Motorweek; 1219

Free TVs automobiles magazine. Your host for Motor Week 93. John Davis. Well and welcome again to Motor Week ninety three we're glad to have you with us. Of all the benefits that cars offer us convenience has to top the list. Being able to go where we want when we want is a luxury that simply wasn't available before the automobile. But when the weather takes a turn for the worse or you have to go off the beaten path even many of the most modern cars are about as convenient as a horse and buggy. So this week we're looking at how to get around no matter what the conditions. And we're starting off by testing the latest version of one of our favorite go anywhere machines. The Range Rover. Our initial reactions to Land Rover North America's newest product range rover County LWP are generally low key. After all it looks pretty much the same in front as previous range rovers.

Ditto for the rear. It's not until you view it from the side that you notice the difference. Lw b is longer a full 8 inches longer between the wheels than the standard range rover. Thus the LWP designation for long wheelbase rides on a completely new electronically controlled air spring suspension. With computerized suspension offers the driver 5 different ride heights. These range from an ultra low access mode which drops the vehicle to ease entry for passengers and luggage through an extended profile mode that if the vehicle becomes a ground it automatically raises it almost three inches above its already tall off road settings. New traction control system is also part of the LWP package that uses the vehicles anti-lock braking system to limit power delivery to slipping wheels. Regular motorway viewers will recall that our first introduction to this long wheelbase Range Rover pain med its official press intro in Morocco. Wide range of

driving services available in that last African nation allowed us to quickly put Land Rovers claims of improved ride an off road performance to the test. County LWP passed with flying colors cruising over the challenging rock and terrain its way up rock road capability that impressed even our long time Range Rover aficionados LWP is powered by an enlarged version of rovers a venerable aluminum V8 engine that has been punched out the four point two metres. It now makes 200 horsepower 20 more than last year and an additional 24 pound feet. Talk for a total of two hundred fifty one. And our US Test Track. The four thousand five hundred seventy four pounds held up to be accelerated to 60 and ten point two seconds. Quarter mile runs lasted seventeen point seven seconds ending at 77 miles per hour. That's actually quicker than the lighter County Model that. Go with the permanent four wheel drive power is fed through a quick shifting

or speed automatic transmission. One would think that the longer wheel base would make the LW be less nimble than a standard range rover. Yes it does require a bit more room in tight corners but the air suspension smooths out side to side transition new anti sway bars help control body roll braking his bike or channel ABS system stopped our test vehicle from 60 and an average distance of 127 feet. Here to the new suspension offers an ability. Without of the standard range rover nosedive has also reduced the firm pedal required a strong push but was easy the modulator with good feedback and there's a substantial increase in ride quality with its new suspension and extra wheel base. He held up as the smoothest riding four wheel drive vehicle available. Had in a 68 decimal interior sound level. And you have one very comfortable driving environment. Fuel mileage is EPA rated at 12 city and 15 highway. We average 13

miles per gallon. But well ride handling and power are all improved. It is the old seven inch increase in rear leg room that will draw most buyers to its corner. LW these limo size passenger space makes the already comfortable standard range rover seem like a compact car. Elsewhere on the inside of the county LWP are the sort of niceties that we've come to expect in a fine luxury vehicle. Wooden leather are everywhere through frequent updates. The dash now combines modern efficiency with its rugged utilitarian shape. All switches are large and easy to reach if not always where you expect them to be. The front seats feature standard eight way power adjustments to position memory and heat. They're firm but very supportive. We'd much prefer Range Rovers carried a more comprehensive gauge package. The driver must rely too much on warning lights those gauges that are available however are large and clear. He controls are straight forward as are those of the standard AM FM Cassette stereo

