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• GMC Acadia: Retooled for 2017 • Station wagons: European trend • NASCAR: Rivalries needed • Car Talk: Top up or top down?
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March 9, 2017
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Thursday, March 9, 2017
The Mercedes-AMG E 63 S 4Matic + T-Modell car will be shown at the Geneva Auto Show in Geneva, Switzerland that started March 7. Europe’s automakers face huge questions: the impact of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, Donald Trump’s proposed border tax on imports, the uncertain prospects for electric vehicles. Meanwhile they have to keep selling cars - in a ferociously competitive market. (DAIMLER AG VIA AP)
Station wagons power up for European market David McHugh ASSOCIATED PRESS
G
E N E VA — Fa s t , high-performance station wagons are a thing at this year’s Geneva auto show. Just please don’t call them station wagons.
Volkswagen’s Porsche, Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz and BMW AG all introduced vehicles with long, roomy rear ends — but with powerful engines that set them far apart from the stereotypical suitcase- and pet-transporters
of years gone by. Porsche’s Panamera Sport Turismo comes with up to 550 horsepower and a rear roof spoiler that automatically adjusts to reduce wind resistance at speeds above 170 kph (102 mph). (That speed is legal on many stretches of Germany’s highways.) Mercedes-Benz’s high-performance brand, AMG, has the E63 Estate; the most powerful version goes from zero to 100 kph (62 mph) in 3.5 seconds — sports-car acceleration that could easily tip over any groceries in back. BMW’s 5-Series Touring looks like a sports car from the front, with a big
grille and aggressive, low-slung air scoops. They’re usually called “estate” or “touring” models in Europe, where they remain a niche product for people who, for whatever reason, can’t bring themselves to buy a sport-utility vehicle. Chinese and U.S. car buyers aren’t much interested. The BMW Touring is not headed for the U.S. market, but the Panamera is. Prices start at 97,557 euros for the base model in Europe, and at 123,975 euros for the version with the biggest engine; and at $96,200 and $154,000 in the U.S. Daimler AG CEO Dieter Zetsche says
estates are profitable in part because the company doesn’t need to develop a whole new vehicle but can use the sedan model as a base. They “of course are a niche because it’s not a global product but it’s a successful niche with relatively little investment coming from a sedan.” And some people seem to expect that companies will turn out a wagon version, no matter what. BMW CEO Harald Krueger says devotees of the models — known as “kombis” in Germany — “are one of the most loyal customer groups.” WAGONS » 3
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WAGONS
The New Opel Insignia Sports Tourer is presented during the press day at the 87th Geneva International Motor Show in Geneva, Switzerland, March 7.
Continued from 2 Business customers often like them for the added room to store gear or goods. In the more affordable segment, Opel is showing off the estate version of its Insignia, and Hyundai has a wagon version of its i30. “Particularly in Germany, the wagon is a vehicle of choice,” Mark Adams, GM Europe vice president of design, said after climbing out of an Opel Insignia wagon. “It’s by far the most dominant body style on both this, and the Astra, in our portfolio in Germany. There are other markets where the wagon is a very small play, so you can’t actually say that wagons are dominant in Europe, but in certain markets they are — in Switzerland, here, is also another place that they are very popular.” He said that people like the sleek, lower profile but don’t want to give up the extra storage space to have it. “If you have a sporty-looking wagon, you can get the best of both worlds,” Adams said. Opel’s design team actually had a technical specification to meet for the
(MARTIAL TREZZINI/ KEYSTONE VIA AP)
Insignia wagon, he said: “The shape of the opening needed to be much squarer, to take the police dog boxes — would you believe? So this can now take these big dog boxes to make it truly functional.” A company spokesman, Martin Golka, said Opel and its Vauxhall brands sells thousands of vehicles to national
authorities each year as part of its “fleet channel,” and targets such customer requirements as space for police-dog
cages for the German state of Hesse. Jamey Keaten contributed to this report.
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Thursday, March 9, 2017
2017 GMC Acadia More technology, lower cost Ann M. Job FOR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
G
MC has given the Acadia the biggest makeover in its 10-year history, shrinking the size and the price of its best-selling SUV while
making it more fuel efficient and giving it new technology.
