Motorweek; 317; 318

The Sporting Life might never be the same in this snappy version of the commuter car and this sporty rendition of the family car track records of both next on motorway. Motor Week TV's automotive magazine brought to you by a general support grant from the Princeton division of the Union Carbide corp america goes with brownstone. Your host for Motor Week. John Davis. Hello and welcome again to motor week. Our first Test Track Road Runner is Honda's attempt to make commuting fun again. The brand new Honda Civic Si are acts after that Chevrolets attempt to beef up its family car image with a

Chevrolet celebrity Eurosport. Pat Goss attempts to shed some light on grating motor oil and Joyce Braga has advance information on the 1985 Jetta from Volkswagen. To talk about it Benz information we hardly need to introduce our first road test guest this week but we will anyway. It's the 1984 Honda Civic Si r X.. Well unless you've just returned from the planet Mongo you probably read that this is now the highest mileage car sold in America. It's also being touted as the forerunner of tomorrow's sports cars. Well whatever it is it's most affordable with a base price of six thousand one hundred forty nine dollars. But is it really everything everybody claims. Let's find out. The vital statistics for the Hondas C R x R and the Small is Beautiful Department. Wheel base is only eighty six point six inches and the whole thing is only 12 feet long and this smallest of new cars on the

American road barely tips the scales at a slight eighteen hundred pounds yet tug on the stylishly recessed door handle and popped one of its long portals and you expose an incredibly roomy interior. One thing that helps. The seats have more fore and aft adjustment than a star NBA center could ever use although the also generous headroom means you said very low and the some the seat cushions were overly hard. Since you feel like you're being envelops by the C R X you'll appreciate the fact that the RAM steering wheel and most controls fall neatly into hand. That includes the cable linkage 5 speed shifter one of the most positive we've found on any front drive car the driver faces a large control pod that includes clear Speedo tack water temperature and fuel gauges along with the dreaded and usually useless upshift indicator while we'll laid out. You can't say the same

for the heat and air conditioning controls. You'll be able to see them easily once you remove the steering wheel. Other interior features on our car included are confused looking but great sounding stereo a dash top storage nook and another one just left of the wheel. But the real storage story is behind the seats. First there's this very useful under floor Ben that not only takes a fair sized bags but is lockable to boot and the rest of the huge boot is just as versatile. Even with a large glass hatch closed I managed to move a 30 by 50 inch folding table with only a minor compromise to my seating position on the outside of the C R X. things aren't so positive. This is not the most attractively style vehicle around but unless you're looking for a beached whale without a tail the C R X is light weight means they've used a lot of plastic. We do applaud its use in the front fenders but we question

the colored plastic rocker panels that are applied over metal. Apparently a paint chip protection is their primary duty since they don't do much for the car's looks. Under the deeply sloping hood line is either a 1.5 liter 12 hour four cylinder or our standard 1.3 liter unit even with a standard engine. Things are crowded in here. Plugs While front facing will be more difficult for owner servicing than they should be and you can forget about do it yourself belt changes unless you're unemployed and have lots of time on your hands. More unusual for a front wheel drive car is Honda's use of torsion bars rather than coil springs for the front struts suspension. It's a very compact setup but if anyone remembers how old torsion Bard Chryslers drove you won't be surprised that we've every temple in the road and on the open road is where we diverge from those that call the C R X a

modern sports car through our slalom course. It was more like being in a go cart heavy drivers so compressed the front suspension that as it hit it stops you literally bumped around a curve while the C.R. X 1.5 includes a rear stabilizer bar. We doubt that you will hear this problem. However the unassisted rack and pinion steering is excellent and allows you to zip around unexpected obstacles. Unfortunately you feel so heroic in this tiny mobile that you might be inclined to take chances you shouldn't. We also found fault in the C R X's non boosted front this career drum breaking system while stopped from 55 mph were very short of 114 feet. The rear wheels would lock up instantly in a panic situation. Fayed was moderate although pedal pressure remained good throughout the test. The C R X did have a pronounced tendency to spin and

swerve but at least it was always driver controllable. However we have no complaints about acceleration or its size the C R X is plenty fast enough. With 0 0 to 60 time of eleven point two seconds. The larger engine would reduce that by a full second are passing time 0 5 seconds from 40 to 55 was also most reasonable especially for a high mileage car with far more mid-range torque than expected. But if you have to give a medal to the C.R. x try a golden parking lot maneuverability turning diameter is a scant 29 feet. And finally we come to the C R X's incredibly high fuel economy ratings by the Environmental Protection Agency are 51 in the city's cycle and 67 on the highway. It may then sound ludicrous if we wonder why 54 MPG is all we managed on our economy Lou.

