Automotive Reviews
Archive for November, 2008
2009 MINI Cooper S Clubman
01269 days
Lots of cars will say, “Hey, let’s go,” when you hop in. Ford’s F350 wants to go and haul stuff. Chevrolet’s Corvette wants to go to the track. The Honda CRV wants to go to the mall. The MINI Cooper is one of the few that doesn’t ever specify a destination. “Let’s go,” the MINI says. If you ask it where, it says, “Wherever.”
Going “wherever” in the MINI just got a bit more fun and a lot easier with the introduction of the just-right sized Cooper Clubman. Nine and a half inches longer than the standard MINI Cooper, the Clubman offers the same driving pleasure and relatively cheap automotive thrills, but also makes it easier to bring friends and cargo along for the ride.
In the ways that count, the MINI Cooper Clubman is just like the short version. The only obvious difference from the driver’s seat is that you no longer feel like you can reach over your shoulder and touch the backlight. The dinner plate-sized, centrally-mounted speedometer and cool retro toggle switches are the same, and the Cooper S Clubman sports the same wide range of personalization options as the standard MINI Cooper. At night, elegant ambient lighting gives a theatrical look to the interior. The hard-ish, grippy seats and upright, snug driving position are also familiar, though the Cooper S Clubman’s checkered-flag upholstery is unique. From the B-pillar back, the Cooper Clubman is a new vehicle, with a longer body and a three-inch longer wheelbase. Nearly all of the extra wheelbase length goes into adding legroom for rear-seat passengers, so the back seat of the Cooper Clubman is actually livable, and effectively doubles the MINI’s people capacity. Options for the stretched top include roof rails for carrying surfboards, skis and other sports equipment, a roof spoiler and a two-panel panoramic sunroof, though the lack of an opaque cover for the glass roof is a glaring (no pun intended) omission. Heated seats, bi-xenon headlamps and a navigation system are also on the available-equipment list.
Fold down the rear seats and there are 32.8 cubic feet of cargo space, which is a 37% increase in space that brings the Cooper Clubman up to about average for the class. MINI makes the additional length easy to get to, with split, “barn” style doors at the rear that allow easy access to the cargo area. They’re hinged at the extreme outer edges of the pillars to provide a wide, though low, cargo-loading space, and they’re styled after the doors found on the estate wagon versions of the 1960s Mini. Passenger entry is also eased with a rear-hinged “clubdoor” behind the passenger door. From the outside, it’s immediately recognizable because of the squared-off tail and additional chrome.
The extra body length and weight don’t have a noticeable effect on the Cooper S Clubman’s acceleration or handling. Break out the stopwatches and you’ll probably see a small difference in lap times and outright acceleration, but out in the real world there’s not enough of a difference to matter. The 172-horsepower 1.6 liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine under the hood of the Cooper S Clubman offers enjoyable, enthusiastic motivation. Direct-fuel injection improves performance and fuel efficiency. MINI promises a seven-second 0-60 run. The Cooper S Clubman returns 26/34 fuel economy as well, one of the benefits of being a small car with a big interior. The more frugal Cooper Clubman, with its non-turbocharged, 118-horse engine, will return 28/37 economy. I drove the Cooper S Clubman with the optional six-speed automatic transmission, which was probably considerably less fun than the standard six-speed manual despite the racing-style paddle shifters. With either gearbox, the Cooper Clubman keeps the MINI’s instantaneous reflexes and its ability to dart through traffic as though you were the hero of an action movie.
That ultra-stiff MacPherson strut front, five-link central arm rear suspension translates to a violent ride on rough roads however, especially in the stiffer-sprung S version of the Cooper Clubman. The MINI is tough, but feels somewhat delicate–it doesn’t invite splashing through puddles or romping across rough pavement the way some small cars do. Detroit’s got rough pavement in spades, and the MINI Clubman was adept at dodging potholes, but not so happy with the ones it had to hit. Electronic power steering with a razor-sharp sport mode makes it easy to avoid any road irregularities that come up, though you may be accused of driving erratically.
Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) and Dynamic Traction Control (DTC) are standard equipment, as are anti-lock brakes, Corner Brake Control and six airbags. Run-flat tires are also standard on the Cooper S Clubman.
It’s the same delightful MINI Cooper S, but with more space. What’s not to like? Other than a steep-ish price tag, not much. The Mini Cooper S Clubman starts at a reasonable $23,450, but the options drive the price up quickly. My tester featured a leather interior, power-fold mirrors, heated seats, a dual-pane sunroof, automatic climate control, MINI’s sport package and xenon headlamps, the automatic transmission and an interior chrome package, and stickered for $32,950.
Specifications: All specs are for the 2009 MINI Cooper S Clubman.
Length: 155.8 in.
Width: 66.3 in.
Height: 56.4 in.
Wheelbase: 100.3 in.
