Besides giving parents the ability to limit the vehicle’s top speed, the system can also limit a car’s audio volume. Anyone who has been passed by a teenager with the goal of shattering the glass in their car will appreciate that feature. Teenagers will also be able to receive earlier low-fuel warnings and safety chimes when the car reaches 45, 55 and 65 miles per hour.

If that wasn’t enough, the MyKey system even has a more insistant seat belt reminder to ensure your young driver is buckling up. To ensure youngsters aren’t disabling other safety features the driver will not be able to turn off driving aids such as Park Aid and BLISTM (Blind Spot Information System) with Cross Traffic Alert when MyKey is in the ingnition. A Harris Interactive Survey conducted by Ford found that 75% of parents like the speed limiting feature, 72% appreciated the improved safety-belt reminder and  63% like the audio limit feature.

Read more from the Ford press release.

Brian’s Opinion
I’ve just got to ask. Who were the parents that thought that a speed limit feature was a bad idea for a car a teenager would drive? I have a feeling that it was the father who was asked the question and he probably said no because of his belief that the wife might have disabled the top speed on the car for him as well. Sometimes there is more than one perceived teenager in the household.

{ad}I have to admit that my favorite feature with the MyKey system is the ability to limit audio volume. Let’s just be frank, kids that drive down the street with their radio blasting are just complete idiots. The music is not only a distraction to them, but to other drivers around them. Not to mention the song that is usually playing sucks.

Safety will continue to be a huge consideration for cars in the future. Undoubtedly, insurance companies will offer discounts for cars with systems such as MyKey. That will fuel the desire by consumers for these systems even more. I get the feeling that if some teenager wakes up with a 2010 Ford Focus in their driveway on their 16th birthday they won’t be as enthusastic as they might have been for previous models.
It covers all the common parental complaints: The car’s speed cannot exceed 80mph. Radio volume is limited to 44 percent of maximum and, if seatbelts aren’t fastened, no sound will come from the speakers at all. Extra-careful and/or paranoid parents can place warning sounds at 45, 55, and 65mph, blasting a warning of potential reckless driving to the youthful driver.

Ford realizes this is annoying. Susan Cischke, Ford’s group vice president of sustainability, environment and safety engineering even said she hoped to “turn up the annoyance factor a little bit.”

MyKey will be introduced as a free standard feature in the 2010 Ford Focus model. Ford hopes to make MyKey a standard feature on all Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury models thereafter.

Ford-MyKey.jpg

MyKey is built on ID chips already used in keys to help deter car theft, and evolved through changing software. MyKey tracks only the distance traveled by the car, so while it may seem relatively harmless now, parents who want other features to loom over their children — such as point-by-point GPS tracking — may be able to add them on for a fee.

Naturally, teenagers didn’t warm up to the idea. After initial testing, 67 percent of teens said they wouldn’t want MyKey. The number dropped to 36 percent if greater driving privileges were granted. But they aren’t the ones buying the cars . . .

Traffic accidents remain the leading cause of death among teenagers, and Ford has this statistic in mind. I’m uncertain whether a few beeping noises and a speeding cap will make a difference in the long-run, but it’s a noble cause.

Telefonica Blue, skippered by Dutch veteran Bouwe Bekking, won the day’s event ahead of Telefonica Black, captained by Spain’s gold medalist from the Beijing Olympics, Fernando Echavarri.

Third was Puma Ocean Racing of the United States and fourth Sweden’s Ericsson International, captained by Brazilian two-time Olympic gold medallist Torbaen Grael, ahead of the Sino-Irish entry Green Dragon.

Saturday’s regatta, staged in glorious sunshine before around 700 spectator boats of all sizes, involved two races of two laps each around a course that passes through a 300-metre-wide middle gate.

The points gained in the regatta go toward the total that will decide the overall winner of the race in about nine months, when they are due to reach St Petersburg, Russia at the end of a gruelling journey of 37,000 nautical miles.

“It was a very difficult day, the wind shifted a lot but we had a good time, both boats did very well and we enjoyed ourselves,” said Bekker, 45.

Sailing the 70-foot (21.3-metre) single-hull boats, which are designed for the open sea, and not the tight in-port racing, had some crews nervous Saturday.

There was drama at the start of the second race as Team Russia collided with with Dutch entry Team Delta Lloyd, leaving both yachts holed close to the water line and forcing the Russian team to take a penalty turn.

Puma gambled by using the massive Code Zero headsail, and despite initially paying off the US team were overhauled by Telefonica Blue in a dramatic finish in the final stretch.

“We are really pleased with the day. It was an ugly first race, but we’re happy with third overall,” said Puma skipper Ken Read. “The guys like each other and, after so much time, it’s good to go racing. It was a hard day and you have to put yourself in the right spot.”

In the first of Saturday’s two races, Telefonica Blue cruised home almost two minutes ahead of their Black teammates. Both yachts have their training bases in Alicante, and their experience in the light breeze was evident.

Green Dragon, skippered by British Olympian Ian Walker, led out of the traps, before the two Spanish boats surged ahead.

The Ericsson Nordic yacht, the second Swedish entry, was penalised one point for a rules infringement involving the weight of the keel, and finished the day in seventh place overall with just 0.5 points.

Known as the “Everest of Sailing,”, the Volvo Ocean Race is one of the most gruelling and hazardous events in sport.

The last edition, in 2005-06, ended with one sailor drowned at sea and another crew rescued by a competitor after their boat sank.

This year’s 10th edition of what started out in 1973 as the Whitbread race is even more challenging, for the first time crossing the Indian Ocean, through the Strait of Malacca and along the east coast of China, leaving the yachts open to both the risk of maritime piracy and to collisions with unlit wooden fishing boats.

The eight yachts embark on the first offshore leg October 11 through the Strait of Gibraltar then south across the Atlantic to Cape Town, South Africa.

The other eight stops are Cochin, Singapore, Qingdao, Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Galway, Gothenburg and Stockholm, before the finish in St Petersburg, expected in June 2009.

The Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 will open in Alicante, Spain, Saturday with the first of seven in-port races. The action kicks off at 13.00 local time and there have been plenty of changes to the format.

The fleet will race into the wind initially, from a start line at the bottom of the course. Tacking upwind, they will have to pass through a 300-metre wide mid-course gate on every leg. Once through the gate and around the top mark (which they will have to leave on the port) they will head back down the course.

Now sailing downwind they will have to pass through the mid-course gate again. The bottom of the race course will also be a gate, giving the yachts a choice of rounding the buoys at either end, before they turn back up, into the wind for the second and final lap.

The scoring is straightforward – they get a point for each yacht that they beat in each race, and the yacht with the highest number of points from the two races wins the day.

This time around there will be two races each day, both lasting for a couple of laps, with a target time for each race of just 50 minutes. The sailors amongst you can do the maths - the implications for the crew work are stark – with four legs per race that’s an average of 12.5 minutes a leg (give or take a bit).

And with the mid-course gate to be negotiated as well, that means the fleet will be pushed back together every six minutes or so.

That’s going to put a lot of pressure on crew work, especially on boats that were designed to primarily race around the world, rather than around short courses inshore. And it’s going to mean that a clean lane – or space to sail, free from the opposition’s bad air and wake – will be worth more than gold bars in a credit crunch.

The boats are allowed another couple of crew members for these in-port races, so you will find some America’s Cup grinding legends on the crew rosters. I’ve already bumped into (and that can hurt) Andrew ‘Raw Meat’ Taylor on the dock – sailing with Kenny Read aboard PUMA, before returning to duty with BMW Oracle (whatever that entails, these days) and not worrying about the weather in the South Atlantic anytime soon.

Another thing to watch out for is that we are going to be using Addendum Q for protests and penalties.

Boiling it down to the bones, Addendum Q says that the umpires can give on-the-water penalties in the same way as they would in a match race like the America’s Cup. If there is an incident in which one boat thinks another may have infringed a rule, they can ask the umpire for a decision by shouting protest (which you probably won’t hear) and waving a red flag (which you might see).

The umpires can then penalise a boat by blowing a whistle and waving a red flag at the guilty party – who must complete a penalty turn, involving a tack and a gybe, and a minimum rotation of 360 degrees.

If the umpires don’t think a rule has been broken they can wave a green flag. There’s a bunch of other stuff to account for more serious infringements, but let’s hope we don’t need any of that …

The high pressure that has dominated the weather in Alicante recently will continue drifting east, and that will ease the northerly gradient wind over the race course, and veer the wind (shift it to the right, looking into the wind) round to the south-east.

As to who’s going to win and what it’s going to tell us … the opening in-port race of the 2005-06 Volvo Ocean Race was won by Ericsson, who subsequently slid down the rankings to finish fifth overall, with only movistar (abandoned to the elements to sink on Leg 7) and Brunel (who missed the middle half of the race) behind them. So er … like, last then.

And who was last in that first in-port? – ABN AMRO ONE – the run-away winner of the last Volvo – so don’t expect to learn too much.

ROUTE REMINDER

Leg One: Alicante – Cape Town
Leg Two: Cape Town – Cochin
Leg Three: Cochin – Singapore
Leg Four: Singapore – Qingdao
Leg Five: Qingdao – Rio de Janeiro
Leg Six: Rio de Janeiro – Boston
Leg Seven: Boston – Galway
Leg Eight: Galway – Goteborg/Marstrand
Leg Nine: Goteborg/Marstrand – Stockholm
Leg Ten: Stockholm – St Petersburg

The new 6 ably fills the gap created when the Honda Accord grew a little larger and duller in pursuit of mainstream mega-sales.

The Accord outsells the 6 by about 6 to 1, so it’s hard to argue with Honda’s logic, but Mazda has successfully replaced it as the Japanese brand for budget-minded enthusiasts.
$18,550 base model

That budget can get a bit strained when you load up on the 6’s available features, however, pushing the car into the price range of better-handling rear-wheel drive sedans like the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Pontiac G8.

The Mazda 6 handily beats those cars’ fuel economy, although it trails less sporty midsize front-drivers like the Chevrolet Malibu, Accord, Hyundai Sonata, Nissan Altima, Saturn Aura and Toyota Camry.

Ford Motor Co.’s Mazda unit has dropped the slow-selling station wagon and hatchback models from the 6 lineup. The ‘09 sedan comes with either a 170-horsepower 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine or 272-horsepower 3.7-liter V6. Six-speed manual and five- and six-speed automatic transmissions are available.

Prices for the 2009 Mazda 6 start at $18,550 for a base model with the four-cylinder engine and manual transmission. The least-expensive 6 with an automatic is the five-speed $21,705 Touring.
Price offsets style

The six-speed automatic comes with the V6. Prices for V6 models start at $24,130 for the 6s Sport and run as high as $28,260 for a 6s Grand Touring.

I tested a very well-equipped four-cylinder 6i Grand Touring model with the sporty, short-throw manual transmission and a $29,340 sticker.

I also briefly drove a loaded V6-powered 6s Grand Touring that stickered at $32,450. Both cars had the lively performance and nimble handling that have become Mazda hallmarks.

The prices give pause, however. They are at the high end of a competitive set that includes less expensive, but very good, cars like the Altima, Fusion and Malibu.

Mazda compensates for the price with style, handling and some very appealing features the competition doesn’t offer.
More room

Most notable among those is a warning system that alerts you about vehicles in your blind spots.

None of the competitive models offers that addictively useful feature, and several can’t match the optional navigation system and excellent Bose sound system in the cars I tested.

The 2009 Mazda 6 also has more passenger and luggage space than most of its competitors. Passenger room is an impressive 101.9 cubic feet.

The front styling emphasizes flared fenders and a fluid profile that borrows elements from Mazda’s RX-8 and MX-5 sporty cars.

The 2009 Mazda 6’s style and performance make it an excellent choice for buyers who want a midsize sedan that’s not afraid to paddle outside the mainstream.

Contact Mark Phelan at phelan@freepress.com or 313-222-6731.

