Real Wheels

Warren Brown
Washington Post columnist
Friday, October 19, 2007 11:00 AM

Warren Brown has covered the car industry for The Washington Post since 1982.

Brown test drives all types of cars, from luxury sedans to the newest minivans and hybrids. His On Wheels auto reviews are lively, detailed accounts of cars' good and bad qualities.

Brown's Car Culture column addresses the social, political and economic trends of the industry.

Brown comes online Fridays at 11 a.m. ET to answer your questions on every aspect of the automotive industry -- from buying your dream car to the future of the internal combustion engine.

The transcript follows below.

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Rockville, Md.: Warren:

I recently bought a four-door VW Rabbit. I love the way it drives, great handling. I was nervous buying it because of VW reliability problems. Just a little thing but already the sunglass holder will no longer stay shut. Did I make a mistake?

Warren Brown: Good morning, Rockville.

You didn't make a mistake. Volkswagen did. Go back to the dealer and gently point out that you expected better from VW. Ask for a fix. I'm posting this for VW USA execs to look at. Welcome to the Washington Metro Area, VW. Around here, we expect better...and we know how to get it. You want us as customers? Keep us happy.

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Reston, Va.: How does the Scion xD rate in your book?

Warren Brown: Good morning, Reston:

All things Scion and nearly all things Toyota, which makes Scion models, rate highly in my book. That certainly includes the 2008 Scion xD hatchback. That 1.8-liter, inline four-cylinder engine (128 hp/125 lb.-ft.) in the xD is pretty much the same as the one in my 2001 Echo, which I absolutely refuse to give up. In fact, the xD and xB ride on an updated Toyota Echo platform--one of the best small-car platforms ever made.

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Arlington, Va.: Warren:

I am in the need of a new car. I have an 8-year old BMW 328i and looking for a new 4-door sedan luxury sport car with all wheel drive. I have narrowed the search to the Mercedes C300 AWD, BMW 335xi, Audi A4 Quattro, and the Infiniti G35x.

Despite the price difference and a bigger engine of the Infiniti G35x (and hopefully cheaper when it comes to maintenance and service in the long run), would you pick the G35X over the German cars? Or is there another car worth pursuing?

Thanks so much for helping me out. I can't decide and need your input.

Warren Brown: Good morning, Arlington:

That's a really tough one, almost impossibly tough. All of the cars on your list are excellent entry-level-luxury sports sedans. The Aufi A4, I love, would take it in a heartbat and drive it anywhere. Ditto the BMW 335xi, and Infinit G35x. Hard to go wrong with any of those. It practically comes down to shopping for the best deal...except, well, I've always had a thing for Mercedes-Benz and probably always will. And the 2008 C-Class is absolutely splendid. I'd spend $36,000 or thereabouts (of your money, of course) and go with the C350 Sport with the 3.5 L, 268 hp V-6 and seven-speed shiftable transmission, although its rear-wheel-drive. With traction control, it will do quite well in our Mid-Atlantic region winters.

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D.C.: Not sure if you answer these kinds of questions, but thought I might try.

Is $400 average for a tune-up? I have a 99 VW Passat, and I need replacements for the spark plugs, the air filter, the fuel filter and I need an oil change. A mechanic also suggested I fix the valve cover gasket, which is leaking.

Of course, being a poor (female) student, I'm really worried that I'm being fleeced.

Warren Brown: Hello, D.C.:

Yes, I answer those kinds of questions, and here is my answer:

There is no average cost for a tune-up. There is no average tune-up. The term "tune-up" is nothing more than a marketing term of art that means absolutely nothing, which means unspecified "tune-ups" can cost you anything. That said, be a good student and demand, politely, that the service company define exactly what it means by "tune-up" and tell you exactly what needs to be repaired and why. If the service company can't or won't do that, find someone else who will. In fact, shop around anyway. You'll find help in that endeavor in the Washington Consumer's Checkbook published by the Center for the Study of Services, which does a good job of steering consumers to fairly priced automotive repair bays. And any service agent who even hints at sexist condescension is someone with whom you have no business doing business. Period.

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Oak Hill, Va.: Time to retire the minivan as one of the kids has a child of his own. In a couple of years we'll be retired and ready to ride.

Among Taurus, Enclave, Outlook and Vera Cruz what would be the pluses and minueses and which the best value?

Or, should we be looking at other things?

Warren Brown: Good Morning, Oak Hill:

That's an easy one. Although I rate the GM crossover trio--Saturn Outlook, GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave--as my very top picks on the crossover list, the Hyundai Vera Cruz and 2007/2008 Mitsubishi Outlander easily are the best values, with "value" here defined as getting a lot of vehicle for relatively little money.

But if you want or need more--eight seats and lots of utility and plush accommodations, the GM trio is very hard to beat. And there you also might consider the Mazda CX7 (smaller) and CX-9 (larger).

