Motorweek; 1609

This time on motor with a new classic from Jaguar up her door for a compact truck and a red light. No you ride to get the drive without. TV's original automotive magazine. Your host for little John Davis. Well hello and welcome again to motor week we're glad to have you with us. There have been a number of turnarounds in the auto industry during the last decade but none more impressive than Jaguar after a major cash infusion from new owner Ford Jaguar went from shoddy quality and questionable reliability in 1905 to beautiful and dependable ex Jason Tanz. But the folks from Coventry weren't finished yet. Not by a long shot at this year's Geneva and New York auto shows they wowed the press

with this car the x k 8. So we couldn't wait to find out of driving the X K-8 lived up to all the hype. Well it only takes a fast glance at either the Jaguar Xscape or the equally stunning x k a convertible to see that no hyperbole is needed to describe their styling. These are just flat out gorgeous cars. And both spirit and in the flowing long hood short rear deck shape is the true successor to Jaguars legendary E-type still the world's most recognized Jaguar like those of the 60s and 70s. These Xscape look smooth from any angle and you're hard pressed not to haul out the old book of hackneyed cliches and attempting to describe their beauty. The curves are sweeping and subtle and perfectly translated into sheet metal. I think not all been accomplished. And here's a feat never before accomplished in a Jaguar a V-8 engine. It's an all aluminum for leader Twin Cam 32 valve

delight. Only the fourth all new engine in Jaguar history. It delivers 290 horsepower and two hundred eighty four pound feet of torque to the rear wheels through a 5 speed automatic transmission with both sport or normal shift mode but it has adaptive logic to match the style of driving. Jaguar J gaited shifter is retained. Allowing manual gear change is well set in sport mode. The only star Jodie 673 and were rewarded with an impressive six point two second zero to 60 time with 80 percent of peak torque available and what. Keep. Up the pillow and be able to be able. To. Get him to the Quarter Mile End fourteen point six seconds at 98 mph. Traction control is part of a two count in the overall package. Skate stopping is equally impressive. Whoa didn't think it best all around with standard antilock delivered a short 115 foot average stopping distance from 60 or handling a workout.

We proved our Popenoe International Raceway some cat and mouse with the challenging corners of their north road the next day S derived chassis has been heavily reworked for the gain and course will stiffness of 24 percent. The front suspension is traditional Jaguar double wishbone but it's now mounted to a massive aluminum cross member. The rear suspension is borrowed from the X JR sports sedan using a cast lower a arms with a half shaft providing the upper support to perfectly spec oil Springs and BP anti-roll bars do a great job on controlling the role of the firm variable assist gearing is also perfectly weighted. Altogether the X case handling is impressive but never to the detriment to find why it wrong. All of this with no gimmicks no justice no air springs just good sound engineering. Only the most intrusive of expansion joints seem to bother us or the convertible which exhibited little body flex through corners or potholes like the Mercedes SL The x k a convertible top has one button operation

latches and Windows release automatically. The top is lined with extra sound insulation and the frame is forged aluminum first. The rear window is glass with integrated defroster and the whole affair folds out in 20 seconds. You can also raise or lower the top while moving up to 10 mph. Unlike the SL the top boot is a do it yourself affair. However the trunk lid helps hold it in place for quick installation. If you love burled walnut the cabin will send you to Nirvana. It covers the expansive dash with its large recessed analog gauges some of which sit above the busy center console. There's a rich look and feel to the Connelly leather that covers the seats and door panels. Buckets are generous and with an overall comfort though some of our staff wanted more thorough and lateral support. The all power seat adjustments include lumbar and there's also a tilt and telescoping steering wheel. But only if you have small children will the pictures we're seeing be of any use.

Using the comprehensive climate control system is a lot more simple than this plethora of large buttons might indicate video those for the excellent sound system. Both are test cards had the optional 9 speaker premium system with its end basket set and a trunk mounted CD changer hidden under the trunks for other full size spare and the battery. The trunk lid opens wide and lift over is low. Not so the price however the coupe sticker is for sixty four thousand nine hundred dollars while the convertible begins at sixty nine thousand nine hundred. However that is still over a thousand dollars less than a Mercedes SL and a little more than half the price of the new Aston Martin VB 7. So as European touring cars go Xscape is a high income bargain. Which explains why Jaguar expiate sales are already so brisk and why wouldn't they be one of the world's most beautiful car designs wrapped around a splendid combination of top drawer British engineering and Yankee fans. This path will captivate everyone from Coventry to Dearborn and beyond. And

