Auto Trends

It looks like we can look forward to another edition of the John Cooper Works MINI Cooper for 2009. The JCW (John Cooper Works) has been around for several years now, but this year MINI has said that they are in full control of the name badge and intend to use it to its fullest capacity… and indeed it looks like they have done just that…

The new JCW MINI Cooper S and Clubman editions ask the question, what you get when you mix a cuddly koala bear with a feisty Badger? About 207 turbocharged horsepower, 192 lb-ft torque, and less than 3,000 lbs of unsuspecting fury.

While this little beast is rated at 192 lb-ft torque, there is actually about 207 lbs at your disposal thanks to a nifty “overboost” function that can give the driver a quick punch of power when the situation calls for it. Such as when a R32 Volkswagen pulls up next to you at a red light.

Full torque can be reached at just around 1850 rpm, which is quite impressive for a little 1.6 liter powerplant. It is of course widely known that the quickest way to huge horsepower gains with the smallest amount of drag and wear on an engine is turbo, so it is surprising that it took MINI so long to ditch the supercharger and throw on a turbo.

For a brief history of how the 1.6 liter has evolved since the millennium…

The “New” MINI Cooper began its life as a normally aspirated 1.6 liter with 115 horsepower. This was quickly boosted by the Cooper S, which was supercharged to 160 horsepower in 2003. In 2004 the Cooper S was rated at 163 horsepower, then 168 horsepower in 2006, and finally the turbo rolled out in 2007 and unloaded close to 175 ponies onto the pavement.

But for 2009, MINI is using the long known equation in the performance industry…

BIG Turbo = Big Boost = More Horsepower (Approximately 32 more horsepower to be exact)…

Sounds fun??? Don’t you think!

As summer approaches it is once again time to get your bling-on with a brand new luxury sedan. But with so many to choose from, how are you supposed to know which ones are functional, and which are just that… bling. Alan Dean and Vince Bucciachio from BrandIntel.com offer their insight through their 2008 Consumer Voice Awards.

The first obvious point to mention upon looking at the results of BrandIntel’s research is that luxury sedan manufacturers in general are doing their job. The sentiments consumers had for this group of vehicles was fairly satisfactory for the most part. Another important point to come out of this is the return of the American made vehicle as a standard of quality.

For a long time now, the American consumer has been driven towards imports as the standard of quality and value for their money. Well, step aside BMW, Volvo, Audi, and Acura… we have a new king on the streets and it is American made!

Overall Bread-Winner — Cadillac CTS

Consumer Comments: “The newly redesigned Cadillac CTS can compete with many higher-end imports.” Consumers have been particularly impressed with the quality and performance of GM’s new 3.6 liter (DI) Direct Injection V-6 engine available now in North America.

The new 3.6 is capable of 304 horsepower, which easily rivals the Ford Mustang’s 4.6 liter (3-valve) V-8, which only puts out 300. The standard 3.6 liter Cadillac engine has 258 horsepower, which is plenty of low end grunt for the average consumer. The base engine also has an optional (AWD) All-Wheel-Drive transmission for their automatics.

Share of Consumer Discussion — 38%

Sentiment — 3.9

Consumers Like — Exterior Styling, Interior Styling, Quality, Value, and Performance

Consumers Dislike — Front Grille, Cadillac Image, and low Fuel Economy

Most Significant Rival — Lexus IS

Consumers believe that the Lexus IS offers a great build quality and is one of the most reliable vehicles in the luxury sedan segment. Consumers particularly love its “spacious trunk”. But on that same coin, consumers complained about its “ cramped rear seating”. As with most things in life, if you make something better, you are probably making something worse somewhere else.

Do you want trunk space or seating space? You can’t have it all unless you are talking about the 20 foot long Rolls Royce Phantom, which tilts the scales at 6,300 lbs and tilts your wallet even further beyond entry-level and directly into bankruptcy with its $350,000 price tag.

The overall most popular and liked vehicles among consumers in the Entry-Level Luxury car segment:

10^th Place— Chrysler 300 3% popularity, medium sentiment

9^th Place— Saab 9-3 5% popularity, high sentiment

8^th Place— Infinity G35 7% popularity, high sentiment

7^th Place— Mercedes C-Class 8% popularity, high sentiment

6^th Place— BMW 3-Series 10% popularity, high sentiment

5^th Place— Audi A4 10% popularity, high sentiment

4^th Place— Volvo S60 2% popularity, very high sentiment

3^rd Place— Acura TL 5% popularity, very high sentiment

2^nd Place— Lexus IS 6% popularity, very high sentiment

1^st Place— Cadillac CTS 38% popularity, very high sentiment

The experts are always quick to tell us what vehicles we should be purchasing, but what about consumer opinion? That has got to be factored in somewhere, and I’m not talking about a controlled survey. We want to know real world opinion on real world cars. How they react, control, maintain, perform, and most importantly, function.

We spoke with Alan Dean and Vince Bucciachio of BrandIntel.com about their 2008 Consumer Voice Awards last week. These are basically the awards that consumers like yourselves have unknowingly contributed through various web forums and discussions on the Internet.

BrandIntel.com, uses their technology to scan various forums on the Internet and note what the discussions are taking place and what consumers are saying about the various makes and models of vehicles on the market.

The winners of these awards are based on the calculation of each vehicles popularity, sentiment, likes and dislikes, and overall opinion from the consumers who own and drive these various vehicles everyday.

Let’s open the show with the Compact Car Segment Winner for 2008:

…And the winner for 2008 was unanimously the Mitsubishi Lancer.

Consumer Comments: “The newly, redesigned “shark nosed” 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer offers aggressive styling cues and a high-performance, fun-to-drive experience.” The Mitsubishi “brand image” however, was a key detractor for some consumers, but it wasn’t enough to drop the overall sentiment of the Lancer.

Consumer ratings:

Share of overall Consumer Discussion — 10% popularity

Consumer Likes — Exterior Styling, Performance, Value, Fun, and Unique Presence

Consumer Dislikes — Horsepower, Refinement, and Image

Most Significant Rival:

BMW 1-Series
The BMW 1-Series made its North American debut this year and the consumers have been talking about it non-stop on the forums.

Consumer comments: “The twin-turbocharged 135i coupe should have great performance potential.” On the negative, mainstream consumers are critical of its styling, saying, “The front fascia does not progress smoothly into the body of the vehicle.”

The overall most popular and liked vehicles among consumers in the compact car segment was:

10^th Place— Chevrolet Cobalt 2% popularity, medium sentiment

9^th Place— Nissan Versa 2% popularity, high sentiment

8^th Place— Honda Fit 2% popularity, high sentiment

7^th Place— Toyota Corolla 3% popularity, medium sentiment

6^th Place— Volkswagen GTI 3% popularity, high sentiment

5^th Place— Mazda Mazda3 4% popularity, high sentiment

4^th Place— Honda Civic 5% popularity, medium sentiment

3^rd Place— Scion XB 6% popularity, medium sentiment

2^nd Place— BMW 1-Series 9% popularity, medium sentiment

1^st Place— Mitsubishi Lancer 10% popularity, high sentiment