Motorweek; 2102

Way. The. Way. This time on motorways Jaguars new compact can looks like its diesel trio and an armored antique show. So come drive with us next. Little. TV's original automotive magazine brought to you by pep boys no matter what you drive. That boy says over 27000 items in stock virtually any part for any car with all the name brands you know plus service space staffed with a a c

certified technicians Pep Boys parts tires accessories service and to buy. Conflict with. Your host for Motor Week. John Davis. Well oh and welcome again to motor week. We're glad to have you with us. The only avenue to success in the auto industry or any industry is having the products that people want when they want them. Despite this simple business principle Jaguar well-known for its pricey midsize and larger sedans hasn't been a player in the growing near luxury sedan class but now Jaguar is ready to fill their empty niche with the all new 2002 X-type. But can Jags new cat even with all wheel drive claw its way to the pinnacle of budget luxury.

That depends soley on how much the 2002 Jaguar X-Type impresses buyers who might otherwise opt for a Mercedes C-class BMW 3 Series or Lexus 300. But the Jaguar name alone makes him a serious player. Beyond that the X-Type shares its basic platform with Ford of Europe's new front drive Mondeo sedan. But the all wheel drive jag has less than 20 percent of its parts in common with the Mondeo sizes spot on one hundred six point seven inches overall. One hundred eighty three point nine inches right in the middle of the New Year luxury class. Externally the X-Type is every inch a Jaguar with a brand smooth traditional sheet metal and a low CD of point three to the nose features a compact x J style grill and four oval shaped headlights with a Xenon option which are the starting points for the multiple hood bulges a Jaguar design here the dates back to the original Mark 1 sedan prototype of the 1950s. The tail is also rim innocent of the larger

x Jason but looks tighter younger more athletic. The body meets the pavement by way of standard 16 inch alloy wheels for our test car sport package and you get 17 inch alloys wearing Z are rated to 25 45 tires. Turning for the first time ever there's a standard all wheel drive system developed by a planetary center differential with a viscous coupling to send 40 percent of the engine's torque to the front and 60 percent to the rear. The engines themselves are two versions of the six with variable valve timing 2.5 or 3 liters and displacement. They combine aluminum block with Jaguar designed Twin Cam 24 valve heads all coming together at Ford's Cleveland Ohio engine facility. The 2.5 delivers 190 horsepower and 100 eighty pound feet of torque. Our car's three leader produce 231 fluid horsepower and 209 pound feet of torque.

Transmissions for both engines including speed cable operated manual speed automatic complete with jaguars GA gate shifter with manual override. With the pure manual gear change being worked hard to 60 in seven seconds flat. Quarter mile and fifteen point four seconds at ninety four miles. Our power bill smoothly and quietly from a strong bottom men until petering out at just over 6000 RPM. The manual shifter handles it all very well. While a little rubbery between gears it's light yet engages solidly very much like a BMW. The clutch unfortunately is also BMW like lacking feel and engaging very late in the pedal travel. But we have no reservations about the fully independent suspension which consists of a twin tube MacPherson strut setup up front and a torsion controlled multi link design in the rear. It delivers a near neutral feel with nicely weighted if somewhat numb speed sensitive steering.

But that sounds like the same comments we've made recently about the three series. You're right but here the standard all wheel drive system combined with sticky tires and optional stability control delivers Tons of all. Whether. ABS equipped brakes with electronic brake distribution are standard pedal feel is a bit soft but stuff from 60 average to good 180 feet ability where sports sedan level during rapid switchbacks both at our Test Track and during our initial drive in France. We notice that the body does tend to rock a bit due to the soft springs but the ultra stiff chassis never suffers the bin. But those springs also give the X-Type an impressive level of ride quality. It's just the right balance between sports sedan form and luxury car plus. Or like a jaguar. As is the interior. On the surface 100 percent English luxury with plenty of handsome birdseye maple trim on the dash indoors as well as Connelly leather also standard on our test car superb power adjustable

sport seats. Gauges are deeply set clear analog dials the optional 7 inch touchscreen display which incorporates audio climate phone and a DVD based satellite navigation system is a more intuitive system than most. Voice activation can be added to. Another option are 70 30 split folding rear seat backs abundant rear seat room is not a hall mark of mere luxury sedans and the X-Type approximates its competition trunk space however soundly beats its better rivals measuring 16 cubic feet. But despite all its fine features and abilities the X types best feature may be its price base price for the 2.5 leader manual is thirty thousand five hundred ninety five dollars. Step up to three meter power and the price starts at thirty six thousand five hundred ninety five dollars. This makes the 2002 Jaguar X-Type more than competitively priced package a price that we think along with styling features performance and the jaguar heritage puts the top spot in the near luxury class easily within a

