Toyota 4Runner Driving Impression

Recently I had the opportunity to drive a 2008 Toyota 4Runner for a few days while my daily driver was being repaired due to running over debris. While familiar in some respects from previous ownership of three Toyotas ('95 Camry XLE V-6, '94 Supra Twin Turbo, '99 Solara SLE V-6), I also found some aspects objectionable even compared to a 14 year-old model. First the circumstances of the accident which is another lesson I learned that I can add to previous articles, "Accidents - what I've learned" and "What Traffic School should teach - lessons for all of us".

While in heavy traffic I was changing lanes from right to left to avoid the slower traffic from merging lanes. I ran over some debris left in the road by a landscaping company pick-up truck. I chose to swerve back into my lane rather than have my momentum carry me too far, possibly into the other lane. Regardless it probably wouldn't have mattered. Obscured by the cars in front of me, I caught a brief glimpse of green leaves and the handle of a wooden tool and yelled an expletive as I ran over some items.

I called CHP and saw that the suspect truck and another vehicle were on the side of the road. Lessons for recourse: Pull over too and inspect the damage before it's too late. Don't believe CHP will make it to the scene on time prior to the offending vehicle leaving. Don't count on fellow motorists to report items falling off of vehicles.

Anyway, the initial impression was one of familiarity with the interior. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. But the seats were the big objection. Being cloth covered was okay, but they were very shallow and when the seat bottom tilt was adjusted all the way, it still didn't seem to enough. The material and design seemed as if they came from a Corolla from the early eighties. Totally unacceptable in any vehicle that costs over ten grand. The problem with the support only in the small of your back is the bumpy ride. The swaying motions meant your upper moves around while your lower back stays supported. Not very comfortable if you have back pain or even if it's tender or sore. The floor is also very close to the bottom of the seat so your feet are out in front of you, instead of down. However, this seemed to be a result of the high floor height for increased ground clearance. Truly truck-like.

Speaking of truck-like, the ride definitely gave the impression of off-road capability. More "jiggly" than harsh, the driver is acutely aware of what each each corner is doing. Impacts are absorbed well, you just know they are there. It wants to go off-road.

The interior has similar designs from Toyotas of the past. Another example of sticking with what works. The climate controls were unique 5-spoke buttons which worked fine and were intuitive. But what I did notice is the text on the buttons was too dark and combined with a dark interior, didn't stand out enough. Sunglasses just made it worse. Despite the good feel of the controls, the dashboard is too far from the driver. Keep in mind, with you legs out in front of you, it creates a greater distance than if they go down a bit. So reaching for the dash controls requires leaning forward if have long legs. Even if you have long monkey-arms like me.

Acceleration however is effortless. Seemingly aggressively geared and with a lightly sprung pedal, speeding seemed easily, even in inappropriate places like parking lots. It was fairly fast with WOT (wide open throttle) to 60mph being quite satisfactory. In fact, it was downright quick and effortless. Gas mileage suffers as a result, however. Alright, did I open the hood? No I didn't. I acted like my non car- DNA brother and didn't even bother. I'll take an educated guess that it was the V-8 because it scooted!

The 5-speed automatic responded well but I am not sure I'm sold on the multiple detent shifter gate. I did get used to it after a while but the first few times shifting to and from reverse I would look down to see why it seemed jammed only to find it was a matter of moving it side to side.
The rear hatch offered spacious cargo capacity which doesn't hide anything from prying eyes. However the door was excessively hard to close, basically requiring both hands. I doubt "they are all like that" - as in all SUVs. When you've got your laptop and lunch bag in one hand, your keys and whatever else in another, even a tall male who spends time in the gym will frown, or get frustrated, with the effort.

Consider the daily usage when buying any used car. Every car has it's quirks, and for my use, sitting high up isn't all it's cracked up to be sometimes.
____________
Got a question about cars you would like answered? Want to know about performance, racing, modifying, shopping, makes, models, events, etc? Ask me here: AskRobAboutCars@gmail.com and I'll do my best to answer your question and publish it here on Examiner.com!