Marvelous styling and a V-6 version that packs a lot of power help make Mazda6 a midsize contender.
Enlarge image Enlarge     By Ford Motor via Wieck
Marvelous styling and a V-6 version that packs a lot of power help make Mazda6 a midsize contender.

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Mazda says it redesigned its Mazda6 midsize sedan to fix everything people found wrong with the earlier model and to make it nice enough for move-down buyers leaving luxury cars for mainstream price tags and regular-grade gasoline bills.

So what was wrong with the old one, a commendable car that Ford Motor used as the basis for its popular Fusion?

PHOTOS/AUDIO: The 2009 Mazda6 with Healey’s comments

In Mazda’s surveys of people who considered a Mazda6 but bought something else, 25.1% cited a lack of quality, 16.5% cited lack of power and 15% cited lack of size.

Thus, the new 2009 — the firewall is the only piece of metal carried over, Mazda says — is bigger, better built, quieter, better equipped. And significantly more powerful.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Japan | Michigan | Ford Motor | Honda Accord | Healey | Acura | Infiniti | Fusion | Nissan Altima | Flat Rock | Styling

Still, the 170-horsepower Mazda base four-cylinder engine is overmatched by the fours in chief rivals Honda Accord (177 hp and 190 hp) and Nissan Altima (175 hp). Mazda expects 75% of buyers to choose the four.

As for luring well-heeled folks boarding the less-is-more bandwagon? They might not find the sweet, luxurious grace they seek.

Driving three test cars — a four-cylinder with manual transmission, a four with automatic and a V-6 automatic — spotlighted these hits and misses:

• Styling. Marvelous. Not tortured, no gratuitous trim or sculpting. Clean flanks, tail and schnoz. Applause.

• Power. The V-6 steps out like Cap’n Billy’s brand-new Whiz-Bang. It’s so much fun to floor it that you’ll surely ruin any hope of good fuel economy. But you’ll smile a lot.

The V-6 is a Ford design Mazda tweaks and makes in Japan. The four, sufficient if not exciting, is a Mazda powerplant used by Ford.

Ford owns 33.4% of Mazda, enough for control, and the two share hardware.

The Japanese six-speed automatic transmission mated to the V-6 upshifted well but paused distressingly before downshifting under hard acceleration, as when passing another car. Mazda tried but said it couldn’t duplicate the delay. The five-speed auto with the four-banger had no such delay.

The six-speed manual was terrific. A sublime blend of shifting ease and mechanical feel. The spring-loading that separates fifth and sixth gears from the first four could seem stiff to some but helps you shift correctly when in a hurry. Accommodating clutch operation made the manual easy to drive in traffic.

• Comfort. The bigger size, of course, makes it easier to improve comfort, especially in the back seat, where riders get more legroom. And the trunk’s a big ‘un, with a big opening. Better than some full-size cars.

The leather seats in the high-end V-6 test car felt comfortable at first but hard and lumpy after five freeway hours. Mazda disputes that, claiming the seats should feel good always.

Climate control in the V-6 didn’t hold the desired temperature. Took a lot of one-tick-up, two-ticks-down fussing.

• Marginal storage. Nothing but a small bin ahead of the cup holders. Things too necessary to stow in the covered console have to go into the beverage bins, so you have to find someplace else for your latte.

• Suspension, steering. Mazda’s the “zoom, zoom” company, remember, so it skews sporty. Normally OK, but smack a pothole or other sudden, sharp bump, and your fillings will rattle. Speed humps, drainage channels and uneven paving all were soaked up with aplomb.

“In a pothole scenario, it is firm, but we feel we gave it our best shot,” says Kelvin Hiraishi, director of research and development engineering for North American operations. He refuses to concede that stiff equals harsh.

The body leaned more than expected, given the chassis’ stiffness, during simulated emergency swerves and “yikes-that’s-my-turn” maneuvers. The test cars generally felt composed and relatively flat otherwise, though.

Good on-center steering feel. No need to microsteer just to go straight. A tight turning circle carries the agile feel into parking-lot maneuvering.

• Features. You can get a keyless lock and ignition system, satellite radio, navigation, even a blind-spot-warning system.

But you can’t get a backup warning buzzer or rearview camera. And the blind-spot warning can be triggered into irrelevance where guardrails or other barriers sit close to the road.

If you hopped into a Mazda6 with a mainstream frame of reference, it’d feel satisfying — a big improvement over the predecessor and a snazzy, sporty alternative to Altima/Accord/Camry.

If you’d just been in something truly premium, say an Acura or Infiniti, then the Mazda6 would be a step down.

The 2009 Mazda6

• What? Enlarged, powered-up redesign of the midsize, four-door, front-drive sedan.

• When? On sale since August.

• Where? Built at Flat Rock, Mich., Ford-Mazda plant.

• Why? Losing ground to rivals.

• How? Stretch the chassis, rethink, with emphasis on premium.

• Who? 30- to 55-year-olds.

• How much? Special-order SV base model starts at $19,220 with $670 shipping; upscale “s” Grand Touring at $28,930. Well-equipped “s” Grand Touring test car was $32,790.

• How potent? 2.5-liter four-cylinder rated 170 horsepower at 6,000 rpm, 167 pounds-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm; 3.7-liter V-6 rated 272 hp at 6,250 rpm, 269 lbs.-ft. at 4,250. Six-speed manual transmission standard on four-cylinder, not offered on V-6. Five-speed automatic optional on four, six-speed auto standard on V-6.

• How well-furnished? Usual safety gear: front, side, head-curtain air bags, stability control, anti-lock brakes. Base SV has traction control; air conditioning; power steering, brakes, windows, locks; AM/FM/CD stereo.

• How big? A hair shorter, narrower than Honda Accord; it is 193.7 inches long, 72.4 in. wide, 57.9 in. tall on a 109.8-in. wheelbase. Weight: 3,258 to 3,547 lbs.

Passenger space listed as 101.9 cubic feet, trunk as 16.6 cu. ft.

