Bob Hagestad, in his race-enhanced Porsche 924, was featured on the cover of the Denver Post automotive section in May 1980. (Denver Post)
Brake, shift
and hit your point on the curve; it’s a matter of concentration,” Bob Hagestad
advised me as we drove his Porsche race cars against the clock many years ago.
Hagestad, 84,
a former Porsche/Audi dealer on West Colfax Avenue in the Denver metro area and
later a Volkswagen dealer in Irving, Texas, died in late February; services
were March 2 in Irving.
As I read of
his death, it brought back memories of the day I spent back in May 1980 with
Hagestad and his race crew at the Pueblo Motorsports Park, a 2.2-mile track
southwest of Pueblo.
With his race
version of the 924 at Pueblo, Hagestad attained speeds of 110 miles per hour on
short straightaway before one of many curves, then it was “brake, shift, hit
your point.” Hagestad was seeking a national championship in the Sports Car
Club of America competition. His crew chief was Don Jones and mechanic Greg
Johnson.
I drove and
reviewed, in the Post, two Porsches loaned to me by Hagestad in 1980 – a 924
4-cylinder and a 928 V-8. The 928 model carried what was then the
second-highest-priced car of any I had driven, topped only by an ‘80 Maserati
Merak SS at $42,637.
Bob grew up
in the car business, his father Vern was a Volkswagen dealer on West Colfax. He
is survived by three sons, Robb, Brad and Drew, and a sister, Barbara
Schomebaum.
Sales jump by Toyota Highlander offset much of Camry loss in 2018. (Bud Wells photos)
Sharp
declines in sales of midsize cars, unprecedented in the U.S., marked the tally
of light-vehicle sales for 2018.
The
long-popular Toyota Camry, though retaining its longtime lead in car sales,
dipped by almost 44,000 units from a year earlier.
On the bright
side of the Toyota ledger is the Highlander, a midsize SUV crossover, which
gained 29,000 sales in 2018 to 244,511for seventh place among all SUVs, just
ahead of the Jeep Wrangler.
As the Camry
remained atop its sales category, so, too, the Ford F-series continued its
dominance in truck sales which began more than 40 years ago; for the second
year in a row, the Toyota RAV4 edged the Nissan Rogue among SUVs and the Dodge
Grand Caravan and Chrysler Pacifica repeated as top-selling minivans.
All midsize
models suffered sales declines, most severely besides the Camry were the Nissan
Altima at 45,000 fewer sales, the Chevy Malibu at 41,000, Ford Fusion at 36,000
and Honda Accord at 31,000.
Cars, which
five years ago made up half the number of total sales, fell to 31 percent last
year, leaving 69 percent to trucks and SUV/crossovers. In Colorado, the split
is 25 percent to cars, 75 percent to trucks and SUVs.
Total
light-duty car and truck sales in the U.S. in 2018 totaled 17,334,481, fourth
highest ever. Ford, Toyota and Chevrolet led, each with over 2 million sales;
biggest gainer over the previous year was Jeep, with an increase of 145,000.
The 2019 Cherokee Trailhawk is among hot-selling Jeeps.
Following are sales by make:
Ford 2,381,635;
Toyota 2,128,357;
Chevrolet 2,036,623;
Honda 1,445,894;
Nissan 1,344,597;
Jeep 973,227;
Subaru 680,135;
Hyundai 667,533;
Ram 597,368;
Kia 589,673;
GMC 556,449;
Dodge 459,324; (total Dodge/Ram 1,056,692);
Mercedes-Benz 354,137;
Volkswagen 354,064;
BMW 311,014;
Mazda 300,325;
Lexus 298,310;
Audi 223,323;
Buick 206,863;
Tesla 182,400;
Chrysler 165,964;
Acura 158,934;
Cadillac 154,702;
Infiniti 149,280;
Mitsubishi 118,074;
Lincoln 103,587;
Volvo 98,263;
Land Rover 92,143;
Porsche 57,202;
Mini Cooper 43,684;
Jaguar 30,483;
Alfa Romeo 23,800;
Fiat 15,521;
Maserati 11,263;
Genesis 10,312;
Ferrari 2,336;
Bentley 1,972;
McLaren 1,569;
Smart 1,275;
Lamborghini 1,128;
Rolls-Royce 1,080;
Aston Martin 984;
Lotus 168.
