A biweekly roundup of automotive news, good, bad and just plain weird:
North Vancouver car community gives back
Car culture can be seen as a selfish thing. From the outside, sometimes it’s all about what you’ve got in your garage, polishing up the sheetmetal and showing off or trying to add to your trophy collection.
However, at least on the North Shore, such is not the case. If you’ve ever been to a Carbs and Coffee event, you’d know that somebody could show up in a beige Toyota Corolla and still be welcomed into a crowd that likes nothing more than having an excuse to talk about anything car-related. It’s your humble author’s idea of paradise.
Not satisfied merely with creating a fun series of events that’s focused on being inclusive and accessible, founders Geoff Peterson and Lorne Freeman looked for a way that they could use their passion to give back to the broader community. With many Carbs and Coffee events happening in parking lots on our local mountains, they settled on North Shore Rescue.
Peterson and Freeman handed over the first cheque to North Shore Rescue last week, the funds coming from donations by event attendees. While the season is close to ending, the hope is to keep things rolling through to next year, as 2018 saw attendance to most events hitting as much as 300 cars.
The next event is on Oct. 8 for the annual thanksgiving run up to Squamish, organized in partnership with Classic Car Adventures. Interested parties can show up at 8 a.m. at Capilano University’s Lot No. 2, and be sure to bring a cash or food donation for the food bank.
Supra might get manual transmission
One hot topic at any local cars and coffee event has surely got to be the return of the Toyota Supra. The Mk IV Supra was the king of the import scene in the 1990s, and Toyota’s audacity in bringing back the nameplate has everyone excited.
Less exciting is the news that the Supra is sharing plenty of parts with the BMW Z4. Sure, BMW is a worthy source of turbocharged straight-six fury, and the modern realities of production streamlining can’t be ignored. However, you still wish Toyota was doing this one on their own, based on how good the previous version was.
However, early indications are that the new Supra is far more nimble than the grand tourer that was the old car, and there’s more good news for Toyota fans. According to a highly placed engineer on the Supra project, a manual transmission isn’t out of the question. Prototypes have been using eight-speed automatics, mostly to positive critical feedback, but a proper stick shift would make the Supra worthy of carrying that legendary badge.
Mazda CX-5 might get 2.5-litre turbo engine
With Subaru making the Forester naturally-aspirated only, and similar power-limiting moves from Toyota and Honda for their bread and butter crossovers, the time’s ripe for a more powerful compact crossover. Happily, it looks like Mazda’s ahead of the curve this time, as some recent leaked documents appear to indicate that a more powerful CX-5 is on the way.
Mazda’s 2.5-litre turbocharged engine is currently found in the Mazda6 and CX-9 crossover, and is a peach of a motor. Peak power on regular gasoline is a modest 227 horsepower, but the torque is excellent, especially at the low end.
Now, a memo leaked to the internet seems to show that same engine becoming available for the CX-5. Initially launched with an efficient but modestly-powered 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine, the CX-5 has always had plenty of handling prowess, but power that never went beyond sufficient.
If it does get the turbocharged engine for the 2019 model year, as appears to be the case, Mazda is poised to be the performance choice in the segment. Timing couldn’t be more perfect.
Cadillac leaves New York for Detroit
Surprising no one, Cadillac has slunk back to Detroit from New York, after a couple of years of disappointing sales results. As the Frank Sinatra song says, “If I can make it there, I’m gonna make it anywhere.” Sadly, Cadillac didn’t.
Mind you, it’s not really NYC’s fault. Planning a launch of a model line for a brand takes years, and Cadillac’s sedan-heavy strategy was already set in motion by the time it moved to the Big Apple. Still, you’d have hoped they’d learn something from the move.
Here’s what Cadillac needs to know. Consumers like crossovers and SUVs. Cadillac has always been a brash brand that doesn’t need to apologize for being flashy. The Escalade is popular because it’s the American version of the Range Rover.
It might be a little late to right the ship for Cadillac, as Lincoln is right there with the Navigator and Nautilus. However, there’s no shame in coming back to the Motor City to find your roots. Get back to basics, Cadillac. Leave the sports sedan stuff to somebody else.
Watch this space for all the best and worst of automotive news, or submit your own auto oddities to [email protected].
