By Twain Mein

My grandparents always owned Buicks; they were GM’s high-end line that featured luxury without the pretense of Cadillac. I’ll never forget their gargantuan ’72 Estate wagon with its 8 mpg 455CI V-8 and rear window that would roll up into the roof, and the ’76 Riviera with it’s torquey 460CI V-8 and power everything. In the sixties and seventies, Buicks offered lots of power and creature comforts with distinctive styling. But during the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, Buick sort of lost it’s way as GM struggled to segment and differentiate their brands. Recently, Buick has come back with the refreshingly styled Lucerne and Lacrosse. And their boldest new entry is the Enclave crossover.

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Paris Motor Show news from Porsche. All of the major auto manufacturers are working hard to squeeze better fuel economy out of their line-up. Porsche may be a luxury brand, but their customers are also conscious of the steep gas prices and our dependency upon foreign oil. Now you can have your cake and use less fuel according to Porsche. I’ll have to dig further and find out how much of an improvement the new generation of engines, all with DFI, have moved up in fuel economy. The official press release (with photos) is below the jump, but doesn’t mention any numbers with regards to how much the reworked engines have improved.

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Review by Holly R. | Photos by Derek Mau

Pros:

• Really impressive (and decent) acceleration at speed
• Mileage, mileage, mileage
• Didn’t have to open the entire tailgate to get into the back of the vehicle
• Continuously variable transmission
• XM Satellite Radio and built-in Bluetooth

Cons:

• Ack, the grill - not my thing
• Engine takes an inordinate amount of time to reach “idle” after starting the car
• The seats were pretty flimsy

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Yee-haw! Ford and Harley-Davidson team up again for a new Ford F-450 Harley-Davidson™. Ford officially announced the details of two special edition packages to its 2009 F-Series Super Duty line-up co-branding with Harley-Davidson™ and Cabela. The F-450 Harley-Davidson™ and Cabela edition FX-4. Someone break out the cheap beer and stale peanuts. We are celebratin’ tonight!

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By Alex Kramer

Pros:

• Plush suspension
• Good build quality
• Excellent 6 speaker stereo
• Spacious seating

Cons:

• Tepid 4-cylinder engine
• Very limited trunk space
• Cheap looking fake leather seats
• Mismatched exterior style
• Poor overall value

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The new crossover SUV from Volvo - the XC60 - has a 3.0L turbo-charged six cylinder engine. This crossover is no pushover getting some extra giddyap from a twin-turbo setup that produces 281 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque. Dynamic Stability and Traction Control (DSTC) is one of the most vital safety advances in the past decade by helping prevent spinouts, fishtails, and rollovers. Further developed in the XC60 using a roll rate sensor, DSTC also enhances stability in dynamic driving where the vehicle is exposed to high lateral forces.

In the Netherlands (and Canada) it is common for elk or moose to wander onto the roadway. In the U.S. we have to watch out for deer who are easily mesmerized by a pair of halogen headlights. Watch Bjarne show off his nerves of steel while swerving at 100 kph (64 mph) on a slippery track.

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(New world record set! See Update)

It seems hypermiling and the quest for extreme fuel efficiency is not just limited to the U.S. where fuel prices have taken a big leap upwards the past couple of years. I recently met a couple from Australia who are determined to land themselves into the Guiness Book of World Records by traversing the world, covering 18,000 miles (28,970 kilometers), and doing it by using less than 40 tanks of gas in a Volkswagen Jetta TDI.

Currently, John and Helen Taylor are touring the 48 continental U.S. states with the goal of breaking the current world record for lowest fuel consumption across the 48 contiguous United States of 51.8 mpg. As of today they have driven more than 8,100 miles through 41states while averaging 59.33 mpg. Cost of the fuel consumption so far has been $562.43 with an average of 843 miles (1,356 kms) on every tank of gas. John and Helen are totally optimistic they are going to break the record if they remain focused and stay the course with their “FuelStretch” fuel-saving driving tips they developed with Shell.

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The Paris Motor Show will be the setting for the world debut of the BMW Concept 7 Series ActiveHybrid offering the potential of BMW ActiveHybrid technology in the luxury sedan segment as part of the BMW EfficientDynamics innovation strategy. This new Concept Car combines a significant reduction of fuel consumption and emissions with a standard of driving dynamics in this luxury class of hybrid cars. The closest comparable example is the Lexus 600h.

The BMW Concept 7 Series ActiveHybrid comes with an intelligent symbiosis of the V8 cylinder petrol engine and electric drive as a mild hybrid concept. The BMW ActiveHybrid technology featured in the Concept Car reduces both fuel consumption and emissions by 15% versus the same car with a combustion engine and offers a standard of driving dynamics clearly exceeding all series models with hybrid technology presented so far. And at the same time the use of BMW ActiveHybrid technology does not require any concessions in terms of everyday driving qualities and the specific features of the BMW 7 Series.

