While many of my peers were at the Los Angeles Auto Show last Friday, I made my way to the much humbler hall known as the Connecticut Convention Center. Though there were no world premieres, there was a Mazda test drive event, where I finally got some seat time in the CX-5 crossover…and I kinda really liked it.

Having watched the crossover craze take over the auto industry faster than the rush to install cup holders any and everywhere, I never really got the appeal. After all, a crossover is essentially a compromise; you get some of the space and utility of a SUV and supposedly better fuel economy, but it often comes at the expense of driving dynamics and the extra space often isn’t nearly as usable, especially if you’re trying to bring more than two people anywhere.

Then there’s the Mazda CX-5. Though I only got a few minutes of seat time, the Japanese automaker clearly took time to inject some of its Zoom-zoom DNA into the CX-5, especially when equipped with the 2.5 liter SkyActiv engine. At least driving around Connecticut’s capital of Hartford, the CX-5 never lacked for giddy-up as I smoothly accelerated from one stoplight to the next.

To be sure, the Mazda crossover isn’t going to win any impromptu drag races, but in an era where turbocharged engines are increasingly offered in vehicles of every shape and size, the naturally-aspirated grunt of the chunky 2.5 liter SkyActiv four-banger harkens back to an era when large-displacement four-bangers were far more commonplace. Smaller engines may be better for fuel economy, but they can be buzzy and boring until those turbochargers kick in. But with the CX-5, the power was pretty much always there.

Fuel economy is pretty much impossible to judge during a five-minute drive, but the official EPA ratings put the CX-5 at 26 city and 35 highway, which put it amongst the most efficient crossovers you can buy right now. What’s more amazing is that Mazda managed this feat without using turbochargers, a hybrid drivetrain, or sacrificing the enthusiastic way the CX-5 responds to some spirited driving input.

My favorite feature though is something I wish I saw on a lot more crossovers; the 40/20/40 seat split. Instead of having the middle seat fold down with one of the primary seats, Mazda made center seat mechanically independent of the other two. This means transporting snowboards, skiis, or lumber is still possible while hauling four full-size adults.

After my all-too-brief time with the CX-5, I left the test drive area to wander the show hall. Having experienced the grandeur of three of the four major U.S. Auto Shows (those being L.A., Detroit, Chicago, and New York), the CT Auto Show left me feeling just a bit underwhelmed. Major halo cars like the Dodge Challenger Hellcat and Corvette Z06 weren’t in attendance, and neither was the 2016 Miata, a car I had really been hoping to see in person.

There’s also a lack of high-end exotics and not a single concept car, not even an older one. Because of this, the Connecticut Auto Show feels more like a dealership showroom than a must-see-event, though that could easily be remedied by simply ensuring the latest products are available to see. Surely GM could spare a pre-production Corvette Z06 on display? That alone would bring people through the door, as would a chance to peep the brand-spanking-new Miata.

I will say this; not even to battle throngs of people to see the gathered cars was a wonderful change of pace from the crowded and manic rush from one press conference to another that I’m used to. The displays are also a lot more open, and customers are encouraged to hop in to most of the new cars, leaving the “off-limits” signs to be reserved for the handful of high-priced classics also being showcased.

That said, it took me all of about 25 minutes to see the entire show. Unless you’re one of those types to spend 30 minutes discussing compression ratios or feels the need to see each and every vehicle on display, don’t plan a full-day outing around the show. But for those looking to do some new car cross-shopping or just a chance to check out the latest and greatest cars and features, this and other local auto shows are definitely worth checking out.

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Tags: 2015 Mazda CX-5, Connecticut International Auto Show, CT Auto Show, Mazda, Mazda CX-5

About the Author

Christopher DeMorro A writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to HEMIs, Chris can be found wrenching or writing- or esle, he’s running, because he’s one of those crazy people who gets enjoyment from running insane distances.

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In 2014, an all new Formula One engine was introduced with an incredibly complex hybrid design meant to extract as much energy from gasoline as possible. An exhaust driven turbocharger has two jobs. One, it crams more air into the engine and two, it turns a generator to make electricity. Another system harvests heat from the engine to generate more electricity. And then even more electricity is recaptured from the rear wheels under braking.  All that electricity is used to drive a motor that helps propel the car forward. The electronics controlling all that cramming and harvesting are insanely complicated.

All the teams and all the engine manufacturers agreed to this scheme way back in 2013. In fact, the idea was originally proposed by Renault, which has a long and proud history of building winning engines. To help control costs, everyone agreed the design of the new engines would be “frozen” at the start of the 2014 with only limited development allowed in 2015 and again in 2016.

Everything worked perfectly until the teams started winter testing in January of this year. That’s when Renault engines started blowing up every 5 laps and the Mercedes engines were found to have a 100 horsepower advantage over everyone else. The teams without Mercedes power immediately began crying foul and demanding the engine rules be unfrozen. Things went rapidly downhill from there.

