ABOUT 15 years ago, domestic automobiles started shrinking in size and power because of the oil crisis in 1974 and increasing pressure from governments to reduce emission.

OVERDRIVE

Many thought that the large and powerful cars would eventual- ly die out, only to be replaced by small, wimpy cars. General Motors was the first to bring out smaller, lighter cars, two years ahead of Ford and Chrysler.

By the close of the "70s virtually every full and mid-sized car had lost weight and size. The Japanese and Europeans, on the other hand, didn’t have to go through the process because high fuel costs in those countries have always restricted the size of their cars.

Many of us assumed that the shrinking trend would continue, but strangely, we still have cars like Cadillac Brougham and Lin- coln Town Car measuring close to 5,600 mm long, and sports cars like Dodge Viper purmping out 400 hp. As a matter of fact, the exer- cise of ‘‘down-sizing’’ and shrink- ing horsepower only lasted to the mid-’80s or so, then the trend ac- tually started reversing itself when everyone realized that the gas price wasn’t going to become unaffordable.

Carmakers increased dimension and power output, and introduced new, larger models in response to the consumers who started de- manding bigger, roomier, and more powerful models. Seeing that “‘up-sizing’’ of models in- creased sales — sometimes two- or three-fold — the marketing people pushed engineers to re- design many previously shrunken models. But here’s the best part: although the cars got larger and more powerful, the fuel economy, in most cases, improved over their predecessors.

Take the Cadillac Eldorado, for example. The car first went on a major diet for the 1979 model

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- Friday, March 6, 1992 ~ North Shore News

AUTONOTIVE The growing generation

Some automakers turning back the clock with move to larger cars

year as part of GM’s down-zizing program, losing 400 kg in weig Then it shrunk again a further 4 mm in length and shed 200 kg in 1985. Yet for the 1988 model year, the situation started to reverse, gaining close to 80 mm in length.

The all-new 1992 Eldo has gained a further 274 mm and 100 kg cr so, essentially bringing it back to the 1979 size. Compared to the 1979 model, the 1992 Eldo’s power output jumped up by 60%, and the car guzzles 23% less gas. The concept of “more for less’? seems to apply here perfectly.

Other GM cars, such as the Cadillac Deville and Buick LeSabre, went through a similar trend: first shrunk, then enlarged without compromising efficiency.

In the past few years, Ford and Chrysler have introduced larger models as well —- the Ford Taurus, Escort, Thunderbird, Lincoln Continental, and Chrysler New Yorker all gained length when new models replaced the old ones.

Europeans are approaching tie “up-sizing’’ trend in a slightly different way. Both the BMW 850i and the recently launched Mercedes S-class madels are actu- ally slightly shorter than their

predecessors, but are wider, heavier, faster, and more power- ful. The 850i’s potent 5.0-litre V-12, for example, overshadows the 1990 M6’s 3.5-litre six- cylinder engine in both power and size.

Similarly, the new 600 SEL’s 6.0-litre, 48-valve V-12 with 402 horsepower makes last year’s 238-horsepower V-8 look like a toy. Both models gained weight, as much as 300 kg, because of wider, more massive bodies that have beiter structural rigidity, crash protection, and new features engineered into them. Mercedes, by the way, will also be introduc- ing more powerful, V-8- equipped mid-sized models 400E and 500E for the first time later this year.

The Japanese carmakers followed the ‘‘up-sizing”’ trend by introducing completely new, lux- ury divisions that offer full-sized luxury cars previousiy only avail- able from Europe and the U.S. Before the arrival of Infiniti, Lexus and Acura, Japanese cars like the Nissan Maxima and Toyota Cressida were about as large as you can get from Asia. Now, Nissan’s own Infiniti Q45 is the longest Japanese luxury car available — as a matter of fact longer, heavier, and mcre power-

Photo submitted

THE ELDORADO started reversing the shrinking trend in 1988,

making the new model almost as big as the 1979 version but with

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ful than the Jaguar XJ6, Mercedes-Benz 300 series, Volvo 960 and the Chrysler New Yorker models.

Even the supposedly ‘‘mid- sized’’ Acura Vigor, at 4,835 mm, is actually longer than the first generation Acura Legend model which was replaced in '91 by a se- cond generation model that is — you guessed it — larger than the *90 model.

I think both the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord deserve credit for ‘‘growing the fastest,’’ because each of them gained over 300 mm between their current models and the first generation

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models introduced in the early *80s. The 300 mm difference, by the way, is very close to the dif- ference between the previously mentioned full-sized Infiniti Q45 and the mid-sized Nissan Max- ima.

There are countless other models that have gained weight, width, length, height, or power, as they ‘‘grew up’? through new model change-overs, such as the new Mazda RX-7 and soon-to- be-released 626. Again, the amaz- ing part of all this is that fuel economy has not suffered despite their larger, roomier bodies.

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