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Show Friday, January 7, 2000, THE DAILY HLRALD, (www.hcraldcxtrt.com), Provo, Utah Page Dl --- GRH CLICK & CLP.CK On Tom & Ray Vote now on worst cars of millennium TOM: Now that you've seen every millennial list you can stand, here comes one more! But we want YOU to help us create this one. RAY: We're compiling a list of the "Worst Cars of the Millennium." Now, opviously, we are only going to nominate cars that we've actually driven or worked on so no matter how Ben Hur's chariot refused times many to start, we can't put that on our list . ' TOM: We're going to collect all of the nominations, then ask our readers and radio listeners to vote on the top 10. ' RAY: Or bottom 10, as the case TOM: So to get the ball rolling, we'll toss out a few of our own nominations (and while you may disagree with us, please strive to use printable language in your responses): RAY: We'll start with the Dodge AspenPlymouth Volare. This was the successor to the venerable Dodge Dart. But it came along right about the time the federal government was insisting on cleaner air, and Chrysler was having a terrible time getting the emissions low enough. : TOM: So they tweaked the carburetor on these cars until the engine would only run when it was 74 degrees out and sunny. Any deviation from that, and the car would stall. RAY: Here's another one: the Chevy Corvair. Due to its design, this little beauty offered every driver the opportunity to smell leak-..- . ing gasoline from the front and leaking oil from the back at the same time. And we haven't even gotten into Ralph Nader's safety complaints. TOM: The Yugo. In a class by itself. It set modern day benchmarks for lousy quality. It also inspired the famous question: Why do Yugos come Ivith rear window defrosters? To keep your hands warm when you push! RAY: And we can't forget the Fiat 128: "The father of the Yugo." This is the car that the Yugo was later based on. It's another car which didn't understand the meaning of the term 'body integrity" and couldn't deal vith wet weather. TOM: Then there's the Ford Pinto, vhich blew up when you hit it from lehind. A minor problem. RAY: And there's the old olkswagen Bus (I know we're going o get hate mail about this one). As omanticized as it was in the '60s, it landled terribly, got blown all over he road in the wind, didn't have any Jeat to speak of and used the driver's ront legs as its first line of defense fn an accident. fi TOM: Now, I'm sure many of you disagree with our first batch Of nominations or have bigger heaps you want to see on the list. So write to us mi care of this newspaper, or visit our KVeb site, the Car Talk section of kvww.cars.com, and send us your riominati ons from there. We'll have more to say on this in the coming mid-engin- e weeks. Got a question about cars? Write to jftcA and Clack in care of this newsthem by visiting the paper, or section ofcars.com on the $uir.lalk Web. ' up for a vote JIM MATEJA Chicago Tribune DETROIT Adopting a philosophy that it is far bet- ter, and certainly less costly, to have the public give a thumbs down to a concept car than a production model, General Motors will ask consumers to serve as judge and jury over nine vehicles it will unveil oh the 2000 auto-shocircuit starting in January. For the second year in a row, GM will take concepts out of hiding in its design studios ajid display them at auto shows to gauge consumer reaction and determine whether to build the cars or stuff them in the recycling bin. This year, GM brought out five concepts, the Cadillac Evoq roadster, Pontiac Aztek Chevrolet Nomad performance sedan, Oldsmobile Recon minivan and Buick Cielo retractable hardtop convertible. As reported, Evoq (2002) and Aztek (an early 2001) have been given production approval while Cielo is undergoing refinement while being to an OK. Recon and Nomad got the thumbs sport-utility- CZ7TTm; x ;tX K A 0 ,4 I if , last-minut- maybe, World Wide By io pui9 more 'nifty' concepts 2001 Pontiac Aztek GT RAD sport utility vehicle is an some minivan elements. with sale It will go on e this-clos- e down. Mack Smith (GM chairman), Harry Pearce (vice chairman) and Rick Wagoner (president) have directed that 50 percent of our new products have, to be innova tive and 50 percent momeri? whereas it used to be that only 5 percent of our new vehicles were innovative," said Wayne Cherry, GM's vice president of. design, while taking the media on a tour of the automaker's design center for an early peek at the Nifty Nine for the 2000 show circuit. Cherry noted that "innovative" is a third door on the Saturn coupe, and "momentum-generated" is restyling the long successful Chevy truck for '99 and calling it Silverado. In other words, there's been no Viper, Prowler, Beetle or TT coupe from GM. "In the last 10 years, we've had one innovative product, the EV1 electric car," tourtold while us Wagoner ing the design studios. Delf Dodge, director of product and technology concepts at GM's design center, was equally blunt. "Ten years ago, you wouldn't see ' any concepts like these because we felt we dictated the future and our philosophy was 'If we build it, they will come,'" she told us. will Motors General unveil its nine concepts on a staggered basis. The Saturn CV1 and Olds Profile will bow at the Los Angeles show in January; the Buick LaCrosse, CMC Terradyne, Opel CVC and Chevrolet SSR at the Detroit show a week later; the Pontiac Piranha and Chevrolet Traverse at the Chicago show in February; and the Cadillac 2000 in Geneva in March. The vehicles from the L.A. and Detroit shows will be shipped to Chicago to join the Traverse and Piranha, but Chicago will not see the Cadillac 2000 Concept. The turn-generat- full-siz- e , The AssiH'iak'd Pre Hybrid utility: The later this year. first time all nine will be together will be at the New York Auto Show in April. All nine concepts fall are innovative category, Wagoner said, who pointed out that they were culled from 300 concepts in various stage of development. Here's a brief rundown on what you'll see at the auto . shows: Saturn CVl The first concept from Saturn looks like a station wagon with lots of large windows. . "We're using