Following are sales by individual
models:
CARS
Toyota Camry 343,439;
Honda Civic 325,760;
Toyota Corolla 303,732;
Honda Accord 291,071;
Nissan Sentra 213,046
Nissan Altima 209, 146
Hyundai Elantra 200,415
Ford Fusion 173,600
Chevrolet Malibu 144,542
Chevrolet Cruze 142,617
Tesla Model 3 138,000
Ford Focus 113,345
Hyundai Sonata 105,118
Kia Soul 104,709
Kia Forte 101,890
Kia Optima 101,603
Volkswagen Jetta 90,805
Toyota Prius 87,590
Dodge Charger 80,236
Subaru Impreza 76,400
Ford Mustang 75,842
Nissan Versa 75,809
Dodge Challenger 66,716
Mazda 364,638
Mercedes C class 60,409
BMW 3 series 59,489
Chevrolet Impala 56,556
Ford Fiesta 51,730
Chevrolet Camaro 50,963
Lexus ES 48,484
Chrysler 300 46,593
Mercedes E class 45.479
Volkswagen Golf 42,271
Nissan Maxima 42,237
Volkswagen Passat 41,401
BMW 5 series 40,658
Subaru Legacy 40,109
BMW 4 series 39,634
Ford Taurus 36,088
Honda Fit 35,300
Infiniti Q50 34,763
Audi A4/S4 34,566
Toyota Avalon 33,580
Mazda6 30,938
Acura TLX 30,468
Hyundai Accent 29,090
Subaru WRX 28,730
Toyota Yaris 27,209
Mini Cooper 26,119
Audi A5/S5 25,972
Mitsubishi Mirage 24,316
Tesla Model S 24,000
Chevrolet Spark 23,602
Kia Rio 22,975
Lexus IS 22,927
Mercedes CLA 22,556
The new midsize Ascent SUV boosted sales for Subaru.
SUVs
Toyota RAV4 427,170
Nissan Rogue 412,110
Honda CR-V 379,013
Chevrolet Equinox 332,618
Ford Escape 272,228
Ford Explorer 261,571
Toyota Highlander 244,511
Jeep Wrangler 240,032
Jeep Cherokee 239,437
Jeep Grand Cherokee 224,908
Subaru Outback 178,854
Subaru Forester 171,613
Jeep Compass 171,167
Honda Pilot 159,615
Mazda CX-5 150,622
Chevrolet Traverse 146,534
Subaru Crosstrek 144,384
Hyundai Tucson 142,299
Toyota 4Runner 139,694
Ford Edge 134,122
Hyundai Santa Fe 117,038
GMC Terrain 114,314
Lexus RX 111,641
Kia Sorento 107,846
Chevrolet Tahoe 104,153
Volkswagen Tiguan 103,022
Jeep Renegade 97,062
Dodge Journey 94,096
Buick Encore 93,073
Chevrolet Trax 89,916
GMC Acadia 88,621
Honda HR-V 85,494
Nissan Murano 83,547
Kia Sportage 82,823
Audi Q5 69,978
Mercedes GLC/K 69,727
Nissan Pathfinder 67,550
Dodge Durango 65,947
Acura RDX 63,580
Lexus NX 62,079
BMW X3 61,351
Chevrolet Suburban 60,633
Cadillac XT5 60,565
Volkswagen Atlas 59,677
Ford Expedition 54,661
Ford EcoSport 54,348
Acura MDX 51,512
Buick Enclave 49,647
Toyota C-HR 49,642
Infiniti QX60 47,370
Hyundai Kona 47,090
Mercedes GLE 46,010
GMC Yukon 45,982
BMW X5 45,013
Mitsubishi Outlander 41,818
Mitsubishi Outlander S 39,153
Audi Q7 37,417
Subaru Ascent 36,211
GMC Yukon XL 34,802
Volvo XC60 32,689
Nissan Armada 32,650
Volvo XC90 31,609
Buick Envision 30,152
BMW X1 29,060
Lincoln MKX 28,573
Mazda CX-9 28,257
Kia Niro 28,232
Lexus GX 26,724
Lincoln MKC 26,241
Infiniti QX50 25,389
Cadillac Escalade 24,815
Range Rover Sport 24,282
Mercedes GLA 24,136
Ford F150 has been best-selling truck in America since the 1970s.