The 2017 Acadia’s new base engine — a 193-horsepower four-cylinder — helps give the midsize SUV its best fuel economy ratings ever, at 21 mpg in city driving and 26 mpg on highways. The Acadia’s optional V-6
engine has also been revamped and now provides more horsepower and better fuel economy ratings of 18/25 mpg as measured by the U.S. government. The top government mileage ratings for the 2016 Acadia, which came only with a 281-horsepower V-6, were 15/22 mpg. ACADIA » 5
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ACADIA
Continued from 4 Last year’s Acadia had six airbags, while the 2017 model has eight, including one that deploys between frontseat passengers to reduce injury in severe side crashes. The new model also is the first Acadia with rear-passenger alert, which reminds drivers when they turn off the vehicle to not forget children or pets who might be in the two rows of back seats. The federal government said the resized 2017 Acadia with all-wheel drive earned an overall five out of five stars in federal government crash tests. But the 2017 Acadia with front-wheel drive earned four stars overall. Perhaps most notable for car shoppers is the new starting manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $29,995. This is for a front-wheel drive, 2017 Acadia SL with four-cylinder engine and a six-speed automatic transmission. It is $1,905 less than the starting retail price for a 2016 Acadia. The lowest starting retail price for a 2017 Acadia with all-wheel drive is $34,375 for an SLE-1 model with a four-cylinder engine. The lowest-priced 2017 Acadia with the 310-horsepower V-6 is a starting MSRP, including destination charge, of $37,090 for an SLE-2 model. Every Acadia includes standard three-zone automatic climate control; keyless remote entry; push-button
start; rearview camera; Bluetooth hands-free phone connectivity; and a display screen that’s at least 7 inches in size in the middle of the dashboard. And this year’s Acadia is Android Auto and Apple CarPlay ready for the first time. The Acadia was GMC’s best-selling SUV in 2016, selling more than 88,000 units. But changes were needed to make it more competitive with popular mid-size SUVs that have three rows of seats, such as the Honda Pilot and Toyota Highlander. The 2017 Acadia is 7.2 inches shorter, 3.5 inches narrower and 6.6 inches lower than last year’s model, and it felt more maneuverable during a test drive of the top-of-the-line model, the Acadia Denali. The size reduction means the cargo space behind the third row seats has
FACT SHEET 2017 GMC Acadia Denali AWD BASE PRICE: $29,070 for SL; $32,450 for SLE-1 FWD; $34,375 for SLE-1 AWD; $35,070 for SLE-2 FWD; $37,070 for SLE-2 AWD; $38,350 for SLT-1; $41,750 for SLT-2 FWD; $43,750 for SLT-2 AWD; $45,070 for Denali FWD; $47,070 for Denali AWD. PRICE AS TESTED: $50,985. TYPE: Front-engine, all-wheel drive, six-passenger, mid-size sport utility vehicle. ENGINE: 3.6-liter, double overhead cam, direct injection V-6 with VVT. MILEAGE: 18 mpg (city), 25 mpg (highway).
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TOP SPEED: 115 mph.
been reduced by 47 percent to 12.8 cubic feet, or about the size of a car trunk. But with second- and third-row seatbacks folded flat, the 2017 Acadia provides an SUV-like 79 cubic feet of hauling space. The headroom remains the same in all but the third row, where the legroom has also been reduced, to 31.1 inches. These two rearmost seats are best suited to children. The test-driven model came with the 3.6-liter, naturally aspirated V-6
engine, which powered the 4,000-pound SUV strongly for good startups and merging into traffic. Peak torque is 271 foot-pounds at 5,000 rpm. Most of the test drive was on city and suburban streets, and it averaged just over 19 mpg for a travel range of 420 miles on a single tank of gasoline. Note that towing capacity declined from 5,200 pounds in the 2016 Acadia to 4,000 pounds in the 2017 Acadia with a V-6. The test-driven Acadia rode comfortably, with the optional-for-$1,200 variable damping chassis smoothing out bumps. The interior was quieter than expected. The center console storage area between the front seats was small, and real wood trim inside the Acadia Denali looked fake. There was one safety recall of the new Acadia for brake calipers that might leak brake fluid and reduce stopping power.