it to set the stage and help the public get ready for different vehicles in the future," said Kate Zak, brand character design manager. Saturn will offer its first SUV for 2002 built off the wagon compact platform, with speculation that a larger SUV built off the same midsize platform as this concept would follow a few years later. In regular configuration, the CVl seats five. A pair of jump seats that fold down out of the front seat backs expand seating to seven. All but the driver's seat folds flat to increase cargo room. Rear side doors are a bifold design. Open the doors and slide them forward for access to the rear cargo hold or slide them backward for easier passenger access into the rear seat or to store a wheelchair. (Unlike minivan doors, which can be cumbersome, all the concepts' sliding doors move out from the body for easier operation.) CVl comes with "smart" front and side air bags whose deployment and speed is determined by whether an adult or child is in the seat and whether the occupant is belted or not. Like the 2000 Toyota ECHO, the instrument panel is moved from in front of the driver to the center of the dash. Oldsmobile Profile Supercharged, back sedan is larger than smaller than Intrigue, Aurora. Power rear doors slide backward for a wider entry space as well as for easier movement in and out of the car in tight parking spaces that don't allow swing-ou- t doors to open fully. The door design benefits families with kids and older motorists. The rear seat slides back to increase rear-sea- t legroom or folds flat into the floor to increase cargo capacity. There's also a power rear for easier cargo loading. Profile has controls, Internet access via satellite, Global Positioning System navigation with realtime traffic information, and an audio library so you can listen to books rather than the radio. Computers automatically adjust shock and strut settings as well as vehicle attitude and activate traction control when needed to maximize ride, handling and stability lift-gat- e voice-activate- GMC Terradyne e job-sit- e To eliminate the problem of getting into or out of a full-- ' size truck when someone parks too close and tradition- doors won't al swing-ou- t fully open, Terradyne's front door glides forward, its rear door glides rearward and a running board drops down to give you a convenient step in or out. The cargo bed is only 6 12 feet long, but press the release handles and a 1 12- foot bed extension pulls out like a dresser drawer. Cargo bed walls also contain built-istorage boxes for tools or fishing gear. Other noteworthy touches include a rear monitoring video system to eliminate blind, spots, power outside mirrors that also extend outward when needed for trailer towing and an 5,000-wat- t generator with n , on-boar- hatch- f lt Opel CVC The concept from GM's European subsidary will never be sold here but has some cute features worth noting, such as heated cupholders for hot chocolate and a plastic sheet in the rear hatchlid that can be pulled out to and serve a3 a tobogan chocolate the hot justify cupholders. inter-grate- d d This pickup has a cab" seats five that "mega adults and a short cargo box. "workhorse" It's a that serves as a "family" vehicle on weekends. full-siz- 110- - and 220-vooutlets in the tailgate should you need electricity at the worksite or campsite. d Chevrolet SSR Car or a truck? Though it's built off the pickup platform, Chevy calls it a roadster with more function. In the design center, it's the vehicle being touted. Cabin width has been expanded and the gearshift lever moved from the floor console to the steering column to allow room for two adults and a child seat between them. SSR features a power retractable hardtop that lifts, folds and slides into hiding in front of the S-1- 0 pickup bed. considered adding rear seats, but that's not what this vehicle is about," said Ed Welburn, brand character designer, pointing to the aimed at making this primarily a "We V-- 8 roadster high-performan- with truck functionality. is due Note' that the soon for a styling remake, and SSR could be a S-1- 0 low-volum- e, high-prof- cle in the niche vehi- it stable, somewhat like Ford offering an Explorer Sport Trac for 2001, an Explorer SUV with a pickup bed. "This isn't a reply to Sport Trac, this is a reply to those who love roadsters," Welburn .' said. S-1- 0 Chevrolet Traverse An utility truck offshoot of the noteworthy because it looks a lot like the Blazer, which also is built off the platform and which comes up for S-1- , S-1- 0 0, a styling remake in for 2001. The rear seats slide 7 12 inches forward or backward or fold flat into the floor depending on whether you need more leg or cargo room. Chevy calls it a concept car family powered by & V-(-5 4,5-lite- r with a little more oomph now than the offered in Blazer It features a liftgate (you might call it a hatchlid) and a tailgate in back that drops down to ease loading and unloading. Joel Piaskowski, brand character design manager, says Traverse "levels the playing field between cars and trucks and is a vehicle that bridges the gap between car and truck." 4.3-lit- er V-- 6 Cadillac 2000 - No concept moniker, but sources say this sedan will be the 2004 rendition of the Seville when it goes into production. The luxury sedan sports a front end similar to that on the Evoq roadster coming out in 2002 as well as a hint of the bustle-bacrear end in Seville the on used Caddy the features-includNoteworthy ventiand reclining lated front and rear seats; power adjustable brakegas pedals that move to the driver rather than forcing short drivers to move the seat too close to the steering column housing the air bag; Internet access at all four seating positions; glass roof with individual panels that lift and tilt for ventilation and k mid-'8()- rear doors that swing open from the middle of the car outward. But the most noteworthy feature is a fingerprint identification system. Press your thumb against a door pad to verify your fingerprint ID to unlock the door and once inside press your thumb against another pad to start the car. In a divorce, death or trade-in- , "the thumbprint would be reprogrammable," said Caddy spokesman Chris Pruess. e |