Mini happy returns
Your guide to smart wheels and great deals
Mini happy returns
CARtalk
To grasp its true significance, come experience the original minivan By Nick Kurczewski New York Times News Service
M
inivans are the automotive equivalent of the comedian Rodney Dangerfield’s routine about not getting any respect. They’re uncool at any speed. But the upright shape and boxy proportions of minivans make it easy to transport plenty of people and lots of luggage. In fact, they tend to perform the job better than most other types of passenger cars — even their upscale descendant, the sport utility vehicle. No wonder Chrysler scored such a monumental sales hit when it introduced the first minivans to the U.S. market in 1983, for the 1984 model year: the Dodge Caravan and its corporate cousin, the Plymouth Voyager. Sure, the minivan would eventually acquire the stigma of suburban stolidity and soccer mom conventionality — another reason the sleeker, sportier SUV was able to emerge as the more chic 21st-century family hauler. But back in the day, a 1984 New York Times article referred to it as one of “the hot cars coming out of Detroit,” noting that “analysts say the mini-van has created an entirely new market, one that may well overshadow the all-American station wagon.” (Back in the day, too, Times style required that a minivan come equipped with a hyphen.) There had been vans before then, of course, including the Volkswagen microbus, the Ford Econoline and the Chevy Van.
Your guide to smart wheels and great deals
MARK MAKELA / THE NEW YORK TIMES
Automotive writer Nick Kurczewski drives a mint-condition 1984 Dodge Caravan owned by the Historical Vehicle Association in Allentown, Pa.
But the minivan was smaller and — as a separate Times article that year described it — was “a front wheel-drive combination of a station wagon and conventional van,” a vehicle that fits “easily into the majority of car garages.” And at $8,000 to $10,000 (the equivalent of about $18,000 to $23,000 in current dollars), it fit into many a family’s budget. In the minivan’s first model year, Chrysler sold more than 209,000 of them, a remarkable number for a rookie season. By the peak, in the late 1990s, the company was selling more than 600,000 a year. All of which was context for my recent
opportunity to take a drive down memory lane by putting a mint-condition 1984 Dodge Caravan through its spongy-ride paces. Despite being more than three decades old and having been owned by the same family for 28 of its years, the Caravan I drove had only 89,000 miles on it. And it still had its original engine, paint job, immaculate brown and tan cloth interior with fake wood trim, and even the Dynamic Noise Reduction AM/FM cassette stereo that it carried when it rolled down a factory assembly line in Windsor, Ontario. Continued on page D3
For more automotive news, Car Talk and listings, visit autos.seattletimes.com
By Ray Magliozzi
Electrics not quite ‘zero impact,’ but still cleaner than gas Dear Car Talk: I recently began driving an all-electric car, thinking I was reducing the negative environmental impact of driving. A co-worker has confronted me by saying that I am actually doing more harm than good, due to the rare Earth metals needed for the batteries. He says, furthermore, that when the car has lived out its life, the disposal will be especially troublesome for the environment. What is your opinion? Did I make a mistake by going to an all-electric car? — Paul A: I think the mistake you made was listening to that co-worker, Paul. I believe his conclusion is pretty much all wrong. Electric vehicles (EVs) do not have “zero impact” on the environment; there’s no question about that. But they have less of an impact than gasolinepowered cars. First of all, it’s cleaner and more efficient to produce power at a central location (a power plant) than it is to produce power in everybody’s individual cars. Continued on page D3
AUTOreview
Visit autos.seattletimes.com
2017 Toyota Corolla
Renewed appreciation for the minivan found Continued from D1
The only thing that might have made it scream 1984 any louder would have been a “Where’s the Beef?” bumper sticker. The vehicle is such an artifact of its time, in fact, that it is owned by the Historic Vehicle Association, in Allentown, Pa., where it is garaged in august company. The association’s National Historic Vehicle Register features automotive glitterati like a 1947 Tucker, the first-ever 1967 Chevrolet Camaro and a 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe race car — a multimillion-dollar classic now considered one of the most valuable American-built cars of all time. Its homely pedigree notwithstanding, the Chrysler minivan helped transform the U.S. automotive landscape, according to Mark Gessler, president of the Historic Vehicle Association, who was good enough to let me take the vehicle for a spin. Brandt Rosenbusch, an archives manager for more than 300 historic vehicles owned by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, is not shy about extolling the first minivan’s significance: “It did change everything. There was nothing like this when it came out in 1983. It was radical for its time, really.”