A6 this CD changer is included as part of the stereo package cargo security is provided by a new taller load space cover load tail gate suspension access mode loading and unloading. Very easy thing for the LWP however requires a bit more effort. Forty nine thousand two hundred dollars worth of effort to be exact. But it buys you a go anywhere vehicle they can conquer the world's toughest terrain. I'll perform just about any other four of my four available other Range Rover. This is no surprise to the grass at Land Rover North America who recently announced the highest U.S. sales in the firm's history a trend that thanks to this newest longest range rover is bound to continue. While some folks can't bear the thought of even driving in the rain others relish the challenge of off road driving their happiness behind the wheel of a four by four on a muddy backwoods trail and their four by four of choice frequently wears a jeep

badge. But in these environmentally sensitive times the folks encourage their customers to use these vehicles responsibly so they endorse the U.S. Forest Service says tread lightly program. Lisa barrow and her f y a crew recently took a trip out West to see what tread lightly is all about. In southwestern Colorado where people from all across America have come here for the fifth annual year a Jeepers Danbury Danbury promotes fun and safe off roading and pays close attention to the tread lightly program. Tread lightly basically means stay on designated trails and roads don't go blazing your own trail. Avoid streams lake shores muddy areas areas that look like

they might be environmentally fragile. But the whole point of tread lightly is to drive and respect the environment to keep these trails open. Give people an opportunity to see America the America that most people don't get to see. You are a jeep jam Brie takes us high over the mountains in southwest Colorado. It's probably one of the most beautiful trips we do with of all colors and all of what you can ask of her and. These trips or underwritten are supported by the Jeep division of Chrysler Motors. So you must have a jeep trademark vehicle to take part in these trips. We have people there to show you how to drive properly what gears they use and how to drive in rough terrain.

You just drive in a slow commonsense manner there's really no speed or anything involved in what we're doing and you're not tearing up the terrain you're just enjoying the back country. And I think the scenic aspect of this trip is definitely one of the high priorities. Here we cross mountains at 13000 feet. Many smaller local ghost towns many old mines the area goes back to the eighteen hundreds for gold mining and silver mining. I think the San Juan Mountains here probably some of the most beautiful mountains that we have anywhere in the United States or in North America and probably as far as goes anywhere in the world. Also the town of year a city of Eurasia very unique little place. It's 600 year round population. The food to people there everything is just such a great area you just feel welcome and you can back every. Year a GJ every issue is unique in that you can rent a jeep vehicle and join us on the trip with a rental. And that is only on this trip that you can do that. Jeep Camry's really give the disciplines the opportunity to see the back country in America that a lot of people

will never have a chance to see without a four wheel drive vehicle. This is truly the way it should be seen. It's a spectacular. We don't normally review promotional literature on motor week but the soft winter motoring longs and every driver is beloved by its latest edition is chock full of common sense advice on everything. Warning it's good to say when you're passing technique as well as plenty of other foul weather driving tests all written in clear easy to understand language. Saab says it's available from participating dealers. Even the best drivers occasionally get stuck and when that happens having the proper equipment in your car can mean the difference between getting on your way

and enduring a long wait for a tow truck or a list of what goes into an emergency tool kit. Well turn to our own PAC office at. Have you ever had one of those days John when nothing seems to go right. Maybe it's a flat tire on the way to an important meeting or maybe in the middle of your vacation in the middle of nowhere. The car dies but we can't prevent things like that from happening but we can help you prepare for the worst. Now when anything like this happens you have to be conscious of safety and that means that you have to get the car off of the road as far as possible. Now one of the things that you might want to consider in doing that is that you might want to have in the car a safety reflective vest to wear especially at night so that oncoming cars can see you. Secondly you want them to be able to be aware of the fact that the car is disabled. Here is a typical type of player. You light these they only last for either

