From Top-of-the-Line to Middle-of-the-Road
Here’s an automotive A list of which 1990 cars are shaping up to be hot, which may not be worth 60 months of payments, and which , in the opinion of industry analysts, commentators and marketeers , fall somewhere in between .
What’s Hot
* All-new, All-Purpose Vehicles from General Motors. All have the same shape, same platform, same 3.1-liter V6 engine, same $17,000 price, same seating for seven--but different badges as Chevrolet Lumina APV, Pontiac Trans Sport and Oldsmobile Silhouette. Aerodynamic visuals, space-age composite construction are pluses, but front seating in a sloping nose cone could be a detraction. “Rather like driving a speed boat,” warned one writer/driver.
* Acura NSX. Unnamed but due in summer as Japan’s first effort at producing a high-performance, high-priced sports car to roar past Ferrari and Porsche. “What’s not to like about this car?” asked one magazine test driver. “It exemplifies everything the Japanese now excel in--high technology, incredible ergonomics and traditional European styling.”
* Mercedes 300SL and 500SL. No matter the competition from anywhere, at any price, these new Mercedes sports cars will find Beverly Hills and Westchester County buyers. The cars are faster and more powerful. But with new and heavy competition, said one expert, “you’re going to have a lot of people waiting. Or looking the other way--west across the Pacific.”
* Infiniti (by Nissan) Q45 and Lexus (by Toyota) LS400. With these two cars, Japan entered the world of high-performance luxury cars without knocking. They will rewrite the pecking order, believe reviewers, in the $40,000 category where Mercedes and BMW once ruled the roost. “Great cars, just a delight,” went one verdict.
* Mazda Miata. A rag-topped reincarnation and a car creating adulation to the point of embarrassing even Mazda. Designed in Irvine, built in Japan, styled after British two-seaters and collecting more buyers than Hamilton has for its replica watches. “The car you want to pat on the butt . . . the most fun anyone can have for $14,000 . . . what everyone should do on their summer vacation.” Enough, enough.
What’s Not
* Chevrolet Lumina. Four doors, four cylinders and three flavors of general commentary. Tougher than the Brooklyn Bridge. Underwhelming styling. Gen-u-wine Amurrican. “The Lumina seems as if it came from a discount-appliance warehouse,” said one critic. Backhanded another: “With all the resources in the world at its disposal, it (Chevrolet) has produced yet another remarkably mediocre car.”
* Lincoln Town Car Signature. It is beamy, bobs a lot--a land yacht looking for yesterday in America when big cars raised milestones for brick-built safety in cotton-batting comfort. “The average age of owners of the Lincoln Town Car owner is 60 and this car currently is used in 58% of all limousine conversions in the United States,” said one watcher. “Donald Trump liked it enough to order 50 conversion packages for his own corporate use.”
Maybe
* Geo Storm GSi. A belated entry into the sport-coupe field but critics have been kind to the car (also sold as the Isuzu I-Mark), owing to high-technology (16-valve engine, double overhead cams, 130 horsepower) and low price ($12,000). “A good-looking car,” said one. “Good performer. But there’s a lot of good-looking, good-performing competition.”
* BMW 850i. The car that could reduce all other BMWs to penultimate driving machines. It is powered by a V12 engine limited by a factory-installed computer chip to 155 m.p.h., a quiet agreement among European manufacturers to block a potentially deadly Horsepower War. “A great car,” went one opinion. “But the price ($70,000) could kill it. You have to look at other high-performance cars and ask yourself: For 20% more, what am I getting?”
* Buick Reatta convertible. Oldsmobile Cutlass Quad 442. Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1. Pontiac Grand Prix STE. American cars, like California wines, experts say, are better this year and getting closer to imported quality.
* Toyota Celica. Mazda Protege. Subaru Legacy. Honda Accord. Acura Integra. Volkswagen Corrado. Nissan Stanza GXE. Let’s face it, suggest the watchers, nobody makes a really bad imported car these days.
