“SOLD!” Attending my first classic-car auction

Car enthusiasts and collectors from around the globe have gathered en masse in Monterey, California, for the sixty-first Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance this weekend. One­—or rather, five—of the biggest attractions are the various accompanying auctions that blanket the Monterey Peninsula from today through Sunday, from the likes of Bonhams, Gooding & Company, Mecum Auctions, RM Auctions, and Russo and Steele.

A few weeks ago, I attended my first-ever vintage-car auction at The Inn at Saint John’s, an RM-sanctioned sale that was paired with the inaugural Concours d’Elegance of America in Plymouth, Michigan, an event that was formerly held at Meadow Brook Hall in nearby Rochester.

The strangest and perhaps most interesting car on offer was a 1939 Pontiac whose body panels were constructed exclusively of Plexiglas. This truly unique ride sold for $308,000 and even got some coverage in mass media such as NPR, Yahoo!, and the New York Times. But what impressed me the most was the RM staff’s extreme efficiency at keeping the cars moving across the block. The first car, an fairly unremarkable 1976 Cadillac Fleetwood, drove into the Grande Ballroom through wide double doors, immediately up a short ramp, and onto the stage. As soon as the car was centered on the turntable, its driver keyed it off so that its engine didn’t add to the commotion in the room or drown out the auctioneer’s voice. The Cadillac spun 180 degrees on the turntable and was soon pushed—by four or five workers—off the stage and downhill on the same ramp. Only once it had rolled outside did its driver restart the engine so he could pilot it to a parking spot under a large outdoor tent. As soon as the Cadillac was hammered SOLD—bidding usually continues after the car has left the room—the next offering (a 1974 Triumph TR6) was placed into first gear and swiftly driven into the building and up onto the same stage. That process happened about seventy more times with different cars over the course of the next few hours.

Most auction attendees probably don’t pay too much attention to the staging process, though, because auctioneer Max Girardo is so adept at getting and holding people’s attention. This Australian doesn’t use the double-speak that I’m familiar with hearing at farm and estate sales in rural Michigan. Instead, he speaks the bids slowly and clearly, a cheerleaderlike permasmile on his face, filling the pauses with amusing (and lightheartedly pressuring) comments like these:

“Let’s say $50,000—we’re all behind you!”

“Go on—I dare you!”

“Don’t stop bidding … why would you want to do that?!”

“Bid to your happiness!”

“I would bid again if I was you, sir.”

“I want you to have it. You deserve to have it!”

“The phones are winning. They’re leaving you behind!”

“It’s gotta be worth that … ”

“Why not? Do it!”

“It’s worth your while—I guarantee it!”

“Don’t say ‘no’ today.”

“It’s slipping away from you, sir.”

“It’s only $25,000—forget the million bit.”

Check out the December issue of Automobile Magazine—on sale around Halloween—for contributor Dave Kinney’s extensive report on the auction results at Pebble Beach. He’ll cover the Saint John’s sale in our November issue.

While at the RM Auction, I ran into Hagerty's Jonathan Klinger, whose 1930 Ford Model A is the subject of 365daysofa.com and was featured in our July 2011 issue. I enjoyed driving it around the parking lot but wished I had more time and space to get the hang of nonsynchro shifting into second or third gear.

The top seller at Saint John’s was this 1932 Packard Twin Six Individual Custom Convertible, which sold for $1.1 million The obligatory Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing, in this case a 1955 model that sold for $676,500 The 1939 Pontiac ‘Ghost Car’ back in the day 1939 Pontiac Deluxe Six “Ghost Car,” before the auction
The Pontiac “Ghost Car” goes across the block Auctioneer Max Girardo (left) is often a blur at the RM Auctions podium A 1954 Kaiser-Darrin drives up onto the stage The Kaiser-Darrin rolls out of the ballroom, making room for the next car in line
A 1951 Jaguar XK120 gets ready to enter the ballroom Some already-offered cars staged beneath the Grande Ballroom awning at the Inn at Saint John’s The staging area outside the RM Auction, including cars, tent, and trailer While at the RM Auction, I ran into Hagerty’s Jonathan Klinger, whose 1930 Ford Model A is the subject of 365daysofa.com and was featured in our July 2011 issue. I enjoyed driving it around the parking lot but wished I had more time and space to get the hang of nonsynchro shifting into second or third gear.

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Frankfurt 2011: Our Favorite Finds — Jason Cammisa

Our editors have been plenty busy scouring the show floor of the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show — but in between running to and from press conferences and battling spotty Wi-Fi connections, they picked their three favorite concept and production cars at the show.

Jason Cammisa, West Coast Editor

Peugeot HX-1

Yes I’m a sucker for wagons but that’s not why I picked the Peugeot. I picked it because I about fell over when I saw it. It’s gorgeous. And while I’m intrigued that it has either two or three rows of seats and is only as tall as my knees, the truth is that none of that matters. The French once designed the most beautiful car in the world (Citroën DS, I’m talking to you) and I think it’s about time a car makes the world stop and stare again. This one could do it.

Ford Evos

The Evos shows like less of a new design language than an evolution of Kinetic design but let’s face it – the Kinetic cars are pretty darn hot. And I think we’ll look back at this car (and the similar looking Jaguar XJ) as the beginning of the end of enormous headlights. Of which, ironically, the bigger offenders were the original Kinetic cars. Three cheers for irony, especially when it looks so good.

BMW i8

Amidst all the bad news about terrorism and economic collapse and pollution here’s some good news. This is what I want my future to look like.

PRODUCTION CARS

Porsche 911

I don’t care that you can’t tell it apart from the last 911. That’s the point. It’s a 911 and this is what a 911 looks like.  Except the back looks concept-car awesome. And let’s be honest-that’s what you’ll be seeing after it blows by you.

Mazda CX-5

I haven’t yet seen my co-workers’ choices but im guessing I’m alone in my nomination of the new Mazda crossover as a favorite. I like the CX-5 because it’s cute without looking cheap, it has boatloads of room inside, and if it’s anything like Mazda’s existing crossovers, it’ll be best-in-class to drive. But above all, it doesn’t smack you in the face with a stupid smile.

Volkswagen Beetle R

OK, so VW calls it a concept, but c’mon — this is clearly a preview of an upcoming production model. As for the car itself? If TV’s Carson Cressly, made famous by being the least manly of the Queer Eyes guys, suddenly became a professional boxer and beat Mike Tyson into a persistent vegetative state, you’d root for him too. ‘Nuff said.