15 or 30 minutes. So if you're going to be away from the car these might not be the best thing they could burn out and leave the car vulnerable. Here's the best thing right here. This is a trucker's triangle. They generally come in sets of two or three. You set these out. They reflect the light to the oncoming cars and let the cars know that there's a disabled vehicle along the side of the road. Especially if you have to leave it. OK now we have the car safe. Maybe we want to attempt to perform some basic repairs to try to get it going again. Well there are some things that each and every car on the road should have. First off you should always have a tire gauge. This is mandatory. Secondly you should always have a flashlight in the car. Now to perform minor repairs because lots of times the things that will disable the car could be easily and quickly repaired if you had some basic tools. Here is a multi pointed screwdriver. You also

want a pair of needlenose pliers. This gets you into those tight places. A pair of slip joint pliers. Now if you really want to be professional about it and cover all of the bases over here we have a set of open end box wrenches now. Some of the things that you need as far as parts are concerned the most typical thing that is going to give you a problem are going to be electrical problems. The most typical electrical problems are going to be blown fuses. You want an assortment of fuses. Find out exactly what type of fuses your car has and get the proper types and one of the other things that you would want here. Plastic electrical tape on a roll of that that helps you patch bare wires and that sort of thing. Then a spare fan belt fan belt breaks youre out of business. One of the more typical things that you're going to find that causes problems broken radiator or heater hoses. Here we have a hose repair kit.

Good thing to have to get you to the nearest repair shop. Couple of basic things an extra quart of oil some extra brake fluid is a good idea to have a fire extinguisher in your car. Always you might want to have a first aid kit that is something good to have. Now over here this is probably luxury. This is a tire pump plugs into the cigarette lighter pumps up the flat tire. Very very handy in many cases. Now you have all of this stuff you have to keep it in the car. How do you do that. Here we have a plastic tool box. Why plastic. Well because trunks are typically damp metal tool boxes tend to rust and make a mess of the tool box and the trunk of the car. One last thing you're going to put all these metal tools in this tool box. They're going to tend to rust even though they're in a plastic box. Here's a little trick. Take some brown wrapping paper soak it with oil wrap the metal tools in this wrapping paper before you put them in the tool box. Keeps the tools from rusting. Now if

you do all of this you're going to be prepared for any of those emergencies that you could actually deal with on the highway. And if you have a problem with your car write to me if I use your letter on the air. I'll send you a motor week T-shirt. The address is Motor Week Owings Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7. That's Motor Week. Always Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7. Subaru station wagons aren't generally known for their performance comfort cargo room in the year around security of all wheel drive are what most people buy them for. But Subaru is capable of building sporty cars legacy sports sedan and the SUV export Cooper proof of that. Now there's a fast Subaru for family buyers. It's the legacy touring wagon alley. The long name covers a simple idea. Take one of your most potent performers the legacy sports sedan and add a family sized dose of cargo room. The result should be as one Subaru representative puts it a family car with an

attitude. Subaru's attitude adjustment began when it introduced the legacy lineup of sedans and station wagons in 1990. Legacies with their aerodynamic styling modern interiors and available all wheel drive made Subaru more competitive in the mainstream suburban marketplace. Subaru even has a special legacy sports sedan for the family that loves to drive. Now they've extended that desire to extended families and have the legacy touring wagon modifications to the wagons exterior are limited to a more aggressive chin spoiler along with the sport sedans good looking 15 inch cast wheels and trim. But it's a performance that sets this wagon apart from your normal suburban hauler. Subaru added turbo charging points to point to leader flat origin but the 91 model year that had the drive train it wanted boards for your legacy. I said 160 horsepower and 180 pound feet of torque comes on at the lower

end of the rev band moving the 30 £340 wagon from 0 to 60 and only eight point seven seconds that's barely slower than the lighter sedan a quarter mile took sixteen point seven seconds with a final speed of 82 miles per hour. Our car's torque was delivered through an electronically controlled four speed automatic transmission to all four wheel all wheel drive system is also fully automatic sending power where needed. Subaru touts its 4 channel ABS braking system as being more sophisticated than the more common three channel systems. Performance was however typical. It took a fairly short 100 feet from a wagon to a stop from 60 mph. Great thing. It was minimal with only moderate body nosedives debilitate was rock solid while the legacy touring wagon steering provides good feedback and responsiveness. Our slalom course let us know that the wagons tail is ready to slide out when not handled with care.

