Behind the Wheel

Yes, this is the diesel
Let me begin my review of the X5 Diesel with this: I'm not much of an SUV driver. I'd much rather drive a car, preferably one with a sporty nature. But I don't think I'm an atypical enthusiast. You know what I mean. It's much more fun to drive a car, even with just a hint of performance, rather than a truck or SUV.

The American market has struggled to accept diesel's, unless it's a pickup truck. The low-end torque makes diesel power ideal for towing trailers and hauling loads.

But when I heard I'd have access to a BMW X5 for a few days, I hate to admit it but I got excited. I have, of course, read a lot about the X5 and BMW's take on the world of SUV's. But I have never driven one, plus this was a diesel. Would driving a diesel be any different than a gasoline powered car or truck? What about the noise? And just how "green" would it prove to be?

What about today's diesels?
Some years ago, U.S. auto makers introduced buyers to diesel-powered cars with mixed results. Those 70's era Oldsmobile's and Cadillac's emitted such a clatter that it startled most potential buyers to dash the thought of better mileage for smoother running and quieter rides. Still land yachts, just not so noisy.

Any previous opinions I held regarding today's diesel vehicles were quickly dashed with this X5. Diesel engines have come a long way and BMW has done much to quell consumers fears about engine clatter and smelly exhaust.

Can you tell its a diesel? Well aside from the X5's graphics, you can when accelerating from a standing start. But the engine is at full grunt doing the job of getting the car up to speed. But standing outside the X5 as it idled or when at cruising speed, it was quiet and smooth.

The diesel X5 comes in two forms, the xDrive 30d or 35d. Each is powered by a turbocharged 3-liter in-line six, with the 35d bestowed with twin-turbos. The 30d has 235 horsepower and the 35d with 286.

BMW's diesel produces a hefty 425 lb-ft of torque at a low 1750 rpm. It accelerates to 60 mph in 6.7 seconds, impressive for a 5111-lb SUV. For those wondering about mileage, the EPA rates the diesel X5 at 19 mpg city and 26 mpg highway. I easily achieved these numbers, particularly on the highway where my local freeways are relatively flat.

The X5's handling easily rivals many "sports" sedans and is a ball to drive. The low end torque powers it through corners quite nicely and makes you think you're driving something other than a heavy SUV. Fun, yes, but the weight will catch up with you with a nod to understeer that is easily controlled and expected.

Electronic gadgetry
Hallelujah, I was able to pair my iPhone with iDrive! Or, more specifically, with the Communications center of BMW's disputed entertainment hub. I wasn't so successful with the 3 Series I tested not long ago so I was pleasantly surprised by my success this time around.

What I was disappointed with was the quality of the system itself. The iDrive control knob is nicely weighted and feels like it should be linked to a grade-A entertainment system. Unfortunately, the expected BMW quality ended there. The other buttons used to access the system were a hard plastic that didn't mesh well with nearby surfaces. The BMW standards guide may need a revisit.

I did find the iDrive system easy to navigate. BMW has taken much heat over the system since it was introduced and has simplified it. To those ends, they may have let the on-screen graphics suffer. A visual update is needed, especially in the age of computer gamers and hybrid "greenness" measuring dash displays.

How about the competition?
You can see how the diesel X5 faired against it's competition in this comparison published by Motor Trend. Based on their results, Motor Trend favors Volkswagen's Touareg TDI.

You benefit from German engineering in both the BMW and VW, but the Touareg seemingly wins out with a better designed interior. You want your time behind the wheel to be a great experience, not only in driving dynamics but in the quality of the environment. BMW may be lacking here, but first hand experience will be your best guide.

Any true-blue BMW fans out there? What do you think of a diesel BMW, particularly an SUV? Is it high time American buyers accept diesel, particularly with its miles per gallon advantage? Or will the higher showroom sticker price turn buyers away, not to mention the higher cost at the pump? Let me know what you think, especially if you are an X5 owner.

Volkswagen GTI: Halo car?
Would you consider the GTI Volkswagen's halo car? When you stop and think about it, the GTI has, over the years, meant sporty driving. If you're old like me, you remember the original GTI as a small yet tossable car to drive.

