BMW's extras are nice; ride is even nicer

Sacramento, California – BMW introduced its X3 in 2004, calling it a Sports Activity Vehicle, sort of a luxo sport-ute that could smash through an off-road landscape if you really felt like damaging your somewhat pricey ride.

Most of us opted to simply drive the luxury liner and enjoy the perks. A reworked version for 2011 simply reinforces those urges.

My tester was the pricier of the two trim levels – a 2011 BMW X3 xDrive35i (complicated label, no?) with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $41,050. And hey, that isn’t so bad for a five-passenger, four-door SUV from BMW.

Alas, a full reading of the sticker included enough extras to load into the back of the thing. Premium and technology goodies included a panoramic moonroof, lumbar support, rear-view camera, park-distance control system and a navigation system, to name just a few.

That brought the bottom line to $53,015. Sigh!

I asked myself if I could live without the extras. And the quick answer was “yes.” But knowing BMW’s market niche, I’m guessing that most devotees absolutely want everything this xDrive35i was packing. And let’s face it, one person’s $53 K is another person’s life savings. BMW fans want the varsity package.

And for a week, yes, I was spoiled in opulent surroundings and excellent engineering. Yet it was the basic package that impressed me most.

The tester’s road manners were extraordinary – smooth, light, agile and powerful when asked. The engine is a 3-liter in-line 6 turbo with 300 horses. That’s more than enough juice to get the SUV down the road and up the hills in a hurry. Yet even at full song, interior cabin noise is slight.

Solid? You bet.

Performance, control and stability features are top-notch. Ditto the extensive safety systems. The AWD system functions with sweet precision.

Interior controls are plentiful and take some time to learn. I’m still trying to figure out BMW’s out-of-the-ordinary turn-signal system, but I think I just have a blind spot on this particular engineering marvel.

Oh, it looks good too. A clean aerodynamic look has just enough sharpness at the edges to make this BMW a sporty-looking family outing wagon. This X3 also is bigger than its ancestor.

Gas mileage is, well, not so bad if you don’t blink spending cash for BMWs – 19 miles per gallon in the city and 26 mpg on the highway.

Overall, this is what you expect from a second-generation model – something better than the first generation. A nice effort. If you have the dough and need a luxury-level SUV, it should be on your test-drive list.

PLEASE NOTE: I’LL BE ON THE ROAD NEXT WEEK, BREAKING WITH THE ROUTINE AND DOING SOMETHING I DON’T DO ENOUGH: ENJOYING THE SIMPLE PLEASURES OF DRIVING.--mg

Camaro droptop reviewed in Cruisin' News

Sacramento, California – My review of the 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible 1LT appears in the latest, July 2011, edition of the Northern & Central California Cruisin’ News, published out of Folsom, California, by John Sweeney and Evonne Sotelo.

The “Hot Laps” reviews, along with my "Oil Drips" observations on anything with wheels, appear monthly in the publication.

To subscribe to the Cruisin’ News, visit http://www.cruisinnews.com/, call (916) 933-0949 or send an e-mail request to cruisinnews@mac.com. Mailed requests for information should be sent to Cruisin’ News, P.O. Box 1096, Folsom, CA 95763-1096.

HOLY BLEEP! This Jag sedan is a blast

This review originally appeared in the June edition of the Northern & Central California Cruisin’ News published out of Folsom, California – mg

Sacramento, California -- The 2011 Jaguar XJL Supercharged sedan is what I call a HOLY BLEEP! vehicle.

That’s because when people see it, they exclaim HOLY BLEEP!

And bleep well they should. This sedan within the beefed up, six-trim-level 2011 XJ lineup really is more than a car. Calling it a car sells it short, like calling Lady Gaga just another dressy girl.

This Jag is artwork on a grand scale, with a big scoop of mind-blowing performance characteristics that seem derived from advanced alien technology.

On first glance, it looks long enough and wide enough to be a limo. The elegant appearance is gloriously enhanced by a simple prancing cat in chrome on the back of the trunklid. I love that. Simply said: This is a big Jag. Say no more.

It’s on the roll that you start to edge into HOLY BLEEP! territory.

With the 5-liter, supercharged, 470-horsepower V-8 engine handling the propulsion chores, you are transported to another planet, somewhere in the Blew By You galaxy. Just the smallest pressure on the accelerator brings instant zip, and yet it is so smooth that you don’t quite get the full effect until you see surrounding cars get oh-so-small in your mirrors.

