AutoWeek articles from August 2001

AutoWeek archives from August 2001

The Altima Waltz; Nissan finally gets a true midsize sedan contender that can really dance.(Evaluation)
August 6, 2001... The 2002 Altima could easily be the most important car Nissan has ever launched. Offering the model's first-ever V6, and a new standard four, and with more room inside than even the Maxima, the Altima will assume the most important role in...

Scene One, Take Two; Lexus takes the stage with a two-car strategy.(new ES 300)(Evaluation)
August 6, 2001... Call it automotive theater at its finest. In the most dramatic move since Toyota debuted its luxury marque to an American audience largely unaccustomed to the concept of Japanese automotive luxury, Toyota's Lexus division gets set to undertake...

A Tale of Two-Seaters; Mazda's split-personality roadster.(Mazdad Miata)(Brief Article)(Evaluation)
August 6, 2001... The two conflicting sides to the Mazda Miata's character have finally come to a head. Realize the car has always had an appeal stretching from the track-day geeks to the ``wine and cheese'' set, a single car trying to satisfy diametrical ends...

Performance lives!; GM plans to bring back the `go' with its version of a special vehicles team.(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Corvette aside, it's been some years since performance products offered by General Motors stirred the blood of the average car enthusiast. Mark Reuss, whose dad was the GM exec who saw the turbocharged 300-horsepower Buick GNX through to...

Lambo's next fighting bull.(Lamborghini L147)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Lamborghini will finally unveil the Diablo replacement at the Frankfurt show in September. Codenamed L147, the car will be named after a fighting bull, as per the company tradition started by the Miura in 1967. The two-seat mid-engined...

Yes, we have reaped the promise...(in-car electronics may be Big Brother)(Brief Article)(Editorial)
August 6, 2001... Yes, we have reaped the promise of telematics. ``Radio, On.'' Yes, the world is totally, utterly different because our cars are equipped with electronic wonders. Lost? OnStar will find you. A little automotive gastroenteritis? Plug your car...

2002 Audi S6 Avant; Mom never had it so good.(Brief Article)(Evaluation)
August 6, 2001... Audi's S6 Avant doesn't make bones about being a crossover this or sport/utility that. It's a station wagon, straight up. Even if you feel compelled to stereotype, don't count out this utilitarian mommy-mobile's rubber-burning potential. The...

Power to the PT.(DaimlerChrysler PT Cruiser)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... DaimlerChrysler is keeping its word when it comes to developing a higher-output engine for its oh-so-popular PT Cruiser. Saddled since its inception with an underpowered 150-hp, 2.4-liter four-cylinder Mitsubishi engine, it appears the...

The News: Aztek re-do done?; Maxima's minimal markup.(Pontiac Aztek, Nissan Maxima)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Aztek re-do done? Conspicuously absent from General Motors' recent media rollout of 2002 vehicles was the Pontiac Aztek, the stylistically challenged crossover from GM's ``excitement'' division. We're told a highly unusual second-year...

Letters.(Saab sold to GM)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
August 6, 2001... Kidding! Talk about a tease! I saw AutoWeek's July 23 cover and I thought, ``Great, Richard took a Dodge to Goodwood!'' Then I read through the pages and found nothing about it. Nice story about Darrell Waltrip, as far as it went, but...

Function follows function; New 7 series has so many features they had to think up new ways to cram 'em in.(Evaluation)(Statistical Data Included)
August 13, 2001... Someone asked a BMW engineer why we had to wait seven years for a new 7 Series when other luxury carmakers offer their new products every four or five years. "Because everything here is new," he said. After a full day touring BMW's technical...

Lutz's last hurrah; Former Chrysler product leader hired to salvage GM's fortunes.(General Motors Corp. hires Robert A. Lutz as vice chairman of product development)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 13, 2001... If product is king, General Motors just hired the crown prince. The three-year deal that makes Robert A. Lutz GM's vice chairman of product development is either a harbinger of a turnaround in priorities, or the desperate act of a deeply...

Financial fallout.(Championship Auto Racing Teams revenues fall)(Statistical Data Included)(Brief Article)
August 13, 2001... It's no surprise that, after another disappointing financial report July 31, Wall Street was mostly doom and gloom regarding the earning potential of Championship Auto Racing Teams. Many brokerage houses downgraded CART stock. CART's...

Works Team ; Toyota's entry into the circus known as Formula One is getting ready for its debut.(Toyota Motor Corp. developing Formula One racing team)(Statistical Data Included)
August 13, 2001... Ask Ove Andersson, president of Toyota's new Formula One team, why the manufacturer decided to jump into F1 with such commitment and you have to wait a beat for his answer. ``I think historically it's the Toyota way of doing things. Mercedes...

