On the Move 10-10-11

Monday, October 10, 2011

For Advertising Information Contact Your Local Cars.Com On-The-Move Sales Team at 599-2329

US auto sales up in September on big trucks

By Dee-Ann Durbin and Tom Krisher The Associated Press

DETROIT — U.S. buyers shrugged off economic worries and snapped up SUVs and pickups last month, surprising the auto industry and raising hopes that a bumpy year will end on a high note.

Big trucks typically sell when the housing market and construction industry are strong, gas prices are low and consumer confidence is high. None of those was true in September. The economy remains weak, confi-

dence is shaky and a gallon of gas prices cost nearly $1 per more than in September 2010.

But other factors boosted truck sales. Small businesses must eventually replace aging fleets of work trucks, and auto companies offered some good deals to clear out 2011 model trucks. They also stepped up their marketing.

And consumers are learning to live with economic uncertainty.

“We see consumers being more comfortable with buying cars in a continuously volatile environment,” said Jesse Toprak, vice presi-

dent of industry trends and insights for the car pricing site TrueCar.com. “Traditionally, they would have postponed making the purchase decision.”

U.S. vehicle sales rose 10 percent from last September, according to Autodata Corp.

September saw the fastest sales pace since April, and automakers expect that pace to stay steady for the rest of this year.

Nearly 54 percent of vehicles sold were trucks and SUVs, the highest percentage this year. That’s good news for automakers, which make much bigger profits

on trucks and SUVs. Truck sales at General Motors Co., Chrysler Group LLC and Ford Motor Co. grew in the double digits, outpacing cars.

Even Honda Motor Co., which normally gets the bulk of its sales from cars, sold 3,000 more trucks than cars.

A shortage of cars is another reason truck and SUV sales were strong. Analysts had expected more Japanese cars to fill showrooms after months of shortages related to March’s earthquake and tsunami.

But Honda and Toyota conSee TRUCKS, Page 2

Matt York/associated Press files

In this March 29 file photo, a row of 2011 Ford F-150 trucks is shown at a dealership in Gilbert, Ariz. Ford Motor Co. and other vehicle manufacturers saw a 10 percent increase in sales over last September thanks to strong sales of SUVs and pickups.

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Page 2 / Monday, October 10, 2011

Tallahassee Democrat / OnTheMOve

2012 Toyota Camry offers subdued exhilaration

By David Undercoffler Los Angeles Times

Say you wake up tomorrow and decide you want to learn to play tennis. Maybe you like Serena Williams’ method of anger management, or perhaps it’s Novak Djokovic’s backhand you’re after.

It’s likely you’d head to your local athletically inclined bigbox store and pick out the Toyota Camry of tennis rackets: something from a well-known brand that is reliably middling; it is free of drama, superfluity or excess cost; one that will simply get the job done.

This 2012 Camry is no different. Starting at $22,755 when it rolls into dealerships next month, it is an apparatus, a means to an end.

Toyota Motor Corp.’s midsize sedan has served this purpose conscientiously for years, and Americans have rewarded it with corresponding success at the dealership.

Since 1997, more Camrys have been sold each year than any other car in the United States, with the exception of 2001.

The most notable changes for 2012 are the Camry’s looks. The car wears all-new sheet metal while maintaining the identical length, width and wheelbase of the previous model. The new look is evolutionary, with added creases

Trucks From Page 1

tinued to struggle with product shortages. Toyota’s September sales were down 17.5 percent, while Honda’s fell 8 percent.

Truckloads of new Honda vehicles arrived at dealerships last week, and Toyota Motor Corp.’s new Camry sedan recently went on sale, but they were too late in both cases to give September totals a significant boost.

Bob Carter, Toyota’s U.S. sales chief, said October

and angles replacing softer lines throughout the car. It’s a good look and will enable the new Camry to handsomely blend in at mall parking lots nationwide.

The new aesthetics continue inside the car as well. The design of the dashboard and instrument panel is cleaner and simpler, and a layered crease accented by contrast stitching breaks up the dash in front of the passenger. Most surfaces are covered in pleasing, soft-touch materials.

