Motorweek; 726

All. Right. This time on Motor Week 88. Another new name to remember. Alfa Romeo Milano 3.0 Hankin you name what you should know before buying tired head boss tells how to make what you buy lasts longer than a short look at

Mitsubishi's V-6 powered belong stigma come drive with us next. Motor Week 88. TV's automotive magazine. With your host John Davis. Oh rock them again to Motor Week 88. We're glad to have you with us. A great Greek philosopher once said everything is relative. Well he could have been a road tester because you evaluate a car's performance relative to the performance of cars in the same category. When we first tested the Alfa Romeo

Milano we were impressed with its performance relative to other cars. Well evidently the folks at Alfa Romeo never studied philosophy because they have introduced another version of the Milano that performs even better than the first one we tested. So relatively speaking how much better. Enough to make sports car buyers forget the Milano has two extra doors at the rear and enough to make sports sedan buyers forget the Milano's shall we say unique rear end styling. Before we get to the details let's get the names straight. This is the Milano 3.0 as opposed to Milan 0 gold or platinum. Last year the car was designated the veritie or green but the designation was dropped for marketing reason by any name this is the high performance Milano. Not high performance starts here with a 3 liter version of the Alphas already potent overhead can be 6 horsepower is one hundred eighty three versus one hundred fifty

four for the 2.5 liter. The powers other Milan cork is rated at one hundred eighty one pound feet high revving V-6 makes the Milano 3.0 the best sounding board or on the street today and one. The faster one despite a bit of shocker from the limited slip rear end on launch army line it was zipped through the quarter mile and fifteen point nine seconds at 88 mph and went from zero to 60 in a brief eight seconds. But there's more to being a 3.0 than going fast. This Milano also gets a different look which includes a front end spoiler side skirts and a tail spoiler that goes out of the beltline molding. Wheel arch flares are also part of the package. And if it's function that impresses you. 195 55 B rated tires help to fill out those flare ups. And what's behind them gets the job done too. The Milano 3.0 has anti-lock brakes as standard so it stops with the accuracy of a high priced German sedan.

I'm 55 our car stopping distance averaged a very short ninety eight feet and unlike some other cars with ABS. Has a firm solid feel to the pedal. The ABS pulsation doesn't start until you're really pushing hard. Other 3.0 changes include a revised interior. We like them but wish Alfa Romeo had gone a little further. Take the three point hose front Ricardo's seats they have high bolsters a good support and the driver's side seat is heated adjustments though are sparse and some drivers found the seats too narrow and hard. A tilt will is standard but it still doesn't provide enough adjustment to eliminate the bus like Italian quality. Other idiosyncrasies include a horseshoe parking brake that when engaged gets in the way of the armrest. A somewhat notchy but very accurate 5 speed shifter and automatic is now available in the gold and platinum versions. And switches for the power windows that are located on an overhead console. Not on the door or center console. Also even though we like

the optional sunroof it takes up a lot of the headroom. While we're complaining that he controls and radio are located too far down the dash to be easily reached. Yet overall we like the shape of the office dash and it's handsome and the instruments are complete and easy to read. Backseat passengers are treated to extra bolstering to that end three point seat belts for the outboard passengers almost make up for the lack of rear head room. But lest we forget the emphasis here is more on sport than sedan. So most Milano 3.0 drivers won't care that the trunk lift over is high. The opening small and that an odd item or two may have to be left behind. The line of 3.0 drivers are more likely to care that the seats do a great job of holding them in when the road gets twisted and at the mulatto 3.00 itself hangs on to the turn the steering while a bit heavy and a little slow is acrid and feels great.

Body roll seems heavy at first but the car never leans over as far as you think it's going to. So the handling has it. Very controlled and moving. Forward. Best of all the Milano is spirited without being frightening and won't kick its tail out unexpectedly. Despite the three point O's outgoing nature it was fairly quiet inside measuring 67 decibels of noise at 55. As for mileage EPA ratings are 18 city 25 highway. We managed an excellent 24. Best of all the Milano 3.0 is a base price to twenty one thousand six hundred fifty dollars. That includes power steering and windows air conditioning power door locks tilt steering wheel and rear window defroster only the sunroof and cruise control. In our safety check the Milano 3.0 fails to have front passive restraints but passes on all other counts. The Alpha is willing 3 liter engine and quick acceleration top our list of hits. We also like to add stable handling and excellent anti-lock brakes. Misses include awkward steering wheel to