The all-new 2018 BMW X2, a subcompact SUV reviewed in April, carried sticker price of $50,920, closest of all to average price. (Bud Wells photos)
Sticker
prices on 84 new cars, trucks and SUVs driven and reviewed by Bud Wells in 2018
in The Denver Post and Greeley Tribune averaged $50,602. This is slightly below
the $50,967 average for 98 new ones driven the previous year.
Ten years
ago, average sticker price of new vehicles I drove was around $40,000. Since
then, there has been a price to pay for the many wonderful automotive
innovations, such as lane-keeping assist, automatic emergency braking,
stop/start systems, 8/9/10-speed transmissions, smartphone, Android, CarPlay,
voice control, backup camera, more turbocharging, etc.
The press car
fleets made available to me by automobile manufacturers are typically fully
loaded models, in order that the appeal of the latest options catches attention
of consumers.
The Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, with 707-horsepower Hellcat engine, topped $90,000 in price.
Three models
exceeded $100,000 in price in ‘18 – the Mercedes-Benz S450 4Matic at $141.845,
BMW M5 AWD $129,795 and Lexus LS500 at
$101,675.
Cheapest
driven was the 2018 Honda Fit at $18,390; other lower prices included $24,970
for Volkswagen Golf TSI, $25,337 for Toyota Corolla, $25,625 for VW Jetta SEL
and $26,220 for Kia Forte.
Following are
the cars driven in 2018, listed alphabetically, and their sticker prices:
The 2019 Ram 1500 Longhorn is parked along the low-level Blue Mesa Reservoir of the Gunnison River. (Jan Wells photos)
With snow blowing and almost dark at 4:30 p.m. on a Sunday, first day of daylight saving change, we turned off U.S. 24 and headed west on U.S. 50, climbing Monarch Pass enroute to Gunnison.
The 2019 Ram 1500 Longhorn Crew Cab 4X4 was my review vehicle, one I’d anticipated. Some automotive assessments have rated the Ram as best new half-ton on the market. As good or better than Ford? Yep. Chevy? Yep. GMC? Yep. We’ll see.
To go with its more aggressive, forward-leaning front end, FCA designers have added 4 inches to the Ram’s overall length, a half-inch to the width and have trimmed 225 pounds from its curb weight. Finished in Delmonico red, the truck’s “Ram” in center of large grille spells out its identity. The second row of seats gained most of the added space. The review model contains a pickup bed of 5-foot-7 length; a 6-foot-4 box is optional. On a wheelbase of 144.6 inches, the Longhorn is 232.9 inches long.
Temperatures dropped into the 20s as we drove in several inches of snow toward the top of Monarch in a line of five or six vehicles at 25 to 30 miles per hour, each of us following the taillights of the car ahead. The lead car, an SUV whose driver had no lights to follow, slid off to the side of the slick roadway at one point before recovering, then another of the cars ahead spun off momentarily.
The Ram never slipped, all the way to Gunnison. The 1500 is equipped with a 395-horsepower, 410-torque, 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 engine with cylinder deactivation, 8-speed automatic transmission engaged from a rotary gear selector on the instrument panel. Beneath the dial are transfer-case choices of 2-high, 4-automatic, 4-high and 4-low.
For driving in the strong winds and snow-covered roads, I set the transfer case in 4-high, locked the transmission in 4th gear with its Gear Limit buttons, and occasionally dropped it to 3rd. By gearing down, I seldom needed to touch the brakes and maintained control and more-firm footing with the Ram.
A drive on dry roads the following day gave me opportunity to test the Hemi V-8’s smoothness and power along the curves and climbs of the roads beside the Blue Mesa Reservoir of the Gunnison River on the way to Montrose.
With its coil springs all around, the Ram 1500 offers an outstanding ride. The review model, with the optional four-corner air suspension, raises payload to 2,300 pounds and tow capacity of 12,750 pounds. The raising and lowering by the air suspension and deployable running boards accommodate very well the accessing and exiting of the vehicle’s passengers.
The drive home on a third day was north to Grand Junction, then back east on I-70 through Glenwood Springs and Vail and home. For the 712 miles, the Ram delivered an average of 19.4 miles per gallon. That is the highest mpg I’ve achieved with a 5.7 Hemi, I’m sure. EPA estimate for the 2019 Ram is 15/21. Base engine for the Ram is a 305-hp, 3.6-liter V-6.