So we come to the end of this road test with a mixed view of the Honda CRV Rex. We think tiny high mileage cars like the C R X are just what city dwellers or short distance commuters need. In our opinion it does not handle or break anything like an up to date sports car. Plus its small size makes it questionable for an experienced or over confident drivers. But you have to take it for what it is. A mini but spacious highly fuel efficient fairly versatile runabout. And in that light the C.R. X is indeed yet another laudable achievement from Honda. Ever wondered what all these letters and numbers on the top of it all can mean. S a 10 w 40 and so on. Well they can be the difference between using the right or

wrong kind of oil in your car. As Pat Goss is about to explain Pat. Well John I've just finished doing an oil change in this new jeep. You know of all of the things that you can possibly do to a new car to make it last longer. The single most important thing is changing the oil in the oil filter. Now at the very maximum you should change the oil an oil filter at what your owner's manual says. But if you really want the con to last a long time and give really good service and it's ideal to change the oil in the filter every three months or 3000 miles whichever comes first the time of the mileage. But now you're going to change the oil and you know there's all different kinds and types of oil out there. How do you tell what's best for your car. Well it's really quite simple and we've taken the top of a can of oil and we've blown it up here so that we can see it a little better on this this chart. Now right in the center is what we're really concerned with.

This says API service S.F.. Now this is a rating for the quality of the oil and it generally will be on the top of the can but sometimes it will be down on the side of the can. But what does it mean. Well API stands for the American Petroleum Institute and it means that the oil in this can right here conforms to their best S F rating. Now what is this rating. Well right here it is. We start at the bottom with essay and go test b c s d s e and s f appear at the top. S f is the best quality oil that you can buy. It is the best oil for any and all automobiles but we still find people who are using SB and as a quality oils. Now this can be pure disaster because there hasn't been a car made in 0 5 or 10 years that could use this quality oil. It's a matter of fact it's been quite a number of years since there's been a lot more manufactured in this country that could use an S

B or an s a quality oil. Now one other thing about this right here. S a e 10 w 40. Now don't confuse that as a quality rating. All this means is that this is telling us how thick the oil is it's viscosity how it flows through the engine. For this you want to make sure that the numbers here correspond with what your owner's manual recommends for your particular car. Now that's fine for gasoline engines but what about diesel engines have a lot of them out there these days. And that's a totally different ball game. Right here on a can of diesel oil we have again API service in this case it says S F C C C D. Well diesels are different so you have to open your owner's manual that's a buyable as far as your diesel engine is concerned. Open it and whatever it says you must do it. Exactly.

In other words if your owner's manual says you use an S F C C and it must not say C D on the candidates what you must do exactly what the owner's manual recommends. So open it and follow it to the letter. Now what about specialty oils and synthetics and so on. There was a lot of interest in those today. Well if you have a car that's out of warranty. The reason I say out of warranty is because if you use a synthetic or specialty oil in a car that is still under warranty you may void the warranty on the engine. So if it's out of warranty and you want to use a synthetic or specialty oil fine put it in the car but keep a close eye on the engine. If it starts making abnormal noises or using abnormal amounts of oil or anything like that. Take this in that IC out immediately and go back to whatever you were using. These oils are very good but they're not good for all cars in all cases. Now there's also a

lot of questions that come up about additives. You know thousands of additives out there. Now the rule with additives is very simple. If you have a good engine don't use an additive in it. Now if you have an engine that has a problem you might want to try to find an additive that is designed to alleviate that problem and try it it might help. But otherwise don't use an additive unless you have a problem now. Last but not least the oil filters. You know there are thousands of filters out there all different brands and qualities and prices. The big thing you want to look for in a filter is a name brand good quality filter. Here we have some that are cut apart if you look at this quality filter over here. You'll notice that there are quite a few pleats in the paper filtering element in it and they're quite close together and quite heavy on this one. The lesser priced one you have much fewer plates. And they're not as close together and they're

