Motorweek; 1601

This time on motor board SUV goes full size f y I caught DUI and the low down on one termer. So come join with us. Next. Motile TV's original automotive magazine. Your host for motor week John. Well hello and welcome again to motor week. We're glad to have you with us. Now everybody knows that Chevrolet's Tahoe GMC Yukon and the Suburban I own the full size sport utility market. But watching it obviously was Ford maker of the best selling pickups in compact sport utility vehicles. So did anyone really think that the world's largest truck maker would take GM success lying down. Well here's the answer. The all new full sized expedition but is this

trail already too worn for another blazing Ford sales success. Well Ford certainly doesn't think so. Their research indicates that demand for full size for utilities like this Ford Expedition had more than doubled by the year 2000. But what these new buyers apparently want isn't just size but a truly full service vehicle one that provides safety seating for more than six off road capability a smooth ride lots of towing capacity and can fit in a normal sized garage to cover all these bases for delivery. The expedition with a choice of four by two or an enhanced control track four wheel drive system and exhale tea or any of our trim. The expedition is based on Fords new generation F-150 in fact fully 50 percent of its parts come from the big pickup and except for the grill the two are identical from front bumper to windshield. But from there back the one hundred nineteen inch wheelbase expedition is all new including the front doors which are six inches shorter than on the

pickup. This allows longer rear doors for easier entry and loads of rear leg room to make expedition appear lower and sleeker. The glass belt line was dropped an inch lower than on the F-series and the rear pillars are black Dowle expedition also Shear's the F-series duo of new tritones single overhead cam modular V8 engines. Standard is a 4.6 leader good for 250 horsepower and 200 90 pound feet of torque. Motivating. Issue is this 5.4 liter ph $565 option that generates 230 horses and a robust three hundred forty five pound 3:57 enough for some serious telling. In fact the four by to Expedition five point four can kill up to eight thousand pounds. Now more than a Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon. On our test track the 5.4 torque. You've got two and a half ton plus expedition nearby four from zero to 60 and a decent ten point five seconds. Expedition shares the F-150 short and long arm independent front suspension and add

speed sensitive power steering for a more precise feel and easier maneuverability than other vehicles its size. Still the 77 inch high gave it a slightly heavier yield during our handling exercise. Out back a new five link rear suspension features two upper and lower control arm with a track bar and variable rate coil scream. Now you can replace those coils with optional air springs first and the full size class. It provides for by four expedition's with automatic load leveling and an amazingly smooth ride Expedition breaks or another strong point with BP 4 wheel disc on anti-lock beings with a total of three foot on average to haul our waiti expedition down from 60 making pavement contact on our test truck for the optional to 65 70 series all terrain tires on 17 inch cast aluminum wheels all seasoned rubber on 16 inch steel wheels are standard along with a pair of electronically control for speed automatic overdrive transmission. The E-4 O.D. made five point four leader V-A is well suited

to adds extra torque the heavy duty control track four by four system has a new transfer case and a fully automatic center axle disconnect. There are four settings or by two automatic on demand four wheel drive a new part time four by four high and four by four low on or off road. Those inside the expedition enjoy all the comforts of home especially with the soft leather of our Eddie Bauer. And it's the first full size sport ute on sale with dual airbags the full complement of analog gauges are the clear easy to read units from the F-150 access to the cabin is a little easier with these optional lighting running board these broad front Hepton chairs have a way power adjustments and manual lumbar control. The dash is straight F-150 including oversized climate and stereo control. Our expedition had the optional 6 CD changer that hides inside the center armrest. The three adult size second seat leads its class and head and leg room plus both sections of the 17:30 squit seat back recline for even more passenger comfort. Or they fall completely flat or

do the optional third seat and you'll find leg room suitable only for children. At least getting to it is pretty easy. Note the flip out rear quarter windows. Another class first Ford gave the expedition an explorer style dual mode liftgate and there's a huge one hundred eighteen point three cubic feet of long cargo space with the seats folded flat. And how flat your finances be if you buy an expedition. Base prices started twenty seven thousand nine hundred ten dollars for the s l t for by two and range to thirty four thousand five hundred fifteen dollars for the Eddie Bauer four by four. Those prices are very competitive with GM school size sports use and they can match expedition's features versatility and car like handling. The only well-worn path for this expedition will be from folks lining up to buy one. When you want to know which cars are best. You tune into motor week when you want to know how

