Back in the Fast Lane : Performance, Handling, Price Are Driving a Renewed Interest in U.S.-Made Cars
With their finned fenders and dentures for grilles, our Studebakers, Cadillacs and DeSotos were American icons held as dear as Hollywood and Joe DiMaggio.
There were few restraints driving through those ‘40s and into the ‘70s. Speed limits were liberal and didn’t even exist in some states.
Four dollars filled ‘er up and gas was endless travel at two bits a gallon. Life was hot rods, Trust Your Car to the Man Who Wears the Star, Henry’s Drive-In and a new Southwest Passage: Route 66.
The 1974 Arab oil embargo ended it all.
Politicians, environmentalists and safety crusaders whelped a new future for the automobile. Unprepared, unbelieving, reluctant to let go, domestic automobile makers patched and extemporized.
Their new subcompacts were substandard in acceleration, handling, looks and especially quality.
Cadillac was a badge on a Chevrolet J-Car they hung with a few trinkets and called the Cimarron. There were stabs at diesel power and a V-8 that could run on six or four cylinders. But it was all junk.
Meanwhile in the islands of postwar Japan, peppy and thrifty cars were a norm.
The timing was perfect. Toyotas and Hondas and Datsuns were exported to the United States and accepted quickly, almost eagerly.
Because ours was a population that considered value for its hard-earned dollar to be a constitutional freedom.
Asian auto makers took command in two decades.
Nationally, imports now account for 30% of all new car sales. In car-canny California, the penetration is 50%.
Yet Detroit has managed to let go of the past--to the point where detecting exactly what constitutes an American car has become a new consumer science.
The Dodge Stealth is a re-badged version of the Mitsubishi 3000. About 25% of the Ford Escort is made by Mazda.
The Honda Accord sedan--America’s best-selling car--was designed in Japan but is built in Manysville, Ohio, so what does that make it?
Through all this hybridism, the Ford Mustangs, the Jeeps and Sevilles and others have remained American standards. Their quality and technology are better than ever and improving annually. Experts say that in every market segment are domestic vehicles made competitive by performance, handling and price.
Some have received prestigious national awards and broken the imports’ death grip. Others still struggle.
On this and the opposite page are thumbnail reviews of half a dozen domestic cars.
In the opinions of automotive writers, industry analysts and consumer specialists, these vehicles are a representative selection of automotive quality in 1992 America. It is satisfying to be able to count so many, encouraging to note that more came close.
Or as David E. Davis Jr., editor of Automobile, noted in announcing the Cadillac Seville STS as the magazine’s Car of the Year:
“It is a positive, visceral thrill to be able to stand up and shout that an American company has . . . rolled out a new car that can knock the socks off consumers in every niche and corner of the performance/luxury-car market.”
General Motors: When it comes to comfortable, big, touring cars, here are three of the best.
Three H-Car siblings from General Motors--Pontiac Bonneville, Oldsmobile Eighty Eight and Buick LeSabre--were chosen by Consumer Reports as America’s first family of large automobiles.
Car and Driver magazine placed the 1992 Bonneville among 39 nominations--which included the Lexus SC400 and BMW 325i--for its list of Ten Best cars.
Clearly, when it comes to building six-passenger cars for interstate touring with comforts close to a suburban living room, nobody does it better than Detroit. And the Big Three continue to dominate the motorschooner market. Heart of the 1992 Bonneville-LeSabre-Eighty Eight triplets is a 3.8 liter V-6 producing 170 horsepower. Expect an average of 21 m.p.g. when tooling around town. Anti-lock brakes and driver’s air bag are available.
Comments on styling range from “nice update of a car that was already good” (Consumer Guide on the Eighty Eight) to “good-looking outside, handsome inside” (Car and Driver on the Bonneville) with universal genuflects for a 4-speed automatic that is smoother than mother’s guacamole . Nobody questions the reliability, heft and social presence of these gems from GM.
Base prices: $18,500.
Points for: Transmission. Passenger and cargo roominess. Acceleration.
Against: A little float in the ride.
Cadillac: The exterior has modern, younger lines. The interior has a refined, flowing simplicity.
The 1992 Cadillac Seville STS has charged through the competition quicker than Schwarzkopf through Kuwait.
In December, it became the first domestic car to be named Automobile of the Year by Automobile, a magazine of demonstrated snobbery and with a bias for quality cars driven by enthusiasts.
“STS proves that taste, imagination . . . and love for the automobile are not dead in Detroit,” rang the citation.
Seville sales rose 64% in a month. At auto shows, Mercedes spokesmen actually mentioned Cadillac as the luxurious competition.