Yet the XJL cabin is so quiet that you get virtually no sound on blast-offs, and that actually is a shame, because you really expect an audio rip when the car is hitting 80 mph at one-fourth throttle. This kind of oomph and silky handling change your whole attitude.

It was so easy to sail into tight spots I normally wouldn’t think of filling in mere mortal machinery. In my head, I’m screaming at a trailing car: “Like you had even a PRAYER of slamming the door on me!”

This kind of mood-altering machismo is likely to produce speeding tickets in bunches, so it’s probably good that I had the XJL for only a week. But what a rush it was.

The interior is a Four Seasons Hotel experience, dripping with fine woods and exquisitely sculpted controls. Too bad the gear-shifting mechanism is a dial – yes, I’m serious – because even with the six-speed automatic, you feel the urge to ram a floor shifter into the pegs.

What’s not to like? Well, there’s 15/21 mpg with premium juice and a starting price of $90,700. Other than that, it is everyone’s dream.

Scion tC coupe takes a step up for 2011

Sacramento, California – I’ve liked the Scion tC two-door sports coupe from the beginning, in 2004, and there’s more to like in 2011.

The spunky little car equipped with some serious youth-oriented shout-outs has been redesigned to look more sporty on the front and back ends, and performance is more robust, thanks to a 2.5-liter, four-cylinder engine with variable valve timing.

The power plant puts out a max 180 horses, and that does the job nicely for all occasions in a car that is light and nimble.

My tester with a six-speed automatic transmission had a bottom-line price of $19,995, including a $720 processing and handling fee. Absolutely no extras on the car.

Even so, my tC was liberally sprinkled with nice standard features, including the usual powered convenience devices and an ear-blasting eight-speaker sound system from Pioneer.

One important note: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration awarded the 2011 tC a top overall safety rating of five stars. No surprise there. The fact that this small coupe has eight airbags gives you an idea of how much safety consideration went into the design.

Fuel mileage is a nice 23 miles per gallon in the city and 31 mpg on the highway, and it takes the more-affordable 87-octane.

The car is fun to drive and easy to drive.

The tC sprints briskly off the line, and the light steering makes it a top performer in dicey downtown/suburban traffic. It handles freeway duties with ease, no matter if the road is flat, twisty or hilly. An upgraded suspension system was evident – less sway and a lot less road bumping compared with my previous experiences in past tC coupes.

I would not advise trying to jam three people into the car’s back seat area. Cruel and unusual, that. Two max would be my advice, and I believe smaller adults will experience more riding comfort.

I confess that I had trouble figuring out the controls on the sound system, but this appears to be an attack of tech-challenge fever on my part. The suggested cure is more time with an owner’s manual.

The 2011 tC has been getting some very positive reviews from colleagues, who see the latest version as a vast improvement over the previous generation. Frankly, I’m not sure how much you can improve an affordable, already solid two-seater. For me, the tC is simply a better car than it was before.

Folks looking for affordable, basic transportation will like it, given that it’s a capable roadway performer with plentiful standard goodies. What’s not to like?

Captain Contradiction wins at Infineon

Sonoma, California – Call him Captain Contradiction.

Kurt Busch that is.

You can also call him a dominating winner after he wheeled his bright-yellow, Pennzoil, No. 22 Dodge to victory in today's Toyota/Save Mart 350 on the Infineon Raceway road course.

In Victory Lane, Busch told us the obvious, that he had an "unbelievable set-up" on his car, which left the competition behind after every restart. On long runs, some cars came within a second of Busch, but he appeared to be toying with them.

At the end of the day, Busch's car looked pretty much like it did when it rolled to the starting line on a pleasant, sunny day in the Wine Country. Competitor cars looked like wounded warriors.

Busch capped off a remarkable month that also saw him post three consecutive pole positions. And he erased some of the ill will that has been a hallmark of his past.

Contradictions? Paradox? Busch knows them well.

He can be the most charming interview on the circuit, with kind, thoughtful comments. When his quick temper takes over, he can look as nasty as a rotting cactus.

Busch has said some of the most respectful things that can be said of his fellow drivers. Other times, he raged at an alleged offender in the garage area like a man missing his senses.

More of the same this year. During a dreadful race at Richmond, Virginia, Busch was overheard ripping Team Penske on the car radio. Not a good move to take The Godfather of racing team owners to task during a race.

But in recent weeks, as things were going good, Busch had nothing but praise for the Penske crew and organization.

Raging genius? Loose cannon? For my money, a little of both.

For all the monster publicity younger brother Kyle Busch receives, remember that brother Kurt has something Kyle does not -- namely a Sprint Cup season championship.

