With the site of the first atomic explosion opening to visitors this Saturday in Southern New Mexico, we scout a way in the Chevy HHR Panel
The Trinity Site will be open this Saturday, Oct. 6, for tours. When The New Mexican published a brief to that effect last month, I loaded Scout in the test car and hit the road in the endearing Chevrolet HHR Panel.
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(2 comments;last comment posted october 3, 2007 9:30 pm)
The promise was that I would learn not only how to change a tire, but about basic auto maintenance, buying and selling a used car and other useful tips. Since I spend a good fraction of my life driving, I thought I ought to learn a little bit more about my car.
The teacher was Jason Dickman, a master technician who works at Santa Fe’s Saab dealership. There were only half a dozen students, but we varied in geographical distribution and skill level — from an Eldorado resident who knew a great deal about cars, to me, a mechanically challenged person from Nambé. All I knew about auto maintenance is to make a service appointment when my husband reminds me.
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last comment posted october 4, 2007 3:14 pm )
It was French racing driver Hervé Poulain who first commissioned an artist — his friend Alexander Calder — to paint his BMW racecar in the early 1970s, and this was the spark that led BMW to develop the Art Car program.
Since 1975, prominent artists from throughout the world have used BMW automobiles as their canvasses. The BMW Art Car Collection includes 16 works by prominent artists — including David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol.
Drive reader John Lawrence — owner of the 1973 Datsun 240Z and 1937 Packard convertible we told you about in the Aug. 30 issue — sent in photos of the Santa Fe Vintage Car Club’s show last Saturday at St. Vincent Regional Medical Center.
Before they begin their seven-day, 2,000-mile race across Mexico, locals need your help!
The clock is ticking down for the Santa Fe team preparing to race a 1957 Fiat 600 Abarth across Mexico in La Carrera Panamericana 2007, which runs Oct. 26 to Nov. 1. The seven-day, 2,000-mile route, from Oaxaca to Nuevo Laredo, mirrors the 1950 race that celebrated completion of the Mexican section of the Panamerican Highway.
After being ignored for so long, is Saturn now selling GM’s best car?
General Motors is my new favorite car company.
Yes, GM still has huge and dynamic problems and a raft of boring products in North America, where market share continues to drop. But the company is prospering in international markets, investing in technology and generally managing the chaos of becoming a smaller company better than Ford or Chrysler. I’ll tell you what else I like: GM is hungry again. And that brings me to the 2008 Saturn Vue.
Is this the best product in the North American portfolio, with the perennial exception of Corvette? Yes, I think it is.
The odometer showed 474887.8 miles when I met up recently with Morgan Gafford, who bought his 1985 Toyota Tercel “right off the transporter” in May of that year in Midland, Texas. “It had 0 miles on it. All zeros.”
With the exception of 30 by his dad, Gafford has put all those miles on the car. “The engine in my ’78 Chevy van had started making a big noise, so I got on my bicycle, … rode to the dealership and bought the Tercel. I didn’t test-drive it. I had never even been in a Toyota before,” said Gafford, who now splits his time between Midland and Galisteo. He paid $5,800 for the Tercel.
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last comment posted september 28, 2007 1:13 pm )
Named for the Greek goddess of dawn, this stylish hardtop convertible proves worthy.
I admit it — I was jealous. Beautiful, stylish, intelligent … my boyfriend was obviously smitten.
Then I reminded myself that, though attractive and sharp, the Volkswagen Eos is just a car. The integrated navigation system, speed-sensitive windshield wipers and unflappable DSG transmission did not make it smarter than me. The silvery-blue finish, shiny chrome touches and sleek hardtop convertible did not make it prettier than me.
Feminine pride barely intact, I took the Eos for a spin. The top came down, the Sirius satellite radio came on, and I think I only grazed the gas pedal to make it fly out of the parking lot like men out of church on Super Bowl Sunday.
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last comment posted september 20, 2007 10:18 pm )
Denise McCluggage explores those ineffable qualities that help distinguish real trucks from mere pickups.
Exactly what makes a pickup a truck — something righteous and real — is hard to pin down. The problem is not unlike that facing the Supreme Court justice trying to define pornography. He finally said: “I know it when I see it.”
That’s how truck people know a truck: It has a certain stance, a certain attitude, a certain way of going. It sounds a certain way, has a certain look. It just is a truck.
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last comment posted september 14, 2007 5:18 pm )
There are cruise lines on the streets of Santa Fe, and they’re not bus routes.
Tommy Elrite, 23, drives the cruise lines in his 1966 Chevy C-10 pickup, its primer-gray paint giving it a battered look that successfully conceals the souped-up guts of what he says can “blow away every car at the stoplight.” OK, maybe.
“I go cruising in it, I go racing in it, I pick up girls in it — it’s the ultimate utility vehicle,” he said of his pickup.