Chrysler at the time was no stranger to small vans, having produced the compact Dodge A100 van from 1964-70. But the A100 was very much a work truck at heart, and far from the suburban-tuned conveyance that the true minivans would someday become. It would take a pair of highprofile executive defections to bring the minivan to life in Auburn Hills, Mich. When Hal Sperlich and Lee Iacocca moved to Chrysler from Ford Motor in the late 1970s, they took with them a concept for a small van that had been under consideration at their former employer. At Ford, the idea had fizzled. But at Chrysler, where Sperlich and Iacocca had greater leverage and access to a range of small, front-wheel-drive vehicle platforms — first introduced on the 1978 Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon — the plans accelerated. The coming minivans would also use a stretched version of Chrysler’s K-car platform, itself a variation of the unibody construction found in the Omni and Horizon. Chrysler still owns the very first minivan that rolled down the assembly line in 1983, with
CONCEPTcar
MARK MAKELA / THE NEW YORK TIMES
It may be boxy and drive like a rolling sofa, but the 1984 Dodge Caravan and its progeny helped transform the automotive landscape.
Iacocca, by then the chief executive, behind the wheel. Rosenbusch said that it remained one of the most beloved models in Chrysler’s historical collection. It’s clear the minivan revolution didn’t include tire-smoking acceleration, as I learned when I pressed the loaner’s gas pedal to the floor. The four-cylinder engine delivers approximately 100 horsepower. That, combined with the column-shift automatic transmission, results in forward momentum best described as relaxed. But twirling the brown plastic
steering wheel, I found the Caravan surprisingly nimble for its age, even if repeated hard cornering might produce motion sickness. The ride is springy and comfortable, like an old sofa. Settling into a comfy cruise, I tried out that Dynamic Noise Reduction radio, letting it scan until it caught an FM signal. Fittingly, through those Reagan-era speakers came Twisted Sister’s rock anthem “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” The song is from an album that came out — when else? — in 1984.
CARtalk: Are electrics Earth-friendly? Continued from D1
A hybrid with Chinese styling What could make an SUV stand out in a market overrun with them? How about a bonsai tree? Chinese automaker GAC — that stands for Guangzhou Automotive Group — unveiled the EnSpirit concept, a small four-door SUV with a retractable cloth roof. Inside are light wood accents and a long center stack that features a little bonsai tree in the rear. The EnSpirit is a plug-in hybrid, and GAC says it can go around 60 miles in electric mode before the small gas engine kicks in. Although GAC says it hopes to sell vehicles in the U.S. by 2019, it won’t say whether the EnSpirit — or anything like it — could eventually be sold here. AUTOS STAFF
It’s also easier to clean up, maintain and monitor one smokestack (the power plant’s) than it is to do those things for a million smokestacks (all of our tailpipes). And even if you’re charging your car from the dirtiest power plant, running on 100 percent coal, electric-car expert (and, to be fair, advocate) Jim Motavalli says you’d still reduce climate emissions by 30 percent to 40 percent over individual gasoline-powered cars. And, of course, not all of our power plants are run on coal: We have a mix of coal, natural gas, nuclear and, increasingly, wind and solar now. Plus, our power plants have slowly been getting cleaner. And if the whole electric grid continues to move toward cleaner fuels, that will
only make the argument for electrification stronger. As far as the rare Earth metals in the batteries, those components are still very valuable. So the manufacturer will give you a huge credit for returning the old battery pack when you buy a new one. Then, Paul, there are smaller environmental benefits, like not having someone’s exhaust blowing into your passenger compartment while you sit behind him in traffic. And not breathing gasoline vapors at the pump every time you refuel. So I think you are a net positive for the environment. Not to mention that you’re paying a third of the price per mile for electricity that your buddies are paying for gas. Got a question about cars? Contact Ray through the website cartalk.com.