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A Heavy-Duty Perspective

Amidst the usual stream of crossovers, sedans, and two-doors passing through the Automobile Magazine garage, a heavy-duty truck is an anomaly. The slow steering, the graceless ride, and the hard-shifting transmission are strange qualities for a modern four-wheeled vehicle, even if they are the designed-in traits of massive capability. Every time we drive a heavy-duty pickup, we’re keenly aware that this segment requires a unique mindset more so than a minivan, a Ferrari, or a Can-Am Spyder. Actually, no. There’s nothing more queer than a three-wheeler. Even so, a little perspective on the heavy-duty truck is always helpful in evaluating these brutes.

To that end, I was grateful for the four-day span during which I split time between a Ford F-250 Super Duty and a hairy commercial truck. The Ford’s foil, a twenty-foot box truck, wasn’t just a U-Haul emblazoned with come-ons to the motoring middle class (Air conditioning! Automatic transmission! Lowest load deck!), but an International chassis-cab complete with an air-suspension driver’s seat, a six-speed crash box, and a hydraulic lift.

Before I could drive the International, I had to rent it. And that proved to be nearly as entertaining as getting behind the wheel. If reality TV ever becomes so desperate that it takes interest in the dynamic truck rental scene, Mike at Star Truck Rentals will undoubtedly land on the cast. He is loud, cheerful, and animated, with a Midwestern friendliness that could be confused for naïveté. Insurance on the truck will cost 29 percent, he informs me but it’s never totally clear 29 percent of what. When I ask him if that covers just the listed driver or anyone, he answers by clapping his hands over his ears and singing like a child: “LA LA LA!” But the most interesting exchange with Mike, who has a mustache as wide as his glasses, comes when I ask him whether I need to fill the truck’s fuel tank before I return it.

Mike advises: “If you put any diesel in it, bring me a receipt, because this is a CDL vehicle.”

“I don’t have a CDL. Is that a problem?”

“Not if you bring me the gas receipts.”

Having completed Mike’s version of commercial driver training, I’m now qualified to drive the rented rig. I’m not sure what exactly is under the hood, but it is most definitely a diesel and it creates a soundtrack clearly intended to mask how slow it is. The usable power band stretches from 1500 to just 2500 rpm, at which point power doesn’t just taper off, it instantly evaporates. Acceleration doesn’t exist at anything less than full throttle and even then I still find myself apologizing to those behind me as I lead parades of traffic through every intersection. The anxiety of driving such a slow vehicle puts me on edge such that I feel the need to hurry everything I can control. I’m hyper attentive to changing traffic lights, I’m reluctant to slow to recommended speeds for curves, and I feel the need to execute gear changes like I’m running a quarter-mile. That last effort is, of course, exactly the wrong move. The International’s manual gearbox is an unsynchronized, sliding-mesh affair, which is to say each shift requires patience and a touch of finesse to perform smoothly. Instead, I’m hurrying through shifts–grinding, grinding, grinding–until the three-foot long stick finally falls into place and the transmission clunks into second. I eventually get a hang of the shift technique, but I never quite master the wooden brake pedal, which has neither travel nor feel. Consequently, every stop starts and ends with an abrupt lurch.

All of this turns out to be great, novel fun. It also greatly skews my perspective of the F-250. When did Rolls-Royce start building pickup trucks? The driver’s seat adjustment in the International doesn’t work, so I’m constantly pounding against the bottom of the seat’s travel. And in contrast with that, the Ford feels utterly limo-like. Things get even better once I  load 600 pounds of water into the bed, introducing some weight to the stout rear leaf springs. The F-250 uses a 6.7-liter, turbo-diesel V-8 with a stratospheric 4200-rpm fuel cutoff and can punch out 800 lb-ft of torque at just 1600 rpm. Apologies are now in order for every driver that I embarrassed at each stoplight. Then there’s the six-speed automatic, which now presents itself as soft and tame compared to the surly manual in the International. In conjunction with comfort features like dual-zone climate control, heated and ventilated front seats, and satellite radio, the Super Duty’s civility is actually quite shocking. Compared to a commercial truck, the Super Duty is a common passenger vehicle. But compared to a car, it’s not just any passenger vehicle–it’s one with a 14,000-pound towing capacity and 3190-pound maximum payload.

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Pagani Huayra Makes its U.S. Debut in Los Angeles

What really gets me about the Pagani Huayra are the leaf-like side mirrors, glancing away from the bodywork like errant shots on goal. These flourishes are within the European artistic tradition, bringing to mind Picasso’s crazy faces or Modigliani’s stretched women. When everybody else is trying to make mirrors disappear for aerodynamic purposes, replacing them with rear-facing video cameras, Horacio Pagani, a short guy with a great head of silver hair and a penchant for quoting Leonardo da Vinci, comes along and sticks out mirrors so they can cleanse California hillsides of skateboarders.

Of course, the rest of the Huayra really gets me, too. First of all, there’s the fact that the name Huayra is pronounced “WHY-ra,” as if someone’s challenging the Egyptian deity. As it turns out, although the car is made in Modena, using up a lot of electricity to bake its carbon fiber chassis, Pagani himself is originally from Argentina, where he would’ve learned about the Andean god of wind, Huayra Tata.

Rather than Huayra commanding the waters of Lake Titicaca to rain down upon the parched earth, what we got Thursday at the mid-engine supercar’s North American debut at Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design was a good, close look at one of the most OCD roadburners this side of a Chip Foose streetrod.

While the exterior suggests snippets of McLaren and Panoz, the cockpit and engine bay offer more originality. Specifically, the instrument panel suggests the cosmic pileup between a Wurlitzer jukebox and a jewelry shop. And the powerplant, a twin-turbo 6.0-liter V-12 supplied by Mercedes-AMG, seems to have been commissioned by a Medici prince.

Reading about the Huayra, which made its debut last March at Geneva, you’re probably asking: How much power, how fast, and how much moola?

Answers: more than 700 hp and 230 mph, and as high as $1.4 million if instead of paint you want the all-carbon finish, which takes an extra three weeks to perfect.

The first Huayra is said to be destined for a Swiss buyer this November. (Why do Swiss buyers always emerge in situations like this?) Certification for U.S. sales is under way, and deliveries are expected in 2012.

Pagani’s staff of sixty can produce thirty or so of these cars per year. With two American dealers so far, both in California, don’t expect to see a Huayra on the street anytime soon unless you live in Beverly Hills or Sausalito. But Pagani asserts that with his company’s independence, the support it receives from important technical partners, and its integrated operations, the seven years he’s put into the Huayra will pay off. Whereas other boutique manufacturers may think that computer-controlled devices can grind out perfection, Pagani’s point is that extraordinarily good artistic taste, like Leonardo’s, is part of the formula, too.

