Happy Labor Day and welcome to Motoring Monday for September 1, 2014
2015 Ford Mustang Job 1
Ford’s Flat Rock, Michigan plant this week began churning out the all-new 2015 Mustang, the final candle on the pony car’s 50th birthday cake.
Job 1 for the all-new Mustang is here with a celebration marking the official start of production for the 2015 Mustang, attended by Ford executives, designers, engineers, and UAW dignitaries.
The 2015 Mustang fastback EcoBoost, V6 and 5.0 liter V8 GT models are the first to start rolling off the line which also builds the Ford Fusion.
The Flat Rock Plant, formally known as the Auto Alliance International was once shared by Ford and Mazda. Most recently the last-generation Mustang and Mazda 6 sedan had been built there before the two companies separated.
The first batches of production will be primarily for the North American market with global export models slowly phasing in over the coming twelve month period.
While the line has actually been moving for a short time, Job 1 is the official moment where cars are actually released to start shipping beyond the chain link fence.
What this means to all of us out here is that the 2015 Mustang is being loaded on rail cars right now and is bound for your local dealers in the coming weeks. Be on the look out!
2015 Volvo XC90 Crossover SUV Reveal
Volvo finally pulled cover off their first all-new product since they divorced from Ford just four years ago, the top of the line XC90 crossover SUV.
A very important product for Volvo, the new XC90 is built upon the companies new Scalable Product Architecture which a number of other new cars will be built from.
While always known for safety, the brand is reinventing itself also to be about environmentally friendly and highly efficient powertrains like their all-new Drive-E engines.
Case in point, the most powerful version of the new XC90 will be the T8. A model once equipped with a V8 engine, the new one has a supercharged and turbocharged four-cylinder engine mated with an electric motor.
The combination offers some 400 horsepower and with a plug-in hybrid battery should offer the kind of fuel economy we once attributed to a Prius.
The interior also promises a new era for Volvo with the highest quality materials, all new dash design for infotainment, and a host of new driver-assistance and safety systems.
The new Volvo XC90 luxury crossover SUV arrives here in North America next spring.
2015 Mopar Challenger Track Pak Test Vehicle
Dodge has been making a lot of headlines in the muscle-car wars this summer, and the hits keep on coming.
This week Sportsman racers got a sneak peek at the 2015 Mopar Challenger Drag Pak test vehicle at the NHRA Nationals event held at Indianapolis.
With GM offering their COPO Camaro and Ford the Cobra Jet Mustang, all of the Big-Three are in the business of offering a purpose built package for drag racing.
Starting with the 2015 Dodge Challenger the drag pak test car gets an aluminum block 426 cubic-inch HEMI racing engine and a Chrysler-based 727 automatic transmission.
The cockpit gets a race-style stick shifter with integral line lock and a full roll cage with five point harnesses. In the back is a weight box and a trunk-mounted 12 volt battery.
Exterior visuals include 15” wheels with 30” diameter drag slicks out back. Underneath is a four-link rear suspension with Panhard bar, and a 9” solid rear axle.
Specifications on the 2015 Mopar Challenger Drag Pak test vehicle are still preliminary and being evaluated, as they are pending NHRA approval. So more on that later.
Mopar says their Challenger Drag Pak is only modern era package car to win Stock Eliminator class at Indianapolis. It’s an exciting time at the track folks.
Test Drives:
Our test drives this week were all about vans. But before you flip the channel, we didn’t get far away from the race track.
We spent some time with the all-new 2015 Ford Transit cargo and passenger vans at the Phoenix International Raceway, taking one out on the autocross course.
We sampled the entire lineup of 2015 Ford Transit variations for our full review. The new Transit replaces the aged Econoline vans which haven’t much changed for forty years, and it’s a welcome replacement indeed.
We also this week tested the 2014 Toyota Sienna minivan. Offering creature comforts above and beyond the expected, we were treated like royalty in Toyota’s top end people hauler.
With options like a wide screen entertainment system, reclining second row seats with flip up ottomans and full panoramic roof it was hard not to be comfortable in it this week – at least if you were a passenger.
Driving the Toyota Sienna wasn’t a race-track experience but it provides a comfortable and refined driving character. Ours was optioned with all-wheel drive which should do well for our friends in winter states.
For these and many other test drive reviews, log onto TestDrivenTV or our YouTube Channel.
Reality Check: GM Bicycle Sharing Program
This week for Reality Check, GM announced they have solved their own internal personal transportation challenges not with cars, but bicycles.
Teaming with known bike sharing program Zagster, the automobile maker has implemented a fleet of bicycles at their Warren Tech Center campus to make travel at their facility easier for employees.
It’s eye opening to hear the people that design our cars talking about the bicycle being a better option in many instances. Times are changing.
Perhaps this little experiment might get GM to look at building bicycles or other small personal mobility devices that can put them ahead of the curve.
Money Shot:
Now its time for our Money Shot where we pluck a prize photo from this week’s stack press releases and show it to ya!
This week Volvo celebrated the 70th Anniversary of their PV444 which was the company’s return to market as World War II was ending. This photo shows a PV444 today, outside the building where it premiered on 1 September 1944.
That’s it for Motoring Monday this week, now you can be well armed for car talk this week at work. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel by clicking the link below and we’ll keep you updated on our latest news, drive reviews and Motoring Monday episodes.
