Motorweek; 1306

Next on motorway on does long awaited 94 accord the legend of a timeless little car and a whole lot more. It's a come drive with us next. TVs automotives magazine. Your host for more a week. Well hello and welcome to motor week we're glad to have you with us. The 1994 Honda Accord is perhaps the most widely anticipated family sedan ever. We had motor we can't remember when anything but a low volume exotic was the subject of so much speculation. That's because with each successive generation the Accord has become more and more the benchmark for family transportation. Well this 94

accord continue the tradition. Every edition of the Honda Accord has followed the path of evolution somewhat different than expected and the new fifth generation model is no different. The exterior size of the accord is little changed from last year. Actually it's a bit more than an inch shorter almost three inches wider with a more rounded look overall polling powerboats flows fast through the hood and into the gently rounded front end with its louvered grille. The rear Jack ends and the slightly upturned spoiler trunk lid stacked an angled tail lamps more evocative of Mercedes and Honda are as concise as the new accords overall shape. Power comes from two versions of accords familiar all aluminum alloy single overhead cam to point to leader 16 Balfour cylinder engine involves 130 horsepower 5 and one hundred thirty nine pound feet of torque in DX and Alex great accord. But there's more entertainment in the engine bay of the top of the line. E x accord to cylinder

head contains a version of Honda's variable valve timing system that increases e x engine fuel efficiency eight and a half percent and lose horsepower another five to 145 and torque to 140 £7 feet. They moved three thousand nine pound manually from 0 to 60 in a brief eight point nine seconds. Quarter mile went by and sixteen point eight seconds ending at 84 mph. Honda modified the Accord four wheel wishbone suspension and improved. Handling on the right comfort new torque sensing steering in the ex's rear stabilizer bar helped make easy work of our slalom course while the accord is not a sports sedan handling abilities of the axe come close. It's offspring still allowing their amount of body roll braking distance was a short 118 feet on average in our hard stops from 60 x is standard in any walk system did its job perfectly ABS is now an option on dx and elex accords with standard transmission on all accords is a short throw 5 speed

manual. Those choosing an automatic will gain something called a grade logic control like the Saturns fuzzy logic. It senses hills and eliminates the annoying hunting for Gears typical for automatic equipped cars. Inside the new Accord all of the interior measurements buyers find important front head leg hips and shoulder room are more generous than before. A new two tone color scheme visually blends the lower portion of the instrument panel with the seats. The panel itself now has a sportier look at all the center stack controls are easily seen by drivers of all heights as are these large analog gauges. Two more things every one will be glad to see are the drivers and passengers air bags standard on all the cords. We expected the new accord to have supportive seats but in addition there's better bolstering to keep you squarely in your seat while quartering seat belts are anchored to the seats themselves providing a wider range of adjustments. The x models also have adjustable lumbar support and a feature we really like power height adjustment

the size there convenient locations both the CFC free air conditioning and stereo systems have larger mission control. Rear seat also provides increased room and comfort over previous records. The solid seat back on locks and holds for access to 13 cubic feet of long flat cargo space in the trunk of the trunk lid is supported by struts that are less intrusive than normal hinges Honda's primary goal in pricing the new Accord was to deliver a lot of car for the dollar. They did by setting the base 94 core dx at fourteen thousand three hundred thirty dollars unchanged from 93 to claims overall 94 prices increase only 1.3 percent. The Accord starts at one thousand thousand seven hundred fifty dollars. Our test cars $87 floor mats brought the sticker to one thousand thousand eight hundred thirty seven dollars. The accords prices also deliver a lot of safety starting with dual airbags and standard abs on X cars. All accords have 5 mph bumpers that meet the federal government's 1097 side impact standards

accord reviews from other auto medio also strike a positive chord. Auto Week found a 94 accord improved in almost every aspect while Automobile magazine summed up the sentiment by saying. Make no mistake this new Accord is a really good car. While it would be easy to dismiss the new accord as just an evolutionary model it seems to have benefited from something of a renaissance in ability. The 1994 Honda Accord is a family car ahead of the. Time. Once again shows the paths others will follow. Here's a statistic for you. And United States alone nearly two hundred forty two million worn out tires are discarded each and every year. Most of those tires wind up useless in overcrowded landfills. But this week f y I-Reporter Lisa Barrow shows us what's being done to find productive new uses for old rubber.

