Shameless Self-promotion - Toronto Star Content Update (part 1)

Eco-Run 2015 - Vancouver, B.C.

April 10, 2015

You can find my Toronto Star coverage of AJAC's 2015 Eco-Run event in British Columbia here.

Eco-Run is an event that highlights efficient technologies, even those that appear in vehicles whose overall efficiency may not seem that impressive compared to a Prius or Tesla (ironically, both products from manufacturers that did not participate...). As examples, the Chevy Colorado uses a direct-injected 4 cylinder engine that's far more efficient than the previous generation's port-injected powerplant, the Jeep a turbodiesel V6 to provide gas V8 capability and 4 cylinder economy. There was also a hydrogen-powered Hyundai Tucson and a three cylinder Ford Focus.

BMW DesignworksUSA's Alexandra (Sandy) McGill in Vancouver

April 17, 2015 

You can find an excerpt of my interview with BMW Design's Sandy McGill for the Toronto Star here. 

Sandy is a very talented, deeply creative person whose resume includes guiding design choices in materials and colours for numerous BMW Group products, including the first generation of the modern Rolls-Royce Phantom, several BMW models, and a couple of Mini concept vehicles. If that weren't enough, she's also really nice, and great fun to chat with.

The Early family's 8-foot Viking tent trailer

June 26, 2015

You can find my RV and camper guide for the Toronto Star here.

There are a myriad of permutations of trailer and motorhomes - which one suits your needs best? My brief guide attempts to explain some of the pros and cons, while breaking down the meaning of RV terms like "Super C" and "hybrid".

Yep, that's me. I quite liked Honda's CBR500R

 July 17, 2015

I did it - I finally completed my training and testing, and earned my motorcycle license. You can read all about it, and the two Honda motorcycles that were involved, in my Toronto Star article here.

2015 Ram Rebel in Ipperwash, Ontario. Clifford the Big Red Truck

September 25, 2015

You can read about Ram's 2015 Rebel pickup in my Toronto Star review here.

If FCA were to allow you to equip the Rebel with the 3.0L diesel that's available in other Ram half-tons, it might just be pickup Nirvana. As it stands, it's a damn good effort that falls down a little on some details and a lot more on its price.




I'll be updating my Star content further in a future post. Thanks for reading!

Jackass Award/When Engineers Get Bored

2006 BMW 323i engine bay

Quick - can you spot the engine oil dipstick in the engine bay of this 2006 BMW "E90" 323i?

Tick, tock, tick, tock...

Trick question: there isn't one.


This is a combined "When Engineers Get Bored" and "Jackass Award" entry, because there was no real reason to eliminate the dipstick.

Although quite a good number of automatic transmissions have gone stick-less in the past decade or so, unless they're leaking, they don't consume fluid. Engines do. Engines also have their oil replaced fairly frequently. Transmissions? In a perfect world, not so much.

Bored BMW engineers obviously felt that they could save a few dollars by using electronics and sensors to replace the engine oil dipstick. Oh, wait, that actually wouldn't be cheaper, now would it?

So why do it? Good chance it will drive up service department business, I would have to think. Sure, it does keep the customer from having to open the hood and potentially get dirty checking their oil, but has that really been a problem for the last 120 years? I doubt it.

Eliminating the dipstick becomes a problem when a vehicle that is known to consume oil, and which has crazy-long service intervals that almost guarantee the need to add oil between changes (BMW actually sells an accessory spare oil bottle holder for the trunk for this purpose) then has no practical way of quickly and easily determining the oil level.

Or does it?

As it turns out, it does, kind of. In a bored engineer sort of way.

2006 BMW 323i oil level indicator. Yes, it's in the trip computer.

Built in to the trip computer is an oil level check function. Certain criteria have to be met (engine temperature, engine run time, etc.) before it will display the level, and - counter-intuitively - it has to be running to check the level. Doing an oil change? Better know how much oil this thing holds beforehand, because you're committed once you begin - you can't check the level until you start it.

If memory serves, the "min" and "max" indications are not 1 litre (quart) apart, as on most cars and trucks, either. No owner's manual? No service information? No familiarity? You're fairly much euchred. And that's if you can parse out the secret to activating this display in the first case.

Having something that warns the driver of a low oil level is no bad thing on its own. Sometimes we need to have our hands held for us, and excessively low engine oil is an expensive "oops". I'm more than OK with building that function in.

But eliminating as simple, effective, and cheap of a maintenance device as a dipstick is pointless at best, and it's a quick way to earn yourself a Jackass Award.

Shameless Self-promotion

2012 Hyundai Veloster - AJAC's Best New Sports/Performance Car (under $50,000)

You can find my Wheels coverage of the Best New Sports/Performance (under $50,000) category of AJAC's Canadian Car of the Year TestFest here.

2012 BMW X3 xDrive35i - AJAC's Best New SUV-CUV (over $60,000)

You can find my Wheels coverage of the Best New SUV-CUV (over $60,000) category of AJAC's Canadian Car of the Year TestFest here.

AJAC's 2012 Canadian Car of the Year and TestFest

Category Winners - AJAC's 2012 Canadian Car and Utility Vehicle of the Year

The Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) holds an annual event dubbed "TestFest" during the last week of October at which every new or substantially redesigned light-duty vehicle has an opportunity to compete. For the past six years, this has taken place at the Niagara District Airport, whose runways are shut down and used as a road course.

