A New Day Dawns at Car and Driver

(Graphic originally created and posted by Jalopnik.)

Do you know this man? You will. It will be on his watch, most likely, that America's best car magazine (and once upon a time...say 1982-1985...I'd argue, America's best magazine, period) will either fade away or enter a new golden era.

I'm betting on the latter.

His name is Eddie Alterman. Never met him, never exchanged a single phone call or e-mail...but I've read his stuff over the years (MPG, Jalopnik) and he's good. Really good. He's the new editor-in-chief at Car and Driver, replacing Csaba Csere after a very long run.

It wasn't Csaba's fault, but a tremendous amount of decline occurred in the last few years. Cost-cutting as the general malaise in print hit Car and Driver resulted in some bad decisions (parting ways with the legendary Brock Yates, a highly-questionable re-design, an at least temporary dumbing down of the once brilliant writing that was a hallmark of C/D) that only accelerated the attrition of the faithful.

The June 2009 issue is Alterman's first, and while it's too early to tell much, there are some encouraging signs: The art and graphics are cleaning up, the brilliant and hilarious John Phillips has four pieces in this issue (after months where he was so low-profile that I was checking the masthead in fear that he'd been Yates'd) and Csaba himself is on-board with the first in a series on Certified Pre-Owned vehicles (apparently he no longer has access to the C/D press fleet).

But most encouraging is the tone Alterman himself sets in his introductory column. The two worst things that could have happened to this magazine would have been to hire someone with no sense of the history of Car and Driver or to hire someone who treated it like a museum...with blinders on as to where magazines (or whatever might replace magazines) are heading and a plan to get there first.

Alterman, in his late 30s, has hands-on experience with the web (which is no walk in the park...Winding Road has gone to a subscription model for its innovative .pdf edition, which rarely works for something that's been free for years, and The Truth About Cars has suggested recently that it's going to need to see some money from readers to stay afloat), but was raised by a father who read C/D religiously. Alterman not only knows who David E. Davis, Jr. is, he interned for him at Automobile. And he also knows from Leon Mandel, Don Sherman, William Jeanes and Karl Ludvigsen.

With archrivals Motor Trend and Automobile in trouble (parent company Source Interlink has filed for bankruptcy protection), Car and Driver has a unique opportunity to get very far out in front.

Go read Eddie's column online...then go down to Barnes & Noble and get one of the subscription cards out of the magazine and mail it in. A 2-year sub is 75 cents an issue (newstand price is $4.99). I'm betting you'll be renewing in 2011.

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Toyota Venza Review

I get a laugh reading some of the reviews my fellow automotive journalists post sometimes. All too often, they review the concept or idea of the car and leave me wondering if they ever actually stuck the key in the ignition and...you know...drove it.

The prevailing bad rap on the Toyota Venza is "Oh, another crossover based on the Camry."

Okay, there is the Lexus RX 350, the Highlander and even arguably the Sienna minivan. And on paper, you'd be excused for thinking they were trying to cram vehicles into paper-thin niches.

But that's not the reality for the Venza, at least not as I see it. My view says you have to put the Venza up against its competitors (Ford Edge, Chevy Traverse, Nissan Murano). Is that a segment a full-line car company can afford to ignore? No way.

So I put the key in the ignition (well, actually, the Venza uses a starter button) and drove not one...but two Venzas. A loaded ($9,000 worth of options) V6 and a nicely equipped (no leather, DVD or navigation system) 4-cylinder.

Both of them are stylish (more than a match for the Edge, Traverse and Murano), solid, spacious and comfortable.

The loaded V6 at $37,624 as tested is about as good a value as loaded V6 crossovers get these days.

But the one I liked most was the less-loaded four cylinder. Yes, it gives up 86 horsepower and 64 pounds per feet of torque to the V6...but in normal, everyday around-town driving...a mix of city streets and freeways...I didn't miss the power. The four is perfectly adequate.

And the bonuses come on the price sticker...at the bottom line ($29,949) and the EPA estimate (21 city/29 highway as opposed to 19/26 for the V6). A believable number, by the way...the much larger 4-cylinder Venza delivered exactly the same in-town mileage for me as the Nissan Rogue (which is EPA rated 21/26, so the Venza should do better on the highway. And that Rogue bottom-lined at $27,800).

Think about that for a minute...less than $30,000 and 29 miles per gallon on the highway. For something that seats five comfortably and has room for quite a bit of luggage, groceries...whatever...behind the back seat.

I'd take the four.

But if you think you have to have the six, the price tag can still be reined in. The base price of the V6 is only $2,000 more than the four. Equip it like the four I drove (skipping leather, DVD and nav) and you're in just below $32,000. Which is still a strong value.

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Scion xD Review

As small sedans go, the Scion xD strikes me mainly as okay. There are a bunch I can think of that are more fun to drive, better looking.....but the price points ($15,450 base, equipped with stability control, floor and cargo mats and a security system for $17,394) are within bounds, crash tests (four-star frontal, five star side-impact) are great for a small car, reliability appears to be a strong suit...and it's hard to argue with the EPA numbers here:

26 city/32 highway.

Sure, I know gas is half the price it was last summer. But even if it stays in the $2 per gallon range, in an uncertain economy, just how much of your money do you want going into a tank and out an exhaust pipe?

It may not be love at first sight, but over time, you could develop quite an attachment to a car with these qualities.

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Toyota Camry Hybrid Review

There are some cars that make so much sense it's difficult to discuss them. You can really get by with just mentioning their name. It becomes its own concept. Like:

Toyota Camry Hybrid.

Well, there ya go, right? A family sedan with a reputation for bulletproof reliability with a hybrid engine...making it an even bigger gas-saver. End of story.

