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Pumpkin Rollers in No Man’s Land – Feature – Auto Reviews – Car and Driver
September 24, 2011 | 
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Look at a map and you’ll notice that Oklahoma resembles a human hand with an index finger pointing west, as if suggesting to occupants that a U-Haul adventure in the direction of California might be a swell idea. Not one inch of interstate freeway intrudes upon the Panhandle, and the towns are minuscule and named as if the founders had no time for reflection: Hooker, Eva, Felt, Gray, Straight, Mouser. At the eastern edge of the Panhandle is a town called Slapout, population 8. At the western edge is a town called Wheeless, population 0.
Photographer Greg Jarem and I had never met anyone who’d set foot in the Panhandle—it seemed as alien and uncharted as Neptune—so we naturally drove there in an alien car. The
is 8.20 feet in length, not much longer than my living-room sofa. Feel free to correct me on this, but I feel confident we were the first persons in intergalactic history to drive a Smart into the Oklahoma Panhandle.
The Panhandle was created by happenstance, fuzzy federal edict, and general misunderstanding, demonstrating that the government of the 1800s ran pretty much like the government of 2005. Okie historians still debate the particulars, but the creation of the Panhandle went something like this: The land originally belonged to Texas, but the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850 plus God knows how many other federal "land adjustments"—whose stated purpose was to establish the border between free and slave states—forced Texas to cede its claim to any real estate north of 36 degrees, 30 minutes. After Kansas defined its southern border and New Mexico defined its eastern border, a so-called neutral strip of land lay orphaned in the middle. This unclaimed rectangle—34 miles north and south, 167 miles east and west—fell outside the jurisdiction of any government. No laws, no cops, no courts. General drunkenness and interpersonal chaos ensued, starring a dissolute troupe of shepherds, disturbed loners, first-time farmers, and transient gold-rushers inching along the Santa Fe Trail on their way to becoming impoverished California ’49ers. Squatters and homesteaders who ventured into the strip called it No Man’s Land, and for more than 40 years that’s what it was. The feds weren’t even certain who lived in the region. Mostly dangerously excited Indians, they guessed. Texas ranchers knew otherwise and often galloped north to graze their herds on the Panhandle’s grasses—big and little bluestem, skunk brush, prairie ragwort, Indian grass, buffalo grass. The Texans referred to the sod-busting Panhandlers as "pumpkin rollers." It was not a term of endearment.
It wasn’t until 1890 that the U.S. government, still not sure what to do with this three-million-acre island of reportedly useless land, simply attached it to the Oklahoma Territory, calling it County Seven.
Voil!
—the Panhandle.
I don’t want to make the Panhandle sound like a harsh place, but life for the pumpkin rollers was (and, to some extent, is) a festival of filth, a dour daily thicket of dust, disease, depression, and death. But don’t take my word for it. Here’s an incomplete list of hurdles that hounded the homesteaders:
Article source: http://www.caranddriver.com/features/05q2/pumpkin_rollers_in_no_man_s_land-feature
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First Look: 2009 Nissan 370Z
Nissan continued its individual seat design and situated the driver in a lower position for better pedal control. For improved heel-toe action, the accelerator pedal is floor-mounted — a cool touch. Both seats incorporate anti-slip cloth on standard models, while the driver’s seat features leg cutouts designed to aid shifting. On models equipped with the cloth seats, drivers will find eight-way manual adjustability, four-way for passengers. The Touring model gets four-way power heated leather available in gray, black, or persimmon. Only a black cloth color scheme is available on the Standard model. More storage capacity has been created by the removal of the pronounced rear strut bar and allows for shelf space directly behind the seats.
