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NewCarSnark
v for Versatility
The v in Prius v stands for versatility. Here's the long-awaited 2012 Prius wagon. The v uses the same powertrain as the sedan, with a few improvements to Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive system. The v is all about the new wagon body that provides a 58 percent increase in cargo space.
It's 230 pounds heavier than the sedan, and loses 8 miles per gallon; the EPA rating drops to 44/40 city/highway from 51/48, on 91 octane fuel. It also loses acceleration, from 0 to 60 mph in 10.4 seconds, the sedan in 9.8 seconds.
So the new Prius v is slower and thirstier than the sedan, and at $26,400 base, it costs $3300 more. The price was just announced, less than what they said it was going to be, back in June when it was introduced. Capitalism. Ongoing rotten economy. More optimism in June.
So for $3300, what you gain is family functionality. And style, finally. The Prius sedan thing has gotten old.
The v is handsome, like a swoopy small minivan. It’s 6 inches longer than the sedan, 3.3 inches higher, and 1.1 inches wider, on the same track. Nearly as wind-slicing as they come, with a 0.29 coefficient of drag.
Power comes from the 98-horsepower 1.8-liter 4-cylinder Atkinson cycle gas engine with an 80-hp electric motor utilizing a nickel-metal hydride battery pack. Combined horsepower is 134, and combined torque 105 pound-feet. Transmission is by CVT (continuously variable transaxle), functional but boring without the capability to shift manually like others. Around town you're not aware the CVT is there.
The v handles and corners well, much like the Lexus CT200H. It’s easier to drive around town than the sedan, being nimble and having good visibility. Unfortunately the ride doesn’t match the handling. You can feel every bump, and it’s soon irritating. It seems to be a Prius thing.
Prius v offers more cargo space than three-fourths of the compact SUVs and midsize wagons on the market. There’s an optional panoramic roof for sky-watching. The front seat folds flat, like the Honda Fit or Jeep Patriot.
There's a Prius v Two, Prius v Three, and Prius v Five. Standard equipment in the Two leaves little to want in the cabin, too bad the fabric seats aren't sporty or rugged-looking. It's surprisingly buzzy in there, mostly engine noise but also road noise. Surprising because the Prius sedan is like that, and you'd think Toyota would have fixed it.
Bottom line is, glad the v is here, as a good alternative to the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Sportwagen. Two good cars, hybrid or diesel, make your choice.
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2010-09-01 11:07:38
| Welcome to the low-key debut of newcarsnark, here for now at sammoses.com.
It’s going to be real informal. It’s going to be about new cars. Plan is to make it a showcase, with photography like this:
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Among automotive journalist organizations around the country, my group, the Northwest Automotive Press Association, is the cream of the crop. In July we had our annual Run to the Sun event. Twenty-three new cars were trucked to the Tulalip Resort Casino just north of Seattle, where they were driven for two days by 23 northwest autojournos, west to Puget Sound and east into the Cascade Mountains. Rooms and meals covered by manufacturers who pay NWAPA an entry fee. Then we go home and write about the cars. It’s how the system works.
In two days we drove each car on a 20-mile leg, some legs better than others. I’ve never driven 5 cars with 500 horsepower in one day before.
Here’s a photo essay, a countdown to number one, best of show. In some cases just terse notes made in the moment. All photos credited to NWAPA. Great work by the photographer, John Vincent.
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#10 Volvo C70
I guess I should be telling stories from Run to the Sun, but a better story is when I really ran this car in the sun, on the Hana Highway all the way around the island of Maui, dirt roads and all, with its designer, a California artist and dirt-biker named John Kinsey. Talented guy. He did a brilliant job, especially with the retractable hardtop roof, the first ever in a coupe. "It’s a marvel of mechanized origami,” says my friend Sally Nemeth in her own review of the C70.
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#9 Nissan 370Z Roadster
I've got a better story of driving this car, too. More than 500 miles in one day, all two-lane blacktop. Best leg a California secret: Route 58 from Santa Margarita to McKittrick, east from the PCH. So sweet. Listen to my notes: Monday afternoon toward Soda Lake, Z just cruising at 90, long shadows with black stripes on the rolling road, mere wisps in the blue sky, weathered wood windmills barely spinning, silver water tank glistens in the sun. Now curves, climbing and dipping, 2nd and 3rd gear, engine sings like a Warbird, exhaust bounces off canyon walls. Perfection. |
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#8 Jaguar XFR
You know it’s a great day when a gorgeous silver 510-horsepower supercharged Jaguar, your favorite gentleman’s sedan, ranks only 8th for the day. A classic Jaguar story: the XF designer, Ian Callum, a Scot, likes to cruise the British Motorway in his 450-horsepower ’32 Ford, blowing the doors off cars like the Jaguar XF.
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#7 Jaguar XKR Convertible
Same car, different time. This photo was taken at the 4th of July parade in Hood River, Oregon. The theme was red-white-and-blue, USA all the way. Nobody seemed to catch the irony of a British car with stripes that looked more like a Union Jack, celebrating our declaration of independence from the UK. Like my trophy queens? Maks on the left wasn't so sure. He wanted to stay in the seat. I should have let him.
