2007 GMC AcadiaGeneral Motors' big crossover, a first for GMC, has a lot going for it. |
Seating: Seven standard, eight optional
Fuel mileage: 20 mpg overall with AWD
Power: 3.6-liter V6, 275 horsepower, 6-speed transmission
From the outside, it looks like a GMC SUV. Yes, it's a bit more rounded than you'd expect from an big truck. Its sides slope inward, giving it a stable, almost sporty stance.
From the driver's seat, the difference is more remarkable. The Acadia doesn't feel its size. The benefit of so-called unibody engineering, which doesn't involve the heavy frame typical of a pickup truck, is that a vehicle can ride more smoothly, get better fuel economy and handle better.
The Acadia's no sports car, but the power from its 3.6-liter V6 engine is more than adequate. In turns, it feels stable and predictable with good steering feel. Despite being big enough to get the "oversized" surcharge from a parking garage, the Acadia really does feel more like a car than a large SUV.
The New York Auto Show is known as a fashionable event with many of the debuts collecting points for style and exclusivity.
But Chevrolet decided to crash this party. It introduced three minicars that have healthy dose of fun and creativity. The Trax, Beat, and Groove are the result of a challenge from General Motors to its Korean Design Studio to imagine a future vehicle that would package individuality and expression with economy.
And the real fun starts for you today. Chevrolet has released www.vote4chevrolet.com to the world and asks for your help in deciding what it might build.
Now that is fun!
The subcompact segment heated up in a big way since the introduction of the Nissan Versa, Honda Fit, and Toyota Yaris. Those three were sent to do battle against the Chevy Aveo.
But the next frontier might be even smaller cars that provide all the comfort and security of today's modern vehicles with the style and presence of the upcoming Smart car from DaimlerChrysler in 2008. Especially when you factor in the real world threat of permanent $3.00 per gallon gas ... or higher.
That is not an exciting prospect, but helping Chevy build the right car for such a future is. And according to GM, as of 8:00 Wednesday night, almost 96,000 of you have logged in and cast your vote. And I hear the results are not showing a clear winner as of yet.
Me? I like the Beat. It best fulfills Bob Lutz's promise that "Style will lead this brand ... not the other way around."
Amid all the flashy paint in New York's Javits Convention Center is a boxy, dull blue car rotating atop a pedestal at the Volvo exhibit. It isn't new. In fact, it's the second vehicle the then young automotive group built under leader Oscar Gabrielson and Gustav Larson, a 1927 PV4. And it looks a little out of place as one of the ubiquitous auto-show "stand boys" polishes its chrome and meticulously wipes finger prints off its windows during press days.
The PV4, looking like a grandfatherly patriarch over the glossy, colorful, wheeled jelly-beans on the rest of the stand is part of a clandestine attempt by Volvo North America's to build a history for the brand in this country. It also represents the efforts of a small cadre of Volvo PR people just trying to have a little fun.
It all started in an effort to celebrate the Swedish firm's 70th anniversary in 1997, when a couple of Volvo workers found a 1958 "Suga" military off roader for sale on a Colorado used car lot. (Suga means "sow" in Swedish, which the car resembled.) Volvo bought it sight unseen and won't specify how much the company spent restoring the car before it drove on-stage at the 1999 Detroit auto show as a prelude to the company's first modern off-roader, the "CrossCountry" wagon.
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