Not to be outdone by the exterior designers, Nissan’s interior team also worked hard at improving the new Z’s cabin. Cutting directly between the passengers is a full-length center console with more storage capacity. The new layout is part of a three-layer interior concept consisting of an information layer (instruments, gauges), operation layer (pedals, steering wheel, shifter) and holding layer (seats, kneepads, door trim). The car’s “oval” steering wheel was designed to provide maximum grip for hands of all sizes. Below the Maxima-inspired multimedia stack is an angled shifter positioned for optimal short throws. A larger attached instrument cluster first seen on the 350Z sits behind the baseball-stitched leather wheel. All instruments have been increased in size in order to provide clearer readings. Located on the central dash is the model’s signature three-pod cluster indicating voltage, oil temperature, and speed.Nissan continued its individual seat design and situated the driver in a lower position for better pedal control. For improved heel-toe action, the accelerator pedal is floor-mounted — a cool touch. Both seats incorporate anti-slip cloth on standard models, while the driver’s seat features leg cutouts designed to aid shifting. On models equipped with the cloth seats, drivers will find eight-way manual adjustability, four-way for passengers. The Touring model gets four-way power heated leather available in gray, black, or persimmon. Only a black cloth color scheme is available on the Standard model. More storage capacity has been created by the removal of the pronounced rear strut bar and allows for shelf space directly behind the seats.The 2009 370Z will be available in Standard and Touring trims when it hits showrooms this January. Only two option packages — Sport and Navigation — will be offered, which should make ordering fairly simple.The Touring trim level adds heated leather power seats, Homelink transceiver, Bluetooth phone system, eight-speaker Bose audio system, cargo cover and aluminum pedals.Models with the Sport Package will feature the bigger Nissan Sport brakes, 19-in. Rays wheels, front and rear aerodynamic add-ons, Synchronized Rev Match (six-speed manual only), and a Viscous Limited Slip Differential. The Navigation Package includes the Nissan nav system, 9.3 gigabyte Music Box Hard Drive, and an iPod interface.Nissan hasn’t yet set pricing for the 370Z, but it’s expected to announce approximate base price of around $30,000, with fully optioned models hitting the mid-$40,000 range. A convertible version is expected later next year as a 2010 model. Considering its more expensive competition including the Porsche 911 and Audi TT, the 2009 Nissan 370Z should be well positioned to put up an entertaining fight and gain the love of many new buyers.
Tags: Cabbie v sat nav
I created a competition during the week between Len Fox and my Mercedes-Benz C220 CDI Lifer’s COMAND satnav system.
2010 Hyundai Tucson – Auto Shows – Auto Reviews – Car and Driver
Introduced alongside the swoopy new at the is the U.S. version of the all-new Hyundai Tucson. This second-generation Tucson first broke cover back in September at the Frankfurt auto show before finding its way to a venue much closer to its namesake Arizona town. Although the first-gen was a rather unremarkable little five-seat cute ute, the new Tucson will attempt to make a stronger showing in the compact crossover segment with considerable upgrades in content and technology, as well as a brash new bod.
On the outside, the new Tucson is about three inches longer and an inch wider, while donning sheetmetal that is bold, fluid, and organic, but still short of what we’d call beautiful. It is bound to be as noticeable—if not more so—than anything else in its class, with thick, highly contoured bodysides and the facial expression of an angry wasp. The strategically applied lower cladding helps reduce the chunkiness of the design, despite the new model actually being down a couple of inches in height compared with before. Unqualified praise is warranted in the curb weight department: Hyundai says that the new Tucson weighs about 60 pounds less than before, at a claimed 3200 pounds for the front-wheel-drive automatic version.
Four-Cylinder Only, High-Mileage Variant Coming
Unlike the larger, heavier
—and the Ford Escape and Chevy Equinox, for that matter—the Tucson will be offered only with a four-cylinder engine—for now, anyway. The good news is that this particular four-banger is the same 2.4-liter mill that we’ve sampled in other Hyundai/Kia products of late, most recently the 2010 Kia Sorento. With variable camshaft phasing on both intake and exhaust cams, the four-cylinder produces a respectable 176 hp at 6000 rpm and 168 lb-ft of torque at 4000. This is up from 140 hp and 136 lb-ft for the 2009 Tucson’s wimpy 2.0-liter, and is actually three horsepower more than the previously available 2.7-liter V-6. The Tucson will not, however, be getting the
that will debut in the revised Sonata.