Mum's the Word ; NASCAR's safety investigation results are overdue.(NASCAR investigation into Dale Earnhardt's death)(Statistical Data Included)
August 13, 2001... At some unknown time at some unknown place, in a city to be named, presented by a person or persons unknown at this moment, NASCAR will issue its white paper report on the Feb. 18 death of seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt. Truth...

Ford introduces `front porch on wheels'.(Ford Motor Co.'s new electric car)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 13, 2001... Quarter-mile? 35 seconds. Top speed (observed)? 28 mph. Zero to 20 mph? Five seconds Obviously we're not talking about a brute muscle car here, but rather the quiet and nimble little electric cart for the gated-community set from Ford's...

The News.(Audi AG, Daimler-Benz AG, Alfa Romeo car models)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 13, 2001... Techno for two Twelve years is a long time to wait, but not for the fifth generation of Mercedes-Benz's SL coupe/roadster. With lineage dating back to the debut of the gullwing 300SL in 1954, the 2003 SL meets considerable expectations...

The News.(General Motors Corp. hires Bob Lutz for product design, to work on the Catera from Cadillac Motor Car Div.)(Brief Article)
August 13, 2001... If you were one of those people waiting for the other shoe to drop following the introduction of the Cadillac CTS (Cover Story, page 18), you can stop waiting. When the General hired product ace Bob Lutz (Headliner, page 5), the giant...

Of madmen and their machines; Cadillac forges its CTS where angels fear to tread.(Evaluation)(Statistical Data Included)
August 13, 2001... The Cadillac CTS strikes a powerful pose. One look tells you this is not your usual Euro-wannabe, not another ubiquitous 3 Series challenger that falls flat simply by declaring its ambition to BMW-ness. Instead, the CTS flaunts its...

Car Board.(evaluations of Audi S4, Honda S2000, BMW M Roadster)(Brief Article)
August 13, 2001... Speed: Your physics teacher will tell you it's the ratio of distance traveled over time, or something like that. Having lots of it is fun, but sometimes the sensation is enough. Audi S4 Price: $41,325 Engine: 2.7-liter V6, 250 hp,...

2002 Audi A6; Continuously better.(Statistical Data Included)(Evaluation)
August 13, 2001... While the Audi A6 line has been updated with new front and rear fascias for the 2002 model year, the biggest change in what Audi North America's marketing chief Marc Trahan described as the marque's ``center of gravity'' is beneath the hood....

Racing heaven; An enthusiast's country club.(Virginia International Raceway)(Brief Article)
August 13, 2001... The Dodgers are often recognized as the class organization of professional baseball. If so, that's where the management of Virginia International Raceway (VIR) must have studied facility operation. Reopened in March, the 3.27-mile road course...

Survival of the Fastest.(Aston Martin Vanquish)
August 20, 2001... You will soon hear near interminable blathering about the stupendous Aston Martin Vanquish. So often will you see its performance figures that retelling them will become second nature: Standstill to 60 is officially 5.0 seconds, but we bet it's...

Audi TT.(Brief Article)
August 20, 2001... Our long-term Audi TT roadster has so far been trouble-free, and the cooperating weather makes for terrific top-down motoring. Indeed, the logbook is full of fun-in-the-sun praise. This entry pretty much sums up our experience so far: ``Do not...

White-Hot; SVT's Lightning bolts with more power.(Ford)(Brief Article)
August 20, 2001... How do you improve the hottest sport truck on the market? Give it more power, of course. Not that the Ford Special Vehicle Team's F-150 Lightning needed any more. Last year it pumped out 360 hp and 440 lb-ft of torque from its supercharged...

Not for U.S. sale; Ferrari makes its case to block imports of gray market 360s and 550s.(Brief Article)
August 20, 2001... What makes a foreign Ferrari different from a U.S. model? It depends on whom you ask. Importers of so-called gray market Ferraris say the expensive supercars today are ``world cars'' built for a global marketplace. They say a Ferrari...

Good things come in threes for PAG.(Premier Automotive Group)(Brief Article)
August 20, 2001... Not everyone is shopping for a high-end sports car, a luxury sedan and an exclusive sport/utility vehicle. But for those who are, the tire-kicking just got easier courtesy of a new consortium within Ford's Premier Automotive Group that combines...

NASCAR safety.
August 20, 2001... Winston Cup champion Dale Jarrett became the first driver to speak out at length on the issues involved in NASCAR's investigation into the fatal accident of seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt. The 1999 Winston Cup champion said he believes...

Eight for 911?(Porsche)(Brief Article)
August 20, 2001... Designated 997, the next-generation Porsche 911 is well on its way to a 2004 introduction as engineers are busy putting it through its paces in hot-weather desert testing. The new car has flared wheel arches and doorsill extensions, which...