SPEEDread Site visits during game demonstrate power of those automotive ads While a familiar team may have walked off the field as the big winner of Super Bowl 51, all-new vehicles attracted the most attention of car shoppers on Edmunds, a car shopping and information platform. Edmunds analysts tracked traffic to brand and model pages on both its desktop and mobile sites during the game to see which automotive ads were most successful in driving immediate interest. Percentage lifts are compared to average Sunday traffic levels on Edmunds. “Using the Super Bowl to generate awareness for a new brand or product is a tried-and-true advertising tactic, and this year proved it still works,” said Jessica Caldwell, executive director of industry analysis for Edmunds. “If you think about what it takes for someone to look away from an exciting game or halftime show to go online and research something, odds are it’s because it’s something they’ve never heard of and they’re compelled to find out more. These ads could have been the first time many consumers saw models like the LC or the Niro, and Alfa Romeo is still a very new brand to many in the U.S.” While not all brands and models who advertised saw a lift in traffic when looking at the data cumulatively for the entire game, many did see immediate spikes during the quarter their ad aired. Traffic to the Honda CR-V rose 6 percent when their ad aired in the second quarter of the game, and traffic to Honda overall rose 14 percent. Models with the highest lifts in traffic on Edmunds: Lexus LC 500
1,710 percent
Kia Niro
869 percent
Alfa Romeo Giulia
802 percent
Buick Cascada
459 percent
Audi S5
431 percent
Mercedes-Benz AMG GT
391 percent
Toyota Mirai
42 percent
Land Rover Range Rover
11 percent
Chevrolet Silverado 1500
5 percent
Acura RDX
4 percent COMPILED BY AUTOS STAFF
Your guide to smart wheels and great deals
Autos is produced by the Advertising Publications Department of The Seattle Times. To advertise in Autos, contact your accountYourexecutive orandcall 206-624-7355. guide to smart wheels great deals For more, visit autos.seattletimes.com. Editor: Al Kemp [email protected]
Mini happy returns
CARtalk
To grasp its true significance, come experience the original minivan By Nick Kurczewski New York Times News Service
M
inivans are the automotive equivalent of the comedian Rodney Dangerfield’s routine about not getting any respect. They’re uncool at any speed. But the upright shape and boxy proportions of minivans make it easy to transport plenty of people and lots of luggage. In fact, they tend to perform the job better than most other types of passenger cars — even their upscale descendant, the sport utility vehicle. No wonder Chrysler scored such a monumental sales hit when it introduced the first minivans to the U.S. market in 1983, for the 1984 model year: the Dodge Caravan and its corporate cousin, the Plymouth Voyager. Sure, the minivan would eventually acquire the stigma of suburban stolidity and soccer mom conventionality — another reason the sleeker, sportier SUV was able to emerge as the more chic 21st-century family hauler. But back in the day, a 1984 New York Times article referred to it as one of “the hot cars coming out of Detroit,” noting that “analysts say the mini-van has created an entirely new market, one that may well overshadow the all-American station wagon.” (Back in the day, too, Times style required that a minivan come equipped with a hyphen.) There had been vans before then, of course, including the Volkswagen microbus, the Ford Econoline and the Chevy Van.
Your guide to smart wheels and great deals
MARK MAKELA / THE NEW YORK TIMES
Automotive writer Nick Kurczewski drives a mint-condition 1984 Dodge Caravan owned by the Historical Vehicle Association in Allentown, Pa.