The Ram’s $66,700 sticker price covers not only the abundant performance and a lighter, stronger high-strength steel frame, but a large, luxurious cabin, including filigree leather (stitched), Longhorn logos on seats and floormats, 12-inch infotainment touchscreen, 19-speaker Harmon Kardon surround sound, heated and ventilated front and rear seats.
The Flower Motor Co.’s Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep/Ram store in Montrose.
Also, a panorama sunroof, remote-release tailgate, trifold tonneau cover, parallel and perpendicular park assist and safety innovations of forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, lane-departure warning, adaptive cruise control and blind-spot with cross-path detection.
Kathy Erbacher, a former newspaper colleague, joined Jan and me for evening dinner at Ted Nelson’s Steakhouse in Montrose. Erbacher was a feature writer for special sections at The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News before moving to Montrose, where she continued her newspaper work with the Daily Press.
Earlier in the day in Montrose, we visited the Flower Motor Co., which is one of three family-owned dealerships which have operated more than 100 years in Colorado and are now overseen by fourth generation. The other families are O’Meara and Schomp/Wallace in Denver.
Siblings Fritz, Fred, Noreen and Fletcher Fowler operate two dealerships, the Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram and the Subaru in Montrose. Fletcher and Fritz Fowler recently purchased the Steamboat Springs Dodge Ram business. It was in 1908 when brothers Sid and Joe Hartman acquired the Ford agency in Montrose, then switched to Dodge Brothers in 1915. More than 100 years later, the fourth-generation descendants continue with Dodge and its affiliated brands.
Zach Pitcher prepares to drive his 2019 Subaru Outback, with 2-inch lift, from the showroom.
The Flower family recently celebrated 50 years as a Subaru dealer, and lays claim to the oldest existing Subaru dealership in Colorado.
We enjoyed, at the Subaru store, visiting with Zach Pitcher of Montrose when he showed up to accept from general sales manager Jazz Janda the keys to his just-purchased 2019 Outback, which had undergone a 2-inch-lift conversion in the Flower Subaru shop. Janda said Flower purchases the lift package, including special roof rack and wheels and tires, in addition to the suspension lift, and does the installation. The package adds about $6,000 to the cost of the Subaru.
Mary Pacifico-Valley, who at age 19 began basic duties with Rickenbaugh Automotive and 30 years later became owner, has been named Colorado Time Dealer of the Year for 2019.
Nominated by Tim Jackson, president of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association (CADA), Pacifico-Valley will be one of 51 dealers from around the country honored at the National Automobile Dealers Association Show in San Francisco on Jan. 25, 2019. One of the 51 will be named national
Time Dealer of the Year. The award is sponsored by Ally Financial.
Pacifico-Valley is only the third woman from Colorado to be honored over the past 50 years. Barbara Vidmar of Pueblo was Colorado Time Dealer in 2006 and Lisa Schomp of Schomp Automotive in Denver was honored in 2007.
A 1975 graduate of Westminster High School, Pacifico-Valley started her career at Rickenbaugh in Denver a year later. “I would phone customers with friendly reminders for service updates and repairs, and work with salespeople to ensure they kept in contact with their customers,” she said. She quickly advanced to tire department manager, service office manager, then to controller, and eventually to general manager.
She was one of the few women in the country to lead a dealership group when she became full owner and president of Rickenbaugh Automotive Group (Cadillac/Volvo), which today also includes an Infiniti store in Dacono.
Along with a busy work schedule, Pacifico-Valley went back to school and earned a B.A. in business administration in 1984 and an M.B.A. in finance and accounting in 1990 from Regis University in Denver; she currently is a member of the university’s board of trustees. She attributes her success to sheer determination, education and always placing customers at the top of the organizational chart.
She is involved in organizations that are helping shape the future of Colorado, from local neighborhood development to statewide advocacy, including the Golden Triangle Association, Downtown Denver Partnership and the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry.
Pacifico-Valley received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013 from the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce. She is married to Dennis Valley.
Reviewing the 2018 Jeep Compass this week is opportunity to mention the death of Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles who died unexpectedly July 25. Marchionne took charge of Fiat and Chrysler nine years ago when the latter was struggling to survive.
Focusing on Jeeps, Dodge Ram pickups and SRT performance models, he soon rebuilt the stature for No. 3 of the U.S.’s Big Three and made them a formidable competitor for the other automakers.