pedal driving position a lack of headroom with the optional sunroof and a small and convenient truck. For comparison. The Acura Legend is more expensive has more comfort oriented interior and accessories but lacks the Alpha's engine performance and spirited nature. It's hard to compare an Alfa Romeo Milano to any other four door sedan. It has a combination of all. Just. Find another sedan and with a 3.0 of those qualities just come in greater quantity. So for those who enjoy the pleasure of driving over the practicalities of mere transportation the Alfa Romeo Milano 3.0 has just what it takes. Did you ever wonder where all the rubber has gone that used to be on your worn out tires. I was been eaten by tiny organisms that live in the asphalt. But that's not what this next story is about. It is about what you should know before you replace those worn out tires. Here's Lisa barrow with her FBI report on

buy. American spent over 13 billion dollars for new tires in 1970 while the average price paid was about forty two dollars per tire. It's not unusual to pay up to 600 for a set they comes on high performance cars. Even with so many tires sold every year most Americans don't know the first thing about buying them. How do you know what tire is right for you. Let's go find out. How they set up to help you today. Well we're here for a lesson in tire purchasing I would suppose that I'm buying tires. What do you need to know for me in order to sell me the right time. I need to ask you a few basic questions and you know what kind of vehicle that you're driving how many miles you have on it. What current. Having. To do this in a high way around town. Are you looking for a all season tire radio abayas. Those are the two different types of times. Well you have a biased tire a biased belt a tire

and a radio. There are three basic types of tires that are on the market today 90 percent roughly are radial tires. Can you show me some of your radios. I certainly can't state of the art tread design crisscross tread design to enable more water and snow to funnel at the front sides of the tire deep grooves in the sod wall to again make for better traction funnel water and snow out the front sides of the tire a lot of biting edges for better traction deep grooves in the side wall to funnel water and snow out smooth riding time. Straight radio. Not a lot of biting edges to it. No deep grooves in the sidewall to funnel water and snow out straight routing river to add comfort and stability to the top. All tires sold today are required to meet federal safety standards under the Uniform tire quality grading system. Tires are graded by manufacturers in three areas. Tread where

traction and temperature resistance the tread wear gray gives an idea of how much to expect from a tire. For example a tire graded 200 should last twice as long as a tire graded 100. Traction is graded A B and C A being the best. This describes the tires ability to stop on wet surfaces. Temperature is graded A B and C and represents the tires resistance to heat and a rating means the tire will run cooler than one rated B or C according to the federal government. The uniform tire quality grading system can help consumers compare tires. The problem is that that doesn't always work. They take the numbers that you get and you see on the tire don't always. Really correlate to what you're going to get. You know as far as one tire next one out. While each manufacturer test their own tires they do not all interpret the results the same. Therefore you can only compare within a brand and not among brands. Warranties are also an important consideration when buying a tire. Most come with a tread wear warranty and each

manufacturer sets their own road hazard warranties are available at an additional charge and you should ask your tire dealer about these. Here are some tips when you go to buy a tire. Consider the type of car your driving. Is it high performance luxury or economy. Consider the climate where you live. Does it snow or rain a lot. Research jag auto and consumer magazines that test tires and talk to other people to compare prices. Shop around all tire prices are not the same and ask valve stems mounting and balancing are included in the price of the tire. Proper maintenance checking tire pressure rotating tires and proper balancing can significantly prolong the life of your tires tires are essential to your car's performance and safety. Make sure you make the right choice. Pretty soon we won't have to worry about snow car problems persist all year

round. That's why Pat Goss is here with answers to two more viewer letters. Pat. DUNN I was just looking under the hood of this Camaro because this time I have a couple of letters regarding Camaro so the first one is from Alan Peterson of Hampton Virginia writes that he has a 1984 easy 28 that develops a nasty squeak in the anti sway bar is below 28 degrees so that the dealer has tried WD 40 and white lithium grease on the rubber bushings but that only lasted a short while. Those Motor Week have an answer that a couple of them as a matter of fact. OK here we have a typical sway bar. Now this would be similar to what is used in the Z 28. It's a large diameter sway bar and on these a large diameter bars. One of the things that helps cause the squeaking is that there is a lot of surface area between the sway bar and the rubber bushing that is supported by where it's attached to

the frame and over a period of time the bushing gets dry and this is what causes the squeaking as the sway bar moves inside the bushing itself. One of the things that was tried on the particular car in the letter was white lithium grease not a real fix it works but it only works for a short time so that's not something we'd really recommend or would recommend. Well here's one thing that can be used. This is a dielectric grease. It's kind of a waterproof type of grease it's used in automotive ignition systems that works reasonably well but even better than that. Here we have an actual waterproof grease. This is something that you'd buy in a marine supply store it's used around boats on outboard motors and things like that. It's designed for use right under water and if it's applied to the rubber bushings between the bushing and the sway bar it doesn't get washed away with water

