Motorweek; 1231

This time on motor week 93 Ford bids goodbye to its current Mustang with the hot stepping Cobra. Lisa peril shows us that aluminum is good for more than just soft drink can take a spring time look at our long term test card. A great singer non-space a visit to the king of Hot Rod truckers to come drive with us next. Monday 3 tv's automotive magazine and. Your host for Motor Week ninety three. John Davis. Well hello and welcome again to motor week 93 we're glad to have you with us. Over the past six months or so the pony car wars have been escalating at a galloping

pace. First to make a move was General Motors with their all new F bodies the Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird. These impressive designs have raised the ante and expectation of pony car fans. So Ford was in a dilemma. The new Mustang isn't due out until late this year in order to give Mustang fans something to cheer about until then. Ford turned to its special vehicle team for help. The 93 Mustang Cobra is the result. The 1993 Mustang Cobra for those in blue. That much different from its sibling the plain-Jane 5 leader Alex and the more aggressive GTI but sharp eyed enthusiast might notice the cobra's unique front end treatment complete with a traditional Prancing Pony in the middle of the grill. Or they might spot the propeller inspired 17 inch rims that were massive 08 a Goodyear Eagle GSE. Other detail changes unfold at the rear where SVO style tail lights compliment a revised rear valance

panel and spoiler a new side rocker panels are stylish and not as tacked on looking as those on the GTI. This last Mustang of its generation is clearly the best looking. But the real news for the 93 COBRA is under the hood. Ford's revised horsepower ratings take this motor at 235. That's 30 more than the normal Mustang 5 leader and a clear head of what to expect from the next generation car. Revised intake manifold new GTI 40 inspired cylinder heads larger valves and a host of other refinements increase the horsepower while decreasing torque to two hundred eighty pounds. The standard 5 leader remains at 300 even. Even without the superior torque of lesser Mustangs. From. 5. 0 to 60 happens in only five point six seconds or about a half second faster than our recent test of the 93. Honey I harbored Trans-Am the Cobra can slither through the quarter mile an even

more impressive fourteen point three seconds at 98 mph celebration worthy of the Cobra Name one thing that we're to carry over to the new Cobra model is a standard car's not a five speed. It's quick and accurate but with a long American style throws. Unfortunately predictably unpredictable Maryland weather prevented us from testing the cobra's braking and handling on our race track. That didn't stop us from gathering some Russians on the street. Upgraded four wheel vented this brakes replace the front disc rear drum set up on the regular Mustang. And The Lock braking system is being saved till next year. Even so these powerful brakes improve dramatically upon the regular Mustangs pedal feel and resistance to fade handling was an area where Ford's special vehicle team paid particular attention. And if our information is correct the 1993 Cobras brought MacPherson strut and rear trailing link suspension will be very similar to the one under the redesign.

94 Mustang. That's good news because the cobra handles better than any other Mustang we've grabbed by the reins. But the softer suspension beneath all four corners we found the cobra turns in a bit slower yet settles down in corners much better. The new suspension components allow the Mustang to absorb harsh bumps in the middle of times more. Easily. Nearly gone is the regular Mustangs tendency to buckets back in when the pavement turns rough. The body does know a bit more now but not to the extent that it affects driver control. Another definite benefit of this new suspension is a mustang ride that is no longer firing on long strips. But fuel consumption is still typical pony car EPA rates the Cobra at 17 city and 24 highway. We average just 17 miles per gallon. Less is changed on the inside unless you include some new floor mats that have the word COBRA embroidered on them. The dash is full of simple and easy to use switches and knobs but except for the driver airbag the layout now looks very dated. The

standard cloth and vinyl bucket seats are the same as those in the regular g t. They're comfortable and quite adjustable but lacked lateral support especially given the Cobras considerable cornering power. The Cobra supports the same very legible instrumentation of other Mustangs complete with oil pressure and both meter gauges. Rotary climate controls are still modern enough as is the newly revised sound system. But other details like the center console mounted power mirror switch seem misplaced in the rear of the Cobra lives up to its 2 plus 2 seating designation adult occupants may find tolerable headroom but adequate leg room is out of the question. At least the handy rear hatch area can carry its share of cargo especially when the rear seats are folded down. Left over however is hatchback high. Mustang Cobra prices started one thousand thousand nine hundred dollars. Well that's a substantial leap over a standard Mustang GTI. It still compares well with the cobra's GM competition motor weeks hit start with the