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BaT Fortnight Favorite: 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302 and Ford C-800 hauler—Trans-Am tribute

If the prospect of owning this Boss 302 Trans-Am race car and complementary cab-over Ford flatbed doesn’t give you chills, you’re not human, as far as I’m concerned. Bringatrailer.com recently dredged up the matching set, which was carefully built to replicate the car that won the historic 1970 Trans-Am championship and the truck that hauled it. The Mustang is a real Boss 302 that was restored to full racing specification, with some concessions to modern technology. The Caterpillar-powered, 1986-vintage hauler lived most of its life as a fire truck in Pennsylvania before it was shipped to California for restoration and the addition of the ramped bed. The pair is being offered on boss302.com for $145,000—or $60,000 for the truck only.

That’s a whole lot of money, but these flashy Fords would give you serious star power at most car shows, in addition to offering a great conveyance for satisfying your track-day fix. Plus, a car with real Parnelli Jones racing provenance would likely cost hundreds of thousands more than this and be impossible to replace. The car is particularly cool because the legendary Jones drove it for famous team owner Bud Moore, not to mention the fact that the eleven-race ’70 Trans-Am season probably represents the absolute high-water mark in American road-racing history, as all domestic manufacturers fielded serious entries—and many big-name drivers competed—in the over-two-liter class.

I’m usually interested in old cars that are easily usable on the street—a description that fits neither of these vehicles—but this orange twosome is just too awesome to ignore, even as simple eye candy. Many commenters on BaT testified to the quality of creator Les Werling’s work, too, and our sister publication, Mustang Monthly, published this interesting feature story on the pair of Fords in August 2009.

Race-car haulers are hot right now, by the way. Bringatrailer also recently featured this 1959 British Motor Corporation transporter and this 1950 International and trailer that’s painted to look like it once ferried esteemed European marques to and from the track. And a couple years ago, our own Preston Lerner dove into this story of an enchanting Fiat transporter that shuttled Scarab racing cars during the 1960 Formula 1 season.

Honorable Mentions
Finalists for my favorite BaT car from July 1 through July 16 include the following, ranked from most tantalizing to least:

1. 1972 Chevrolet Townsman wagon
It’s hard to resist a good-ole American station wagon, especially one this nice, clean, and green (and I’m not talking about fuel economy). A good price and a fancy disappearing tailgate helped put this Bel Air wagon at the top of my list of also-rans.

2. 1954 Lotus Mark VI
It’s not often that you see genuine early Lotuses for sale, and this enticing Mark VI was offered for just $39,000 on a somewhat obscure Utah news site. The Mark VI was the first “production” Lotus; about 110 were built from 1952 through 1955.

3. 1974 Dodge D100 pickup
The Mopar guy in me loved this California-clean truck from the moment I clicked on it. The stick shift, pale green paint, and mild engine mods ensured its high spot on my list—and in my heart.

4. 1966 Sunbeam Imp
I very seriously considered buying this Imp before I decided to purchase my 1967 MGB/GT in 2007. The problem with Imps, though, is that there just aren’t very many of them out there, especially in North America. If this $2500 car hadn’t been full of Bondo, as reported, I might’ve had to make a trip to Ontario to check it out.

5. 1965 Ford Cortina V-8
A Cortina was another model that I seriously lusted after when I was in the market a few years back. I’m not usually a fan of engine swaps, but this car seems like it would be ridiculously fun—and loud enough to drown out the purist in me.

Previous Fortnight Favorites
1. Early April 2011: 1965 Austin Mini Cooper S
2. Late April 2011: 1959 MGA Twin Car race car
3. Early May 2011: 1964 Ford Falcon station wagon
4. Late May 2011: 1966 Chrysler Newport convertible
5. Early June 2011: 1960 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint coupe
6. Late June 2011: 1964 Porsche 356SC coupe

Subscribe?
If you’re not as committed to daydreaming about old cars as I am, check out my semimonthly blog, where I select my favorite Bringatrailer.com car of the past couple weeks. If you want to stay fully up-to-date on what the old-car buffs are discussing, subscribe to BaT’s daily email blast of a wide assortment of old cars for sale and visit automobilemag.com every so often to learn what cars I like best. And feel free to share your thoughts—and your own favorites—in the comments section below.

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BMW is making a 335is sedan! But where’s the 335i Touring?

So apparently I’m out of the loop, but I didn’t realize that BMW was making a sedan version of the 335is. Okay, so it’s not called the 335is – it’s called the BMW Performance Edition 335i.

It’s even available with four-wheel drive, as the 335i xDrive Performance Edition. To get it, you need to order your 335i sedan with either the Sport Pack (ZCP) or the M Sport Pack (ZMP) and then add ordering code is ZMZ. So add “E90 ZMZ” to your internal lexicon of cool BMW codes along with things like the old E46 ZHP .

Anyway, it gets 20 hp and 17 lb-ft of torque more than the regular 335i (or 32 lb-ft if you’re nuts and buy the automatic.) According to BMW, that’s good enough for 0.2 seconds off the 0-60 mph sprint.

Best of all, the ZMZ package adds only $550 to the MSRP. Okay, so that’s not quite as potent as the 335is’ engine (which gets temporary overboost for another 37 lb-ft of torque – on top of the 32 lb-ft – with the stick) but the 335i sedan uses the new N55 single-turbo engine. The 335is uses the old twin-turbo unit. Whatevz, either way, it’s hot.

The only problem? Where is the damn 335i Touring? I’m so sick of people asking me why BMW won’t build one — and I used to be able to answer “because the company doesn’t want to step on 5-series wagon sales.” Well, now there is no 5-series Touring! I’ve heard company spokespeople pull every excuse out of their hats, but if BMW wants to sell 3-series wagons to enthusiasts, it’s going to have to put the “big” engine in there. Don’t believe me, BMW? Make a 335i or 335Xi Touring and watch your 3-series wagon sales double.

So yes, I’m thrilled that 335i sedan buyers can get a couple extra horsepower from the factory. But come on BMW, pay attention! Nobody asked for (and nobody’s buying) the 5-series GT. Your old wagon customers are walking over to the Mercedes dealer and buying E-Class wagons. So how about you through your 3-series Touring buyers a bone?

Jason Cammisa on July 17 2011 11:49 PM

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A poem for those who have never driven an Aston.

There are those who think this nameplate is called “Austin Martin.”

There are those who criticize Aston for making endless variations of sports cars with the same basic design. Who can’t tell a DB9 from a DBS from a Rapide from a Vantage from… the Virage.

There are those who don’t understand why you haven’t actually lived until you’ve driven a sports car with twelve cylinders.

There are those who think Perfect Steering doesn’t exist.

