Motorweek; 1608

This time on Motor Week and all weather viper. Lisa Barrow goes gotten home and our long term keep going and going to come drive with us. Next. Motel. With his original automotive magazine and. Your hopes Ford Motor. John Davis. Hello and welcome to the motorway. We're glad to have you with us. Chrysler Corporation has done more to ensure that automotive enthusiasm is alive and well in America than any other manufacturer and no car defies that passion more than the Dodge Viper TTN. But not all prospective Viper owners are willing to put up with a Rube Goldberg top and side curtains. So how about this car Viper jeep. Yes more than just a hard top snake with roll up

windows. The GTX is a modern reincarnation of Peter Brock's legendary Daytona racing coupes. Except that this one makes quick use of any kind of pavement. So most people could be excused for thinking that the biker VTES is a pure race car. The big issue is curves of the TTN roadster are even more pronounced on the TS. Even the shape of the aluminum fuel cap cover which mimics a vintage race cap is exaggerated. This gives it an in-your-face look that even its groundbreaking older sibling is hard pressed to match. While the simple glowing roof line gives it a symmetry uncommon in the world of big bore muscle cars. But a slick group and power windows mean more than just weather protection. They also represent big changes for Chryslers fire breathing flagship and we do mean big. Over 90 percent of all GTM parts are new and do not exchange with those of the roadster.

Chief among them is the heavily modified pushrod heatin still displacing eight leaders. The engine now comes out 450 horsepower and a crushing 400 90 pound feet of torque changes include a new aluminum block in cylinder head. A new camshaft revamp cooling system and improve fuel injection a stronger clutch and differential have also been added. The six speed manual gearbox is the same. It's still not even on roads in cars. Changes with the shop vac jacking have a zero to 60 time of war point 6 second quarter mile. Blew by a twelve point seven seconds in 172 the. Power exchange and just got it right in exactly way rapidly apparate give me 500 rpm with the engine stick torque and slow revving nature being that new gear changes are needed. A couple of cards are sufficient for most curving road. Or for the curves of Pennsylvania's Pocono International Raceway where the real revelation was the latest wipers handling. Light or stiffer frame and aluminum suspension

components. Given a more responsive real high suspension geometry and just a touch of steel the effect is to change the basic Biber character from twitchy and somewhat unforgiving to solid and friendly with loads stacked with a locomotive and more fun than a barrel full of Ferrari's. Compared to the bikers close fitting cockpit. Even a Ferrari is roomy. The dash is wide and smooth but low cost look plastic. Take away from its flowing line. It does however now feature dual airbags and a standard CD player. More pleasing to the eye are the new gauges including electronically driven 200 mile per hour speedometer. You face them by squeezing into more body hugging buckets which feature better support and over two inches more travel front or rear. But the real comfort innovation is a set of adjustable foot pedals turning a knob under the dash. Lose the entire pedal assembly up to 4 inches closer to the driver. Improved comfort leads to longer drive where GTX owners will also come to appreciate their

Pfeiffer's improved. Owners will even be able to go on overnight trips. Thanks to the Coope configuration surprisingly large cargo area. Now we must point out that those long drives also reveal a few more squeaks and rattles than a top line flagship model should have. Of course many Viper fans will point out in return that it was designed as a back to basics machine but in GTA form the piper is also now a remarkably usable super car a car that our friends at Automobile magazine described as a serious car with genuine heritage. The price is reasonable and the experience of owning one ought to be extraordinary. We agree on both point with a $66000 base price plus $2600 gas guzzler tax thirty seven hundred dollar luxury tax and $700 for delivery. The total price of $73000 is well below that of many less interesting machines and it's raw aggression now tempered just barely with real world usability makes for an astounding driving

experience. Back in the sixties Peter Brock's drivers had to stay on the race track for the kind of driving experience. The Dodge Viper owners can experience anywhere they want. Progress wonderfully. You know we all pay a lot of attention to safety and security these days. So here to keep us up to date on the latest in automotive security systems this motor week own Pat Goss. John what we're watching is becoming all too common these days. We need to take all of the steps that we possibly can to protect our vehicles against scumbags like this. You know if you stop and think about it a vehicle purchase is typically the second largest purchase that anybody ever makes. So you need to do everything you can to keep it in your driveway.