• How thirsty? Four-cylinder rated 20 miles per gallon in town, 29 highway, 23 combined driving with manual; 21/30/24 with automatic. V-6: 17/25/20. Trip computer in four-cylinder, manual test car showed 26.2 mpg in rural and suburban driving, 27.7 mpg in four-cylinder, automatic. V-6 automatic: 24.9 mpg highway, 16.3 mpg burbs.

Volvo will initiate other cost-cutting measures in the face of declining sales and higher raw material costs, the Gothenburg, Sweden-based manufacturer said today in a statement. The company has begun talks with unions regarding the job reductions at plants in Gothenburg and Umea in Sweden and in Ghent, Belgium.

“The company’s customers have become more conservative in replacement of vehicles and some are not being granted loans to finance new trucks,” Volvo said. “The negative market development has been accentuated by the recent events in the financial markets resulting in financial uncertainty and credit restrictions.”

European heavy-truck sales dropped 13 percent in August, the biggest plunge in almost a year. Last month’s drop marked the fourth consecutive monthly decline, the worst run since at least 2004, according to the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. Ford Motor Co. said today it will shut production of Transit delivery vans at a U.K. plant for 17 days before the end of the year because of weaker demand.

`Confirms’ Downturn

“Volvo’s move is basically confirming that there’s a downturn coming,” said Charlie Dove-Edwin, an analyst at MF Global Securities in London. After a 43 percent fall in the share price this year, “a lot of that bad news is in the price.”

Volvo rose 1.7 percent to 61.50 kronor in Stockholm trading, valuing the truckmaker at 128 billion kronor ($18.4 billion).

“A cost-saving program will be introduced throughout the entire Volvo Trucks organization, and it will include measures to improve efficiency in the commercial operations,” Staffan Jufors, chief executive officer of the division, said in the statement.

Volvo spokesman Stefan Karlsson said that the job cuts wouldn’t result in restructuring costs. He declined to give a figure for the planned savings program, which includes efforts to reduce spending on contractors as well as lower expenses for travel and entertainment.

Fewer Workers

Volvo said the job cuts will affect about 400 temporary employees on the night shift in Ghent. That shift will be eliminated by the end of December, Volvo said. The evening Gothenburg shift will be reduced, leading to job losses for as many as 610 people, while about 370 workers will lose their jobs at the Umea cab plant, which will reduce capacity by April.

Volvo also said it will move motor-grader activities to Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, from Goderich, Ontario, in order to consolidate road machinery operations and reduce exposure to changes in the Canadian dollar. The move, which will affect 500 employees, will result in $45 million in restructuring costs in the third quarter, the company said in a separate statement.

The Swedish company had 103,123 employees as of June 30, 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. Daimler AG is the world’s largest truckmaker.

Swedish heavy-vehicle maker Volvo Trucks said it planned to cut some 1,400 jobs in its workforce, citing the need to reduce production capacity over “declining demand for trucks in the European market.”

The measures planned for the coming months included cancelling evening shifts and were to affect plants in the Swedish towns of Gothenburg and Umea, and in Ghent in Belgium, Volvo Trucks chief executive Staffan Jufors said in a statement.

Volvo Trucks had some 21,200 employees worldwide at the end of June. It is part of the Volvo Group that does not include the Ford- owned car division.

Volvo said it was also planning to introduce plans to cut other costs in order to tackle surging raw material costs.

The vehicle-maker said “the negative market development has been accentuated by the recent events in the financial markets resulting in financial uncertainty and credit restrictions,” affecting some of its customers.

“The planned reductions are not only being undertaken to rebalance capacity, but also to increase efficiency in production and to compensate for the higher raw material prices that we are now experiencing,” the statement said.

The lending arm for Ford told investors last month it is substantially scaling back the number of vehicles it expects to lease and warned that if market conditions continue to deteriorate, further losses could place Ford Credit’s lending plan at further risk.

Squeezed by falling used-vehicle prices, as well as continued tumult in the credit markets on Wall Street, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp are significantly scaling back their auto-leasing business. Chrysler LLC ended leasing altogether as a result of tightening credit.

Ford lost $8.7 billion in the second quarter of the year, taking a write-down of $2.1 billion to cover unprofitable auto leases made by its credit arm.

The move confirmed by officials Thursday allows Ford Credit to focus its resources on mainly providing loans and leases for the auto maker’s namesake brand. Chief executive Alan Mulally’s “One Ford” turnaround strategy calls for building up the Ford name and image.

Starting Oct. 1, Mazda will use Chase Auto Finance Chase to finance customers who buy and lease their cars, according to an e-mail from Mazda CEO Jim O’Sullivan sent to the company’s dealers in the U.S. this week. A unit of Ford Credit now provides those services. The news was first reported by Automotive News on Thursday.

Ford owns 33.4 percent of Mazda Motor Corp. At the beginning of 2008, Mazda operated more than 600 franchises in the U.S.

Customers who are currently financed through Ford Credit will continue that relationship until the end of their loan period, according to Ford Credit spokeswoman Brenda Hines.

She said the change will allow Ford Credit to focus on its other brands – Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury. Ford credit also continues to finance loans for Jaguar and Land Rover, which were sold by Ford last year. Ford Credit will continue to write new loans through the end of the year with Mazda to help with the transition to Chase, according to Ms. Hines.

She declined to break out how much of Ford Credit’s revenue is driven by its business with Mazda.

Chase spokeswoman Mary Ann Bean confirmed the details of the program. In July, Chase Auto Finance told Chrysler LLC dealers that the company will no longer finance leases for the automaker’s vehicles.

Long-time Le Mans competitor Mazda is jumping into the American Le Mans Series mid-season with an all-new car. The B-K Motorsports Lola B08/86 Mazda MZR-R Coupe will make its racing debut at the ALMS Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta next week.

“This is the top rung of the MAZDASPEED Motorsports program and we needed to raise our efforts,” said John Doonan, MAZDASPEED Motorsports Team Development Manager. “The B-K team has already invested over 1200 hours into the assembly of the new car and we are optimistic about the final two races of 2008 and are already looking forward to the 2009 Sebring race.”