FACTS.(Ford Special Vehicle Team)(Brief Article)
August 20, 2001... MANUFACTURER'S DATA Ford Special Vehicle Team P.O. Box 490 Dearborn MI 48121 Customer assistance: (800) 367-3788 Internet address: www.svt.ford.com Country of origin: United States Number of dealers:...

The Car: 1928 Studebaker Commander Roadster ; Commanding attention.(a history)(Brief Article)
August 27, 2001... The year 1927 was a special time for Studebaker. It was the company's Diamond Jubilee and Studebaker cars set records climbing Pikes Peak in Colorado and traveling from New York to San Francisco. In the 1920s, endurance tests of cars were big...

Visiting the heart of Studedom; The Studebaker National Museum.(South Bend, Indiana)(Brief Article)
August 27, 2001... When Studebaker was in business it sprinkled its large collection of historic cars throughout the halls and niches of its vast administration building in South Bend, Indiana. In the early 1960s, as the company downsized, the build-ing and its...

Quantifying Camryness; Toyota uses it to take on all comers in the midsize sedan wars.(Toyota Motor Corp.)(Evaluation)
August 27, 2001... Relax, midsize sedan buyers, your Camry is safe. True, this fifth-generation is almost all-new, with a new four-cylinder engine, new transmissions, a genuinely fun-to-drive SE model and a host of other improvements. But Toyota didn't change...

Like a Honda; Mitsubishi's Lancer ES sneaks a peek at competitors' playbooks.(Mitsubishi Motors Corp.)(Brief Article)(Evaluation)
August 27, 2001... Mitsubishi's 2002 Lancer ES screeches around a hairpin en route to a midmorning coffee stop and the passenger remarks, ``That's about as much fun as you can have in a front-wheel-drive car.'' That's exactly the kind of response Mitsubishi...

Car Board.(reviews of three small cars and Volkswagen minivan)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 27, 2001... Even if you can afford your dream car, it's all about getting your money's worth. Here are some cars that pack a lot of punch for a little price. * Hyundai ELANTRA GT Price: $14,572 Engine: 2.0-liter I4, 140 hp, 133 lb-ft ...

Late Racing News.(Brief Article)
August 27, 2001... Menard fires Ray Team Menard fired driver Greg Ray, replacing him with promising newcomer Jaques Lazier. Ray won five races, 13 poles and the 1999 Indy Racing League title for Menard. At his firing Ray was 13th in points with only one...

Television Rating ; The peaks and valleys of CART's new package.(Statistical Data Included)
August 27, 2001... Last winter, CEO Joseph Heitzler stepped onto the bridge of the good ship CART largely on the strength of his television credentials. Heitzler had spent much of his career in the TV business. CART's directors noted that, with a new television...

The News.(various automotive news items)(Brief Article)
August 27, 2001... Crossfire gets its shot Chrysler's boat-tail Crossfire that debuted as a concept car at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January (AW, Jan. 22) will become a production car, according to Wolfgang Bernhard, chief...

The Race Report: Motorola 220.(results)(Brief Article)
August 27, 2001... More than strange, Road America's Motorola 220 was downright bizarre. CART fans will be sorting through this one until next season begins. Rookie Bruno Junqueira won, even as teammate Memo Gidley was getting precautionary X-rays after horrific...

Dodge Breaks Through ; Marlin claims first Chrysler victory in 24 years.
August 27, 2001... The Dodge Winston Cup program landed its first win in the rain-shortened Pepsi 400 at Michigan, courtesy of Sterling Marlin, whose performances have led the charge for Dodge since it officially returned to NASCAR this season after an absence of...

Competition This Week: August 27, 2001.(auto race results)(Brief Article)
August 27, 2001... In dominating the Formula One race in Hungary, Michael Schumacher won the 2001 world championship. Schumacher did it with four races to spare, and also matched Alain Prost's record of 51 F1 victories. Chip Ganassi dominated the news in U.S....

Super showing.(General Motors )(Super Sports Roadster )(Brief Article)
August 27, 2001... Super showing If you liked Chevrolet's SSR concept, take heart. The ``production prototype'' Super Sports Roadster that General Motors president and CEO Rick Wagoner rolled out at Detroit's Woodward Dream Cruise doesn't stray much from the...

2002 Volkswagen Passat W8: A New W in VW; Once north of 3000 revs, there is no mistaking that there's something potent beneath the hood.(Evaluation)
August 27, 2001... Anyone who wandered into the European launch of Volkswagen's Passat W8 might have thought he had stumbled into a technical briefing about the autobahn. VW officials kept talking about it as a ``bridge,'' this Passat that features the company's...