If the buttons to control the radio and optional navigation system seem large enough for your glaucoma-afflicted great aunt to see from the back seat, it’s because Toyota caught a lot of flak for how small the same buttons were on the previous Camry. At least they’re clearly labeled and easy to use.

Overall, the space wizards at Toyota managed to wring out an interior that is marginally bigger than before, despite the car’s footprint remaining the same. Rear legroom and interior space are among the most in the class, and a quintet of 6-foot-plus people can ride comfortably.

Although most spatial concerns are nicely addressed, the quality of the Camry’s features leaves something to be desired, especially when cast in the light of what oth-

ers are offering.

The navigation screen on the preproduction XLE model I tested was smaller than it was in the previous Camry and one of the smallest in the segment. This creates a cramped screen with less usable information, a flaw exacerbated by the cheaplooking user-interface.

And I was a little disappointed at the quality of the interior. Everything looked good and precisely assembled, but if you elbowed a door panel or prodded the plastic pieces in the lower part of the dashboard, they seemed flimsy and cut-rate.

Finally, although the trunk grows slightly, its overall

should be a turning point.

With all of its plants now running, the automaker expects its Toyota division to post its first year-over-year sales increase since April and it expects to post sales increases through the fourth quarter and beyond.

Many buyers were replacing trucks in September because they had to. The average truck on the road is now around 10.1 years old, according to R.L. Polk and Associates.

“A commercial owner cannot afford to have their vehicle out of service,” said Don Johnson, GM’s vice president

of U.S. sales.

Promotions also helped.

GM was offering zero-percent financing for 60 months and $1,000 cash on the 2011 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 pickup. But Edmunds.com said incentive spending was only up 3 percent from August, to an average of $2,453 per vehicle, and was actually down from last September.

Paul Ballew, a former GM chief economist who now works for Nationwide Insurance, said deals will probably get more generous in the last part of this year. Japanese automakers will have

capacity still lags behind most competitors. Also unfortunate is the surprisingly small pass-through space when you fold down the Camry’s rear seats.

Driving the new Camry isn’t as overwhelmingly boring as you’d expect. The base engine pulls 178 horsepower and 170 pound-feet of torque out of a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine with a hearty degree of pep and enthusiasm.

This engine is paired with a six-speed automatic transmission with manual shifting and sport mode. The Environmental Protection Agency rates the combination at 25 miles per gallon in the city and 35 mpg on the highway. Over 240

miles of testing, I averaged 25 mpg. No zero-to-60 times were available from Toyota, but Car and Driver magazine estimated the four-cylinder would do it in 8.8 seconds.

My biggest complaint about the handling lies with the Camry’s steering. I’m not expecting Porsche precision here, but to pilot the Camry is like driving while wearing a pair of Novocain mittens.

More feedback, please.

The four-cylinder Camry comes in four variants: the base L, the LE, the sporty SE and the XLE. The $29,380 XLE I tested included the navigation system, a JBL sound system with 10 speakers and iPod connectivity, backup camera, leather seats, heated front seats and alloy wheels.

Buyers looking for more power can consider the 248-horsepower V-6, which starts at $27,400, while greenminded Camry buyers should consider the new hybrid Camry.

This hybrid sees the biggest powertrain change from the previous version of any of the new Camrys, as it now has a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine paired with a 105-kilowatt electric motor for a total power output of 200 horsepower.

The hybrid’s strong suit is its power and complete lack of

anemia that can plague other hybrids. The system also transitions seamlessly from electric power to gas power or a combination of both, without the trademark shudder or lag.

Only when I tapped the hyperactive brakes was I reminded that this was a hybrid.

Also new for the hybrid is its lower price point; the LE version that I drove starts at around $26,660. The car is rated by the EPA as currently the most efficient in this segment, at 43 mpg in the city and 39 on the highway. My 75-mile weekend with it saw an average of 34 mpg. The slightly heavier hybrid XLE gets 40 mpg in the city and 38 on the highway.