The Mercedes team went on to win every race in 2014 except one. The buzz in Abu Dhabi for the last race this past Sunday should have been about who would win the World Driving Championship, but instead, most of the weekend was devoted to squabbling among the teams. Two teams have gone bankrupt this season and will be gone from the grid next year. Three more teams claim they are hemorrhaging money and on the brink of insolvency. The head promoter of the sport, Bernie Ecclestone, says that nobody watches anything online and his target market is people 70 years old and older. Meanwhile, TV ratings are plummeting and grandstands are often half full. Clearly, Formula One is in a mess and no one seems to know how to clean it up.

According to Race Car Engineer, Christian Horner, managing director of Red Bull Racing, has the answer. Having won the championship 4 years in a row, Red Bull is not happy that they only finished 2nd this year and they want something done about. Horner’s idea is to rip up the current rules package and substitute something cheaper and less complicated.. Specifically, he and Dr. Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s director of racing, want to ditch all that silly hybrid stuff and have just an engine, a turbo and an auxiliary electric motor. In other words, they want something more like a Prius on steroids. They say the change is necessary to keep costs for the lesser teams under control.

Over at Mercedes, this idea has not been well received. It seems “all that silly hybrid stuff” is precisely where their horsepower advantage comes from. Officially. Mercedes spent more than $150 million on their new engine but rumors insist the actual figure is nearly three times that amount. So it’s not surprising they do not want to go back to the drawing boards and start all over again.

Toto Wolff, head of Mercedes Motorsport, argues, “Reversing everything, changing the format, changing the engines would just increase costs, it would be the opposite for what we need for Formula One at the current stage. We are all talking about costs and if you would open up the regulations in the way it has been described, that clearly means you don’t care about costs because that would be like digging a grave for Formula One.”

What’s going on here? Strip away all the posturing and finger pointing and it comes down to this. The current rules package allows the engine manufacturers to change 47% of their power units for 2015. That seems like a lot, right? But Renault says it will need to change 60 – 70% of its engine to catch up with Mercedes. Red Bull uses Renault engines. Red Bull wants to win. Their pleas for a relaxation of the engine freeze have been rebuffed and so they are trying an end run around the rules, claiming they are concerned about the costs the lesser teams have to pay to play the Formula One game.

The kicker in all this squabbling about costs is that Honda has just returned to Formula One. It will power the McLaren cars in 2015 and is willing to supply other teams after that. Rumors also continue to swirl about Volkswagen getting involved in Formula One soon with an Audi branded engine. The radical new hybrid engines Formula One agreed to for 2014 and beyond seem to appeal to car makers who want to use the sport to further their reputation for building ultra-efficient road cars.

Add it all up and the odds of the sport changing its mind again and going off in yet another new direction are slim to none.

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Tags: Bernie Ecclestone, Christian Horner, formula one engine, Helmut Marko, hybrid race engine, Mercedes Formula One, Red Bull Formula One, Renault Formula One, Toto Wolff

About the Author

Steve Hanley I have been a car nut since the days when articles by John R. Bond and Henry N. Manney, III graced the pages of Road Track. I know every nut, bolt and bullet connector on an MGB from 20 years of ownership. I now drive a 94 Miata for fun and the occasional HPDE track day. If it moves on wheels, I am interested in it. Please follow me on Google + and Twitter.

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Supply and demand drives the economy in its simplest form, and some automakers would rather limit supply in order to induce demand. Since there’s no lack of demand for the $136,000 BMW i8 hybrid supercar though, the German automaker is considering increasing production to reduce wait times for well-heeled buyers.

Automotive News reports that would-be buyers of the i8 are facing wait times of up to 18 months, and some buyers have paid 50% over the MSRP just to get behind the wheel of the plug-in sports car. BMW says that six months should be the maximum length of time people should have to wait to get a bespoke BMW i8, but in some markets the wait could be costing BMW potential customers.

So far in 2014 BMW has delivered some 760 cars to customers around the world, including over 400 in October. Those are no doubt customers who placed their orders earlier in the year; but somebody wanting to put money down on a BMW i8 today might not see it until mid-2016. That’s a long time to wait for a six-figure vehicle, but good things come to those who wait I suppose.

Of course long wait times for in-demand products are nothing new. Even with the recent factory retooling, many Tesla customers need to wait two or three months before taking delivery of their personalized Model S. There are more than 20,000 deposits for the upcoming Model X too, but those placing an order today were recently told that they shouldn’t expect their cars until “well into” 2016.

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Tags: BMW, bmw i8, bmw i8 sales, Model S, production, Tesla, Tesla Model X

About the Author

Christopher DeMorro A writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to HEMIs, Chris can be found wrenching or writing- or esle, he’s running, because he’s one of those crazy people who gets enjoyment from running insane distances.

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