Bill Hellman Jr., whose family has been involved in the new-car business in Delta for 60 years, has been named Colorado Time Dealer of the Year for 2017.
Nominated by Tim Jackson, president of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association (CADA), Hellman will be one of 49 dealers from around the country honored at the National Automobile Dealers Association Convention & Expo in New Orleans on Jan. 27. One of the 49 will be named national Time Dealer of the Year.
“Bill will be a good and worthy representative for CADA among the Time dealer nominations,” said Jackson. The Time Dealer of the Year Award is sponsored by Ally.
Hellman’s father, Bill Sr., came from Dodge City, Kan., to Delta in 1955 to purchase the Ford dealership. The Mercury line was added and in 1970 a new Ford/Mercury facility was opened a mile east of town. The Chrysler, Plymouth and Dodge lines were added in 1981 and in 1988 the Toyota franchise was acquired.
Bill Jr., after graduating from Western State College in Gunnison, worked his way up through the departments of the dealerships, and with brother Matt in 1988 assumed head of operations on Bill Sr.’s semi-retirement.
Bill Hellman Jr. is a former president of the Rotary Club of Delta, a past director of the local Chamber of Commerece and a 41-year member of the Delta Elks Lodge. He currently serves boards of Uncompahgre Development Co. and Delta County Memorial Hospital. He served as chairman of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association in 2014.
He and wife, Jeanie, are parents of Holly, who handles his store’s website and advertising, and Patrick, who works for his uncle, Mark, at the Chevy dealership.
Hellman succeeds Bob Penkhus of Colorado Springs as Colorado Time Dealer of the Year. First winner of the award was Russ Lyon of Boulder in 1970.
The new Volvo S90 is the star in a blue-and-gold setting. (Bud Wells photo)
No need, to this point, to fear the consequences of the Chinese ownership of Volvo.
Right out of Gothenberg, Sweden, comes Volvo’s newest product, the S90 sedan rolling smoothly into the luxury territory dominated by the German automakers. Watch out Mercedes, BMW and Audi.
The new one is filled with Volvo style and quality; no hint of diminishment from Zhejiang Geely holding company, the Chinese firm which has owned Volvo since 2010.
The S90 replaces the S80 as flagship in Volvo’s lineup; it is 4 inches longer and noticeably wider. Its stylish exterior, luxurious interior and highway performance make it, perhaps, the finest four-door sedan I’ve driven this year.
The 2017 S90 T6 Inscription with all-wheel drive was the review model, powered by a 4-cylinder engine both turbocharged and supercharged, with 316 horsepower and 295 lb.-ft. torque.
We drove it to Parker for the second birthday celebration of Tessa, daughter of Daniel and Kara Hansen. Before departing the party, the new S90 drew the attention of sons Kurt and Dale Wells. Kurt drives a Lincoln MKS, an American competitor of the Volvo. The S90, though 3 inches longer in wheelbase than the Lincoln, is 10 inches shorter in overall length, 195.4 to 205.6. Trunk space is considerably smaller in the Volvo; its fuel-mileage rating is higher, 22/31 for the Volvo and 17/24 for the Lincoln. The Lincoln is 150 pounds heavier.
Highlighting the S90’s sleek exterior are T-shaped accent headlights, referred to by Volvo as Thor’s Hammer, bookends to a waterfall grille somewhat similar to that used on the 1972 Volvo P1800. The hood is long, the top is low and the rear deck is short, finished in mussel blue.
The Volvo offers luxurious interior. (Volvo)
Dressing up the interior are perforated leather seating and woodgrain trim on the dash and doors. Added pleasure from the Inscription trim level are the 13-speaker sound system of Bowers & Wilkins, navigation, digital instrument cluster and chilled glove box.
The 2.0-liter, 4-cylinder engine delivers adequate power to the 4,000-pound sedan with both instant boost and midrange thrust from the supercharger/turbocharger combination. The AWD will split power 50/50 front to rear as necessary in adverse conditions. The smaller powerplant and 8-speed automatic transmission lift the Volvo’s highway fuel-mileage estimate to 31 miles per gallon. My overall average was 27.9. The S90 rides on very-low-profile tires from Pirelli (255/35R20).
A Pilot Assist semi-autonomous drive system aids the S90’s operator with adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping for maintaining proper road position in highway travel.
The S90, with sticker price of $66,105, will compete with the Audi A6 and A7, the BMW 5 series and 6 series and Mercedes-Benz E Class.
In addition to the all-wheel-drive T6, Volvo offers an S90 T5 with front-wheel drive. A T8 plug-in hybrid is expected to be introduced in the near future.
Arriving in Volkswagen showrooms in October was the 2017 Golf Alltrack 4Motion. (Bud Wells photos)
The only “untouchable” during last month’s testing of 40 new cars and trucks at Devil’s Thumb Ranch near Tabernash was a red, sleek-looking though rather ruggedly trimmed Volkswagen called the Alltrack.
It was locked tight; all I could do was walk around it. It hadn’t yet gone on sale and there would be no drives in it, VW officials said.
