Motorweek; 1322

Next on motor week America's favorite pony cars on the racetrack a sports car Legin on the high road and a whole lot more. So come drive with us next. Motorola TVs automotive magazine. Your hope for a motor. John Davis. Hello and welcome to Mohar week. We're glad to have you with us. Mustang and Camaro to our original pony cars are back. Born in the 1960s now reborn from the 1990s we already know that both now makes good old pushrod V8 power with highly

refined street manners. But there's still one nagging question about them. How well will each hold up and that ultimate performance arena. The race track so we've brought both to one of the most challenging. The Charlotte Motor Speedway to find out what better place than this bastion of NASCAR that most American of all racing organizations to test the high performance quotients of this pair of domestic support groups. Not just on Charlotte's Bame high banks but on the Speedway's challenging road course as well. While we have already sampled various Mustang derivatives at our normal haunts it is on track and Haueter we naturally chose a vibrant red G.T. group base price seventeen thousand two hundred eighty dollars. The GTI is powered by the latest version of Ford venerable five leader V8 which now delivers 215 horsepower and 285 pound feet of torque such pushrod power moved our Mustang Vittie down Charlotte straightaways to 60 and

6.8 seconds. The quarter mile went by and fifteen point six seconds ending at an even 90 miles per hour. Excellent numbers for a muggy 80 degree day with a load you will. Credit the board one or five speed manual which has a slightly lighter touch than last year. It's made into a delightfully progressive clutch and allowed our drivers to really enjoy throwing the Mustang GTI into the road course corners and we were also very impressed with the new Mustang solidity even at 135 miles an hour on Charlotte's high banks are G.T. always felt stable even between turns 3 and 4 where patches of the track can upset the best car set up our line of axle handled the bumps predictably and without the stress. Credit softer springs that have also helped ride quality. No they also contribute to increased body roll and more push. One can now actually enter corners faster in a Mustang GTI and with more confidence than before. That's thanks to big improvements in body torsional and bending stiffness.

With little tendency with the rear wheels to steer. The Mustang is easy to drive under all conditions. There's plenty of stick to from these optional 17:8 45 series Eagle Z-R gator packs on three spoke alloy rims. Our drivers never noticed high speed stress nestled in their very comfortable sport bucket seat. It features adjustable side bolstering for weight power controls and variable lumbar ball for excellent overall comfort. Our visit Charlotte was in our first encounter with a shiny black Camaro CSY 28 either. We've raved about its aggressive muscle car stance and very affordable high performance since its debut a year ago. Base price here is sixteen thousand nine hundred ninety nine dollars. The source of this power trip is a special one but Corvet's 5:47 leader LTE one V8 slightly detuned for Camaro use it still produces two hundred seventy five horsepower and a robust three hundred twenty five pound feet of torque. It kind of puts the 48 from 0 to 60 in 6.4 seconds and through the quarter mile and fourteen point nine seconds still charging at 95 mph

these numbers are a tad lower than the ones we achieved earlier under cooler conditions. But are impressive nonetheless. Transferring busies power is a six speed Warg water gearbox which are drivers and praises the best transmission but combination they've yet experienced in any domestic 8:28. But just a bit less rubber on the track with 50 series. Good Year GSC on five spokes 16 inch aluminum with only at the absolute limit up on the high banks. We know there's even a slight looseness in the Camaro. Roll it to felt very competent. Combining with the LTE ones of abundant power and Ford is a new upper and lower arm front suspension design that provides the Z Forty-Eight with the hardware it needs to master any corner. Our drivers quickly took to the quick ratio of steering wheel and only moderate understeer and enjoyed letting dizzie 28 scale slide during lamplit turns out Charlotte Enfield road. You may feel a little bit twitchy and the Camaro was eat when he ate it compared to the Mustang GTI.

The fun factor is definitely higher. We also have praise for the Camaro business like interior low mounted bucket seats have good support in six way power adjustments but lack the Mustangs lumbar control and thicker padding. But there's really very little lacking from either of these American pony cars. Both also augment the safety of excellent handling and plenty of reserve power with stator dual airbags front wheel design. Anti-lock brakes are standard on the Z 28 optional on the. The first 30 years of the American car has to breed Yallop unprecedented popularity and then all of them almost extinction. Both these pony car redesigns owe their continued existence not to some new found sales. Fountain of Youth. But to the millions of fans who kept the babe. From Vince Ford and General Motors they each represented the best of the American automobile. We are pleased to say that it was all very much worth the effort. We'll have more motor week right after this. Today's clean air concerns have carmakers scrambling to produce vehicles that meet

both government regulations and consumer expectations and the electric vehicle ranks the General Motors. Impact looks most promising but at least a barrel found out at the recent Tokyo Motor Show. American automakers are going to have lots of serious competition. A. Country smaller than California. Japan houses almost half the population of the entire United States. Twelve million people are crowded into the 800 square miles of Tokyo alone. And here at the Shinjuku station a half million people catch the subway every day. But not everyone uses public transportation. There are three to four hours here in Tokyo area tying up traffic and creating pollution. They just left the Japanese government searching for a solution. One answer. Maybe the electric vehicle or even cars with electric motors produce no tailpipe emissions and controlling pollution at a single electric generating is easier than controlling the emissions and countless numbers of cars. Today there are about