170mph at dusk: American LeMans racing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

The second weekend in October saw the American LeMans series racing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca near Monterey, California. The weekend was packed with racing action highlighted by the title event on Saturday afternoon. When four hours of top-level racing at speeds reaching approximately 170mph with driver changes and multiple pit stops has a .662 second margin of victory, you know you've seen something special.

This race also marked the retirement of the great racing champion Gil de Ferran who also appropriately won in the Acura ARX 02a race car after being dogged for quite a while by the Fernandez racing Acura from the P2 class, even regaining the lead after a pass into the slowest turn.

The other big story was the fierce battle between the Porsche and Corvette in the GT2 class at the end of the race. The Corvette all over the back of the Porsche lap after lap. An illegal pass by the Corvette by crossing the white line of the pit lane exit going into turn 2 was called back. Then the Corvette tried unsuccessfully to pass again on the next lap, bumping the Porsche before turn 3 and getting a little loose in dust. Finally in the last turn on the last lap, the Corvette bumped the Porsche from behind which ended up with the two side-by-side in a drag race towards the checkered flag with the Porsche forcing the Corvette towards the wall. The resulting contact, either between the two or the 'Vette and the wall caused the Corvette to spin in front of the Porsche, crossing the track and crashing hard into the opposite wall, wrecked and in second place. Check out the video here.

The drivers, Jorg Bergmeister in the Porsche and Jan Magnussen in the Corvette have been placed on a two race probation leading into the 2010 season. More details here. Jorg has been in the position of being squeezed out before, notably at Sebring losing to Ferrari. However considering Magnussen may have had a faster car, he couldn't get a clean pass and Jorg obviously wasn't going to lose the last race of the season due to being bumped in the last turn. If you can't do it cleanly, then don't try it.

There were some unfortunate signs of the economy affecting the event besides a lower entry count. There was no big screen for the main grandstands which actually has the most limited view of the circuit, nor for the stands between turns 4 and 5. Quite unfortunate considering how much occurs on the other parts of the track. The car count was lower as well but isn't as bad as it sounds and I'll get into that later.

The vendor area was also smaller than usual but still offered a great selection of clothing for men, women and children. All racing/automotive themes, of course. Piloti shoes was also there along multiple paraphernalia and excellent model car vendors. A special mention of Sin City clothing and Need For Speed Design with their automotive-themed jewelry and items such as bracelets, wallets, pens, rings, etc. One of the major sponsors, Patron Tequila had an all-day party in the vendor area with a lot of cute tequila girls. After all, for women spectators, the paddock area is full of studly drivers and team members, right? Even though the number of car manufacturer tents was down to one this year, Chevrolet had a nice display with a helpful staff and free Corvette Racing t-shirts for filling out a marketing survey.

Even a first-time race attendee commented on how organized the event was. From parking assistance to the layout, children's play center, go-kart track and even clean bathrooms, it was well done.

Some observations regarding the food and drink. The mixed drinks were a bit weak but the quesadillas were spectacular and right across from a tent with a variety of nice, cold English Ales. Across the Cooper Tires pedestrian bridge in the vendor area, their were other food and drink areas also. How much better could it get?

The sounds of the cars were simply extraordinary. The Corvettes and Panoz were thunderous going around the racetrack. The pushrod V-8 motors were a stark contrast to the screaming fury of every other high revving overhead camshaft motors of every other car on the track. The difference between the pushrod Ford powered Panoz and the overhead cam, 4-valve per cylinder Ford GT was especially interesting. Oddly, the Rahal Letterman Racing (yes that David Letterman) V8 BMW M3s seem to sound not unlike a street-legal M3 with aftermarket intake and exhaust modifications. Perhaps the closest resemblance of the race cars from a sound standpoint.

Driver access: As usual with the ALMS, the driver and team access is excellent. Autograph sessions with lots of posters and/or "hero cards" were common sights with many fans. Unheard of in the past, fans were allowed on the starting grid before the race, standing next to the cars and drivers with great photo opportunities.

