If the defining feature of the Honda CR-V is usability and the Ford's is high-tech, the Mazda CX-5 's calling card is gimmick-free elegance. There's a richness to the Mazda vehicle that goes beyond the Honda and Ford -- in its exterior styling as well as its cabin. The red-stitched black leather looks and smells more expensive than the hides in the other cars; the no-frills dashboard trades overwrought styling features for simple functionality, and the Mazda 's driving dynamics are, simply put, a whole class ahead of its rivals.
Great review of the CX-5 versus its main rivals including the much ballyhooed new Escape.
The 2012 Volkswagen Passat shows its German Roots
The 2012 Volkswagen Passat at Ralph Thayer Volkswagen in Livonia is facing a kind of perfect storm of skepticism from long-time fans of the brand. Volkswagen has wasted no chance to tell the world that the company's newest sedan will be custom-tailored to the American market, with styling and packaging tweaks designed to set the vehicle apart from its European counterpart. If that weren't enough, the new North American Volkswagen Passat will also carry the distinction of being the first VW product to be built at the automaker's brand-new assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The Volkswagen Passat is not just a super sized Volkswagen Jetta.
There's no denying that the 2012 Volkswagen Passat is cut from the same design cloth as the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta. In fact, when the two vehicles are parked next to one another, it takes a keen eye to distinguish between the two. That's thanks in no small part to the fact that Volkswagen has slathered its new familial nose over the fascia, hood and fenders of both vehicles. The look is right at home on the larger Volksagen Passat, with its slightly aggressive headlights, three-bar grille and scowling hood. Along the sides of the vehicle, a new crease runs from stem to stern just below the window sills.
The rear of the vehicle is adorned with taillamps that do a smart job of integrating both that crease and additional body lines. While the overall aesthetics of the Volkswagen Passat's exterior is conservative compared to offerings like the Hyundai Sonata and Kia Optima, the overall effect is incredibly cohesive. Nothing seems tacked on. Instead, the exterior seems to be the product of a singular vision with a focus on getting the details right. No matter where your eyes rest, they're bound to fall on a line that runs nearly uninterrupted around the entire vehicle. It may not raise anyone's pulse, but in the flesh, the four-door carries itself well.
Base models wear 16-inch steel wheels with plastic covers, though 16-, 17- and 18-inch alloy rollers are also available depending on the trim specification. The options are somewhat smallish by today's standards, but larger sizes look sharp enough rolling down the road.
Indoors, we were happy (relieved?) to find a cabin that has lost very little of its German flavor on its way to the States. While the Volkswagen Jetta swapped most of its softer dash and trim components for well-grained but cheap-feeling plastics, the Volkswagen Passat has held onto higher-quality materials, at least in the places that matter most. The upper portion of the dash is clad in soft-touch goodness, though everything below the copious amounts of faux wood-grain trim is treated to the harder stuff. Still, touches like a leather-wrapped steering wheel in higher trims and excellent seating surfaces go a long way toward making the cabin feel like a quality space. Volkswagen said that it specifically wanted to focus on the vehicle's touch points – that is, where your body actually makes contact with the cabin – and that work has paid off.
For 2012, Volkswagen has built almost four additional inches into the Volkswagen Passat, and most of that length has found its way into the rear foot well. Rear passengers are now treated to 39.1 inches of legroom, which is nearly a full inch more than the Toyota Camry and almost two inches more than the Honda Accord. For drivers with kids, that translates into miles of motoring bliss without feeling Junior kicking you in the back from his car seat. It also means that even the jolliest of green giants can fit in the back without feeling cramped.
One of the biggest highlights of the 2012 Volkswagen Passat interior is its sound system. Volkswagen teamed up with Fender to create a nine-speaker audio system that pushes 400 watts of power. We aren't certified audiophiles, but to our ears, the stereo is capable of besting anything else in the segment. While an integrated subwoofer is part of the kit, the bass is never overbearing. Instead, deeper tones are nearly seamlessly integrated into the music. The system is standard on SEL models and optional on both S and SE trims.
Volkswagen has worked to slim its option sheet to just 16 buildable combinations down from 128 possibilities, and as a result, long-time Volkswagen Passat fans will find a few notable omissions. Buyers will no longer be able to enjoy a wagon version of the vehicle. Likewise, 4Motion all-wheel drive is nowhere to be found. Volkswagen admits it deleted those options to make ordering easier on both dealers and buyers and to focus its products where American shoppers spend the most money. Additionally, the 2012 Volkswagen Passat is only available with three engines. Those include a 2.5-liter gasoline five-cylinder with 170 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque as well as a 3.6-liter gasoline V6 with 280 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of twist.
