Sizing up the proposed VW Mid Size SUV

Volkswagen has supposedly finally figured out how to compete in the American marketplace by building in America and adapting its cars to American tastes, essentially doing what other imports have done for decades. With this newfound wisdom come significantly higher sales expectations from management, perhaps too optimistic as judged by most critics. With the Jetta doing better than ever and with the Passat finally competing in the midsize segment VW has its sights set on entering new segments like crossovers.  As with the new Passat, VW would be far too late to join the segment to even pretend to be fashionably late, but as with the new Passat the final product should be more than competitive, see Passat's comparison record. With Volkswagen of America CEO officially confirming a midsize SUV many went ahead and placed it between the Tiguan and the Touareg sizewise. While the long rumored midsize Volkswagen SUV will definitely be priced between the Tiguan and the Touareg it is quite likely that it would actually be slightly bigger than the Touareg. Think the difference between the Passat and the CC. Just as the previous generation Passat was a few inches short of its competitors the Touareg is a couple of inches short of comfortably fitting a third row seat which is requisite for the class. In fact the yet unnamed, hopefully easily pronounceable , SUV  is likely to at least match the Passat lengthwise to compete with the GM Lambda triplets, Ford Explorer, Dodge Durango, Honda Pilot and others.  Here is a guide as how the VW competitor might look like.

May 2012 Sales Recap

With supplies issues essentially behind them Toyota and Honda were able to post incredible sales increases compared to their May 2011 figures and even surpassing 2010 figures by a significant margin as well. Elsewhere the Chrysler Group continued its strong sales increase of the past year with surging sales at Chrysler itself, Jeep, and Ram brand. On the luxury side Lexus and Acura followed their parent brands with sales returning to previous levels while Mercedes achieved a nearly 20% sales improvement over last year. Overall May 2012 versus May 2011 sales were robust whichever way you look at it with only a couple of brands declining over a year ago. Of note was the Chevy Volt's strong month of 1,680 sales compared to the LEAF's showing of 510.

Of course as good as May was some were clearly expecting a little more perhaps indicating a possible slowing down in June or perhaps just a desire run an article about missing expectations while nearly doubling your sales.

Commercial Review: Audi "Alien"

Audi scores a knockout with this funny and lighthearted A6 commercial which finds a young girl believing that her father is an alien. The dad in question talks like an alien, eats alien food, dresses like an alien and most incriminatingly pilots an alien space ship. This commercial works so well primarily because it is funny and would not be seen out of place during the Superbowl. On a more subconscious level it appears that Audi is subtly hinting that driving an A6 will make you one cool parent in the eyes of your kid. Not being in that demographic I am not sure if the commercial succeeds in that regard or if parents even care about being the cool parent. Overall, "Alien" does an excellent job of highlighting the A6's technological sophistication without a tedious adult voice-over as Audi has done in the past.

How 'Ring Lap Times Became Irrelevant

Once upon a time the famed Nürburgring was a great evaluator of vehicle performance as a quick internet search would easily settle an argument between fanboys over which supercar could lap "Green Hell" the quickest. Over the past decade a sizable internet database of 'Ring time developed with help from a few European publications with Sport Auto and its editor Horst von Saurma doing the heavy lifting. Not wanting to miss out on all of the fun a couple of manufacturers decided to begin publishing (and even providing video evidence) of their own lap times and in the process essentially destroying the Nürburgring's reputation as a performance benchmark.

Currently the times at the top of the time sheet for street legal mass* production cars are occupied by runs from Dodge, Lexus, Porsche and GM all without third party verification. The manufacturer supplied times are impressive and the videos are fun to watch but they make comparisons between other times completely useless. The time difference between some of the manufacturer times and their verified third party counterparts* are not insignificant and indicate at best a combination of a professional race car driver, perfect conditions, and lots of laps to ge tthe perfect time. A more cynical viewpoint would have one believing that a particularly healthy example was used which may or may not pass a smog check and so on.

In the perfect world there would be a group comparison test whenever a new supercar came out to challenge the top of the chart, and there have been a few*, but in reality we are forced to compare runs made in various weather conditions. Nevertheless it is much more believable comparing 'Ring times from the same magazine and the same driver with weather being the only unaccounted element rather than comparing highly polished manufacturer times to third party magazine times. So the next time you compare a manufacturer "sponsored" time compared to an Auto Sport 'Ring time remember that comparing the two is like comparing lemons and oranges, both are citrus but don't taste the same.