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General Motors continues to develop its gas-electric plug-in car called the Volt and unveiled a pre-production model at GM’s 100-year anniversary celebration. Thus far GM’s development team has obtained important development milestones and the car is scheduled for production late 2010.

The Volt will use an existing four-cylinder gas engine to help recharge the car’s batteries. At present, the Volt will go only about 40 miles before gasoline is used to recharge the batteries. The Volt has an extended range of several hundred miles made possible by a gasoline/E85-powered engine generator seamlessly providing electricity to power the Volt’s electric drive unit while simultaneously sustaining the charge of the battery.

The lithium-ion batteries used to power the electric motor are projected to last about 150,000 miles, and the car is expected to have a brisk 0-60 time of 8.5 seconds. The GM team is working hard to simulate 10 years of using the car’s battery into two years of testing.

GM is also working on variations of the Volt including: an E-Flex propulsion system, the original gasoline-electric Volt concept, a hydrogen-electric Volt, and the Opel Flextreme diesel-electric.

At present, plug-in electric vehicles like the Volt fall short in driving range (about 40 miles in complete electric mode) as compared to a family sized fuel-cell vehicle that has a 300 mile range and no emissions. Cost is the sticking point with fuel-cells and even the Volt is expected to cost about $40,000.

Official press release from GM and preliminary specifications of the Volt are below the jump.

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By Kurt Gensheimer

I stepped up to the rental desk at Norfolk International and asked for a Jeep. Any Jeep, so long as it had four wheel drive. The cheerful rental company representative, who looked like Edie McClurg in Planes, Trains and Automobiles presented me with a choice of three Jeeps: a Compass, a Grand Cherokee or a Wrangler. Now since the business, tax-writeoff justification end of my vacation was to pit a Jeep against my brother’s new Subaru Outback and run them ragged along the endless driveable beaches of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, I needed the most capable Jeep available to really put the Outback through its paces. I slapped my finger down on the miniature picture of the Wrangler.

The representative smiled, handed me the keys and the paperwork. I signed a few documents and was just about on my way when she pulled out a huge red stamp and slammed it down on the rental agreement.

“Oh, you’ll need to sign this too, honey.” I looked at the stamp and all I could think about at that moment was Edie’s famous two word response to Steve Martin’s F-bomb tirade, “You’re f**ked.”

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Volkswagen is proudly promoting their new TDI turbo-diesel engines in America after finally becoming 50-state compliant and exceeding the emission regulations for all 50 states in the U.S., especially California’s strict emission regulations. Volkswagen’s TDI engine is so clean, it qualifies for a $1,300 advanced lean burn federal income tax credit. Not only are future TDI owners helping the environment by not spewing obnoxious CO₂ into the air, but they also get rewarded by the federal government. The optional 140 hp TDI engine will be available in the 2009 Jetta sedan and Jetta SportWagen.

We just finished test driving the 2009 Jetta TDI at Volkwagen’s national press event held in Santa Monica. After logging nearly 150 miles on the twisty mountain and canyon roads in and around Malibu, we recorded a fuel economy of 35 mpg. Not spectacular, but we weren’t going for the world record for best fuel economy like John and Helen Taylor. Other journalists who were exercising their hypermiling techniques were able to get 41 mpg or better from their Jetta TDI sedans.

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Review by Alex Kramer | Photos by Derek Mau

Pros:

• Exhilarating 297 hp V6 engine
• Nicely balanced suspension
• Luxuriously appointed interior
• Striking exterior design
• Cornucopia of technological goodies

Cons:

• Limited interior space
• Tires could use more stick
• Annoying lane departure warning system

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The new crossover SUV from Volvo - the XC60 - has a 3.0L turbo-charged six cylinder engine (T6). This crossover is no pushover getting some extra oomph from a twin-turbo setup that produces 281 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque. The twin-scroll turbo gives the T6 engine a wide power band such that maximum torque begins at 1,500 rpm. A powerful engine requires a transmission designed to handle the high torque of the T6 engine. Thus, the XC60 is equipped with a 6-speed Geartronic automatic transmission to move you along smoothly and quietly.

Volvo released a series of campaign videos promoting their new XC60 SUV. Watch the video as Viktoria shows off her skills and the stability of the XC60 at 200 kph - with no hands on the steering wheel! Watch the video after the jump

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The first major auto show for fall starts on October 4 in Paris. Already there has been a deluge of announcements hitting the news wires. This year Mercedes-Benz is trying to generate excitement and bring attention to their future coupé designs. Whether you think that M-B designs are conservative-European (appealing mostly to the wannabe executive crowd) or if you think that Dr. Z is a trendsetter, you might like the concepts generated from the ConceptFASCINATION design study. Take a peek at the slideshow located at the bottom of page 2. The long-winded press announcement from Daimler is below the jump.

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By Kirk Bell

Pros

• Powerful engines
• Sharp steering and handling
• Pleasant ride
• Available all-wheel drive
• Premium audio offered
• Value for the dollar

Cons

• Polarizing styling
• No split-folding rear seat
• Bland base wheels

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