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While for a runner with more tact riding up past her pony from SBT and a racetrack comeback so come drive with us next. The little. TV's original automotive magazines. Brought to you by Pep Boys who are con people. It's on Motor Week time. It's got cars trucks and it's a great show. Best 30 minutes on television my favorite time of the week. I forgot the popcorn. Oh and by. What are you looking for. Your host for Motor Week. John Davis. Well and welcome again to motor week we're glad to have you with us. Sport utility vehicles used to refer to rugged trucks that were long on off road

ability and short on Creature Comforts. Today most newer SUV these are just the opposite being much less capable in the dirt yet boasting real luxury car amenities. With its 2003 Forerunner However Toyota claims to have given its best selling most rugged sport you can model both car like comfort and improved off road prowess. A tall order and a new four runner deliver. It better because the toilet or forerunner which is sold over 1.2 million units since its 1985 introduction is expected to maintain and even improve its sales to that end the 2003 Toyota Forerunner is all new. But you might not realize that since the styling is a subtle evolution a smoother Fender here a new light there. It's all very handsome with more flavor of the largest a point but not a real stretch. Get out the tape measure though and you quickly discover that the wheel base is greatly stretched by four point five inches

to one hundred nine point eight overall link also jumps to one hundred eighty seven point eight inches. The new poor runner is almost six inches wider as well. It's new stiffer ladder style brain Yes this is still a real truck ride on our front double wishbone suspension and Corning saw an axle of the rear with coil springs in all corners. Rear air suspension is available for the limited be a while Yamaha developed cross-link shock system is available on a new sport edition called x rays. It reduces body pitch colon. Bottoming and offloading bypassing some of the flood will motion to the rear. There are big changes too in the forerunners engine bay. Last year's four banger is replaced by a new all aluminum for leader dual overhead cam P6 with 245 horsepower and 283 co. to torque to match domestic rivals the Land Cruisers 4.7 leader dual overhead cam 48 with 235 horsepower and a stump pulling three hundred twenty pound

feet of torque as a first time for runner option the sixth for runners use a four speed automatic transmission. Papa VI gets a five speed auto. Both are smooth and precise. All four wheel drive units post a full time to speed transfer case with a Torsen sensing type limited slip center differential with a normal 40 60 torque split front to rear end slippery conditions a maximum of 70 percent goes to the rear are up to 53 percent to the front. Traction control and vehicle stability control are standard on all models. Also stated our Toyotas downhill assist control and hill start assist control which use the throttle and brakes to improve stability and reduce slippage on loose surfaces. We first tried pavement in the new core runner and Oregon scenic Depot Bay Area. Quality was almost luxury car smooth but the soft core weak suspension produced a lot of body rolling corners. The variable assist rack and pinion steering had a light feel but still delivered Rees the. Will be back. Drive Train performance for both the 6 and 8 were impressive

V-6 was strong off the line yet still exhibited plenty of top in for passing the V8 a proven unit pumped out gobs of refined low end runs. A long list of mechanical upgrades is matched by new accommodations in the form of a larger well-equipped cabin the dash is clean and sporty with straightforward switch gear for everything from the standard automatic climate controls to the optional GP s navigation system. In fact a 60 40 split seat offers increased head shoulder and hip through no third seat is offered. It's reserved for the Lexus version the GX 470 floor runner cargo space has decreased by 2.4 cubic feet to forty two point two with the rear seat up with the seats folded maximum available cargo space is seventy five point one down 4.7 cubic feet. EPA fuel economy numbers have increased however with the V-6 model registering 18 city and 21 highway into will drive models and 17 city 20 highway going equipped with. Who will draw. Final pricing

was not available when we went to tape to look for base stickers to range from twenty seven thousand dollars for an s are five four by two to thirty seven thousand dollars for unlimited poor by poor sport and the demands of sport you know owners have come a long way. The new 2003 Toyota Forerunner looks well equipped to meet those demands and deliver both the comfort and true off road ability needed to grow sales and make it a serious midsize SUV contender for many years to come. There are three phases to total automotive safety. Phase one is avoidance trying to help the driver from getting into trouble in the first place. Phase two is maintaining control of trouble occurs and phase three is protecting the occupants in a practice phase 1 in phase two involve the use of the latest electronic driver aids like abs anti-lock brakes that help the driver maintain steering control in a panic stop and DSP electronic stability program that recognizes unstable

handling situations and reacts automatically to help correct. Phase 3 involves the use of airbags and other advanced passive restraints as well as energy absorbing automotive structure. By using all the technology available today we can drive safer America. Coming out. Back and better than ever. You know when we have a car question our first and last stop is Goss's garage. So let's see what insights Pat has for us this week. John we all know that flushing at home is important but it's also very important on our automobiles you know cars have become very heavily dependent upon electronics and things like automatic transmissions now that use electronic controls. Well they really need to be flushed on a regular basis. That means every two years or 24000 miles unless you're owners manual once it earlier than then and make sure when you have it flushed that the