cobra's muscular motor. We also like the more capable handling He-Man brakes and far smoother ride and still classically aggressive styling. Misses are the overall dated interior and lack of an anti lock system. Despite the fact that the current Mustang is soon headed for the last round up the cobra certainly stirred our attention its performance clearly warrants the fabled Cobra title and the limited run of 5000 will go quickly. More importantly however is the fact that the cobra is a building block for the new Mustang. In that vein the cobra fills us with hope and anticipation of another great Ron. It doesn't take much effort to crush an aluminum drink can. So when people refer to cars with flimsy build quality they often compare them to just such a container. This may be amusing but it's hardly accurate. Aluminum is not currently a cost effective alternative to steel but it is actually a very promising material for the

future of our cars. Lisa Barrow enlightens us on this week's why i report. Aluminum in automobiles is really nothing new. The ford model T used in the transmission in hood and it was used in race cars by Jaguar and re Sadie's bins. Today the $70000 Acura NSX is the most aluminum intensive car available. Using 1000 pounds of the alloy. Manufacturers most often use aluminum in parts like the engine cylinder head suspension and wheels. In 1904 Audi will be the first volume car builder to introduce a four door sedan featuring an aluminum space frame along with its cast aluminum V8 engine. Currently Ford is the largest producer of aluminum components using the alloy in hoods on its luxury models and the new market uses almost 500 pounds throughout. Ford is now experimenting with an all aluminum vehicle called censuses 2010. It's a version of the current Taurus but is one third lighter and almost entirely recyclable. Porter has a. As a major. Advance program.

Designed to study the potential for high volume of the cars. And the synthesis 2010 as part of that program. And it was really a demonstration of how far you could take a a family size today and. How far you could take it down in weight by using aluminum and then downsizing all the components to match the lighter vehicle weight that you get. Since 1971 auto manufacturers have more than doubled their use of aluminum from an average of 77 pounds per car to one hundred ninety one. So why are manufacturers turning so much attention to aluminum. A major advantage is the weight reduction in the better fuel economy that comes with it. And that's why we've been using it as long as we haven't is as much as we've got it to a lightweight car made of aluminum or other lightweight materials can have improved acceleration better handling in the corners. He fully recyclable in the recycling value of the car because of his lighter weight actually reduces the emissions of the vehicle itself.

Its other advantages include high strength. For example in a crash a 25 pound aluminum structure will perform as well as a 50 pound steel structure. It's also easy to cast and fabricate is virtually non corrosive and out of the aluminum used in cars today. More than 85 percent is reclaimed and recycled. But as part of any major study of a moment of application you do look at recycling. You look at it in detail. The intent would be that you could. You told me at the end of its useful life recycle the vehicle structure but there are some downsides to using aluminum. One is cost aluminum is generally half the weight but twice the cost of steel. We have 80 years experience building or 90 years experience of building steel cars. It was certainly one of the disadvantages and they were going to have a moment with our knowledge base much less manufacturing challenges aluminum presents in the welding. Someone said that it takes the instantaneous energy to weld aluminum was about two or three times that of steel. And someone said in

fact that while the loan of a high volume you're going to demo lights in Detroit but experts think aluminums promises outweigh its problems. I think it probably is the way to go in all of the car. At least it's the way to go to try to answer the pressures from the environment from the fuel from the major changes that are facing the car and in the longer term future. There is no such thing as too much information when you're shopping for a new car. The trick is keeping it organized. Fortunately Paul Katz go and Bill Young kids have done that for you but they auto intelligence new car decision maker it offers comprehensive information on a wide range of models arranged in to clear concise volumes. There's also practical buying advice and even resale projections a lot of useful data on the money. Pat Gaz has plenty of useful data for you too. Here he is with more practical car

care advice. Pat John recently I did one of my segments about how to properly wash the exterior of a car. Well that led to lots of mail saying well what about the interior. Well let's give that a shot this time. Now first you need to get rid of all of the big junction all the hamburger wrappers and everything that I've collected over the last year in the car all of that goes. Then you vacuum the inside. Well that may mean that after you're through vacuuming you may find some grease spots or stains on the carpeting. The absolute best way to do it if you can get it into the car is one of the professional home type of carpet cleaners. But look at this you may not be able to use it in most of the modern cars. So what do you do. You go to an auto accessory store and you buy a product that's designed specifically for cleaning automobile carpets. Now this may be dry or it may be foam. And if you have a real stain spot what you'll do is spray it on following the directions. Then use a scrub brush on the spots that are

