Motorweek; 1705

Oh. This time on Motor Week the very latest from GM a short new sports sedan from Lexus and time travel out on the high road. So come join with us. TV's original automotive magazine your host for Motor Week. John Davis. Well hello and welcome again to motor week we're glad to have you with us. Fall is always an exciting time for us here at Motor Week. It's the time when the big three automakers renew their yearly turf wars by rolling their very latest on the showroom floors across the land. This week we visit the front lines with the biggest of the three General Motors. And it looks like they're sending along some pretty impressive vehicles for support.

Last year GM introduced more new practical family and luxury sedans than at any other time in their history. For 1998 it's time to have some fun as the attention turns to the sporty side of the auto business. First up is the Chevrolet Corvette convertible the widely anticipated drop top version of the fifth generation Corvette has everything fans were waiting for. Looking great top down or up the double layered bonnet with a glass backlight is one of the easiest the user manual tops ever devised. Once stowed your lot with this dowager from the classic seat back bearings on the hard to cover and a vintage Vette waterfall panel between the seats plus the trunk still less space for half a week in luggage. Unlike most convertibles losing the top didn't mean adding a lot to the extra body structure. This is among the most rigid and best handling convertibles going and goes it does very well with 345 horsepower 0 to 60. Run to my point three seconds more ever so slightly longer than the bus with the standard suspension the

Corvette convertible is a delightful Boulevard cruiser. Perfect for seeing and being seen Corvette influence is evident in Chevy sport play sporty coupe the revamped Camaro under the new contours of the Z 28 s asked why is it only slightly more bent. L asked one 5.7 leader all aluminum breathing in exhaust restrictions lower output slightly to 305 horsepower but there's a 28 and 320 for the SS but it's still plenty to light up the tires and everyone's enthusiasm. Everyone will also see you coming in the Camaro stablemate have Firebird formula and seriously aggressive Trans-Am also get the LS one V.A. treatment with the flared nostrils Graham era version do it mid year. But General Motors did not become the world's largest automaker by offering only a few minutes model their seven household name brands cover all passenger vehicle segment from Saturn small cars to GMC full size trucks. So GM indeed does have a car or truck for every taste in 1998.

Many of them wear the Chevrolet Botox now that the geo name is history. The Shelby name graces even the Metro new 16 valve head makes Metro more powerful but still just as pretty. Chevrolet also adorns the redesigned prism prism gains a world class. It's all aluminum engine and Chevy's first optional side impact airbag cavalier and Malibu received minor updates while the mainstream alumina and Monte Carlo are available with a 3.8 leader be six for the first time at Chevrolet truck the big news is that the Compaq s 10 pickup and mid-sized blazer SUV to add fresh sheet metal and a smart new interior with dual airbag. The Venture minivan is growing in popularity now available with dual sliding doors on both short and long wheel base model. Finally the full size taco and suburban at a full time automatic door will drive system for the first time. Last year was a big one of all new century and regal sedan. So little has changed on either for 1998. Luxury coupe Riviera hold true to its

marketing mission by improving noise and vibration control. Autobahn capable Park Avenues can now keep you from getting lost with On-Star while the full size of the Sabers simply goes about its business has one of the most reliable cars in the land. For 1998 the 100 year old Oldsmobile division is shifting focus from a busy bar here to updating its robot a sport utility vehicle oppressions here includes dual d powered airbag while the robot is the only mid-sized GM SUV to offer a new smart track permanent Horwill drive system with a locking rear differential. Close the cutlass and intrigue sedans. Plus the silhouette mini van all got off to a great start last year and like the 88 ls s Regency and trendsetting Aurora received few changes for 1998. Pontiac and GMC are now one division like Chevrolet offer an amazingly wide array of choices. Besides more firepower the fire breathing Trans-Am Pontiac is best known for a sporty sedan. The

Grand Prix sedan and Coupe were new last year with some of the sexiest styling on any cars or 98 the top DTP has a better traction today. Was this the grandam Sunfire and the full sized Bonneville have upgraded details only. Speaking of upgrades. GMC will offer two new premium for Hewitt's in 1998 the restyled Jimmy had the leather lines on boy model. Music is by boat. While the pool size Yukon Denali hints at the future direction for GM big trucks tiling. Denali styling is smoothed out by hidden carefully intergrated running boards and blending the trailer hitch with a step up or Denali also sports a new auto track will will drive system Denali will be the first truck available with Cadillacs OnStar communication system. As for Cadillac this venerable American luxury brand just introduced its all new Seville at the Frankfurt Motor Show the North Star being a powered Sybil at last and STDs. Here's an updated version of the old warriors d body chassis

