Posted: Friday, December 30, 2005.

The Best of 2005 and the Not So Great

By Ed Kemper
Honolulu, Hawaii

Hold on to your hats, it is the time of year for the annual Wheels banquet/luau to present the awards for the good, bad and ugly in automotive land.

Sad to say, the annual budget ($7) for the banquet/luau caused the invitations to this grand event to be limited to one invitee—yours truly. Thus, over a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut with a Dr. Pepper, the staff of Wheels (yours truly) thought over the cars tested over the last year to come up with the annual awards.

As you have been warned in the past (and surely have forgotten), the prizes only relate to the 50 or so cars, trucks and SUVs tested in the year 2005 by Wheels. Thus, the Grand Touring Hybrid Plasma Xbox iPod 4-door sedan you just bought for $88 down and monthly payments for rest of your life may not be in the award winning picture.

So without further delay, here are the awards in the various categories I simply make up on the spot and may not make any sense whatsoever. Save your applause to the end.

When did this land from Mars
Every year there is one car that attracts undue attention when parked nearly anywhere. People want to know what it is or if they know what it is, they want to get up close and personal. Not so surprising this annual prize in the past has gone to the huge or the miniature (Hummer vs. Mini). This year it has swung back to the small in the form of the Lotus Elise, a 2000-pound racecar with fenders. Everyone wanted a look at this distinctive and stunning car, albeit small.

Battle of the H’s
This year the talk of the automotive town were the H’s—horsepower and hybrid. Clearly, towards the end of the year, hybrid was the winner in almost every car conversation.

In the horsepower and speed department, the Pontiac GTO with its 400 hp V-8 was the fastest car tested with a 0-60 time in the 4.6-second range. On the slow front, the inexpensive Scion xA putted along at a 0-60 time of 10.6 seconds, but has a gas mileage rating of 32 city/38 highway.

Since the 3 hybrids tested this year (Honda Accord, Ford Escape, and Toyota Highlander) were the second and third generation units with larger, standard engines supplemented by electric motors, the gas mileage, although very good for the size of the vehicle, do not win the mileage trophy. That goes to the brand new Honda Civic sedan with a highway rating by the EPA of 40 mpg with an automatic transmission, no less.

Best Vehicle for Hawaii
This is award actually has rules (heaven forbid). Since Hawaii is unique because of its high gas prices, tight quarters (at least in Honolulu), and no need to drive super long distances, the annual best award goes to the vehicle that sells for less than the average sales price for all vehicles sold in the U.S. (now about $27,000), is relatively small with good carrying capacity and is quick and maneuverable. Previous winners have been small SUVs (i.e., Ford Escape) or midsize sedans (i.e., Mazda6 and Toyota Prius).

This year the winner is the Audi A3 with a great combination of sport wagon features, good gas mileage (24 city/32 highway) and speedy demeanor (0-60 time of 6.2 seconds). Admittedly, its base price of $25,450 is bumping up just under the cap set for this award.

Bang for the Buck Award
Another car that caused a great deal of stir this year because of its excellent rendition of an American classic was the new Ford Mustang. Not only does it look the role of a sport coupe, it acts it with a 300 horsepower V-8 on the GT model but with pricing under 25gs. As a bonus, the V-8 runs on regular gas, and it is rated at 18 mpg in the city.

Pricing Power
Not surprisingly, an Italian exotic car was the most expensive of the Wheels test vehicles this year. Starting at a mere $101,500, the Maserati Quattroporte zoomed up to $127,990 with options, including about $2000 just for fold down wood tables built into the back of the front seats.

About 90 percent less expense is the Scion xA, which wins the cheap seats award. It starts at about $13,000, but alas, no beautiful wood tables are available as an option.

Where does it Fit Award
Every year there is one vehicle that is good, but hard to force into a category. In previous years, the SUV/pickup Ford Explorer Sport Trac and the GMC Envoy XUV SUV with the rear roof that disappears were winners in this group.

This time around, the mini minivan Mazda5 is the pick of the litter. It is truly a van about the size of a compact, but is tall and roomy with sliding rear side doors for easy entrance and exit.