not as thick so get a good good quality name brand filter and a word to the one frequent oil and filter changes are the most important things you can do to extend the life of your engine and using the best in quality products is always a smart move. So you think you know sports cars. Well then what do you get when you cross a classic English styling with Japanese reliability Beefeaters z x. Well not exactly. The answer is right here. One of the newest forms of open air excitement the inspiration for this car styling is the English Ford powered Lotus 7 but mechanically it uses a lot of off the shelf Toyota parts which is how it got its name. One of Toyota's own competition engineers suggested it. So now we have the rotisserie 7. It may never replace the family station wagon. But what better way to arrive at the

club for a few sets of tennis or a round on the links. If you're young and of course affluent you'll appreciate the reliability of this real little roadster. You'll be sure of arriving on time for the first set thanks to the near bullet proof Toyota drive train road is limited to President Chris Koster has been a long time Lotus afficionado but it was the Toyotas reputation for der ability that convinced him and his design staff that even though the rotors would resemble the Lotus 7 that they could fabricate an entirely new design one that would eliminate the original lotuses reliability and parts problems and so the road his hybrid was born after six years of planning and testing its interior is bigger than the original Lotus. So even the most portly corporate executive has plenty of leg room. Of course he or she will still be able to carry only one passenger but in a car with this kind of image

any more than two is a crowd anyway. For the true driving enthusiastic the road gives you full analog instrumentation with all the information a driver will need for a weekend rally. And for more ordinary pursuits there's just enough room in this open air trunk. Or should we say boot to accommodate a few of the essential ingredients that make up the good life. But under the hood the road is all business. The engine bay is designed to accommodate almost any four cylinder or a V-6 and even some aluminum VHS and with one of them attached this one thousand two hundred thirty seven pound machine is a real rocket. The most popular engine is this one from a Toyota Corolla and its high performance form the 142 horsepower engine can power the rotors from 0 to 60 and six point seven seconds to make sure all of that power zips around corners safely chassis

engineer and use the computer aided design system of the Mack truck company graded the formula race car inspired front suspension with modified Toyota rack and pinion steering and front this breaks. The result is a lot of sophisticated front end geometry. A number 0 but tough design. But even with all of that design integrity and engineering there's an intangible element here that sets the road to support from other limited production cars and the $16000 price range. It has a certain look to it friendly but serious when the occasion demands it. And when the occasion demands something else you'll know your rotors has more than enough open air excitement waiting for you. A con only a true get away machine can deliver. A few weeks ago we talked about the upcoming bokes wagon a rabbit so now it's the turn of the Jetta.

That's right John you know what they say where a rabbit goes in the fall. Well it sure does seem that way. And is the Jetta going to follow in the rabbit's tracks and not be radically different. Yes like the rabbit the Jetta is more of a redefinition you know VW apparently wanted to redesign the jet I think to make it a little bit more aerodynamic and to give it a lot more interior room. Now this is the first new design since 1975 and if you look at it it's a very handsome kind of integrated look. And I think it's very very reminiscent of an Audi. Now as you can see the jet is still more or less just a rabbit with a trunk. Now it's still going to be available in two and four door models and it should be two and a half inches wider and five inches longer in the wheel base. Now overall it's going to be about 14 feet long and that's seven and a half inches longer than the current Jetta. And it's also going to weigh a hundred sixty five pounds more. Now

the rumor mill they're saying that there just might be a station wagon version and overall its design looks. It's nappy but of course as usual VW is being pretty quiet about it so we have very little word on that. So I think we're just going to have to go with our artist rendering for right now. Now we do know that the standard engines in the base Jetta will be the 52 horsepower 1.6 liter diesel or the optional overhead cam four cylinder and a standard output version of the rabbit power plant. Now this is a new engine of one point eight liters and it's going to produce about 78 horsepower with either a 5 speed manual or three speed automatic transmission and the jet AGL live version will also continue with a 90 horsepower engine and a close ratio five speed gearbox. Now the big news. You know the Jetta might be the first VW sold here with their new four valve one point eight leader engine and that should put out about 130

horsepower and us trim. If they do use this power plant you can be sure that the return of the jet is going to be rocket powered. Now in Europe they're going to see this new jet at the Geneva Motor Show in March but we're not going to see it here until October at the very earliest. And I don't think they're going to start selling it here until January or even February of 1985. In that hundred thirty horsepower engine would really make the new jet a quater sports sedan. It sure will. Thanks Joyce. As for new car design in general we've seen a lot of good things along those lines during the last decade. Detroit products in particular have really started to come of age. Only one problem some cars also got boring to drive. But all that initial development is now over. So cars are at last beginning to reflect the individual character of their nameplates. Take the General Motors a body chassis for instance. It's gotten a lot of