combined with the stability track your console system the STF provides a near perfect combination of smooth ride and stable handling to the track to bind with variable react. Steering ABS and traction control the stop ordering skids before they start to redesign STDs interior includes the first adapted seat in a farm 10 air bladder monitor body pressure points and adjust support accordingly for long distance comfort. The clarity of the 425 watt Bose audio system has to be heard to be believed. Cadillac chose Frank Burd purse of ILS debut since it will be sold worldwide next year. Meanwhile the imported get Terra zigs along with a new power sunscreens has the Eldorado. And full size the bill and the bill Concorde sedans continue look curiously on much as before. Over the last two years Saturn introduced its second generation sedans wagons and GM his newest division greats 1998. With improvements in noise control automatic ship quality and new

colors in trim. While the population of the GM Eevee one electric car remains only in the hundreds it is providing a world of experience into the type of car we may all be driving in the next millennium. General Motors is building the best cars and trucks in its history hoping quality and diversity with refinements the key for 1998 the New Year should be a healthy one for America's automotive giant. Coming up. Greg Singh ha storms Normandie. It's been said that next to a home a vehicle is the most expensive investment you'll ever make. But with the prices of new cars and trucks these days it could be your biggest investment. So here's our top technician Pat Goss with his insider tips on keeping your investment returning many happy dividends. John over the years I've had literally hundreds of companies that have sent me literature and asked me to test various products that are well they're supposed

to increase fuel economy make the engine last longer and reduce emissions. Well the general theme on just about all of these is that they somehow use magnets either electromagnets or permanent magnets and they usually apply these magnets to the fuel lines and various other parts under the car. Well I've tested a lot of them and so far I have never found one of them that worked. But this time the folks from magnetize or they came forth and they said that their product would do a great job for so we tested it. Now this is a series of magnets again. They're permanent magnets. They get installed on the fuel line on the radiator hose and on the inlet hose where the air comes into the engine. And again they're supposed to improve fuel economy and decrease emissions. Now we installed these products on a 1985 Valvo a rather typical kind of average automobile. Had average miles on it was in good mechanical shape and we did a battery of

tests on the vehicle. We ran it on the highway we ran it on my dynamometer we printed all kinds of test results and it was rather interesting what happened. You see in some rare situations especially on the dynamometer every once in a while we find a very slight decrease in emissions but then we turn around and at the next speed that we'd test it we'd find an increase in emissions. Overall we found absolutely no benefit to this product whatsoever. It didn't improve anything it didn't help anything. It's expensive. Save your money. Then there are things like the tornado here this is goes into the air cleaner the round air cleaner on the vehicle and it's supposed to super charge the air going into the engine. Again something that I've tried and had no results with whatsoever. I guess the bottom line with all of this is if it sounds too good to be true

it probably is. Save you money when you see these things that are supposed to do miracles for your car. If you have a question if you have a comment. If I use your letter on the air I'll send you a motor week T-shirt. Write to me at Motor Week. Always Mills Maryland 2 1 1 0 1 7. Our car of the week is in 1971 Buick Riviera boat tail. It has a four hundred fifty five cubic inch V8 engine and optional traction control. It's owned by Derren huzzy of Saverne R. Park Maryland. Now if you have a large land shark lurking in your garage. He has two good color photos in our direction to Motor Week Owings Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7. The idea of a toll road is nothing new to most of us since colonial days Americans have grown used to paying to use a vinyl bridge or a highway a

recently high road reporter Craig Singh Haas traversed some very special toll roads in western France roads on which the toll was the price of freedom. The roads along the coast of Normandy France are a picture postcard tour of Pointe seaside villages nestled next to the tranquil English Channel. But if you look just a little closer you can see evidence of the titanic struggle that occurred here over five decades ago. On June 6 1944. Why troops British Canadian French and American by the thousands. Unleashed their fury against what Adolf Hitler termed the impregnable Atlantica wall behind it lay Nazi occupied Western Europe and the key to liberating Europe lay in controlling its roads and highways. Our first stop is Pegasus Bridge over the Horn River. Wider borne troops of the British six Airborne Division arrived at just before midnight to capture this vital

strong point. And prevent. A Nazi counterattack. And in doing so. Liberated the first house in France. Well I'm a little girl four years old at the time all are gone the way. It is. The first class liberated in false and it had a purpose for it to be the only way to be in faults. My father is extremely well welcome but your secret agents in the house during the occupation the British airborne troops at Pegasus Bridge awaited the arrival of seaborne troops landing at code name Sword Beach at the seaside towns of Colleville Montgomery and airmobile. As Lord love its number four commandos stormed ashore to the strains of Highland reels from bagpipes. They captured the roads linking up. The Pegasus Bridge has French British and Canadian troops landed at Juno and gold beaches and sees the frontal roads as well.