Sadly, those are those who have never driven an Aston Martin. I’ve been swooned by Ferraris, enchanted by Lamborghinis, beguiled by Bugattis, and coddled by a Bentley or two. But every time I drive an Aston Martin, I remember what it’s like to be swept off my feet.

And what the hell am I doing in the trunk?

Jason Cammisa on September 1 2011 3:55 PM

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Frankfurt 2011: Our Favorite Finds — Robert Cumberford

Our editors have been plenty busy scouring the show floor of the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show — but in between running to and from press conferences and battling spotty Wi-Fi connections, they picked their three favorite concept and production cars at the show.

Robert Cumberford, Automotive Design Editor

CONCEPT CARS

Ford Evos

Not really a car, rather a direction forward for Ford styling. It’s much cleaner, simpler and elegant than recent mainstream Fords, and promises a set of products from Mustang to big SUVs that have a certain coherence and company identity. Let’s just hope they don’t use the same set of cues for Lincoln, too.

Citroën Tubik

Not a chance in hell that we’ll see a production derivative, but this is a  funny, nostalgic and yet forward-looking concept. I sat in it, found it really agreeable and think the whole notion of enjoying the trip rather than focusing on the destination a fine idea for a concept. Funky and fun.

BMW i8

When this compact four seater comes to market it’s not likely to retain transparent side panels, but it will still be the production car closest to a far-out concept available to the public. Dramatic, practical and ecologically correct, it recalls what BMW is supposed to be.

PRODUCTION CARS

Citroën DS 5

After a long period of fumbling and missing the mark, Citroën has come back with one of the most elaborately thought-out and well-executed interiors in the business. Fit, function and finish are exemplary, impressing every designer I talked with in Frankfurt. A nice surprise.

Volkswagen Up

The simplicity of form, clarity of purpose, and promise of accessible pricing make this new VW the true successor of the original Beetle. I suspect it will cannibalize sales of the Polo and Golf, but will also make life difficult for all Asian and European competitors. It has been a long time coming, forty years after the Porsche-designed, engine-under-the-back seat.

Porsche 911

Yes, it’s important, and many valuable changes have been made, but the appearance is frankly disappointing, far too slavishly following past practice. But being faster, lighter and less apt to catch out unprepared drivers is certainly praiseworthy. And of course its success is preordained.

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Postcards from: the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix

Thousands of spectators, hundreds of show cars, and dozens of vintage racing cars endured extreme heat and humidity in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, over the weekend during the twenty-ninth annual Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix (PVGP), which benefits the Autism Society of Pittsburgh and Allegheny Valley School. I sweated along with everyone else at Schenley Park to bring you the following gallery of postcards (of varying quality) from my trip: An Alfa Romeo GTV and a Ford Lotus Cortina lead the Under 2.5 Litre class out of turn 15. Besides Monte Carlo, this is the only vintage race course that utilizes public roads. (As a matter of fact, Automobile Magazine West Coast editor Jason Cammisa used much of the twenty-two-turn, 2.3-mile track as his own personal drifting course while he was in college.)

A 1964 Fiat Abarth and a 1958 Austin-Healey Sprite staged an entertaining battle in the Under 1 Litre class race. Here the Bugeye chases the Abarth toward turn 14.

A 1962 Lotus 23B was the only fendered car I saw in the vintage sports racer class on Sunday. Here, the car approaches turn 13.

I trailered New York bureau chief Jamie Kitman’s newest acquisition, a peach/pink 1958 Ford Anglia 101E, to Pittsburgh behind a Ram 3500 dualie (more on that experience in a future blog). Before delivering the sweet Anglia to the garage of a Kitman relative, I parked it in the British section of the car show, where it was surrounded by MGs and Jaguars.

Porsche was the feature marque this year. Specialty Cars’ replica of a 1974 911, from the premiere season of the now-defunct IROC racing series, was probably my favorite.

This dazzling 1957 Morris Minor 1000 Traveler, which belongs to David Hennessey, represented its marque incredibly well.

This cool tool kit hides beneath the passenger seat of Thomas Vreeland’s 1936 Rolls-Royce Phantom III.

This gorgeous 1938 HRG coupe didn’t make it onto the track for the prerace parade, but it was a knockout nonetheless. It’s the only coupe ever built by HRG, a British company that managed to squeeze out a mere 241 vehicles between 1935 and 1956.

The PVGP show field featured a very wide variety of cars. Case in point: an Isuzu VehiCross and a customized Honda Civic. At least the Pittsburgh skyline is attractive …

The Oscar Mayer Weinermobile was on-hand, parked near a giant cow that loomed over the heaven-sent Turkey Hill tent, where spectators could cool off with a free sample of ice cream.

The owner of this Ferrari 330 had a very bad day.

Many Pittsburghers just happened upon the free-admission show, including a bicyclist who admired this 1969 Saab Sonett. Look closely: there’s a brand-new Mini Coupe in the background.

Paul Wegweiser’s 1972 BMW 2002tii caught my attention for its highly worn condition. Earlier this year, Paul pulled his Bimmer out of a Pennsylvania barn, where it had deteriorated since 1994. Since then, he’s gone through it mechanically, and he now drives it regularly and isn’t afraid to take it on long road trips. And he has no plans to clean it up cosmetically. Good for him!

Volkswagen owners love to travel!

American cars were outnumbered on the show field (even more so on the racetrack). Al Friend’s sharp 1964 Chevrolet Corvair—and its clever license plate—elicited many smiles, however.

I spent a lot of time talking to Robert Suhr, whose uncommon labor of love is this 1983 Dodge Omni. This car has fewer than 30,000 miles and has been cosmetically restored. I particularly loved it because it’s the same color as my parents’ 1985 Omni, the first new car I ever knew.

I told you this show had variety. Here’s a 1988 Zimmer Golden Spirit parked next to a Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe from the same year.

I saw this cherry 1960 Chevrolet Kingswood pull in from across the park and had to go in for a closer look.

A number of concours winners graced the Schenley Park grounds on Sunday. Here are the engine-bay vents of Sandy Bennett’s 1932 Franklin Model 163 ...

… and here’s the steering-wheel center of Phil Deakin’s 1950 Jeepster.

Suzuki was a highly visible sponsor—and also our generous host—at the event. The Kizashi Kicks Road Tour was a fairly popular attraction at the PVGP, which likely will be the only car-focused event that the tour will visit during its eight-event schedule this summer. Consumers had a chance to test-drive a Kizashi, an Audi A4, and a Hyundai Sonata on a nearby off-site autocross course as well as poke around sample models of the entire Suzuki lineup. Suzuki recently jettisoned a sizable chunk of its dealer network, but Pennsylvania apparently remains one of the brand’s best markets for car sales. Many other carmakers also had a solid presence at the PVGP—most notably Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Ford, Lotus, Mini, Porsche, Subaru, and Volkswagen—largely thanks to the efforts of local dealers.

