2007 Grand Caravan SXT
By Daniel Souza

Although most youngens may frown on aquiring one, minivans are all around us and are downright practical vehicles. They beat SUVs in the economic factor, they beat hatchbacks in the interior room reason, and some of them are challenging trucks with the haul aspect—by providing flat-folding seats while maximizing interior area.

Simply put, Utah is characterized by its gelatin casseroles and its big families; two items that comfortably fit in the interior of the sometimes-despised minivan. Hence I find myself testing its casserole capabilities and stuffing my friends in it—considering that I’m not married or have kids.

The hugely popular Dodge Caravan doesn’t require any sort of introduction. The vehicle—and minivan segment—was introduced to the public about 22 years ago when Dodge designed the well-embraced people hauler.

The 2007 Dodge Caravan SXT comes equipped with what the automaker calls it Stow ‘n Go®. That’s just a fancy way to describe the Caravan’s basement system for cargo or seats storage. It doesn’t necessarily mean that every instance you stow, you must go. Sure they could have called it Stow and Leave it, since you most likely will leave the items there until you retrieve them at a later instance. I know, I don’t work for Dodge, but just in case they need an extra idea for the next generation of their well thought out storage system, you as a reader can attest to them I thought of it.

Personal glories aside, the Stow ‘n Go®—which was the highlight feature of my test drive—offers second-row bucket seats that can be folded into the floor and a third-row, 60-40 split-bench seat that can fold into the floor or fold rearward to face out the tailgate when the minivan is parked. When seats are in the upright position, 6 cubic feet of covered storage space is available in the second row, and 6 cubic feet of storage space is available in the third row. Headrests do not need to be removed when seats are stowed, and seats can be stowed individually or together.

The ’07 Caravan SXT comes standard with a 3.3-liter V-6 engine with 170 horsepower and 200 lb.-ft. of torque, surely a more robust option when compared with the ’07 Caravan SE equipped with a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine with 150 horsepower and 165 lb.-ft. of torque. My test drive presented a 3.8-liter V-6 engine with 200 horsepower and 235 lb.-ft. of torque considering the Caravan SXT had a long wheelbase.

One option that lacked in the Caravan was illuminated mirror controls for the driver. Dodge engineers must have assumed that your fingertips would instantly recognize the controls located on the lower right hand side of the dash and through some unexplainable tactic be able to innately command the outside mirrors. Perhaps some, but definitely not most.

What it did present to its passengers was a 6-disc DVD changer. Assuming that each DVD contains 1 hour and 30 minutes of content (I’m not including special features in each disc here) you may pull off that nine hour journey to grandma’s house without hearing the dreaded “Are we there yet?” once.

The ’07 Caravan Dodge loaned me also packed what the guys from Detroit call ParkSense® Rear Back-up System. As you put the gear in reverse, the rear radar detects if anything obstructs the vehicle’s path. The sensors are discreetly placed just below the rear bumper, making the hideous noticeable black dots on any bumper to be nearly stealth on the Caravan.

Expect fuel consumption with the 3.8 V6 engine to stagnate around 18 mpg for city and 25 mpg for the highway. According with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Caravan owners with the 3.8 V6 engine trim should expect an annual fuel cost of $1718. Other engine options look a bit more promising in fuel consumption. For the 3.3 V6 anticipate 19 mpg for city and 26 mpg for the highway totalling an estimated $1635 in annual fuel consumption. As for the not-so-powerful 2.4L 4 cylinder, slight increase for in-city driving with 20 mpg while maintaining the same 26 mpg on the highway. Annual consumption should hover around $1563.

Base price - $19,420

Price as tested - $31,900

Daniel Souza can be reached at sixth.gear.herald@gmail.com or at his blog at http://sixthgearherald.blogspot.com

2007 Saturn Vue Green Line Hybrid

By Daniel Souza

Unless you are a history buff you may not know that the electric car dates back over one hundred and fifty years—and you thought electric cars were the thing of the future huh? Well, yes and no. No because they have been around for a long time. Yes because automotive manufacturers keep coming up with different types of more-effective, more-affordable and more-consumer friendly (and not-so-ugly-to-look-at) electric cars.

