Starting with the now infamous Toyota, the perranial leader in quality which has now fell to the likes of lets say Lancia or Jaguar in quality has another recall in the works. The Toyota Corolla has now been brought up as having steering issues where the car will over correct itself. Its actually not that bad since Corrolla’s have ceased production over the gas pedal being stuck.

So all in all, Toyota is trying not to make cars that will crash themselves. A far stretch from building cars that protect their occupents. In related news the 2010 Prius and Lexus HS250 have now both been recalled for brake related issues as well. Becareful out there.

Not to feel left out, Honda has issued a recall of close to 400,000 vehicles linking back to 2002 for certain vehicle and air bags being faulty. Not to mention Honda just issued a recall of about 670,000 for electric window switches. At least Honda’s vehicles are becoming faulty in a way at not attempting to take the driver out.

So in recap,

Honda – air bags and window switches for over 1,000,000 vehicles

Toyota- Corolla Steering in question with Prius and Lexus HS250 now on recall as well

The 2011 Ford Edge is leading the way for Ford’s crossover movement with a new line of engines, upgraded interior, and completely revamped exterior. On 2 of 3 accounts, the Ford Edge is a homerun with the Sport model receiving the 3.7 V6 from the Mustang putting out 305hp. The standard V6 puting out 283hp putting it in front of its competitors on most accounts as well as a new gas efficient Eco-Boost 2.0  inline four that will finishout the range for the gas conscience consumer.

The interior gets standard dual 4.2in LCD’s for the instrument cluster, a 12 speaker sound system, 2 usb inputs, video inputs, and Ford’s new and improve Sync. In addition, Ford has continually improved its interior quality with materials, fit, and finish creating a place definitely worth spending time in. Thats a good thing, because looking at this plump automotive chubster is a chore in tolerance.

If Ford’s latest run of engineering feats are anything to go by, I’m sure it will drive well in terms of comfort and handling balance. It will also follow the trend Ford has set for amazing options and lead the way in the technology field. But, and thats a big but or front I would say, the exterior is for lack a of a better word, horrid. The front grille is I dare to say the largest this side of an International Semi. The 22″ wheels, for all their  style, look out of place and the entire thing looks as chubby as your average obese American office worker.

With competitors such as the Toyota Venza and Nissan Murano setting trends for atheltic designs, I guess Ford felt the public needed the adorable fat kid as an option.

No longer does Toyota have a halo about them as a superior company. I dearly hope Chevy and Ford use their marketing prowess to capitalize on this survey. It’s interesting to note that Toyota’s Lexus division is still rated as #1 yet again. Also, the fact that Lexus is still only built in Japan.

So, with Toyota’s now mostly built in the US, it’s interesting to note the quality of American manufacturing is truly equal across the board regardless of company or management. Take that into consideration when considering your next purchase.

Overall, Chrysler has had a terrible product portfolio. When it comes to the family car, compact car, affordable and fuel efficient car segments, all have been classes that Chrysler somehow missed. Quite possibly the worst of the lineup is the aged and horrific Sebring and Avenger line. With promise of the new replacement coming and the quality of the new Ram as a standard, Chrysler may once again have some automotive promise for future buyers.

Let’s hope Chrysler can Keep as faithful as possible to the concept. I’m still keeping my fingers crossed as I hope they don’t find a way to screw it up.

The once great and might Toyota is finally showing signs of weakness. Toyota was once looked upon as having the ability to do no wrong. Anything they make would sell, everything they marketed was perfect, any imperfections were just anomalies as Toyota is capable of no errors. With sales as the ultimate yard stick, Toyota has proven to be doing bad. Even worse than GM in fact.

Toyota reported a lost of $8.6 Billions dollars for the 2008 fiscal year. More interesting of note is that $7 Billion of that was during the first quarter of this year from January through March. It looks like Toyota’s nature of building vanilla, boring, ho-hum machines are finally beginning to show a chink in their armor. Even GM only lost $6 Billion last year, if you can use the word “only” in that sentence.

Toyota quality has come down as of late as even Ford has proven better quality. Toyota has lost their passion for vehicles and started producing simple boxes for transportation. It looks like the American people have spoken. A car we need we can just hold on to for years and years. A car you want is what is going to be bought every few years. Toyota has very few cars, outside the Prius, that people actually want as the rest of the lineup is purely created for the sheer need of transportation. Hopefully Toyota will learn quickly and get back to their old self.