individual attention what with the old Sierra E-S Buick Century and the Pontiac 6000 s t e already paving the way to sophisticated performance in 1984 it's now time for a king Chevrolet to do it their way and they have with the celebrity Eurosport. At its unveiling at GM Milford proving grounds last summer Chevrolet definitely let it be known that the Eurosport was their formula for an affordable one to drive a body. And that includes not only a four door sedan but a two door coupe. And this very racy looking Eurosport station wagon the Eurosport package of tram suspension and black wall radio ads only two hundred twenty six dollars to the celebrities seven thousand seven hundred eleven dollars base cost. So you get this sporty flair for little more than half the fourteen thousand five hundred dollar price tag of the 6000 s t e.

Or do you. Well truthfully the s t e comes standard with most popular options and a lot more. So by the time you add most of them to the Eurosport package you're likely to approach $12000 like the four door sedan we chose for our test. But that's still quite a savings over the s t for that. You get the slender attractive celebrity shape wrapped in blacked out trim with distinctive red accents to spruce it up even more. We added an attractive finish aluminum wheels and fatter tires a combination of higher effort vast ratio power rack and pinion steering large stabilizer bars and stiffer spring struts and shocks gives the Eurosport impressive handling. Turning the wheel and you're literally sucked into a term. Cornering as flat as you'd expect but the ride retains a good combination of firmness with comfort road feel is excellent. Plus

rear wheel tracking through our slalom was in the better class for all front wheel drive cars. But we did discover two problems. First the power steering pump had trouble keeping up with very rapid changes. Then we found that the Eurosport was very susceptible to bump steer that happens when maneuvering on very rough pavement. The rear end absorbs the bomb's poorly you lose traction and end up with an oversteering condition. Surprising flaws in an overall above average package. The standard drive train on the Eurosport consist of a 2.5 liter four cylinder attached to a four speed manual. Most owners will probably order either our cars one hundred twelve horsepower V-6 or a high output version rated at 130. Both a 3 and a 4 speed automatic are now available with a lower rated engine although the H O motor come so late with the 3 speed.

Two thousand nine hundred thirty five LB production car however didn't suffer much from having the lower rated the 6 3 speed. They gave us no complaints in straight line ability. We write 0 0 to 60 time of 11 seconds says good and a quarter mile dash of seventeen point nine seconds at 75 as even better. And it's only slightly slower than the vaunted 6000 s t e. GM has worked hard at eliminating criticisms about the harsh and slipping shifts of their front drive automatics are car slush box was much improved with their crisp downshift helping the Eurosport to a fine 5 second passing time from 40 to 55 mph. While we've been only sometimes pleased with a body brakes this happens to be one of those times. Pedal pressure was firm and reassuring stops were very short with an average of only 114 feet over six tries.

More importantly there was little tendency for the back end to break loose and swing. Bravo. Likewise the interior. It reflects the more serious nature of the car with its tempered fabrics. True bucket seats though are only an option. The standard split bench seat with arm rest was comfy. If two flat to hold us in position during fast cornering. The optional gauge package is widely spaced but highly legible and while it lacks both attack an oil pressure gauge we prefer this to most of the gee whiz electronic clusters now so commonplace mileage ratings on the Chevrolet Eurosport are well within its class at 21 city and 33 highway. According to the EPA our car was very new. So owners should expect slightly better everyday mileage than the 24 we recorded on our 100 mile economy. So what does Chevrolet really have in the Eurosport. Well compared to other a

body variance particularly the Pontiac 6000 s t e it's slightly less sophisticated in handling ride and features but quite a bit less in cost. By it's lonesome the Chevrolet celebrity Eurosport is an exciting example of how the ordinary family car can be transformed into a desirable driver's machine. And if you don't order all the bells and whistles you can have it at a very modest cost. I will see you next week on motorway. Motor Week has been brought to you by a general support grab from the press stone division of the Union Carbide corporate. America goes with Presto. Studio vehicles courtesy of Griffith Cadillac BMW Honda. Why does an automatic transmission take the sport out of this classic sports car. And

will this Japanese crowd move or take a maxi chunk of the minivan market. Hello I'm John Davis and next time on motor week we'll take a bast road test spin of the Porsche 928 s automatic kind of slow road test ride in the toilet a mini van plus some answers to your car problems and a look at Chrysler's future. Each car join us next time on look. For the workday vanpool another minivan trying for a maxi chunk of the market.

