RA Lancer mentioned in Automobile mag
Mar 5, 2004, 02:48 PM
#1
Evolved Member
Thread Starter
iTrader: (5)
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Park Ridge, IL
Posts: 2,753
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RA Lancer mentioned in Automobile mag
Here's an article I found that briefly mentions the Ralliart Lancer, but in a good way. I think this is a big thumbs up for the car 
Let me type up this whole article..
Crapulent Luxury
by Jamie Kitman
Like dumb-*** teenagers, the purveyors of some of out most esteemed luxury automobiles have been experimenting with dangerous drugs recently, and, if theyre not careful, it may kill them. I speak of heinous cocktail spreading around the industry like wildfire, the one that twins over-the-top electronic frippery with systemic cost cutting, then adds a little too-fast-to market. This is not merely the life lesson about the inadvisability of mixing the grain with the grape, then adding the cactus. High-tech and low-cost are the worst party combo to hit the street since inhaling driveway sealant while abusing Nyquil PM was in vogue among PCP heads. Yecchh! And yecchh.
Consider my weeks in cars. On saturday, I drove to Detroit from New York in a Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart. Not a luxury automobile, not an expensive one, but rather frisky and reasonably refined economy cruiser from Japan (pity about the automatic in my press car) that got me to the Motor City at a brisk average speed without a second thought. This basic auto didn't tax the drive with things we used to take for granted, such as mustering the energy to roll up our own window or lcok out own door, but it did ask me to make reference to maps and the relative speeds of other cars on the road, as well as steal occasional glance at the gauges. It didn't tell me which way to go, it didn't invite me to adjust my microclimate autonomically, and it didn't massage my rump by voice command. It did what a car is supposed to do: it went down the road.
On Monday, I kicked up the luxury quotient several notches when I picked up a 2004 Jaguar XJ8, a car this magazine has a Four Seasons test and a car this magazine loves. Except that in this low-mileage, $66,000, all-bells-and-whistles automobile, I found a bright yellow parking-brake light on the dash permanently illuminated, even though the parking brake was off. Nothing meriting a road flare, ming you, but an indication that something was wrong nonetheless. A low-coolant warning also flashed, even though underhood inspection revealed a full supply of coolant.
Then, on an elevn-degree evening, while traveling 80 mph in the passing lane on I-75 between Flint and Detroit, the front left tire suffered a mighty blowout--tread separation of the Conti, it transpire. I was able to execute the Continental drift safely into a closed, unlit weigh station. I had no gloves, no lights, and a tire to change. With the intense cold and a limited gasoline supply on board, as well as a world of freelance Michigan psychos rolling by on the freeway, ready to rob and kill me to get money for Nyquil, I'd have to work fast.
Rootling through the Jaguar's trunk, I found the jack, the lug wrench, and the full-size spare, which I wrestled out. But then, while the cold numbed and crippled my hands, the metal wrench stripped the cheap, soft (and unmovable) aluminum glamorizing covers on three of the lug nuts. They used to specify actual chromed nuts, but that evidently costs too much, so now I had to wait an hour for some guy in a flatbed to rescue me. Being a frank sort, when he arrived, he told me (a) that the lugs were indeed stripped (he hypothecated that the lug wrench was the wrong one, notwithstanding the fact that it was the unused factor issue) and (b) that the 1-800-4-JAGUAR operator must have been kidding when she told me that I could rent a car to get home in Troy, Michigan, at ten p.m. Subtract any remaining good humor and several more hours of sleep from my evening.
On the bright side, all the waiting around did give me occasion to reflect on the difference between Jaguars new and old. And old Jaguar certainly could have left me stranded by the side of the road, but not because a frickin lug nut was stripped. And my brake warning light might have come on, but only because my brakes had actually failed. Whice markes progress of some sort for the 2004 model, I supposed.
On Wednesday, Jaguar of Troy delivered the good news. We'd soon be the proud caretakers of a new $800 alloy, as the original was destroyed when the tire quit. The bad news was that it was out of stock until Thursday, so Wednesday evening I took the magazine's Four Seasons BMW 745Li for my frive back to New York.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the BMW's "check engine" light was shining brightly through the night--the third time, I'd learn, we'd been thus afflicted in out short tenure with the car, with no clear explanation. Back in New York, I brought the 7-series to a local dealer, who was kind enough to lend me another 7-series while repairs were effected. Leaving this lot, I noticed the air bad and seat-belt warning light were aglow.
On Friday, I brought my Mercedes into the shop. A mechanic told me he was having a devil of a time with the new C-, S-, and E-class models. Seems the electronics are so complicated they're still writing code for cars that have already gone on sale. Which might help explain why Mercedes was ranked thirty-first out of thirty-two brands in a recent German owner satisfaction and quality survey. Owing to a slavish obsession with on-board electronic one-upmanship, German cars are starting to behave like British cars: badly. It's almost enough to make you reach for the driveway sealant.
Let me type up this whole article..