When the Americans and the British and the rest of the Allies entered Normandy we were a modern army by the standards of 1944. We were completely dependent on vehicles and we were able to move troops and supplies faster than anybody in the history of warfare had Americans and British focused on trying to move along the main highway which are not highways by American definitions in the 90s but more like two lame blacktop roads that just happened to go straight for long distances and we tended to try to drive down these highways to the major road junctions and seize these road junctions because these were the means by which we could use the mobility that the Germans didn't have. One such road junction is found at the town of sent. Here paratroopers of the American 100 first and eighty second Airborne Divisions accidently dropped on to the town. And into an inferno of battle today the streets of sand are named for their American liberators and the town has erected the airborne

troops museum. The capture of Samara police protected the road to the American foothold on the western flank at Utah Beach. And even today. Any American Airborne soldiers are considered the most honored of guests. That are markers 0 0 here at Utah Beach. Many French believe that the road to the liberation of France begins right here. American troops of the 4th Infantry Division quickly fought their way ashore Utah and after several days of fierce inland fighting linked up with American airborne troops on the road from South America. By midday on D-Day only one beach lie in doubt. At the center of the invasion beaches lay Omaha Beach the beach was narrow and backed up by deep bluffs for the most part. The only way for a vehicle to get off the beach was to exit by way. It

was one of the. Gullies that. Dropped down to the sea. The Germans of course knew that the only way to get off the beach was to exit through the draws and of course they defended them very ferociously. As I effortlessly drove my modern Jeep through the drawls of Omaha Beach I was reminded of the terrible sacrifices made by the men of the first and twenty ninth infantry divisions as well as all of those who took that first tenuous drive down the road of liberation. Perhaps General Eisenhower said it best. He said they fought. To make sure Hitler. Did not destroy freedom. And the world. It just shows what three men will do rather than to be slaves. There is one member of the motor week long term road test fleet that is as hot as it is

big. The Ford Expedition. There is no bigger sales success this year either in numbers or song. This full size Ford or sport utility is loaded with advanced features like automatic or will drive and air springs that deliver a near luxury car ride. Yet it is built with a kind of toughness domestic trucks are famous for. We are noticing some early wear to the edge of our leather trim in a couple of missing control Gnome but mechanically it has been flawless. If thirsty at 16000 miles fuel economy has edged up to thirteen point eight. Still it's easy to see why so many want to go on this expedition. A bit smaller a little less large areas but just as serious is the Mitsubishi Montero Sport. This would be six mid-sized body on frame SUV is designed to conquer rough terrain yet our staff is not has an amber with its pavement ability. It's the same stiff Springs they give this sport the off road character of a billy goat. Turn it into a rocking horse on the interstates. We do like the high seats of roomy

businesslike interior. Our only wish here is for an even stronger air conditioner. After nearly 11000 miles in only five months we've managed twenty point two miles per gallon mechanically we found the Montero Sport as one is too big. You can depend on. Next week we'll see what one of the latest living rooms on Wheels has to offer on motor week's long term update. Time now to catch up with Lisa barrow as she brings us up to date on all the latest Motor News. Compaq pickup trucks are not as popular as their full size relatives but Ford's ranger has been number one among Compaq buyers for years in order to maintain that popularity. Ford is introduced to a heavily revised Ranger for nine hundred ninety eight. Now riding on an extra three point six inches of wheel base the 98 Ranger is longer and wider than its predecessor. This means four more cubic feet of interior space for the regular cab. A 98 dash features de-powered dual airbags and continues with a

child seat cut off switch for the one on the passenger side. Outside the Rangers longer structure is led by new head lamps and massive grill. The three leader B6 also gets a boost horsepower drops by two to one hundred forty five. But torque jumps a healthy 10 percent to 178 Pound Beat. These engines and the top four leader V-6 move us different frames which now rides on the explorers short and long arm front suspension and power rack and pinion steering while four by fours get a new pulse vacuum hub lug system for instantaneous on the fly operation. It all adds up to a truck that she retains its position as King of the compact truck segment. Prices for the 98 Ford Rangers started eleven thousand eight hundred ninety five dollars for two wheel drive models while four by fours started sixteen thousand two hundred seventy five dollars. And that's it for this week's Motor News. Gary Speed and luxury the great cars by Dennis Adler is more than just another pretty coffee table book. 20 years in the making. It

successfully captures the grand tour of the pre-war automotive world. Adler's gorgeous large format photographs are exceptional. And two decades of research and interviews with many of the world's top car designers have produced a readable yet informative text. Truly a remarkable book. Ever since Alexis first set out to conquer the luxury car market it has carefully cultivated an image of high quality and refinement and to that end they have been extremely successful. But one of the ultra quiet cabins and silky smooth highway manners some would argue the ride is so refined it excludes the driver from the experience. The same cannot be said however of the all new G.S. 400 this barnstorming performance today and definitely has some very on Lexus like performance characteristics. And it is designed to keep the driver included.