To help you forget about working for a living. This is all you'll need. Both are up next on the motorway. Motor Week TV's automotive magazine brought to you by a general support grant from the Preston division of the Union Carbide corp america goes with brownstone. Your host for Motor Week. John Davis Hello and welcome again to motor week practically the hottest items in the automotive market these days are minivans. They seem to be selling faster than Michael Jackson records. One of the latest is up for our first

road test this week. It's the toy van for our second subject it's a different kind of thriller. The Porsche 928 s and its automatic mode Pat Goss will have more thrilling advice for a couple of viewers with car troubles and joys Braga checks in with some inside information on the Chrysler h car. But first let's take a long look at this weird looking critter right here. It's the new Toyota van. Toyota is our largest vehicle importer so naturally they want to get in on the minivan action now dominated by Chrysler's Plymouth Voyager and Dodge Caravan. But the Toyota van isn't new. It's just one of a number of different kinds of many bands that have been popular in Japan for years. And since it wasn't conceived with the American market in mind that does raise questions about how suitable it is for our needs. Is the Toyota van here a serious contender in the new minivan market place or just a means for Toyota to hedge its minivan bets.

The three thousand three hundred pound Toyota van rests on a very short wheelbase just 88 inches. That's only slightly longer than Hondas tiny civic C-R acts. They make up for it with lots of front and rear overhang and a sharply sloping nose that makes it look a lot like an old Rimington electric razor. It's almost the same length as a Plymouth Voyager and a Dodge Caravan but it's both taller and narrower. The result is a high but skinny look. That's accent you aided by the placement of the front steerable wheels under rather than forward of the front driver and passenger. Similar to the Volkswagen van again this could also mean less crash protection. But you do said further back from the windshield that in a van again and there's less tendency to navigate a curb prematurely. Climbing into the front seats of a toy van is definitely an uphill affair. And if the wheels aren't in a straight on position you'll get complaints as we did about

trouser legs being soiled. Unlike any other small van the toy vans engine which drives the rear wheels is placed amidships between the comfortable front bucket seats access to the two liter fuel injected four cylinder is gained by lifting the driver's seat. It's clever all right but the engine compartment is extremely crowded. Fortunately Toyota maintenance calls for oil changes only every 10000 miles and the platinum tipped spark plugs will once only every 60000. However with the engine where it is it's not easy to move from the front to the rear seats. Better you should get in the back through this large sliding door. The light has to operate we've seen standard seating here is for two in the mid bench and three on the back bench for a vehicle total of seven adults. The back bench can be folded flat as a package shelf or removed altogether and the mid bench folds flat for a bed like stance. But there is one really impressive

aspect of the Toyota van. Unlike the Voyager caravan if you take out all the seats you can replace them with an eight foot sheet of plywood and still be able to close the hatch. But you pay for this 150 cubic foot fifteen hundred pound cargo flexibility. Although the Toyota vans base price is only nine thousand dollars we expect most models imported this year will feature the Highline ele trim our van complete with a lot of mandatory options priced out at a whopping fifteen thousand five hundred. But typical of Toyota. Some of those options are really unique if not totally necessary. There's this front mounted cooler ice maker for instance. It comes with the twin front and rear air conditioning system guaranteed to keep all occupants both cool and refreshed. Then there's an interesting sunroof package that not only has the normal front pop up unit but a huge electric center sightseeing hatch that nearly makes this the first

convertible van. The alley comes with necessary power steering and tilt wheel along with a clear gauge package that lacks only a volt meter front ventilation controls our center dash mounted above the radio and this standard five speed manual shifter is the smoothest shift linkage we've seen in a ban for speed automatic is also naturally available. But there's one interior feature we objected to. The front windows don't roll all the way down leaving us with no comfortable place to rest our arm. Unlike the caravan Voyager but like the van again driving the Toyota van is not a car like it handles much like a pickup truck with little traction over the rear wheels. You can consistently lose traction on the inside rear tire during sharp turns particularly when roads are wet but it's stodgy slow responding suspension may be viewed as a big improvement.