The first coupe — meaning “closed cockpit” in this case — to compete in the LMP2 class, the car is Mazda’s flagship racecar that will do battle with the Porsches and Acuras that have dominated the LMP2 class for years. The new Lola features the MZR-R engine co-developed by Mazda and AER. The 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder was designed to make 500 hp and 400 lb-ft. of torque, though like all race cars, it will be fitted with a restrictor. The restrictor size has been increased for the new car, but because closed-cockpit cars are required to have air conditioning to regulate cockpit temperatures, the power gains will be negligible. Thanks to the coupe design, the Lola is expected to have 10% more downforce and 7% less drag than a comparable open-cockpit car. The car also features a faster fueling mechanism and an improved fuel collector to cut down pit-stop times.

The car will be driven by the team of Ben Devlin and Geraldo Bonilla, with current Indy Lights champion Raphael Matos rejoining the team for the Petit race. The car will also run at the season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in mid-October.

Lincoln used to be known for what we called “land yachts”. You know, those massive Continentals from the ‘60s and 70s that floated down the road with little road feel and slightly more control from the steering wheel than a rudder on a Hatteras Yacht. They tried to change their image with better product in the latter part of the century be outside of gaudy SUVs, the younger buyers didn’t even consider a Lincoln. With the introduction of the new 2009 MKS ( base prices: $37,655 for a four-wheel drive; $39,655 for an all-wheel drive. Photo courtesy of Lincoln. ) , Lincoln hopes to attract younger buyers with a new brand image that went to boarding school in Europe and got a new wardrobe and driving manners along the way.

Lusciously Lincoln

The first thing you notice when you approach the new 2009 Lincoln MKS is that it doesn’t really look like a Lincoln at all. It has strong European styling cues ( the taillights look like they came from a Quattroporte ) and is seems shorter than its predecessors. It is tall and substantial with clean understated sides adorned by distinctive styling cues front and rear.

If you took the Lincoln emblem off the front and back it would be a challenge to identify the brand—and that is a good thing. With the Lincoln design team launching the MKS as the first example of their new design language, they needed more than a simple evolution. Truth be known, the new MKS has a lot in common with Lincolns of yore—just not ones that their target market will be familiar with. The double-wing grille that forms the face of the Lincoln is heavily inspired by a 1941 Lincoln Continental ( think the grandfather of the car in Entourage ) .

Of course, this middle model of Volvo’s flagship luxury sedan was also the last to be introduced, so perhaps it is really the youngest that does well.

A little history is in order. When first introduced in 2007, the second generation of the Volvo S80 came as a base model with a six-cylinder engine and front-wheel drive, or as a V-8 model with all-wheel drive.

The base model was nice — it actually seemed the better balanced of the two models — but it was the V-8 that had the punch. There was a wide gap in performance and price between the two models.

For the 2008 model year, Volvo added the T6 version. This featured the nice balance of the base model, but it had the kind of power that luxury-car buyers expect.

Credit its 3.0-liter turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine with 46 more horsepower than the base engine.

Granted, it trails the V-8 by 30 horsepower, but that deficit feels inconsequential on the road. The S80 T6 accelerates with authority once over a little initial softness in response.

Aiding performance is a six-speed automatic transmission that delivers properly timed precision shifts. A jaunt to 60 miles per hour takes just 7.4 seconds.

Volvo also added all-wheel drive to the T6, while managing to keep the price within easy reach of a base-model buyer and well below the cost of the V-8.

As a result, “The T6 is the best-selling S80 model by far,” said David Hughes, a sales executive for Gengras Volvo in East Hartford. “This is due to excellent power, respectable fuel economy,” and the fact that all-wheel drive makes a difference in Connecticut, he said.

On the road, the T6 is neither a too-soft luxury car nor a harsh and uncompromising sports sedan. Rather, it lands in a sweet spot with a ride that is firm but sufficiently forgiving to be all-day comfortable and handling that is rewarding even if it is not sports-sedan sharp.

Affecting the ride and handling of the T6 S80 that Volvo loaned us was the optional Sport Package. Among other features, it included a driver-controlled adjustable suspension that offered three settings: Comfort, Sport and Advanced.

The Comfort setting was found to be most comfortable – are we surprised? – while the Sport and Advanced positions tended to firm things up. This reduced lean in corners but also made the response to bumps in the road sharper.

In the end, I selected Comfort while transporting passengers and Sport for solo trips.

Our review Volvo also bristled with the company’s latest thinking in safety features. While a solid body with energy- absorbing front and rear structures, front air bags, front side air bags, side curtain air bags, anti-lock brakes, stability control and brake assist are all standard, along with an innovative anti-whiplash protection system for front- seat passengers, our review car had several safety options.

The first was a blind-spot information system. Using cameras to determine when another vehicle was in the adjacent lane on either the left or right, this system generally worked well, though it could be fooled into generating a false positive, or occasionally a false negative, based on lighting conditions.

The false negative reports were rare, but their presence emphasizes the need to do that blind-spot eye check even with this system in use. This S80 T6 also had the Collision Avoidance Package with its adaptive cruise control, lane-departure warning function and collision warning LED bar lights at the base of the windshield.

All of these systems worked well. Of note, when the collision warning system was set to its greatest distance, it triggered four red LEDs whenever the driver got within the three-second following distance that is now recommended by safety experts and the DMV in its latest driving manuals for Connecticut.

Start closing quickly on a car ahead and all the LEDs would flash brightly.

“The blind-spot cameras are very popular,” Hughes said. “The adaptive cruise control works well, but not everybody wants it. It makes a big difference for folks who do a lot of highway driving, however. They love it.”

In the final analysis, the Volvo S80 T6 is comfortable, responsive and rewarding to drive. It is the automotive equivalent of that all too rare pair of shoes that turn out to be both highly stylish and immensely comfortable.