Crapulent Luxury
by Jamie Kitman
Like dumb-*** teenagers, the purveyors of some of out most esteemed luxury automobiles have been experimenting with dangerous drugs recently, and, if theyre not careful, it may kill them. I speak of heinous cocktail spreading around the industry like wildfire, the one that twins over-the-top electronic frippery with systemic cost cutting, then adds a little too-fast-to market. This is not merely the life lesson about the inadvisability of mixing the grain with the grape, then adding the cactus. High-tech and low-cost are the worst party combo to hit the street since inhaling driveway sealant while abusing Nyquil PM was in vogue among PCP heads. Yecchh! And yecchh.
Consider my weeks in cars. On saturday, I drove to Detroit from New York in a Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart. Not a luxury automobile, not an expensive one, but rather frisky and reasonably refined economy cruiser from Japan (pity about the automatic in my press car) that got me to the Motor City at a brisk average speed without a second thought. This basic auto didn't tax the drive with things we used to take for granted, such as mustering the energy to roll up our own window or lcok out own door, but it did ask me to make reference to maps and the relative speeds of other cars on the road, as well as steal occasional glance at the gauges. It didn't tell me which way to go, it didn't invite me to adjust my microclimate autonomically, and it didn't massage my rump by voice command. It did what a car is supposed to do: it went down the road.
On Monday, I kicked up the luxury quotient several notches when I picked up a 2004 Jaguar XJ8, a car this magazine has a Four Seasons test and a car this magazine loves. Except that in this low-mileage, $66,000, all-bells-and-whistles automobile, I found a bright yellow parking-brake light on the dash permanently illuminated, even though the parking brake was off. Nothing meriting a road flare, ming you, but an indication that something was wrong nonetheless. A low-coolant warning also flashed, even though underhood inspection revealed a full supply of coolant.
Then, on an elevn-degree evening, while traveling 80 mph in the passing lane on I-75 between Flint and Detroit, the front left tire suffered a mighty blowout--tread separation of the Conti, it transpire. I was able to execute the Continental drift safely into a closed, unlit weigh station. I had no gloves, no lights, and a tire to change. With the intense cold and a limited gasoline supply on board, as well as a world of freelance Michigan psychos rolling by on the freeway, ready to rob and kill me to get money for Nyquil, I'd have to work fast.
Rootling through the Jaguar's trunk, I found the jack, the lug wrench, and the full-size spare, which I wrestled out. But then, while the cold numbed and crippled my hands, the metal wrench stripped the cheap, soft (and unmovable) aluminum glamorizing covers on three of the lug nuts. They used to specify actual chromed nuts, but that evidently costs too much, so now I had to wait an hour for some guy in a flatbed to rescue me. Being a frank sort, when he arrived, he told me (a) that the lugs were indeed stripped (he hypothecated that the lug wrench was the wrong one, notwithstanding the fact that it was the unused factor issue) and (b) that the 1-800-4-JAGUAR operator must have been kidding when she told me that I could rent a car to get home in Troy, Michigan, at ten p.m. Subtract any remaining good humor and several more hours of sleep from my evening.
On the bright side, all the waiting around did give me occasion to reflect on the difference between Jaguars new and old. And old Jaguar certainly could have left me stranded by the side of the road, but not because a frickin lug nut was stripped. And my brake warning light might have come on, but only because my brakes had actually failed. Whice markes progress of some sort for the 2004 model, I supposed.
On Wednesday, Jaguar of Troy delivered the good news. We'd soon be the proud caretakers of a new $800 alloy, as the original was destroyed when the tire quit. The bad news was that it was out of stock until Thursday, so Wednesday evening I took the magazine's Four Seasons BMW 745Li for my frive back to New York.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the BMW's "check engine" light was shining brightly through the night--the third time, I'd learn, we'd been thus afflicted in out short tenure with the car, with no clear explanation. Back in New York, I brought the 7-series to a local dealer, who was kind enough to lend me another 7-series while repairs were effected. Leaving this lot, I noticed the air bad and seat-belt warning light were aglow.
On Friday, I brought my Mercedes into the shop. A mechanic told me he was having a devil of a time with the new C-, S-, and E-class models. Seems the electronics are so complicated they're still writing code for cars that have already gone on sale. Which might help explain why Mercedes was ranked thirty-first out of thirty-two brands in a recent German owner satisfaction and quality survey. Owing to a slavish obsession with on-board electronic one-upmanship, German cars are starting to behave like British cars: badly. It's almost enough to make you reach for the driveway sealant.
Mar 6, 2004, 03:05 PM
#6
Evolved Member
Thread Starter
iTrader: (5)
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Park Ridge, IL
Posts: 2,753
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
yes..i tried that but i couldn't see my screen and people couldn't see the article somehow (
) then it had glue left on the screen..it was a very messy thing to do..so i typed it out.
and just so you know pocoRA, im not stupid
) then it had glue left on the screen..it was a very messy thing to do..so i typed it out.and just so you know pocoRA, im not stupid