If you want a traditional full size van and it'll only bother those who have never driven a van or truck before. But what may bother everyone are the toy vans squirrely brakes all those stops from 55 MPH or short at 110 feet. On average they were not sure you can swing and sway we have Sammy Kaye in this one. Fortunately you feel the instability early and except in the worst cases it's easily controllable. Back on the high side however is the Toyota vans turning circle. The extremely short wheelbase means an extremely tight turning diameter of only 30 feet much shorter than any competitor. Plus we also find the Toyotas van has a fine balance of power for a van 0 to 60 time of 60 seconds is quite good. Fuel economy is also on target with EPA ratings of 25 city and 31 highway for the 5 speed manual matched by our findings of

27 over a 100 mile economy. So where does the toilet a van stand in the minivan lineup. Well it can carry longer cargo than any other small van now available. Yet it's probable high price legs in front of wheel seating and driving characteristics. Give it some drawbacks. But as always Toyotas impressive construction quality will help greatly in making sales so even though we don't think the toy van will defeat all its competitors We'd bet that Toyota dealers will have no trouble selling every single one of them. They can get their hands on. Now that you've got our address right and asked Pat Goss about that car problem that won't go away. In the meantime he's ready with his latest bag of tricks for some people who've

already done just that Pat. Well John I've been into the mail again and I've found a couple of very interesting letters. First one is from Drew leather of Smiths Maryland. He writes that he has a 1973 four cylinder Pinto. He says the engine runs really rough but that he's replaced the spark plugs in the spark plug wires and it also has a new set of points and condensor but it still runs rough. Well what could the problem be. Well it could be any of a number of different things. The first thing that I would recommend is to have the engine checked very thoroughly on an electronic engine analyzer. See that'll tell the condition of the distributor itself the carburetor and other related parts. Now if that checks out good. The next thing to look for is vacuum leaks all along the intake manifold and especially where all of the vacuum hoses connect to the intake manifold. These guys are really prone to vacuum hoses splitting and falling

off and there is one and most often the fit's up underneath the manifold. That's a good one to check but if everything works out fine there is no problem found in the next thing to do is what we've done here. We have unbolted the valve cover now will take the valve cover off and underneath the valve cover is the camshaft. This is an area where there's a lot of problems on Pinto engines right here. This is what makes the valves work. Now the camshaft in this engine is pretty good but over here on the table we have one that is shot. If we look at this end of it right here this is a lobe as it spins it makes the valves work. It should be level with this and right here so we can see it does a dip right here where the metal has actually worn away camshaft is no good. And believe me this is a very troublesome area on Pinto's So as a last resort look at the camshaft and if you don't find the problem any place else you'll probably find it there at the camp.

Now we have a couple of letters here really. As a matter of fact we've heard from a lot of people regarding this particular problem but two in particular. Seei Larson of Cedar Falls Iowa and Andy and Hoff of Kenosha Wisconsin They've both written that they have had new starters installed on their cars but they're still having problems starting them. Both say that the battery sounds weak but nothing is wrong with it they've had him tested. What could be causing the problem. Well first of all you have to assume nothing. So we start by making sure that the batteries in these cars are properly tested using a heavy load tester. Now if the battery is good then the next thing is probably the starter. The show well we have a new starter. Well don't believe just because the starter is new that it's necessarily good. How to get an idea. We have a starter motor here that we've partially disassembled. We'll take it apart and see what the difference is in various starters internally.

Now the working parts of the starter like right here this is the armature. If you notice all of these copper wires. The more copper wire in that armature the better the starter works the less copper wire the poorer it works. Now that also holds true inside right here inside these green casings. These are field coils. And inside them there is copper wire. At least we hope there's copper wire on some what we call dip starters it may be aluminum wire or if it is copper there may be very few turns. And over here in the starter Sol annoyed that's what makes everything work. A lot of them don't have copper wire in them as they should. A lot of them have aluminum wire. Now there's a definite difference in quality. Now as long as we're talking about electrical things we also have an alternator if we take this alternator apart we see that again we have gobs of copper wire. And the amount of copper wire right here determines how much

electrical energy this alternator can produce. Same thing over here in this part of the alternator. This is the rotor and it has to have lots of copper wire in it to function properly. Now believe me there are a lot of jip alternators and starters out there and you can pretty much rest assured that price has something to do with it. Because if all of the starters in your particular area. Maybe there's $60 except for one and one is $30. Well there's no guarantee that all the $60 ones are going to be good but you may rest assured that the 30 dollar one is probably going to be bad. So remember that the entire key to getting a good starter alternator or any automotive part is price. And believe me you get exactly what you pay for. Many vans aren't the only hot tickets on the market right now. U.S. automakers