fluid looks just exactly like what you're going to put back in it wait for the fluid to change color like this and you're actually damaging the transmission. The engine. That's a very expensive part and it needs routine flushing as well. There are areas in an engine were oil doesn't circulate all that well. It puddles and it turns into sludge. Even though you keep your oil changed so 24 to 30000 miles have an engine oiling system flush it will use chemicals that will get rid of all of that dirt that has built up over time. Power steering power steering repairs today can cost almost as much as a transmission or an engine repair. Yet most drivers ignore the power steering. You shouldn't do that. You should flush the power steering every two years or twenty four thousand miles. Again chemicals will clean the system. The new fluid will be put in it and it'll last a lot

longer. The cooling system the radiator and everything it needs to be flushed regularly. It should be done every two years unless you have a long life coolant from the factory. And here again this is one of those situations where you don't want the coolant to change color. What you take out should look exactly like what's going back in. Let it change color like this. Well what caused that to change color is dissolved engine. Not good. Carbon is a big problem. Carbon needs to be cleaned out of engines today to keep them so they will pass emissions and that they'll last the life that they should and that they run properly. This is a carbon depletion machine uses strong chemicals to clean the intake valves to clean the fuel injectors the tops of the Pistons and so on. This should be done every 24 to 30000 miles. All of these things will make your car last longer and drive better. If you

have a question or comment write to me the address is Motor Week Owings Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7. 0. I have great seeing a collector car expert John. And John on the auction block these my kind of car 68 Mustang convertible. You know the Mustangs are the great American collectible cars especially the first generation 65. Six is sixty eight sixty seven are worth a little bit less. They make a great value for the starting collector and this one's got a desirable 390 edge in a four speed transmission. One of the advantages of coming to a big auction like this Greg is 7 or 8 67 68 Mustangs around. You've got a choice of all sorts of options and colors that you can look at. John I know what I think this is worth what do you think it's worth. Well for a nice convertible especially with a desirable 398. In the low teens for a good condition car. On the other hand a perfectly restored good provenance car maybe 20 to

25000. Now I'd agree. Sports comebacks are the stuff of legend. Just witness the drama of a Muhammad Ali a Michael Jordan or Lance Armstrong promoter sports fans Nicky loud and Mike Haywood. But high road reporter Craig singer has found that when the comeback involves not an individual but an entire racetrack filled with vintage sports cars the memories and emotions are almost spiritual. Names like. World International and Riverside racetrack conjure up Misty visions of long gone racing venues and for years. That list also included Virginia International Raceway. Located in the rolling hills of southern Virginia near Danville was a picturesque if rustic sports car track that opened in 1957 and saw major sports car racing events until its closing in 1974.

Then for the next 25 years. He. Was home. Not. Race. But. How. Well race fans the cals are gone. The cars have returned and Virginia International Raceway is back. And. Better than ever. Track owner. Motor sports enthusiast Harvey Siegel went to great pains to preserve the original character and configuration of the 1957 track. A fact which one of the tracks original founders Dr. Hooper Johnson will attest. That layout is exactly the same. All the cars they had to fail in one low spot to keep cars and in their barn unloaded the springs. But all the turns and all the straightaways aside when Harvey revealed that he had to repaint it because it had been running for 20 years. And he wadded and put new payment. And failed in the low spot. And then changed. The restoration the trackless embrace modern safety standards in such a way that are compatible with retaining the original Charmin outward and

layout of the circuit. More than 50000 tons of earth was carved off the inside of the hog pen corner leading on to the fifth straight and placed on either side of the back straight to allow for runoff areas tree lines were cut back a hundred and fifty feet going up to the oak tree turret but when it came to removing the oak tree sort of the symbolic icon of this tract Harvey put his foot down and said. Put up with guard rail and. We're going to keep. And that theme of modernization that complements preservation is seen throughout the facility. Now whether it's the excellent restaurant panoramic viewing areas modern Paddick and hit area or national park like camping venues VI r is comfortable and visually pleasing. While I think most folks would agree that Virginia International Raceway is an incredibly beautiful drive a lot of the drivers will tell you that it's also incredibly

difficult to master. Yes it is a challenging track for a driver because you have so many different elements you got extremely high speed two straightaways that are over a hundred fifty miles an hour. That elevation changes when I read the reports on the Internet. It was one hundred fourteen feet of elevation changes but that's not very much wrong. That's an 11 story building and you can go up and down three or four times. You've got blind corners if you're coming through and all you see is sky and track and you go what's over the hill. I would consider Road Atlanta drivers track middle Highland drivers track within the Seiko drivers track and this top small. The IRS the place that I want to go play is one of the events that I won in 1972. So. Coming back to see the place. Yes. It's an MMO. No. One local situation. With a challenging course delightful setting with the restored clubhouse and further plans for trackside condos style homes were Ginia International Raceway.

