Wheelspin: Tulsa?s Big Dig: A ?57 Plymouth Is the Prize July 30, 2006
Next year, a gold-and-white Plymouth will be exhumed for the Oklahoma centennial. The car will be awarded to the person who most accurately predicted, back in 1957, the population of Tulsa circa 2007. MOST everyone knows an auto enthusiast buried in debt, crushed by suffocating monthly payments. You may also have heard of people who loved their cars so much that they wanted to spend eternity in the driver?s seat ? their last request was to be buried in their automobiles. But the burial of a car need not strike such sad, macabre or financially ruinous chords. For example, Volvo …
Green Tech: P What? PZEV?s Are Unsung Heroes in the Push to Clean Up the Air
Partial zero emission technology is available, or soon will be, in some popular vehicles in a handful of states that have adopted California?s emissions rules. IF you think you can help the environment by parking your car and walking, you may be dismayed to learn this: that parked car ? even if it is a recent model officially designated as a low-emission vehicle, according to the California Air Resources Board ? gives off more pollutants even when shut off than some new models do while driving down the road. The clean-running cars in question are those certified to a …
Behind the Wheel: 2007 Dodge Caliber: More Bang for the Buck
In contrast to several of today?s Dodges, which the company promotes as vehicles that ?take life by the horns,? the competitively-priced Caliber isn?t much fun to drive. AT a rest stop on the New York Thruway during a Detroit-to-Syracuse road trip, my children and I chuckled at the sight of another family traveling the same route. They were crammed into a Ford Country Squire wagon with fake wood on the sides. One member of the family was stuck in the cargo area, nearly buried in belongings. The sight reminded us of ?National Lampoon?s Vacation.? ?The only thing missing,? my daughter …
Around the Block: A Look at an Overlooked Hybrid
Arguably, one of the best things the Ford Escape Hybrid has going for it is the name recognition. That may also be its big drawback. TESTED: 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid WHAT IS IT? Compact sport utility wagon with a hybrid gas-electric powertrain.HOW MUCH? Base price $26,215. As tested, $32,120 with $1,605 all-wheel drive, $1,995 navigation and upgraded sound system, $180 AC power outlet, $585 power sunroof, $695 appearance package, $595 safety package, $595 leather group.WHAT DRIVES IT? A 2.3-liter 4-cylinder gasoline engine plus a 70-kilowatt electric motor; continuously variable transmission.HOW THIRSTY? Rated 36 m.p.g. in town, 31 on the highway …
With $3 Gas, Detroit Pays for Its Past July 28, 2006
The last week has proved one thing: Detroit is having trouble dealing with high gasoline prices. Four years ago, when Detroit?s designers and engineers were working on new vehicles for the middle of the decade, they had only to look out their windows to see what was selling: sport utility vehicles and big pickup trucks. And little wonder, given gasoline prices of $1.36 a gallon on average. It seemed an easy choice for Detroit to stick with these vehicles ? which, with their big profit margins, had become its economic underpinning.But in Japan, where engineers and designers were pulling up …
Mercedes Unit Helps Parent Double Profit
DaimlerChrysler more than doubled its earnings, despite a slump at Chrysler that the automaker warned would worsen in the months ahead. DETROIT, July 27 ? Since their 1998 merger creating the world?s fifth-largest automaker, Mercedes Benz and Chrysler have seemed to be sitting at either end of a trans-Atlantic seesaw. When Chrysler was down, Mercedes was up. Then, a reinvigorated Chrysler helped the company stay profitable last year while it fixed problems at Mercedes.Now, Mercedes has become the heavyweight again, as Chrysler grapples with slumping sales that it attributes to high fuel prices and intense competition in the United States. …
Handlebars: Among the Ninjas, a Faster New Master Emerges July 23, 2006
The recipe Kawasaki used to create its 560-pound Ninja ZX-14 results in performance that is simply over the top. WHILE 175 horsepower is just adequate in most cars, a 175-horsepower engine in a motorcycle that weighs 560 pounds ? the recipe Kawasaki used to create its Ninja ZX-14 ? results in performance that is simply over the top: 0-to-60 miles an hour in 2.7 seconds and a maximum speed just shy of 190. For the moment ? these titles can be fleeting ? the ZX-14 is the acceleration king among street-legal motorcycles according to those numbers, recorded in a …
Green Tech: Grease Is the Word: Fill It Up With Fry Oil
Going veggie is not the gas-and-go type of driving Americans are accustomed to. You?ll get no points from the E.P.A., but you could get more than 50 miles per gallon. ON a recent return trip from Massachusetts to my home in New Jersey, a distance of 160 miles, I burned a total of two cups of diesel fuel in my 2001 Volkswagen Jetta TDI. Where Veggie Cars Are on the Menu A Restaurant Problem Becomes a Solution NYTJim Norman, the author of this article, says that after more than 2,000 miles on veggie oil, there seem to be …
Minnesota Has a Warning for Tailgaters, Every 225 Feet July 21, 2006
In a pilot project, the state has painted a highway with dots that are spaced three seconds apart at the speed limit. BUFFALO, Minn. ? Even after a collision five years ago resulted in surgery and left her with limited mobility in her neck, Missy Weberg said she continued the dangerous habit that caused the accident: tailgating.But a new Minnesota initiative using big white dots painted on a state highway is helping Ms. Weberg back away from cars in front of her, she said.The dots, 94 of them painted on a two-mile stretch of a rural highway about 35 miles …
News Analysis: Agreeing to Talk It Over, but Making No Promises July 17, 2006
The seconds are counting down in a high-pressure chess match between the chiefs of Renault and Nissan and G.M. DETROIT, July 16 ? The seconds are now counting down in a high-pressure match of speed chess between Carlos Ghosn, the chief executive of Renault and Nissan, and Rick Wagoner, who runs General Motors. Late Friday night, G.M. agreed to begin discussions on a potentially historic three-way alliance with Renault of France and Nissan of Japan. The companies announced the talks, which they intend to conclude within three months, after a dinner in Detroit attended by Mr. Wagoner and Mr. …
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