Musings rise slowly from the warmth of my office on a cold, snowy day:
May the snow continue, for I’m driving the Ford Escape and tomorrow will begin testing the new Nissan Pathfinder. Michelle Kloempken of Weber Shandwick in Chicago sends me an image of the 1970 Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda featured in the U.S. Postal Service’s new stamp series. The limited-edition series, America on the Move: Muscle Cars, will also include the Pontiac GTO, ’67 Shelby GT-500, ’69 Dodge Charger Daytona and ’70 Chevelle SS. It’s interesting that U.S. News & World Report ranks the Toyota Tundra fifth out of eight full-size pickups (that’s about where I would rank it), behind the Ford F-150, Ram 1500, GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado; yet, on Thursday, in U.S. News’ “Best Cars for the Money” listings, the Tundra was named winner among the full-sized pickups. Two new diesel engines to be featured at the Denver Auto Show next month are for the 2014 Chevy Cruze and ’14 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The Cruze will show a 2.0-liter, direct-injected 4-cylinder rated at 148 horsepower and 248 lbs.-ft. of torque and expected to deliver highway mileage of 42, in the same range as rival Volkswagen Jetta TDI. For the Grand Cherokee, it will be a 3.0-liter turbodiesel V-6, paired with an 8-speed automatic transmission, producing 240-hp, 420 lbs.-ft. torque and achieving 30 mpg highway mileage. Actor Bradley Cooper, an Academy Awards contender for “Silver Linings Playbook,” says he loves to drive his Vespa scooter and also makes use of a Toyota Prius hybrid for longer journeys. One who knows him has revealed there is another vehicle in his garage – a Mercedes-Benz G55 AMG four-wheel-drive SUV. That’s the Gelandewagen, absolutely the toughest sport ute I’ve even driven. “What’s with the gaping maws that pass for grillework on some newer cars?” asks a reader in an e-mail. “I’m thinking of several Fords, Mitsubishis, Audis and at least one Lexus. Do most people find that attractive?” It’s that first impression, I’ve said. Audis are one of the most immediately recognized cars on the road for those “gaping maws.”
Bud Wells can be reached via e-mail at bwells@denverpost.com.
