The City Car Comes of Age

Our Fantasies about winding highways leading toward distant horizons to the contrary, the mundane fact remains that a vast percentage of American driving takes place in the ruck of urban and suburban streets and freeways. Most of us operate automobiles not in some zesty liaison with a splendid machine on an open road but in the turgid mire of workaday commuters struggling against their own presence to get to and from work. This reality tends to negate the need for interesting, nimble cars and causes many to seek mobility via insulated, hermetically sealed cocoons wherein stereo music and air conditioning isolate them from the chore of driving. This is one rationale, based on the reasoning that most traffic operates so slowly that the need for a machine with any sporting instincts whatsoever is akin to hunting quail with a bazooka; there is simply no need for that brand of firepower.

Yet a new breed of automobiles that blends sportiness and practicality to a point where they become palatable alternatives to the standard commuter cocoon is slowly easing onto the domestic scene. What we have are machines that are light and small and keenly suited to enjoyable driving yet are more adaptable to the broad needs of modern, multifaceted living. Whereas the standard brand of sporting vehicle came in two exclusive forms--i.e., the imported, two-place roadster or G.T. car and the Detroit muscle car--we now have the choice of a third type, a Third World of automobiles that offers a neat solution to the man who likes to drive yet needs more utility than that offered in the traditional versions of sporty cars.

This new species is smaller than the normal-sized American car yet can carry four passengers, at least for short hauls. They are, with some exceptions, less than 180 inches in length, with wheelbases under 100 inches. They are light, in the range of 2500 pounds, and, again with a few notable exceptions, are powered by sophisticated, smooth-running four-cylinder engines featuring such exotica as overhead camshafts, fuel injection and the lavish use of special alloys. They are closely related to the new generation of Datsuns, Toyotas, Chevettes, etc., that are adding extra dimensions of function and performance to the so-called subcompacts, and in a number of cases they share engines, transmissions and body shells with those machines. The differences lie in performance and styling. These Third World sportsters are faster, more powerful, lower, lighter and more expensive than their economy-inspired counterparts and, therefore, open up surprising opportunities for driving fun among the urban-suburban-freeway nomads.

Some of the best examples share the special distinction of front-wheel drive, a particularly suitable component for small automobiles because it eliminates the intrusion of the drive-shaft tunnel into the passenger compartment. With the added fillip of mounting the engine transversely in the chassis, the entire power train can be tucked into a tiny cubbyhole at the front of the car, leaving a vast percentage of the available bodywork for carrying people and luggage. The classic expression of this concept lies in the dazzling new Honda Accord, which could be the most lucid amalgam of small-car engineering in the world. Here is a sweet-handling, high-mileage (over 30 mpg under all conditions), quiet-running, wonderfully efficient automobile that will carry four adult passengers and their gear without fuss or bother. While it is slightly larger than its lovable midget brother, the Civic, the Accord is minuscule by American standards. Its over-all length is a mere 162.8 inches, its wheelbase a modest 93.7 inches and its weight just under a ton, ready to drive. Yet the Accord packs a staggering collection of equipment, such as a five-speed transmission (a two-speed automatic is optional), power-assisted front disk brakes, rack-and-pinion steering, etc., into its modest (approximately $4000) price tag. Like the Civic, it uses the Honda CVCC (Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion--in case you asked) engine, which employs an advanced yet marvelously simple cylinder-head design to produce high efficiency and drivability in association with low exhaust emissions on regular gas, yet. With good acceleration, a top speed of just under 100 mph and a wonderful ability to zoom through holes in heavy traffic, the Accord is a perfect machine for the man seeking high levels of commuter-type efficiency in concert with the capability of evening theater-restaurant hopping with his lady and another couple.

