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r ir x economist sunflmbune advertising feature thursday dec 16 1999 23 automotive journalists put famify ilupi test robbeintema metroland staff so many cars so little time eyery year journalists from across canada gather at shannonville mbtorspbrt park just outside belleville to test the latest crop of new cars arid trucks i0mys 14th annual car truck of the year competition held by the automobile journalists association of canada featured more than 200 autpr motive entries vying in categories from sports car to sport ute to every- thihg in between diuing the competition teamsbf journalists attend brief manufacturer presentations track test the vehicles inspect them inside and but and then take to the streets in semicivilized fashion piloting the test vehicles over prescribed road loops with a variety of driving conditions most of the automotive writers have already driven most of the vehi cles before in daytoday testing or at automotive launches the real benefit of backtoback team testing is the chance to share impressions and information with other journalists and directly compare competitors under the standardized set of driving conditions while each vehicles dynamics its capabilities and even its character remain fresh in your mind- r its challenging and its demanding but you will never hear me say that its hardworlc wevereviewed most of these prod ucts during the course of the year but let me touch on one of the largest but often overlooked categories that i was myplvedin judging familycar with so many cars and a limited amount of categories theres always some contention over which cars should be judged in which category even having a family car category in itself is arguable jfyou think about it with the advent of fourdoof pick up trucks sport utes a resurgence of stations wagons and the everpresent minivan just what exactly is a family car nowadays regardless the family car category features all- new fourdoor sedans either brand new models or cars that have undergone significant structural or ppwertrain changes the category was split into two price ranges the cars listed here all fall into the under 25000 category family car under 25000 chrysler cirrus lx at first glance the cirrus looks l the biggest bang for the biggest buck in this category judging from the power ratings but in performance testing the entrylevel cirrus was outhustled by the neon the cirrus features the now familiar cabforward architecture and the stiffer structure contributes to improved ride qum handjgand safety llhii about didilii the allnew 2000 pontiac bonneville offers styde performance size space and comfort sfiwtipage27 m robbeintema metroland staff you never forget your first i mean your first car of course not the orie you learned in that one does nt count somehow its that first car you buy take home wax repeatedly and just stand there and look at thats the one you remember my first was a 12 year old ice creamwhite 63 pontiac laurentian bought from a mechanic friend it was a plainjane pontiac with a straight six and not a single option on board it didnt even come with an ignition key but we found a chain of leftover keys in a garage drawer and fortunately the laurentian chugged to life with an old tbird trunk key the pontiac trunk was after that screwdriver operated the old 63 was big arid roomy with four doors a singlespeaker am radio that actually worked and the kind of wide bench seats that kept me asking hey honey what are you doing all the way over there it gurgled oil and gas with equal gusto han dled more like a panzer than a pontiac and i occasionally had to stop and scrape the odd import off the big chrome bumpers my oriitslastlegs laurentian only lasted a valiant year or two but considering the two hundred buck purchase price it still ranks as the smartest auto deal i ever made so youcan see why im partial to pontiacs especially big oheslike the 2000 pontiac bonneville i recently got the chance to pilot some of pontiacs latest fulisize models through the picturepostcard autumn colours of muskoka sweeping round quiet curves and down long stretches of open roads that lay empty and deserted in the wakeof tourist season when i matched car keys up to my first tester an sle it was white the same white as my old car and i guess thats when i started reminiscing about the past and i suppose if i tried hard enough then yes i could scrape together a few similarities between a 1963 laurentian and a 2000 bonneville but that would be a stretch to say the least pontiacs latest and largest sedan is a car of the present not the past the allnew bonneville is built on gms gplatform its underpinnings shared with the oldsmobile aurora and buicklesabre the fourth generation architecture is stiffer with 62 per cent more torsional rigidity and a 27 per cent improvement in vertical bending resistance over the 99s the stiffer structure contributes to improved ride quality handling and safety some of the improvements come at a cost- pontiac cites weight saving measures like aluminum bumper beams that remove mass from the front and rear of the vehicle and the aluminum hood that saves 50 pounds but the new bonneville has still gained well over 100 pounds in curb weight depending on model and trim level the 2000 bonnevilles exterior dimensions remain relatively unchanged but the wheels the 2000 ponuac bonneville not only offers increased stability but more inside space have been pulled to the comers with ah inch and a half wheelbase increase up to 1122 inches and a corresponding wider track of 626 inches in front and 621 inches in the rear the result not only increased stability but also more inside space interior volume now measures 1218 cuft up 13 cuft from the pre vious model thattrarisiates into plenty of adult stretch out room and comfortable seating in front and back the wheelstothecorner treatment also gives the car a hunkereddown look bye bye bland bonneville the new model bulges with more of the exaggerated robust cokebottle shape a smoother hood and windshield rake arid distinctive pontiac styling cues like cateye headlamps twin grilles muscular haunches and the classic overrthertopbodycliddmg the overall effect is blatantly aggressive and more ferhihiscent of smaller siblings grand am and grand prix inside the cockpit is canted towards the driver the bonnejefias goneventhappy hf 1 h m i w i m ifh see pleasure page 25 rjr mwmmi tif ivtvrx9zt vmw ww4isriatntt r t i arff fttrt msmmtmf9mgsmmiatammf9t imwm