NISSAN
1991
Maxima
"The Four Door Sports Car"
1991
PASSAT
Toyota's 1991 Land Cruiser.
Big Wheels: Trucks,
Vans And 4WD
uburban
Interestingly, Oldsmobile is
also selling a sport/utility
vehicle in 1991. Called the
Bravada, it's the Oldsmobile
version of the four-door
Blazer, and is outfitted with
leather and full-time 4WD,
unlike Blazer's part-time
system (Chevy dealers are
furious, and understandably
so). Bravada is also priced
closer to a Range-Rober than
a Blazer. Look for a Bravada
price close to $28,000.
Range-Rover remains a
very popular seller, though its
prices are going up $1,000 a
model for 1991. That will put
them in the mid-$40,000 seg-
ment for a fully equipped
model, though they have a
649-2300
CROOKS
N ISSAN-VOLKSWAGEN
1800 Maplelawn, in the Troy Motor Mall
BIG E
COOL IDG E
I
t's harder than ever to tell
where the line between
trucks, vans, cars and
sport/utility vehicles begins
and ends. They seem to have
more in common than ever
before, and for 1991 the line
blurs even more.
Everyone seems to
acknowledge the benefits of
four-wheel-drive (4WD),
whether on a passenger car,
truck, van or even sports car.
The added traction and con-
trol 4WD provides seem to
have obvious good points. But
there are drawbacks to this
technology as well.
Complication is the main
potential problem. Four-
wheel-drive systems tend by
nature to be highly com-
plicated with lots of moving
parts taking all sorts of tor-
que and power from the
engine and trying to
distribute it to all four
wheels. This just means there
is more that can potentially
go wrong and these systems
are very expensive to fix.
There are various 4WD
systems available, the most
common being full-time and
part-time.
Part-time 4WD means that
a switch or lever has to be
thrown in order to get all four
wheels to receive power from
the engine. This can be a has-
sle at times, as it is in
Chevrolet's new four-door
Blazer, which instructs users
to not use the 4WD system on
dry pavement, or as simple as
a push of a button, at most any
speed, as the system is on
Ford's new four-door Explorer
model.
Full-time 4WD (also called
all-wheel-drive) means that
WOO DWARD
Special to The Jewish News
all four wheels are receiving
power from the engine all the
time. There are a variety of
viscous coupling systems that
automatically send the power
to the wheels with the best
traction, and this type of
system helps to keep wheels
on slippery surfaces from
spinning uselessly.
Four-wheel-drive is also one
of the means engineers have
found necessary to make use
of today's • small but very
powerful engines. New 1991
cars such as the Mitsubishi
3000GT (also called the
Dodge Stealth) need 4WD
systems just to get all the
power to the ground in a
meaningful and useful way.
In the sport/utility range,
the four-door models from
Chevrolet (and partner GMC)
and Ford are the biggest
news, these domestics
challenging King of the Hill
Jeep Cherokee for the first
time in a serious way. Toyota's
and Nissan's 4Runner and
Pathfinder for 1991 are
viable, but pricey,
alternatives.
I I I I
STEVEN PARKER
"The Affordable German Sports Sedan"
MAP
11
1991 ACURA LEGEND COUPE & SEDAN
PRECISION CRAFIED PERFORMANCE
(— ACURA -1
k
of Troy
A Dealer as good as the Car
TROY MOTOR MALL • 643-0900
THE.
NORTH AMERICAll
INTERNATIONAL-
AUTO SNOW
IN
IETISIT
JANUARY 12-20, 1991
in the
JEWISH NEWS
Call the Jewish News Advertising Department
354-6060
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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