Curb weight: 2855 lb.
Cargo space: 9.2 cu.ft. (seats up); 32.8 cu.ft. (seats folded)
Base price: $23,450
Price as tested: $32,950
Engine: 1.6 liter turbocharged direct-injection four-cylinder
Drivetrain: six-speed automatic transmission, front-wheel drive
Horsepower: 172 @ 5500
Torque: 177 @ 1600-5000
Fuel capacity: 13.2 gal.
Est. mileage: 23/32
2008 Audi A8 W12
01269 days
Sleek lines. Broad, real wood consoles and buttery-smooth Valcona leather. Soft LED ambient lighting. My passengers noticed right away that the 2008 Audi A8 was something special, even before the navigation screen powered itself up out of the dash and the pop-up Bang & Olufsen tweeters rose out of the instrument panel to offer concert-grade sound.
After all of that, I don’t think anyone even noticed how the thing drove, which is too bad; they missed the best part of this big Audi’s show.
The fact that my auto-illiterate friends immediately noticed that the A8 was something special is significant, however, especially in light of cars like the Lexus LS600hL and Cadillac XLR which rolled through largely unnoticed in spite of their high-dollar appointments and window stickers. The A8 feels like old money, no small feat for a manufacturer that’s not British, and its confident brand of luxury is evident even to non-car people, at least from the inside.
“Old money” means “comfortable money” as well, so the A8 doesn’t feel the need to show off at the curb. The styling is reserved for a six-figure vehicle; the expensive bits are mostly underneath, and at a glance the A8 looks like little more than a stretched A6. The Audi-neutral styling is set apart by flashy twenty-inch wheels and a large-framed grille with bolder vertical bars that dips into the bumper line like that of the R8 and other high-performance Audis. Taillights are LED units, and turn signal repeaters are located in the sideview mirrors.
Inside, the A8 is bank-vault solid and library-silent. It’ll only hold four passengers, but that just ensures that each of them can be properly cared for, with heated and cooled 16-way adjustable front seats, vanity mirrors with a magnifying feature, four-zone climate control, reclining rear seats, and even a massage function for the front seats. The large consoles are trimmed with wood front and rear. The advanced Bang & Olufsen sound system, a $6300 option, is one of the most visually exciting ones out there, with tweeter units that rise out of the dash when the car is started. The presentation is of course only the icing on the fantastic sound quality.
The Multi-Media Interface (MMI) information screen flips up out of the dash, where it’s protected by a matching wood cover when the A8 is idle. Of the multi-disciplined infotainment systems available in many high-end German cars, Audi’s MMI’s turn-and-push knob and simple function keys make it the easiest to use, and possibly the most intuitive. On the road, the A8′s available Lane Assist and Side Assist systems warn of vehicles traveling in the car’s blind spots with a yellow light in the side-view mirrors. A power trunklid and rear sun shades are must-haves in this class, and the A8 has them.
The 6.0 liter W12 engine provides 450 horsepower, because there’s not much point in spending this much money for a car that can’t get out of its own way. On the road, the A8 flies like a ground-bound corporate jet, accelerating with very little drama or effort. When competitors like the Lexus LS600hL are feeling like they’re working hard, the A8 just ghosts quietly along without fanfare. Like many large German sedans, this car is at home on the freeway. The unique W layout of the engine results in a very compact and strong powerplant. A six-speed automatic transmission with Tiptronic manual-shift function is standard, as is all-wheel drive. It is an Audi, after all.
Handling is confident, and the A8 reacts like a car much smaller than it is. The four-link front, trapezoidal link rear suspension is coupled with fully pneumatic struts. The adaptive air suspension has been upgraded, to improve this big car’s response. The ride is fantastic, even on Detroit’s Berlin-circa-1945-like roads, as the A8 is better able to filter out the smaller imperfections in the road. Larger, car-eating potholes are easily dodged thanks to improved variable ratio power steering with better road feel and responsiveness. Big-calipered, anti-lock brakes bring this almost 4800-pound car down from speed in a hurry, but without much fanfare or drama thanks to the integrated stability control. Everything about the A8 is confident and relaxed.
There aren’t too many ways to spend six figures on a luxury sedan, so the A8 has to stand out in an already impressive crowd. It doesn’t have the crowd-stopping looks of a Bentley or a big BMW, or the overt technological wizardry of a Lexus, but Audi does put on a very satisfying show. It’s arguably easier to live with than those cars as well, providing over-the-top luxury features in a package that’s not too precious to drive on lowly errands. Whether you’re driving or being driven, the A8 is a good way to spend $140,000 on four-passenger luxury. A8 prices start at $120,100; after adding the Bang & Olufsen sound system, leather appointments, adaptive cruise control, gas guzzler tax and Audi Lane Assist, my tester stickered for $140,425.