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#6 Mercedes-Benz E550 Cabriolet
Whee! The pretty girl’s straw hat stays on, thanks to that new trick screen over the windshield that deflects air over the rear seat. Calm as can be, in the back seat of this V8 ragtop at 70mph. Except the 5-layer top is no rag, that’s for sure. Mercedes more or less re-invents the convertible with this car.
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#5 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport
This one was an automatic, and GM missed it. They forgot to ask someone who actually drives to design the paddle shifters and tranny programming and info display. Still, a nice howl. Two weeks later I drove a red 6-speed in LA, and it was a whole different car. What a Corvette is supposed to be.
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#4 Ford Mustang GT
Ford nailed it with this Mustang, mainly with the brilliant new DOHC 5.0-liter engine making 412 horsepower. That’s nearly 100 more than before, and the engine is 100 pounds lighter! Great gearbox, stiffened chassis, and there’s a Brembo brakes package. You might need it. Sadly, for me, the retro instrumention blows it.
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#3 Dodge Viper
Only 550 horsepower? Felt like more. The Viper is so visceral that 90 mph feels like 190. Mind boggling. Firm suspension, sensitive brakes. Beautiful functional gauges! Give the Chrysler SRT boys gold stars. Hot-rodders that they are. Did I say that 90 feels like 190? Floored it and my briefcase did a backflip behind the seat. Really.
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#2 Cadillac CTS-V
My mixed emotions run strong. It’s a car I would own. Big ol’ hotrod Cadillac. Supercharger no less, pumping out 556 hp. Nurburgring lap record, thanks to the great John Heinricy. Great long, long legs. Why on earth do they have the rev limiter set at like 5400 rpm?! To make the Feds happy. Totally politics. Totally spoils the car. Gimme a break. NASCAR pushrod engines rev to 9800.
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| And now ... drumroll... number one, Best in Show. By a landslide. The new Mercedes SLS AMG. |
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#1 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
The new gullwing coupe is like the world’s greatest sports car, in a class of its own. Closest thing to high-speed perfection I’ve ever driven. If 90 feels like 190 in the Viper, it feels like 50 in the SLS. First car made from scratch by AMG. My lucky day, I got the best leg of all, 21 miles of great corners without much traffic. 7-speed twin-clutch transmission, sequential red shift lights at 7200 rpm, I saw them flash a dozen times. With such acceleration your eyes can’t leave the road. Zero to 60 in 3.5 seconds, top speed could be 200 if they’d let it go there. 563 hp and 479 pounds of torque from the AMG 6.2-liter V8, with only 3500 pounds to haul. Aluminum everywhere. Would you believe an 11-speaker audio system with surround sound? Now believe 200 thou.
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| And finally, we got me. This isn't the first sensational silver Mercedes I've posed with. Before the SLS AMG, there was the 300SL Roadster raced by Paul O'Shea at Watkins Glen in 1957. Red leather upholstery, chrome rollbar and all. I remember the day well. |
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Sam Moses
Previous Blogs:
Run to the Sun (Day 2) 2010-08-19 07:53:44
It's pretty hard to top the cars from Day 1. Actually, it's not possible. So we'll just swing into the Top 10 from Day 2. We drove east, into the Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest.... Read More
Sexy, Gorgeous, Passionate, Maserati 2008-06-20 06:17:07
This just in: studio shots of the 2009 Quattroporte:
The first time I’d ever heard of a Maserati was when I was a boy going to the sports car races with... Read More
Jaguar XF Leaps to the Front 2008-03-31 11:58:08
I make a promise in the intro that this blog will go places regular reviews don’t go. For example the following, which proves itself objective (assuming I didn’t make it all up), because being a personal email it’s evidence... Read More
Bueno Baja Breakdowns 2008-03-16 07:13:52
I’m living down here in my trailer in an RV Park on the Sea of Cortez in Baja for a couple more weeks, working on “Senor Madre, the Joy of Homemaking, My Life with the AngloArabAsian Brothers,” or whatever I’m finally going... Read More
Top 10 High Performance Cars 2008-03-14 13:00:47
I’m proud to admit that I’m a track-time hog. One of the reasons I’m an automotive journalist is to get on the track with the latest high-performance cars. Every minute I’m on the track makes me feel a day... Read More
Perfect Catalina Day in an 09 Forester 2008-03-13 20:21:57
I know that people don’t drive around off-road all day in their Subaru Foresters, but I gotta tell you how good the Forester is in the dirt. It’s fantastic in the dirt. How they get a suspension to work that well both on the road... Read More
Mercedes C63 AMG, a Badass Benz Totally Built by AMG 2008-03-10 07:59:56
On February 25 I flew into Phoenix from Baja, where I live in a 29-foot trailer in an RV park on the beach in winter. It had been a great six weeks, kitesurfing by day and writing by... Read More
Ferrari 333SP Prototype at Daytona 2007-01-01 18:52:51
Here's the trouble with life: You sometimes don't know whether you should do a lot of preparation or none, or whether you should listen to a lot of people or nobody. Not that the opportunity to drive a Ferrari 333S P at Daytona could ever under any... Read More
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