The Volkswagen Passat will also be available with a 2.0-liter turbocharged diesel four-cylinder with 140 horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque. That means this four-door is the only sedan in the mid-sized segment available with an oil-burning engine under its hood, a move that wins it all sorts of points in our book.
The smaller of the gasoline engine options will be available with either a six-speed automatic transmission or a five-speed manual gearbox, while the larger V6 can only be had with the dual-clutch cog-swapper. We're happy to report that Volkswagen has left some quirkiness in the Volkswagen Passat line by offering the 2.0 TDI engine with both the DSG and a six-speed manual option.
You can probably guess which we'd opt for.
We were able to spend time in both a 2.5-liter, automatic-equipped Volkswagen Passat and its 2.0-TDI, DSG counterpart in mixed driving. Though the big German sedan weighs in between 3,300 and 3,400 pounds depending on engine and transmission choices, neither engine has a particularly hard time moving the Volkswagen Passat in any conditions. The five-cylinder gasoline engine offers similar power to four-cylinder options in both the Camry and Accord, and as such, there's enough grunt on hand to keep the vehicle on pace with the rest of traffic. The six-speed dual-clutch transmission offers quick, smooth shifts with excellent logic for choosing the right gear at the right time, though expect to downshift a gear or two for long grades or quick acceleration.
VW says that while the EPA hasn't finished its fuel economy evaluation for the Volkswagen Passat, the company expects the 2.5-liter powered sedan to see 21 miles per gallon in the city and 32 mpg on the highway in manual guise and 22 mpg city and 31 mpg highway with the autobox of our tester. Those numbers put the base entry around three mpg behind the Hyundai Sonata on the combined scale and 1.5 mpg behind a comparably equipped Honda Accord.
Of course, if fuel economy is your concern, the 2.0-liter TDI is the engine to have. While down on horsepower compared to the larger-displacement gasoline engine, the four-cylinder lump kicks out a walloping 59 more pound-feet of torque. As a result, the TDI-equipped Volkswagen Passat feels and drives like a sedan you want to spend time in. The 2.5-liter plays Justin Bieber to the diesel four-door's Barry White – both are plenty successful, but after a while, you only really want to listen to one of the two.
As in other applications, all that torque comes on at a low 1,750 rpm, which means you're rewardedwith an addictive amount of low-end grunt that pulls with a vengeance. As in the Volkswagen Jetta TDI, the 2.0-liter engine is quiet both inside and out, producing marginally more engine noise than its petrol counterparts. If this is beginning to read like a love letter to the little oil-sucker, it's not by mistake. All told, VW expects to see 31 mpg city and 43 mpg highway for a total of 37 mpg combined. Remarkably, those are all better numbers than the official ones for the smaller 2011 Jetta TDI, which scores 30/42/34 mpg from the EPA. We encountered just over 40 mpg combined during our time behind the wheel of the Volkswagen Passat TDI.
If there's a downside to going diesel, it lies in the fact that the Volkswagen Passat requires a urea exhaust additive to combat particulate emissions. The automaker says that the special tank only needs to be filled every 10,000 miles, even though the vehicle can theoretically make it 50,000 miles before running dry.
Unlike the Volkswagen Jetta, the Volkswagen Passat still comes with a four-link independent suspension out back, which, while more expensive to manufacture, makes for an incredibly solid-feeling vehicle no matter the condition of the pavement. Volkswagen turned us loose on a lengthy jaunt through Tennessee that covered everything from highway stints to twisting mountain passes and small-town traffic, and the suspension nearly delivered the coveted Goldilocks sweet spot of not-too-harsh, not-too-soft driving. Pavement imperfections were dispatched with just a little more float than we'd like, though understeer and body roll were both kept to a minimum in more athletic circumstances. This is a family sedan, after all…
Ralph Thayer Automotive attended the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) Annual Awards Banquet. The banquet gave plaques and trophies to the Rally Winners over the last year. The Board and organizers were able to have enjoyable night with winners and participants in the SCCA. It was really great to actually meet some of the members of this large organisation that we sponsor yearly. In the upcoming year. Ralph Thayer Mazda will be sponsoring three more events this year to promote the Detroit Rally networks and groups like SCCA-Detroit. It was really nice that Alex Thayer was able to meet with so many of the members. There were the young Derby Winners as well as the seasoned drivers at the Awards Banquet. One large club of family and friends who all enjoy auto racing and rally's.
The end of the month involved our sponsorship of the Sno*Drift Rally which is also rally organized up north in Atlanta, Lewiston and Hillman, Michigan. The sport was started in the early 1966. It is a very quiet town up north that gets a large surplus of snow lovers and rally goers every year on the last week of January. The weather was brilliant and the turn out with entrees as well as visitors were at it's highest yet! Thank you to the community for having us. Ralph Thayer Mazda is really looking forward to Sno*Drift Rally 2013!