This is the Exeter energy project in Sterling Connecticut. It's one of a number of innovative plans designed to recycle old tires. Here this plant converts nearly 10 million tires into enough electricity 30000 homes in the northeast area. Charges are brought in via truckload will. Use about 24 for blow today or 30000. Fed into one of two boilers or. The tires. You're. Right. We. Are on the jars at that German through the floor. Around 3000 degrees. We produce. From the heat generated from the bearing of the Fuehrer boosting. That steam as you drive a steam turbine. Steam Turbine drives a generator but theirs is the power we shall. Join with. The unique part about converting tires to energy. Is that virtually the whole tire is consumed 75 percent is used for electrical power and the remaining

25 percent which is a byproduct of the process is sold to the steel and zinc industry. This plant is cleaner than. An approval and. Far. Much cleaner that as a matter of fact this plant. Already meet should exceed just standards that are set for all. For the year 2000. There are several plants around the country that convert old tires to energy the initial construction cost of these facilities is extremely high. But a number of these plants would actually displace the need to build traditional power plants which should save consumers money in the long run. Tires also make an ideal home for small sea creatures that like to attach themselves to a tires rough surface. These artificial reefs are being submerged all along our coastlines and so far there are no negative effects on the environment. But long term studies are in the works and you may not know it but the road you drive to work on could be made from old tires. Many companies already use scrap tires in their asphalt mixtures.

But by 1997 federal legislation mandates that at least 20 percent of all asphalt used on federally funded highways must contain rubber that's been recycled. Scrap tires are showing up in a number of today's products like floor mats and shoe soles. Paper and cement dot bumpers in a highway crash barriers just to name a few. And putting old rubber to new use may turn out to be a lucrative business. But right now these recycling experiments are not keeping pace with the supply of worn out tires. So with the promise of more innovative projects like these it looks like today's old tires will help to pave the way to a cleaner tomorrow. Time now to check in with motor week's top rancher Pat Goss. He has the kind of handy Karkare advice that every driver needs. My letter this time John is from Xeno Jaideep Squali and he lives in New City New York and he has a question about spark plugs he'd like to know which would last longer. Platinum sparkplugs or copper spark plugs Well

before we get into which one last longer I want to tell you something about spark plugs first the spark plug of course is the one part of the automobile that has probably changed the least since the very first automobile. It's just simply been refined to meet modern demands really hasn't changed all that much. But what exactly does a spark plug do. Well we take fuel and air into the cylinders of the engine and then we compress that fuel in their mixture. Once it's compressed we have to make it burn. And that's the job of the spark plug. Now the way this occurs is that we produce a high voltage spark elsewhere in the engine. That may be done mechanically or electronically but then that high voltage spark is delivered to the spark plug by means of spark plug wires spark plug wire connects to the tip or outer terminal of the spark plug. The spike starts moving down through what is called the center electrode portion of the spark plug. The first thing it encounters is a resistor.

This resistor in most cases is used to reduce the amount of current that flows through the spark plug and increase the amount of voltage that flows through it. All right so now we go through the resist or the next thing that we have is a conductor and in most cases today it's a copper conductor copper conductor is used because it conducts electrical energy very efficiently. That in turn is connected to the remainder of the center electrode which goes right down to the very tip of the spark plug. Now that remainder of that center electrode may be any a number of metals but the primary one the one that is really talked about today is platinum because platinum lasts a long long time. Now at the end of the spark plug the high voltage jumps from the center electrode to the outer electrode or ground portion of the plug. This is where the spark occurs and this is what causes the fuel and air mixture to burn. Now with all of these different types of spark plugs What do you do as far as what's best for your car.

Well you want to do a little research and you will find that there will be certain spark plugs that are available for your car. That many times well not only last longer but will increase fuel economy and performance. So with a little bit of research what you can wind up with is a spark plug that lasts for 100000 miles or more and keeps sparking strongly. Now if you have a question about your car or a comment 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 always Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7. My latest car of the week is this 1957 auto union DK w belongs to Daniel Povich Monroeville Pennsylvania. Send good color photos of your car of the week candidate to Motor Week Owings Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7.