Competition occurs first within groups of its peers (categorized as best as possible), and then for the title of overall Best New Car or Best New Utility vehicle. Scores are based on an amalgam of subjective votes by the journalists, test vehicle pricing, and measured scores derived from on-site performance testing. TestFest and the Canadian Car of the Year process are constantly being refined, and this is the only event of its kind in the world.

For several reasons, you won't find models that have either already competed (whether they won or not), been on sale for more than one year, or that have received only minor changes for this coming model year. The most critical of those reasons is logistics; there has to be at least three examples of each competitor on site and available for evaluation, and each must be driven by each voting journalist on the same day for their votes to count. Just getting through the "new and improved" crowd is tough enough - this year's larger categories had 7 entrants (there have been 10 car categories in past years), with the assigned drive route and off road or on-track testing for each car taking approximately 40 minutes just complete. That doesn't count time juggling keys, which are expertly handled by students from Georgian College.

This year (as in years past), journalists were expected to complete their 3 assigned categories, as well as as many additional complete categories were required to bring their total to a minimum of 18 vehicles altogether. That's over the course of the two primary testing days, Tuesday and Wednesday, and votes must be submitted early Wednesday evening. It's tougher than it sounds.

On Thursday, while the category votes are tabulated, journalists are free to drive other vehicles in other categories. (This year there were several electric vehicles available for brief drives in addition to those competing.) Thursday is a chance to drive models you might not otherwise be able to experience, and also a chance to try and guess winners from other categories that you weren't able to complete.

That's because on Friday the category winners are announced, and each journalist is required to drive whichever category winners they haven't yet tested. The votes for overall Car and overall Utility Vehicle are submitted by that evening. The final winners are announced in February at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto.

Five of this year's eleven category winners were Korean, with the Germans claiming all but one of the remaining spots. The Dodge Journey was the sole "domestic" winner, but before you cry "foul", please note that last year's results included five domestics, two of which - the Chevrolet Cruze and Ford Edge - went on to claim overall Car and Utility Vehicle wins.

Here, in the order of the photo above, from left to right, are your eleven winners:

• Hyundai Elantra - Best New Small Car (over $21,000)
• BMW 1 Series M Coupé - Best New Sports/Performance (over $50,000)
• Kia Optima LX - Best New Family Car (under $30,000)
• Mercedes C-Class C350 4MATIC - Best New Luxury Car
• Dodge Journey - Best New SUV-CUV (under $35,000)
• BMW X3 - Best New SUV-CUV (over $60,000)
• Volkswagen Touareg TDI - Best New SUV-CUV ($35,000-$60,000)
• Kia Optima Hybrid - Best New Family Car (over $30,000)
• Mercedes S-Class S350 BlueTec 4Matic - Best New Prestige Car
• Hyundai Veloster - Best New Sports/Performance (under $50,000)
• Hyundai Accent - Best New Small Car (under $21,000)

As for which ones claim the title, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the Kia Optima LX takes overall Car, and either the Dodge Journey overall Utility Vehicle, though I'd not be surprised to see the VW Touareg or Hyundai Elantra in those places instead. We'll have to wait until mid-February to find out if I'm right.

In the meantime, click this link to read Wheels comprehensive coverage.

Shameless Self-promotion

My review of BMW's 750Li-based ActiveHybrid 7 can be found on CanadianDriver.com here. (This is not the same one found on Wheels' site.)

When Engineers Get Bored...

...they complicate what should, or even used to be, something simple.

Case in point, a 2006 BMW 325i that I replaced the rear brake pads on yesterday. BMW is among several manufacturers that incorporate wear sensors into their brake systems, which in itself is not a bad thing. It's really simple, actually: a soft plastic piece with a simple loop of wire in it clips into one inner brake pad at each end of the car. When the pad wears, this piece hits the rotor, and eventually wears through. Once the wire loop either
a) contacts the rotor and grounds against it, or
b) wears through and opens the circuit,
it illuminates a warning light on the dash. Much more effective than squeaker tabs, the circuit "latches" once activated to prevent the light flickering on and off as the pad touches the rotor. So far, so good.


(Photo of E90 cluster from user "NoKids" at E90post.com -
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=291247 )

This is where it all goes wrong. In older BMWs, you'd replace the pads and the sensor (sensors are about $35 each, no big deal), then you leave the key "on" with the engine off for 10 to 60 seconds to reset the light. Not this one. In this version, the "E90" model, things are a little more complicated, and don't look for the procedure in the manual or in the Mitchell or Alldata information most shops use. You won't find it.

Here, courtesy of an online BMW fan forum (and much surfing), is the final operation required - unless you have a factory BMW scan tool:

- insert key fob into dash receptacle.
- push "Start" button, but do not have your foot on the brake at the time (this puts the car in "run" but not running).
- wait for "Service" warning message to go out in message centre, replaced by the clock and odometer display.
- immediately push and hold "BC" button on signal stalk until "Service" indicator returns.
- use up and down toggle switch on signal stalk to highlight the desired service reminder.
- push and hold BC button until "Reset" appears in display.
- release and reapply BC button until a rotating clock symbol appears and then goes out.
- you may now exit the menu, turn off the car, or restart it as desired. Test drive it to ensure that the service warning is actually is out.

Hey, that was easy! I'd probably have figured it out on my own eventually - you know, an infinite number of monkeys at an infinite amount of typewriters, and so on...