Car Shopping, 2018

The Washington Auto Show

William Sundwick

My biggest challenge of the Washington Auto Show was meeting up with my wife. She beat me there by over twenty minutes – Metro from Capitol Hill was faster than traffic from Northern Virginia during afternoon rush hour. The Walter E. Washington Convention Center is spread over two buildings and nearly six square blocks. Most of its entrances were closed. How could I get in? Which building?

Frantic texts trying to describe our respective locations in the cavernous complex resulted only in both of us simultaneously finding helpful staff to guide us to where the other had said they were! Eventually, after clarifying who was to remain stationary, we met. The problem seemed to be that both our descriptions made it seem like we were in the same place (ticket sales), when we were really in two different buildings.

Why Did We Come?

What business did we have at the 2018 Washington Auto Show, anyway? We weren’t exactly desperate for a new car – although, after eleven years, our 2007 Toyota Highlander is starting to look like it needs replacement. But, these days, 85,000 miles is nothing. The real reason we claim to be shopping is nothing more than my fetish for new cars and fascination with the vagaries of automobile marketing. Can’t kick the habit, no matter how hard I try!

Of course, there were the exotics and special interest cars on display – up on the third level of the Convention Center – good for some “Wow” exclamations, and photo-ops. Bentleys and Rolls-Royces, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and McLarens. 

We had been informed by posters at the entrance, however, that neither Cadillac nor Mercedes were exhibiting this year. They must have calculated there were no sales to be gained from participation. Slightly mysterious, since BMW, Porsche and Audi were clearly visible, and those exotics on the third floor were also sponsored by authorized dealers.

Shopping for more mundane transportation needs was our excuse for attending, though. We saved the fun and photo-ops until the end.

The Research

Performing due diligence through online research is my job. Reducing my range of choices based on practicality is my wife’s job. Due diligence took the form of a spreadsheet based upon my research. We knew which market segment interested us (midsize crossovers), to which we added the somewhat meaningless requirement that whatever the replacement for our Highlander would be, it must have at least the same level of features it has. I quickly discovered, however, that NO midsize crossover sold in 2018 is as spartan as our 2007 Highlander! And, prices have risen accordingly. (One feature noticeably lacking from all 2018 contenders, however: a cassette tape player in the audio system. I don’t even think they have CD players, anymore. My ’07 Highlander’s JBL has both).

I read and summarized reviews of various models for my spreadsheet, and collected data on cargo volume, curb weight, fuel economy, horsepower/torque ratings of engines, 0-60 mph acceleration times, and price ranges based on each make’s “Build and Price” web page. My wife dutifully went over all the data in my spreadsheet. Her job was to pass judgement based on the numbers: “That costs too much! That’s horrible gas mileage! Why do we need a V6? I don’t want to drive anything that big – forget the three-row seating vehicles!” She knew her role well.

The dynamics became clear. When we started seeing and sitting in the various contenders at the Show, we both knew we would leave with a much smaller list -- if we wait until next year, there will be more choices.

The midsize crossover segment of the market is very large these days – and very hot in sales. My spreadsheet, in its final form before the show, contained 22 different vehicles. But, after spending more than four hours at the show, and discussing what we learned, our list now contains eight vehicles – all with only two rows of seating. No hybrids on it, yet fuel economy will be the same or better than our 2007 Hybrid Highlander – efficiency of all engines has increased that much in the last eleven years (mostly because of advanced turbocharged fours). Cargo volume may be slightly less than our Highlander’s, especially in the five “compact” crossovers on our revised list, but all have roomy and comfortable passenger cabins.

The Finalists and the Market

Here are the eight finalists: five smaller – Chevy Equinox, Ford Escape, Honda CR-V, Subaru Forester, and VW Golf AllTrack. And, three bigger – Ford Edge, Nissan Murano, and Subaru Outback. Near-luxury two-row contenders from Acura and Volvo were eliminated due to “costs too much” criteria, and all three-row crossovers from my original list were eliminated due to some combination of size, price, and fuel economy factors. The GMC Terrain was eliminated because of the brand’s marketing image – it’s a TRUCK brand!