You know if you want to make money in the auto industry we recommend that you build trucks. Lately the light truck market has been the fastest growing and most profitable part of the U.S. auto industry. Ford and Chevy have dominated the truck segment for decades but now Chrysler is set to grab a big chunk of it for itself and will do so with one of the most unusual vehicles that we've seen in ages. The Dodge Ram. And when you see the new Dodge Ram full sized pickup you can't mistake it for anything else which is exactly what Chrysler wanted. Not just truck stylists have delivered a package that's a cross between a new 18 wheeler and dodges power wagons of the 1950s and 60s. Love it or hate it the new RAM grabs your attention. Yet Rams made many car safety standards by having a high mounted center stop lamp. Am I being among the first pickups with a driver side airbag dodge hawkers Rams with a full range of engines axle ratios payloads and for more holes into our

four wheel drive with longer shorts then our test truck was typical of what most RAM owners will buy two wheel drive half.com pickup with an eight foot bad automatic transmission and be eight hours. Provided more often than not by dodges 5. through leader pushrod unit delivers 240 horsepower and 300 pound feet of torque. The standard Ram Power Plant is a 175 horsepower V-6 in heavy duty 5.9 leader and Cummins highly regarded 6 cylinder turbo diesel are also available. But the most talked about choice for Ram Power is this 8 leader v 10 nicknamed the iron Viper for its similarity to the super car's engine is designed as a diesel alternative. The 300 horsepower 450 pound feet of torque monster will see duty in three quarter and 1 ton Rams beginning in January. On our track the 5.2 meter be a pack enough punch to move this pretty cool hundred down pick up zero to 60 in. Nine point one second it's a very positive impression.

Our bright red automatic RAM also impressed us with its excellent street handling manner and negotiated our small imports as well as any full sized truck we've tested. Not like most current abstainer Rams come with a new lock brakes only on the rear wheels. The optional four wheel ABS would hear the front wheel lock up and long 159 but stops we experience. Inside the new RAM has the room yes and quiet a standard cab in the industry. This optional bench seat is split 40 20 40 with a huge center storage compartment. Another beater truck buyers are not used to his room to tilt the seat back and real storage room behind the seat and a twin holder mounted high on the ramp dash out back hauling four by eight foot loads is no problem. Dodge added many more touches to the ramp head like built in bonehead dividers and notches for two tier loading stakeholder upper and lower kind with securing Loads of all sizes. We've driven a half dozen Rams over the last 6 months coming to the conclusion that this new truck design will succeed. Now dodge realizes that taking market share away from Ford

and Chevy full size pickup will be easy. But with all the 94 Ram pickup has to offer it will be quite a battle. Next up on our motor week agenda is Lisa barrow with all the latest Motor News. This week we take our first look at Toyota's new Celica available as a coupe or a lift back in s t or g t grades. Some of those rounded 94 look take styling cues from the Lexus SC 400 sports coupe. While this large gaping air intake speaks of Toyota's radical supra sports car also super derived with Seleka stringent weight reduction would provide quicker acceleration braking and handling along with improved fuel economy from both of Seleucus Twin Cam sixty four cylinder engines. This two point two liter 135 horsepower unit standard on the GTI and the Estes one point eight leader 110 horsepower motor inside Toyota gave the Celica what it calls an active cockpit interior which brings controls closer to the

driver and includes standard dual airbags. Next week we'll have a complete road test of a Celica GTI coupe and that's the motor news for this week. With. Good thing. I wrote traveler crags Singh Haas has certainly seen his share of fascinating cars. They range from the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile to the world's fastest Ford Mustang. But this week he looks back at a timeless little car that was never the fastest or the fanciest But even today it's still one of the most unique. Every time you drive down the road someone rolls down their window and laughs at you.

I just called it a teacup car for years I didn't even know what they were called til about probably meant for yeah. It's a cute car. It's not a big muscle car it's one that we don't take too seriously that we take pride in and if you haven't already guessed by now well it's the Nash Metropolitan. The car of the day. Some would say it holds the distinction of being the hugest car ever built. It's an eye catchers no question about that and some of the younger people again are used to seeing them and they were a car that was before their time it was an age when the gasoline cost 29 cents a gallon and now almost 40 years later the price of gas has risen about a buck more per gallon. And America's first subcompact car has become a quirky little collectible. When I'm driving around people jump out of their cars and ask me what it is they'll stop me and street lights and I'll even get Ben's abs going down the highway.

Well one thing's for sure. Metropolitan owners will go to great lengths to have fun with their cars. Now the Metropolitan might bring a smile or two as it drives down the street. But these cars were innovative in a number of levels. Not only was their sign is unique but they were also an early example of international co-production Lanka now of the national anthem pollen club filled me in on some of the history. The Metropolitan was originally designed by Nash but the Nash itself was so busy building the Rambler mile that they didn't have the plant capacity to build metropolitans so they subcontracted out to some English firms Austin in particular who manufactured most the car the car was and later imported and sold through originally national Hudson dealers and later through American Motors and Ranvir dealers. They'll never be another part like this never never never never with a bit like this

