Madness...madness!

These are the closing words from the 1957 movie, The Bridge on the River Kwai. In the movie, the insanity of war was being described. Today we have another form of insanity: the horsepower war.

The enthusiast media are gushing over the latest product of this craziness: the 2008 Mercedes-Benz CL63 AMG, a high-performance model of the Mercedes' smallest sedan sold in the US, the C class. The CL63 follows the time-honored muscle car tradition of stuffing a large, powerful engine into a relatively small, light car. Only this engine is a 6.2-liter V8 pumping out 457 horsepower. According to this road test on edmunds.com, the car accelerates to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.5 seconds, has a governed top speed of 155 mph, but can reach 174 mph if an optional Sport package is ordered.

In contrast, the Hemi V8 in the Chrysler 300C sedan and Dodge Ram pickup is sized at 5.7 liters and makes 335 hp in both vehicles. The new large V8 in the Toyota Tundra pickup is also 5.7 liters and makes 381 hp. However, the 300C weighs 4046 lbs, while 2wd quad or double cab versions of the Ram and Tundra weigh about 5200 lbs. I was unable to find the curb weight of the new CL63, but the top-level 2007 C350 Sport weighs a relatively svelte 3,495 pounds with an automatic transmission.

Why we "need" such extreme power in a car today is beyond me. It's not just Mercedes that's engaged in this form of oneupmanship, but every car manufacturer is in the game. Still, the German luxury makers, including BMW, Audi, Mercedes, and Porsche, have taken it to a new level.

With oil prices now over $72 per barrel and gas cresting a few weeks ago at well over $3 per gallon in the US, one wonders just how long this "madness" will continue. After all, it is 2007, not 1967.

Whither Chrysler...and Ford and GM?

With regard to the domestic auto industry, I'd very much like to see it succeed, because as someone once said, "competition improves the breed." The more competition in auto choices we have, the better ALL cars will be.

Detroit became fat and lazy in the past because there was too little competition, once Studebaker, Hudson, Kaiser, et al folded. Oh, we could buy those "foreign cars" from Europe, but most were too small, weird, or expensive for American tastes. Only Volkswagen, with its Beetle and to a lesser extent its Microbus, achieved a modicum of success. It wasn't until the Asian cars began their "invasion" in earnest after Detroit was caught napping after the first oil shock that the imports really took off. Toyota passed VW as the largest importer in 1975 and never looked back.

I remember Chrysler’s Lee Iacocca bleating over and over again in the early 1980s about "leveling the playing field" by demanding that the Asians build their products here. Well, be careful of what you wish for!

Now it looks like General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler are in as much trouble as the hapless "independents" in the 50s and early 60s. Hopefully, the situation can be turned around, but Chrysler’s fortunes appear especially bleak now that DaimlerChrysler is trying to sell off the Chrysler portion. If a private equity firm gets the winning bid, I can’t see how the company won’t be broken up and only the best parts, such as the Jeep brand, remain in production.

Since the 70s, a lot of people were "converted" to the imports, and many won't be coming back. Worse for the domestics, the children of the converts heard lots of stories about the "bad old days," so they in turn don't want domestic products either.

Don't take my word for it -- look what Joe Sherlock said in his blog, “The View through the Windshield." His dad worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad, once one of America's mightiest corporations, now gone. Joe is a consummate car guy and grew up loving domestic cars. He even has a classic (though modded) '39 Plymouth. Now as you know, I don’t agree with his politics, but his views on cars are usually right on the money. Read his take on where Detroit went wrong here. And his update here.

Then contrast that with his personal experience with a 2005 Toyota Avalon:

My wife's Toyota Avalon is now two years old. We have not had a single problem with it - no rattles, squeaks, electrical gremlins or mechanical issues. The Avalon has great fit-and-finish and is dead-bang reliable. It is also a pleasant car to drive. It is not a driver's car like my Jaguar sedan - the handling is not as crisp and/or sporty and, on long trips, the seats are not as comfortable. The exterior styling is unexceptional, although the interior is very nice. But the Toyota is a fine car nonetheless and we are very satisfied. We average 23-25 mpg in mixed driving and close to 30 mpg on the highway - all on regular gas.