Paula Says:

What impressed me most about the Volvo S80 T6 was not the fact that I felt instantly comfortable driving the car. Rather, it was the optional safety devices. The blind-spot alert is very good and serves as a reminder that there is a vehicle lurking just out of sight and to the rear. Sometimes a driver might forget that another motorist has foolishly pulled into this position.

The lane-departure warning system is better yet. I can imagine how useful this would be for a driver on a long trip.

The best feature, however, proved to be the adaptive cruise control with its following-distance warning lights. I loved being able to set it and then having the system slow the car to maintain an appropriate following distance when traffic ahead slowed. Its LED warnings when I began to get too close were also useful. For people trained on the old “leave one car length for every 10 miles per hour” rule, which has been thoroughly debunked as not enough, this system could be a lifesaver.

Comfortable and easily driven, the Volvo S80 T6 is impressive. We managed 20.1 miles per gallon on premium, though Volvo says regular is also acceptable.

Jim MacPherson is the host of “The Car Doctor” show Sundays at noon on WTIC-AM. Paula MacPherson is his wife and new-car review partner. He’s 6-foot-plus; she’s 5-foot-one. Send comments, questions, suggestions in care of Special Sections, Hartford Courant, 285 Broad St., Hartford, CT 06115.

Volvo Trucks North America said yesterday that it is staying in the Columbus area, a decision that will save 230 local jobs.

The company had said last month that it planned to close its Delaware County parts-distribution center and relocate to a larger center at a yet-to-be selected site.

Now the company says the new site will be somewhere close to the old one, although a company spokesman gave no explanation for the decision.

“We announced to employees today tentative plans to select a site for a new Volvo central parts warehouse in the Columbus, Ohio, area,” Volvo spokesman Jim McNamara, wrote in an e-mail.

Neither he nor anyone else from Volvo was available to offer details.

Marlene Bell, the wife of a worker at the center, said the news is a relief to everyone involved.

“It’s a great day,” she said. “A lot of people are going to have job security.”

The plant’s workers are represented by the United Auto Workers. A union representative could not be reached for comment.

The announcement last month was part of a nationwide restructuring that also involved closing a Dallas center and reducing the work force at centers in Baltimore, Chicago, Jacksonville, Fla., and Memphis, Tenn.

Keith Dailey, a spokesman for Gov. Ted Strickland, said his office had not yet been informed of the decision. He said Strickland had met with Volvo executives in an attempt to persuade them to stay.

Delaware County officials also said they had not yet heard from Volvo about the decision.

“I’m pleasantly surprised to hear this,” said Delaware County Commissioner Glenn Evans. “There’s been an awful lot of effort to retain this good employer.”

What Car? put the Ford Focus and Ford Mondeo top of their respective categories (”Small Family Car” and “Family Car”), and put the popular Focus ahead of the opposition to become overall Britain’s the best used car of 2008.

“It’s impossible to argue against the Ford Focus when you see exactly what you get for your money. Just £5,200 (05 examples) will buy you a car that’s great to drive, practical, reliable and cheap to run. What more could you want.’” Said Matt Sanger, used car editor, What Car?

The Ford Focus was also the overwhelming choice of Auto Express’s panel of expert judges, which included Jeff Paterson from industry trade bible Glass’s Guide and car trader-turned TV presenter Mike Brewer. They summarised their opinions by saying: “When it came to picking an overall winner, there was no argument. The Focus offers an unbeatable all-round package”.

Both car titles also independently agreed on the same choice of family car. The Best Used Family Car 2008 trophy was taken by the Ford Mondeo. What Car? judges said ” The Mondeo is stunning value on the used market, with the 1.8-litre-petrol versions the pick of the crop. A modest amount of money gets you a sharply styled hatchback that’s spacious and great to drive.”

Auto Express judges said, “In terms of how much car you get for your money, the Mondeo is tough to beat.”

Finally, Ford’s Fiesta has shown its super- mini rivals how best to appeal in the sector, winning the What Car? best super-mini category. “The Ford Fiesta is one of the best-handling super-minis on the market, and shames more expensive rivals. It’s not only practical, but reliable and economical to run, too,” said What Car?

Kevin Griffin, director of fleet operations Ford of Britain and responsible for used car sales nationally, commented: “These top awards recognise the strength in depth provided by the Ford Focus range. Also, it underlines the quality and reliability offered by the Ford range backed up by low cost of ownership and an unmatched dealer network.”

Canadian drivers are looking for better fuel economy and lower emissions but still want vehicles that fit their lifestyles, whether that means having enough space for the kids with hockey gear, towing the boat to the cottage, or having a convenient commuter car. The challenge is to offer vehicles of all shapes and sizes that deliver the capabilities and performance consumers expect.

Ford is making an unparalleled investment in engines and transmissions to boost both fuel efficiency and the fun-to-drive factor for its cars, trucks, SUVs and crossovers. The company has committed to being the best or among the best in fuel economy with every new Ford product in its segment.

For example, the Ford Escape and Escape Hybrid deliver best-in-class fuel economy, partly due to a new, efficient six-speed transmission that will soon be offered in other vehicles. And, the new full-size crossover, Ford Flex, is among the best in its segment for highway fuel economy.
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The Oakville, Ont.-built Flex will also be among the first vehicles to offer EcoBoost, Ford’s new high-volume, affordable engine technology slated for a range of global vehicles - everything from small cars to large trucks.

EcoBoost, which delivers up to 20 per cent better fuel economy and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by up to 15 per cent, will first be available on the Lincoln MKS sedan next year, followed by Flex.

The key to the EcoBoost technology is that customers can experience its benefits right away - customers in North America can expect to recoup their initial investment in a four-cylinder EcoBoost engine through fuel savings in approximately 30 months. A diesel engine in North America will take an average of 71/2 years to pay back, while the cost of a hybrid will take nearly 12 years to recoup, (given equivalent kilometres driven per year and fuel costs).

While other green technologies may be a few years away, EcoBoost will be available in the near-term across a broad spectrum of products and have an immediate positive effect for consumers and the environment. Ford plans to offer EcoBoost in 750,000 vehicles within the next five years.