And with performance leapfrogging to the top of the priority list. It was back to the drawing board for Lexus engineers who created and they completely redesigned 1998 Lexus G-S 400 a performance sedan intended to give its own bond rivals a run for their money. And at first glance their intentions are quite clear while maintaining a basic then a flying shape some subtle and not so subtle styling cues give the G.S. 400 a more aggressive appearance. A large triangular head lights with integrated turning lamps wrap the front corners giving the crowd a sleek built for speed look. While separate high beam lamps Swank the understated yet classy grill. Overall link has become understated as well as the all new platform has been shortened by six inches. Link the front and rear overhangs have been reduced resulting in a more taut and muscular profile. At the back of the inboard outboard lighter arrangement that began up front has continued as large tail lamps wrap around the rear quarter with separate brake lights set just inside the trunk lid when added together the 98 vs

400 As far more appealing than its predecessor and is a cleaner effort than the Lexus HPF show car we saw last year anywhere and a very low point to 9 drag coefficient bears this out. Not that the new V8 needs much help from a slippery body design for the G.S. 400. The LS 400 or leader 30 to about dual overhead cam power plant has been reworked to kick out three hundred horses and three hundred ten pound feet of torque. 80 percent of it available at only 800 rpm. New cylinder head speech or continuous variable valve timing with intelligence first for a production V8 the G.S. 3 hundreds 225 horsepower 3 liter inline 6 also gets the VB treatment. Power is transferred to the rear wheels through a smooth flow. It's my automatic transmission that slingshots the TS 400 to 60 in just six seconds flat and that's no clue. This is one quick Lexus. While a redesigned and more compact multi leaf rear suspension along with a 32 percent stepper unit body

and 17 inch wheels equipped with TS 400 that dice it up on even that which you just wrote. And unless disabled the competent vehicle skid control system is at the ready to drive her exuberance get out of hand. But although the performance numbers may be a little unsettling to its competitors the luxurious cabin has the opposite effect on the driver. As the substantially roomier interior it's 4.6 cubic feet larger than last year comes with all the amenities that one expects from a Lexus G-S 400 has loads of leather and wood accents throughout the sporty hide covered three spokes steering wheel is now smaller due to a more compact de-powered second generation airbag that resides there and on the passenger side as well. The dash features a new three pound instrument cluster with silver blue up to Tron backlighting a system that keeps the gauges consistently illuminated regardless of exterior lighting conditions. Both driver and passenger enjoy 10 way power adjustable seats with integrated side

impact airbags as expected the G.S. 400 center console is the epitome of ergonomic efficiency premium stereo and climate controls which gear is close at hand and self-explanatory. So too is the optional navigation system with voice prompting. And it incorporates the climate and stereo controls it has displaced and operates them by touch screen. The wood handled shift lever offers a choice of automatic or manual modes and manual the feature is activated and allows up and down ships by simply pressing the buttons on the front and back of the steering wheel and back those along for the ride will appreciate the wide door opening as well as the generous leg hip and shoulder room. There is a big trunk as well. Thanks to the compact rear suspension and the relocation of the fuel tank trunk capacity has grown 14 percent to fourteen point eight cubic feet. Pricing is not excess performant sedan of this caliber the G.S. 300 begins at thirty seven thousand two hundred ninety five dollars while the G.S. 400 carries a basic reporting five thousand two hundred ninety five dollars.

Be aware however options can easily add $6000 or more. No matter our conclusions are clear. If Lexus pursues performance with the same relentless determination that made them a 1 3 benchmark they could get the German machines more than a run for their money. It could mean a run for their lawn. I hope you'll join us next week for more motor week. And what's new for 98 from Ford. And the last gas but the air cooled Porsche 911. That dog steers us in the right direction with a close look at steering systems. Lisa Barron reports on the continuing problem of road rage. And we'll update all the latest Motor News. I'm John Davis. We'll see you than to order a video cassette of this program call 1 800 4 2 2 0 0 6 4 4 7 1995. Plus 495 shipping and handling to this address. This is B.S..