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NASCAR needs some rivalries to spice up the action “They said they were going to bring on Stewart-Haas, and we said ‘That’s great,’ because we really get some teammates, we’ve got benchmark,” said team owner Roger Penske. “For Ford, it’s terrific that we kick off the season certainly with Kurt’s win last week and the win this week for us.”
Jenna Fryer ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHARL OT TE, N.C. — Rivalries are the lifeblood of sports, and NASCAR sorely needs a few to spice up the action. The discourse among drivers has been tame for several years, in part because wives and children have seemed to mellow the competitors. They live inches away from each other in the same motorhome lot every weekend, share the playground, the basketball court and the gym. It’s kind of hard to slide a side eye at someone you share a neighborhood with 38 weekends a year. So there was much delight Sunday night when DeLana Harvick, wife of known agitator Kevin Harvick, took a swipe on social media at Austin Dillon. Mrs. Harvick was upset that Dillon seemed to lose power in the waning laps at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where his decision to stay on the track caused a race-altering caution. Because Dillon didn’t pull off, NASCAR brought out the yellow flag and the field headed to pit road for a final stop. Harvick, who had the win in control prior to Dillon’s action , was flagged for speeding on pit road and the penalty cost him a victory. Harvick had led 292 of the 325 laps — the most ever for a driver at Atlanta who did not win the race — and he finished ninth. His wife used an expletive on Twitter to express her displeasure with Dillon, and many fans rejoiced because it was the most exciting thing to come out of the second race of the season. Harvick didn’t point the finger at Dillon. After all, it’s hard to cast blame on someone when you were the one caught speeding. But that entire sequence and the volley from DeLana Harvick were the best parts of an otherwise uninspiring race. Perhaps something else would have changed the course of the event in the final minutes, but without that caution, Harvick drives to an easy win. Instead, Brad Keselowski proved his team can overcome adversity by
Viva Las Vegas
A car driven by Kevin Harvick comes out of Turn 4 during a NASCAR Monster Cup series auto race at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga., March 5. (AP PHOTO/JOHN AMIS)
AUTO RACING coming back from a pit road error to take the checkered flag. Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott again showed they will contend for victories many times this season. Atlanta officials conceded that overwhelming driver pressure has them reconsidering a planned repave to the track, and Ford with its beefed up lineup has gone 2-for-2 to start the Cup season. Those are your highlights, folks. NASCAR no longer wants to see fisticuffs from its drivers, who also have sponsors that prefer they be family-friendly brand ambassadors. But everything is built around excitement, and NASCAR needs more of it, immediately.
Larson loses
Chip Ganassi has taken the “I like winners” slogan to new heights with his social media use of the tag when talking anything from politics to team performance. The owner must be getting a little anxious about star driver Kyle Larson. Larson finished second to Keselowski on Sunday after choosing to
run the slower high line at Atlanta while leading the race in the final moments. Keselowski got by Larson on the bottom, and Larson has now been passed for the lead late in a race in the last three Cup races dating to the November season finale. The season-opener at Daytona wasn’t his fault because Larson ran out of gas. But Larson could be accused of either overthinking or being too nice. Either way, he’s got just one win in his Cup career and that’s not enough for the victory-charged Ganassi.
Built Ford tough
Ford wasn’t kidding when it said it wanted improved performance from its Cup program. The manufacturer signed Stewart-Haas Racing for this season and parlayed it into a Daytona 500 victory with Kurt Busch. The race Sunday at Atlanta was going to SHR driver Kevin Harvick until his late speeding penalty, so the win went instead to Ford driver Brad Keselowski of Team Penske. Ford, which won a total of eight Cup races last season, has two wins in two races this year.