But it was really the gas vehicle—powered by the internal combustion engine (ICE) —that became massively produced in the last one hundred years or so. The resolution to produce ICE cars hinged on the very cheap and readily available fuel type: a petroleum-derived liquid mixture we usually refer to simply as gas.

Well, these are different days and I just don’t seem to find a station with 25-cents/gallon of gas anymore; for this reason automakers came up with the petroleum electric hybrid vehicle, or simply called hybrids. It combines a rechargeable energy storage system and a fueled powered source.

By now—the fourth paragraph of this column—you may be wondering if I am going to talk about this week’s car at all… Yes I am, but I often run into people that either ask me what a hybrid vehicle is or try to sound like a smart cookie by describing something they are not that familiar with at all. So to avoid confusion, I provided this service to you, the reader. Aren’t you glad you are still reading this? On with the car!

The 2007 Saturn Vue Green Line Hybrid is the first GM vehicle powered by a new, more affordable hybrid system that delivers an estimated 20-percent improvement in fuel economy, depending on driving conditions. It is expected to deliver an EPA estimated 27 mpg in the city and one of the best highway mileage for a SUV at 32 mpg. The Vue's hybrid system costs under $2,000. The full vehicle price starts at less than $23,000.

The Vue Green Line uses a unique electric motor/generator paired to a 2.4L VVT four-cylinder engine and 4T45-E four-speed transmission. GM calls it a “simple and flexible hybrid design” that provides additional power from the motor/generator during acceleration and allows increased fuel economy through engine shut-off at idle, fuel cut-off during deceleration and the capability to capture electrical energy through regenerative braking.

The Hybrid Vue showed a good pick up when needed and smooth engine shut-off. Often a hybrid vehicle will make itself known to the driver with the common wobble of restarting the internal combustion engine once you let go of the brake pedal—a very annoying byproduct of the engine’s restart. The Vue’s restart was almost imperceptible.

The Saturn Vue Green Line’s 2.4-liter hybrid powertrain is rated at 170 horsepower, a nice increase from the 143 hp provided by the 2.2-liter engine in the conventional four-cylinder Vue. The vehicle also provides an appropriate balance between fuel economy and comfort by providing a system with two driver-selectable operating modes. An economy mode favors fuel economy by limiting the affect of air conditioning, while the other mode favors maximum passenger comfort and defogging performance.

It will seat five passengers effortlessly and the interior provides nice polished-like plastic plates. But although SUV sized, the Vue is mostly for inner city driving, lacking an offroading-capable 4x4 system. Saturn says they decided to refrain from the 4x4 system to maximize on fuel economy; hence the Vue is a front wheel drive utility vehicle.

Base Price - $22,995

Price as tested - $ $24,711

Daniel Souza can be reached at sixth.gear.herald@gmail.com

2007 Subaru B9 Tribeca

Perhaps the most common reaction with this week’s car was, “What?” Many readers—knowing that I test drive a plethora of cars on a weekly basis—would ask if Subaru had just come out with their SUV version. Little did they know the Japanese maker has had the B9 Tribeca in the market for a little over a year now. It was introduced during year model 2006. And though the B9 Tribeca is the youngest family of the Subaru lineup, it has already undergone minor modifications for model year 2007.

Externally, the 2007 B9 Tribeca is distinguished by a new low-gloss black grille. On the inside, Subaru has further bolstered B9 Tribeca safety technology for 2007, equipping all models with a new Rollover Sensor System that deploys the standard side curtain airbags if it detects a potential vehicle rollover.