At the same time, Ford continues to invest in emerging technologies such as hydrogen powertrains, plug-in hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles, while expanding its commitment to bringing gasoline-electric hybrids to market. In fact, Ford was the first North American automaker to offer a hybrid, the Escape Hybrid, which was also the world’s first hybrid SUV. Next year, the Ford Fusion Hybrid, a mid-size sedan, will be available as well.

Cars and crossovers, in general, are growing in popularity as consumer preferences shift. Today, cars and crossovers make up about 60 per cent of Ford’s product lineup, while just four years ago they represented only about 30 per cent.

And people are looking for more features in their cars, whether they are shopping for an affordable compact or a full-size sedan. That’s why Ford has introduced such innovations as Sync throughout its product lineup, even in entry-level vehicles such as the Ford Focus.

Impossible? Perhaps. But it’s a vision that we’re working toward to address a problem of pandemic proportions. The World Health Organization estimates 1.2 million people are killed and more than 50 million are injured in automobile collisions every year.

Tragic as these collisions are, society seems more willing to accept them as a common occurrence while simultaneously viewing an airline crash as unacceptable. For us at Volvo Cars, we would like to see the day when automobile collisions are as rare as airline tragedies.
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To realize this vision, engineers and designers are working on futuristic systems that will allow Volvo vehicles to communicate with other vehicles - regardless of brand - and even the road itself to keep the driver abreast of obstructions, traffic and environmental conditions.

Obviously, this requires a level of industry-wide technological sophistication and infrastructure integration that’s many years away. In the meantime, Volvo Cars has been implementing measures to help Volvo drivers avoid a collision because, frankly, the best way to survive a collision is to avoid it completely.

Since the company was founded in 1927, Volvo Cars has made huge advances in the field of protective safety systems (i.e. three-point seat belts, side impact airbags, whiplash protection systems, collision energy management structures) that protect occupants in a collision.

These systems will continue to develop and improve, but at an incremental rate relative to the progress we’ve seen in recent history.

With today’s sophisticated sensors and processing technology, preventive safety systems that help drivers avoid a collision have begun making significant strides in the modern automobile. Volvo Cars is at the forefront of this movement and believes that with effective implementation, new preventive safety systems can help drivers avoid a collision or - if the driver takes no action and a collision becomes imminent and unavoidable - engage to reduce collision forces as much as possible to improve the performance of protective safety systems.

Take, for example, the City Safety system that will be found on the new Volvo XC60. Utilizing laser sensors, City Safety monitors an area up to 10 metres ahead of the XC60 and is designed to avoid or mitigate the effects of low-speed collisions that are typical in dense traffic, intersections or parking lots.

At speeds up to 15 km/h, if the XC60 approaches a slowing or stopped vehicle in front and the driver does not engage the brakes, City Safety will autonomously apply up to 50 per cent braking power in an attempt to avoid a collision. Between 15 and 30 km/h, the same amount of braking power is applied, but the goal is to reduce speed as much as possible to reduce the effects of a collision.

It’s important that I stress City Safety is a last-step system that engages only when the driver takes no action in an impending collision situation. As City Safety is designed to activate in a forceful way just before a collision occurs, the driver should only experience it engage when a collision becomes unavoidable and, therefore, is unlikely to rely on it. As well, City Safety will not override any action taken by the driver, nor will it engage if the driver is actively piloting the vehicle. City Safety is designed to assist a distracted driver and improve the chances that the vehicle will avoid a collision.

What’s critical about this system is that Volvo Cars has made City Safety standard equipment on every XC60 in every market around the world. The reason for this initiative is the result of our real-world safety research - and recognizing the benefit the system could provide not only to the owners of the XC60, but also the owners of other vehicles on the road.

Since its formation in 1970, the Volvo Cars Accident Research Team has investigated more than 36,000 real-world collisions involving Volvo vehicles. The team fills a database with information about the crashed vehicles to evaluate the performance of existing safety systems and develop their understanding of why the collision occurred in the first place. Armed with this data, Volvo Cars safety experts develop new technologies to deliver better protective safety and new ways to help drivers avoid a collision.

This real-world research has revealed that approximately 75 per cent of all collisions happen at speeds up to 30 km/h and 50 per cent of those collisions occur in urban environments.

With these statistics, the benefits of City Safety become immediately clear. Avoiding or mitigating the effects of the most common low-speed collisions results in reduced repair costs for the XC60 owner as well as for the owner of the vehicle that’s struck. It could also mean reduced likelihood of whiplash injuries for both parties.

The XC60 will also offer a number of systems that help avoid collisions at higher speeds.

Take, for example, the Collision Warning with Auto Brake (CWAB). Utilizing radar and digital camera technology, CWAB will warn the driver if a frontal collision seems likely and - again, if no action is taken and a collision becomes imminent - apply up to 50 per cent braking power to reduce collision forces. Or the Blind Spot Information System (BLIS), which uses digital cameras on the side-view mirrors to notify the Volvo driver with an appropriate amber light if a vehicle is in their traditional blind spot. CWAB is currently available on many Volvo vehicles and BLIS is optional on all models.

Following in the footsteps of CWAB and BLIS, City Safety represents the newest development in our dedication to preventive safety. With its introduction, the company has taken a significant step toward achieving its goal of no one being killed or injured in a Volvo vehicle by 2020. But, more importantly, it’s also a step toward a future where collisions are a thing of the past.

For 10 days in December, Cochin will bask in the international media limelight. The Everest of sailing, Volvo Ocean Race, is all set to meet its date with the Queen of Arabian sea for the first time in history.

The designer, carbon-fiber yachts will be reaching the port of Kochi by December 3, 2008 and will be there for 10 days to witness a visual extravaganza before starting leg three of the race to Sentosa Island in Singapore.

Singapore and Qingdao in China are the other ports of call for the race in Asia. ”We try to take the race to different and wider audiences.

Including Kochi as one of the stopovers further reinforces our commitment to the Indian market. India has hundreds of millions of enthusiastic sports fans and we know they will enjoy this challenging and spectacular race, with its passion, teamwork, adventure and excitement.