TOYS FOR TOTS - last week for dropping off your unwrapped gifts!
Please stop by any of the Mazda, Volkswagen or Hyundai dealerships and drop off your unwrapped gift for the Livonia-Redford Toys for Tots community.
Please drop off any donations by Monday night 12/19/11. We are open from 9-9pm.
Call Xiang for questions at 734.425.5400 or email her at xiang.cclc7@thayerauto.com.
We are looking forward to seeing you soon
TOYS FOR TOTS - Toy Drive at Ralph Thayer Automotive
For the remainder of the month of November until mid-December, Ralph Thayer Automotive will be collecting new toys at the dealership for the annual Toys for Tots Toy Drive. The Toys for Tots program will be doing pick-ups in the area from December 10-15th. The staff at Toys for Tots is on a volunteer basis. The local Livonia-Redford location building was donated by Pastor George. The staff collects, sorts and bags the toys and items for the children. Those on the donation list will pick up their children's gifts at the Toys for Tots facility in Livonia.
The staff at Toys for Tots Livonia-Redford would like our customers, friends and family to know that when you are making a donation, keep in mind that the program is generally for 0-12 years of age. They like to encourage not only toys like dolls or cars, but also children books, colouring books, games, athletic equipment, and even hats & scarves. The condition is that these items must be new and unwrapped. The staff would also like the community to know that their donations are all appreciated and they are looking forward to giving families holiday cheer that they would not have been able to experience if it were not for donations to Toys for Tots.
Please come into Ralph Thayer Automotive in the next month to make your contributions of new, unwrapped toys for the Livonia Redford Area children. The Toys for Tots Foundation and has been collecting toys each year since 1991 for children in local communities throughout the year, however, the bulk of the Toy Drive is from October, November and December. The U.S. Marine Corps Reserve started this program originally in 1947 in Los Angeles and has branched out all over the United States. The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation supporting the Detroit-Michigan areas was established in 1991.
Ralph Thayer Automotive is happy to contribute to Toys for Tots campaign in the toy drive for the young children of our community during this holiday season. There are Toys for Tots boxes located at each of the Mazda, Volkswagen and Hyundai dealerships. Toys for Tots is still accepting applications to be on the donor list. Please see the following link for details:
Contact Toys for Tots Representative
For more information on the web regarding the Marines Toys for Tots Foundation please see the following links:
Origins of Marines Toys for Tots
Detroit Michigan Toys for Tots
If you have more questions on the Toys for Tots Toy Drive at Ralph Thayer Automotive, please contact Xiang at xiang.cclc@thayerauto.com or call 734.425.5400.
Ralph Thayer Mazda
Thank you so much to all the customers who purchased a vehicle in October Sales Benefit for our contribution to Breast Cancer Awareness and the Komen Detroit Race for the Cure.
Congratulations to the customers who have received gifts from Komen Detroit Race for the Cure, giftcards from Giulio's and Senate Coney Island - Livonia, gas vouchers, and golf gear from Mazda and tickets for two couples for a round of golf!
Happy November to All!
Ralph Thayer Mazda in Livonia, Michigan - is Dedicating October Sales to Komen Detroit Race for the Cure, a local breast cancer program servicing Metro Detroit
OCTOBER 2011 – Breast Cancer Awareness Month at Ralph Thayer Mazda, located in Livonia, Michigan and is proud to announce our special event supporting the Susan G. Komen Detroit Race for the Cure.
Ralph Thayer Mazda is pleased to donate a portion of all Mazda car purchases in the month of October to the Susan G. Komen foundation's Detroit Race for the Cure. Komen Detroit Race for the Cure will receive 75% of the donations and 25% of donations will benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure national program. Ralph Thayer Automotive is pleased to support a local breast cancer program like Komen Detroit Race for Cure, so that we could contribute to our local community in the Metro Detroit area.
The Karmanos Cancer Institute is the local presenting sponsor of the Komen Detroit Race for the Cure, which is a local breast cancer program providing services throughout Metro Detroit/Southeast Michigan. The Komen Detroit Race for the Cure is scheduled each May and starts at Comerica Park. You can see highlights of this past May's event, celebrating 20 years of the Race for the Cure, by visiting their web site. Komen Detroit Race for the Cure has offered three complimentary entry passes to participate in the upcoming Race for the Cure event in May 2012. *
To find out more about Komen Detroit Race for the Cure organization, please click on the following link.
Komen Detroit Race for the Cure
In particular, to find out how Karmanos Cancer Institute was established visit:
Karmanos Cancer Institute
To find out more about the Susan G. Komen foundation, please see the following link:
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