Maybe an automotive Shangri-La a place for motor sports enthusiasts where dreams really do come true. For the last five months we've been living the greener car lifestyle with several alternative fuel vehicles at our offices. One looks totally mainstreamed. It's a 2002 Honda Civic GX fuelled by compressed natural gas while another green machine might look more at home on a factory grounds or golf course. It's a 2002 gym long utility vehicle. Obviously we put the most time and mileage on the Civic which except for a small 7 cubic foot trunk a CNG tank takes up the rest of the space is just as useful and refined a car as any other city. We can't think of a better carpool vehicle on the market today. Our only problem with that. He acts as an airbag malfunction like and where having the system checked we do have a suggestion for all makers of alternative fuel vehicles to install better fuel gauges. The old needle and dial just doesn't track it on

vehicles with only a 200 mile range a miles to empty. Digital Readout would instill more confidence since CNG stations in our area are still few and far between. Our all electric is manufactured by global Electric Motors cars of Fargo North Dakota. Jim is now owned by Time or Chrysler and their vehicles are much more than fancy golf carts gym and similar vehicles are known as neighborhood electric vehicles or nets and can legally be driven on low speed streets in many states. Thus they'll be used by manufacturers to meet California's zero emission vehicle quota. Hard to see the long utility model was used to haul props during summer production operation a simple but this is no toy. And unlike the typical soft carts the gym is loaded with lots of car like safety features including three point seat belt windshield wipers for the safety glass windshield turn signals adjustable mirrors backup lights and backup alarm hydraulic brakes and brake lights and real headlights motivation is front wheel drive with a top

speed of 25 miles per hour. The low maintenance batteries are charged overnight from normal household current for a range of about 35 miles. So while this little jewel may not be for everyone and yet to make a quick dash down to the 7-Eleven this looks like a gym on the way to do it. And we'll see if a much bigger jewel the Ford Excursion is still catching our eye on our next motor week long term road test update. Now let's check in with Jennifer because novice for all that's new and this week's Motor News. What do you get the man who has everything. Well if the gift givers are AM General and General Motors and the recipient is Arnold Schwarzenegger the answer is obvious. To celebrate his 50 50 birthday Hummer manufacturers am general and General Motors presented Hummers most prominent celebrity spokesmen with a new Hummer H2 the birthday bash was a part of Palmer's homecoming 2002 and event held in South Bend Indiana where the military's Hummer H1 and the new and more

civilian friendly H2 are made this year's homecoming saw more than five hundred fifty Hummer owners proudly displaying Hummers of every stripe in a convoy that stretched more than 10 miles long and after receiving his new Hummer H2. Arnold promptly put it through its paces. They. Love it. It's a really fantastic that just goes through the various different things the narrow trails and then leaning sideways where you almost feel like you know you're falling over and and you don't and you know and in the know they said you see feel the scrape on the knee is going to get stuck or you don't. So it's like it's really great it's a really big deal like this is like a tank it just goes anywhere and you can't stop the new 2003 Hummer H2 went on sale in July. In other news Honda recently announced final pricing on the 2003 accord. The completely redesigned accord with new standard features like ABS brakes and new more powerful and more fuel efficient engines show an average price increase of one point

four percent across the model line. That means entry level manual equipped DX four cylinder sedans are now sixteen thousand two hundred sixty dollars including destination volume leader 4 cylinder manual equipped elex is nineteen thousand six hundred sixty dollars. The V-6 automatic twenty three thousand four hundred sixty dollars. The up level starts at twenty two thousand sixty dollars with a fully loaded B6 model bringing twenty eight thousand two hundred sixty. The coupe line ranges from just under 20000 to twenty eight thousand dollars. The new 2003 Honda Accord went on sale on September 9th and that's it for this week's Motor News. L 140 is the code name for Lamborghini's next and long awaited super car. It's captured here while testing at Germany's Nuremberg range. Now under the stewardship of ality this new baby Lambo is smaller than the Mersey Lago and supports an