Three different engine configurations exist among the eight finalists: five of them have those little turbo 4s, the two Subarus have their characteristic “boxer” (horizontally opposed) engines, and the Nissan Murano still uses a V6 (it is the most economical of all V6s – EPA rates it at 21/28 mpg).

All contenders have many “active safety” features (using external sensors and actions), like collision avoidance, lane change warning, backup cameras -- unknown eleven years ago except in the most expensive luxury models. And, all eight finalists feature higher quality interior design than our Highlander – mostly leather, heated seats, center-mounted touchscreen for infotainment and climate control. All except Forester offer Apple CarPlay, enabling access to all the apps on our paired iPhones via the infotainment system.

I never assume that the car-buying consumer always makes the right decisions, and my wife is not even aware of market share for the 22 vehicles on my original list. Yet, we seem to have come down to primarily the dominant players in the market. Two exceptions are that at least one of us (me) was really impressed by the Golf AllTrack wagon, despite its relatively modest profile in the U.S. market. And, the Toyota line for 2018 – both Highlander and RAV4 – were nixed by one or both of us, the former due to size (much bigger than our 2007), the latter because of inferior “fit and finish” compared with its main competitors (looks cheaper, less classy). Toyota may well remedy the RAV4 problem next year with a new generation due in 2019. But all our finalists, except that VW, are strong contenders in the most competitive market segment existing today. Could it be consumers really are intelligent beings? Or, is it that we have now sunk to the level of average auto-buying consumer?

Our next step will probably be arranging test drives at dealers. But, there is no current schedule allocating time for that adventure. We may delay until the 2019 model year, with its new choices, before taking such action. But, the Auto Show was fun – first time we’ve indulged the annual extravaganza since 2011. We practically closed the place down shortly before 10:00 on a Friday night!

Appendix

Crossover Shopping, 2018 – The Eight Finalists (Alphabetically), photo of spreadsheet

Exploring the Sundwick Automotive Photo Library: Part I - Introduction

William Sundwick

Roughly nine years ago, I was a follower of several automobile-related blogs. It was the capstone of a lifetime of following auto journalism. I had long since given up on the magazines of my youth (various Peterson pubs, Car and Driver, and Road & Track), although for serious shopping, when car replacement is in order, Car and Driver’s blog still has great road tests.

What struck me, by then well into middle age, was how entertaining it still was to learn about cars. Even though I typically only replaced a car once every 11-15 years, myself, both my offspring were then on their own, but unable to afford cars. So, I could shop with them (since I would be co-owner). In the process of searching for used cars, my own childhood and youth flashed before me. I remembered poring over those mags as a child (pre-driver’s license)! Totally out of control, I then lurched into the fantasy world of the teen-aged “gear heads” of Flint, Michigan … those guys I went to high school with, but who would likely never leave Flint!

That’s when it hit me. I needed to capture this experience in something lasting. I was a trained professional librarian … so, naturally, I thought of a collection, an organized, tagged collection. Since collecting real cars was prohibitive, why not collect photos of cars?

I discovered quickly that there were no restrictions on downloads of most of the images appearing in the blogs I followed. I knew, as a librarian, that didn’t necessarily mean there was no copyright protection, but there were no blocks. I would download the pictures, alter them with a freeware photo editing program (Helios Paint) by creating captions on the photos, then categorize and tag them with Windows Live Photo Gallery (an artifact of Windows 7).

In time, this led to searching the Internet for other automobile photo sources. Soon, I was engaged in a full-blown hobby. My Photo Library was exploding into thousands of images. The structure of the library became layered, as images became more numerous. It needed back-up; fortunately cloud storage had become available, just for that purpose. I could cheaply purchase enough Google Drive space to accommodate a photo library many times larger.