to keep them running right. You tune in to Pat Goss. So here he is time now. This is the way to buff a car. Seriously though if you have a car that the paint is badly deteriorated or faded I'm buffing might be the solution. But there are some basic things that you have to do in order to have the job be safe and successful. First the car has to be out of the sun. That means under a carport or something maybe even a canopy that you rent like this one big thing is that trees often deliver sap to the paint of the car making matters even worse. But above and beyond that then we're looking at some of the things for personal safety and the safety of the vehicle. If you notice my assistant has the cord for his Bufford draped over his shoulder and keeps the cord away from the buffer and away from the paint. Good safety tip there. Wear an apron to protect your clothes because this does get messy. Cover all of the trim on the car so that the wax

doesn't get on the trim or that the buffer can't hook the edge of a piece of chrome or black molding and rip it right off of the car. The antenna know if you have a fixed antenna even though it's nice to listen to the radio. The antenna has to come off because as soon as you start buffing around that antenna and the buffer hits it this thing will catch you right across the face. That smarts power antenna radio off the antenna is down. OK now we have some things with the buffers. There are 12 volt ones. I don't really recommend those. Most of them don't have enough power to do the job. There are orbital for do it yourself. I like this one and what this does is moves in more than one direction at once. Watch out for the big heavy duty commercial ones. They're typically not orbital and if you stay in one spot for a few seconds you'll burn right straight through the paint and then that's a trip to the body shop. Also make sure that you wear goggles to protect your eyes. Some of these chemicals are very

hazardous. Here's another commercial product too. Two pads on that both of which are orbital. If you don't want to get into any of that. Here is a Kalinski hand buffer really makes the job easy. And last but not least make sure that the products that you use are safe for the surface on your car and for use with a buffer. 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. 0. 0 2 weeks ago where were found by Robert Steinbock of Albert Lee Minnesota. This stretch 1960 Chrysler New Yorker wagon was one of a fleet owned by the University of Iowa hospital. If you spot a special car in good Peller photos to Motor Week Owings Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7.

Place. A barrel is up next with motor week. Why. For your information. While name since over the years she's brought us important facts about everything from low cost insurance to high voltage electric cars. But this week's report may be one of her most important ever because this one could save your life. We've all seen it happen before someone's out drinking and winds up behind the wheel of an automobile and if they're lucky no one gets hurt. To accurately measure just how alcohol consumption affects a driver. Craig sanghas and I spent a day drinking and driving under the careful supervision of Maryland State Police. To give you a signal to go either to the left or to the right. Right.

I'm really curious really curious to know how I will react. I'm told that I'm just a little bit over the legal limit for a run or break here until we tell you right now what we're looking at is not so much how quick they can go through there but how safely they can go there. I well I've been told. Actually it did seem like I was still in control. Find out left the Maryland State Police is drunk driving course is designed to measure how alcohol effects are drivers judgment decision making skills and performance drinking affected me in subtle ways that I didn't even realize while driving. You know the funny thing is I never saw the camera him. He didn't. I never saw the camera. I totally focused on what I was doing. Tunnelvision Craig and I are good drivers were train drivers have each been through at least a dozen specialized driving programs. That. Weren't the alcohol began taking it. I no longer had a handle on how well I was driving back

last. Night. It actually seemed to me as if my driving had improved after a few drinks I became smoother because of what I'm used to in a driving course. He was gone too. She's talking like she's driving and laughing while she's driving for she she's really focused now just. All over the place. By that point I had consumed five ounces of vodka and my blood alcohol content was up to point 0 7 in the state of Maryland. This is only considered under the influence rather than drunk although it seemed to me as if I still had things under control. In reality my performance vision and judgment were all impaired. Craig's condition was similar. Race is your sense of confidence. Exactly the opposite direction you should be feeling feel an urge to drive slower more

carefully and instead it's like what the heck let's go for it and go for it is exactly what we did. Drinking our way to point one better known as drunk right. Oh she's straight you're really not very bright. That's. The scary thing is they tell me that people are drunker than I try to drive. All. That's terrifying. There's no way I can operate a pillow let alone a car. According to the latest report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Thirty two percent of all traffic fatalities involve alcohol consumption. So no matter how skilled a driver you are anyway you got it. Drinking and driving don't mix.