3500 electric cars and trucks operating on Japan's public rooms. We found some of the latest thinking on current technology at the 30th Tokyo Motor Show. They were vehicles to suit just about everyone from roadsters and wagons to convenient pizza delivery cars parallel parking problems are gone with this four wheel drive pivot electric van that is powered by lead acid batteries. You can drive directly sideways and completely rotate on a fixed point. Ana offered the edX which is designed with dual airbags and roof mounted solar panels that divide energy to an auxiliary battery that supplies electricity with a headlight and ventilation. The wave is a hybrid electric vehicle that uses a small gasoline powered engine to extend its driving range. It also has a similar roof panel to run a fan that keeps the interior cool without draining your battery. Unlike the US many cars are a part of everyday life here in Japan. So they came with a trend toward cleaner vehicles. The Conn's Electric Power Company created this mini electric that

runs on lead acid batteries. This mini Wii will travel forty three miles with the maximum speed of 37 miles per hour and takes about eight hours to recharge. Toyota's four-CD 50 comes with the regenerative braking system. When you step on the brakes the car motor acts as a generator putting energy back into the batteries. Even this Mazda Miata was converted to run on electric power complete with nickel cadmium batteries. The roadster lives up to its name with the top speed of 82 miles per hour. The Tokyo Motor Show offered an electric vehicle to fit the taste of nearly all of the 123 million people living in Japan. And although E.V. popularity largely depends on improvements in performance and battery efficiency for Japanese electric vehicle council hopes to have 200000 of these environmentally friendly vehicles on their roads by the year 2000. It's got airtime again in here. Motor Week maintenance master Pat golf Goss's garage is brought to you by fire.

The patented performant spark plug it only costs more to you use it. Most of us tend to take our tires very much for granted. But the tire manufacturers certainly don't. We've come here to Akron Ohio to the Goodyear technical center to see what they do to improve the tires that we ride on. This is the good your concept center and they've got some pretty wild looking tires around here. But there's one in particular that I'm interested in and that is the Goodyear awkward tread and to explain that to us they have the lead engineer on that project Sam Landers. Sam tell us about what we're seeing. Well what we have here is the entire concept we explored this about 12 years ago. You can see it has a deep channel down the center between the two tires. This was excellent for hydroplaning but it hit a few other problems. We solve those problems with this prototype tire which we did about 10 years ago for a concept vehicle incorporates the deep groove down the center. And this was the birth of the OC which read. Let's go over to the design studio and I'll show you how this evolved into the tire that we have today.

Pat back in 1989 when we first started the project that concept tire we looked at we just literally one of hundreds of ideas we were considering at the time we got input from many sources our type of technology people here and in Luxembourg. Our research people we collected as many ideas as we could both tread design and material concepts. Everything that anybody could think of we included storyboarded and then we selected the best concepts we wanted to reduce those to our final prototypes. We started with the sketches those sketches had to be translated into computer definition. And from there we could actually prototype the concepts. Now that sounds like a lot of work. How do you go about doing that. Let me introduce said covert. That will show you the first part of that process translating the concept into a computer definition. You'll take one of these ideas

scanned it into the computer Pyrrho start to fit it to the contour of the tire. It doesn't look like much right there. This is just the first stage. Now it starts to look like a tire. The real thing. Sam thank you so very much. And next time we'll show you how good your Took this concept to market. They did some very unique things. And in the meantime if you have a question 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 we always know Maryland 2 1 1 1 7. Akbar the week is a we'll find a 1976 Chevrolet

Cosworth Vega purchased new by Ty Dotan Leo of Wilmington Vermont in 1992. And good color photos of your car of the week candidate. The motor week Owings Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7 European sports sedan makers like Germany's BMW are widely recognized for their performance but it wasn't until the 850 platform that Sweden's Volvo had a truly bought her Ford Sportster. Now we tested the 850 GLT last year and promptly named it our drivers choice best imports sedan. But that car was only the beginning. We began to see more changes last fall when we tested Volvo's 850 turbo sports wagon. We were so impressed with its abundant front wheel drive power station like handling that we just had to get our hands on the turbos to. Like the wagon under the hood is all aluminum 2:43 leader what he vowed. Five

