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Best cars of 2005:


1. Acura RSX coupe
2. Infiniti FX Sport utility vehicle
3. Infiniti M sedan
4. Jaguar X-Type sedan и wagon
5. Lexus GS sedan
6. Lexus GX Sport utility vehicle
7. Lexus IS sedan
8. Lexus LS sedan
9. Lexus LX Sport utility vehicle
10. Lexus RX Sport utility vehicle
11. Lexus SC Convertible
12. Lincoln Town Car sedan
13. Porsche 911 Convertible и coupe
14. Toyota Land Cruiser Sport utility vehicle

Driving the car of the future?
One California family is paying $500 a month to drive a $1M fuel-cell compact car made by Honda.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A lot may be riding on the compact Honda being leased by the Spallino family of Redondo Beach, Calif., for $500 a month.

The modest-looking car that seats four is the first fuel-cell-powered vehicle being used by a family anywhere in the world. Auto manufacturers like Honda Motor Co. are investing millions to try to make the cars cost-effective alternatives to the internal combustion engine that has dominated personal transportation for the last century.

But even with all the research dollars and development efforts, auto manufacturers like Honda (Research) and General Motors Corp. (Research) can't give a target date when fuel cells are a viable commercial alternative, although GM hopes that fuel-cell autos could be at least a niche vehicle similar to today's gas-electric hybrids within the next 10 years.

Honda leased the FCX fuel-cell car to the Spallino family at the end of June, part of an experiment to see how the cars would hold up to daily driving demands. The New York Times reported that the car cost about $1 million, making it far more expensive than even the many luxury cars that populate Southern California roads and highways.

"When the cars pull up to me, the Porsches and the Bentleys and all that, I just sort of say, well, that's nice, but for what this costs I could buy 10 of those," Jon Spallino told the newspaper.

Despite the cost, the Spallino family is paying $500 a month to lease the FCX from Honda. A Honda executive told the paper that it was important that the family contribute even a relatively modest portion of the vehicle cost in order to get valuable feedback from them.

"The feedback from these consumers will be very astute," Ben Knight, a vice president for research and development at Honda, told the newspaper. "An individual that is paying out of their own pocket for a vehicle will be very conscious of the value received, and the vehicle limitations."

Fuel-cell use hydrogen stored on board and oxygen to produce electricity, leaving only water vapor as a tailpipe emission. They have been around for more than a century and have been used in some commercial vehicle fleets, such as city buses, in earlier tests. Still cost-efficient mobile fuel cells still remain out of reach of the industry at this point.

So far the Spallino family, which was selected by Honda partly because they previously drove a natural-gas powered Honda Civic, give the FCX good marks.

"I use it for everyday life," Sandy Spallino, told the Times. She also drives a Ford Taurus station wagon. "I go to the market in it, I take the girls to school in it, I take them to soccer, just little one-mile jaunts here and there."

Honda convinced a hydrogen supplier to build a refueling station built near the Spallinos' house, the paper reports, but the local fire department, wary of risk of explosion from the flammable gas, has yet to let the station open. So the Spallinos fill up the vehicle at Honda's North American headquarters not far from their home.

The best-known hydrogen vehicle in history is not a good advertisement for carrying hydrogen on board -- the Hindenburg air ship, which exploded and burned in 1937, essentially bringing an end to commercial air ship transportation that was becoming more common at that time.

But auto manufacturers insist that compressed hydrogen on board a vehicle is no more dangerous than gasoline, and the FCX is the first fuel-cell vehicle to be crash tested, according to the Times. Jon Spallino said he's not concerned about the risk of an explosion.

"Everybody says, 'You're driving the Hindenburg,' " he told the newspaper. "I assume that Honda's not going to give me a car that's going to blow up on me."

This year marks our 24th-annual 10Best Cars competition, and we've conducted the past 20 or so of these events at the same rural site about 30 miles west of our home office in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Over the years we've grown used to seeing camouflaged new models and convoys of competitive vehicle sets cruising around on these roads. But during this year's test week, we saw something new.

In two different locations, half of the two-lane country road was blocked off for a few hundred yards. Within the coned-off area, technicians from an unknown Japanese car company were using sophisticated instruments to measure the road surface so they could build a duplicate section of that pavement at their home proving grounds.



We've always known that these roads, with their combination of heavy crowns and less-than-glassy-smooth pavement arranged in variegated twists and turns, provide a challenging test of any vehicle's road manners and control responses, but it's nice to see others have independently come to the same conclusion.

Having such demanding roads is tremendously helpful to us because the task of winnowing the 10Best Cars from the dozens of terrific new models remains as tough as ever.

For 2006, we were presented with a brace of affordable roadsters in the form of an all-new Mazda MX-5 and the eagerly awaited Pontiac Solstice. The new Ford Fusion and the comprehensively redesigned Hyundai Sonata and Volkswagen Passat took on the returning 19-time 10Best-winning Honda Accord, which came reinforced with a fresh face lift.