But the minivan was smaller and — as a separate Times article that year described it — was “a front wheel-drive combination of a station wagon and conventional van,” a vehicle that fits “easily into the majority of car garages.” And at $8,000 to $10,000 (the equivalent of about $18,000 to $23,000 in current dollars), it fit into many a family’s budget. In the minivan’s first model year, Chrysler sold more than 209,000 of them, a remarkable number for a rookie season. By the peak, in the late 1990s, the company was selling more than 600,000 a year. All of which was context for my recent
opportunity to take a drive down memory lane by putting a mint-condition 1984 Dodge Caravan through its spongy-ride paces. Despite being more than three decades old and having been owned by the same family for 28 of its years, the Caravan I drove had only 89,000 miles on it. And it still had its original engine, paint job, immaculate brown and tan cloth interior with fake wood trim, and even the Dynamic Noise Reduction AM/FM cassette stereo that it carried when it rolled down a factory assembly line in Windsor, Ontario. Continued on page D3
For more automotive news, Car Talk and listings, visit autos.seattletimes.com
By Ray Magliozzi
Electrics not quite ‘zero impact,’ but still cleaner than gas Dear Car Talk: I recently began driving an all-electric car, thinking I was reducing the negative environmental impact of driving. A co-worker has confronted me by saying that I am actually doing more harm than good, due to the rare Earth metals needed for the batteries. He says, furthermore, that when the car has lived out its life, the disposal will be especially troublesome for the environment. What is your opinion? Did I make a mistake by going to an all-electric car? — Paul A: I think the mistake you made was listening to that co-worker, Paul. I believe his conclusion is pretty much all wrong. Electric vehicles (EVs) do not have “zero impact” on the environment; there’s no question about that. But they have less of an impact than gasolinepowered cars. First of all, it’s cleaner and more efficient to produce power at a central location (a power plant) than it is to produce power in everybody’s individual cars. Continued on page D3
AUTOreview
Visit autos.seattletimes.com
2017 Toyota Corolla
Renewed appreciation for the minivan found Continued from D1
The only thing that might have made it scream 1984 any louder would have been a “Where’s the Beef?” bumper sticker. The vehicle is such an artifact of its time, in fact, that it is owned by the Historic Vehicle Association, in Allentown, Pa., where it is garaged in august company. The association’s National Historic Vehicle Register features automotive glitterati like a 1947 Tucker, the first-ever 1967 Chevrolet Camaro and a 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe race car — a multimillion-dollar classic now considered one of the most valuable American-built cars of all time. Its homely pedigree notwithstanding, the Chrysler minivan helped transform the U.S. automotive landscape, according to Mark Gessler, president of the Historic Vehicle Association, who was good enough to let me take the vehicle for a spin. Brandt Rosenbusch, an archives manager for more than 300 historic vehicles owned by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, is not shy about extolling the first minivan’s significance: “It did change everything. There was nothing like this when it came out in 1983. It was radical for its time, really.”
Chrysler at the time was no stranger to small vans, having produced the compact Dodge A100 van from 1964-70. But the A100 was very much a work truck at heart, and far from the suburban-tuned conveyance that the true minivans would someday become. It would take a pair of highprofile executive defections to bring the minivan to life in Auburn Hills, Mich. When Hal Sperlich and Lee Iacocca moved to Chrysler from Ford Motor in the late 1970s, they took with them a concept for a small van that had been under consideration at their former employer. At Ford, the idea had fizzled. But at Chrysler, where Sperlich and Iacocca had greater leverage and access to a range of small, front-wheel-drive vehicle platforms — first introduced on the 1978 Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon — the plans accelerated. The coming minivans would also use a stretched version of Chrysler’s K-car platform, itself a variation of the unibody construction found in the Omni and Horizon. Chrysler still owns the very first minivan that rolled down the assembly line in 1983, with
CONCEPTcar
MARK MAKELA / THE NEW YORK TIMES
It may be boxy and drive like a rolling sofa, but the 1984 Dodge Caravan and its progeny helped transform the automotive landscape.
Iacocca, by then the chief executive, behind the wheel. Rosenbusch said that it remained one of the most beloved models in Chrysler’s historical collection. It’s clear the minivan revolution didn’t include tire-smoking acceleration, as I learned when I pressed the loaner’s gas pedal to the floor. The four-cylinder engine delivers approximately 100 horsepower. That, combined with the column-shift automatic transmission, results in forward momentum best described as relaxed. But twirling the brown plastic
steering wheel, I found the Caravan surprisingly nimble for its age, even if repeated hard cornering might produce motion sickness. The ride is springy and comfortable, like an old sofa. Settling into a comfy cruise, I tried out that Dynamic Noise Reduction radio, letting it scan until it caught an FM signal. Fittingly, through those Reagan-era speakers came Twisted Sister’s rock anthem “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” The song is from an album that came out — when else? — in 1984.