cylinder interschool turbocharger allows it to develop 222 horsepower for more than the unknown version 221 pound feet of torque at a very low 21:00 rpm. So much will toward me making the turbo sedan a real blast to drive especially at our favorite winter test facility. Savannah Georgia. Roebling road Raceway where the 850 turbo excelled in our straight ahead test dashing from zero to 60 and only 6.3 second. Quarter mile with mine every fourteen point seven seconds ending at 96 mph. Those come only with a speed automatic transmission. With the choice of economy sports or winter shift modes we've found that sedan to be not only quick but extremely agile with stretch Coral Springs and a stabilizer bar up front. Bolthole semi-independent belts willing suspension at the rear. I say that the turbos fortune and track precisely around hairpins and through chicane the eight fifty standard will anti-lock brakes worked well too. Despite some minor front end

wondering when the pedal was first applied or average stopping distance was a short 170 feet from 60 mph. All 850 Turbo's share the same sensibly luxurious interior eight way power driver's seat full instrumentation Plus the safety of dual airbags and seat belt tensioners like the normally aspirated 850 sedan the turbo Ford more spacious rear seat split 30 plus has a door like pass through to the trunk. But it will cost you at least twenty nine thousand nine hundred eighty five dollars to own Volvo's best sports sedan ever. Our test cars heated leather seats wood trim traction control and more rodded sticker to thirty three thousand three hundred eighty five dollars. While that may be a little rich for your blood it's still more important today and for the money than any European working gin competitor. For that matter the entire E-15 lineup is an exceptional value. Sport sedans and sports wagons and also deliver a family appeal without end. Next up more on new cars from the Sobero and all the latest Motor News.

That's why we have news of the first retractable hardtop production car since Ford Skyliner of the 1950s. It's Mitsubishi's 3000 spider first introduced to the Tokyo Motor Show and confirmed for sale in the U.S. at last month's Los Angeles Auto Show the 3000 G-ds already stiff chassis is strength and the one. So when you are asked to incorporate which says the actual convertible conversion the push of a single button opens inside Windows raises the rear Detlev releases the roof on the windshield hetter fall off the top of the singles scene and lowers it into the trunk directly then closes to complete the smooth quiet process. Do this fall as a 1995 model the 3000 Spyder will list it $55000 with a twin turbo intercall the R4 version producing 320 horsepower going for $62000 and that's it for this week's motor. We're here at the sandwich construction company just a stone's throw from Charlotte Motor Speedway in North

Carolina. Chances are there's a piece of your favorite drivers car here and the menu includes such colorful fare as the bulldozer and the earthmover have the sides. You never know which NASCAR great will be sitting next to you. We'll be back right after this. Hello I'm John Davis. On the next edition of motor week we'll test America's new small

car that dodge and Plymouth neon will also drive Acura stunning NSX. Lisa Beryl will bring us an FBI report on piercing the darkness that God takes another look at new tire technology retracing his travels the high road to a place of legend. Plus we'll have all the latest motor news. Don't you miss the next voter week. And the high altitude automotive market of the 1990s sports car is often just another term for expensive as the price of superior speed handling and even styling continues to climb. Fewer enthusiasts can afford the kind of performance they long for. High road reporter Craig Singh shows us next.

That wasn't always so permanent condition one surrender. Of the Japanese imperial forces. It is here to be given and not excepted are contained in the instrument of render. Now before. The year was 1945 and with the war and the depression behind them Americans were ready to let their hair down and have some fun. Our boys were coming home bringing with them the spoils of victory and a little two seat roadster that would create a lasting impression on America's car culture. This is a 1948 and three piece suit. It was the car that really started the sports car revolution in the United States. They were seen by U.S. troops stationed in Europe after the war. Some he brought them back and this is what really started it all.

Like many other GCM will crumble under the spell of this charming little car at an early age. Well I got this car because I was a schoolboy in high school. I saw them driving by and I just had to have one soon after working several summers I had the opportunity to buy this car. Had it ever since 1950 yabbering despite its rakish lines and low one looks in its stock. The TC was somewhat sluggish and a little quirky. Well it's a twelve hundred fifty CC four cylinder engine overhead valve very advanced engine and a very top end but in it's standard form it is only 54 horsepower. The suspension is a typical 1930s suspension that's been referred to as a coal cart suspension with some elliptic springs on each corner with a solid front axle. The brakes or drum brakes are.

Just about as low tack as the suspension system. But there's full instrumentation as you can see it has come under an ammeter and oil pressure gauge from the speedometer. As well as at least one what we call an idiot light. There is a sense of what you're driving a piece of history. In the sense that this is the car that started sports cars and getting Americans. Interested. To see it was a game. And making driving society rather than just getting from point A transportation. And it all goes back with this crime period. Be sure to join us next 5 or more motor week will pass. Chrysler newer small car the Dodge and Plymouth neon ads van back track time with the Acura and at least a barrel. See what's new at night. While Greg thing Hofmann's that day with Lijun and papped off looks at new tire technology luck will have all the latest Motor News.

John David will see that promotional fee paid by Dupont tieback. Protect your car with a cover of DuPont tieback tough lightweight water resistant. It's the new standard for automotive protection and by automobile magazine subscribe to the fastest growing auto enthusiasts magazine ever at a special TV price of just $12 for 12 issues. Call now 1 800 345 8000