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last comment posted september 13, 2007 9:33 pm )
Turbocharged power transforms the mischievous little roadster into a riotous force of nature.
Summer’s over, school’s back in session, and it’s time for life to cool down as we coast back toward winter. Literally, the solstice has past, but the time for this Solstice is just beginning — because we still have a colorful fall to look forward to. While the searing-red Pontiac Solstice GXP I drove recently looks like it’s made for the hot, top-down days of a raging summer, there really is no better time to be behind the wheel of a convertible in Santa Fe than when the trees start to change.
You get the wide-open views when the top is stowed, and you get to more fully enjoy the days as they grow a bit cooler and the sun less intense. But the Solstice is intense enough, when driven on an empty weekend road, to make up the difference, especially in red-hot turbocharged GXP mode.
The luxurious STS sedan is made to explore the wide-open spaces of New Mexico
These past few years have been golden for Cadillac, but there’s change in the wind. A product renaissance kicked off by the introduction of the CTS sedan has run its revolutionary course, as an evolutionary all-new model is preparing to land on dealer lots pretty soon.
Every model in the Cadillac range has been introduced or re-imagined during this time, from the well-regarded SRX crossover to the striking XLR roadster, from the traditional DTS sedan to the iconic Escalade.
And now it’s time for the STS.
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Question: I have, perhaps naively, been flummoxed for some time over the fact that my cars all “require” gasoline rated 87, but, whereas 87 is the regular gasoline sold in most states I have visited, in New Mexico regular is 86 and “plus” is 88. Therefore, I am always buying the intermediate grade of gas, as at least one local auto tech has told me the lower grade will cause knocking, especially at this elevation. Would you be so kind as to explain what’s really going on and whether you think there is a sufficient difference to justify the “plus” grade? And, why don’t N.M. gas stations offer the 87 rating as regular? Thanks. — David Burling
This midsize crossover, with available seating for seven, still might not much be to look at, but what a personality.
Introduced only about two years ago, now isn’t really the time in the Tribeca’s product cycle for a major refreshing. But anyone who came face-to-face with the original can tell you change couldn’t have come a minute too early. Sales had been underwhelming, and Subaru listened.
Gone is the polarizing nose, replaced by one that could have come from Chrysler or Kia — anyone really. But that’s not a bad thing. Crossovers — meaning those tall, all-wheel-drive vehicles that trace their roots back to cars instead of pickups — are now outselling truck-based SUVs, but this is still a nascent niche. As long as they aren’t too awkwardly styled, what they look like doesn’t matter so much (see only that the difficult RX is the best-selling Lexus to know how little looks matter in this market).
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No matter how much the dog and I might love this midsize wagon, Mazda doesn’t agree and is dropping the extended version of its popular sedan for 2008.
I have a soft spot in my heart for wagons, but that feeling is certainly out of step with the state of affairs in America these days.
Sure, car buyers have started to pick up on the just-right compromise offered in smaller hatchbacks: all-around utility, space for moving or large purchases and better fuel economy and road feel than is to be found in an SUV. But the wagon itself is still fighting its way back into the mainstream. And that's a shame.
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last comment posted august 16, 2007 2:09 pm )
The Great Plains to our east are given short shrift when it comes to examples of scenic driving possibilities. While some might dismiss this vast area between New Mexico and Missouri as nothing more than miles and miles of unrelenting horizon, there are surprises to be found.
Download a pdf version of this Great Drives route, plus the previous route maps.
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last comment posted august 1, 2007 11:13 pm )
If any premium-fuel-swilling, straight-line-gobbling sedan can find a place in this day and age, it’ll be the Dodge Charger SRT8
Guys of my dad’s era grew up on cheap gas, pre-statistics insurance and plentiful power. They were molded in a time before handling had anything to do with what went on in the front seat of the car. They knew cars by numerical identifiers: 309, 429, blah, blah, blah. I can’t relate.
Which means I don’t get this new 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8, not in the least. Here is a traditional rear-wheel-drive American sedan. It’s big, brutishly exotic and mind-meltingly powerful: Under the hood is an even bigger version of the iconic Hemi V-8, 6.1 liters and 425 horsepower — eclipsing the run-of-the-mill Hemi’s 5.7 and 340 — and it requires premium fuel, an unsettling amount of premium fuel.
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The Santa Fe Vintage Car Club put on a car show Sept. 22 in conjunction with the return of the Santa Fe Airshow — and Drive reader Charley Seavey was again there to document the event.
Also, the next week or so brings two big classic-car events you won't want to miss!
I read in Drive the little blurb at the top of the page regarding Horseless Carriage (HC) plates, which, as you stated, can be used on vehicles of a certain age but are restricted in their use.