High speed lane change really got the attention of our test driver. Despite that we'd write the legacy's body roll as moderate compared to the sports sedans but minimal compared to most other station wagons. Highway ride is taut and quite outstanding throwing wagon is a great cruiser. Quiet and big car comfortable. Inside the dash is also lifted virtually unchanged from the legacy sports sedan we tested two years ago. It's efficient but not distinctive. The gauges are large and easy to read but there aren't any oil pressure or volts inside the 93 turbo wagons leather wrap steering wheel is an airbag. The one for the passenger isn't yet available motorized shoulder belts and manual lap belts complete front seat safety. The front bucket sport seats provide just the right comfort and support the AM FM casette stereo and ventilation controls are well marked and easy to use. The split bench rear seat provides adequate room but is rather hard. But this is a station wagon so it folds down to help create a roomy 71 cubic feet of cargo space. List price for the well-equipped maid in Lafayette

Indiana legacy touring wagon Ellie is twenty one thousand six hundred forty five dollars. Our test car sticker to twenty two thousand one hundred seventy seven dollars. As a reminder of what will drive Al B 100 C S petrol wagon cost over 40 pounds and. So this Subaru has a very reasonable price for a fast fun to drive four door that also offers the utility of a station wagon. It may not quite handle like a true sports sedan. It will make suburban shores a lot more interesting. Part of the week before 1951 Willys Jeep. It belongs to Debbie ARG Fallbrook California. Now if you have a radio that you'd like to show off send us a good color photo and stamped self-addressed return below and we'll consider it for our of the week. Our dresses motorways Owings Mills Maryland. Two one one one.

Now it's time for Lisa barrow and all the latest all wheel drive motor news. We saw the Ford Explorer has been a hit since its introduction in 1990 John. And the latest model to be announced should broaden its appeal even further. The 1994 model year will see the arrival of the Explorer Ltd. this upscale new version will be the most luxurious Explorer yet. Unlimited standard features include body color exterior tram heated side mirrors integrated running boards and special aluminum wheels. Inside will be a set of leather covered seeds a leather rat steering wheel and an overhead con. housing reading lamps a compass and an outside temperature gauge. Power train selection will be limited to the current floor leader of the six with the four speed automatic transmission. Only 16000 Explorer Ltd will be built in all. Ford has not yet announced prices for the Explorer Ltd. John but we expect them to start around

$26000. Thanks Lisa. It's sort of a running joke around the motor week offices that whenever crags Haas goes somewhere it will either rain or snow. As you can guess this sometimes makes his work rather difficult. Recently however Craig spent some time at one of America's snow capitals just for fun. Oh you hadn't planned on filing a high road report from out there but you found a man and a car there were just too good to pass up. When I think of Colorado I think of living great skiing and also. Well you have just got to believe it. Yeah. That's a. Good taxi. You are now at work the world's only recording

studio theater like planetarium toy store taxicab. Taxi used to just be a regular taxi ride as visible over the years and thousands of dollars worth of improvements. It's become the magical mystery psychedelic like others are tied to their bases. Everyone that enters. The taxi with three hundred sixty thousand miles on. It. Five synthesizers. This is a profession like this with.

This cab. Driving around with their luggage. It's really going to do much better if you can pay the bills. It's been really fun entertaining people but I think. We have. The ultimate wiring.

We have the ultimate taxi taxi. You're looking at the future of transportation ladies and gentlemen. Don't forget you saw your birds. Join us next week for another new car road test. I have reports from Greg Hall and Lisa barrow as well as all the latest Motor News. I'm John Davis. To order a video cassette of this program call 1 800 4 2 2 0 0 6 4 4 send 29 ninety five plus $4 shipping and handling to this

address. Ask for program number 12:19. Please give us that expanded version of motor week's jaguar the roar of the catch 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 and shipping to Motor Week home video post office box 6 8 6 1 8 Indianapolis Indiana 4 6 2

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