stays on a long time. And last here's the real fix for it and this one does it and does it permanently. This is a replacement bushing for the sway bar. Now this particular one is what you would want to look for the varying brands and so on. But the big difference is it is not made of rubber. It is a plastic composition and it's impregnated with a lubrication that makes it self lubricating so it keeps the sway bar quiet as long as the bushing is on the car. So that's a very good fix right there. Ok so much for sway buys. Now what else can we do here. The next one is from Vincent Sullivan of Blofeld New York. He writes that is 1974 six cylinder Camaro produces very intense exhaust fumes. The car runs very well and even passes the emission test but the fumes are almost unbearable. He has checked the timing the PCV valve checked all of the rubber vacuum hoses and

even replaced the vacuum canister. The car's regulator tuned as well. Where does he look next. Well we look for something very simple. It's a matter of fact we're going to look at the carburetor. Now this is an inline 6 in that particular kind it uses a carburetor like the one that we have here. And where is the problem with the carburetor. Well down here at the bottom there are two screws that hold the base of the carburetor to the fuel bowl. OK these screws work loose and that permits a looseness between the base of the carburetor and the fuel bowl. And this permits a vacuum leak. Now this vacuum leak can be quite drastic. And what it does is it causes the mixture to be leaned out and this is what causes those horrible fumes. But you'd think wouldn't the car run terrible. Not necessarily a lot of these cars run very well with this problem. All they get is this horrible exhaust fumes.

How do you correct it. Well a correction is very simple. You remove the carburetor from the car you take those screws out you take a two part of poxy mix it up put it on the threads of the screws put the screws back in and tighten them securely. And this generally will keep the base of the carburetor tight for a long time. So that's the fix for that particular one. Now if you happen to have some sort of a problem like this where the car doesn't run right or doesn't handle right or makes a strange noise well maybe we can help. If you think we could. How about dropping us a line here at Motor Week Owings Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7. That's Motor Week Owings Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7. Competition in the upscale Japanese family sedan segment is pretty tough. It takes more than four doors to the name you can't pronounce to succeed. Skimp on quality or features and buyers will drop you like a cheap microchip.

One thing people won't stand for anymore is an engine that vibrates as in four cylinder engines are noted for their smoothness. The Japanese are turning to six cylinder engines for many of their models. The Mitsubishi Goodloe is one of them and whether it's new V-6 comes a new name Sigma. The Sigma name made me think of you. I don't return it today. That is intentional. This upmarket Japanese sedan is aimed at the college educated professional who typically buy spirited prestigious German cars. But unlike its German competitors the gloss sigma is not the sports sedan. Mitsubishi imagines it to be the first Kalat was and this Sigma remains a family car filled with high tech luxuries with an air of sporting designer to that end. The styling is firmly in the family car mold while crisply aerodynamic and reasonably up to date when it first appeared in 1905. It now seems very conservative.

Fortunately the conservative thoughts disappear when you look under the hood power is very modern with a three metre overhead cam V-6 making one hundred forty two horsepower the same engine Chrysler uses and its minivan. This pulls the sigma from 0 to 60 and a quite reasonable for a family car. Nine point eight seconds before speed automatic ships quick and smooth. A 5 speed manual is also offered. Even more modern is the Sigmas revised computer controlled suspension which adjusts ride height and shock stiffness. And variable assisted power steering can also be driver adjusted for stiffness. But where the Sigma really falls short of its sports sedan aspirations is in handling with all its sophisticated hardware it still behaves like a good family sedan. Yet there is one big plus to the gloss Sigmas electronics. It's in the new antilock brake system stops from 55 averaged only 105 feet.

However we did find repeated hard braking in corners producing lots of things. Like previous columns. The interior is a combination of refined luxury and confusing technology. We have nothing but praise for the comfortable seats. Generous room and practical dash. But we can't see many family chauffeurs caring about all the steering and suspension adjustments. Good thing they're automatic. The $20000 to last sigma is very much an upmarket sedan and regardless of what we think of all its bells and whistles it is pretty good. It's just that by themselves all the electronics in the world can't turn a good family car into a great sports sedan. Our car of the week is a little different. It's a car for children built by the Solano family in Mexico City Mexico. If you have a special car send a good color photograph and a self-addressed return on a fellow