In a report from Mercedes Benz posted previously, not all is bad in the economy. Another great sign is the now named Cash for Guzzlers bill that is going through the House for approval. Now the exact wording and requirements and not known yet but it will follow something all these lines.

If you have a vehicle that is older than say 10 years and/ or gets less than 18mpg, a credit of $3500 or $4500 will be given towards the purchase of a new vehicle that gets better gas mileage. The new vehicle must get anywhere from 22mpg to maybe 30mpg to be eligible depending on previous vehicle and what kind of new vehicle being purchased (such as a truck or car).

All in all this is great news as the credit will be in addition to any trade in value of a vehicle already. Analyst suspect this bill should garner upwards of 1,000,000 additional vehicle sales this year. I know I am hoping this bill gets passed sooner rather than later and with as little restrictions as possible. A bill similar to this has been passed in Germany and the UK with great success and here’s to hoping the US will have similar success.

All the rage in the media and in the automotive world is “Hybrid”. The problem is the term hybrid is used in a very broad sense. The original meaning of a hybrid was the actual use of both a complete electric and a conventional gasoline motor working together in harmony. The problem is the expense and time needed to develop a true hybrid system is costly both in engineering and for the consumer. Most hybrids these days are not cost justified versus their gas efficient counterpart. Also, some hybrid systems are actually developed for performance and not gas efficiency. With all the various hybrid systems available it can be difficult for a consumer to judge what is worth it and what is actually meant for gas efficiency. Without getting into all the hybrid systems, models, and getting in depth, I’d like to show all the technologies that can be utilized that are not hybrids. These systems can be implemented by any manufacture and are cheaper than a “full” hybrid systems. Below are a list of systems that are available by multiple manufactures but for some reason, no one company is utilizing all of them on a single vehicle.

-The first technology available is a “mild” hybrid system. These systems are essentially much smaller electric motors that only assist the gas engine at times to reduce the overall use of gas. These systems do not work separately nor in full unison with the main engine but they do all the use of larger batteries associated with the electric motors. This type of system can be used in conjunction with other technologies without the added expense of a full hybrid system.
EXAMPLE: Chevy

-Start/Stop Technology is a very simple and cost effective system every vehicle should have. This type of system essentially shuts off the engine when the vehicle comes to a stop and “should” seamlessly start back up again when the pedal is pressed to go again. This type of technology can really save gas in a city driving environment and really should be used in every vehicle
EXAMPLE: Mini

-Cylinder Deactivation is a little more complicated but allows an engine to run on reduced power when full power is not needed. This allows cars with V8 engines to run like a 4 cylinders or V6 engines to run on 3 cylinders. The engine uses fewer cylinders when on the highway or when coasting and the extra power is not needed. The smaller the engine the less gas used. Therefore, Cylinder Deactivation allows a bigger engine to offer the power when needed and still get decent gas mileage.
EXAMPLE: Dodge

-Brake Regeneration is another fairly simple technology that should be used on every vehicle. When a vehicle brakes, all the energy and momentum is lost, never to be used again. Well that was until we had Braking Regeneration. This system allows the car to recapture some of the energy that is lost during braking and either recharge the battery in a hybrid system, ease the stress on any vehicle electric system, and allow less gas to be used with a standard engine.
EXAMPLE: BMW

-Electric systems and pumps are now generally more used but not yet optimized. Every vehicle runs its power steering, power brakes, fans, heating, and cooling through pulleys that draw power from the engine. The drawing of power steals power from the engine and causes more gas to be used. Most if not all systems today can be replaced with electrical systems that reduced the overall load on the engine and reduced the use of gas.
EXAMPLE: Honda

-Transmission gearing or Continual Variable Transmissions (CVT) are not fully utilized in todays vehicles. A properly geared vehicle that either has additional gears or correctly spaced gears can improve gas upwards of 10-20%. Adding a 6th speed or even 7 or 8 can allow an engine to both be quick and fuel efficient. A CVT actually has no gears and can be fully engineered to improve gas mileage or performance but the engineering has to be done correctly. There is no reason any vehicle today should not have a proper transmission yet so many do not.
EXAMPLE: Nissan

-Solar Panels on the roof. Solar panels have come down in price in recent years and its a shame this type of system is only utilized in only 2 vehicles today. Harnessing the power of the sun allows the energy to either charge the batteries, the electric system, or maintain systems such as a cars heating and cooling systems.
EXAMPLE: Toyota

