for them. First the unwanted acceleration in practically every car they make, then brakes in the Prius, and now I'm hearing about the Prius accelerating out of control when on cruise control (irony?)
The big question here is... are their cars really THAT bad, or is this just exponential loss of consumer confidence? Could it be that nearly every car they make is defective?
My theory is, as we all know, once you KNOW there is a problem it's quite easy to become extra picky about any other minor problem. Granted, a car accelerating when on cruise control is a pretty big problem, but why didn't we hear about this before the big recall? Same thing with the brakes. It seems people were happily driving along in their Prius with the funky brakes for years, but now that there's a big recall on accelerators people think "hmm, this doesn't seem right". Not that there's anything wrong with that. Consumers should be critical of their cars. For most people a car represents the second most expensive thing they own, so you should be happy with it!
It's hard to say what the long term result of this will be. For my part, I hope only that it helps level the playing field. The Japanese car industry can make mistakes just as well as the Americans or anyone else. Although, at the end of the day I expect the biggest benefit will be realized by Hyundai/Kia.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Forty-Eight
Well this is supposed to be a car-blog, but I admit to having a certain fascination with 2-wheeled things that sound like Harleys... and have the scars on my leg to prove it... But anyway, I got an e-mail from Harley announcing their new Sportster. Not really sure where the "Forty Eight" name comes from but it looks pretty sweet! Pretty similar to my "Nightster" but a smaller tank, fatter front end, forward controls, different engine finish, and some trim differences.
Nice!
Nice!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
What is a "Luxury" car?
Here's an interesting topic that's open for feedback and debate. One of the forums I frequent, GMInsidenews.com is often abuzz with discussion on what Cadillac should do to be competitive and relevant. Also keeping in mind that there is still Buick which also claims to be "luxury". The question is, what is a luxury car?
At one end of the spectrum we have BMW which bases it's marketing on "fun to drive", and pretty much invented the popular concept of the "sports sedan" (Jaguar and probably others were doing it first, but it was BMW that really took the idea and ran with it). This section values communicative steering and a taut chassis. Typically this is paired with a performance oriented engine and RWD.
The other end of the spectrum, or so I'm told, is Lexus. I have never driven a Lexus but from what I hear the idea is to have the driver in total isolation from the world around. Apparently in this category and engine isn't expected to have any "getup" and FWD is perfectly acceptable.
Then of course you can get into "ultra-luxury" such as Rolls-Royce, Bentley, and Maybach. But I'm mostly concerned with the most general definition of a luxury car.
For me these are some things that I would expect in a "luxury" car. Unfortunately nobody really makes this short of Rolls-Royce.
1) Part of the definition of luxury is "excess": A Luxury car should have the finest materials, or at least materials that are far above "average". Expect high-grade "aniline" leathers, and real wood trim. Also, emphasis on "real" materials. For instance a door handle that looks chrome should be chrome plated metal, not plastic.
2)The interior should be nearly silent. Some pleasant exhaust noise etc is OK, but road noise and wind noise is totally unacceptable. At cruising speed (60-80mph) all passengers should be able to carry on a conversation at normal household levels.
3)Ride should be tuned for comfort. frost heaves, expansion joints, and rough pavement should not be noticed by the cars occupants. Anything short of a speed-bump or pothole should be completely smothered, and even those events should be barely noticed. With today's availability of active suspension systems a vehicle with this type of tuning should still be able to have acceptable handling. I don't expect a 5,000lb luxury car to handle like a Porsche, but I shouldn't have to slow down to take a turn on the interstate.
4) While I don't care to take a luxury car drag-racing, the engine should have adequate torque to accelerate the car effortlessly within the normal operating range. If I need to accelerate from 60 to 80mph to pass someone on the interstate it should happen without drama. This means no downshifts for "passing" acceleration. Back in "the day" Cadillac typically had the largest engines GM offered. These days, the most powerful Cadillac has a de-tuned Corvette engine. (In 1957 Cadillac had a 390c.i. engine while the Corvette had a 289)
While this is possible with a FWD platform (Cadillac installed a 500ci engine with FWD), as an engineer, I believe that RWD is preferred in almost any case, and especially with a high-torque engine.
What do you think?
At one end of the spectrum we have BMW which bases it's marketing on "fun to drive", and pretty much invented the popular concept of the "sports sedan" (Jaguar and probably others were doing it first, but it was BMW that really took the idea and ran with it). This section values communicative steering and a taut chassis. Typically this is paired with a performance oriented engine and RWD.
The other end of the spectrum, or so I'm told, is Lexus. I have never driven a Lexus but from what I hear the idea is to have the driver in total isolation from the world around. Apparently in this category and engine isn't expected to have any "getup" and FWD is perfectly acceptable.
Then of course you can get into "ultra-luxury" such as Rolls-Royce, Bentley, and Maybach. But I'm mostly concerned with the most general definition of a luxury car.
For me these are some things that I would expect in a "luxury" car. Unfortunately nobody really makes this short of Rolls-Royce.
1) Part of the definition of luxury is "excess": A Luxury car should have the finest materials, or at least materials that are far above "average". Expect high-grade "aniline" leathers, and real wood trim. Also, emphasis on "real" materials. For instance a door handle that looks chrome should be chrome plated metal, not plastic.
2)The interior should be nearly silent. Some pleasant exhaust noise etc is OK, but road noise and wind noise is totally unacceptable. At cruising speed (60-80mph) all passengers should be able to carry on a conversation at normal household levels.
3)Ride should be tuned for comfort. frost heaves, expansion joints, and rough pavement should not be noticed by the cars occupants. Anything short of a speed-bump or pothole should be completely smothered, and even those events should be barely noticed. With today's availability of active suspension systems a vehicle with this type of tuning should still be able to have acceptable handling. I don't expect a 5,000lb luxury car to handle like a Porsche, but I shouldn't have to slow down to take a turn on the interstate.
4) While I don't care to take a luxury car drag-racing, the engine should have adequate torque to accelerate the car effortlessly within the normal operating range. If I need to accelerate from 60 to 80mph to pass someone on the interstate it should happen without drama. This means no downshifts for "passing" acceleration. Back in "the day" Cadillac typically had the largest engines GM offered. These days, the most powerful Cadillac has a de-tuned Corvette engine. (In 1957 Cadillac had a 390c.i. engine while the Corvette had a 289)
While this is possible with a FWD platform (Cadillac installed a 500ci engine with FWD), as an engineer, I believe that RWD is preferred in almost any case, and especially with a high-torque engine.
What do you think?
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