[9D1 and 9D2]Pontiac's concept has a blown V-6 and all-wheel drive inside its four-door body shell, and it's supposed to remind show-goers of sports coupes. Of course, the best way Pontiac could have reminded viewers of coupes would have been to MAKE IT A COUPE!
[9E]From Chevy of Brazil comes the Chevrolet Journey concept, which combines "the attributes of an SUV and a station wagon in one compact package." Hold it ... isn't the SUV itself the combination of a station wagon and a truck? What's going on here? Is the SUV mutating back into a station wagon? God forbid.
116-0212-scup-addGM's '03 Ride & DriveOwning a dedicated track car also means having to own a fairly dedicated tow rig. We say fairly because with the ever-growing popularity of trucks and SUVs, manufacturers have made light-duty trucks so user-friendly they can act as both a daily driver and a hauler-assuming you can afford the gas bill. While most car crafters will probably opt to pass on the optional DVD players and wet bars, we can certainly appreciate all of the additional perks that come with purchasing a new truck or SUV. Air conditioning is nice, especially when caravanning across the hot Midwest summers, or anywhere for that matter. There's also the reliability factor, which we don't have to explain. And then, depending on the motor option you select, you can get a generous helping of torque to mock any hills that stand in your way. Of course, if you're pulling a fairly light vehicle on an open-bed trailer, chances are you won't need the tree-stump-pulling Duramax Turbo Diesel motor. However, if you can afford it, it's cool to know that you'd be able to pull the heaviest of loads and even get decent gas mileage to boot.
Why are we talking about trucks? No we haven't turned into Truck Craft, but we recently had the terrific opportunity to check out GM's new line of '03 trucks, among other things (including a Hummer H2), up in Hollister, California. New for this year is a much more aggressive frontend on both the Silverado and Sierra lineups, and availability of GM's Quadrasteer four-wheel steering on more models, including the 2500-Series Suburban and heavy-duty GMC crew cabs. We maneuvered the Quadrasteer trucks through extremely tight turns on and off road and were astounded by the performance. The turning diameter of the 1500 models has been reduced from 49.6 feet with conventional front-wheel steering to a mere 37.4 feet with Quadrasteer. It's easier to negotiate turns at low speeds, parallel parking is more a breeze than a chore, and towing is much safer with better-controlled lane changes.
And who could forget our amazing off-road excursion driving a new Hummer H2-wow! It's completely out of our league, but it's absolutely incredible.
GM certainly has a great selection of fullsize vehicles for those of us who still yearn for V-8 power. Here's our take on the merits of each of the trucks we tested, rated on a scale of 1 to 5 "Kiewicz" thumbs-ups. We dug 'em all, but we dug some more than others.-Henry De Los Santos
[Thumb image sent to Tom via e-mail; each number represents the number of thumbprints to be placed]