Race cars: The major manufacturers represented in the ALMS were Acura, Lola, Porsche, Chevrolet, Panoz, BMW, Ferrari, Ford and Jaguar. The lone Ferrari dropped out due to a mechanical problem and the Dodge Viper was missing from this event. The Jaguar was basically testing for next season and it looked great. Also missing were Audi and Peugeot who only ran a few races this season in the US. Thirty-two cars on the starting grid was actually a somewhat low number but since there were 4 classes of cars running, the passing and dicing was frequent. Also, since this is the last race of the season and on the West Coast which is far for many teams to travel, not everyone was there. Next year the race will be in May which should mean more participation due to being earlier in the season and hopefully a better economy. More teams, more car counts.

Car corrals, while a little smaller than previous years, are always good display for fans of Corvette, Porsche, Audi and BMW. Even the Acura NSX club had a huge turnout in the past and I spotted some cars this year too. On the forums, it's common to read complaints that high-end car owners rarely drive their cars hard. Besides track days during the work week, owners of such are supporting the racing efforts of "their" cars. Not only were there two Ford powered cars in the ALMS race but 3 Mustangs in the Speed GT race, including one driven by Boris Said. Are you a "Said Head"? So I'm calling out Mustang and Ford GT owners to come check out the racing action too. And since Viper is heavily represented in Speed GT, where were you guys too?

Speed GT is one of the best racing series in world. High horsepower street-related sports cars compete in a 50 minute sprint which was a great conclusion to the weekend and racing season. The best bet next year is to attend the race (obviously) and record it on the DVR. Then you can watch what you missed to really get the big picture. Don't miss it, in person or on TV.

_____

Got a question about cars you would like answered? Performance, racing, modifying, shopping, makes, models, events, etc? Ask me here: AskRobAboutCars@gmail.com and I'll do my best to answer your question and publish it here on Examiner.com!

High Mileage Tires - Test Results on the Toyota Prius

The Tire Rack recently tested six environmentally friendly tires designed for low rolling resistance for higher miles per gallon vs. the original tire equipped on the Toyota Prius. The results were surprising and quite promising. See the report here, "When Round and Black Becomes Lean and Green"

It was always an interesting dilemma regarding tires and how they perform. Get more tread life from your tires and sacrifice performance or emergency maneuver capability (braking distance) due to hard compounds. Achieve better performance and suffer from faster tire wear and higher cost of ownership.

I never understood why low rolling resistance tires would wear out quickly. The assumption was always a hard tire would have less rolling resistance and therefore would last longer. Instead, as explained by Matt Edmonds, Vice President of Marketing at The Tire Rack, the low rolling resistance tires in the past would "give themselves up" to the road, hence wearing faster. But due to advances in tire compound technology and tread design, this is no longer the case. These modern tires now show advantages over the same model that comes on the car, in this case a Toyota Prius, from the factory. Check out the Test Result Charts here.

An interesting observation is that the original Goodyear Integrity tires perform the best in the dry, but not by a large margin. However, they were rather poor in the wet. Especially in wet braking distance, inexcusably worse than the rest. Of course, when the tire was first introduced, it may have been the ideal choice for cost and performance.

Tread wear would be the final aspect that a 550 mile test loop cannot show. However, looking in the "warranty" link for each tire, most have very good tread life warranties. Contrast that with more expensive (albeit larger/wider) high performance tires that last 20,000 miles if you're lucky. and the appeal of lower operating costs and less waste looks very attractive. One thing about all-season tires, they don't react negatively to cold temperatures like high performance tires. Here is my idea for a tread temperature measurement feature.

Take a look at the test results and you'll see not all tires are created equal. The variance is not just the tread pattern. The Tire Rack is an excellent resource for information including tires and equipment. Even if you don't buy from them, when shopping for new tires many retail outlets will have a price matching policy to within a certain amount so you always know you're getting a good deal.

Now when shopping for tires for your daily-driver, a low rolling resistant tire is no longer a compromise in safety or tread life. As technology advances with a continued emphasis on safety and miles per gallon, tires continue to be another avenue of improvement as well.

Got a question about cars you would like answered? Performance, racing, modifying, shopping, makes, models, events, etc? Ask me here: AskRobAboutCars@gmail.com and I'll do my best to answer your question and publish it here on Examiner.com!