Popping the hybrid powerplant under the hood of the Camry does wonders for the gas mileage, launching it into the upper regions of the TireKicker Top 10 Fuel Savers list (EPA says 33 city/34 highway).

What's remarkable about the Camry Hybrid is that you can buy one for Prius money (give or take $500), even though the Camry is a much bigger car...seating 5 comfortably to the Prius' 4.

The base price on the Camry Hybrid I drove for a week was $25,650, which is about $1900 higher than the base price of the Prius TireKicker tested most recently. But...loaded, that Prius bottom-lined at $30,554. and the Camry with similar options (Convenience Package, Leather Package, Navigation and upgraded JBL audio system) maxed out at $30,988...a $434 difference....though the Nissan Altima Hybrid has them both beat on price.

The decision on space versus mileage is yours to make...but the fact that $30,000 ($25,000 if you can live without leather & nav and are okay with the stock audio system) can buy you a reliable, roomy family sedan with mileage in the 30s from both Toyota and Nissan is something to applaud.

UPDATE: Just had a second week in a different Camry Hybrid sedan...and if anything, I liked it more. As time and events progress, this car makes more and more sense.

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Scion xB Review

Want to kill some time? Try to find someone with no opinion either way about the styling of the Scion xB. It's pretty much love it or hate it.

Me? I preferred the looks of the first-generation xB, but overall, the second-gen is the better vehicle to live with.

Light enough that the 158-horsepower 4-cylinder engine isn't overwhelmed, designed with room for people and their things, able to score four stars in frontal crash tests for driver and passenger (five stars for side impact) and getting 22 miles per gallon in the city and 28 on the highway, according to the EPA.

All this with a base price of $16,700. The tester I drove had only floor and cargo mats and a security system. That, with destination charges, still kept the bottom line under $18,000 (by six whole dollars).

This is a growing segment, with Kia's Soul, Nissan's Cube and Honda's veteran Element all trying to carve out a niche. The Scion strikes me as a better buy than the Element, and maybe the Cube, which gets pricey when you try to outfit it properly. But my vote goes to the Soul.

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Chrysler 300C SRT8 Review

When the bad times subside (and they will) and we're looking back at the cars from before it all went sideways, this is one we'll look back fondly upon.

It's hard to remember right now, with the streets clogged with V6 versions owned by rental car companies, but the Chrysler 300C was a game-changer, an earth-shaking revelation of an automobile just five years ago...a sign that, after years of focusing on trucks and SUVs, the great American performance sedan was back.

The 300C SRT8 is the ultimate expression of that concept. A big, brawny, well-sculpted sedan (the SRT8 has enough unique styling cues that it almost doesn't need the refresh that the rest of the line is overdue for) with a magnificent 425 horsepower 6.1 liter HEMI, rolling on 20-inch wheels.

$43,860 is the price of admission...and our recent tester added SRT Option Group I (supplemental side curtain front and rear air bags, seat-mounted side airbags, side curtain ari bags and an instrument cluster with performance display screen) for $640; SRT Option Group II (uconnect gps, Multimedia Navigation System with GPS, Sirius Traffic, uconnect phone, auto-dimming rear view mirror with microphone and an iPod interface) for $900; an upgraded audios system for $685 and Sirius Backseat TV (three channels...Disney, Nick and Cartoon Network) for $1,460.

Add $700 for the destination charge and you're at $48,245, which includes a $1,700 gas guzzler tax (because the EPA says 13 city/19 highway).

But you know what?

It's fun.

If you want one and can afford one, buy it. Drive it a little now, keep it nice...in 20 years, you'll be in possession of a true classic. This isn't the direction cars are going anymore...but that doesn't mean it wasn't worth doing or having.

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Chevrolet Tahoe LTZ 4WD Review

Timing is everything. Especially when it comes to money and demand.

So, as the economy as a whole, car sales in general and the SUV market in particular comes crashing down, it's more than a little disconcerting to walk out to the freshly-delivered Chevrolet Tahoe, reach in the glovebox, pull out the photocopied Monroney (the price sticker found in the window of all new cars) and find an as-equipped price of:

$58,635.

For a Chevy.

One that doesn't say "Corvette" on it.

Regular TireKicker readers know that I believe there is a legitimate need and place for fullsize SUVs and that the Suburban and Tahoe (really a shortened 'Burban) should be granted survivor status once the great shaekout is over and the former Starbucks-weilding soccer moms are behind the wheel of something smaller holding McCafe's. They are simply excellent vehicles of their type.

But $58,635 is crazy...even for the top of the line, which the LTZ is.

Base price for that trim line is $52,350 (almost $15,000 more than a base LS model)...and that buys you what would have been an unimaginable array of features in a Tahoe five years ago.

But GM loaded this one further...$4,790 for the "Sun, Entertainment and Destination" Package (navigation, upgraded audio system, rear seat DVD system and a sunroof); $1,095 to step up to the 6.2 liter V8 from the 5.3 liter (which drops the EPA city estimate from 14 miles per gallon to 12 and the highway figure from 20 to 19); $500 for 20" chrome clad wheels (the same size as the standard polished aluminums); and the non-negotiable $950 destination charge.

Yeah, GM figures in a $900 "package savings" for the "Sun, Entertainment and Destination" thing (otherwise, this would have bottom-lined at $59,535), but c'mon.
What we have here is a Chevy selling for just about $5,000 less than the base price of a Cadillac Escalade.

As GM lops of the heads of dealers to try to stop cannibalization within markets, they need to really consider how close Chevrolet can get to Cadillac both in terms of features and price-point.

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