that's no hype. Taking their eye gasoline is no longer about just picking one brand over another. Octane ratings additives and emissions are all causing us gas pains. So to relieve our discomfort Here's Pat Goss. John this time the hot topic is gasoline. First from Paul Fabio of Pauline South Carolina. He wants to know about gasoline octane. Is it better to use a high octane fuel in his cars that are designed for 87 octane. Absolutely not. And the reason is very simple. Way back in 1981 just about every automobile on the road came equipped with one of these. This is an onboard computer and the computer is designed so that it plow it works with the octane that the car is designed to run on. So this doesn't have any ability to

change its strategy if you put high octane fuel in the gas tank. So what you should do is never use any gasoline octane that isn't specifically recommended for your car if it requires premium. Always use premium. If it requires 87 always use 87. All right now from Mike Morelock of Kingsville Maryland he wants to know are gas additives occasionally necessary or even required at some interval. Or You bet. First is gas line anti-freeze or dry gas as it's sometimes called. All automobiles have some water in their fuel systems and it needs to be kept under control to prevent damage to the electric fuel pump and the fuel injectors and all of these expensive parts. But there are two types of dry gas one is made with meth and all the other is made with isopropyl alcohol. You must use ice a

Pro Bowl alcohol dry gas. Now why. Well in this first test tube that we have over here we've mixed some ethanol in there along with gas and water and food coloring. If you notice the gasoline still sits on top of the rest of it. Now here we're going to add some ice a Pro Bowl and as we can see everything mixes together and it's drawn out of the tank the water the alcohol and everything protects the entire feel system. The last thing you should be using. You should be using a fuel injector cleaner not to keep injectors clean. Gasolines do a great job of that. But to keep intake valves and pistons and things clean to prevent problems like we see on this particular valve these fuel injector cleaners do a great job. Pick up Marie and follow the directions on the label. More is not better and you'll have a cleaner engine that runs longer and better and for any answer

to your question 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. March of the week is a real treat in more ways than one. Owner George W. Baldwin of Adel Iowa gave it to him as a seventy ninth birthday present in good color photos of your low mileage collector car motor week. Always Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7. Normally when Craig shows us a classic car is found out on the high road it's 100 percent complete and in pristine condition. But this week Ray gets the rare opportunity to follow the restoration of one such car from a basket case to on track beauty. So much of this story is about the resolute determination of two men to authentically restore the story of a very fine but largely forgotten

Kalyan racing heart. For owner Bill King. It's 1947 Bandini race car has more than just automotive ties to the past. Gee Bill this turned out to be lovely. Thank you Craig. It's been in the family for about 35 years. Father Barton 58 and. He tried to restore it started to it and I started asking whether I'm actually decide to get serious about it and that's one that Jeff regrets a treasure motor cars. Start on the car and he's done. Perform what you see today. I think this is probably one of the most interesting jobs we've done because it was so much basic research to be done. It wasn't a matter of going out and looking at somebody else's car and building on some of that. We were trying to. Recondition it with a few. Highly authentic photographs and the car came to us basically as someone who installed an English court and having to have a

triumph rear axle and sundry other strange things. So we started contacting other people who had been involved in Bandini. Contact with ending the practice. Thought it might turn out to be about as a result we were able to sort of piece together some ideas as to how the response and to be reconstructed. The main facet to verify what apparently made from the spouse on the wings of the time and by playing was that he was doing a second role. Everyone felt strongly that it was not. The car we thought it was. But eventually we were able to prove that it really was I mean one of the first match the race history of the car actually began in 47 Bandini driving it a million million. And after that came this country 51 and raced the streets of Watkins Glen. And I guess it ran in 51 52 and other tracks on the East

Coast in the early 50s ran up through 54. And then after 54 it disappeared. But the Kings didn't go to all the trouble of restoring this car simply to have it languish in a museum with its 68 horsepower. One point one leader four cylinder fi hot engine the behind the scenes sets a pretty brisk pace at vintage races up and down the East Coast and all very well. Ever drive and go park. Kind of the same feeling but it's just not the modern day handling of America now. So often in the world of integer cars only the famous names like Ferrari and Porsche receive the loving restorations that they deserve. But thanks to Bill King Jeffrey Griffiths and the other in his years like them the automotive world is just a little bit richer because they chose to restore and preserve a market that is not a household name. The Harz of a Mario and D.