As the years rolled by, however, it became apparent that, as with any good library, mine needed to have limits to the scope of its content – especially since this looked increasingly like an historical collection. So, in addition to ground rules I established when I started the endeavor, I ultimately felt I needed to stop.

Thus, the Sundwick Automotive Photo Library is now a collection of images downloaded from a variety of sources, whose scope includes passenger cars, production-based racing cars, and light trucks, made from 1928 – 2012, in any country.

Decisions Behind This Project (Limits)

All my life, going back to childhood, cars have been a dominant feature of my life, my family’s life. My father was an engineer for General Motors, we lived in Dearborn, MI until I was six, then moved to Flint, when Dad was transferred to a new “plant” opening for his Division (called “Ternstedt Division”). We lived there until I went to college. Peculiar though it sounds, today -- we used to change cars every year! So, my childhood development was bracketed by what car we drove that year. Always GM products, but never the same make … Ternstedt Division allowed identical employee discounts for any GM car.

It wasn’t only my family who changed cars frequently, either, but everybody else in town! Always new cars … mostly from GM, but competitors were often seen (the city did support a service economy of sorts, appropriate to its nearly 150,000 residents in those days, and the hourly folks never felt much loyalty to the General). Indeed, about 1958 or 1959, imported cars started showing up on Flint streets (odd brands, often short-lived, we had one neighbor who bought a Skoda from Czechoslovakia, in 1958). They tended to disappear, however, when smaller GM “compacts” arrived in 1960 and 1961. We owned a succession of three Corvairs. The even smaller imports soon were limited to the VW beetle, and a few others, mainly British.

My senses were continuously stimulated by different cars, and the culture in which I was immersed tended to celebrate that. I read automobile magazines bought at newsstands, and my uncle would pass along his old monthly issues of Road & Track. In junior high and high school (prior to the magic age of 16, and drivers’ licenses), much daily banter among my male peers was centered on the latest cars … and powerful V-8 engines! Which one was faster? Only way to find out was on the drag strip … oh, wait, there weren’t any of those around Flint, until much later! It was country roads late at night, and getaways from stop lights! All the mags seemed to be obsessed with speed in those days. Perhaps that obsession fostered the growth of organized drag racing around the country, in the sixties, primarily to promote safety.

I never outgrew the obsession, despite never participating in anything dangerous, like racing, myself. But, it didn’t influence my sober, adult, purchasing decisions in cars. Speed and acceleration, gearhead stuff, DID still capture my imagination, though … at least until I started the Sundwick Library. It was then, as my kids were leaving home for college, that I decided I would start compiling my digital image library.

All the types of cars that had long captivated me would be included, and that was practically everything. History would be a prime consideration, but no earlier than the period covered by the magazines from which I was weaned. This meant a reasonable starting date of 1928, the year Ford introduced the Model A, and rough beginning of the “classic” era defined by those publications (cars older than that were still part of the “horseless carriage” era, as far as I was concerned).

At first, I assumed I would continue to keep up with all the latest developments in the world auto industry, via my blog reading. But, after several years, it became apparent I needed to stop. So, I arbitrarily decided that the end of the auto industry occurred in 2012, the year Saab ceased production (and, I later found out, when many popular models ended their current generation, ready for new models in 2013).

While not wanting to exclude any category of passenger or sports car from my library, I clearly had to limit trucks: only light trucks, i.e., pickups, panels, and, later, SUVs. But, there were still many different genres of automobiles. There are production models (including advertising images), racing cars (included so long as they are based on a production body), and that ubiquitous category of “customs” (these are found in the library regardless of whether they are professional -- or “tuner” – modifications; or, amateur efforts at visual alteration of a production body).

As I search through the library, I am impressed by how many, many people have devoted much of their lives, throughout this 85-year chunk of history, all around the world, to the fetishization of automobiles. Sometimes I just sit and gaze on my Windows screen saver which randomly displays images from my library … it strikes me as something almost magnificent, the same way many see nature images, or baby pictures, or cats!