algae made aluminum body in space frame chassis. Power comes from a 500 horsepower v 10 which spends a full time all wheel drive system and a six speed transmission. Look for this as yet to be named Lambo which will compete head to head with Ferrari's 360 mode and Porsche 911 GTI to be introduced at next year's Geneva Auto Show in March. No other modern Ford Mustang has a more storied history than the SVT Cobra since 1993. Each new Cobra has managed to raise the performance bar of the Mustang season chassis until it seemed as if the bar could not possibly go higher. But if there's one thing that we've learned over the years it never pays to underestimate the ingenuity of SVT. To a. Not only are the 2003 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra Spains sharper the venom is more potent too thanks to the SBT snake handlers. This COBRA is

the most powerful reptile ever to its case born of fear born due mainly to the roots type eating supercharger water to air intercooler a new freer breathing £32 alloy heads bolted to a 4.6 leader V8 iron block derived from the SBT F-150 like me. That force feeding clues the snarly sounding Cobra striking power to three hundred ninety horsepower and 390 pound feet of torque an increase of seventy horsepower and seventy eight pounds feet over the previous COBRA and COBRA. It really feels like it's true this time. All that power is set along this snake's belly. Try McTee 56 six feet manual transmission an aluminum drive shaft to the 355 to one limited slip rear axle. Spin up the engine and drop the step 11 engine clutch and hold shots to 60 in just 5.1 seconds can become a routine part of your daily drive. So to a quarter mile of thirteen point four seconds add one hundred eight miles per hour. But with peak torque at just 30 500 rpm it can be tricky to launch

without excessive wheelspin and the red limiter cut you off shy of the 60 500 rpm redline. But with a little practice consistent performance is you. And consistent performance with more than a dash of insurance is a term that applies to the cobra's brakes too. We average stuff from 60 and one hundred twenty seven feet. The number they kept repeating time after time during our eight run test. The Cobra is equipped with 13 inch vented Brembo disc up front. Eleven point six inch in the rear mounted inside larger for this year 17 by nine inch wheels wrapped with 275 40 Series E rated rubber and both brakes and tires got a serious workout when we got the chance to put the new Cobra through its paces in the smooth and demanding confines of Virginia International Raceway. This is the second Cobra we've tested with the long awaited multi link independent rear suspension but we were not impressed with the 2001 effort while Buck steer was cure the overall feel was too soft too much role and too little predictability. This time SBT has done a

much better balancing act and at track speeds the David Fox chassis is now a heap of fun. The big brim bows and linear steering allow you to dive deep into corners keeping lap speeds up without sweaty palms. There's gobs of power to push you through most tricky corners turning the greatly reduced understeer into power on oversteer on demand a complete IRS retune is obvious. Besides a new cross brace on the rear subframe spring bushings in geometry are all changed with Bilstein mana to gas shocks at the corner. Granted the track capabilities of the 03 SVT Cobra still trail tuner mustangs from Brough Celine and Kenny Brown but taking advantage of the greater wheel travel of the IRS. This SBT is downright refined when driving on speak controlled pockmarked highway. Indeed track our street. The new Cobra is eye catching hardware. The cobra's new look includes a cleaner yet more aggressive front facia a new composite hood with functional air scoops down the sides the rocker panels have been reshaped in the

fender scoops have been reworked to match the hood while in the rear the composite deck lid carries an integrated spoiler inside new touches include bucket seats with Nudo leather trim with suede inserts. The driver's power seat gets new power adjustable bar inside bolsters and a power lumbar support. The new gauge cluster now includes a boost gauge an electroluminescent weighting and when it comes to punch but the price the new SVT Cobra knocks tooter Mustang competitors out cold the SVT Cobra coupe zooms away for thirty four thousand seven hundred fifty dollars. The convertible list at thirty eight thousand nine hundred ninety five dollars with an all new Mustang chassis within sight it's likely that this is the last SBT effort on the current car. And we're pleased to say it's going out on a high note. With us now truly venomous powerplant well-balanced handling ride and braking aggressive looks and more comfortable cockpit. The 2003 Ford SBT Mustang Cobra. Is one snake we don't

mind getting bitten by. In fact if there's an anti-venom available for this snake we don't even want to know about it. I hope you'll join us next week for more motorways. When will Tess Volvo's first sport you the x a 90 and a very entertaining Mini Cooper ass. Well show you how to take some of the uncertainty out of Hugh's car by and Pat Goss shows us how to get all the data on your car. Plus we'll have another long term road test update and all the latest Motor News. I'm John Davis. Well see you then. To learn more about Motor Week TV's original automotive magazine visit PBS online at PBS dot org or America Online keyword PBS to order a video cassette of this program. Call 1 800 2 2 3 3 6 7 8 extension 16 85. Motor Week has been brought to you by Pep Boys because people want a great car show the best.

And now it's over. Time flies when you're having fun. There's always next week. Yeah only one hundred sixty seven hours till next week's show. It'll be worth the wait. And buy. What are you looking for. This is PBS.