Yeah, this Kurt Busch guy is pretty talented. And right now, he's on a roll.

Enjoy that bottle of Napa Valley merlot tonight Kurt.

Winds of change blowing through NASCAR?

Sonoma, California – Change is in the air in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. Can you feel it?

I can. Or maybe it’s just me.

When NASCAR’s top series came to Infineon Raceway here at this time last year, I had the distinct feeling that Jimmie Johnson was on his way to a record-shattering fifth straight series championship. Those feelings were confirmed just before turkey was served at our house last Thanksgiving Day.

And while JJ title No. 6 certainly is in reach as Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 approaches, I’m seeing cracks in the Car 48 team’s armor this time around.

Johnson stole one at Talladega in the springtime, and he’s in a solid No. 4 position in the current Chase points standings. He’ll be among those racing for the big prize come fall.

But frankly, Johnson’s team has looked far from razor-sharp this year. A litany of errors in 2011 includes on-track miscues, bad calls in the pits, sloppy work by the pit crew and late-race engine failure. Granted, the Car 48 team has been functioning on such a high level for so long that some of these mishaps – common to all teams – get blown out of proportion.

But they’re undeniably there. It’s hard to ignore them.

My preseason pick to dethrone Johnson, Carl Edwards, has been humming along in the points lead, but he too has stubbed his toe along the way. Kevin Harvick is right there, as is Kyle Busch. And despite the constant hasn’t-won-a-race-since-forever count the media keeps running on Dale Earnhardt Jr., he is likewise in great shape in the points with the summer racing venues coming up.

At this rate, the season-concluding “playoffs” among the top drivers promise to be quite a show. And yes, Johnson could still win it all yet again. He has been counted out before – last year, for example – but he has managed to rally when it counts most … aka trophy-hoisting time.

Still, my gut says Edwards. He seems to have the package this year. Confidence is definitely not lacking. And he drivers the mix of remaining tracks with high skill. That’s a pretty strong hand when all the chips are in the center of the table.

Sunday’s race here on the permanent road course could play a major role. The twisting turns of Infineon have a way of shuttling top drivers to the back and cutting down once-sizable points leads. Truth be told, I’m guessing that most Sprint Cup drivers have a simple goal when the green flag starts tomorrow’s race: Just survive baby!

Lexus hybrid requires pre-purchase homework

Sacramento, California – The new-for-2011 Lexus CT 200h is a mass of contradictions.

The new hybrid offering has a decidedly sporty Euro-look that young motorists should find very appealing. At the same time, the CT 200h has the dreaded “hatchback” label, which supporters will simply convert to “five-passenger” wagon in their minds.

The propulsion system is anchored on the gas side by a nicely tuned, 1.8-liter, four-cylinder engine with variable valve timing. With the electric drive motor doing its part, the front-drive CT 200h moves smoothly through street and highway traffic, with an electronically-controlled continuously variable transmission handling the shift chores.

But my Premium version tester – starting price $30,900, with another $4,000 in goodies added on – required serious pressure on the gas pedal to get the CT 200h up to high speed. You really have to put your foot DEEP into the well to get the maximum experience.

Not that all buyers will want the maximum experience. Fuel mileage is a big consideration, and the CT 200h is rated at 43 miles per gallon in the city and 40 mpg on the highway.

That’s very nice, but at the same time, I wonder how many buyers will crave a CT 200h that’s essentially a bump up in class compared with Toyota’s Prius. True, some people just want a Lexus with plentiful perks, as opposed to a Toyota. So, maybe that’s enough.

It’s hard to say. Obviously, I’m conflicted.

Let’s start with the things I like.

Safety features are off the charts. There are enough stability control systems on the CT 200h to fill a high-luxury Lexus, and the airbag/emergency/enhanced structural systems are top-notch. No wonder the CT 200h won a “Top Safety Pick” from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Totally deserved.

The number of standard luxury, comfort and convenience features certainly supports the Lexus label. Leather trim, power everything, moonroof and heated seats are part of an extensive package. Cool-looking dashboard lighting and colorful illuminations make you feel hip … even if you’re not.

I can picture myself running around town in this car. Likewise, I can picture my wife and grown son enjoying it locally.

As a long trip vehicle, however, I’m not so sure. Three folks in the back are going to be cramped. And unless the highway is clear of cars and allowing for cruise control, I’m pretty sure my right foot would get pretty sore after a day of mashing the accelerator to keep up with the surrounding high-speed traffic.

So, yeah, this is a homework car. It might work perfectly for your commute and lifestyle. Others might be inclined to pass it up. So, study up before heading to the dealer lot.