All Camrys come with safety features including 10 air bags, traction control, antilock brakes and a tire-pressure monitoring system. And, as with previous Camrys, this one is American-made, with plants in Kentucky and Indiana doing the labor.

C a m r y fa it h fu l w i l l undoubtedly salute the improved efficiency and aesthetics that add to the car’s ethos, and probably will reward it with continued success at the dealership. The trouble is, Toyota’s dedication to the conventional may mean a methodical yet more daring competitor may one day steal that sales crown.

to offer rebates and other incentives to get back market share lost to GM, Hyundai Motor Co. and other competitors. Detroit automakers will probably offer discounts on trucks because of high inventories, he said.

“It’ll probably be a pretty good time to buy a vehicle,” he said. “Consumers have proved they will respond selectively when prodded.”

Automakers don’t expect the pace of sales to slow for the rest of the year. GM stuck with its forecast for full-year sales of around 12.8 million cars and trucks, which would be up 10 per-

cent from last year.

But some analysts say September’s boost will be short-lived because economic worries could still dampen sales. Edmunds.com last week reduced its full-year sales forecast from 12.9 million vehicles to 12.6 million vehicles.

GM’s September sales rose 20 percent, led by a 34 percent rise in sales of full-size pickups and SUVs. Chrysler’s sales rose 27 percent, while Ford’s were up 9 percent.

Other automakers reporting sales Monday included: n Nissan Motor Co., with sales up almost 29 percent.

The company’s cars led the way with sales of the Altima midsize sedan, Sentra compact, Versa subcompact and Maxima large sedan up a combined 32 percent for the month. n Hyundai Motor Co., which said sales rose 12 percent. Sales of the Elantra small car rose 43 percent, while sales of the Santa Fe crossover rose 67 percent. n Volkswagen AG, with sales up 37 percent on the strength of the new Jetta and Passat sedans.

ToyoTa/MCT

The design of the dashboard and instrument panel is cleaner and simpler, and a layered crease accented by contrast stitching breaks up the dash in front of the passenger.

— AP Auto Writer Bree Fowler contributed from New York.

Monday, October 10, 2011 / Page 3

OnTheMOve / Tallahassee Democrat

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Page 4 / Monday, October 10, 2011

Tallahassee Democrat / OnTheMOve

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Page 6 / Monday, October 10, 2011

Tallahassee Democrat / OnTheMOve

Regal Turbo shatters Buick preconceptions

By Larry Printz The Virginian-Pilot

Are you brave enough to try the 2011 Buick Regal Turbo?

What most people don’t understand is that after decades of producing floatyboat, bench-seat, chromeencrusted chariots, Buick has changed.

This new Regal is built in Russelsheim, Germany, by Opel. There, modern Buick styling cues are hung on the Opel Insignia, which European auto journalists named the 2010 European Car of the Year.

Under the hood, you’ll find a turbocharged 2.0-liter four that produces 220 horsepower, mated to a six-speed manual transmission or automatic transmission.

Coming in the fall: the Regal GS with a 270-hp four- and all-wheel drive.

Non-turbo Regals get a 182-horsepower 2.4-liter four-banger.

The 2.0-liter turbo is the engine to choose in the Regal, offering strong acceleration under all conditions. Turbo lag — a delay in engine response before the turbo kicks in — is minimal. Without the turbo, the Regal’s acceleration is merely adequate and not what you might expect in this class.

Still, little will prepare

detaiLS

2011 BUiCK ReGaL tURBO

By Jerry Hirsch

engine: Turbocharged DOHC 2.0-liter four-cylinder Wheelbase: 107.8 inches Length: 190.2 inches Weight: 3,600 pounds Cargo space: 14.25 cubic feet ePa rating (city/highway): 18/28 mpg Fuel consumption: 24.5 mpg Fuel type: Premium recommended but not required Base price: $28,745 as tested: $35,185 What we say: The best Buick Opel builds.

Pro: Unexpectedly European Con: Tight rear seat.