-Turbo or Supercharging systems can be a great boost to gas mileage. Contrary to popular belief, although these systems increase power and can lead to worse gas mileage, the use of this technology can be beneficial. Using Turbo or Supercharging systems allows the use of smaller engines which in turn use less gas. A smaller engine with the power of a larger
EXAMPLE: Volkswagen

-Vehicle Assistance Programs are just now entering the market. These systems are used to tell the driver when they are driving economically, gently push back on the gas pedal when driving aggressively, and even change the gearing and reduce power output at the drivers request. These Vehicle Assist Programs can be implemented on any vehicle and simply takes a dedicated team of engineers to proper utilize on a given vehicle. Very few vehicles use these types of systems but it will become the norm in years to come.
EXAMPLE: Audi

-Lightweight diet programs are needed for cars too. The less a car weighs, the less power it needs to move, the less power, the less gas needed. Only a few companies have taken the commitment to reduce the weight of their vehicles. This task has become harder in recent years with the advent all the safety requirements which add further weight. This tasks requires diligence on the manufacture but no new technology.
EXAMPLE: Mazda

-Lastly is a vehicles aerodynamics. Most vehicles are designed with looks first. It was not until recently, that a vehicle’s aerodynamics have been taken into consideration from design to production. The better aerodynamics a vehicle has, the less power needed to cut through the wind, the less power the less gas is needed. It has been thought that to have great aerodynamics makes all vehicle look the same. This is not true as the new Mercedes E-Class has the lowest overall drag coefficient and looks amazing. For every vehicle to looks like a Toyota Prius is a copout by manufactures.
EXAMPLE: Mercedes Benz

With all that being said, a “full hybrid is not needed to garner great gas mileage. Its a shame no manufacture has taken the time to really give the world a great performing and great gas mileage vehicle. There is no reason a car can not be fast when you want and frugal when you want. All these advances have come about in the last decade or so so lets hope we start to really see some good stuff in the next decade.

Oh what went wrong with this once great compact? The Ford Focus was such a strong contendor when it launched over 10 years ago. Ford has followed the classic American automotive business model and decided to just give the same basic car new clothes every couple of years. The 2009 Focus is essentially the same Focus as it was 10 years ago. Since then they have upgraded it with some safety features and entertainment upgrades but nothing major. Ten years ago it was great, now it’s a borderline terrible car that has no right to be in the same lineup as the soon to be Ford Fiesta and noteworthy Ford Flex and Fusion. The interior is terrible, the engine is corse and the entire competition offers better vehicles in almost every comparison. The Focus isn’t the fastest, most comfortable, most frugal, or even the cheapest. There is no reason to buy a Focus with vehicles like the Corolla, Civic, Mazda3, and even the new Kia Forte. If you must own a compact Ford, wait for the Fiesta or pony up for the Fusion.

Every vehicle manufacture has a corporate theme. They all have a character or personality of sorts. The problem is, not every manufacture is clear about this and some don’t even want consumers to really know what this is.

In order to get a better grasp at what a car’s personality is let me give a very rudimentary example. Lets look at Toyota and Mazda. A person can make every comparison in the world with stats and figures but at the heart of these to manufactures are very different personas.

Toyota is a very vanilla and plain company. Vanilla ice cream is still the #1 sold ice cream and many, many people enjoy this. There is nothing too exciting, nothing to fast, and everything just works. You will not be wowed or have anything really to show off but it will be diligent and trustworthy.

Mazda is a go fast “zoom zoom” company. Every vehicle is audacious and attention grabbing. Their fun and exciting. Their styling isn’t for everyone, their ride isn’t for everyone but, you will have something to show off and people will look. They are not the fastest but they are built to with a purpose to just go.

Looking at these 2 personas it will be very difficult for anybody to really consider a Camry or Mazda6. They are so completely different yet both very competent. Knowing what kind of person you are and then matching this to the right vehicle will go a long way in the decision process. It will also eliminate a lot of the back and forth comparisons of this and that.

Seventh Gear will attempt to unbiasedly and objectively rate each manufacture and what their “personality” is. We hope knowing will ease the car buying process and cut through much of the marketing jargon. HP, MPG, and Size aside, there is a right vehicle for everyone out there.