who we always Mills Maryland to 1 1 1. It's time now for Lisa barrow in the latest Motor News. Thanks John. The four escort introduced in 1981 has been one of the company's best selling cars and Ford would like that to continue. To that end they are preparing a new escort which were in place the popular but aging current model in 1990. This is court code 20 is engineered by Ford's Japanese partner Mazda and is based on that company's next generation 2:57 styling will follow the popular Ford arrow theme a sloping hood with compact headlights graces the front end while the tail design appears to have been lifted from Mercury divisions upmarket family sedan the Mir core Scorpio. Power will come from the choice of engines based cars will get a reward version of the current

escorts 1.9 leader for the GTI will draw its power from a Mazda one point leader Twin Cam unit the word is that Ford dealers will get both the 2 and 4 diversions. Mercury will get only the 4 door version to supplement the current three to three base tracer. John thanks Lisa. In these technological times it's getting harder and harder for auto racing fans to tell one race car from another or one race driver from another. Some fans long for the good old days of motor racing. Greg saying so he searched the high road to find a place where things are as they used to be. Hello from Wickiup beach on the island of Grand Bahama. You know where the surf sun and fun the Bahamas are truly a tropical paradise. What more could you ask for. Well how about

auto racing complete with classic cars of every style. Legendary drive. Fabulous parties. Movie stars. Sun worshippers and still more cars. It's the Grand Bahama Grand Prix sponsored by the sports car vintage racing association and held each year in Freeport with seven days of excitement. But what's most exciting the pends on who you talk to. Like a professional driver Bob bond around the home of. The people the weather the whole atmosphere over here and it goes back a long time you know when you're union this time further from the viewers. And it is a reunion not just of friends and track rivals but of many famous racing marks as well. The Concours d'Elegance one of the week's purged

events is an automotive who's who of cars from races past clutter the east lawn of a Freeport casino as racers crewman mechanics and passers by stop and appreciate the historic beauty of star Lou Diamond Phillips One of the rich and famous on hand is almost at a loss for words. Incredible I'm walking well he a lot of these cars most of which are older than I am and zealous and people like Stirling Moss it is it's mind boggling it's fascinating and it's beautiful for Porsche Speedster owner Phil call the Concours means a chance for some last minute inspection and time to take in the fine lines of competitors cars. You know everyone wins in a Concorde you clean up your car and send much cleaner than when you started and you've had a chance to inspect it as you're claiming and makes it a safer car as well. It's safe and we have a real good time. And it's no wonder Phil enjoyed himself at the Concourse. His speedster won Best of Show. But it's the racing most people jetted here for and there's plenty of it.

Six classes compete on the one of the third mile track routed through downtown Freeport. Some drivers hold back on their speed to play it safe while others are more competitive. Professional driver Brian Redmond this is always a subject that's very hotly debated amongst the vintage and historic racing groups. There's a strong body of opinion that says the call should not be raced seriously because that extremely valuable is another body opinion that says race in the US they were built to be raced and I would say the time to normal vintage meeting like this one that the participants are probably Hoffenheim divided between those that want to keep the calls pristine and as they would on those that really want to go out there and prove something. Bradman leans toward proving it. This outing battling rival and legendary British driver Stirling Moss. But it's Moss in his 1964 album who takes the checkered flag coming out of.

Her number. Really went on the road. I mean the race that matters is the one you do next week is today's the Madison today is not as important as some of the very much that we wondered if Moss found vintage racing fun. Oh yeah I mean the reason I race has to be the reason and the reason they do now is because I enjoy the sport. Nice of people. And you would find you would find any type of activity I don't think way where you have such a nice time. But all race and no play makes even Sterling at all boy. So it's party time style. With seven parties in seven nights. It takes almost as much stamina at the buffet tables it does at the racetrack. This. Writer. Well. Yes. Of course if you party too much which happens recovery is available with a bit of sun. Beach activities or a dip in the deep blue.

It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it. Still it's vintage racing that draws the faithful back to the track and with good reason. I think a lot of his beautiful that you can see the drivers what they are doing. It isn't high pressure like Formula 1 is now very high pressure. And I think that the people are very much more relaxed you speak the drivers look at the cars and I think we together tend to know that. It's. The kind of. Thing is just you never really know. Things are coming back because they because they are attractive. Join us next time for another new car road test. Plus Lisa Barrow will have a report on child safety seats and more answers from Pat Goss. I'm John Davis and. If you'd like a transcript of this program send $4 to Motor Week transcripts Owings Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7. Residents of

Maryland at 20 cents sales tax asked for show numbers seven twenty six. Motor Week is a production of Maryland Public Television.