Automotive Einstein

Chevrolet may be working on a hot Z28 Camaro, but for those who are sick of waiting for General Motors to launch the beast, we’ve come up with a few alternatives.

Photo Gallery: Five Supercharged Tuner Camaros – Automobile Magazine

Once upon a time, before globalism became a favorite buzzword, cars really said something about the countries that produced them. The frugality and reliability of a Honda subcompact spoke to the ingenuity and determination of post-war Japan. The power and size of a tail-finned Cadillac convertible embodied American swagger. And so on. The automobile used to be as much an expression of culture as a country’s art or food.

Photo Gallery: Sport Coupe Comparison – 2010 Lotus Evora, 2011 Chevrolet Corvette Z06, 2009 Porsche 911 Carrera S, 2011 Nissan GTR – Automobile Magazine

• The 1940 Packard was the first car to offer factory-installed air-conditioning.
• By 1969, more than half of all new cars sold were equipped with A/C.
• Some brands affixed window decals to promote their air-conditioned automobiles.
• For cars not equipped with factory air, dealer-installed, under-dash units were popular.
• In a 1971 front-page story, the New York Times implicated air-conditioning in the death of the convertible, postulating that: “In the age of air-conditioning, real air has lost its value.”
• After the freon used in A/C units was blamed for depleting the ozone layer, automakers were required to switch from R12 to the less harmful R134a refrigerant by 1996.
• Dual-zone automatic climate control allows for separate temperature settings for driver and passenger; some cars have additional zones for rear-seat passengers.
• Volkswagen calls its manual air-conditioning system “Climatic;” automatic A/C is “Climatronic.”
• Today, more than 99 percent of all new cars are air-conditioned.
• There’s no A/C in base versions of the Chevrolet Aveo; Honda Civic; Hyundai Accent and Elantra; Jeep Wrangler; Kia Forte and Rio; Mazda 3; Mitsubishi Lancer; Nissan Versa; and Toyota Tacoma.
• Testing by Consumer Reports found that using a car’s air-conditioner resulted in a more than 3-mpg loss at highway speeds. Driving with the windows open had no measurable effect on fuel economy.

Photo Gallery: Automotive Air Conditioning – History of Automotive A/C – Automobile Magazine

The Malibu’s only major shortcoming, as I see it, is the lack of a navigation system. Chevy likes to point out that its OnStar service provides turn-by-turn directions, and that’s true. But the competition, Ford in particular, has done an excellent job branding its uplevel electronics as more than simply GPS. In cars like the Fusion and the Nissan Altima, attractive LCD screens do more than display maps — they’re lifestyle centers. Although the Malibu does have all the necessary features, including Bluetooth connectivity, satellite radio, and a USB input, it lacks the glossy telematics to tie all these capabilities together.

Photo Gallery: 2010 Chevrolet Malibu LTZ – Automobile Magazine

The only way you could have avoided the massive pickup truck war that has been raging in Detroit for the past few years is if you happened to be living under a rock. If one automaker unveils a new truck, the other two must respond immediately. Last year Dodge, er, Ram unveiled new heavy duty trucks and only held the spotlight for a few months before Ford showed off a revised Super Duty. Now the truck world has come full circle as GM’s revised Sierra and Silverado HD twins are starting to arrive at dealerships.

Photo Gallery: 2011 Chevrolet Silverado HD – Chevrolet Midsize Truck Review- Automobile Magazine

Warning: the information and images on the following pages might antagonize you to no end. As you read about the most anticipated cars of the next four years, you might become frustrated by wanting what you can’t yet have. Just remember — good things come to those who wait. For now, dig in to the details, the spy photos, the informed illustrations, and the future-teasing concepts of our annual Sneak Preview. Thanks to our probing questions and well-placed sources, there’s plenty to dream about.

Photo Gallery: 2010 Sneak Preview – 131 Future Cars – Automobile Magazine

EDITOR’S NOTE
Joe DeMatio
Deputy Editor
Automobile Magazine

CorvetteBlogger.com recently posted a video of Corvette chief engineer Tadge Juechter lambasting Automobile Magazine for our story on the next-generation Corvette. Juechter implies that our article was sensationalist and misattributed information to him. Automobile Magazine stands by its story.

It is a bit rich that, at this juncture, Mr. Juechter stands in front of a Corvette crowd and says about Automobile Magazine, and about print automotive enthusiast magazines in general: “Don’t believe any of what you read. Most of it will be wrong. They may guess on some things luckily, but most of the time it will be wrong. It can be attributed to me and be totally wrong.” Well, when 75% of the article is verbatim quote from you, Mr. Juechter, is the article 75% wrong?

Mr. Juechter wishes to dismiss the entire category of automotive enthusiast print magazines out of hand. This is a strange approach, given that Automobile Magazine and its competitors play a major role in promoting Corvette enthusiasm, even now when, as Mr. Juechter readily admits, the next-generation Corvette is still years away.
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