08 Sep 2004 | Mark said...

Very cool looking. I wonder however if it would be a distraction when the windshield gets grimy and the wipers have left their (its) cleaned ark on only part of it.

08 Sep 2004 | Paperhead said...

no visor?

09 Sep 2004 | ek said...

It sounds as though there is some sort of visor, though I'm not sure where it originates:

Passengers in the panorama GTC are protected against excessive sunlight by both the Solar-Protect glass and a sophisticated shading system. The stepless adjustable system is very easy to operate and includes two fold-out sun visors.

However it works, I love it.

09 Sep 2004 | pb said...

What's a "b-pillar"?

09 Sep 2004 | ek said...

What's a "b-pillar"?

It's the pillar between the front door window and rear-side window.

In general, pillar naming is pretty straightforward: the first is the A-pillar, the second is the B-pillar and so on.

The only instance in which it can get a little confusing is in B-pillarless cars, such as the Mercedes-Benz CL-class coupe. In such cars, which are exceedingly rare nowadays, even though the rearmost pillar is technically only the second pillar from the front, it is still referred to as the C-pillar because the B-pillar is always understood to be the support between the front and rear window. I guess you'd say that the CL has a "virtual" B-pillar.

Most cars have three pillars: A, B and C. But SUVs and minivans, such as the upcoming 2005 Honda Odyssey, have four, in which case the fourth is called, sensibly enough, the D-pillar.

Hope this helps!

09 Sep 2004 | David said...

That car looks cool. Now if it were sold in the US, that would be even cooler.

09 Sep 2004 | Don Schenck said...

That's a beautiful repackaged Mazda 3. Seriously.

I wonder if there's a high-priced option for electronic shading? That'd be cool (pun intended!).

09 Sep 2004 | Brad Hurley said...

That's a beautiful repackaged Mazda 3. Seriously.

That was my first reaction too -- it looks remarkably like the Mazda 3s, right down to the little bulge in the rear panels.

That German Car Fans site always generates a horrendous cascade of popups when viewed in IE Win, somehow circumventing my Google Toolbar's popup blocker. Safari blocks them just fine, though.

09 Sep 2004 | waylman said...

Wow, I'd really like a windshield like that. At over 6'4" I find many windshields don't go quite high enough and block some of what I'd like to see. (I sit with the seat as far back as it will go and then lean the back down to bring my head down (which only takes me back further) from hitting the ceiling in all but the largest sedans) Many times I find myself looking at traffic lights through the sunroof. Depending on where the stop line is, I often find myself leaning forward in a very uncomfortable position, or when I'm thinking, I'll stop a full car length before the stop line. With this car, that would never be a consern. Now if they could eliminate the A pillars so I could see where I'm about to go when turning. No B pillars would be nice for checking beside me, (or the larger blind spot created from my unusual seating position) as well. Hmmm, maybe I just need a glass globe - Jetson's style. Oh well, this car is a step in the right direction anyway.

09 Sep 2004 | Dave W. said...

To make a glass globe for the greenhouse of a car, all we need is the formula for transparent aluminum. If we just go back in time to San Fransico in the late 80's and find captian kirk and scotty roaming around and find that aluminum manufacturer they gave the formula to we could take over the world! Now who here lives in San Fransico?

09 Sep 2004 | Hagbard Celine said...

I live in SF. As soon as I locate the Cetacean Institute in Sausalito I'll start looking for the plexiglass manufacturer.

I think the Institute was designed by the same guy who did the aquarium in Monterey. They look really similar.

09 Sep 2004 | ek said...

Ah yes, Star Trek IV, by far my favorite in the series!

That sequence showing Scottie talking into the mouse as though it were a microphone should be included in any course dealing with usability.

As for the Astra's Mazda 3 connection, were you meaning that literally or just saying that the two are very similar, because Opel is owned by GM, while Mazda is owned by Ford and I can't quite see the two sharing a platform in such a critical segment.

One thing I've wondered is why GM doesn't bring the Opel marque to the U.S. to compete against VW? In addition to the new Astra, they have several really interesting products either available or soon to be available, with none slated for release Stateside.

None of their existing U.S. brands comes close to matching the coolness-factor associated with VW in the mid-market price points, so it would seem like a good addition. Anyone happen to know why Opel has remained a non-U.S. brand for GM?