With one car, Cadillac lost a reputation for cotton candy rides and Caesars Palace interiors. Gadgets have gone. The exterior shows modern, younger lines. The interior has a refined, flowing simplicity that German sedans have yet to achieve.
Armed with a 200-horsepower V-8 and a new, rigid chassis, the STS corners hard and flat, and woe betide the young stud who thinks his Celica GT is faster off the line.
Cadillac remains expensive transportation. Yet its price is below the cost of Lexus and Infiniti and the $60,000 average cost of a Mercedes. And the STS offers something that comes with no other luxury car: Revelation.
Base price: $38,975.
Points for: Taut handling. European exterior. Elegant interior.
Against: Offset gearshift.
GM:The year-old Saturn seems to have put its start-up troubles behind it. A wagon is in the wings.
Saturn’s early production was a slow but deliberate search for high quality in its subcompacts.
There were hiccups as flaws were found, even a diplomatic recall before a cooling fault became public knowledge.
But the year-old division of GM seems to have recovered nicely from inaugural willies.
More than 50,000 cars were sold in 1991 and monthly orders continue to climb.
Saturn builds sedans and coupes. A wagon is in the wings. They are small cars with small engines and small prices: $8,000 for the sedan, $11,000 for the coupe.
Early models were buzzy. New engine mounts and more insulation seem to have silenced most of that. But the styling contains borrowings from several GM vehicles.
According to owners polled by AutoWeek magazine, quality construction of Saturn is high, handling and performance may be compared to budget Hondas--and expect 30 m.p.g. in city traffic.
Anti-lock brakes are available, but costly air bags remain down the road.
A consensus continues to orbit Saturn: Not better than an imported subcompact, but certainly as good.
Base price, for SL sedan: $8,195.
Points for: Fuel economy. Cost. Ride. Handling.
Against: Styling. Acceleration of entry sedans.
Ford: The Taurus has been well-regarded since its 1986 debut. And it continues to get better.
Ford’s front-drive Taurus--rebadged by its sister marque as the Mercury Sable--remains the nation’s best-selling domestic intermediate, and one of few American cars with solid overseas presence.
It is a family sedan with the power and handling of an imported four-door. Pricing is bearable. Taurus pioneered the aero look of softer edges and rounded corners. And the quality, handling, performance and reliability of the car has improved steadily since 1986 when it was Motor Trend’s Car of the Year.
For 1992, the basic Taurus comes with a 3.0 liter V-6 producing 140 horsepower, minimum these days for quick, safe entry onto frantic freeways. There’s a station wagon and for performance nuts, the 220-horsepower Taurus SHO that eats its young.
The 1992 car comes with a slick automatic and a new suspension for a firm, comfortable ride; anti-lock brakes are available; and it is the only car in its class to offer driver’s and passenger’s side air bags.
Despite some unnecessary gimmicks--two coin trays and two cup holders--it is a roomy, comfortable car for discerning motorists.
Base price, Taurus L notchback: $14,980.
Points for: Performance and handling. Multiple air bags and anti-lock brakes. Roominess.
Against: Styling fade.
Minivans: The nation’s best-selling small wagons.
A Dodge is a Chrysler is a Plymouth when it comes to minivans. Essentially the same vehicle, the Dodge Caravan, Chrysler Town & Country and Plymouth Voyager deserve places in any critique of passenger cars as the vehicles that created the minivan trend in 1984.
They remain the nation’s best-selling small wagons.
For 1992, the vehicles are minimally restyled but offer short to long wheelbases, four-cylinder and V-6 engines, all-wheel and two-wheel drive, air bags and integrated child safety seats.
“A remarkably secure all-weather vehicle” is the verdict on Dodge Caravan by the publication Auto ’92.
“Town & Country . . . combination of prestige and luxury. Plymouth Voyager . . . no minivan has more all-round attributes.”
Basic price: $13,000.
Points for: Passenger and cargo room. Ride and handling.
Against: Fuel economy. Acceleration of four-cylinder models.
Chevrolet: Corvette is still crazy and rude--and gentler and more reliable--after 37 years.
Chevrolet’s Corvette is still a little crazy after all these years. But the 37-year-old sports car remains an American success story, and this year’s version is the best combination ever of rocket power and grand touring ease.
The 1992 Corvette shows few styling changes. But it has a new 300-horsepower V-8. It will hurtle to 60 m.p.h. in 5 seconds.
Anti-lock brakes and a driver’s air bag are standard.
The two-seat fiberglass Corvette has evolved into a softer, kinder, more reliable tourer with none of the skinned knuckles of yesteryear. Such refinement does not detract from its image as a pleasantly rude American muscle car.
Base hatchback: $33,635.
Strong points: Acceleration. Handling. Safety equipment. All-American reputation.
Against: Insurance costs. Fuel figures.