clause reach clogging up the competition in the process. The best kind of car accident is the one you will avoid active handling and stability programs are often called DSP or electronic stability programs are designed to help you do just that. DSP works by monitoring a car speed and direction as well as the drivers actions and then automatically applies the brake to one or more wheels to correct unstable during conditions. Its high tech hands off. Keep it on the road peace of mind and its as easy as e s p. Coming up big guns from the big ones. It's Karkare time on motorway which means a visit where the top tack and some problem solving pap Goss style. John this time we're going to talk about some problem solvers first screw drivers. You know over the years have been hundreds of different designs and screwdriver handles but none of them have

really worked all that well. That is until now snap on has come up with an ergonomically designed screwdriver handle that fits your hand so it's very comfortable. Plus it's made of a material that doesn't slip and slide when your hands are sweaty or wet or oily works very well. Now if you go into most people's garages what are you going to find are you going to find wrenches and so on that are all strewn all over. No particular order. Well Hanson has a solution for the wrenches. These are wrench holders. You put the wrenches in there they're in order. Like we have here on the wall. They do does an excellent job of keeping things the way they're supposed to be just reach in and pick out the one you want. Which brings up another problem. Sockets thanks to the way most people sockets are stored they're just in a jumble. Well again Hanson has the answer these are socket holders and they're designed for particular types of sockets deep in

shallow and so on. And each holder has a number on it you put the socket over the appropriate pin it keeps them in order. You can just reach in and grab whatever you want. And when you're done with the job it gives you a clue. You have everything back in the trace and we've got one missing. Have to go looking for it. It takes inventory for you. And here's another problem you're going to do something you can turn a bolt or a nut down in the engine compartment. You can't see where you're headed down in there. Well this is from all trade and this is a lighted extension. Lights up the socket. You can see where you're going with it. It will except an extension or a ratchet whatever you want to use on the other end of it comes in a couple of different links. Very inexpensive and very practical. Now for you professionals. If you look in your tool box I'm sure you'll find something that just about every professional technician hands a

whole assortment of used relays so it was the only way to test them you substitute a really well snap on tools has come up with this relay tester goes through a number of tests on the relay and it tells you whether it is good. It is marginal or it fails and if it fails it also tells you by blinking out a code. What is probably wrong with that relay can save you hours of time. If you have a question or a comment write to me. If I use your letter I'll send you a motor week T-shirt. The address is Motor Week always Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7. Thank you. Thank you. Our core of the week is well a little bit of everything. This interesting forklift was submitted by Susan Thurston of Grass Valley California. It's a four wheel drive home are built out of Chevy Ford Dodge and assorted other manufactures

parts. Susan founded and several like it had Douglas's apple farm in Shoreham Vermont. If you found a fund for by a foursome it at least three good color photos to Motor Week Owings Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7. 0. Like most auto enthusiast highroad reporter Craig singer loves vintage car shows but even a hard core car guy like cray can only look at just so many 57 Chevy. So Craig went in search of something different and what he found was a vintage vehicle show with not just a twist but a bang as well. Fort Lee Virginia just south of Richmond. Now this might seem to be an unlikely gathering place for a rally of vehicle collectors unless they are members of the military vehicle Preservation Association. This year marks the MVP 25th anniversary and they celebrated with an

eclectic grouping of vehicles from around the world. The military vehicle Preservation Association is an organization of private collectors that collect and restore antique military transport anything from Boston of the tanks from World War One to the Desert Shield Desert Storm operation. We have over 10000 members in 42 different countries around the world. Now I've been interested in military vehicles since my dad told me stories of his motorized tour of France in 1905. The folks that are into that military transport a very diverse background. We have people that have served the military we have many that have not served in the military. It's a sheer interest in preserving a piece of history as well as a piece of automotive history because many of the vehicles within the association services are the foundation for current vehicles we find in the automotive world today. The Jeep the Dodge truck a forerunner of today's dodge sport utility vehicles might be this dodge command car owned by retired Air Force Colonel Robert Sean.