10 Sep 2004 | Brad Hurley said...

It's probably a good thing that GM hasn't brought Opel to the U.S., because it allows Opel to be more innovative in their designs. Now that GM owns Saab, it's destroying the brand by designing the new models to look "American," like any other run-of-the-mill GM car. I live next door to a Chevy-Saturn-Saab dealer and there's a distinct uniformity to all the cars on their lot.

10 Sep 2004 | Don Schenck said...

Opel was brought to the U.S. in the form of the Cadillac Catera. Not very successful.

10 Sep 2004 | One of several Steves said...

Opel was sold in the States 30-40 years ago. Not terribly successful. Don mentioned the disaster of the Cadillac Catera. That certainly doesn't provide a strong push to bring the brand over here.

And Opel suffers from many of the same things other GM brands suffer from here. They consistently rate very low on quality. They have produced boring cars, at least as far as the European market judges them, for years, although they're finally starting to turn that around with products like this new Astra. (If you want to see how boring the old Astra and their other cars are, check the passenger car selection in Germany. You'll see the old Astra (any Astra not including the word "neuer" is the old version) and how dull it was. Opel, up until this Astra, wasn't exactly on the same playing field as VW as far as any sort of coolness factor.

That, and I've never heard much pent-up demand for Opel in the States, unlike, say, Alfa Romeo.

10 Sep 2004 | ek said...

On the topic of GM and the American car manufacturers in general, I was leafing through the latest issue of Road & Track last night, which provides a preview of all of the upcoming cars for 2005 from all of the manufacturers (it shows all models, not just models new for 2005) and I was absolutely amazed by the horrendously bad cars that still make up the majority of the American manufacturers' model lines.

Abysmal cars like the Chevrolet Impala, Monte Carlo and Cavalier; Ford Crown Victoria; the entire Pontiac line-up save the GTO and upcoming G6; the same for Buick — these are at the heart of our car makers' line-ups.

It's no wonder that the Toyota, Honda and Nissan are eating their lunch at the low and middle parts of the market and that the Euro imports are eating it at the top.

It really was embarrassing for me, as an American, to leaf through those pages. How can we suck so badly at this? What happened to American design and manufacturing?

10 Sep 2004 | One of several Steves said...

I have the same reaction, ek, when looking at car design. With a couple exceptions I'll get into in a second, the American companies have plain and simple abaondoned the *car* business and forgotten how to design cars that appeal to people. They've been too busy relying on trucks and SUVs for all of their profit, and they're starting to lose ground there now, too. When it comes to cars, it's obvious that especially Ford and GM just don't care much about them. It's not just design, it's in construction and performance.

Honda, Toyota and Nissan are succeeding because they understand the American car market better than Ford and GM (Chrysler is showing some signs that they're starting to get it). Americans want comfortable, safe, roomy, reliable cars. Most American drivers equate performance with horsepower and engine size, not handling. (Most Nissans handle like crap at speed, but they're great in a straight line and get going quickly. Americans tend to like that.) And their cars are attractive, if a bit dull.

Ford and GM build unattractive and dull cars, both in design and performance. The new Ford 500 is atrociously dull, and looks pretty much the same as the awful Crown Vic it's replacing. The new Ford Futura is still in the sketch stages, but I'm hardly impressed either (hey, it's VW's grille and Cadillac's headlights on our typical boring body!. You've already mentioned some of the incredible crap that GM is turning out. And I couldn't tell you the last time I drove an American car that didn't have spongy steering, muddy brakes and all the agility of an elephant on ice.

But there is a small number of bright spots starting to appear. While I'm not terribly fond of the GTO or G6 (and the GTO is just a recladded Australian Holden Monaro anyway), at least they've ditched the previous atrocious plastic cladding Pontiac used to put all over everything. But I think the upcoming Solstice is one of the best-looking cars to come from an American manufacturer in I don't know how long. (More pictures here.)

I think Chrysler is the one "American" car company that's finally starting to get it. The Crossfire is gorgeous. (Then again, I'm a sucker for anything reminiscent of Deco and Moderne.) And while it's insanely over-the-top, I think it's brashness is part of what makes the new 300 work so well. And it fits with the typical American car-buyer's tastes - big engine, big room, just big. Chrysler is starting to get it.