I would like to draw attention to a similar program available in many states, including New Mexico, for Year-Of-Manufacture (YOM) plates. In New Mexico, if a car is at least 30 years old, it can be registered with a license plate that would have been in use during its year of manufacture.
A person drives a car; a person drives a golf ball. BMW makes cars and motorcycles. BMW has for the first time undertaken the sponsorship of a major professional golf event in the United States.
Now you have all the elements that happy happenstance — and a marketing department thinking overtime — has collected in the photograph below, taken following a competition in which the driver of the golf ball beat both the motorcyclist and the driver of the car.
FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany — On the lapel of my lime-green jacket, I had affixed a stamp-sized pin with a portrait of Dr. Rudolf Diesel. As it turned out, I was appropriately attired both in color and adornment for the Frankfurt Motor Show.
In this year of our Ford 2007, at the 62nd incarnation of this huge assemblage of the world’s latest automobiles, the words “green,” “eco” and “sustainability” were scattered like fall leaves through every presentation, every news release and every bilingual sign.
Hadley, the Trauernicht family’s first black Lab, sprained both front legs jumping out of the family station wagon 14 years ago. Cathy Trauernicht became so concerned about dog safety that she spent years developing a pet ramp she finally put into production last year.
“It’s dangerous for dogs of any age or breed to jump onto concrete,” says Trauernicht. “I’ve talked with many vets about the injuries they see with dogs, especially with SUVs.”
The Mini Cooper Convertible arrived this morning, so Scout and I jumped in for a run up to the Ski Basin to check out the first blush of fall color on the aspens.
When you want a service performed on your vehicle, what is the most important thing to consider? Before you answer that, think about what you really want from a business — and be realistic with your expectations. There are many valid options to consider before you answer, and your answer might include multiple parts.
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Founded in the 1920s as a fantasyland of Mediterranean architecture, this affluent Miami suburb, one of the nation’s first planned communities, has a long-standing reputation for zealous aesthetic policing, ruling over everything from hedge heights to what colors residents may paint their homes.
Now a guy in a pickup truck is threatening the social order.
Lowell Kuvin, 44, wound up on the wrong side of the local code one night four years ago when he parked his forest-green 1993 Ford F-150 outside the house he was renting. The city defines pickup trucks, even those for personal use, as “out of character” and forbids parking them overnight within city limits. He got a $50 ticket.
The government wants new passenger vehicles to provide head protection in dangerous side-impact crashes, which kill thousands of motorists every year and leave others with serious brain injuries.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week issued rules requiring the improved safety protections in new passenger vehicles by September 2012.
Take a really good idea, one that's not only good for drivers but good for those sharing the road with them. Get a two-year exclusive on it. Let journalists shower it with praise. You've got a runaway winner, right? Not if you're General Motors and the really good idea is four-wheel steering for pickups and sport-utility vehicles.
The 2002 GMC Sierra Denali pickup was the first GM vehicle to be equipped with Delphi's Quadrasteer system. Later it was offered on all Sierras and Yukon XLs and the Chevy Silverado and Suburban. Several weeks ago, GM announced that, after this year, Quadrasteer would be dropped from the options list. A lack of sales was the reason given. The overall demand, they said, was 2.5 percent with 17.8 percent a high point in the 2004 Yukon XL.
I finally, in my journalistic duty, put down the top on the 2007 Saturn Sky and was motoring around downtown. At a light, the guy walking next to me asked who makes this dramatically stylish little roadster. When I responded that it’s a Saturn, he replied, “I didn’t know Saturn made cars like that.”
Yes, it’s a stretch. Saturn has always made just-nice-enough cars that sold on their reputation for a nice dealership experience but would never make passers-by look up and take notice. The Sky does that, handily, looking like a mean, road-eating monster. It’s stunningly bold, I would argue even better-looking than its General Motors brother, the Pontiac Solstice. It looks like you’d imagine a smaller, meaner, less-expensive Corvette would look.
By some kink in the perceived flow of time, much was happening in the automotive world 50 years ago. Golly, the Edsel — sort of the Aztek of its day — was loosed on the public, and Kelley's Blue Book, that arbiter of market value, was inaugurated.
In Connecticut, Lime Rock Park, one of the first purpose-built road courses, welcomed the racing wheels of sports cars. And in New York, the precursor of Santa Fe’s Tuesday Car Table saw the first luncheon gathering of car buffs under the name The Madison Avenue Sports Car Driving and Chowder Society. Pikers. They meet only once a month while Tuesday Car Table meets as often as there’s a Tuesday. And for five years now. We are gaining on the master.
Some believe that the Datsun 240Z — the sleek, reliable 1970s sport coupe with the long snout and the racecar looks — spelled the death knell for the stubby British Triumph and MG roadsters with their annoying carburetor and electrical problems.
Among the believers are Z owners like John Lawrence, and they could be right.
DRIVE: Blazing a trail to the Trinity Site, with map 
