The Velite itself is a four-passenger convertible that strives to capture an essential Buick spirit that will appeal to future customers, therefore ensuring that Buick actually has a future. There are three portholes on each side of the body indicating, in the new Buick design language, that there's a six-cylinder engine under the hood. In this case it's a twin-turbocharged version of GM's latest 3.6L, DOHC, 24-valve V-6 making something like 400 hp. Behind it is a new 6L80-E six-speed automatic transmission that's destined to find its way into numerous rear-drive applications including, it's rumored, the Corvette C6 sometime around the 2006 model year.
The Velite is attractive, but what's critical here is the Zeta platform. Developed most in Australia and the United States, the Zeta platform is (apparently) a conventional steel unibody with a short/long double A-arm front suspension and a five-link independent rear suspension. The Velite's 114.7-inch wheelbase, 186-inch overall length, and 75.6-inch width means it's just about a foot shorter than a new Chevy Monte Carlo but on a wheelbase more than 4 inches longer, and it's almost 3 inches wider. Imagine this platform stretching and shrinking to underpin everything from a replacement for the Buick Park Avenue to a new Chevy Impala and Pontiac GTO. It should easily be able to accommodate virtually any GM engine, including V-8s.
The first Zetamobile is likely to show up sometime during 2006 under some car marketed as a 2007 model. If it appears sooner than that, that's so much the better.
Hemi Jeep[Photos 116-0804.SCUP 6A through 116-0804.SCUP 6B on disc.]What's the best news about the all-new '05 Jeep Grand Cherokee? Is it the new independent front suspension? Nah. The new body which looks good but still like a Grand Cherokee? No way. The best news is that in addition to a 3.7L V-6 and 4.7L V-8, the new GC will be available with the 5.7L Hemi V-8. In this case, the Hemi will be rated at 325hp and incorporates the variable displacement system used in the Dodge Magnum and Chrysler 300C.
That the Hemi is going into this SUV may not matter to Car Crafters in the short term, but it means there'll be even more of them in the boneyards of the future. The Hemi has established itself as a critical element in Chrysler's future, and there's nothing but good in that.
Diesel Jeep[Photos 116-0804.SCUP 7A through 116-0804.SCUP 7B on disc.]Jeep has been building diesel-powered Liberties in Toledo, Ohio, for almost three years. But all of them have been exported out of the country to spots around the world that demand oil-burning SUVs. That changes this fall as the '05 Liberty will be available state-side with diesel power for the first time.
The 2.8L Common Rail Diesel (CRD) four is turbocharged and rated at a modest 160hp, but a thick 295 lb-ft of torque at just 1,800 rpm. It comes hooked to a five-speed automatic transmission. The new turbodiesel should be vastly more civilized than the crappy old diesels that were foisted upon the American public back in the early '80s and will deliver outstanding mileage. The low-end torque may even mean this becomes the engine of choice for true off-roaders.
There are other changes to the Liberty for 2005 as well, and to learn about them you ought to buy another magazine.
Some Day, All Cadillacs Were Built This Way[Photos 116-0804.SCUP 8A through 116-0804.SCUP 8C on disc.]Cadillac fully embraced both its rear-drive past and its rear-drive future with the introduction of the all-new STS sedan at April's New York Auto Show. Based on an expanded version of the Sigma chassis used under the CTS sedan and SRX crossover sport ute, the STS replaces the front-drive Seville.