That means an alarm system is a good idea. And in many cases it'll even give you a discount on your insurance. Well there are all sorts of alarm systems on the market. Let's talk about some of the features starting with the most basic ones. On these they're basically nothing more than a starter and ignition interrupt. But they do give you some protection. Now one of the things that is an option on some of these systems are pre-wired adapters. These make installation a lot easier on many automobiles. But before you invest in them you should look under the hood of your car to make sure that they are going to be easier than doing a conventional wiring job. Sometimes they're really difficult to get at. Now all of these systems are going to have key fobs that give you the ability to have remote activation of the alarm and in most cases remote control of your power door locks. But some of these systems are going to have discriminators that discriminate

about glass breakage. They're going to have shock sensors that determine if the car has been jostled around or anything. Some of them will have proximity sensors. So if anybody gets too close to the car that that's going to set the alarm off that's especially good on convertibles where people might want to reach over the top of the car when the convertible top is down. Now here we are at the High Line and of things. And here you get all of the protection a lot of protection. Plus you get some convenience items that are really impressive. Consider that this system is a paging system. No it doesn't pay you. You can pay it by using your pager and a telephone you can call it and the pager will tell it to start your car. Any place in the country or stop your car. You can also have things like control of your power windows and things like that for convenience. One interesting thing about it is that it has a light

sensor that can turn your headlights on at dusk and turn them off during the daylight. A very impressive system. Do your homework pick the system that best suits your needs and your pocketbook and you'll get some great protection. And if you have a question write to me if I use your letter I'll send you a motor week T-shirt. The address is Motor Week. Owings Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7. Hard core of the week is a truly full size for a 1966 Thunderbird Landale coupe. It belongs to John C. Kraus of Mattoo in New Jersey. If you have a low mileage collector car that you're proud of. Send good color photos of it to Motor Week Owings Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7. If there's any other difficulty give me a call back. Thanks a lot. Bye bye. So Lisa what's up.

Well I think I'd really like to see them do more tough assignments. OK I've got an idea for a story they could be just what you're looking for. The only thing is I sure hope you like green Hi Lisa. Hi Colonel Rick Baylor Welcome to the Everington Center. Our mission here is to make sure that our tanks are combat ready for the soldiers. And we'd like to take you out and show you how we do that on a test course. This is the M1 a two Abrams main battle tank. It's the Army's latest and most technically innovative piece of fighting equipment it boasts a fifteen hundred horsepower gas turbine engine with a four speed automatic transmission fully combat loaded. It will weigh approximately 69 and 1 1/2 tons and then you can get a road speed out of that a 42 mph. Here at months in test scores. The Eagles are put through their paces on nine miles of roadway with 25 permanently fixed obstacles a shock and vibration test checks the suspension and component parts a bridging device simulates a blown out bridge to see how far

the Yemeni two will span and grab the other side. Five to 60 percent slopes monitor the tanks ability to negotiate hills of various great vertical walls. By the way how well the vehicle climbs and the shallow water boarding base and test the efficiency of the F-22 in bording water obstacles that it might encounter in the field. It's got a torsion bar suspension gives you a ride like a Cadillac. Moving cross-country. A Cadillac. My senses name a sight and sound would tell me otherwise. I am one to bored by like a 40 mile per hour earthquake. I had to find out my myself. Insiders. The guys that drive these five million dollar high tech fortresses are known as rocket junkies. To give them a lot of credit for simply getting into the driver's compartment. New meaning to the term subcompact. To operate the vehicle. These motorcycle groups you operate on just as a motorcycle group and then you would turn the steering of her steer. OK you have your neutral position drive reverse and low and just pull out.

And look ok. Whichever you prefer. Well get ready to go. After a few laps I found the controls user friendly and steering quite responsive. Acceleration is truly remarkable for a vehicle that weighs one hundred and forty thousand pounds. I was up to 40 mph in no time. In fact the faster you go the smoother it is. Not surprisingly it gets only two gallons per mile. Guess what. This vehicle really does ride like a Cadillac to get a feel for how well the F-22 or strangulate engine and transmission load place to go is church bell standing Mandas station. I was in for the ride of my life and wanted to was incredibly stable as we found out around the Churchill course therapy and downhill runs complete with moguls that got us airborne a ride at Disney World will never be the same.

On the far control side the main weapon is a 120 millimeter smooth bore cannon which is approximately four and three quarter inches. You can hit. At 2500 meters a target it's 1 meter square where you're moving 30 miles an hour especially at night. Hope you've enjoyed yourself with these vehicles and to kind of make it official. We have official drivers patch and a certificate certifying you as a driver of the army zem 118th. So this patch on your shoulder and your officials Prof. Thank you very. You're quite welcome. We are glad to have. Now aside from military testing the Aberdeen test center also does a lot of work for the private sector and more and more of that includes the automotive industry.