Leading into race day, much of the talk at Atlanta was about a potential second Cup race going to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s board of directors scheduled a special meeting Wednesday to discuss a race sponsorship agreement with the track. The deal would be for $2.5 million a year for seven years with the option of extending the deal three years. Current Cup tracks are in the second year of five-year sanctioning agreements with NASCAR, but Speedway Motorsports Inc. can cut any deal it wants to move a race. It could move an event from its current collection of tracks, or could try to deal with a property outside of its portfolio. SMI owns Las Vegas, Atlanta, Bristol, Charlotte, Kentucky, Texas, New Hampshire and Sonoma. International Speedway Corp. owns 12 tracks that host Cup races, while Dover, Pocono and Indianapolis are separately owned. Las Vegas has hosted one Cup race a year since 1998, but SMI CEO Marcus Smith didn’t shy away from a potential addition. “When we see that the community is supportive of racing there, it’s definitely encouraging to us,” he said. That could be a shot at North Carolina leaders who have not given the Smith family the financial support it desires for its Charlotte properties, and the Smiths aren’t thrilled with similar setbacks in New Hampshire. NASCAR has said only that the 2018 schedule is a work in progress. “We are constantly working with promoters to discuss and develop NASCAR schedules,” said Jim Cassidy, senior vice president of racing operations. More AP auto racing: www.racing.ap.org
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Leave top up when parking convertible for a time Dear Car Talk:
I have a VW convertible that I leave garaged in Florida for eight months. Is it better to leave the top up or down when I am gone? — Frances Gee, Frances, I’m trying to figure out why you’d want to leave the top down. Maybe to keep the car aired out? So it’ll smell musty, like your garage, when you get back? The top is designed to keep things out of the car — not just rain, but dust, debris and the occasional iguana fall-
ing out of a tree. So I’d be inclined to secure the top and let it do its job. While it’s unlikely to rain in your garage, the car certainly will fill with dust. Mice, spiders, centipedes, larvae,
scorpions or lost Boy Scouts aren’t out of the question, either. Plus, we’ve seen some convertible tops get creased if they’re left down for a long time. You can always un-crease them by putting the top back up for a while, but sometimes the color changes a little bit where the roof is stretched and folded. And given that I can’t come up with any really good arguments for leaving the top down, I’d say secure the car and leave the top up, Frances. Stop the madness! You can stop driv-
ing like a knucklehead, and you’ll help your car in the process. Learn how your driving habits can harm your car in Click and Clack’s pamphlet “Ten Ways You May Be Ruining Your Car Without Even Knowing It!” Send $4.75 (check or money order) to Car Talk/Ruin, 628 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803. Got a question about cars? Write to Car Talk write to Ray in care of King Features, 628 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803, or email by visiting the Car Talk website at www.cartalk. com. (c) 2017 by Ray Magliozzi and Doug Berman Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
Peugeot 3008 named ‘Car of the Year’ at Geneva auto show The Associated Press
GENEVA — The Peugeot 3008, the French automaker’s offering for the hot mid-size SUV segment, has been named “Car of the Year” by dozens of European motoring journalists. At a glitzy awards ceremony in Geneva, Peugeot Group CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato hailed a “fantastic honor” for the recognition, saying he believed the 3008’s high-cockpit feel in a car that drives like a sedan put it over the top in the competition. JeanPhilippe Imparato, Peugeot Brand CEO, speaks next to Peugeot 3008 model after it was elected “Car of the Year 2017.” (SALVATORE DI NOLFI/ KEYSTONE VIA AP)
“(The award) will have an effect on image — this is very important for us. It shows we can do the job,” he added. “Peugeot is back.” The award presented Monday marks the unofficial kickoff for media at this year’s Geneva auto show, which is in its 87th edition. The six other finalists for the award, billed as the most prestigious of its kind, were the Alfa Romeo Giulia, which placed second in the voting, as well as the Citroen C3, Mercedes E-Class, Nissan Micra, Toyota C-HR hybrid, and Volvo S90/V90. The honor comes the same day that Peugeot parent company PSA Group
announced a $2.3 billion deal to buy GM’s Opel division. Opel’s Astra won the Car of the Year last year. “This is the day we will not forget
in our history: The same day, two announcements,” said Imparato. Alluding to the deal to buy Opel he said, “This is an alliance of winners.”
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