Best SUV
I am cheating on this one by simply picking the most expensive SUV, which is also the best—the all-new Mercedes ML series. It has a great V-6 powerplant tied to a 7-speed automatic with a very good-looking interior. But, as the saying goes, it ain’t cheap with a starting price of just above $40,000.

At about $33,000, the Toyota Highlander Hybrid is another good choice since it still has V-6 power and excellent gas mileage (about 32 city mpg). But it is much more expensive than the regular Highlander, similarly equipped.

The Little Engine That Could
The best engine popped up in an unexpected vehicle—the Chevy Cobalt SS. It has a small 2 liter supercharged four cylinder powerplant that produces 205 ponies, has good gas mileage, and is quiet and vibration free—a good combination by any measure.

Truck Award, Sort of
Instead of the he-man award to the brawny truck of the year, the best truck was the new Honda entry, the Ridgeline with its numerous innovations (see below) yet accommodations for five in the cabin without any rough stuff in the ride department.

Big Bucks Award-Sedan Version
This one is very difficult to pick because the 4 candidates (Audi A6, Acura RL, Cadillac STS, and Infiniti M) are closely matched across the board, and I like all of them for different reasons. The A6 has clean lines and a good looking interior, the Acura RL is 4 wheel drive and has a great navigation system, the Cadillac has power and continues the Caddy good looking styling theme, and the Infiniti is well priced and is a computerized whiz kid. I just cannot make up my mind, so you pick.

Sure there are others
Of course, there were other vehicles tested this year, but many times there are not enough in a category to really make an award. This would include mid sized sedans, sports cars, minivans, compacts, etc.— Feel free to applaud now.

The Good the Bad and Ugly

The Good

Some One Read the Directive
The new Fords this year all placed some controls where they make the most sense. The power locks are next to the door handle, and the power mirror control is by the power mirror.

More Speeds
On the low priced end, Ford and VW now have 6-speed automatic transmissions on various models. Not only does that help with acceleration, but gas mileage as well. On the luxury front, Mercedes is up to 7 speeds with its automatic.

Truck Trunk
In one of those "why did not anyone think of this innovation before", Honda in the Ridgeline has a watertight, lockable trunk built into the pickup bed. Also, the Ridgeline has a tailgate that swings sideways or falls flat like the traditional pick up tailgate.

Light Me Up
In a smart move, Buick, in its LaCrosse, and Chevy, in its Uplander, placed the interior light control switch on the dash and not on the ceiling light. The end result is it is easy to see and use.

Seats "R" Us
Unlike most SUVs, the new Land Rover LR3 has 5 individual seats in the back so that you can have lots of cargo/passenger choices.

Hold This
Instead having to fumble around in the interior to look for an umbrella when it is raining out, the VW Passat has a puka in the side of the driver’s door to store the umbrella so that it is easy to find.

Throw Away the Cover
In the old days to make a convertible look really cool, the folded top had to be covered by a separate cover that was hard to install. Mazda and Ford in the MX-5 and Mustang convertibles have essentially engineered the tops so when they are folded they are even with body’s surface and look good without a cover.

Video Is Back
The 2006 Honda Civics have a two tier gauge setup with the speedometer at the top and the tach at the bottom both looking like they were taken from an auto game found on a Xbox machine. But they look good and are completely functional.

Bad and Ugly

Phantom Fifth Passenger
Many sedans say that 5 people can be accommodated, but the middle of the rear seat is a joke because of a hump in the seat cushion and on the floor. Pontiac in the GTO and G6 Coupe has the right idea by just making the rear seat truly spacious for only two.

Too Much
Do we really need a power glove box in the Audi A6?

Woodies
Much of the "wood" on many cars is plastic that is made to look like wood, but does not. Even worse, is when the wood that looks like plastic. Give me Jaguar real wood any time.

Give Me Back an Antenna
Some cars (Dodge Charger, for example) have no exterior antenna and guess what suffers—stereo reception.

– Ed Kemper is the auto columnist for the Honolulu Star Bulletin and MidWeek, the Weekend. He also hosts Wheels Hawaii TV on Oceanic Cable-Channel 16 in Hawaii, which is shown on Wednesday at 12:30 PM, Thursday at 1:00 PM and 5 PM, Friday at 10:30 PM and 9:30 PM, and Saturday at 9:30 AM and 4:00 PM.

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