I got a brief ride on the motorized sofa like that from the Suzuki commercial; unlike the furniture in the ad, this version is battery-powered. Suzuki’s “first all-electric vehicle” is honestly one of the most comfortable couches I’ve ever lounged on, although the seatbelts and central steering wheel complicate things a bit. Both roadholding and acceleration are good enough to send your beer bottle sliding off the edge of the integral coffee table.

I also had a chance to drive a Japanese-market Suzuki Wagon R on the autocross course. It’s not fast, but its small size makes it quite nimble, as you’d expect. Americans seem intrigued by cars like this, but our buying habits—and crash-safety and emissions standards—have made them irrelevant in our market. Perhaps new fuel-mileage standards will reshape the automotive landscape enough to make Suzuki—the top worldwide player in the microcar segment—bigger in the States.

At the PVGP, Suzuki also had a little-bitty Lapin on display. It went out on the racetrack during Sunday’s prerace parade, sandwiched between a Ferrari and a Mercedes-Benz.

Rusty Blackwell on July 25 2011 3:54 PM

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2011 Nissan Leaf: Charging Forward, One Quarter-Mile At A Time

No, I don’t think the 2011 Nissan Leaf is a hot hatch, or anything close to a serious performance machine. But after spending a week behind the wheel and fighting my lead foot to extend my range, I wanted a chance to see what it could do when the pedal was placed to the floor.

Luckily enough, Leaf keys were thrown my way on a Wednesday, which is when Milan Dragway holds its weekly test-and-tune night. Plop down $25, sign a few liability waivers, and you can squeeze in as many passes down the quarter-mile strip as time; weather; and in my case, battery charge levels allow. Just make sure to put a big “n/a” in the field that asks for your engine displacement if you show up with an EV.

Any qualms about trying to get an electric vehicle through tech inspections are soon negated. “Interesting,” the tech official said. “We haven’t seen a Leaf out here quite yet.” The bulbous hatchback’s profile and conspicuous silence draw stares, but no one asks why I’d try and run the thing. I’m only asked if it’ll make a smoky burnout. Well, no — partially because I forget to deactivate traction control.

The bulky Chevy sedan next to me faults and leaves the line early, but I don’t care — I’m mainly interested in just how quickly the Leaf goes from point A to point B. The electric motor feels strong until you get above 55 mph; from there on out, it seems as if the torque disappears and speedometer hangs in the 60- and 70-mph range for eternity. The ET slip seems to confirm this…

CAR 227

Reaction: .7800 (I know, I know; I need more practice…)60 ft: 2.6 seconds330 ft: 7.2539 seconds1/8 mile: 11.1759 seconds at 61.63 mph1000': 14.6098 seconds at 70.90 mph1/4 mile: 17.5428  at 75.64 mph

Well, that’s a little better than what I expected; I’d heard rumblings quarter-mile times of 18 seconds or so, though I’ve also seen some journalists have whittled that down to about 17.3 seconds. I’d have liked a few more runs, but Mother Nature whipped up a thunderstorm and rained out the rest of the session. Perhaps another time.

Drag strip metrics for EVs aren’t relevant for any real-world user, but I did have a chance to use the Leaf with an accessory that is. During my week with the car, I charged the Leaf either with the OEM 120- or 240-volt chargers, or Chargepoint’s 240-volt station. This time around, I found a public station — operated by DTE Energy — to recharge in nearby Saline, Michigan, but it featured a new charger design from supplier giant Eaton.

I stayed overnight at a friend’s place in the area, allowing the Leaf to remain plugged in for several hours. Although the charger did its job, I’m not all that blown away by this particular design, especially when compared to Chargepoint’s device. Unlike that one, Eaton’s device provides  no relevant information (i.e. time plugged in, kWh consumed during the charge, etc.) to the user, either by way of a display screen or by remote messaging.  That could be an issue — while Chargepoint’s stations notify users of a disconnect or if a fault occurred, I had no way of checking into why the Eaton charger displayed a red service tell-tale when I arrived the next morning.

Minor bugs, but I sincerely hope as local utility companies decide to deploy more EV charge stations, they consider turning to Chargepoint. Heck, DTE already has in Ann Arbor…

Photos courtesy of Chris Zavicar

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Franco-Folly Fun

Today there was a funny, funky small-town, small-time Concours d’Elégance in the tourist-filled small medieval city near our home in southwestern France. It’s an event that takes place every two years. As this was the 11th, it must have been going on since 1989 without me particularly noticing, but this time I had a couple of invitations from locals who know that I “have something to do with cars.” Held in the Jardin des Plantiers, a public park in Sarlat, up the hill behind the Palace of Justice, a nice venue where part of the Festival des jeux du théâtre, now in its 60th year, is also held, it was quite charming and surprisingly evocative.

I am always amazed when I see a real Bugatti in the street, being used as normal transport, but to see several Type 37s running in modern traffic along with half a dozen Amilcars and Thirties MGs is absolutely staggering. Toss in a few Delages from the early twentieth century and you have a spectacle that not even Pebble Beach can quite equal. All the cars in the garden are privately owned by people who are not billionaires, nor even simple millionaires, just happy enthusiasts who have acquired and maintained cars that would inflame the desires of American collectors and inspire auction houses if they knew they existed.

In the Twenties and Thirties there were two French licencees for the Morgan three-wheeler, the Darmont-Morgan and the Sandford. There was one of each in Sarlat today, both beautifully restored (or maintained, I didn’t ask the drivers who were eager to leave the park, scoot around town and then come back to the park to bask in admiration from the several thousand spectators. They were fine, as was the rare Marcos, the superb Twenties Vauxhall (The BMW of its time, which was of course before GM bought and bastardized the badge), a fiberglass monocoque Lotus Elite from the Fifties and a almost-convincing Ferrari P-3 racer. My instinct says it was a brilliant fake, but I couldn’t find anyone to quiz about it.

The car that made the biggest impression today was not a classic, though. It was a 1954 Panhard et Levassor Dyna Junior. I have long contended — for 57 years now — that this was the absolute worst brand-new car I have ever driven. When I was a teen-aged design school student living in a converted garage in the back yard of the house rented by John R. Bond, who was then in the process of acquiring Road & Track magazine from the group of inspired misfits who had created the magazine in the Forties, I gained enough of Bond’s trust to be allowed — rarely — to drive some of the road test cars that came to R&T’s Colorado Boulevard offices in my native Glendale, California.