Specifications:
All specs are for the 2008 Audi A8
Length: 204.4 in.
Width: 74.6 in.
Height: 57.3 in.
Wheelbase: 121.0 in.
Curb weight: 4729 lb.
Cargo space: 14.6 cu.ft.
Base price: $120,100
Price as tested: $140,425
Engine: 6.0 liter DOHC W12
Drivetrain: six-speed automatic, all-wheel drive
Horsepower: 450 @ 6200
Torque: 428 @ 4000-4700
Fuel capacity: 23.8 gal.
Est. mileage: 13/19
NAIAS blues.
01270 days
by Emmy Jackson
in Editorial
Another week begins, and with it the news that yet more manufacturers are pulling out of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. This is a tremendous shame, though not altogether a surprise. Detroit is my hometown and thus I consider it my home show. It’s been the biggest auto show this side of the Atlantic for years, and that’s always been a point of pride, but truth be told, it’s no surprise that things are faltering.
The economy is only the tip of the iceberg, of course. In recent years, Detroit has become an extravagant, gotta-outdo-the-Joneses affair, with huge, flashy media presentations. General Motors built its own stage and took over half of the show floor. Ford upped the ante with pyrotechnics and elaborately staged vehicle reveals. Chrysler took things over the top (often literally) with A-list celebrity presenters and stage productions that would make any Broadway show jealous. Detroit was the show where your company’s CEO practically had to set himself on fire just to get anyone’s attention. With several thousand journalists from around the world in attendance, easily twice that number of corporate shills, and events happening every twenty minutes for three days solid, Detroit was a marathon, exciting and chock-full of information but not quite as much fun as the media days at many other shows.
No doubt it was expensive as well. As the flash went up, the return for one’s investment went down. This was evident even before the industry’s recent downturn, with Porsche electing not to get lost in the shuffle and withdrawing from the show in 2008. Nissan chose to do its big reveals offsite at its local tech center several days before the madness of the media days began, explaining that it got “more bang for its buck” by inviting a smaller group of journalists to its place instead of trying to compete with the fireworks on the show floor.
Many journalists had expressed similar sentiments in recent years: Detroit was too busy and rushed to actually get anything done, the hangers-on and publicity whores outnumbered the actual significant people, and on top of that, most of the people in the civilized world actually aren’t interested in visiting Detroit. This pains me, of course, since I love what’s left of the city with all my heart, but it’s true: the Motor City in January is a dismal, cold, gray place. Detroit in January hates you, and it’s not afraid to say so to your face. Native Detroiters are actually kinda proud of this fact, but it doesn’t make the seasoned world travelers inured to the attendant glamor of New York City, Milan, Paris and Geneva eager to hop on a plane to get to Cobo Hall in time to see what Chrysler’s going to blow up this year.
The city itself hasn’t done much to offset its forbidding weather and malaise-filled atmosphere either, but I’m not getting into all the drama surrounding the long-delayed Cobo Hall expansion project here.
The upshot of all this is, now that the economy is in a massive tailspin, folks are looking for ways to cut costs, and the North American International Auto Show’s got a great big target on its back. Suzuki, Land Rover and Mitsubishi opted out. The smaller brands have always had trouble getting attention in Detroit, thanks to the double whammy of being “furrin’” brands in the middle of Buy American Central and not having the straight-up cash to compete with the monstrously expensive displays of the bigger corporations. The strategy of making a bigger splash at the smaller shows, like New York and Chicago, is smarter for these guys. Ferrari called it quits on Detroit, too, but their presence was always a snobbish and condescending one anyhow, so we won’t miss them much. Nissan and Infiniti have announced they won’t attend either–last year’s off-site experiment was successful, and they’ll be doing it again. And now Honda’s called its press conference off, too. The new Insight will still debut in Detroit, but there won’t be any talking robots or dancing girls to introduce it.
In some ways, Ford, GM and Chrysler have done such a good job of causing a scene in Detroit, year after year, that everyone else is just going home. Why should Nissan bother to show up with its new heavy-duty truck, or Audi unveil the new Q5, when all anyone’s going to remember is that Ford spent three million dollars to build a transforming robot out of the new F-150 and used it to destroy a Starbuck’s?
It’s a gloomy thought, but it’s true. Even gloomier is the fact that many of the departing manufacturers may not come back even if the economy rebounds in 2010. Once folks have discovered that they can still get their news out without the North American International Auto Show, what’s the point of putting the expensive affair back on the calendar? There’s a good chance that 2008 was Detroit’s last year as a prime stop on the auto show circuit.
That’s a shame. In fact, it sucks. The last thing my city needs is yet another kick in the ribs while it’s already down, and I always enjoyed the opportunity to show off “my town” to the folks from around the world, even if my town frequently embarrassed me in the process. The North American International Auto Show has been a part of my life since I was a child, and it depresses me to watch it die.