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Washington, D.C.: I'd love to have a Jeep Wrangler. I don't know why, but it's been on my mind for years. Instead, I always end up getting a reliable and boring Honda Civic. When I make the plunge, how much reliability will I be sacrificing? Any idea how easy it is to parallel park with the Jeep?

Warren Brown: Hello, Washington:

I love the Jeep Wrangler for off-road driving. If I'm going off-road, the Wrangler is the first vehicle I'd reach for. It's small, which means it can negotiate a narrow pass without coming out with body gashes at the end of the pass. It's rugged as all get-out, which means you have a better chance of getting out of some bad situations off-road.

But it's an absolutely lousy vehicle to drive on city streets where it handles poorly and offers a very bumpy ride.

If your intention is to stay on the road in the city, buy another Honda, preferably the excellently executed 2008 Accord. Affix it with a Jeep license plate.

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Arlington, Va.: Hi, Warren.

Have you driven the Ford Edge? What do you think of Ford's new Crossover?

Warren Brown: Hello, Arlington:

I like the Edge. I much prefer the Buick Enclave, which has substantially better styling (for my tastes) and more uility. But the Edge (3.5-liter, 265-hp V6/250 lb.-ft, 6spd auto trans, available front-wheel-drive/awd) is nicely done. If you neither need nor want seating for eight (the Edge seats 5), it's an excellent crossover choice. You might be wise to price winter tires against the extra cost of all-wheel-drive, which you don't really need in our relatively mild Mid-Atlantic winters.

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"... although its rear-wheel-drive. With traction control, it will do quite well in our Mid-Atlantic region winters.": Warren,

AWD is not just about winter. It's about all year round reliable traction and safety. Too many people equate AWD with 4WD, which are totally different systems.

BTW, you could recommend the Volvo Cross Country to the poster. It's a great handling car and it gets 28 mpg on the highway.

Warren Brown: I disagree that all-wheel-drive is about year round reliable traction. Here's why: Most cars with electronic stability and traction control don't really need energy-sucking all-wheel-drive for better handling or traction. The simple fact, and manufacturers admit it, is that all-wheel-drive is more about marketing than safety, an offshoot of all of the hoopla about the supposed go-anywhere ability of dedicated 4WD sport-utility vehicles. If you put the crash records of awd (as opposed to 4WD) next to those of front-wheel-drive or rear-wheel-drive vehicles with stability and traction control, you won't find any difference in favor of all-wheel-drive.

Indeed, if the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety had any inkling that awd does a better job of crash avoidance/mitigation, it would be on Capitol Hill right now lobbying to make awd standard equipment.

The facts are these: AWD does afford excellent traction, assuming that the vehicles equipped with it also have decent suspensions and darned good tires. Electronic stability and traction control do the same thing. But screw up the suspension and put on lousy tires, or leave them underinflated or overinflated, not to mention overloading the vehicle, and you are just as likely to wobble-wiggle into disaster as if you had nothing.

As for the Volvo Cross Country, let's get real: It's a nice wagon brought out at the time when SUV sales were skyrocketing and Volvo had no competitive market answer. Ditto the Subaru Outback. Now, it turns out that Subaru was quite wise not to go the big SUV route and that Volvo might have made a mistake by going with the XC90 SUV.

Here's betting that Volvo customers now will largely abandon the XC90 (Marketing dilemna here: "We call it the XC90 because crude oil now costs $90 a barrel?") in favor of the more sensible, high-utility, more efficient, beautifully done XC70 crossover utility wagon...which does have AWD standard.

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Mid-Atlantic winters...:...haven't always been this mild. Its nice to have the AWD for the snow. When we get it.

Warren Brown: It's better to have winter tires.

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Brooklyn, N.Y.: Did you read that snide little article in the NYT that called the Chevy Volt "vaporware"? Would you care to respond?

Warren Brown: Hello, Brooklyn:

It's the New York Times. What else can you expect? It's the same newspaper that brought us the thoroughly disproved nonsense that SUV's are killing more people than cars, blithely ignoring available DOT Fatality Analysis Reporting System statistics that show beyond any reasonable doubt that far more people die in single-car crashes than in SUV/car crashes, or that the reason people die in SUV rollovers is because 62 percent of them die UNBELTED. So, what can I say? It's the New York Times, the newspaper that takes Yellow Cabs seriously, that apparently believes that fetid subways are what we want when we say we want better mass transportation.

It's the newspaper with the automotive reporter, who shall remain nameless here, who wrote a book predicting "the end of Detroit." It wasn't exactly a best-seller. No wonder. I was in Detroit two weeks ago. The city was still there. I visited GM's headquarters. GM is still there--with North American sales increases in August and September and a 4-percent increase in European sales. So, I guess that reporter will have to write another book. Suggestion: She can call it "Resurrection."