are finally enjoying booming sales and record profits. And since Oriental importers are still restricted on how many cars they can bring into this country you might be wondering if it's really a good time to buy a new car particularly a homegrown model. Well if you're choosy maybe not. Some dealers are asking and getting more than the full sticker price on many hard to find models. But if you've got an open mind there are some cars around a large enough supply for a dealer to give you a nice discount. If one of your minimum requirements is fuel economy. You'll be glad to know that many of the most available domestic models are gas sippers. Starting with the AMC Renault Alliance AMC is trying to keep their sales momentum going on these two and four door sedan. So dealers are getting plenty of them. That's also true for its glass back brother. The Encore most AMC lots have a lot of them around it with a wide variety of available

options. Likewise for Dodge there's an abundance of omni hatchbacks for sale in the standard box variety and in the slicker looking charger coupe both with or without this car's high performance Shelby treatment. Sales of Ford's small sibling the Escort are brisk. So you might find a wider selection at Lincoln Mercury dealers with a near identical links. And if you can do with only two seats the pop eyed 48 speed could be the bargain you're looking for with slippery body work to boot. As for the five General Motors divisions their sub compact J bodied line of sedans and hatchbacks seems to offer an interesting opportunity. That would include the J sales later Chevrolet Cavalier. The Oldsmobile. Both turbo charged and standard Pontiac 2000s. A wide range of Buick Skyhawks and clipping the sporty type. And even with an

improvement in sales. The fine handling luxuriously appointed Cadillac Cimarron. Our next car was originally an import but the boat's wagon rabbit is now made in Pennsylvania. Since their sales haven't been as high as dealers would like. You can probably dicker a hair or two on one of them. If you still insist on an import some are more available than others. Among the former Both of the cars that Mitsubishi sells itself like a Ford or trivia subcompact sedan and those sold by Dodge and Chrysler Plymouth including the slick conquest sports coupe. They're still available in a somewhat larger than normal supply. Meanwhile back at the corporate headquarters of General Motors they've got other things on their minds. We've heard rumors for some time that GM was heading for some kind of corporate restructuring and in January GM made it official. Here's the way we're used to looking at corporate GM. At the top is GM

headquarters which directs overall corporate policy planning and management. Under that of the individual car divisions which manufacture and market their own cars large and small although they do share chassis and sheet metal of particular car bodies. But in three to five years this is how we'll be looking at our largest car maker. Under head quarters they'll be two basic divisions. One will be a small car group consisting of Chevy and Pontiac and the other will be a big car group consisting of Buick olds and Cadillac making what they call regular and large sized cars. Each of these groups will function as self-contained business units. As GM puts it responsible for their own manufacture marketing and profitability. So what does all this mean expression for somebody who's been buying a full size Chevy Caprice for years. Well if Chevy is in the small car group will they still market a big car. As far as we can tell so far. Yes this move is mainly a bureaucratic shuffle supposed

to mean greater efficiency which translates as lower cost and higher profits. They hope. The news has some GM executives updating their resumes. But it's not likely to affect customers much at least for some time. And over at Chrysler they're talking about the H car though apparently not very much. What do we know about it Joyce. I think John that the main thing we know is why. OK then tell us why. I thought you'd never ask why we're going to be seeing an age car. Is that Chrysler wants to compete head on with the Honda Accord and the Mazda 6 2 6 for that stiff competition. It certainly is but Chrysler really wants this h car to attract a younger more import oriented customer. Now you know we do know a few things. We know it's not going to be based on the K car chassis. Unlike most Chrysler models and we know it's going to have a different floor pan and it will use a number of K car components. Now there have been reports that it's going to be larger than a K car but we think

that the wheel base is probably going to fall somewhere around ninety eight inches or two inches shorter than the K cars. One hundred point three inches. Now the accords wheel base is a little shorter and the six to six is a little longer and the total length of the aged car will be in the same range as those two. Now the big difference in age car looks is that it's going to be sleeker. It's going to get away from that boxy K Car styling and that's obviously because they're going out for that younger market. So you can look for very European styling and a five door hatchback to give it that sporty image. Now the Age car will probably have front bucket seats and rear seating for two adults and the interior will have a floor shifter and a four gauge package. And that's a pretty safe bet because most of this performance package is already available on lots of other sporty Chrysler cars such as the 600. Yes. Now for the engine we'll find the old reliable ninety nine horsepower two point two liter in either an automatic or a five speed.