Paired with a new six-speed automatic that is both lighter and more compact than the outgoing five-speed auto, the engine helps front-drive Tucsons return a claimed 23 mpg in the city and 31 mpg on the highway, up a not-insignificant 6 mpg on the highway compared with a similarly equipped 2009 model. Adding all-wheel drive knocks fuel economy down to 21/28. For comparison, the much-ballyhooed Equinox four-cylinder with front-wheel drive achieves 22/32. A six-speed manual transmission will also be available on front-drive versions, though Hyundai declined to provide mileage estimates. Also of note is the announcement of a new “Blue” edition of the Tucson that will arrive in late 2010 and will employ low-rolling-resistance tires, aerodynamic enhancements, a reduced final-drive ratio, and recalibrated engine tuning to eke out even more efficiency.
Fun to Drive? We’ll see
Hyundai claims that the new Tucson will be more fun to drive in its new incarnation, thanks to thicker anti-roll bars and electric power steering. That latter isn’t usually described as contributing to fun, as Hyundai claims, so we’ll have to see exactly how it has been calibrated before we jump on board. However, indisputable are the benefits of a scant 34.7-foot turning circle, which is a hair less than that of the Toyota RAV4 and better than most in this class.
Off-roaders will likely not be choosing a Tucson over a Jeep Wrangler, but for drivers that want to be prepared for occasional wet or wintry conditions, the Tucson will be available with an electronic driver-selectable all-wheel-drive system that is capable of a splitting torque from 100/0 percent front/rear to an even 50/50 depending on grip conditions. Speaking of grip, the Tucson also features Hyundai’s first hill-start-assist system, as well as hill-descent control.
“Techno-ganic” Cabin The new Tucson has 101.9 cubic feet of interior space—0.7 cube less than before—and the cabin is a striking environment that reminds us of pretty much anywhere but Tucson. Individual dashboard components divide and conquer all available real estate, with each contributing its own funky,
Buck Rogers –ey, poly-blob shape to the overall appearance. We like the terms “techno-ganic” or “future-podelical” as descriptors, but however we characterize it, the environment should look rather slick at night, thanks to Hyundai’s signature blue interior illumination. An optional two-panel sunroof can be ordered to add brightness to the cabin by day.
As expected of any all-new anything these days, the Tucson’s standard-features list has grown considerably, now including USB/iPod/Bluetooth connectivity and satellite radio. Optional are a touch-screen navigation system with a rearview camera, leather seating, heated front seats, a power driver’s seat, dual-zone climate control, and a 360-watt sound system as an upgrade from the standard 160-watt system. Outside, customers can get fancy side mirrors with turn signals, a front wiper de-icer, and automatic headlights.
Finally a Contender?
Pricing is TBA, but given its myriad improvements, don’t be surprised to see prices rise a bit above the $18K–$26K range in which the Tucson has played heretofore. We fully expect that the new vehicle’s MSRP will remain aggressive, with roughly $19,000 being the entry point for the front-wheel-drive manual and 30 grand needed for an all-wheel-drive Limited version with all the boxes checked.
Our final verdict on the merits of the new Tucson will have to wait, of course, until Hyundai produces one for us to toss around a bit. But from what we can tell initially, the Tucson appears to have come a long way in its new form. We look forward to seeing just how far when we line it up against some of its competitors—it earned a sad eighth place out of nine in a recent
—but we’re more than safe in assuming that its heightened refinement, additional content, and competitive fuel economy should lure at least a few customers away from Honda, Ford, Toyota, and Chevrolet. Watch for it to arrive in Hyundai showrooms—including those in Tucson, of course—by the end of 2009.
Article source: http://www.caranddriver.com/news/car/09q4/2010_hyundai_tucson-auto_shows