*The Gumpert Apollo and Donkervoort times are from Sport Auto but neither brand is mass production. The same could be said about the Lexus LFA though.
*A few of the official times are close to what the magazines were able to replicate, many are 20+ seconds apart.
*Auto Bild Sports Cars November 2010 is an excellent example with the 458 Italia, LFA, LP 570-4 Superleggera, Porsche 911 Turbo S, GT-R all tested by the same driver in the same conditions

Acura Surprises With Great RDX Commercials

Fresh of its great Superbowl ad for the NSX, Acura is of to a good start with its initial marketing strategy for the RDX. Breaking away from its past doldrums of commercials which featured various Acuras in a hangar (looks like Hangar One) with your typical voice over touting Acura's standard Bluetooth or navigation. With the RDX Acura is venturing outside for some cloudy sunlight, waves, and sand in its Gulliver inspired "Chariot" commercial. The RDX is big and powerful like Guliver yet nimble and compact like the Lilliputians, and of course Luxurious. The funny and light tone of the commercial is a great change from the over the top technological approach of the "hangar ads" A second ad, "Car Wash" continues with Gulliver enjoying his time in Lilliput (nice touch is a map of Lilliput in the navigation) perhaps too much.





A third unrelated commercial finds the RDX dodging all sorts of road hazards as if on the set of the new Avengers movie. While not as cool of a concept as the other two ads, the RDX Avengers ad is much better than all of the other Avengers related ads combined.

The difference between HP and PS and why it doesn't really matter.

With Audi releasing the details on its updated Q5 many publications took the time to properly convert the horsepower figures given in the Audi press release from . The result is the 225 European horsepower that Audi quoted in its press release is technically only worth 221 American/British horsepower, likewise the 272 horsepower from the 3.0T is technically 268 in the US. This small discrepancy occurs as European manufacturers use metric horsepower while American and British manufacturers use a term called mechanical horsepower which is 1.4% more powerful. However every one that did the conversion could have saved some time crunching the numbers and everyone would have been better off. For many years Audi (and a few other German manufacturers) have officially quoted the same exact horsepower rating regardless of units in Europe and in the US. There are a couple of reasons why this discrepancy shouldn't bother you. To start, the 1.4% difference is small enough anyways that it's probably quite close to the variation between one engine from the assembly line and another. To further shrink the gap, under "SAE certified horsepower" rule manufactures can report horsepower 1%  higher than what is observed. Finally, with the recent trend of many new forced induction engines from Audi and others often delivering advertised crank horsepower at the wheels the 1.4% difference becomes silly altogether.

*Perhaps too busy crunching the numbers many missed out on a little tidbit hidden in the Q5 press release, the next generations of the 2.0T and 3.0 TDI. Far from a simple uptune from 211 to 225 horsepower the updated 2.0T receives a new electronic cooling system, direct and port fuel injection, an exhaust manifold integrated into the cylinder head, and further enhancements to Audi's Valvelift system. It's unknown how soon the new 2.0T will reach the Audi lineup in the US. Likewise Audi says the 3.0 TDI V6 is also of a new more advanced design wtih more torque (22 extra lb-ft) than before. Stay tuned to see what happens with the new engines.

How The Urus Concept Is Lamborghini Going Back To Its Roots

The public reaction to the Lamborghini Urus has been mostly negative and much the same as when the Porsche Cayenne first came out. Many are calling out Lamborghini for selling out and diluting the brand in a search for more cash even though Lamborghini made an SUV back when they weren't even in. Many are lamenting the fact that the Urus is not like the Aventador. Ironically though, the Urus could be the closest Lamborghini in decades to what Mr. Lamborghini imagined for his brand to be when he founded it. At the start and throughout his tenure at the helm, Ferruccio Lamborghini wanted his brand to build comfortable yet extremely fast cars. In fact he started branched out to cars from his tractor business because the Ferraris he owned were too noisy and too spartan inside and just plain not roadworthy enough. While Lamborghini would go on to become famous for its no holds barred mid engined supercars it was front engined tourers like the Espada that were more in line with what the company was intended for. While the Estoque would certainly fit Mr. Lamborghini's desire for a comfortable grand tourer even better, the Urus is still the closest Lamborghini to his ideal in years.

The Espada is what Mr. Lamborghini envisioned his company to be. source