Now word is that it will also have the strong one hundred forty two horsepower turbo two point two liter. Now for names Chrysler has come up with some very tentative names for their offspring. They come up with a commander for the Chrysler and the Lancer for the Dodge and they probably will start being assembled as early as September and then be introduced as slightly later 85 models. That's right. Well thank you Joyce. And in the meantime all you sporty car fans will just have to make do with our next road test subject this megabuck model which seems to be one of the cars you'd most like to be stranded with on a desert island roads the $44000 Porsche nine twenty eight S.. This is for all of you who obviously like to live vicariously through our road test. So we humbly asked Portia to help us fill your request. They agreed and now all you have to do is open your eyes and dream about driving the Porsche 928 s m. slow.

This is one of the more pleasurable events in anyone's automotive life. It sure footed cornering and very fast with a top speed of over 140 mph. But like all Porsche is it can be a handful if you don't know what you're doing. Despite the use of white saving aluminum and the doors front fenders and hood the 928 S is a heavy car at three thousand three hundred seventy pounds extremely agile for its girth. It can still come unglued from the rear in the oversteer if you get too timid and a turn. It's a car you have to live with for a long time to understand feedback through its quick power rack and pinion steering is excellent. So good in fact it might scare you off driving the car at its peak. But after a while you'll learn where the hairy edge of nine twenty eight handling locks. And even with just a hint of understeer on a wide curve. You

can master its necessary delicate balance of throttle and braking but before you manage that you may want to find an empty racetrack to practice going sideways first. Over the last year we've had the pleasure of investigating both this wine colored five speed manual and this silver blue nine twenty eight es automatic. Now before you complain that Porsche and automatic shouldn't be set in the same breath let us point out that this car's excellent slush box actually cures one of the biggest shortcomings of the car with the transmissions located at the rear axle. The five speed manuals very long linkage is best characterized as vague. Plus the usual shift pattern has burst gear down on the left rather than up on the left as on most cars. With the four speed auto. A no cost option. You can concentrate on driving without having to think your way through the gear. We found that extra

concentration improved our handling of this handful. It made the whole experience that much more memorable. And there is a lot here that is memorable. The s designation of the 9 28 was added last year to signify among other things a more powerful all aluminum V8 with an increase from 4.5 to 4.7 leader's output is now rated at 234 horsepower and two hundred sixty three pounds of torque. While you may be put off at the apparent under hood complexity of the spider like induction multipoint fuel injection arrangement you can take solace in knowing that this is one of the two or three fastest cars sold in America today. Zero to 60 mph in the 928 as an automatic is a scant eight seconds only about a second slower than the 5 speed. Acceleration isn't as off the line as the automatics torque converter has to come up to speed.

But speed brakes can hardly complain about a quarter mile dash or fifteen point three seconds at 90 mph. That's so close to what we earlier found in the 5 speed that it's a dead heat. Brakes to all four ventilated desk can endure a workout stops from 55 not really a challenge totaled out to an average of a very short 115 feet. After six tries our data sheets were filled with words like terrific hard to lock but also needs lots of leg muscle. Still stops were straight as an arrow straight however is hardly your Porsche 900 ass driving position. So my prone is more like it with outstretched arms and plenty of leg room as you nestled down and a wonderfully supportive bucket seats and all controls are at your fingertips. One of the unique features about the nine twenty eights interior is that the steering wheel and dash pod tilt as one. Where the best view of the excellent instrument lay out. Another is the

very usable trunk area much better than most other big box sporty cars. Especially when you fold flat the two jokes of a rear seat while the non enthusiastic may find the 928 S itself a cruel joke on the environment. We would like to point out that the Environmental Protection Agency does rate this screaming automatic at a non gas guzzling 17 city and 25 highway at only legal speeds our test loop average of 22 is just where it should be. So what can we say. Yes the Porsche 900 S is a very expensive car that most of us will never be able to park in our driveway. Like most sophisticated driving machines of this type it takes practice to master its handle. But then who can really drive it to its limits regularly anyway. And why even have cars like this. Because Virginia we all have dreams and dreams are sometimes what make everything else

worthwhile. Well back to reality I guess next time will be finding out everything you always wanted to know about the 600 vs turbo will have two for the price of one double road test of the 5000 turbo sedan and their new station wagon. So join us for the next edition of. General support. It will turbo charge technology help refine this domestic sports sedan.

And what does the latest and technology do for this dynamic duo from Deutschland. Hello I'm John Davis and next time on motor week we'll be finding out everything you always wanted to know about the Dodge 600 Yes and from Audi 5000 s turbo sedan and station wagon. Plus maintenance advice and future car preview. Join us next time on looking.