Now back in civilian clothes lace a barrel again with all the latest motor news this week we take our first quick spin in the newest small sport utility vehicle. Honda's upcoming CRV already a runaway sales success in Japan the source of our Right-Hand drive test vehicle the civic base CRV would seem to go head to head against many SUV such as Toyota's Rabbe. But in reality the exterior dimensions rival or exceed those of compact such as Jeep Cherokee and Toyota 4 Runner sole power source is this two liter all aluminum single overhead cam 16 down 4. It delivers 130 horsepower and one hundred thirty seven pounds of tour. It's made it only to of course be automatic with a column mounted shifter automatic all wheel drive gives the CRV excellent bad weather traction but not serious off road capability. Honda's double wishbones suspension and a tight CITIC base chassis make the CRV a pleasure to drive on any service.

Also blazing should be the under $20000 price tag when see Arbys arrive at Honda dealers late this year. In other news this is our first glimpse of Ferrari's latest road straightener. The 550 Maranello behind the sea of people at the Paris Auto Show is a pain in Barina pen run engine V12 Koob of classic proportions from its covered headlights and twin shark gils behind the front wheels to the tiny lives spoiler. It echoes back to the days of the mighty 250 GTA. What makes this horse prance is 5.5 meters forty eight thousand 12 cylinders pumping out 185 horsepower. Well no lightweight at thirty seven hundred pounds. Look for zero to 60 times in the low 4s and F Harari quote a top speed of one hundred ninety nine mph to keep it stuck to the ground at these speeds. Ferrari incorporated this ground that backs tunnels to increase downforce. Also noteworthy is Ferrari Spurs traction control system. That 550 Maranello should reach our shores in spring of 97. And for you Schumacher wannabes look for the F1 style steering wheel shifter panels a year later. You

also need a Schumacher sized salary to have one these new Ferrari in your stable. Get ready to pony up close to two hundred thousand dollars and that's it for this week's Motor News. Hi I'm Craig Simha and this week's roadside America finds us in your spring and fall Veja at the Latymer Valley fairground home of the Eastern Museum of motor racing a fine collection of race cars and racing memorabilia in eastern New Zealand. Motor racing is dedicated to preserving the history and the memorable personalities of servile track racing weather wise. Autumn is our favorite season here at Motor Week but it's also one of our busiest. Which means we run up lots of miles on our long term test fleet. Let's see how they're holding up. Whether or not. Pretty soon the top on our Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder GST

will be up and locked tight for winter after 12000 miles. Fuel economy is fine at twenty five point five. We hope Mitsubishi improves body stiffness on the next eclipse Spyder. It's the only place this sharp drop top comes up short. We're right on schedule with our Chrysler Town and Country minivan. Eight months into a two year stay with driven 20000 miles in this classy hauler mileage is on the upswing averaging 20 even today. No big problems but we've twice found the crank down spare tire loose. Now this is a before picture of our Oldsmobile bravado a sport utility vehicle. And this is a picture after after an encounter with a 200 pound deer. Damage to the bravado was fairly light thanks to a soft front facia. Unfortunately the animal was not as lucky. This is our only incident in 96 hundred bravado miles wall eighteen point seven miles per gallon. Good economy for a compact SUV. Haven't hit anything in our Subaru Legacy Outback except lots of roads. After a year and

thirty thousand two hundred miles the Outback has been free of major problems with minor annoyances few mileage averaged out to twenty three point four and cost of operation was a low five point nine cents per mile. The Legacy Outback is one of our staffs most popular long term test vehicles ever. After living with Toyota's trendy new Rav 4 for fourteen thousand three hundred miles. We have mostly raves about this. Easy to manage many sport ute our 4 is very popular for running errands tackling congested city driving and as a work vehicle for our camera crew we do hear complaints about lack of small item storage that are hard to reach cupholder but no one complains about the rapports excellent twenty five point six miles per gallon fuel economy. The Ford Taurus was just crowned the best selling car for the 96 model year artist Taras elex is proving it deserves it. With 200 horsepower and near sports sedan handling Taurus is among our most popular long distance runners after nineteen thousand seven hundred miles in 10 months. We're also

averaging a respectable twenty three point seven mpg. Intermittent operation of a remote key lock. Bob is our only complaint this go round about our Cadillac. Yes and no it's not the battery. All the rest of the mechanical bits of this robust luxury sedan are fine by the way. Fuel economy is up again at twenty point one after twenty four thousand six hundred enjoyable Miles. This cute little green machine is our replacement Volkswagen IVR 6 Our original GTI succumb to an accident not of our making this pocket rocket films are fun to drive to the brand. Maybe we're having a little too much fun. Jiechi fuel economy is twenty four point two. And that says we're mighty heavy on the pedal. Finally the real heavy of our group. Our latest Chevrolet Suburban B.A. turbo diesel. We're just getting it broken in. But after eight thousand miles mileage is already up to seventeen point five. Not bad for any 5000 pound vehicle.

