Driving Passion: Is It Gone?

The great American road trip. One of the staples of American culture. Families, boyfriends and girlfriends, groups of random people piling into a car to take a road trip just for the heck of it. Driving the open road offers a feeling like nothing else on this Earth. With the advent of the car at the birth of the last century, people felt a freedom they never had before. They could easily travel from town to town, bringing far-flung families closer together and leading to the flood of people to the western states of this nation.

And yet while for the past 100 years or so people have cruised without a care, the popular pastime of taking a drive is becoming more and more scarce. And it’s not just because of the environment. While people are more careful about their driving because of the price of gas these days, people has lost the love of cars that inspired generations before us.

Cars are becoming just another appliance to the vast majority of the population. This can to some extent be attributed to the cars that are on the market today. When you drive the street of your town, the majority of cars you see are family sedans, the most boring of all cars on the market. Sure they’re economical and space efficient but they offer little in the way of driving excitement.

Us car enthusiasts must remind the population how fun cars can be. We can't let a lack of oil force us to drive boring economy cars. Just because we may have to drive vehicles powered by electricity does not mean they have to be slow or uninspiring. The new Tesla Roadster proves it. Sure, its not cheap, but its design proves that as new technology comes along, it can be made interesting to drive while not impacting the environment at all.

It is clear to me that despite the rising fuel costs, people must embrace the freedom the automobile has provided to us, and access to the outside world. We have never given it the credit it deserves. Just ask these guys who drove cross-country just for the fun of it.

So, do your car a favor and once in a while stretch its legs; let it show you its true potential and if you aren't convinced, then maybe there is something to that mass transit thing.

The Virtual Car

While the predictions of flying cars and colonies on the moon have not quite come true, the cars we drive are becoming more technologically full than we know. While climate control systems and electronic safety systems are becoming ubiquitous on today’s new cars, what many don't realize is the extent to which computers are involved in designing their car before it even hits the roads.

This year, as the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan was unveiled at the Geneva Auto Salon, industry members have been flocking to Sindelfingen, the location of the Mercedes-Benz Engineering center. While Mercedes-Benz ran C-Class prototypes through an unprecedented amount of on-road testing (15 million miles), M-B had full running models long before rubber touched the road, thanks to one of the most sophisticated computer simulators around today.

In 1989, in one of the first computer simulations used for crash testing, contained 25,000 data points in total. For the new C, the computer model drew from 1.9 million points, for just the structural model. The exterior used more than 30 million points used for aerodynamic testing. In all, the W204 model C-Class used over 2130 gigabytes of data to produce a fully-functional virtual model that they ran over local roads using data pulled from a laser-scanner that ran over the roads, analyzed its surface, and downloaded that data to the simulator.

This ability to create a car without screwing anything together meant a lot less time adjusting the frame and chassis to meet crash-test regulations and more time to focus on the smaller things to make for a better compromise between sporty driving and smooth ride. Computers also help to speed up the design time of a new car, spending less time making the prototypes and more time fine-tuning these German vehicles.

Those who were invited to view this revolutionary system of car development were treated to a "ride" in a new C-Class before they were available to be test-driven. Using the vast amount of data collected, Mercedes engineers were able to create a huge simulator cabin that, thanks to precise hydraulics, could mimic the ride quality of the car on a variety of road surfaces.

Even though we aren't flying around George Jetson style, our cars are obviously becoming more computer based, both in design and execution. These computer models are speeding up the design intervals making newer models available sooner. We can only hope these massive computers can be put to use coming up with new ways to sustain our automotive passion.

Mileage May Vary

In these times of growing issues of oil availability and environmental damage, it's almost too much for some people to hear that starting with the 2008 model years cars, our fuel mileage will be dropping...significantly.

Over the last decade or so, it has come to light that the procedures used by the EPA to test the fuel mileage we see on the window stickers are drastically inaccurate. They have drivers on the highway cycle driving an average of less than 50mph in a day where people are pushed out of the fast lane doing 80. In the city cycle, cars are driven at an average of around 20mph and are not subjected to A/C use or other accessories that drive fuel consumption up considerably.

In order to remedy this situation, the EPA has decided to, instead of completely changing their processes, add to their list of tests including ones that take into account the faster speeds, harder acceleration and varying weather conditions that we all drive in each year. Also, some tests will be conducted with the air conditioning on to test how much fuel such accessories consume. In the end, an average will be collected from all that and be slapped on the side of your new car.

This change is sure to create an uproar within environmental communities who will claim that the automakers have been lying to us all along. And other changes will have to be made to other government fuel consumption committees to revise their standards so as not to invalidate all the work that has been put into more fuel-efficient vehicles. We must realize that these new tests are not saying that the cars we drive are less efficient then they have been. You will get the same range you have since you got your car. The EPA has just found more accurate ways to test cars so we have a better idea of the gas we are using.