stained scrub it in real good and that'll get rid of the steam. Most times you'll have to vacuum it up. But be sure that you don't use your household vacuum to do it. You want to use a shop vacuum so that you don't damage anything. Then you're going to clean the vinyl areas inside the car. Well what most people do is they use household detergents. Well these are great in the house but they're lousy in the car. Don't do it. Back to the auto parts store. Buy an appropriate type of cleaner for the vinyl inside the car. And if you have textured vinyl use your scrub brush again. This will get down into the pores of the vinyl and make it look great. Dry it with a soft cloth. Let it sit for several hours so that all of the moisture dissipates. Then use an appropriate tripod of protectant that keeps the vinyl soft. Don't use this on the dash because many times it makes the Danks too shiny and you get glare in the windshield. Then the plastic that covers the instruments. Well you can get yourself into a lot of trouble with some of

these cleaners cleaning that plastic so go to an audio store where they sell high fives and so on and buy a cleaner that's designed for the plastic covers on audio equipment. Works real well on the instrument covers. Clean the windows cleaning the windows a regular glass cleaner works well more if you mix vinegar in water about two tablespoons of vinegar in a normal spray bottle of water does a great job. But this does all of the big areas what about some of the areas where things are real tough to get to cotton swabs do a great job. You can dip those into the cleaners or in some cases you may want to use rubbing alcohol. You can get into all those little cracks and crevices that way. For the things that aren't quite that tight. Save your old toothbrushes tooth brush does a great job for cleaning around ashtrays and all sorts of tight places on the car. If your car has a leather interior don't use the vinyl products on leather seats. Use a product

that's designed specifically for leather to clean it and condition it. This will keep the leather looking great throughout the life of the car. Now many times the car may smell bad. One thing you can do is to put dryer sheets you know the fabric softeners in the sheets. Put those under the seats of the car. Well the more you can take baking soda. Take two boxes of baking soda take a pencil and punch several holes in the side of the box then lay two boxes of baking soda under the seats of the car makes the car smell great. In short order and this will make the car worth a lot more money when it comes time to trade it or sell it because a good looking car is much easier to sell and if you have a question about cleaning your car or anything else about the car. If you write to me and I use your letter on the air I'll send you a motor week T-shirt. The address is Motor Week always Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7. That's Motor Week Owings Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7. Winter can be the hardest time of the year for a car the effects of cold and road

salt can cause even the toughest machine to break down well before its time. Our long term test vehicles have endured yet another winter with us and are probably just as glad as we are to see the arrival of spring. Let's see how they're handling the change of seasons. Our turbo charged GMC truck Thai food made it through the winter with only a short pause. We confirmed that this high performance four by four clings to clean dry pavement best. The typhoon grabs lots of looks too and many admirers were surprised to know that supplies of this limited edition sport. Will soon be exhausted. Problems were nil and mileage has improved to fourteen point eight skeptical given that many less adventuresome Corps by corps do no better. Speaking of adventure we're glad we had this Jeep Grand Wagoneer at our disposal during the blizzard of 93 on that march weekend it got members of our staff from New York's Long Island to Baltimore despite almost unpassable conditions.

The extra torque from its five point two liter V8 allowed us to creep or surge as needed thanks to a very precise throttle. It was trouble free at the 10000 mile mark and we find it's seventeen point one mpg economy. Reasonable given the Jeep Sixty five hundred pound towing capacity. We also found the winter performance of our Goodyear on which red tires. A more than reasonable as melting snow mixed with the rains of early April we were once again amazed at their ability to pump the water away from the road. While some all weather tires with wider grooves might do a little better and deep snow for a year round driving security we have never tested a better tire than the Goodyear Aqua threat. During winter and early spring most of our tripping is on the short side and that's where the higher mileage and good comfort of the Toyota Corolla Ellie comes in handy. After thirty six hundred miles the economy is thirty one point five for our drivers choice best small car pick.