The two-cylinder, front-drive Junior was in theory the perfect starter sports car, light, inexpensive, responsive. Bond gave me the keys, told me not to go too far away from the office, and come back in an hour. I thought the mechanical clatter was indicative of superior engineering, the clunky gearbox was clearly superior to the MG TD that was the only other sports car I’d ever driven, and the car seemed quick compared to other European cars I’d tried, which at that point included the Renault 4CV and a seriously primitive 1946 VW Beetle owned by Marshall Roath, a classmate at Art Center. My first-ever non-USA drive had been in a Citroën 11 which had made a superb impression by its ability to take a right-angle turn at what then seemed to be a staggering speed.

In my mechanical naivete I thought that ability must be a function of front wheel drive. I had by then read Ken Purdy’s “Pull Instead of Push” text in the 1952 Bantam fifty-cent paperback book, “The Kings of the Road,” so when I got to the first tree-lined residential street, I whipped the steering wheel to the right and pushed the throttle. Structural rigidity may have been part of the Citroën traction avant’s panoply of virtues, but hadn’t penetrated the thinking of engineers in the world’s oldest automobile manufacturer. The noodle-strength chassis twisted, the driver’s suicide door popped open, and I started sliding out of the opening. No belts, of course. I guess the efforts on the steering wheel, which was held in a death grip to keep me from falling out of the car, must have fortuitously been in the right direction. The tail slide stopped, I squared myself away being the wheel, shut the dumb door and motored VERY sedately back to the R&T offices, thanked Bond for the experience and walked home, disabused of any notions I had held about front drive and handling. Citroën good, Panhard bad was firmly installed in my brain.

Seeing the elderly gentleman — possibly younger than I — who may have owned this car since it was new, emerge with some difficulty from the ergonomically-challenged Dyna Junior roadster confirmed my opinion that this was one car whose lack of commercial success we need not regret. It was a piece of crap when new, and it’s still a piece of crap, however historical. But I was really glad to see that at least one example has been preserved in like-new order and still gets an outing from time to time.

If it was the all-time worst brand-new car I’ve ever driven, the Citroën DS-19 that appeared just a year later — and the DS  was well-represented in the Plantier — remains the best brand-new car I’ve ever driven. In the context of its time, no other car has ever been as far advanced over its contemporaries as that one was. And in those two you have a really good look at France and its strange ways. Dumb and brilliant, skewed from the norm in both directions, and endlessly fascinating. Just don’t get caught on the wrong side.

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The Cadillac CTS Wagon That Never Was

I just spent a night with a 2011 Cadillac CTS-V wagon, and I can’t help but feel a little grateful. Grateful that Cadillac not only saw fit to launch a five-door version of its latest CTS (along with such an awe-inspiring performance version), but also that the end product was a far cry from the company’s first attempt at a CTS wagon.

About a year or so back, I was driving by a GM-owned parking lot in Metro Detroit that was filled with vehicles slated for disposal. Something caught my eye — I thought I saw a first-generation Cadillac CTS, but I also thought I glimpsed an elongated roof and an extra set of pillars. Was I seeing things?

Not exactly. I circled back, and peered through a fence from the safe haven of a sidewalk. Sure enough, tucked alongside other engineering mules and scrapped vehicles was a design mockup for a first-gen CTS wagon.

The 00-00-00 license plate, coupled with a number of faux trim elements peeling from parts of the car, indicated this spent most of its life within GM’s design studio, and likely never moved under its own power. But the thing was still captivating — not only was it evidence Caddy had considered a CTS wagon before, but a high-riding, butched-up wagon designed to appeal to SUV-loving buyers.

The end result looks a little like an American knock-off of Audi’s not-so-successful A6 Allroad Quattro. In addition to the tall stance and large wheels, designers were apparently also working on adding anodized front and rear skid plates, grey cladding along the rockers, and matching grey bumpers out back.

This all suggests Cadillac was considering adding all-wheel-drive to the CTS line way-back when. That was certainly plausible, considering two other variants of the Sigma platform were capable of delivering power to the front wheels, but it would have been new for the CTS itself. Although the second-generation was (and is) sold in AWD form, the initial model never was.

What I’d like to know is exactly when this idea came about. I can’t help but think this steps closely on the toes of the original SRX, which not only shared its Sigma platform with the CTS, but always felt a little more wagon-like than many of its competitors. I wouldn’t be surprised if this concept was nixed after Audi canned the Allroad in the states, opting instead for conventional SUVs and crossovers instead.

That’s a mystery I may never solve. Few at GM seem to remember the project, or those who do remain silent, apparently in the hope they’ll someday forget. Regardless, the mockup itself is history (literally; it was demolished a week after I shot these photos), but thankfully the idea of a CTS wagon wasn’t so easily dismissed.

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Frankfurt 2011: Our Favorite Finds — Joe DeMatio

Our editors have been plenty busy scouring the show floor of the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show — but in between running to and from press conferences and battling spotty Wi-Fi connections, they picked their three favorite concept and production cars at the show.

Joe DeMatio, Deputy Editor

CONCEPT CARS

BMW i3/i8

They look like the future and they show that BMW, which told us two years ago during the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show that it was taking electric drivetrains very seriously, is going to provide EVs that serve both urban commuters (i3) and enthusiast drivers (i8). And that’s something to celebrate.

Kia GT

Further evidence that the number-two Korean automaker is not only on a rapid ascendency to the big time but will soon eclipse its big brother, Hyundai, in matters of styling excellence. So they had to raid a major German design studio for their styling chief; automotive styling is the most multinational discipline within the automotive industry.

Volkswagen Beetle R

If you’ve spent any time in a New Beetle, the car that took Americans by storm back in 1998, you’ll be shocked when you slide behind the thin-rimmed, flat-bottomed steering wheel of this sport hatch. The interior fairly screams an equal mixture of quality and performance, and the exterior matches the aesthetic. It’s one of the cars at IAA that I most wanted to drive and it finally makes the modern Beetle a real enthusiast’s car.

PRODUCTION CARS

Ford Focus ST

It looks like it will fulfill the promises made by Ford’s European development team starting three years ago, culminating in the concept shown a year ago at the Paris Motor Show. It brings the Focus back to the forefront of affordable, fun performance for American enthusiasts; it’s a reincarnation of the much-missed and short-lived SVT Focus, and it looks great.

Mercedes-Benz B-Class.