The Honda people--who not only dominate the motorcycle market here but are now the fourth largest importer of cars--have been accused of flagrantly copying in their Accord the Volkswagen Scirocco. To be sure, the Scirocco antedates the Accord by nearly two years, but there is no question that the Honda effort was on the drawing boards long before the Scirocco appeared. Regardless, the two cars are remarkably alike, both in appearance and in concept. The Scirocco was shaped by the Italian Giorgetto Giugiaro, the hottest automotive stylist in the world today, and is slightly more rakish than the Accord--at the expense of rear-seat headroom. It uses a four-speed manual transmission, as opposed to the Honda's more flexible five-speed, but is within inches and pounds of being identical in size and weight. Although the Scirocco's engine is smaller--97 cu. in. vs. 97.6 cu. in.--its output of 78 hp is ten greater than the Accord's, which gives it a slight edge in acceleration. However, whatever advantage the Scirocco might enjoy in performance is countered by the price--it's nearly $1000 more than the Accord, with fewer standard goodies.

While there is little debating the fact that the Scirocco and the Accord represent the wave of the future with their transversely mounted, front-wheel-drive engine layouts, there are other sporty machines available that rival them in concept. Certainly, the closest is the Lancia Beta Coupe, a low, square-shouldered little machine that is similar to the Scirocco and the Accord in everything except price. At about $7500, the Beta Coupe is closer to a 2+2 grand touring car than to an urban sportster (2+2 referring to the fact that the car is actually a two-seater, with a pair of back seats for occasional passengers) and it offers such extras as four-wheel disk brakes, high-quality coachwork, a larger, 86-hp engine and better performance for the extra money. Also in the same league is the Renault 17 Gordini, which is a high-water mark, not only in recent French sports-type cars but in the genre as a whole. Featuring a strong, fuel-injected, 95-hp engine and a five-speed transmission, this is a quick car in any league; i.e., 105-mph top speed and 0-60 in just over nine seconds. Its solid, rather pretty semiconvertible body will accommodate four passengers with ease and it is a silent performer at all speeds. The only basic difference between the Gordini and the trio of others is its power-plant layout, which places the engine longitudinally in the chassis; this accounts in part for the fact that it is nearly ten inches longer overall, with essentially the same interior space. The solid quality of the Gordini (which is also available in a slightly less powerful, less fancy 17TL version) gives it a price tag of over $6500, but it is a standout buy.

The Swedish firm of Saab is best known for jazzy jet fighters and rather lumpy, indestructible front-wheel-drive small sedans. It has let its sporty image slump in the United States for the sake of nurturing a reputation for practicality and good sense, but things may be changing. Good sense is certainly not the central theme of the Saab 99 EMS, a romping, stomping, 118-hp, fuel-injected, two-door version of the rectangular body style that has been around for a number of years. The 99 EMS is fast (108 mph) and, thanks to suspension modifications, a handling marvel. Moreover, it will carry four passengers in limousinelike splendor and is even capable of squeezing a fifth on board for short trips. Heavier by about 600 pounds than the Accord/Scirocco types, the Saab is a solid, all-weather machine that for its heady price tag of $7000 infuses a refreshing dose of sportiness into the solid but somewhat dull presence of the normal 99Es.

Despite the steady rise in the market of front-wheel drive, the much-loved front-engine, rear-drive system remains the staple of the industry, including this subspecies of urban sports cars. New Japanese cars, such as the Toyota Celica GT Liftback and the Plymouth Arrow (built in Japan by Mitsubishi for Chrysler--as is its mechanical twin, the Dodge Colt), are conventional in layout but have a special sporting flavor that gives an extra dimension to their small-car economy and utility. The Celica Liftback, with its 96-hp engine and 2500-pound weight, is larger, faster and at $4700, slightly more expensive than the Arrow, but both have smooth, efficient overhead-cam engines and five-speed transmissions.