CARtalk: Are electrics Earth-friendly? Continued from D1
A hybrid with Chinese styling What could make an SUV stand out in a market overrun with them? How about a bonsai tree? Chinese automaker GAC — that stands for Guangzhou Automotive Group — unveiled the EnSpirit concept, a small four-door SUV with a retractable cloth roof. Inside are light wood accents and a long center stack that features a little bonsai tree in the rear. The EnSpirit is a plug-in hybrid, and GAC says it can go around 60 miles in electric mode before the small gas engine kicks in. Although GAC says it hopes to sell vehicles in the U.S. by 2019, it won’t say whether the EnSpirit — or anything like it — could eventually be sold here. AUTOS STAFF
It’s also easier to clean up, maintain and monitor one smokestack (the power plant’s) than it is to do those things for a million smokestacks (all of our tailpipes). And even if you’re charging your car from the dirtiest power plant, running on 100 percent coal, electric-car expert (and, to be fair, advocate) Jim Motavalli says you’d still reduce climate emissions by 30 percent to 40 percent over individual gasoline-powered cars. And, of course, not all of our power plants are run on coal: We have a mix of coal, natural gas, nuclear and, increasingly, wind and solar now. Plus, our power plants have slowly been getting cleaner. And if the whole electric grid continues to move toward cleaner fuels, that will
only make the argument for electrification stronger. As far as the rare Earth metals in the batteries, those components are still very valuable. So the manufacturer will give you a huge credit for returning the old battery pack when you buy a new one. Then, Paul, there are smaller environmental benefits, like not having someone’s exhaust blowing into your passenger compartment while you sit behind him in traffic. And not breathing gasoline vapors at the pump every time you refuel. So I think you are a net positive for the environment. Not to mention that you’re paying a third of the price per mile for electricity that your buddies are paying for gas. Got a question about cars? Contact Ray through the website cartalk.com.
SPEEDread Site visits during game demonstrate power of those automotive ads While a familiar team may have walked off the field as the big winner of Super Bowl 51, all-new vehicles attracted the most attention of car shoppers on Edmunds, a car shopping and information platform. Edmunds analysts tracked traffic to brand and model pages on both its desktop and mobile sites during the game to see which automotive ads were most successful in driving immediate interest. Percentage lifts are compared to average Sunday traffic levels on Edmunds. “Using the Super Bowl to generate awareness for a new brand or product is a tried-and-true advertising tactic, and this year proved it still works,” said Jessica Caldwell, executive director of industry analysis for Edmunds. “If you think about what it takes for someone to look away from an exciting game or halftime show to go online and research something, odds are it’s because it’s something they’ve never heard of and they’re compelled to find out more. These ads could have been the first time many consumers saw models like the LC or the Niro, and Alfa Romeo is still a very new brand to many in the U.S.” While not all brands and models who advertised saw a lift in traffic when looking at the data cumulatively for the entire game, many did see immediate spikes during the quarter their ad aired. Traffic to the Honda CR-V rose 6 percent when their ad aired in the second quarter of the game, and traffic to Honda overall rose 14 percent. Models with the highest lifts in traffic on Edmunds: Lexus LC 500
1,710 percent
Kia Niro
869 percent
Alfa Romeo Giulia
802 percent
Buick Cascada
459 percent
Audi S5
431 percent
Mercedes-Benz AMG GT
391 percent
Toyota Mirai
42 percent
Land Rover Range Rover
11 percent
Chevrolet Silverado 1500
5 percent
Acura RDX
4 percent COMPILED BY AUTOS STAFF
Your guide to smart wheels and great deals
Autos is produced by the Advertising Publications Department of The Seattle Times. To advertise in Autos, contact your accountYourexecutive orandcall 206-624-7355. guide to smart wheels great deals For more, visit autos.seattletimes.com. Editor: Al Kemp [email protected]