This semi-affordable small family hauler goes from utilitarian to stylish and heralds Mercedes-Benz’s plans to bring five distinct vehicles to America built on its brand-new compact platform. The B-class actually will be the last; look for a production version of the first model we’ll see, the A-class, at the 2012 New York Auto Show, and for that vehicle to be in U.S. dealerships in fall 2012 as a 2013 model. Mercedes, it seems, is finally getting serious about premium small cars, more than a decade after its archival, BMW, did so with the Mini brand.

Porsche 911

The all-new 991-series is the best-looking version of the iconic German sports car for at least three generations. I want one in my driveway and I’ll take a base model with the seven-speed manual, please. I know, I know, the car never changes, really. I don’t care.

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Towing a Rolls Royce with an F-150: I’ll take the V-6, please.

I don’t know what was more horrifying, the fact that I got suckered into buying a $500 Rolls Royce, or that I had to tow the damn thing home using a full size truck with an engine the size of a pea.

For the first terrifying part of that sentence, I blame my friend Bill. He called me up on a Thursday asking “hey, you wanna buy a Rolls?” I was at my desk, buried in work, and so my response was a dismissive “uh, no.”

But then he rephrased. “Hey, you wanna buy a Rolls… and turn it into a LeMons race car?” That’s a different story entirely, as evidenced by the fact that I was sitting in front of Bill’s house at 4:00 the next morning with a truck and a trailer.

Timing is everything, and in this case, the timing just plain sucked. I was supposed to be at Thunderhill Raceway for my first-ever LeMons race that day, and Bill was driving up to East Bumblethunk to meet up with some rally organizers for some other vehicular craziness… So we loaded Bill’s BMW 3-series onto the back of the F-150 and towed it from San Francisco to Sacramento, where we dumped it in a Home Depot parking lot.

We continued with an empty trailer to Reno, where we picked up our (ahem) gorgeous maroon ’68 Rolls, estimated curb weight 4.7 million tons. If I told you how we managed to heave the thing onto the trailer, you’d brand me a lunatic and never again trust anything I wrote. Suffice it to say there was a small fire involved and we’re all lucky to be alive. And by “we” I mean anyone within a four-mile radius.

Anyway, the plan was simple: schlep the Rolls back to Sacramento, kick Bill out at Home Depot so he could retrieve his car and be on his merry way. Then, I’d continue on to Thunderhill, go drive the wheels off my team’s Alfa Romeo for a couple of days, and then tow the Rolls home on Sunday.

Easy, right? Well, aside from the fact that the lumbering mass of compressed rust formerly known as a Rolls Royce weighed so much it caused a trailer tire to explode. And it snapped three (of the four) nylon tie-downs that were trying to hold it on the trailer. I’ll fast-forward to the end: the Rolls is now safely rusting in a corner of Bill’s shop.

The impressive thing—other than the lack of casualties—is that the towing was the easiest part. Joking aside, we estimated the Rolls’ weight at just over 5000 lb (including the spare Hydramatic in the trunk and the hundred or so pounds of E. coli bacteria in the interior), which meant the F-150’s little 3.5-liter V-6 was saddled with about 8000 lb of additional mass. On top of the F-150's big mass.

In case you hadn’t noticed, California is hilly. And the road from San Francisco to Reno is bisected by the dreaded Donner Pass – a 7329-foot vertical climb above the Bay Area. That’s a hell of a hill for any vehicle—but given the F-150’s small V-6, the summer heat, and the Rolls out back, there was cause for concern.

My anxiety was misplaced. If anyone tells you that you need a V-8 to tow, they would be wrong. At least now that there’s an EcoBoost V-6. Look, I’m no truck and towing expert, but I’ve logged over 5000 miles in the last five years with car carriers on the back of vehicles from a GMC Acadia to a Ford F-350 Super Duty King Ranch—and everything between—and the EcoBoost V-6 is, by far and away, my favorite powertrain for towing.

First of all, I expected to be deafened by the 6000-rpm scream of a V-6 the entire time I was towing. In reality, the F-150 almost never needed to downshift out of top gear on the highway. That meant that the engine was all but inaudible, turning some 1800 rpm at my (highly illegal) 70-mph cruising speed. The turbos spooled up audibly up grades—but even for accelerating back to 70 mph after slowing down for slower traffic, downshifts were mostly unnecessary.

Secondly, when lots of revs were called for – say, a full-throttle top-speed run up the Donner Pass (just to see what would happen), the Ecoboost sounded nothing like a V-6. It’s obvious that Ford put lots of effort into tuning the shriek out of the engine. A nice V-6 shriek is a good thing in a sports car, but it would be maddening for hours-on-end highway cruising. To be honest, even the Dodge Ram’s burbly V-8 wail gets old when climbing serious grades with a big load in tow. Instead, the Ecoboost sounds like a three-cylinder… or better, a distant Bugatti Veyron. Seriously – it makes the same muted, dull roar and turbo whoosh noises. It’s certainly not going to stir your soul, but as the soundtrack of a workhorse, it’s perfect.

(Oh, and that top speed run up the steep Donner Pass? We never hit VMax thanks to the other cars around us. We once easily attained 85 mph, and the F-150 had plenty more to go, but traffic kept us under 80. For the better, we suspect. But clearly, power is not a problem here, nor was engine cooling, as none of the gauges seemed to budge.) Braking on the downhill side of the Pass was also a no-worry game, since this F-150 (equipped with the Max Trailer Tow package) had the best integrated brake controller I’ve ever seen. Even with the heavy Rolls, we were nowhere near the Ford’s 11,300-lb maximum towing capacity.)

The EcoBoost makes 365 hp (five more than the F-150’s optional 5.0-liter V-8) but more importantly, 420 lb-ft of torque, which is 40 more than the small V-8, and over a far broader RPM range. In fact, the EcoBoost’s numbers compare better to the biggest available gas V-8, the 6.2-liter monster that pushes out 411 hp and 434 lb-ft of torque. The turbos give the V-6 the low-end torque of a diesel for relaxed towing, but with the operating band of a gas engine for more gear selection. It’s really a no-lose proposition.

And then we come to the fuel economy. In total, I spent 16 hours behind the wheel of the F-150, racking up 729.6 miles, all but 80 of it towing. Average indicated fuel consumption was 12.8 mpg, and my gas receipts confirmed it. This is the kind of fuel economy I’d expect from one of the gasoline V-8s, and not too far off of what I’ve gotten in an F-250 Super Duty diesel (13.7 mpg with only 5000 lb in tow).

The difference is that when I pulled the trailer off the F-150 EcoBoost, I saw fuel economy that I’ve never seen in a full-size gas truck – over 16 mpg on the city streets of San Francisco. My conclusion is that under extreme use, the EcoBoost probably doesn’t save much in the way of fuel—but in everyday use, the fuel savings are significant. (And the EPA agrees with the latter: the EcoBoost is rated at 15/21 city/highway versus 12/16 for a similarly outfitted 6.2-liter V-8.)