Now back to the world of less exotic production vehicles. As we bring you all the latest Motor News. Hi I'm Craig Singh Haas sitting in for Lisa Barrow this week as we take our first drive of the new Lexus E S 300 sharing its basic chassis with the new Toyota Camry makes the e S-300 longer hyar lighter safer and more powerful. It's all aluminum related B6 gets increases in horse power and torque while the 4 speed automatics electronic controls now alter shift patterns based on the aggressiveness of the. Driver. Slide is greatly improved thanks to a 30 percent stiffer body and the optional adaptive variable suspension system. It monitors several vehicle functions and continuously changes shot damping rates to match the road. Besides dual airbags front seat belt pretention ors and standard antilock brakes the S-300 meets all 1998 safety standards like the Camry styling is more angular but you still know it's a Lexus. There's a new

grille in lower air dam steeper Raikes to the windshield and back light and smoother. A pillars all contribute to a drop in the coefficient of drag from point three to to an extremely slippery point to nine wheel base grows two inches to one hundred five point one and overall length increases two point four inches which translates into the best total leg room in the class. Headroom rises a fraction of an inch but more on sunroof for quick cars. Thanks to a new thinner sliding mechanism and like the Camry traction control is available for the first time when a front wheel drive without a product. It's a brake and throttle system that works at all speeds and in reverse as well as on all forward view and best of all Lexus is offering more car for less money. The e es 300 is base price drops to thirty thousand three hundred ninety five dollars. And that's it for this week's Motor News. While full size pick up trucks from the Big Three continue to be hot sellers in all

configurations compact pickups have lagged behind hoping to reverse that trend. GM decided to give its new design to S series pick ups a feature previously found only on big trucks. So who said that. Three's a crowd. Especially when it means three tours. Yes the hottest new feature and full sized pickups is also available in a compact model but only on extended cab versions of the Chevy S series and GMC Sonoma giving GM a big jump on compact pickup rivals while big trucks have the extra door on the right side for passenger loading on GM subcompact. It's on the drivers sign for easy access to the extended cab seventeen point three cubic foot rear Bay. There is also added space for small items in the large storage pocket. The third door also makes pickups accessible to wheelchair bound drivers for the first time but it does cost the owners the use of one of these compact jumpseat which was deleted for safety

reasons. And speaking of safety watch your fingers kids the latch release is in the door jam. The rest of the vehicles interior is the same roomy well laid out single airbag cockpit that we praise so highly in its 1994 debut. Of course the most room is out song. Our test truck six foot sports side box easily handling day to day hauling duty hauling power came in the form of GM LS 4.3 meter vortex basic and our four wheel drive test machine. It made one hundred eighty horsepower and 240 pound feet of torque and with the help of the optional upgraded four speed automatic transmission from 2 0 0 0 the sixth time of nine point seven seconds the quarter mile took seventeen point three seconds at 79 mph handling proved to be as competent as always with the front torsion bars and rarely spring providing a stable sure footed or. Front braking provided something of a shock. Every 150 feet are trucks for Will antilock brake systems

suddenly cease to function giving test driver Craig Singh Hawes and videographer Pats Dolly on us a few anxious moments. The problem did not reoccur on the test track however and after a quick check of the dealer the rest of its two week stay was uneventful. Which pleased us. Since we hate returning such a versatile stylish little pick up until we have to and since none of us have a spare nineteen thousand fifteen dollars for a new truck right now that's the minimum that all four wheel drive sports side like our test vehicle will set you back at our vehicles healthy list of options and the final tally is twenty four thousand two hundred twelve dollars. The addition of a third door to GM is formidable lined up compact pickups is welcome and it's sure to make this segment more appealing to both business and personal use truck buyers alike. Acura the company that invented the Japanese luxury car has made a lot of noise in a very short time over the last two years they've introduced no fewer than five major

new models. Perhaps the most important is this car ACL coupe. It's the first Acura made in America and it helps the company revisit some of the sportiness found in their original legend coupe. But facing stiff competition from BMW and even Chrysler there's Acura as all-American coupe have what it takes. Well it certainly looks promising. For starters the accuracy point for contemporary luxury is very well-equipped. The only major options are leather trim an automatic transmission. And perhaps even more important market research and pre-production planning for its CEO Coupe which are based on Hondas accord. Was the most expensive in the company's history. Surveys told Acura that there's a growing number of 40 luxury coupe fires but their choices are between cars cost is around $20000 with marginal prestige like Acura Golding. Agra. For Lexis SES and Mercury Marquis for thirty five thousand dollars and