— The Virginian-Pilot

the Buick-averse for how well this midsize sedan handles. It isn’t watered down for American tastes. There’s a decidedly firm ride that retains a bit of suppleness.

The Regal’s agility allows you to tackle corners confidently. There’s excellent road feel and very strong braking.

This Regal had a “Interactive Drive Control System.”

Its three modes effectively change the response and feel

GM reverses course on how it will handle OnStar data Los Angeles Times

GM/MCT

Under the hood of the 2011 Buick Regal Turbo, you’ll find a turbocharged 2.0-liter four that produces 220 hp, mated to a six-speed manual transmission or automatic transmission.

of the steering, suspension, throttle, transmission and stability control. Nice.

The cabin itself is even more impressive, with a large center console that uses a rotary knob to control many functions. The gauges use an ice-blue lighting that nicely accompanies the all-black interior. Controls are fairly intuitive, especially if you’re used to European cars.

Other niceties include various plugs, including a USB port and an outlet that allows you to hook up your iPod and control it via the audio system.

Fit and finish is very good. GM used lots of soft touch materials and exposed stitching to give this ride an upscale feel and appearance.

Despite a short seat cushion, the Regal front seats

provided good support, although they are very firm.

Rear seats are best meant for two. Head and leg room seem tight. The cabin was very quiet when the engine wasn’t in full battle cry.

Bottom line: Driving a Buick Regal no longer means your chest was swallowed by your Sansabelts.

The question remains: Are you brave enough to try one?

LOS ANGELES — General Motors Co. is changing course on how it will handle customers of its OnStar vehicle communication system once they opt out of the service.

The automaker said it will change its proposed “Terms and Conditions” policy and will not keep a data connection to customers’ vehicles after the OnStar service is canceled.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said that OnStar’s policy represented an invasion of privacy and he threatened a federal investigation.

“OnStar’s reversal of policy is good news. Consumer tracking, whether across town or across the Internet, should always be an opt-in.

OnStar is setting an example that others should follow,” said Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive of auto information company Edmunds.com.

GM recently sent its OnStar customers emails that said as of Dec. 1, their service would change so that data from a customer vehicle would continue to be transmitted even after the service was canceled. Customers could sever the connection only if they actively asked for the link to be terminated.

VW Beetle battery dies, comes back to life: Time for a new one?

By Steven Cole Smith The Orlando Sentinel

Question: A few weekends ago the battery in my 2002 Volkswagen New Beetle died — the car wasn’t turning over and the battery light came on.

I took the car to a major chain store to have the battery checked and was told it was fine, it just needed to be recharged. I

went to a large auto parts store and they checked the battery and said it needed to be replaced.

The auto parts store recharged the battery (since they did not have it in stock) and the car has been running fine ever since.

The cost to replace the battery at VW is almost $200, so my question is: How long does this

Under the Hood recharge last, or am I better off replacing the battery?

Answer: You didn’t mention how old the battery is. If it is four or five years old, it’s probably time. Otherwise, figure out why the battery went dead in the first place.

Could you have left a

light on, even inside the car, overnight? Had there been a failure in the car’s charging system? (You probably would have seen a warning light while you were driving.)

If it has been holding a charge for several weeks, though, it certainly suggests the charging system is working now. Which brings us back to the original premise: If the bat-

tery is getting old, consider replacing it. If it isn’t, I’d keep driving, but toss a set of jumper cables in back just in case.

Q: In a recent column you heard from a lady who was concerned about brake dust on the wheels of the used BMW she had just bought. I had that problem and ceramic brakes pads have cut the dust by at least half.

A: You and multiple other readers pointed that out, and I agree — assuming she needs new brakes.

When she does, ceramic pads are great, but I couldn’t suggest replacing good pads just to cut down on the dust.

— Steven Cole Smith is the automotive editor at the Orlando Sentinel.

Send questions to scsmithorlandosentinel.com.

TD-0000187922

OnTheMOve / Tallahassee Democrat

Monday, October 10, 2011 / Page 7

Page 8 / Monday, October 10, 2011

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TD-0000187921

Tallahassee Democrat / OnTheMOve

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