The Volvo Ocean Race reflects the values that our customers look for when they choose a car. It’s all about an active lifestyle, adventure and passion – in short its life at the extreme,” says Paul de Voijs, MD, Volvo Car India.

The race, surely, is not meant for amateurs and is an ultimate endurance test. It involves nine months of hard sailing with potential dangers of storms, icebergs and whales. The teams will cover approximately 39,000 nautical miles.

The race will start on October 4, 2008 from Alicante in Spain and will pass through Cape Town, Kochi, Singapore, Qingdao, Rio De Janeiro, Boston, Galway, Goteborg, Stockholm before finishing in July 2009 at St Petersberg in Russia.

The Environmental Protection Agency reported that the average performance of new, 2008 model cars and trucks was 20.8 miles per gallon in 2008, up 0.2 mpg compared to 2007 model year vehicles a year ago, and a 1.5 mpg increase since 2004.

The estimates, which the agency uses on vehicle window stickers on dealer lots, are based on a combination of pre-sale road tests and projections of likely sales of the new model vehicles. But with people buying smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles — and fewer SUVs and pickups — those fleet-wide projections were likely to be off the mark, the EPA acknowledged.

The EPA said it was “extremely likely” the 20.8 mpg estimate for 2008 model vehicles is too low.

Honda Motor Co. led the way with a projected 23.6 mpg, followed by Toyota Motor Corp. with 23.4 mpg. Hyundai Motor Co. was third with 22.6 mpg.

Nissan Motor Co. and BMW AG had estimated fuel economies of 21.2 mpg and Volkswagen AG stood at 21 mpg.

Domestic automakers, which have sold a higher mix of trucks and SUVs, were led by General Motors Corp. with an estimated 19.6 mpg. Ford Motor Co. had an estimated 19 mpg and Chrysler LLC came in at 18.9 mpg.

Among individual vehicle segments, hybrids such as the Toyota Prius (46.2 mpg combined), Honda Civic Hybrid (42.9 mpg combined), and Ford Escape Hybrid front-wheel drive SUV (31.5 mpg combined) led their peers.

The EPA noted that the estimates were based on 2008 model year sales projections that were made when gas was selling at $2.50 to $3 a gallon, far below the $3.50 a gallon average during the sales period.

During the year, sales of midsize sport utility vehicles, large SUVs and large pickup trucks have fallen about 15 to 25 percent below the auto industry’s projections, EPA said.

Fuel-sipping subcompact, compact and midsize cars, meanwhile, have become more popular and vehicles with 4-cylinder engines have gained market share during the span. EPA said the combined factors could lead to higher fuel economy estimates when more sales data is available.

President Bush signed an energy bill last year that requires car makers to meet a fleetwide average of at least 35 miles per gallon by 2020, a 40 percent increase over current standards. Those figures are derived from laboratory testing and the EPA said that average increased to 26 mpg in 2008 compared with 25.7 mpg in 2007.

Environmental groups said the report reflected a lack of good options among many vehicle categories. In the larger truck segments, for example, there was little difference in fuel efficiency among the best performers and the mediocre ones.

“The American people have not had the choice to buy a clean vehicle except for certain sized sedans and the smallest SUVs,” said Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign for the Center for Auto Safety.

But Charles Territo, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents GM, Toyota, Ford, Chrysler and others, said the report showed the lengthy list of fuel-efficient vehicles on the market.

More than 100 vehicle models offer 30 mpg or better on the highway and they “have become extremely popular recently with the rise in higher gas prices,” he said.

Fuel efficiency has become a top selling point at dealerships with the rise in gas prices.

Projected U.S. auto fuel efficiency for 2008 model vehicles nudged higher, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday, but cautioned its estimate was likely low due to sharply higher fuel prices and volatile vehicle sales.

The EPA, which annually calculates expected fuel performance for the entire fleet, said the current projection for 2008 models is 20.8 miles per gallon compared to 20.6 for the year ago period.

“It is extremely likely,” the agency said, that the estimated average is “too low” and would be revised next year once the degree of industry volatility is known.

Nevertheless, EPA officials pointed out the 20.8 mpg figure is the highest since 1993 and stressed that its partial analysis did not contradict incremental gains experienced since 2004.

“This report shows we’re driving in the right direction,” EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson said.

But the Union of Concerned Scientists, called the EPA assumption outdated and said government and industry could be more aggressive on efficiency in the near term.

“Consumers are doing the best they can to buy more fuel efficient cars and trucks, but automakers are not providing enough options in showroom floors,” said Jim Kliesch, senior engineer for the environmental group.

The EPA said the 2008 efficiency calculations do not fully reflect the dramatic jump in gasoline prices this summer or the corresponding slump in sales, especially for Detroit-based manufacturers whose product lines are heavy on less efficient sport utilities and pickup trucks.

U.S. auto sales were down more than 11 percent overall through the first eight months of 2008 compared with a year earlier as tight credit markets, a weak economy and rising gasoline prices pressured demand for trucks and SUVs.

Sales data so far suggest that subcompact, compact and midsize cars are the only classes to have met or exceeded sales projections with gas prices averaging $3.50 per gallon this year, EPA said.

Vehicle product plans were submitted to the government with gasoline price ranges of between $2.50 and $3 per gallon, the EPA said.

An EPA spokeswoman said a final figure for the 2008 model year may not be published until mid- to late-2009.

The inconclusive EPA report is apt to further muddle the picture for regulators working to set longer-range fuel efficiency targets for industry.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been criticized by environmental groups and some members of Congress for drafting a plan for 2011-2015 that relies on outdated gasoline price assumptions. NHTSA uses EPA data in its calculations.

Struggling Detroit automakers are lobbying Congress to extend $25 billion in low interest loans to the industry to help it make more fuel efficient vehicles and meet a federal mandate for 40 percent better fuel efficiency by 2020.

Hybrids led by Japanese manufacturers are the most efficient in the mass market but U.S. manufacturers have made progress, according to product plans submitted to environmental regulators.