Remember both Lisa and Craig agree that when you're under the influence you always think you are far better at handling a car than you really are. Next up a new car for us to handle. So here again is Lisa barrow with all the latest Motor News. This week we sample Pontiac's all new Grand Prix. The first car built on GM's highly revised w body the 97 Grand Prix looks very much like 1995 G.P.A. show car cubes and sedans in SC G.T. and GTV Trewin ride on a one hundred ten point five inch wheelbase a three inch increase from 96 and get a three inch wider track up front and a two inch increase out bang. The grand juries much stiffer body is the improvement we noticed most new gas charge struts up front in line with redesigned lower control arms and one degree of negative camber to hold the road better. There there's a new independent rear suspension to featuring three tubular lateral length coils brains over gas struts and a direct acting stabilizer bar. All of which translates into less Vonni roll and more stability during aggressive maneuvers. The

overall effect of this new tighter chassis is fewer vibrations and a much quieter Gabun. All granddaddy's get V-6 power and Thoresby automatic transmissions with the best power story in the GTV Vagas this supercharged 3.8 leader is good for a muscular 240 horsepower. Shopping is also improved by a 4 large disk with standard anti-lock while handling still exhibits and typical GM front drive push. We found the new Grand Prix is wider track front and rear gives it a far more stable ride. Grand juries are arriving in dealers showrooms now look for motorway example road tested the GDP coop soon and that's it for this week's Motor News. As. Chair of the staff of Motor Week test over 150 new cars and trucks but sometimes they're two week stay with us is much too short to learn all we need to know. So we keep a select few of them a little longer about 50 weeks longer. There are long term test fleet

and some of the hardest working wheels around. While it was a strange summer here in the east not as hot but wetter than normal. We still manage to keep our long term long distance running. Not surprisingly a lot of those miles. Thirteen thousand five hundred twenty one to be exact have been racked up in our Chrysler Town and Country minivan. Fuel Economy rates well at nineteen point six so far but we have had a few hiccups joining a bulky fuel gauge. The air conditioner failed in late July. That was a new compressor and we're all comfortable again. Our Oldsmobile bravado is still very new but has managed to keep 200 miles in less than three months. No real problems with this luxuriously appointed SUV. Although there are reports of an intermittent check engine light economy is level at eighteen point seven. Not bad for a 4.3 liter V-6 with enough torque to pull stumps off a golf course. Our year with this Subaru Legacy Outback is drawing to a close and I must say it's

been a great one. After twenty seven thousand six hundred miles. Mileage is strong at twenty three point four. And operating problems have been minor. Currently the right turn signal is on the blink or for that matter it won't blink. Now a lot of young buyers see the Toyota Rav 4 as the modern definition of a sports car vying for the street or the beach and built a near Fail-Safe standards. After ten thousand three hundred eighty seven miles fuel is being sipped at the rate of forty five point five miles per gallon. The only problem being very hard to seatbelts. The RAV 4 delivers. Cute and quality too. We're in our 10th month with this Ford Taurus. Elex drivers choice for best domestic sedan of the year. Nothing major to change our opinion of this fine handling border either. But there have been three minor problems. A check engine light that warrants an emissions system check a dome light that sometimes stays on and a cup holder that's lost its spring. Mileage is strong at twenty three point nine after sixteen thousand eight hundred miles of very

very driving. The odometer has just turned twenty one thousand miles on our Cadillac. It's Northstar V8 runs like a fine watch and delivers nineteen point nine miles per gallon to boot. Yes yes is a luxury sports and with outstanding performance. Mechanical problems are nil. Except that the chin spoiler is so low it seeks out curbs like tornadoes do trailer parks. It attracts so much attention you could easily get arrested having fun in this bright red Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder ragtop his log 80 200 miles with good mileage of twenty five point one. This week however a problem arose a slipping fan belt that sometimes squeals under hard acceleration. This is our latest Chevy Suburban that we used to carry our Motor Week video crews. It's a turbo diesel powered of course. We're likely to drive this one more than 40000 miles over the next year in search of stories for motor week. And we don't have any new video of our sporty Volkswagen GPIB are sick. Shortly after