I did notice a small problem with the cruise control. It doesn't always resume when you wanted to but the warranty will take care of that. The new a sedan on our lot is too new to need warranty work for anything. We are already impressed with the performance of this 1993 Mazda 66 E-S Mazda prides itself on sedans that like to be driven hard six to six E-S is no different responsive and comfortable are the high point. We like getting 27. Miles to the gallon too. The only problem we have had with our 1993 Mercury Villager LS minivan was with the power antenna. We noticed its operation seemed hesitant due to a slightly bent shaft. The result of trying to break through too much ice we think. But mileage continues to go straight up. Now standing at nineteen point two miles per gallon the motor week's current best minivan winner. Two other members of our long term crew have both had a good mostly full free ride during the seasonal transition. This 1993 Ford Probe GTI

Motor Week best support group winner. And our best for just about every big job 992 Chevrolet Suburban. We did notice a broken wire on the Suburbans rear defroster and it was quickly repaired. As we prepared for many more miles of warmer weather travel. And our next long term road test report. Our car of the week is a 1959 Chevy El Camino. It belongs to Larry and Laurie at the root of Zephyrhills Florida. If you have a classic from the 50s or any other decade send us a good color photo of it and a stamped self-addressed return on below. We'll consider it for car of the week. Our address is Motor Week always Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7. Now for some slightly newer cars. Here's Lisa Baron with the latest Motor News. They saw a downturn in the luxury car market forced Mazda to cancel its

Amati line John. But at least one of the division's cars will still come to the U.S. A Monny smaller sedan is being readied for an American debut. It may now be sold as a regular U.S. Mazda model position between the current 5:54 and 99 but those basics powered front drive sedan which is the same size as the 5:54 may prove difficult to sell as an upmarket model. Another possibility is to sell the former Armani sedan to another company which would marketed under its own name plate. Ford's Mercury division is a likely possibility. When the latest Mazda sedan does come to the US it will face a new challenger from Toyota. This new rear drive to a sports sedan will be powered by a two liter four cylinder engine making two hundred twenty four smeller six speed manual and five speed automatic transmissions as well as traction control on possible features. Both cars will most likely appear next summer John. As late 94 early 95 models. Thanks Lisa. Car enthusiasts have always had an advantage over truck

fans. Car buyers can purchase a wide range of high performance models right off the showroom floor. Not so for trucks. The result is a boom in aftermarket performance equipment for pickups. On a recent trip along the high road Craig Singh ha stopped off to meet the truck industry's king of bolt on performance. It's been some time and hot truck heaven. Southern California has long been a hotbed of interest for the Sport Trac enthusiasm. And so we've come to a Sousa California's Gale banks engineering to see the ever innovative Mr Banks's interpretation of the ultimate sport truck. What I've had in mind for years is to a cowboy Corvette. A truck that would handle go and stop like a Corvette or better. Dale this is incredible. Well we're kind of into hot rodding and trucks are where it's at today so we decided to do the ultimate truck statement. What we did with this thing is we started with an SS for 54 Chevy.

We kind of blacked out the nose or did a plane bumper and put our air of the engines through here and we did a different look and graphics package down the side and a wing on the back and tried to make it look real hot. But what's really hot is under the hood. Let's go drive a car if you will demo. Knowing Gail there was something big stuffed under the hood banksias reputation for sweetening horsepower with its innovative engine applications has attracted individuals and corporations and in fact the idea of this time with family. How many smaller cycling project for GMAC. This is the truck I didn't get to do for the AMC GMC marketing wanted to do the smaller truck so that's what the cycling became it was quite successful. But I still want to do the big walk super truck and that's what this is what you see under the hood is a 500 km Breena with banks into your guts. A twin turbo system using a couple of off and housing for the two of.

Them indeed. And a bank's tune for fuel injection system. You might ask why twelve hundred euros it's great. Well it's because I'm a California hot rodding. Do I need to say anything more. Yes that's right. Twelve hundred and eighty horses in this piece. And what better place like with an album like we're better than some twisty mountain roads. Just as you are PMS away. Now this is a little too much. We intend. To offer the graphics package and also we're going to do some body parts that are not. Ever going to offer. Also it isn't that. Right. We're going to get more affordable for you to something with white school to go in the mission's legal. Hot rodding is about creative every man is a product of what you drive a Model T 30 boards 57 Chevy's and today it's

props and this is all about us making the argument for reform of state. Join us next time for more motor week 93. Well test more new cars bring you more useful tips and more exciting glimpses of the future. I'm John Davis. See that. To order a video cassette of this program call 1 800 4 2 2 0 0 6 4. Or send twenty nine ninety five plus $4 shipping and handling to this address. Ask for a program number 12:31. That expanded version of motor week's jaguar the roar of the cat is available

on video cassette. It examines past present and future Jaguar models. To use your credit card call 1 800 4 2 2 0 0 6 4. Or send one thousand ninety five plus $4 shipping to Motor Week home video post office box 6 8 6 1 8 Indianapolis Indiana 4 6 2 6 8.