There's some hope out there, but it's still pretty dim. Part of what makes cars like the Crossfire or Solstice notable is the incredibly unusual departures they are from the normal sea of crap turned out of Detroit. Most of the interesting design is still coming out of Europe, although a couple Japanese companies are starting to make some very nice-looking cars (like the Infiniti G35 or the Mazda3). But, yeah, it's embarassing how consistently awful American vehicle design is.

11 Sep 2004 | ek said...

Couldn't agree with you more One of several Steves!

The funny thing about Chrysler is that, in my opinion, the only reason they're starting to turn around is because they're no longer truly an American company.

They're owned by a German company, managed primarily by Germans and, the cars that are getting positive ink — the Crossfire and new 300 — borrow heavily from the Mercedes parts and platform bins.

On the GM side, the Solstice was a direct result of the hiring of Bob Lutz, who's an American, but who grew up in Europe and spent a good chunk of his career at the Euro carmakers, including BMW. It's his direct intervention that has also led to the removal of the awful cladding from Pontiacs (that you so rightly derided) and the introduction of the GTO to the U.S. market, which is, as you noted, a rebadged Holden Monaro (and the best thing in the Pontiac line-up right now).

So the only bright spots in the U.S. market today are the result of either direct or indirect European influence. How did we come to lose our way so completely?

You know, as corny as this is, I think there's an analog to be made here between the U.S. manufacturers and the U.S. men's Olympic basketball team. In both cases, we've been so focused on picking the low hanging fruit (trucks and SUVs in the case of the automakers and dunks and no-look passes in the NBA) that we've lost all sight of the basic fundamentals of the game. In the meantime, the fundamentals are exactly what the rest of the world has been mastering.

The sad part is that this isn't a new trend; the Japanese have been eating our lunch for decades now and we still haven't figured out how to build a reliable, quality car. That's just ridiculous.

14 Sep 2004 | audi lover said...

that's one ugly ass auto, i don't care how big the winder is.

14 Sep 2004 | Don Schenck said...

An Audi lover calling a car "ugly"?

Pot ... kettle ... black. Car & Driver called the TT "Audi's answer to the new Thunderbird". Soap bars -- all their cars look like bars of soap.

15 Sep 2004 | ShawSchenck Redemption said...

Well if I'm an Audi Lover, I'd never call my baby ugly now would I?

Car and Driver wasn't talking about the styling when comparing to a Thunderbird (thank you for pulling something out of context, do you work for the media?)

"No question, the look is flawless." -
Car and Driver

15 Sep 2004 | Don Schenck said...

Three things you can't argue: Religion, facts, and taste.

*shrug*

Life would be boring if we all drove Aston Martin's and Maseratis.

18 Sep 2004 | Stomaphagus said...

A real eye-opener for American car nuts is the UK magazine Car. You get a sense of how much more demanding the European customer is for initial quality, handling, and efficiency. The best part about Car is that it's kind of a sister publication to the US's Automobile Magazine, and occasionally you'll see the same cars reviewed. But the conclusions are very different. For example, the review of the new Corvette: for the U.S. it was described as fast and groundbreaking. For the UK it was called fast crap. Same journalist wrote both articles.

22 Sep 2004 | Don Schenck said...

"Fast crap"?

Well ... I guess compared to the legendary English cars, such as ... uh ... ummm ...

22 Sep 2004 | One of several Steves said...

"Fast crap" sounds about right for the Corvette to me. The Corvette hasn't looked good since the 1970s Stingrays.

And, Don, please tell me you're not serious about not coming up with any legendary English cars. The old Jaguar XKE roadsters in the '60s were beyond gorgeous. And, for my money (well, not for my money, because I can't even dream of owning one), Aston Martin has consistently made some of the most beautiful cars ever built. I hear they're kinda fast, too.

22 Sep 2004 | Don Schenck said...

Yeah, when those British hunks are not in the repair shop.

(Joke from Spyderchat)
Q: Why don't the British make electric cars?
A: They can't figure out how to get a motor to leak oil.

23 Sep 2004 | Don Schenck said...

I'm holding out for this!

24 Sep 2004 | One of several Steves said...

Don, I have one word for that Volkswagen: Ick. That front end is awful.

I'm hoping this Alfa Romeo concept becomes reality. One of the most gorgeous cars I've ever seen.

Of course, VW being VW, and Alfa being Alfa, it would be a pretty tough race to see which car spends more time in the shop. Neither company's burning it up on the quality front.

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