The greatest achievement for the bold Italian-born leader was with the Jeep Division.
Jeep leads all makes in sales of SUVs in the U.S. Through June, Jeep has sold 133,492 Wranglers, 113,719 Cherokees, 109,313 Grand Cherokees, 87,510 Compasses and 50,439 Renegades. Jeep’s 6-month totals of 495,022 is a 22 percent increase over the 406,291 at the same point a year ago.
Still, with sales of almost a half-million in the first half of the year, Jeep doesn’t have all areas of the market covered. It lacks a three-row SUV, since halting production of the Commander in 2010.
Rumors are that Jeep will unveil a three-row SUV within the next couple of years. Whether to create it or not will now be a decision for Mike Manley, who has succeeded Marchionne as CEO of Fiat Chrysler, and who has headed the Jeep Division of FCA for the past seven years.
Gloss black roof is distinctive for new Jeep Compass. (Bud Wells photo)
As for the Compass, Jeep planners two years ago combined it and another fairly lackluster model, the like-sized Patriot, into a restyled, high-tech-equipped compact 4X4 under the Compass moniker. The new one is enjoying one of the sharpest sales gains in the industry right now.
By slapping the Compass’ shifter into manual mode, pushing the accelerator lower and keeping the revs higher, its 2.4-liter engine and 9-speed automatic transmission offer improved performance, and do it smoothly, quietly and mostly satisfactorily.
I’ve been driving the Compass Limited 4X4; its 2.4 4-cylinder develops 180 horsepower and 175 lb.-ft. of torque, is offroad-capable with locking differential and a dial on the center console to contend with snow, sand and mud, in addition to the normal all-wheel drive.
A gloss black two-tone roof added a distinctive touch to the silver metallic exterior finish on the Compass, which resembles the Cherokee with its grille and the Grand Cherokee with its four-door structure. To mention roof with Jeep always reminds me of the ill-fated SkySlider roof offered on the Jeep Liberty some years back. That feature was beset with operational failures.
The current roof, so good-looking, also contains dual-pane panorama sunroof. Among other features of the Limited model are LaneSense and forward-collision warning, leather-covered seats (heated in front), heated steering wheel, automatic high-beam control, rain-sensitive wipers and power liftgate.
A large UConnect infotainment screen accommodates GPS navigation and audio with SiriusXM/Bluetooth and capability for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
My overall fuel-mileage average with the Compass was 24.4; it carries a 30 miles-per-gallon highway estimate. It rides on Continental ProContact 225/55R18 tires.
Cargo space behind the rear seats in the two-row, five-passenger SUV is 27.2 cubic feet, which expands to almost 60 feet with the rear seats folded.
The well-equipped Limited model carried sticker price of $34,860. The Sport, least-expensive Compass 4X4, begins at around $23,000. Other models are Latitude, Altitude and Trackhawk. They’re assembled in Toluca, Mexico.
The Lotus Esprit S2 reviewed in July 1980. (Bud Wells photo)
Lotus this month (July 2018) celebrated its 70th anniversary at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in West Sussex, England.
Most of us recognize the Lotus marque, one of the most iconic in the world of sports cars and racing.
Few, though, have driven one.
It was a week in July 1980 that I got a turn, one Lotus among the more than 2,000 cars I’ve driven and written about over the years.
It was an ’80 Lotus Esprit S2, built in England, and provided to me by Bill Stewart’s Royal Carriage at My Garage, 455 Broadway, in Denver.
It was late afternoon when I walked into the garage and Stewart handed me the keys. How do you sit in a car that’s only 43 inches high? You don’t. You almost lie down in the leaned-back racing-type seat with built-in headrest. As two-seaters go, this one was tight but somewhat comfortable. The only discomfort came in getting in and rolling out of it.
I drove to Greeley, where my oldest son, Kurt, would soon begin his senior year at the University of Northern Colorado, then headed out U.S. 34 to the east. I detoured onto some country roads, on through Fort Morgan and to Sterling, where a month earlier we had returned to devote time to automobiles and book-publishing, in addition to my newspaper work.