and it's something that I have say something that would be thrown away or discarded. And therefore I feel very proud of it. Whether you're restoring a prestigious luxury car or a humble subcompact. There's a pride that develops. And like any other car the Metropolitan has its own rightful place in the history of the American automobile. Now it's time for another visit with our master mechanic Pat Goss. You know over the years he's fixed just about everything on two three and four wheels so he's become an expert in wheels themselves. Here he is to explain a couple of common weale problems and their solutions. This time John we have a couple of letters about alloy wheels. Our first letter is from Mrs. Betty Stone of Governor New York. She says she has a nineteen eighty eight dollars Daytona and they ran into a problem with the alloy wheels on it when it came time to rotate the tires. Seems that they took all of the lug nuts off of the wheels but the

wheels were frozen solidly to the car. Now what can you do in a situation like that it happens quite frequently. Well here's one thing you could do. You could get out the old persuader and you could take a mighty whack at the back of the wheel and that certainly would knock it loose. And I don't think that's the most practical way to do it. What you can do in the real world is that you can loosen the lug nuts on one wheel at a time. You loosen them very slightly you want about an eighth of an inch between the shoulder of the lug nut and the metal of the wheel. If you're unsure how much. Well take a flat bladed screwdriver and slide it between the lug nut and the wheel if you want just about the thickness of the blade of a screwdriver. OK once you've done that get into the car and start the car. Put it in gear. Move it forward a few feet and hit the brakes firmly. Then move it backward a few feet. Hit the brakes firmly again. Now this action will typically loosen the wheel breaks it away from the hub on the

car then take the lug nuts take it all off take the wheel off and you've overcome the immediate problem. But what about the long term problem if you put the wheel back on the problem is going to be there next time you want to get rid of the problem. Here's the way you do it. A wire brush you take that wire brush and use. Rub the inside of the wheel where it fits around the hub on the car. The inside of the wheel many times will be rusty it will be dirty it will be corroded. You want to get rid of all of that you want it down to bright shiny metal. You also use the wire brush over here on the hub to get rid of any rust or corrosion that has built up on that portion of it as well. Then you want to keep that problem from coming back so you use anti-seize compound and if you don't happen to have anti-seize compound you can use waterproof grease or wheel bearing grease. Put a liberal amount of it on the inside of the wheel and a small amount on the hub. This

keeps the water away from these metals and keeps that corrosion and everything from forming. OK next this letter is again about alloy wheels and this is from Sharon R. Rainer of Camillus New York. She has a 19 88 Ford Crown Victoria wagon that has another common problem. Seems that they've tried everything imaginable to keep air in the tires but they lose air very gradually. It seems that the wheels have been taken off of the tires and everything has been cleaned and sealed in re sealed and all of these things but nothing helps. Well believe it or not many times alloy wheels will have porous spots in them where air will actually leak through the metal. So what do you do when you take the wheels and tires off of the car. You leave air in them. You put them into a tank such as we have here and you look for bubbles coming out of the wheel. Once you find the bubbles that tells you where the leak is. The next step is to take the tire off of the wheel such as we've done here. You locate that

spot on the wheel and now you need some special things first you need some sandpaper because you're going to clean the area that's bad. Then you need a tube of sealant. Now what you want to do here. Both GM and Ford have issued bulletins about this problem. The bulletin tells you how to fix it. It also tells you the proper sealant to use. Get the bullets and use the products that they recommend and that will take care of that slow leakage problem that a lot of alloy wheels have. Now last you going to put the wheels back on the car torque wrench. It is an absolute must. You must never use an air impact wrench. And also remember when you have alloy wheels. After a couple hundred miles re torque the lug nuts because sometimes they work loose and if your car has a problem how about writing 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. Be sure to join us for the next episode of Motor Week. Or rode past the new Toyota Celica coupe but also drive it to be she's impressive go on sedan head off road in the Hummer and visit the flea market for car bucks. 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 6 4 4 send twenty nine ninety five plus $4 shipping and handling to this address. An expanded version of motor week's jaguar the roar of the cat is available

on video cassette. It examines past present and future Jaguar models. To use your credit card call 1 800 4 2 2 0 0 6 4. Or send one thousand ninety five plus $4 shipping to Motor Week home video post office box 6 8 6 1 8 Indianapolis Indiana 4 6 2 6 8. A long time John Davis on the next edition of Motor Week. We put the exciting new

Toyota Celica to the test and drive the latest Mitsubishi galon. Next we head into the woods with the civilian version of the Army's Hummer. It's a vital advice from Pat Goss on clean air in your car and stop by America's biggest automotive flea market. So don't you miss the next motorway.