This vehicle here is a 1942 command reconnaissance car. And you can see by the markings. It's mot 258. 258. That I was in a 1940 to 1940. This is my original uniform that I wore at that time. This one in particular was a general vehicle. And. Because. Of shiny paint. And. Interior. We have. One of the vehicles 30 feet is the desk. So the general could do his best work. And. Had his maps communication and everything right in his own vehicle. And Colonel Shawn's command car still has a commanding presence as it won the coveted Best in Show award. Well I've never seen one of these for sale before. Part of the real fun of a military vehicle show like this is the incredible variety of vehicles that are on display.

If it's a military vehicle it's probably here from tanks that are shooters. To little airborne scooters. Lots of big trucks. And some that are ducks. Not to mention vehicles called greyhounds. Weasels. And mules. Not all of them green. Some less than pristine. Motorcyclists with stars on their tanks. And motorcycles that thought they were tanks. In actuality military vehicle collectors will tackle any project. Believe it or not this is a Jeep some assembly may be required. Most vehicles of the show were very strong runners such as Dan Marino's a former Canadian army jeep. You try this all the way from Ontario yacht from various places a lot of ones run over the months of another night 80 miles altogether must be quite the most

important part of our mission in the NBPA is in fact the preservation of these military vehicles for future generations and also to share with the generations that actually use these vehicles. What what happened. A lot of the people had relatives in the service. They've lost a lot of relatives and so they just. Want to emulate. Their own goal. Their brother this is so. Grandparents and so on. It's just. A. Way to find to people. And to all of them we say tanks. Thanks for the memories. This week we turn the focus of our long term protest onto vehicles that clearly marked the trend in sport utility vehicles. This 2001 Mitsubishi Montero Limited and this 2001 Mazda Tribute DSB 6 both SUV these are fresh designs they have foregone truck style body on frames and pushrod engines

for stiffer car like unit size frames and faster revving overhead cam multi valve engines. The Montero for instance is one of the few imported full size SUV in our daily driving some fourteen thousand nine hundred miles in seven months. We've also found it to be most comforting comforting from a luxury standpoint. There's limited model is loaded with everything from leather trim to infinity sound system and comforting from a security standpoint. Despite some reports to the contrary we find the Montero a very stable SUV on highway and byway. And totally reliable it had no mechanical faults during our test. Fuel economy is good for a big SUV sixteen point eight miles per gallon. In fact that's better than many smaller Montero competitor smaller but not really a competitor is this trendsetting Mazda Tribute. Those that follow are long term test know that except for interior noise and mediocre fuel economy. But after twelve thousand eight hundred miles fans of eighteen point eight mpg we've been

very pleased with the tribute we've had no mechanical trouble and seven months of hard use. Even It's simpler but still capable cool will drive system is more than up to most. Owners need. It is also as easy to maneuver as a compact car and even more comfortable for medium to long trips. Indeed as our best small sport utility vehicle of the year we still highly recommend paying tribute to this Mazda for your driveway. But there are still more innovative new choices in SUV like a sooky Grand Vitara Xcel seven and a Subaru Outback both up for review on our next motor week long term road test update. Now let's check in with Jennifer because novice for a first driveable would be a future classic and all the latest Motor News. A small SUV is our fast growing market segment not only in North America but in Europe as well. Now the best selling small SUV over there is available over here. After almost four years of European sales the Land Rover Freelander has finally made its

way to North America. What kept this premium Honda CRV and Ford Escape fighter away was the lack of enough power for American tastes. Like all Land Rovers the Freelander uses permanent all wheel drive with open differentials and no low range power management is by way of a center viscous coupling and electronic traction control. The Freelander showed off its capabilities during an unusual driving event staged in Iceland. It performed well on terrain as varied as lava strewn trails and rugged glacial ice. The Freelander edged out all competitors on downhill maneuvers thanks to the Land Rover developed Hill Descent control HTC uses standard abs hardware to keep speeds under 6 MPH no matter how steep the grade. Available in three trim levels s s c and the fully loaded HST all three Landers include power windows air conditioning and an in-dash CD stereo. Both the AC and HST models feature standard leather upholstery.