It was also a big year for V-8 sedans from Detroit, with the new Buick Lucerne, the Cadillac DTS, the Dodge Charger, which is already available with the high-output Hemi in SRT8 guise, and the Chevy Impala SS and Pontiac Grand Prix GXP, which are now available with the latest iteration of the venerable small-block Chevy V-8, complete with cylinder-shutdown systems.

Our rules for inclusion in the 2006 10Best competition are essentially unchanged from last year's. We automatically invite the 2005 winners back and sift through our automotive database to identify other cars that are all-new or significantly upgraded for 2006. Cars we've considered in previous years don't get invited back until they meet our redesign threshold.

Otherwise, all nominees must also have a base price no higher than $71,000. This is 2.5 times the average new-vehicle transaction price as of August 2005. Eligible cars must also be promised for sale no later than January 2006, and the manufacturer must deliver an example to us for our evaluations. Vaporware, in other words, need not apply.

SUV devotees always seem to have an explanation why a sedan or wagon isn't right for them. Popular rationalizations include a perceived need for an elevated seating position, a pumped-up image, or all-wheel drive.

For 2006, BMW neutralized that last excuse by adding its xDrive all-wheel-drive system—similar to that in the X3 and X5 sport-utes, defaulting to rear-wheel drive and delivering up to a 50/50 split via an electronically controlled clutch pack as conditions require—to create sedan models badged 525xi and 530xi. Also new, after a two-year hiatus, is a 5-series wagon, which only comes with all-wheel drive and the high-output 255-hp, 3.0-liter inline-six, making it a 530xi. BMW has declined to keep abreast of Mercedes by offering a V-8-powered wagon.



Not surprisingly, the 5-series acquired a couple SUV-like qualities in the wagon transformation: a higher roof (by 0.9 inch) and a big weight increase. BMW claims all-wheel drive adds roughly 170 pounds and the wagon body style puts on another 210, but our silver test car weighed in at a somewhat bloated 4145 pounds, 505 more than the last 530i sedan we tested.

The wagon's price is hefty, too, starting at $52,095, a $2400 increase over a 530xi sedan and $4600 more than a 530i. Our car came with an impoverishing $10,770 in options, including $1275 for a six-speed automatic, $1800 for an upgraded stereo, and the $2100 Premium package that adds leather seats and a power liftgate.

We also got the optional head-up display, showing vehicle speed as well as cruise-control and navigation info. But it costs $1000, its position on the windshield isn't adjustable as it is on GM vehicles, and you can only get it after coughing up $1800 for the navigation system.

Passenger space is excellent in the sedan and now in the similarly sized wagon. And the wagon's back seat is much more accommodating than the X5's, for example, despite the identical 45-cubic-foot rating. The 530xi has generous footroom under the front seats, and the backs of the front buckets have knee-friendly contours in them.

Unfortunately, BMW is furthering a perplexing trend of tying vehicle functions to the brake pedal. Even though there is a typical automatic-transmission lever, you must apply the brakes to start the vehicle and to shift out of park or, below 5 mph, to shift out of neutral—causing annoyance while trying to emerge from a carwash.

Once engaged, the six-speed shifts smoothly but prematurely in the name of fuel economy. EPA ratings are 20 mpg city and 27 highway, off just 1 and 2 mpg, respectively, from a rear-drive 530i. But we found ourselves flogging the wagon harder to compensate for the added bulk and ended up getting 19 mpg.

As expected, straight-line performance has worsened: 0-to-60 mph happens in 7.6 seconds and the quarter-mile in 15.9, compared with 6.9 and 15.3 seconds for a 530i (with the old 225-hp inline-six). However, our wagon bettered that 530i in grip (0.84 g versus 0.82) and braking (161 feet versus 176) due to optional 18-inch rubber.

There's no great mystery as to why we prefer wagons over SUVs. Here's how the 530xi wagon stacks up against a six-cylinder X5: It weighs 630 fewer pounds, scores better fuel economy, beats it to 60 mph by a half-second, stops from 70 mph to 0 in 11 fewer feet, has better grip around the skidpad, and hauls more cargo with the second-row seats in place.

So if you're serious about having sport with your utility, the chefs here at C/D will always recommend sampling the wagon.

In a couple of weeks, the clock will count down and the ball will drop, while you kiss your mate (or a complete stranger) and ring in the New Year. If you can remember to do so at that hour or even in the days or weeks after, give Robby Gordon a toast as well as he cannonballs his Hummer H3 across North Africa.

Robby Gordon and Co. are going racing over the New Year's break. Sure, it's the NASCAR off-season but Team Gordon won't be running an oval, they are going to go play in the dirt in the 2006 Dakar Rally. Last year, Gordon ran the event for the first time in a specifically modified Touraeg for the Volkswagen/Redbull Team. He enjoyed it so much, he put together his own this year, and managed to convince Hummer, Toyo, and Jim Beam to come along for the ride.