Cars are, indeed, totems for a tribe whose religion is mobility, and whose relative status among their fellow tribesmen is dependent on the unique characteristics of their personal transportation, both visual and mechanical. 

Perhaps it is not a universally shared perception among the world’s population, but it is certainly widespread enough to demand respect. Following are some details about the structure of the Sundwick Library, and some samples of images.

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Organization of the Collection

The first breakdown is geographical: there are nine world regions, based on where I’ve identified auto manufacturing (and its intensity):

·         France

·         Germany

·         Great Britain (UK)

·         Italy

·         Japan & Korea

·         Other Europe (includes Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Eastern Europe)

·         Other world (Latin America, Asia, Australia, Canada, and … even Africa)

·         Sweden

·         USA (no surprise, by far the biggest part of collection)

Within the broad geographical categories (note: original designs only for each region, not mere assembly of cars designed in other countries), the next division is manufacturer (corporate parent, not make), then comes a chronological breakdown: typically, a range of years somewhere between 1928 – 2012, which varies depending on what I know of product cycles for the makes included.

Then come the brands themselves; and, finally, in cases where there are many images collected, like some U.S. makes, further secondary characteristics (like “customs”, “coupes”, “light trucks”, etc. – sometimes these will supplant makes, because of common platforms or bodies – e.g., “Camaro-Firebird”).  

Each of these breakdowns will comprise a folder. Windows Live Photo Gallery allows me to display the contents of a folder, and search within it by tags, or combinations of tags.  The search will look in all “child” folders contained within the “parent”. Hence, with a little knowledge of file structure, and search logic, I can extract a small number of images meeting my detailed specs, whenever I choose.

Sources

Although the collection started with blogs, notably Autoblog and Autoblog Green (both dedicated to covering the current industry, properties of AOL), Jalopnik (quirky auto journalism, slogan: “Drive Free or Die”), and Hemmings Daily (antique collector interest), I soon discovered other sources. There are many. But, I found myself relying primarily on two especially rich troves of photos: carpicsindex.com (part of carnut.com, emphasis on “street rod” shows in Midwest and Southwest), and the Old Car Manual Project (an amazing crowd-sourced collection of auto sales brochures, magazine advertising, and repair manuals). At present, there are nearly 28,000 images stored in 489 folders. This is the Sundwick Automotive Photo Library.  I haven’t added to it in about eight months, but that doesn’t mean the library is closed. I only capped the dates covered at 2012, not the quantity of historic images I’d be willing to include.

Tags

Any librarian knows that storage and preservation are only part of the task of maintaining a research collection, the far greater challenge is access (retrieval). Windows Live Photo Gallery allows assignment of any number of descriptive tags to an image. These tags can then be used to retrieve and organize a select group of images. I’ve created tags for production (or model) year, make, model, body type, function, and genre of vehicle. There’s also a tag for “engines,” since many photos, especially from carpicsindex, are under-hood shots of street rods and drag racing setups.

Some examples of refined searches using my tags are these …

1  1.   Images of 1942 model year Oldsmobiles: result = 3 photos (from carpicsindex and oldcarmanualproject)

2 2.    Images of Australian cars of 1964: result = 3 photos

 

 (from Jalopnik and oldcarmanualproject)

  

3 3.  Images of Corvette engines: result = 10 photos (only showing a few here, all from carpicsindex) 

 

4 4.  Images of Ford (U.S.) wagons from the ‘30s: result = 20 photos (only showing a few here)

 (all these photos from carpicsindex)

 

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 It’s easy to see how one could retrieve images from the collection, matching a wide variety of specifications.

At this point, the reader may ask: why? Well, if you’re interested in pictures of cars, you can do some searching on Google, where the universe is much larger, but the refinement is probably limited to only makes and models … possibly genres; but, not the specialized tags I’ve created for my library.

I hope to do some of these specialized searches for future posts here in Warp & Woof. Stay tuned.