our last report it was involved in a sideswipe collision. The other driver fell asleep at the wheel. Our pilot is fine but the car is not. We expect to have a replacement GPI in service next month. Our 29 foot Winnebago grade motor home has a 7.4 leader Chevy gas V8 under its short book during its summer with us. We visited forty six hundred miles of RV hooked up with a respectable fuel economy of seven point seven miles per gallon. There have been no major mechanical problems and we are impressed at how easy this genuine land yacht is to master. Now it's time to master the change of seasons as we head to fall and our motor week long term update. Tom Z car and you're talking the history of Japanese sports cars and America from the first Datsun to 40s in 1970 to the last Nissan 300 Z x Z cars covered a quarter of a century of high performance driving. Well that's a milestone our in-house historian Craig sing offs couldn't let pass without a

celebration hamin a few thousand others. That is. Hi. I'm John Morton. And this is a two party day we won so many races we have now been specially modified very thing. This is how a generation of sports car enthusiasts first became aware of Datsuns brand new 1970 to 40s the. SCCA Driebergen John Morton drove his 240 Z to the C production national championship. And all over the US sports car buyers flocked to Datsun dealerships some waiting up to six months just for the privilege of ODAC just about two and a half decades later. The owners still flock this time to Atlanta Georgia and the Nationals car club convention. Of course one of the really nice things about this group is they haven't forgotten the significance of the word sports and the term sports car and good sports. They were as they kicked off the event

by running C-shaped cross-country rally raising over $50000 for the Make A Wish Foundation. But it was on the very track that John Morton first group with the cars. That. The cars of all ages gathered to Japan road Atlantans challenging. Future. Recapture. A bit of history. Hard car nuts they'll do almost anything to get together and drive their cars. The owners are just as I'd say just as fanatical as any car. They're really love cars and they like to get together because it makes sense. Now if there is one person who is truly revered at any XIKAR convention it has to be Utaka Katayama. This former president of Nissan Motor Corporation USA lobbied

diligently to have Nissan then called Datsun bring the fair lady coupe into this country renamed of course. As to Ford easy is it surprising how the affection that people hope for especially the first generation are so great about enjoying it. Did you ever envision that the car would be so revered 25 years later. Well at the beginning I thought that this would be accepted by the American market but not bragging this off the best by Rear. Car represented the first of its kind and redefine what sports car really was in America. They had outstanding performance and had luxury it had taught handling and it had a very very attractive price. So here we had this wonderful car that now the average American to buy. So it really redefine what sports cars are in America today.

After all mortal life and winning rate the. Used Cars used to be just for folks who couldn't afford a new one. But with today's high prices and high quality used vehicles are now a viable option for everyone. And to help you make the right choice here is Lisa Bero with an encore look at how one of America's most and demand sport utility vehicle stacks up second half. This is the best known name in four by four vehicles in the world and the Grand Cherokee is considered to be among the leaders in compact sport utility vehicles for a good used by. Let's take a look at the 93 and 94 Grand Cherokee Grand Cherokees come in three trim levels. Base Laredo and limited 93 94 is come standard with a one hundred ninety horsepower four leaders six cylinder and a five speed manual transmission 220 horsepower V-8 is optional.

Also standard our driver side airbag and rear wheel anti-lock brakes. Inside the dash is a very practical lay out head and leg room are generous and the rear seat can comfortably accommodate three. Even with all these pluses the Grand Cherokee does have a downside. Pat Goss cautions potential buyers to look out for knocking sound when the engine is at idle. This could mean it needs new pistons in manual transmissions. Make sure it won't shift easily into reverse. If not this may mean an expensive problem. And if the automatic transmission lines and I don't want those speeds this also indicates a problem due to the popularity of these vehicles. They are expensive and very much in demand. 93 94 Jeep Grand Cherokee in Laredo trm goes for about $18000 with an inline 6 and as much as $22000 with a B 8 Eastport utilities can be pricey but if you happen to be shopping the used SUV market one you just might want to check out the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Now be sure to join us next week for more motorways. When we drive Ferrari stunning 355 spider and 456 G.T. as well as Saturn's new compact coupe Greg Haas guides us through the topsy turvy world of touring car racing. While Pat Gause has safety tips for you home mechanics have all the latest motor news. I'm John Davis. We'll see you then. To order a video cassette of this program call 1 800 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 6 4 or 7:29 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 current and past episodes of the motor week 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. Will test the baronet was it the extravagant Ferrari 355 spider and 456 GTI or something more affordable will drive the new Saturn. Greg thing hits the high road to learn what touring car racing is all about. Well Patoff gets close to home with shop

safety with a whole mechanic so don't you miss the next motorway.