And one of the reasons GM will continue to rise is because of cars such as the Volt. I'd bet the remainder of my career on that. Here's betting that I'm going to come out a lot better than she did with her book, and substantially better than what the City of New York has done with mass transit in particular or urban infrastucture in general. It's the New York Times. What can I say?

READ THE WASHINGTON POST. WE'RE SIMPLY BETTER.

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North McLean, Va.: I really want a small car, but I also want a safe car. I just test drove both the Toyota Yaris and the Nissan Versa. The Yaris is like a little rocket. And while the Versa is larger, it also seems more sluggish. Since both acceleration and size influence safety, I am torn as to which one would be a more prudent choice. Any thoughts?

Warren Brown: Hello, North McLen:

I share your Yaris-Versa performance assessment. Get the Yaris and drive prudently.

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Rockville, Md.: How is the Hyundai veracruz holding up these days? You had give it high marks, so how is it doing so far? Any known problems or concerns have arisen since the introduction of the vehicle a year or so ago? I am seriously considering the veracruzz. thanks

Warren Brown: So far so good, Rockville. I might have missed something. But I haven't seen any reports/announcements on major Vercruz recalls.

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Washington, D.C.: You say "excellent executed 2008 accord" I say "horribly boring and harking back to old Hyundai designs 2008 accord". Boy did they take a boring car and make it even more boring AND ugly. Thank god VW and some of the domestics actually put some minimal level of work in designing a vehicle.

Warren Brown: Good Bless America, a country that gives all of us donkeys an equal right to bray. When it comes to the 2008 Honda Accord, this donkey completely disagrees with you. Have you even driven the car?

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Chesapeake Beach, Md.: I agree with you that GM is bringing out some great vehicles. My Enclave is on order. HOWEVER, GM is still stumbling with what shouldn't be a problem. The Enclave still isn't available on the GM owner site, where owners can download owner manuals and get scheduled maintanence remeinders. It has been on sale for MONTHS. It should have been there BEFORE any were on dealer lots. When I called them, the rep said 'we are working on it'. It isn't rocket science, it is a couple of updates to a database for an existing application. On another note, GM showed an IPod connector that allows the car stereo to control the IPod, display song info and charge it at the SEMA show in August 2006. GM calls it the Personal Audo Link. Here it is over a year later and it still isn't available. Many other manufacturer have had similar units for some time along with the after market segment. Maybe you can make them understand that world class companies don't drop the ball on the little stuff.

Warren Brown: I agree with you, Chesapeake Bay. Hey, Mark LeNeve, please tell your folks that while we applaud GM's renewed dedication to the big stuff--substantially better vehicles--it's the little stuff that closes the deal. And you guys had better not let me down on the Volt. I'd hate like hell to have to eat crow in front of that disagreeable New York Times automotive reporter.

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Oklahoma City: Hi, Warren. Back when I bought my current car, in 2000, by impression was that Hondas tended to have hard suspensions and harder seats. Neither of those features, which enable one to "feel the road" is particularly desirable with our broken up, bumpy, and potholed pavements out here in flyover land.

So I bought a Camry, which had a softer ride and softer seats.

Has Honda softened up its ride and seats a bit in the past 7 years? Can you suggest any particular makes/models for decent-riding cars on rough roads?

Warren Brown: Hello, Oklahoma City:

That's certainly true of most sports cars built for the autobahn, but used mostly on U.S. streets and highways, most of which are generally dismal throughfares. (You think they're bad in Fly-Over USA? You haven't seen anything. Try driving in Stop-Over, leave-your-wallet-at-the-front-desk, bump-and-grind New York.)

The softer rides at Honda actually are in the company's Acura luxury division. Try the Acura RL, for example.

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Washington, D.C.: Warren -- help me find my dream car! My family includes a 6'4" father, a 6'2" husband, and an elderly mother who wears a leg brace. We end up driving my parents a lot, and they can't comfortably fit in most of the cars we've had or rented. I need a sedan (no SUV or x-overs) with spacious seating in the back seat, even when the front seat is pushed back. I'd prefer something sporty rather than a "grandma car" like the Chrysler 300, but I can't find anything. Am willing to spend more money for more space, but it seems like even the more expensive cars are still small -- e.g., we've tried out the Volvo S60 with no luck at all.

Any ideas?

Warren Brown: Yes, Washington:

Take yourself to a Mercedes-Benz dealer and get an E350 sedan, available RWD or as the AWD 4Matic.

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Warren Brown: Okay, good folks, including those of you at the New York Times. Thanks for joining me today. Please come back next week. (We're humble at the Post. We have no trouble begging for your continued patronage. We are your informational servants. We're here to please you, to listen to you, to be a part of your daily lives. In short, we at The Washington Post love you. And you'll never hear anyone at The New York Times saying those things.)

Isn't that right, Ria?

Eat lunch, lady.

(See how we care about each other at The Post. I even got a kidney transplant from a colleague through The Washington Post. Thanks ever so much, Martha McNeil Hamilton. Never would've happened at The New York Times.)

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