Byline: Warren Brown
Warren Brown talks about all your automobile issues! He has been covering the automobile industry for The Washington Post since 1982. Brown, who joined the newspaper in 1976, has what many people think is a particularly cool job: He gets to test drive all manner of cars, from top-of-the-line Mercedes sedans and the newest sports cars to Volkswagen Beetles and SUVs. His auto reviews are lively, detailed accounts of a car's good and bad points, addressing everything from a car's highway performance to its "head-turning" factor and sound system.
Join Brown online Wednesdays at 11 a.m. ET to answer your questions on every aspect of the automotive industry -- from buying your dream car to the future of the internal combustion engine.
The transcript follows .
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St. Petersburg, Florida: I'm in the market for a small SUV. Some come with a V6 and other's don't. What's your take on this? The Ford Escape V6 or something along the lines of a Honda CR-V/Toyota RAV4, both of which don't come in a V6?
Warren Brown: Hello, St. Petersburg. Small SUVs are a compromise--an attempt to give the consumer some off-road, wet-road-performance and an increase utility at a modest price in terms fuel and other operating costs. Thus, many are offered with four cylinders that use less fuel than a V6 or V8.
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Gaithersburg, Md.: Mr. Brown, I love your chats, columns, etc. and I especially appreciate your calm, reasoned, analysis, of the "hybrid hysteria" that we are witnessing. Today (Tuesday) Ford announced that it is rushing the Mercury Mariner hybrid SUV into production earlier than planned because of "demand", then they went on to say that the 2006 model run would be only 2000 vehicles! Are we a nation of lemmings? Does no one read your articles pointing out the absurdity of the hybrid craze? Your logic makes perfect sense to me, and I am far from the sharpest knife in the drawer. Except in the case of a pure city car, a hybrid does little to preserve fossil fuels, and certainly not enough to justify the extra cost.
Warren Brown: It is what happens, Gaithersburg, when we mix politics with science and less-than-enlightened self-interest. At the moment, the car companies are all stumbling over themselves playing the hybrid marketing game. Take the Mariner. Ford is offering a scant 2,000. Word is that the company will attempt to sell most of those over the Internet to increase sales numbers. This is how that works: When the manufacturer sells a car to its dealers, the government does count that as a sale. It regards that as a wholesale delivery. It does not become a "sale" until it gets into the hands of a regular consumer. Thus, to increase "sales" versus deliveries, Ford is going to the Internet with the Mariner. Totally nuts!!!
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Stafford, Va.: Have you driven the new Hummer H3 yet? What are your impressions of the vehicle?
Warren Brown: Will drive it this week, Stafford, when I return home from super-rich Carmel, California, which is where I am at the moment.
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Washington, D.C.: WB:
I am looking at three SUV's, I have a family with three kids. Which would you buy? Chevy Trailblazer EXT, GMC Envoy XL or the new Hummer H3?
Has to be a GM vehicle, since dad is a GM retiree. Thoughts?
Warren Brown: GMC Envoy XL. An excellent piece of work that will suit the needs and wants of most upper-income families.
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Spring Lake, N.J.: Mr. Brown:
Have you driven the new Chevy HHR that was featured at the Baseball All Star games the last two nights. What do you think of it. I saw one review that compared it to the PT Cruiser, but it looked bigger than a cruiser on TV ... looked more like the first Suburban models of the early 50"s.
Warren Brown: In two weeks, Spring Lake. It's high up on the test-drive schedule. A note: This appears to be the perfect vehicle for all of you folks out there who enjoy adding iPods, DVDs and everything else you can get from Wal- Mart and Best Buy to your cars.
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Clinton, Maryland: Like many, I was deeply saddened when Jeep replaced the lovable "box" Cherokees with that pregnant roller skate the Liberty. I've owned two others and today drive a 2001, having chosen to buy a used Cherokee instead of that ugly little Liberty. Pictures of the new Jeep Commander appear to indicate that Jeep realizes that mistake and has decided to give us die-hard's some relief. My concern is, however, that I've heard only about a gas-guzzling Hemi. Will they offer something more fuel efficient? - Mac
Warren Brown: Yes. DaimlerChrysler isn't crazy enough to offer ONLY a Hemi V-8 in the Commander. There will be a V6 version, which should be a tad more economical in terms of fuel consumption.
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Alexandria: Hi Warren. I know you are an Impala fan -- have you had a chance to check out 2006 model with design changes, new engines etc.?
Warren Brown: Only visually, Alexandria. I am apologetically late in getting to my GM test-drive portfolio. But I have started working on it, beginning with the Hummer H3.
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Bowie, Md.: Which luxury sedan gets the best gas mileage?
Warren Brown: What we have here, Bowie, is a major problem of definition. For example, the new Hyundai Sonata V6 very well could be considered a luxury sedan. It has leather-surface seating (in the high-end model), six air bags, a nice V6 engine, very fine sound system and a variety of other luxury goodies for about $25,000. And it gets about 26 miles per gallon on the highway. But many people will not regard it as a luxury sedan. So, if your definition of "luxury" starts with something like Lexus or Mercedes-Benz, I'd say go out and buy a diesel-powered E-Class Mercedes-Benz and be perfectly happy with about 32 miles per gallon on the highway.
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Chantilly, Va.: Warren,
Why is it that GM has to use 7 oxygen sensors and multiple catalytic converters in order to meet air standards ? Sounds like a pricey repair if things go bad.
Warren Brown: I don't know. But my hunch is that GM's rivals use equally complicated, involved emissions control equipment.
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Washington D.C.: Hi!
What model Honda Accord would be best to purchase? EX, LX, or DX sedan?
Warren Brown: EX V6, and be happy with good power, excellent craftsmanship and amenities and proven reliability at a reasonable price.
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Reston, Va.: Hi Warren,
Is it just me or does the American cars have a much greater recall percentage than foreign cars? Just today I heard the Ford Explorer/Mercury Mountaineer have a recall.
Or do the foreign cars just not get the "recall publicity" that the American car industry gets?
Thanks.
Warren Brown: Foreign cars simply do not get the recall publicity the media gives to domestic models. There are any number of examples of this discrepancy, including Toyota's recent recall of over 700,000 trucks, for reasons that now escape me. But the bottom line is that the media treated it as a fluke.
Also, it's a question of numbers. Domestic companies still hold an aggregate 57 percent or so of the U.S. market, which means, of course that they have a bigger potential recall population than, say, Hyundai or Toyota. Everybody screws up at one time or another. A cursory survey of National Highway Traffic Administration recall files shows that much.
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2002 Acura RSX: Mr. Brown: I was in an auto accident and I need to buy a new car (mine was totaled). Do you know of any particular problems with the Acura RSX that I should be aware of? I found one that is a 2002, and low miles (-32,000). I am excited about it, but I am just not sure.
I hope you can help. Buying a car was the last thing I wanted to do this summer. I am totally not mentally prepared to go through this.
Thank you!
Warren Brown: I think I answered this question last week. Did you not get my answer? No, no problems with the RSX. Even Consumer Reports likes it.
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Econobox Lover: Hey Warren,
Where's Toyota's ECHO? It seems to have disappeared from their web site. Has it been axed in the US market? Does this mean I'm going to have to look at a Scion now?
Warren Brown: The Echo remains on sale. But neither Toyota nor its dealers are pushing the car. Why not? They get more money selling the "all new" Scion xA and xB, which, as you probably know, are Echo cars in different clothes. But we're holding on to our little 36 MPG Echo. (Yeah, Arlington County (Va.) tax officials, I will register the vehicle as soon as I am in town for more than one week.)
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Philadelphia, Penn.: Hi, Warren;
