On the road with the high-performers. (evaluation)

Full Text: COPYRIGHT The Kiplinger Washington Editors Inc. 1986

ON THE ROAD WITH THE HIGH-PERFORMERS

Many drivers today want the acceleration and handling of a true sports car, but they also need the convenience of seating four or five passengers in comfort for long trips.

These people make up the market for the sports sedan, a growing one, both in units sold and choice of cars. Until recently, buyers were limited to a few European cars. But thanks to the public's lust for performance, most manufacturers are building at least one sports sedan. These aren't the gas guzzlers of the 1960s, with blinding acceleration and little else.

Although most have muscle-car acceleration (clocking zero to 60 miles per hour in less than ten seconds), today's sporty sedans have significantly better handling and fuel efficiency. "They hold the road at very high speeds better than the muscle cars of old and are more balanced and safer because of improvements in the brakes, suspensions, tires and steering," says A.B. Shuman, a spokesman for Mercedes-Benz.

"The buyers of cars in this category also expect them to carry a full complement of high-tech, functional equipment," adds John Gray, a marketing manager for Pontiac.

Changing Times set out recently to evaluate a sampling of sports sedans with the help of the Automobile Club of Southern California, the nation's largest AAA affiliate and an organization experienced in testing cars.

The group of test cars consisted of an Audi 5000 CS Turbo Quattro, BMW 535i, Dodge Lancer ES Turbo, Honda Accord LXi, Lincoln-Mercury Merkur XR4Ti, Mazda 626 Turbo, Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16, Nissan Maxima SE, Peugeot 505 Turbo, Pontiac 6000 STE, Saab 9000 Turbo, Toyota Cressida and Volvo 740 Turbo.

This is by no means the whole universe of performance sedans, the definition of which is subjective. Numerous other cars have traits that could place them in this class, including the Chevrolet Eurosport, Chrysler LeBaron GTS, Jaguar XJ-S, Lincoln Mark VII, and Volkswagen Golf GTI and Jetta GLI.

The sampling shows a wide range in price, from the Honda and Mazda at around $14,000 to the Mercedes and BMW at prices over $30,000.

In addition to the tests for performance, the cars were driven more than 500 miles on Los Angeles roads, some twisty and hilly.

The more we drove the 13 cars, the more differences we discovered among them. The luxury German sedans were easy to like--the BMW for its speed, the Audi for its handling, the Mercedes-Benz for both.

Some of the less expensive cars provide a nice blend of price and performance. For example, the difference between the zero-to-60 time of the fastest-accelerating car, the BMW 535i, and the sixth-place Mazda 626 Turbo was just over a second, but the BMW costs more than twice as much as the Mazda.

Every car in the test showed excellent performance, relative to conventional sedans. We especially liked the Mazda for its quickness in handling, the Saab for its handling and roominess, the Honda for its smoothness and comfort, and the Toyota for its speed and space-efficient packaging. The Merkur, a German Lincoln-Mercury product, excelled in passing acceleration, falling just a hair behind the BMW. The Peugeot and Volvo gave comfortable rides.

RAW POWER

To get better performance, carmakers use microprocessors and fuel injection with turbochargers or multiple valves per cylinder. Generally, multivalve engines are smoother than turbocharged motors.

The Mazda 626, Peugeot 505, Audi 5000 Quattro, Saab 9000, Volvo 740 and Dodge Lancer all derive their speed and power from turbochargers. Turbo lag--the delay between the time you first mash the accelerator and when the turbocharger kicks in--was present to some degree in most of the cars but not objectionable in any. It was perhaps most noticeable in the Lancer, where the lag is followed by a sudden surge as the turbo takes over. The Audi and Mazda turbos proved much smoother and virtually eliminated the turbo lag.

Engines normally have two valves per cylinder, but a growing number of cars--the Mercedes-Benz and Honda here--have motors with extra valves to help them breathe better, significantly boosting their power.

In the Saab, extra valves are teamed up with an intercooled turbo, which feeds the motor a denser charge of air. The result is lots of torque and good acceleration, particularly in the passing range.

For power, smoothness and quiet operation, it is hard to beat the larger six-cylinder engines in the BMW, Nissan, Pontiac and Toyota. Surprisingly, the power in the larger engines comes with almost no loss in fuel economy, compared with EPA mileage for the smaller four-cylinder motors. One exception, however, is the powerful 3.4-liter six in the BMW 535i, a somewhat thirstier engine than the rest.

HOW THEY HANDLE

An engine's power has to be matched with the right transmission, suspension and tires to make a good touring sedan. If everything works right, the car will have good traction on acceleration and good stability when rounding corners.