If you would like more information on the new testing procedures along with a calculator to determine the mileage of your current car, go to www.fueleconomy.gov and click on New MPG Ratings.

The Electric Car May Still Have Some Life In It

In the last year, there has been a lot of hype about the loss of the electric car, which many feel is the future of the automobile. People have become so perturbed on the subject that a documentary was produced pointing the finger at the US government and automakers for impeding the progress of the electric car. But, in recent months, it has been proven those fears were unfounded.

Most of us, whether or not we're car nuts, have heard about the incredible new Tesla Roadster. A small company with a small facility has produced one of the biggest deals in the auto industry of late. Its facility in Silicon Valley, California is producing, slowly, the fastest, most powerful, and best looking fully electric car since, well forever. It technically won't be on the road until next summer but the first 100 have already been sold as special edition models for $100,000 each. It is expected that as more of them are produced, the price will creep down but it will still be out of reach for the average person. The primary reason for the high price is the thousands of tiny Lithium-Ion battery cells that power this piece of machinery. While widely used in items such as power tools, the need to cool the cells as well as package them all pose a pricey task to overcome. It is expected though, if electric cars were to ever really gain ground, the technology would drop in price dramatically. But Tesla isn't stopping at a 4sec to 60mph coupe. It is rumored that he is planning a performance sedan codenamed Whitestar, which would be more attractive to a successful businessman for example.

But there's more. There has been a large call from the environmental crowd to take greater advantage of the technology in the Toyota Prius. Ford just recently unveiled a plug-in Hybrid version of the Edge crossover. And it seems that people are warming to the idea of utilizing the batteries in their hybrids more effectively. Toyota, Ford, GM (just to mention a few) have all released statements to the point that they are either in the process of creating or are ready to debut plug-in hybrid models.

To that extent, even the most promising source of power for our future cars looks to be electricity (if not directly). Hydrogen has been hogging much of the media attention as of late but in the end, electricity is what will drive these cars. The hydrogen will act as a source to create electricity to power these "cars of tomorrow" (or at least next decade). Despite what many of the critics of the US auto industry say, it is clear the proponents of an electricity-powered future still have hope.


Also, I would like to add a note for people to visit our home site, www.wheelstv.net where you can find automotive video of every kind from hot rods to the newest models including footage from the floor of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit coming soon. If you have any suggestions for us or content you would like to see on the site or on this blog, please let us know. We love your feedback!

RWD Renissance

So many of today's baby boomers can only shake their heads and laugh at the state of the everyday passenger car today. Back in the '60s, the streets were crowded with huge sedans the size of boats with engines usually reserved for sports cars. But the thing that really made them unique was their rear-wheel drive. But when the oil crisis hit in 1973, auto companies were no longer allowed to produce these behemoths because of their size and gas-guzzling engines. It was realized that the front engine, front-wheel drive layout was much more efficient. Today, the vast majority of sedans are sedately pulled along by their two front wheels not making any attempt to seem particularly sporty. But that is changing...slowly.

Many sport-inclined auto makers are finally realizing that to reveal their designs' full potential, they must use a RWD platform. In truth, it is all simple physics. With the drive wheels at the back, the rearward lean felt when accelerating lays more mass on top of the driving wheels, allowing for better traction and therefore better performance. Also, when turning, a RWD layout allows each set of wheels to focus on doing only one thing. The front wheels turn while the rear wheels drive. In front-wheel drive cars, the front wheels must handle the engine's force as well as turning which makes each operation less efficient. In effect, RWD=better performance in all areas.

Among the automakers who are getting the point is GM. The company that used to be the epitome of the cool Saturday night cruise is now known primarily for it's boring family sedans and rugged trucks. Fortunately, they are digging way back in their past (and looking west to Australia) to help guide them. It has been confirmed that GM is making headway. The new Impala scheduled for a 2009 release is going to move to a RWD platform currently used in the just-released Holden Monaro. And from what we've read, it looks to be a winner. Beyond that, there have been rumors that GM plans on making the entire Pontiac line RWD, to fit with that maker's so called "sporty" image. With the introduction of the Solstice as well as confirmed rumors about a RWD G6, GM seems to be holding to their word.

But GM isn't the only one. Many different makes have refocused their lineup to include RWD models. In fact, some, like Infiniti, have moved their entire line onto a RWD/AWD platform. Dodge too has revived the great American sedan with models such as the Magnum and the Charger.

So to those of you who have been living in the automotive past, rejoice at the fact that your great RWD cars are returning in droves, in all shapes and forms to satisfy your automotive passion.