Also for 2007, the front and rear suspensions have been revised to deliver a smoother ride and improved after- shock damping on rough surfaces, without sacrificing the balance and sharpness of the B9 Tribeca driving characteristics. Revisions include revised front and rear strut tuning, adjusted spring rates and rear stabilizer bar rate changes.

As for added convenience, all 2007 B9 Tribeca Limited models ordered with the optional GPS touch-screen navigation system will now include a Rear Vision Camera, as well. When the driver moves the transmission shift handle into Reverse, the center color LCD display will show what the camera lens can detect within its field of vision behind the vehicle. The screen view features distance/width guidelines to assist the driver in the backing up the vehicle.

If coughing up money for a limited version may not be your thing, you can order the new Reverse Assist Sensors as an optional accessory for any B9 Tribeca model. Ultrasonic sensors mounted in the rear bumper detect objects behind the vehicle and emit an audible tone as the vehicle gets closer to the object behind it.

According to Subaru, the B9 Tribeca is powered by a 3.0-liter DOHC 6-cylinder Boxer engine that produces 245 horsepower at 6,600 rpm and 215 lb.-ft. of peak torque at 4,200 rpm. The SUV felt a little sluggish off the line, but it picks up with no problems on a stride down I-15.

The 6-cylinder Boxer engine is teamed with a 5-speed automatic transmission and the brand’s most advanced version of Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive. That system combines Variable Torque Distribution (VTD) All-Wheel Drive with the Vehicle Dynamics Control (VDC) stability system and four-wheel traction control system (TCS). In plain English, the B9 Tribeca offers notable balance with active handling systems.

The measure has earned the Tribeca the highest rating in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) crash tests. The Japanese descent SUV earned 5-stars in the frontal and side-impact crash tests for the driver and passenger seating positions, as well as a 4-star rating in the NHTSA rollover resistance test.

For gas consumption, expect 18 mpg for in-city driving and 23 mpg on the highway.

Base Price - $29,995

Price as tested - $36,120

2007 Volkswagen Rabbit

It’s a practice repeated more often than you may imagine. Automakers look for Mother Nature creations to name their vehicles. Can’t think of any? Let me help: Include the following words to this sentence “I drive a…” The words are: Stingray, Barracuda, Hornet, Tercel, Eagle, Firebird, Sun bird, Thunderbird (am I missing any birds?) Bronco, Beetle, Cougar, Mustang, etc. I could go on and on with the animal kingdom. The German maker is not any different and instead of creating, it re-created an icon that lived for ten years—from 1974 to 1984 to be more specific.
The VW Rabbit is nimble and quick, requiring short stopping distances and small turning spaces. It proved ideal for squeezing through tight urban streets and sliding into small parking places. With a 2.5 L engine and a firm suspension system, the 2007 Rabbit is available with a choice of a five-speed manual transmission or a six-speed automatic Tiptronic® transmission. At the heart of the Rabbit is the 2.5-liter, inline five-cylinder, dual-overhead camshaft engine delivering 150 horsepower at 5,000 revolutions per minute. A 170 lbs.-ft. of torque develops at 3,750 rpm, with 90 percent available from 1,750 rpm to 5,125 rpm.

If you prefer a higher level of your own noise, Volkswagen has added an auxiliary audio jack to the Rabbit. Our test drive came equipped with an iPod adapter, which proved to be somewhat complicated to use. I found it difficult to use my own playlist on my iPod seeing that the radio display showed some confusing double digit track number instead of the artist name and song. I also couldn’t shuffle manually to my favorite playlist because all it showed on my iPod screen was VW’s logo with the song selected by the Rabbit. Good effort on VW’s part but a simple aux jack alone would have solved my musical frustration. As VW’s entry level car, the two-door Rabbit with five-speed manual transmission starts at $14,990. What it lacked with the iPod jack, it made up for in other areas. Its fuel efficiency is not compromised for driving performance in this latest version of the Rabbit. The EPA estimates fuel efficiency at 30 miles per gallon in highway driving, and 22 mpg in city driving.