Quick acceleration in a front-wheel-drive car often causes a couple of problems. Some cars suffer from torque steer, seeming to rush aggressively into a turn on acceleration. In straight-line acceleration, which shifts weight to the rear wheels, a front-wheel-drive car will lighten in front, which imparts a gliding feel. The Dodge and Mazda seemed to have more than a fair share of torque steer, and we didn't like the glide we felt in the Saab.

As the performance tests of the BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Merkur showed, rear-wheel-drive cars generally provide better straight-line acceleration, tending to dig in for good traction as the weight of the car shifts from the front to the rear wheels.

But for cornering, the front-wheel-drive cars often have the edge, and the Saab proved it in the slalom, finishing second after the Audi Quattro, which benefits from both front- and rear-wheel drive. The Pontiac 6000's third-place finish, our test drivers thought, was the result of its combination of front-wheel drive and wide-footprint tires.

To solve the front-wheel/rear-wheel-drive dilemma and in general to provide extra traction on slippery surfaces, car manufacturers are beginning to see merit in providing four-wheel drive for continuous highway operation, not just on call for off-road use or in rain, snow or sand. The Audi test results proved that a car with all-wheel drive can provide fine traction both in acceleration and cornering.

Several front-wheel-drive cars--including the Mazda 626 and Nissan Maxima in our test group--have electronically adjustable suspensions, which allow the driver to tailor the ride and to dampen rocking and side-to-side roll. The Nissan Maxima's suspension, however, doesn't entirely rid that car of its tendency to roll, but it is only mildly annoying at worst. (Toyota's Cressida, a very stable rear-wheel-drive car, also has an electronic suspension.)

Performance is only as good as the car's ability to stop in an emergency. Five of the test cars--the Audi, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, Saab and Peugeot--stopped in about seven car lengths from a speed of 50 mph. The Audi and Mercedes-Benz did it using the latest safety innovation, antiskid brakes. (Pontiac plans to offer the 6000 STE equipped with antiskid brakes later in the model year.)

An antiskid braking system (ABS) won't necessarily stop you faster; the BMW's antiskid system, for example, turned in the worst panic-stop scores in our test. But ABS will prevent the car from skidding in a fast stop on the most slippery surfaces. The Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz were stopped unswervingly by ABS when the brake pedals were pushed to the floor. The only hint that ABS is activated is the pulsing you feel through the pedal as computerized controls press and release the brakes as many as 15 times a second to prevent the wheels from locking up.

RIDE AND ROOM

Of the cars tested, the Saab was the roomiest, having 18% more passenger and 55% more trunk space than the least roomy car, the Mercedes-Benz. The feel is almost cavernous, with sufficient headroom for a tall person.

Overall, the German vehicles provided a harder ride and stiffer steering than most of the other cars, presumably to hunker down for the high speeds on the autobahn. As much as we like the Audi, the car has firm, almost hard, seating and stiff steering, which might be uncomfortable for some drivers.

The American cars in the tests, although built to imitate the ride of German automobiles, were somewhat softer riding and considerably easier to steer. Somewhere in between were the Japanese and other European automobiles, from the firmness of the Nissan Maxima to the supple ride of the Peugeot to the cushy ride of the Honda. The Honda's variable-assist steering helps out with power when you are traveling at slow speeds, and need it, then slacks off as speed increases.

The two cars that provided the best combination of handling, ride and comfort were the Volvo and Toyota. The Volvo, with its larger steering wheel (actually an inch more in diameter than most of the other cars'), felt good to steer and provided a firm but comfortable ride. Its seats are wide, like the interior of the car, and give a spacious feeling in contrast to the narrower feel of marginally smaller cars like the Merkur. Similarly, the Toyota responded quickly and rode very smoothly, providing a pleasurable ride.

Most of the cars had nondigital dashboard gauges, which were readable and straightforward. The dashboard and console in the Mercedes-Benz, however, weren't very easy to read, appearing more like the gauges in a Messerschmitt plane. Probably the easiest gauges to read were in the Volvo and the Dodge. Digital controls have come in for a lot of criticism, but Pontiac's at least are laid out well and are easy to read.

No car could even consider itself a touring sedan without offering the highest-fidelity stereo system to enliven long hours of driving. All of the factory-installed systems were more than adequate, and a few, including Audi's, BMW's and Pontiac's, were superior.

Products: Audi 5000 (Automobile) - Evaluation
BMW 5-Series (Automobile) - Evaluation
Dodge Lancer (Automobile) - Evaluation
Honda Accord (Automobile) - Evaluation
Mazda 626 (Automobile) - Evaluation
Mercedes-Benz 190 (Automobile) - Evaluation
Merkur XR4Ti (Automobile) - Evaluation
Nissan Maxima (Automobile) - Evaluation
Peugeot 505 (Automobile) - Evaluation
Pontiac 6000 (Automobile) - Evaluation
Saab 9000 (Automobile) - Evaluation
Toyota Cressida (Automobile) - Evaluation
Volvo 740 (Automobile) - Evaluation