Oh, and about that Alfa Romeo in LeMons? It was awesome – and I did, literally, drive the wheels off of it. Well, one of them, in the middle of an 80-mph corner. But we still managed to finish the race, which is all that counts. And as per usual, the truck-and-trailer rig I climbed into for the drive home was faster than the damn race car. And, thankfully, it didn’t lose a wheel.

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Frankfurt 2011: Our Favorite Finds — Donny Nordlicht

Our editors have been plenty busy scouring the show floor of the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show — but in between running to and from press conferences and battling spotty Wi-Fi connections, they picked their three favorite concept and production cars at the show.

Donny Nordlicht, Associate Web Editor

CONCEPT CARS

Jaguar C-X16

This is the concept I cannot wait to see enter production. Jaguar says it wants to return to being a performance-oriented brand, and a two-seat sports car would do just that. While the C-X16 may look great in photos, it looks absolutely gorgeous in person: it’s hard to really take in the car’s low, wide, and relatively long proportions without standing next to it. One neat detail? The jungle cat pictured within the traditional Jaguar grille emblem is wearing sunglasses on this car. A cool cat, indeed.

Ford Fiesta ST

The Fiesta ST may only be a concept by technicality, but it shows that Ford is absolutely serious about expanding its performance portfolio and doing so worldwide. The Fiesta ST utilizes a 180-hp EcoBoost four-cylinder and will probably see the same kind of performance upgrades of its Focus ST big brother, but in a smaller package. What’s so wrong with more performance for the masses? I say nothing at all.

Fisker Surf

Fisker calls this a concept for the time being, but if things — including delivery and production of the basic Karma sedan — go according to plan, the Surf could be in production by 2013/2014. Until then, it’s just too beautiful to ignore. It takes the muscular design of the Karma sedan, and adds a level of seduction by elongating the roofline and a sleekly sloping hatch.

PRODUCTION CARS

Mercedes-Benz B-Class

The B-Class is by no means the most attractive car at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show – not the Mercedes-Benz stand, for that matter – but it makes my top three for its significance. It is the first of a number of vehicles to be built on Mercedes’ new MFA front-wheel drive platform, four or five of which we will see here in the U.S. While the B-Class may not stir the soul, it’s rumored that the “baby CLS” that will ride on this platform is breathtaking.

Ford Focus ST/Opel Astra GTC (tie)

These two hot hatches tie because they make my list for the same reason: they are compact performance hatches and are both heading, undiluted, to the U.S. The fact that both Ford and General Motors are getting serious about giving the states the cars journalists have been crooning over for years shows that not only are they unifying their lineups, but that the American consumer is no longer one who steers away from sportiness. Let’s just hope that Buick manages to build up its brand credibility with the Regal GS in order to build a business case for the GTC’s arrival in our market.

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Preview: The 2012 Buick Verano is quiet. Will that be quite enough?

We’ve just gotten a close up look at Buick’s new compact car, and can share the following earth shattering news: it’s quiet.

“Our target was the LaCrosse and Enclave in terms of quietness. It’s about being quiet, smooth, and premium,” says Verano engineer Matt Purdy.

Though the intense focus on silence certainly sounds familiar, it in fact represents something of a return to form for Buick, which has recently trumpeted European performance with the Regal and touted fuel economy with its eAssist mild hybrid technology. The Verano, despite being a compact car related to the European Opel Astra, will be a Buick in a more traditional sense.

“Its center of gravity is luxury,” says Tony DiSalle, Buick’s U.S. vice president of marketing.

The noise reduction effort is more than just hype. Verano engineers started with GM’s global compact platform – the floor pan and basic suspension layout is the same as that of the Chevrolet Cruze – and then sought nothing less than “the elimination of noise from external and internal sources.” The front MacPherson struts have dual-rate dampers to soften impacts. The body structure, based most closely on the Astra, went through further analysis to reduce creaks and rattles. The standard eighteen-inch wheels are heavier than those on the Cruze and wear tires designed to produce less road noise. Baffles in the intake dull the growl of the direct-injected 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine. Aerodynamic underbody panels first employed on the Cruze Eco show up here to reduce wind noise. Any noise that escapes these preventative methods must then get through a multi-layer defense of insulation – acoustic lamination for the windshield and front doors, thick mats on both sides of the fire wall, sprayed on sound-deadening foam, and last but not least, “muckets” – GM engineering lingo for rubber plugs. One might think the Volt, also built on this platform, would offer a wealth of sound deadening know-how, but Purdy notes that most of the noises the Volt team had to worry about are of a higher frequency, and thus require different countermeasures.

All this shushing comes at a price. Small car lead engineer Jim Federico says GM has become much more efficient at “quiet tuning” but concedes the measures still add perhaps a hundred pounds over to the 3100-pound Cruze, with other engineers estimating the total curb weight around 3400 pounds. With its larger 180 hp four-cylinder, it will achieve poorer fuel economy – around 22/31 city/highway compared to 26/38 mpg in the 1.4-liter Cruze. The quiet luxury positioning also squashes enthusiasts’ hopes of another American Astra (many GM people shudder at the suggestion of repeating that disastrous experiment). Even the sportier, 2.0-liter turbocharged version “will not be rock hard.” Still, Buick does have its eyes on a particular set of German car enthusiasts: disaffected Jetta owners.

“The old uplevel Jetta sort of owned that market. The new Jetta went toward [the Chevrolet Cruze]. We looked at that as they left us a little hole,” says Federico.

We were able to sit in some Veranos to hear how it handles real-world noise – Buick even brought a leaf blower out to Milford Proving Grounds to enhance the experience. It is indeed a quiet car. As in the LaCrosse, Buick has done a good job filtering out the diesel-like ticking typical to direct-injection engines. Of course, as any old Jetta (or current Golf) owner can tell you, subjective design details matter as much as what the engineers term “critical wins” in areas like quietness. Judging by the preproduction cabins we saw (some of the grains and finishes are not yet final) Buick has come a long way in this regard. The carpet is plush and expensive looking; the woven headliner tucks up at the windshield rather than ending in a crude cut; the optional full leather seats boast contrasting stitching and thick, comfortable bolsters. However, some of the upper dash graining, which we were told was close to production quality, looked cheaper than it felt, and the button-intensive center stack looks old, even though it’s accompanied by a seven-inch color touch screen. The inner door pulls could also feel more solid, a peccadillo we’ve noticed on several GM vehicles.

The Verano goes on sale by the end of this year. We’ll have our driving impressions for you before then. Stay tuned.

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