So I suggested to Darryll Harrison Jr., a manager/spokesperson for VW of America, “You drive and I’ll ride.” But he said, “Sorry, not permitted.”
Well, the new wagon has arrived in Denver, and I’m driving it. This one is finished in platinum gray metallic.
A member of the Golf family, all the Alltracks are equipped with 4Motion all-wheel drive. They’re upgraded from the Golf SportWagen. The Alltrack boasts an inch more ground clearance, has wheel arch moldings and sturdier bumpers.
Volkswagen has aimed it at the Subaru Outback wagon, though the Alltrack measures up more closely with the smaller Subaru Crosstrek.
The Alltrack is 9 inches shorter and 350 pounds lighter than the Outback. Its turbocharged 1.8-liter, 4-cylinder engine (170 horsepower, 199 lb.-ft. of torque) and 6-speed automatic transmission outperforms the Subaru’s boxer-4 (175-hp, 174 torque) and continuously variable transmission. Both the VW and Subaru are excellent handlers; the Outback offers a smoother ride. The Outback’s EPA estimate is 25/32, the Alltrack’s 22/30.
A look at the new VW all-wheel-drive wagon from the rear.
Cargo space behind the second-row seat is 30.4 cubic feet in the Alltrack; the Outback is 35 and the Subaru Crosstrek 22.
Loaded up with drive-mode selection, navigation/audio touchscreen, Bluetooth connectivity, rearview camera, adaptive cruise and park-distance control, the Alltrack’s listed sticker price is $32,195.
A comparison of the Alltrack with the Subaru comes fairly fresh, for it was only a couple weeks ago I was driving the 2017 Outback. With four days to closing of U.S. 34 for winter repairs in Big Thompson Canyon, Jan and I on Thursday, Oct. 13, drove the Subaru Outback 2.5i Touring wagon up into the canyon.
Departing the highway at Drake, we appreciated the smooth new Devil’s Gulch Road to Glen Haven, one of my favorite destinations in northern Colorado.
At the Glen Haven General Store, we shared one of Steve and Becky Childs’ homemade cinnamon rolls.
Steve Childs, owner of Glen Haven General Store, inspected the new Subaru Outback.
The new Outback attracted keen interest from Steve Childs; he owns two Subarus – a 1986 Brat and 2009 Legacy, and says his sons are “Subaru fanatics.” He was quite taken with the wagon’s java brown leather-trimmed seats.
This is the 36th year the Childs have owned and operated the general store. Closing of the highway Oct. 17 fit their timing, as they had scheduled closing of the store for the winter last Saturday, Oct. 22 (to reopen in mid-May).
The Outback was equipped with the 175-hp boxer-4 engine and Subaru’s CVT transmission. More power is available with a 3.6-liter, 6-cylinder, though its price premium of several thousand dollars lends support to my opting for the 4-cylinder, the Outback’s strongest seller.
The “4,” noted for its smoothness, is not overly powerful. It worked hard on a couple of sharp switchbacks on the climb from Glen Haven to Estes Park. In less strenuous maneuvering, though, shift it into manual mode, engage the paddle shifters and the rpm will rise and deliver more adequate performance locked in a low gear setting.
I remember the first Outback, introduced in 1995 as a variant of the Legacy wagon. Wagons were going nowhere at that time. The Outback, though, with its boxer engines and sturdy all-wheel-drive structure and heavy side cladding, endured among a rush of SUVs and more modern crossovers, and found favor with lots of outdoors persons.
It caught on “big time,” as its all-wheel drive conquered our state’s rugged terrain and inclement weather.
As hot as Subaru is in Colorado today, its products are more lukewarm in much of the U.S. Besides Colorado, its pockets of especially strong sales success are New York, Pennsylvania and the New England states; Washington, Oregon and northern California.
The ’17 Outback Touring model carried a sticker price of $36,870, including navigation, audio/Bluetooth, rearview camera, power rear gate with height memory, heated front and rear seats and moonroof.
Two weeks prior to driving the all-new Alltrack, Volkswagen delivered to me a 2016 Golf R four-door, finished in tornado red.
The VW Golf R hatchback is hot performer.
The R hatchback and the Alltrack bring to six the number of Golf models I’ve driven in the past two years. “Meine gute.”
I’m not complaining, though. In fact, the Golf R is a blast to drive with its 2.0-liter, turbocharged 4-cylinder engine churning out 292 horsepower and 280 lb.-ft. of torque. A 6-speed manual transmission, with 4Motion all-wheel-drive, kept the revs high and, with ease of downshifting, the corners tight. Its performance sharpens considerably in race mode, which disengages traction control.
The R carries a decent 22/31 fuel-mileage estimate, and my maneuvers resulted in an average of 23.5
Built in Wolfsburg, Germany, the Golf R showed a sticker price of $36,470, including black leather interior, app-connect smartphone, rearview camera, 6.5-inch touchscreen navigation and audio with Bluetooth, push-button start, heated front sport seats, rain-sensing wipers with heated nozzles and head-impact airbags.
It rides on Bridgestone 225/40R18 tires and fancy spoked wheels.