The HSC also offers the first navigation system available in a small SUV. Freelancer prices range from a surprisingly modest twenty four thousand nine hundred seventy five dollars for the yes to thirty one thousand five hundred seventy five dollars for the HSC. We'll have more about our Freelander adventures in Iceland in a few weeks. And that's it for this week's Motor News. With gas prices hopping up and down many car buyers are taking a long hard look at more fuel efficient automobiles. And while gasoline electric hybrids are the latest trend many forget the diesel engines have long provided superior fuel economy. But currently the only diesel cars available in the U.S. come from Volkswagen. However that doesn't mean you don't have a choice. Indeed with three different models the new Beetle golf and Jetta and a couple of trim levels within those model lines to choose from for 2001 Volkswagen is serving up diesel power and a total of five flavor. But before we

take an individual taste test let's take a look at the common thread that ties these models together. It's both wagons amazing 1.9 lieder turbo charge direct injection and line four cylinder diesel engine. TVI output is 90 horsepower peaking at 30 750 RPM while it's 155 pound feet of torque is there at just 1500 rpm for on track testing purposes we chose the jet of the largest of the 3 0 0 0 to 60 miles per hour was reached in a reasonable eleven point three seconds while the quarter mile past an eighteen point three seconds at 75 mph. Those numbers are right in the same neighborhood as some of the large SUV test as you might expect torque comes on strong right from launch power remain strong to 40 200 RPM where it starts to drop off considerably before reaching its forty six hundred fifty RPM redline for optimum performance. You'll need to short shift the cart around 4000 rpm. But forget the number real world driving is what a TDR equipped boats wagon is all

about. And out here this engine positively shuns with plenty of bottom in all around town cruising is done at near idle but a very responsive throttle takes full advantage of that low end punch and allows for some serious darting when you want to shake down a large SUV off your tail. Of course as always use your signals then go for that whole shot with confidence. Out on the highway it's more of the same motoring at 70 mph is effortless but plenty of power for passing and unlike diesels of old the TVI is quiet smooth and set free. The TBI is also capable of stretching your fuel dollar farther than a locker room. EPA estimates pick the jet ATV fuel economy at 42 mpg city 49 highway in a weekend mix of city and rule driving with our five speed manual trans equipped tester for speed automatic is also available. One of our staffers average 44 MPG over 250 miles rest of the Jetta TV performance profile is equally attractive and breaking the

four will ABS control dis brakes brought us to a stop from 60 and one hundred twenty six feet. Stability is first rate with no lockup and just a touch of fade after 8 runs on a 90 plus degree day. The jet is solid chassis compliant front struttin rear beam suspensions and all that low down. Make taking on the low speed slalom. I do like. The only negative was considerable tire slide from the standard 15 it's rubber on the hot and oily track and psi the jet offers to trim levels. G l n g ls and snug room for with fabric or leather trim. Plenty of power accessories and a kicking monsoon stereo CD player changer is optional. You can tailor it to fit just about any budget. As for those other diesel flavors the golf gives you the same mechanical suspension and interior options as the Jetta with the added benefits of a hatchback utility. The new Beetle to offer similar componentry Plus a heaping helping of nostalgia and hard styling that's all it's

own. With a versatile lineup like that there's a TV eye out there for you. The bad news is you'll have to order it with unstable fuel prices BW a recently announced that they have sold out their entire allotment of cars for the US this year. If you want one you'll have to stand in line but it's worth it. As for pricing the BW charges only one thousand fifty dollars extra for the TDR top G.L. started sixteen thousand eight hundred ninety five dollars GLSEN eighteen thousand one hundred. The new Beetle Geo Les talks of eighteen thousand four hundred fifty dollars jet AGL is eighteen thousand six hundred ninety five dollars last nineteen thousand four hundred dollars. Our jet AGL us test are running out nineteen thousand eight hundred seventy five dollars. To us that's quite a bargain. Now if you haven't driven a diesel car since the days of unreliable smoke belching cloud clattering power trains you owe it to yourself and to a wallet to check out a TVI equipped Volkswagen because we think that

like us and a lot of other GDI converts once you experience new diesel technology you'll be sold now too. I hope you'll join us next week for more motorways. We will test the all new Dodge Ram pickup and Ferrari's delicious 360 moden a spider will take a detour to examine the controversial automotive art of Robert Williams. Plus Pat Goss will have more of his priceless Karkare advice. Another long term road test and all the latest Motor News. I'm John Davis. We'll see that to learn more about motor week. TV's original automotive magazine that visit PBS on line at PBS dot org or America Online keyword PBS to order a video cassette of this program call 1 800 4 2 2 0 0 6 for Motor Week has been brought to you by Pep Boys. No matter what you drive Pep Boys has over 27000 items in stock virtually any part for any car with all the name brands you know plus service space

staff with NASA certified technicians at voice parts tires accessories service. And to buy. What are you looking for a month or so. And. This. Is PBS.