so accurate. Torrance California design studio came up with the CEO's neo classic styling to appeal specifically to American tastes. Although based on the concept car styling is far tamer but the center line remains the boat tail light is the most distinctive part and we like this move triangular tail and power for the new point to come from the E-Tec virgin Hondas all aluminum 2.2 liter four cylinder a Ford engine the single overhead cam 16 valve unit produces 145 horsepower and one hundred forty seven pounds weight of course I knew 200 horsepower made in the USA debuts this fall in the 3.0 C.L.. Now our 2.2 test car was mated to the optional four speed automatic with great logic control it minimizes your hunting and improved engine braking. But it won't win many stoplight Grand Prix although our 9.6 second. Year. Time.

Is decent for three thousand sixty four pounds to the quarter mile past the seventeen point four seconds with a travel agent one having also driven the 5 speed manual. We know would improve the 2.2 C.L. stoplight exits considerably. Needing no improvement on the standard four wheeled this breaks with anti-lock are stopped from 60 average to find 116 feet with just minimal fade accuracy trademark or will independent double wishbone suspension with coil springs Plus front and rear stabilizer bars combined with an extremely rigid body to produce nearly neutral handling with a compliant Well damn European style naturally car ride. Acura feels that it's a cross between Camry bounciness and three series stiffness and we agree we will complain that the speed sensitive variable effort power rack and pinion steering is a tad over boosted yet also slow to react to slalom type steering input. When crafting the CEO's interior Acura combined luxury with purpose using appealing shapes and quality materials such as the standard wood tone through them that sweeps around the dash to the door panels and a

large leather raft steering wheel our car's premium package gave it leather seats as well. With drivers like it see the just eight ways and has extra lumbar support. The seat frames are now aluminum for a 50 percent weight savings as befits a luxury coupe. The standard sound system is a sick speaker 80 watt premium unit with an m dash compact display or a high capacity automatic climate control system is more efficient than previous ones for Acura and features quicker interior cooldown and an off switch for comfortable sunny days. The standard two position power moonroof is a great alternative. Accuracy goal was a practical two adult sized back seat. We found half of your room much improved over the old legend who was also a locking pass through to the trunk which opens only with this key pop or interior release there is no external lock but there is well two big feet of usable Targo space and what will you pay for such a useful luxury coupe to point to seal prices started twenty two thousand five hundred forty

five dollars for the 5 speed manual with premium packages jumps to twenty three thousand five hundred ninety five dollars. Automatic transmission adds $800 to both prices. So are Ohio made NASCAR sticker was only twenty four thousand three hundred ninety five dollars. Those are extremely reasonable prices for a luxury coupe with a boatload of standard feature not unlike the first attack relating coupe. Perhaps the best workplace two door of the last decade were not ready to make the same claim ACL and accuracy second 10 years. But it looks like a terrific effort. But we will say that's accurate to point to s.l has everything it takes to be a winner. The reason most people choose one car over another is the way it looks. In other words it's styling and though there have been histories written on almost every automotive subject a century of style 100 years of American car design is the first book about the history of automotive styling authors Michael Lamb and

Dave Bowles have done a truly in-depth study of how the look of American cars and trucks evolved over the century. They show early influences of ships carriages and bicycles giving way to airplane and rocket designs. There are biographies of every designer of note and hundreds of photos of production and concept cars. It's 300 big pages of fascinating history. Now be sure to join us next week for more motorways and a twin test of the new Pontiac Grand Prix NTT sedan and super charged GTP Plus will try the Ford Explorers new V-6 engine and 5 speed automatic that DOS checks out car buying on the internet while Lisa Barrow joins Jeep owners on the Rubicon trail. 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. Or send twenty nine ninety five plus for ninety five shipping and handling to Motor Week Post

Office Box 5 5 7 4 2 Indianapolis Indiana 4 6 2 0 5. Voter from the voter week home video collection or cover the best episodes of the motor week

television series. 1 800 4 2 2 0 6 4 0 to order a catalog send a self-addressed stamped envelope to this address. Hello I'm John Day. On the next edition of motor we will test to a party X on the Grand Prix the GTI sedan and the super choice GTP along with the Ford Explorer blue overhead Camby 6 and 5 speed automatic transmission $30 gives us tips on car buying on the internet while Lisa Barrow follows Jeep orders on the contrary

oh so don't you miss the next move this week.