The Lotus was a brilliant performer on the country curves. It was very fast. Its manufacturer said it would hit 35 miles per hour in 1st gear, 55 in 2nd, almost 80 in 3rd, 105 in 4th and 130 in 5th. It was the fastest I’d driven a car until some years later, when the big guys such as Bentley Arnage, Jaguar XJ Super V-8 and Cadillac CTS-V began coming my way.
I well remember, with the help of brother-in-law Dave Wagner Jr., the return trip to Denver a week later. After passing Hudson, the clutch began to fail (did I mention the car was built in England?) and we limped it in to Stewart’s Royal Carriage, where his shop would put the speedster back in running order.
Price tag on the Lotus was $30,000. The only models I drove with higher tags back then were an ’81 Maserati Merak SS at $42,637, an ’80 Porsche 928 at $39,024 and an ’81 Mercedes 300SD turbodiesel at $35,345.
The Lotus’ inline-4-cylinder engine, slanted 38 degrees, was of 120-cubic-inch-displacement with twin overhead camshafts and Zenith twin carburetors. The engine compartment was reached by lifting the rear hatch and unbuttoning a tonneau cover.
An interesting feature of the Esprit was its two fuel tanks, with filler tubes on either side of the car. A balance pipe leveled the fuel between the two tanks, and it was necessary to service both sides for an absolutely full supply. The Lotus averaged 20 to 25 miles per gallon, with capacity of 17.7 gallons.
The 2,300-pound Lotus was on a wheelbase of 96 inches; it was 168 inches in overall length, 73 inches wide and had ground clearance of 6 inches.
The interior was of custom leather, brown suede, electric windows and a Blaupunkt AM/FM radio.
The Lotus company was begun in 1948, when Colin Chapman built his first competition car in a small London garage.
In addition to 2018 marking the 70th anniversary of Lotus’ birth, it also denotes 50 years since Graham Hill took the Formula 1 championship in the Lotus Type 49 and 40 years since Mario Andretti won his world championship in the Lotus Type 79.
My selections for Car/Truck/SUV of the Year at the 2018 Denver Auto Show at the Colorado Convention Center were the Alfa Romeo Giulia, Ford F250 Super Duty and Volvo XC60, respectively.
When the winners were announced, though, in voting by members of the Rocky Mountain Automotive Press, I missed on all three. Top awards went to the Toyota Camry, Nissan Titan King Cab 5.6 and the Dodge Durango SRT.
In defense of my picks, the Volvo XC60 has been chosen top crossover and SUV all over the country and was selected World Car of the Year. It is a trifecta of crossover success for Volvo, along with Volvo’s big XC90 and its new, small 2019 XC40. All three were displayed at the five-day Denver Auto Show.
I was very impressed with the handling of the Alfa Romeo Giulia luxury sport sedan over Cameron Pass and down to Walden, and coming from the hills of Italy, it proved particularly tuned to the spirited mountain driving of the Colorado Rockies.
For RMAP voters to select the Nissan Titan 1500 for the second year in a row was surprising to me; the dominance of the Ford Super Duty with its 6.7-liter Power Stroke V-8 turbodiesel engine producing 925 lb.-ft. of torque and 440 horsepower was convincing.
The 2018 Subaru Outback Touring model visited NCAR above Boulder. (Jim Colwell photo)
Jim Colwell and I, in the 2018 Subaru Outback Touring wagon, made the climb up to the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) above Boulder for lunch on a Wednesday morning.
Subaru this year is observing its 50th anniversary in the U.S. In the spirit of the celebration, I chose to drive the durable Outback, for more than any other model, it saved Subaru at a low point 20 years ago and led it to where it is today – seller of more than 600,000 new cars and SUVs a year in the country and second-highest brand in sales in Colorado.
Jim Colwell studies boxer-6 engine under hood of Outback. (Bud Wells photo)
I knew Jim as “Mr. Colwell” when he was my freshman English instructor at Sterling High School many years ago. Though we’ve exchanged e-mails regarding some of my auto columns in recent years, we’d not seen each other since the last day of school at SHS in late May 1952.
In addition to the drive to Boulder and NCAR, the Subaru and I made business stops in Loveland and Erie. The descent down NCAR Road in the early afternoon gave opportunity for short tests of the Outback’s 6-speed manual mode and paddle-shifting, somewhat of a departure of its continuously variable transmission, as it simulates shift points like a traditional tranny.