"This is entirely an ‘in-house' effort with factory support from GM and Toyo Tires and sponsorship from Jim Beam," said Gordon after the first day of testing in several locations near the California/Arizona border. "This project had to come together extremely quickly to meet the time constraints for the start of the race which will be in Lisbon, Portugal, on New Year's Eve, so the only way to do it was design and build it ourselves."

The Hummer H3 prototype Gordon and his team have built is a testament to his multiple offroad racing championships and years of racing experience. But to be honest, the prototype is very obviously not a Hummer. Designed and constructed in-house at Team Gordon's Anaheim, California racing facility, it features a slick H3 inspired shell that certainly reminds one of the baby Hummer Beyond the trademark front grille and large stickers, however, there is little actual Hummer DNA in the vehicle. In truth, the two seat "Hummer" is basically a competition-spec sandrail.

Underneath the impressively light (rumored to be less than 150lbs) carbon fiber bodywork is a 4,500 pound alloy steel tube chassis with four wheel independent suspension with 24-inches of wheel travel. Mounted at the rear is a GM-designed, fuel injected, normally aspirated, 427 cid, LS1 series V8 with an alloy block and heads. This engine was built by Katech Engineering in Detroit to specs almost identical to those used by GM Racing's factory Corvettes to win the GT1 Class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, France, on three different occasions. The power output isn't quite what those Vettes ran however, as regulations limit power by use of a sealed induction system using a 37mm inlet restrictor. Gordon reported the output to be in the 290-300 hp range when we caught up with him at an unveiling and test session in Imperial Dunes of Glamis, California.

This midsize four-door luxury sedan comes in just one trim level. Luxury touches include standard dual-zone automatic climate control, a power tilt and telescoping steering wheel, 10-way power front seats, an auto-dimming rearview mirror and an in-dash CD changer. Optional is an impressive-sounding Mark-Levinson audio system delivering discrete 5.1 multichannel playback, utilizing no less than 330 watts of amplifier power and 14 speakers. Other notable options include a navigation system, moonroof and ventilated front seats.
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BEIJING (AP) — China says it has become a net exporter of cars and trucks for the first time, with new Chinese competitors such as Geely Group and Chery Automotive starting to win market share in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

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Click comment to go to storyExports jumped by 133.5 percent in the first 10 months of this year, giving China an export surplus of 7,000 vehicles, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.


Beijing has been promoting the growth of its automakers in recent years as foreign suppliers expand in China, which is expected to become the world’s biggest car market.

The report didn’t give detailed figures for China’s auto exports.

But Michael Dunne, president of Beijing-based consulting firm Automotive Resources Asia, said China’s exports in 2005 would probably reach about 125,000 units.

Some 20 to 25 percent of that total is likely to be made up of vehicles made by Chery and Geely, two Chinese brands that sell abroad for less than $10,000, said Dunne.

“Chinese automobile manufacturers are facing an increasingly competitive market at home,” he said. “They are high volume producers. To compete and survive, they need to export worldwide.”

Geely’s two mainland Chinese auto companies — Zhejiang Geely Automobile Co. and Shanghai Maple Guorun Automobile — sold a total of 96,683 sedans in 2004, up 27 percent from 2003.

The company says it has just over a 4 percent share of China’s market for passenger cars.

Chery has announced plans with American entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin’s Visionary Vehicles to market cars in the United States and says it hopes eventually to sell 2 million vehicles a year.

The company plans to begin offering five models in the United States starting in 2007, including a compact sedan and an SUV.

Africa, Asia and the Middle East are the main markets for Chinese exports, with Syria and Algeria the largest of all.

An exception to that trend is Ukraine, where low-priced Chinese models sell well, Dunne said.

Outside of Geely and Chery, China’s 2005 exports were “bread box” vehicles — pickup truck lookalikes made by companies such as Chang An and Hafei, Dunne said. He said these vehicles have $2,000 to $4,000 price tags at home, where sales are concentrated in relatively poor areas, away from big eastern cities.

China’s domestic auto sales now total about 5 million vehicles per year, with most foreign brands manufactured locally or assembled from imported parts.

Imported cars are primarily high-end models such as the Mercedes S-Class, the BMW 7 and the Lexus, which start at around $50,000.

Honda R&D Japan has expanded with an investment of 2.4 billion baht for Honda R&D Asia-Pacific (Thailand). This company will be operational in 2007 and will have a proving ground.

In addition, Honda will invest another 850 million baht to expand its components operations by four million units annually, which will make it the largest of its kind and second only to Japan and China. The parts will be exported to India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Turkey.

The EcoCar or Aces car project has been shelved indefinitely due to lack of domestic and export demand, a move that contradicts the government's stated policy to save on energy costs and oil consumption.

If the project materialised, it's believed that it would have affected the one-tonne pickup industry, where Thailand is the world's largest producer.

In a nutshell, EcoCar was about to see the light of the day when Watana Muangsook was industry minister, but Suriya Jungrungreangkit replaced him, the project was scrapped. Suriya's family owns the Thai Summit Group, a leading parts supplier to several pickup makers.