Jeep

About a year ago, I spent a week driving a Dodge Nitro, and I came away from the experience with one question: Why would anyone buy this thing?

The interior is unattractive and cheap, the ride is harsh and the steering has more slop in it than a pig trough at breakfast time. It isn't even very fast, which is galling in a car called Nitro.

For all that, you can't even take the Nitro off-road. Not much, anyway. It lacks an all all-wheel-drive low setting for serious crawling.

My time in the Nitro, I knew, was a preview of the 2008 Jeep Liberty that would be revealed months later. The two vehicles are very nearly identical, built on the same Toledo, Ohio, assembly line.

Imagine my surprise, then, as I ended my first day inf the Liberty with a smile on my face. I couldn't help myself. I really liked it. I could see buying one as a perfectly sane thing to do.

Hummer

Hummer

Originally, Hummers were built in South Bend, Indiana, by AM General Corporation, which was the government vehicle division of American Motors. AM General had planned a civilian version of the large vehicle as long ago as the late 1980s. Publicity for such a vehicle began in 1990 when two matching white Hummers were driven from London to Beijing over the less-than-perfect roads of the then Soviet Union. Built to go off-road, they made the trip with no problems, and their journey was broadcast on ESPN. The next year, the Hummer's military version, the HMMWV (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, or Hum-Vee) garnered even more attention because of its use during Operation Desert Storm.

The first civilian version of the Hum-Vee was made available to the public in 1995 under the name Hummer, allegedly because Arnold Schwarzenegger asked them to. (The rumor is that he was impressed by a convoy of HMMWVs that he saw while filming Kindergarten Cop.) Three years later, AM General sold the brand name to General Motors. Even though they continued to manufacture the vehicles, GM took over the responsibility for marketing and distribution.

Over the next two years, GM introduced the H2 and H3, and renamed the original to H1. AM General continued to build the H1 until the line was stopped in 2006, and is contracted by GM to build the H2. The H3 is constructed in Shreveport, LA, in the same plant as the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon pickup trucks.

Hummer took on the international market in 2006, with select importers in Europe and other markets. The international version H3 is now being produced in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, for local use as well as export to Australia, Europe, Japan, and the Middle East. In addition, the H2 has been produced in Kaliningrad, Russia by Avtotor since June 2004, strictly for local use. Today, the Hummer is represented by roughly 300 dealers in 34 countries. A little more than half of those dealers are in the US.

One way to measure the value of the Compass might be to compare it to the trusty Jeep Cherokee that was enormously popular for 18 years and finally ended its run in 2001. The Compass is slightly bigger and light years better than the Cherokee was 10 years ago. The new Compass costs about $1000 less, in today's dollars. When you consider inflation (28 percent by the Consumer Price Index), that number blows up to more than $6000 cheaper.

The masculine Avenger is all show and no go but the 2008 version is worth the wait for the promised power as well as sex appeal.

'It just may be worth holding out for the V6 or the diesel'

Some people must have voted for a candidate after they saw their workers standing at the side of the road in colour-coded T-shirts waving posters.

After all, why would so many political candidates do it?

And some people must be so motivated by the balloons and bunting on car yards they stop and buy a car.

After all, why would so many car yards have balloons and bunting?

And as for the sales method of putting a hessian fence around the whole car yard for a one-day sale; that must surely be a big seller.

The world's second-biggest vehicle maker; depending on the month it's sometimes the biggest; leading the race with sales and model variety.

It has 14 distinct models on the Australian market representing 95 versions. Add another 13 for the Lexus label. Populate indeed.

Look closer and there are seven Aurion models; compared with five from Falcon and Commodore's six; to fit most wishes and wallets.

Hang the expense because today we're in the $42,500 Sportivo ZR6, a model only beaten in the Aurion price stakes by the Calais-chasing Presara at $49,990.

Let me digress for a moment. Where is Toyota finding these names? The Aurion line-up starts with the AT-X, then the Prodigy, then two Sportivos (SX6 and ZR6), the Presara, then the two sports models, TRD3500S and TRD3500SL. What's wrong with G, GL, GLS and GLZ?

Anyway, the ZR6 gets more kit than the $4000-cheaper SX6 in a desire to upgrade its sporty looks to appeal to buyers wanting a bit of luxury.

The Aurion is built on the four-cylinder Camry platform, though there are big changes to the suspension, steering and brakes to cope with the 3.5-litre V6 engine.

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