The CVT, in standard mode, performs smoothly tied to the Outback’s 3.6-liter, horizontally opposed (flat) 6-cylinder engine, which develops 256 horsepower. The highway driving from Greeley to Loveland to Boulder to Erie and back home resulted in fuel mileage of 25.1; the Outback’s EPA estimate is 20/27.
C-shaped headlights offer a new exterior touch for the 2018 Outback. Inside, heated front and rear seats in perforated brown leather are among highlights. The front passenger seat will power-slide fore and aft, but not up and down.
Heading the wagon’s strong safety technology is Subaru’s patented EyeSight, including cameras mounted near the top of the windshield to monitor approaching obstacles. Automatic precollision braking, adaptive cruise and lane-keeping assistance are among added safety controls of the system.
I remember the first Outback, introduced in 1995 as a variant of the Legacy wagon. With its boxer engines and sturdy all-wheel-drive structure and heavy side cladding, it endured among a rush of SUVs and more modern crossovers, and found favor with lots of outdoors persons. It caught on “big time” in Colorado, as its all-wheel drive challenged our rugged terrain and inclement weather.
Subaru’s first model was the little 360 in 1968. (Subaru)
Subaru of America was founded on Feb. 15, 1968 by American businessmen Malcolm Bricklin and Harvey Lamm. Its first car model was the little 360, priced at $1,290 with a 25-horsepower engine and top speed of 69 miles per hour.
For 2018, Subaru is offering each of its models with a special 50th anniversary edition, including heritage blue paint, anniversary edition badging, black interior upholstery with silver stitching and contrasting silver seatbelts.
Colwell and his wife, Claudia, are retired in Boulder following his distinguished career as an education director, ironic in the fact he dropped out of Brush High School as a 16-year-old. Born on a ranch east of Brush, he left school in 1943 and spent a year working at Hill Army Air Field in Utah before returning to Brush and finishing high school in ‘45.
He taught at Sterling after earning a journalism degree at the University of Denver in 1949 and his M.A. and lifetime teaching certificate from the University of Northern Colorado in 1951.
After two years in Sterling, he served in the U.S. Air Force in Japan and was assistant command education director in Tokyo in 1955-56. He also achieved Ph.D. and A.M. in American Studies at Yale, and studied at Heidelberg University in Germany, where he met Claudia. His career included education directorships at the University of Colorado, University of Texas of the Permian Basin, University of Maryland/European Division. He also advanced from a private rank in the U.S. Army Air Forces in the 1940s to brigadier general, USAF Reserve, in 1987.
Jaguar doubled sales in Colorado in 2017. (Bud Wells photo)
Toyota, Subaru, Volkswagen, Ford, Nissan, Jeep and Honda were biggest gainers in new car and light truck registrations in Colorado in 2017, compared with the previous year.
Figures compiled by Experian Automotive for the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association (CADA)) showed that 211,132 new cars and trucks were registered in Colorado in 2017, exceeding the previous record of 207,836 in 2000, 17 years ago.
“Trucks, including SUVs, did it,” said Tim Jackson, CADA president. “Colorado leads the nation as a whole in light-truck registrations versus passenger cars with a record 71.8 percent, or almost three-fourths of all vehicles sold in the state.
Toyota led Colorado car/truck registrations with 31,991, followed by:
Subaru with 25,508;
Ford 24,566;
Honda 15,921;
Chevrolet 15,465;
Jeep 14,897;
Nissan 12,372;
Ram 8,120;
Hyundai 6,889;
Volkswagen 6,593;
GMC 6,163;
Kia 5,218;
Mazda 4,702;
Lexus 4,183;
Audi 3,910;
Mercedes-Benz 3,585;
BMW 3,371;
Dodge 3,352;
Acura 1,707;
Buick 1,638;
Infiniti 1,415;
Volvo 1,077;
Cadillac 1,061;
Chrysler 1,001;
Lincoln 955;
Mitsubishi 947;
Land Rover 944;
Tesla 853;
Mini 821;
Porsche 806;
Jaguar 473;
Fiat 238;
Maserati 132;
smart 48.
Toyota increased registrations by 3,245 during the past year, followed by Subaru with a gain of 1,864; Volkswagen 1,455; Ford 1,227; Nissan 1,091; Jeep 880 and Honda 860. Jaguar led all brands in percentage of increase, having registered 223 new cars/trucks in 2016 and jumping to 473 in 2017, an increase of 112 percent.