Should your tastes run to American-built automobiles, both Chevrolet and Ford have formidable contenders in this urban sporty-car line-up. Like the Toyota and the Arrow, they are conventional in concept, but both the Chevrolet Monza Spyder and the Mustang II Cobra II are smallish, four-place hatchbacks with a higher-than-average quotient of performance. And, in keeping with Detroit tradition, they are larger, heavier and more powerful than the competition. The Monza Spyder, new for 1977, is one of the opening shots in a new emphasis on sportiness and performance in the domestic industry. First offered with the anemic Vega four-cylinder engine and a tepid 262-cu.-in. V8, the early Monzas, with their sleek lines, were sheep in wolves' clothing. But now, with a stronger 305-cu.-in. V8 and stiffer suspension, the new Spyder is a legitimate sporting automobile. Heavier, at 3310 pounds, and longer, at 179.3 inches, the Spyder is also the fastest of the lot, with a top speed approaching 120 mph. The Ford Mustang II Cobra II is essentially in the same idiom as the Monza, although it can be purchased with a small four-cylinder Pinto engine, as well as with a 302-cu.-in. V8. The Cobra II option is essentially a cosmetic, paint-and-tape overlay, but the 302 version can be purchased with enough performance items to produce a serviceably nimble automobile. It is not quite the performer the Spyder is, but it contains enough speed and general pizzazz to put a little fun back into the daily freeway crawl for Ford lovers. There are those among us who might consider both the Spyder and the Cobra II to border on the garish, what with their loud paint and acres of decals. Happily, this decor is only skin-deep and both cars may be purchased with essentially the same mechanical components but devoid of the flamboyant trim. Careful selection from the dealer's option list will permit one to select basically the same engine/transmission/suspension packages that come on the Spyder and the Cobra II but contained in a more subdued exterior. However, if you want more power, the Monza can be easily upgraded. One of those famed free-revving 327s from the pre-emission days can be found in a junk yard for $100-$200 and bolted directly into the car. The same can be done in the case of the Mustang II with some older, small-block Ford engines.

While most of the cars in this field are three-door hatchback types, which adds to the over-all functionalism of the design, several more traditional coupe types are available. The new BMW 320 i is the slightly larger, faster, more luxurious replacement for the much-loved 2002 series that helped boost the recent fortunes of the Munich-based manufacturer. The 320 i maintains the rather tall, boxy styling theme of the 2002 but is generally a smoother, more civilized automobile, thanks to its fuel-injected four-cylinder engine and its improved chassis and suspension. Because of its squarish roof line, it will carry four adults with ease, although the great unwashed may fail to understand why it costs in excess of $8000.

The Mazda Cosmo is about $2000 cheaper than the BMW 320 i, but it is probably the plushest, most elegantly appointed automobile in this entire collection. Another distinction lies in its power plant, which, like those of all the larger Mazdas, is one of the smooth-running rotaries based on the German Wankel patents. The Cosmo is the premier machine in the Mazda line-up, although (concluded on page 228)City Car(continued from page 152) most of its drive-train components are based on the slightly less elaborate RX4. Producing 110 hp, the Cosmo is plenty fast--in excess of 100 mph--and may be the most silent-running automobile on the highway, regardless of price.