The biggest improvements we've noticed are faster starting engine and standard daytime running lights. The Berbel get a real workout this winter since just because the cold winds are starting to blow does it mean we stop racking up the miles. Destination. Why our next motor week long term road test update. You know Craig saying Hosh travels the high road to automotive events around the country. However sometimes he's so busy just getting there that he doesn't have time to stop to appreciate the road itself. So this year we talked Craig and Lisa barrow and checking out some of the best driving roads in the country and the places along them that make them truly unique. So sit back now and join Craig as he begins his tour of Roadside America. You learn the technology you need a break. I mean the fountain of you know where it is Florida

or yes all are. And so my associate Brian Roberts and I borrowed a brand new Ford Mustang convertible to toward the sunshine shores of Florida's famous Route A one a. Lot is known as the sunshine state that is if. You're sure. Don't worry Greg everything will be OK. Now I've got to admit. By the time we reach the charming city of St. Augustine it did look a little brighter. The oldest city in the United States St. Augustine boast a fabulous history reflected in its architecture and historical sites. This is a gift to you marker Marcus national monument operated but the National Park Service and it's the oldest masonry fortification within the continental United States built here in St. Augustine and 16 17 to 16 72. So I'm not the oldest relic in Florida. Still it couldn't hurt to take advantage of every chance you get.

Feel younger already. Well maybe it wasn't the water but the sunshine that took the years off somehow with the top down and the wind in what's left of your hair. You almost feel like a kid again. Which might account for our slightly childish behavior as we drove down to the world famous town of Daytona Beach Speedway. I want to go to the beach. I'll go to the speedway first beach Speedway each day don't get me. Feeling younger all day. Daytona International Speedway the world's center of motor sports. They call it here the legends of NASCAR cross paths with the greatest sports car racers of all time. What a thrill it is just to stand in victory lane and imagine that the great race have done it without much and.

Just around the corner from the speedway. Is Mark Martin's classics museum. An amazing collection of early racing cars compliments one of the most complete Corvette museums I've ever seen. And then just to stop his whining I being the mature person that I am. Let Brian go to the beach. Of course being the young adventurer that he is he immediately called some local personal watercraft riders into letting him test drive their rides. Meanwhile I took a strictly professional interest in a local photo shoot. I wonder what lens he's using. Of course the big attraction is the fact this is one of the few places in the world where you can drive on the beach. Not very fast mind you but like they say life's a beach. And then you drive. Well it's something like that. Next stop when my auntie Beezer who had Odyssey. The place with the issues of my

youth that John F. Kennedy Space Center. Briand you realize is where they launched Apollo 11 from 1969 Neil Armstrong first man on the moon. I was not even born then. Now youth is wasted on the young still for me this whole area is a life with a continuing history of space exploration. I leave it there. This is incredible. These guys were my heroes when I was a kid. I took a model of every one of these aircraft and then it dawned on me. The original astronauts were just about my age when they had to learn all new technologies brand new method of motor we got the road test the space shuttle. All I need. Is a little training. Just. Like. Mike. Shepherd. He. Might as well. Let them. Hear call my last name. I want to be out there. It is fascinating. But.

We've seen our share of vintage car calendars over the years for the 1997 calendar from Hemmings Motor News offers a refreshing twist on a sometimes stale theme. In addition to artistic monthly shots of restoration ready classics in their natural habitats this calendar also notes significant events in automotive history. In addition to all the usual holidays of course it's very clever and only nine ninety five. Now be sure to join us next week for more motor week. When will test Jaguar stunning new Xscape coupe and convertible. I'm John David. We'll see you then. To order a video cassette of this program call 1 800 1:56 0 6 4 or twenty ninety five plus 495 shipping and handling to Motor Week Post Office Box 5 5 7 4 2 Indianapolis Indiana 4 6 2 0 5. To order from the motor home video collection or calmer them past episodes of the motor We

television series. Call 1 800 4 2 2 0 0 6 4. Or to order a catalog send a self-addressed stamped envelope to this address. Hello I'm John Davis on the next edition of Motor Week. We'll test both coupe and convertible versions of Jaguar stunning new V8 powered Xscape along with Chevy's versatile three door s series pick out that Goss answers all your questions about gasoline. While Craig Singh has followed the restoration of a rare

Italian sports car. Plus we'll have all the latest Motor News. So don't you miss the next motor week.