Within the realm of small, two-door, four-passenger automobiles with certain sporting instincts, one can probe almost any level of price, up to the absurdly expensive $95,000 Rolls-Royce Camargue or into the more modestly priced Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC ($22,000), Maserati Khamsin ($30,000), Lamborghini Espada ($35,000) or the sexy new Jaguar XJS ($20,000), but such automobiles are not really in context here. We are discussing usable automobiles, cars that can be driven to work every day and used for fun and socializing in the evenings and on weekends. The idea of trucking down the freeway through rain, fog and sleet each morning and evening at the wheel of a Lamborghini Espada, for example, makes no sense, which implies an upper limit of price for an automobile one would want to expose to the weather and driving vagaries of other commuters on a regular basis. A certain compromise is available in a pair of automobiles that provide the cachet of a famous manufacturer's marque, high levels of luxury and performance and price tags that might be described as only modestly staggering. The Jaguar XJ6C is a two-door, coupe version of the famed XJ6 and XJ12 sedans--certainly the most rakish four-doors presently produced. The XJ6C is similar in many ways, including Jaguar's lavish use of burled walnut and high-grade leather throughout the interior, a sophisticated, all-independent suspension and four-wheel disk brakes. The car is light and deft to operate and utterly silent, even at highway cruising speeds. While it originally was available with the new Jaguar V12 engine, future models will come to the U. S. equipped only with the heavy, but stone-reliable double-overhead-camshaft in-line six-cylinder. There are strong indications that Mercedes-Benz, the world's oldest and most honored automobile maker, will introduce a coupe version of its all-new 280 series in 1977, thereby giving the company an entrant in this high-line sporting-coupe field. The new car will be a smaller, more compact, much prettier version of the 280 coupe presently sold in the U. S. market. It will, of course, embody all of the precision and performance that have come to typify every machine produced by this great German firm. Both the Jaguar and the Mercedes-Benz will fall in the $14,000--$16,000 range, which probably places them at the outer limits of practicality in terms of insurance costs, maintenance and general aggravation. A more practical price limit is about $10,000, where one can pick from a trio of truly sporting machines, such as the new Porsche 924, the Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT and the aging but immensely popular Datsun 280Z 2+2.

Perhaps the biggest news in the field is the Porsche 924, which marks a major milestone for the famous Stuttgart firm--it is the first front-mounted, water-cooled, in-line engine to be marketed by the company in its long and illustrious history. (In truth, the new variation is not entirely of Porsche's making. Now a part of the giant Volkswagen-Porsche-Audi consortium, Porsche inherited the 924; it was originally designed as an Audi sports car. It is in many ways a committee machine--its 1900-c.c., 95-hp engine is a hotted-up, fuel-injected version of the power plant that propels the VW Rabbit.) The car is wonderfully smooth to drive and devoid of the nasty oversteering manners that typified older Porsches, and its hatchback body provides adequate rear-seat space and plenty of luggage room. It is not a terribly rapid car, but, with an all-independent suspension and nicely designed four-speed transmission, it can provide hours of driving satisfaction. It shares several important design components with the Alfetta GT, including fuel injection and a transaxle--whereby the transmission is housed at the back of the car, integrally with the differential, to improve weight distribution. The only difference between the two automobiles' gearboxes is that the Alfa contains one more gear--it is a five-speed, as opposed to the Porsche's four-speed. Both use overhead-camshaft, four-cylinder engines of similar displacement, but the Alfa's produces 34 more horsepower, which, in company with slightly less weight, gives it somewhat better performance. However, neither car is blindingly fast (0-60 in approximately ten seconds; top speed about 115 mph) and their assets lie solely in fine engineering, superb handling and braking.

It is likely that since its introduction in 1969, the Datsun Z car has become the most popular sports machine in the world. It has come a long way, in terms of both price (nearly double its original $3500 tag) and sophistication (fuel injection, larger six-cylinder engine, improved suspension, air conditioning, optional three-speed automatic transmission, etc.), but perhaps the most important change came with the 1974 introduction of a 2+2 version, as opposed to the limit of two in the original Z car. While it is a heavier machine, at nearly 3000 pounds, than either the Porsche or the Alfa, and has a somewhat more bulky feeling on the road, the 280Z is beautifully finished and embodies the attention to detail that can come only through years of perfecting a stable and basically solid design. Its reliable six-cylinder, fuel-injected engine developing 170 hp gives it excellent performance (about 120 mph) and its all-independent suspension keeps its four feet on the ground under the most demanding conditions.

So there we have it, a stable of reasonably priced, Well-designed urban sportsters that will maintain your sanity and your social life, at least until you accumulate enough capital to buy a Mercedes-Benz 450SE or move to the south of France, or both. Just remember one thing: For the price of one Rolls-Royce Camargue, you can buy about 24 Honda Accords. And at 11 mph on a rainy Friday night, in the middle of a clogged freeway, who will know the difference? Or even care?