That fun-to-drive reputation has continued over the years and manifests itself yet again by being recognized by AUTOMOBILE Magazine as its 2010 Automobile of the Year.

Now, some of you might say the New Beetle is VW's halo car but for me it's always been a little too cartoonish. For diehard VW buyers, the GTI describes performance in an affordable package that's hard to beat. The Beetle is there for college coeds and commuters yearning for the '70s. They may have owned the original minivan, the VW Bus, as well. But that's another story.

A loose definition of halo car is one that draws buyers to showrooms. Usually it's an expensive car that catches your eye because of its exotic looks, expensive price and mind-numbing performance. In a nut shell, halo cars are unaffordable and will outperform 99% of drivers; i.e., its performance will get you in trouble in more ways than one.

But does a halo car need to meet those specifications? A car doesn't need to be expensive or exotic looking to be great to drive. Does the GTI look exotic? Absolutely not. But what does it have?

We can start with its 2.0-liter, 16-valve DOHC turbo-charged four-cylinder producing 200 horsepower and 207 lbs.-ft. of torque. Transmissions include VW's slick DSG or a traditional six-speed manual. Add on the new for 2010 electronic limited slip, which VW is calling XDS, and you have the makings of a car most enthusiasts will love.

Let me know what you think. Do you think the GTI can be VW's halo car? What other car does VW have that fits the halo characteristics? I can't think of any other VW model that fits the bill.

When will hydrogen fuel cell cars be ready?
This is the most frequently asked question about hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. While the technology still needs to be developed further, hydrogen fuel cell cars will arrive at dealerships by 2015.

Number of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on the road today
GM has been the most aggressive promoter of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Project Driveway is a demonstration program that started over a year ago where more than 100 Chevy Equinox hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are being driven by members of the general public in Washington, D.C., New York, and Los Angeles. Each person gets to drive the vehicle for three months. GM also brings some of the hydrogen vehicles to “ride and drive” events at conferences and makes them available for journalists to test drive.

Honda started a similar program last summer where a small number of customers in Southern California can lease the FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell car for $600 per month. Between 2008 and 2011, Honda will build 200 FCX Clarity hydrogen cars. The company has built the world’s first dedicated hydrogen fuel cell vehicle production facility in Japan. The first Honda FCX Clarity rolled off the production line last June which was almost exactly 100 years after the first production Ford Model T.

Furthermore, Daimler has been testing around 100 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for several years. And Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan, Ford, and Volkswagen all have a small number of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on the road.

At the moment, the hydrogen fueling infrastructure for these vehicles is very limited. There are around 60 hydrogen fueling stations that are operational in the U.S. Half of these are in California. On the other hand, there are around 170,000 gasoline stations in the U.S.

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicle driving experience
A frequent comment from people who test drive hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is that besides the lack of engine noise the experience is very similar to driving a gasoline-powered vehicle.

The driving range of hydrogen fuel cell cars has improved greatly. The Toyota FCHV (Highlander) hydrogen fuel cell vehicle is a mid-size SUV that gets 516 miles of driving range with only slightly less rear trunk and passenger space as the Toyota Highlander Hybrid. The vehicle stores hydrogen at 10,000 pounds per square inch (psi).

Other hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have driving ranges as low as 180 miles. There are a variety of reasons for this including storing hydrogen at 5000 psi, using smaller tanks, and having less efficient fuel cells. However, with the exception of the Honda FCX Clarity, most hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are converted gasoline-powered vehicles. With vehicles that are built specifically to run on hydrogen, extra space for the hydrogen tanks can be created. Furthermore, the hydrogen prototype vehicles are typically utilizing fuel cell technology that is one to three years old. The next generation fuel cells being developed by the car companies will be more efficient, smaller, and weigh less.

The bottom line is that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will be able to meet customer needs for trunk space, passenger space, a 300-mile driving range, etc.

Remaining obstacles with hydrogen fuel cell vehicles
The only two remaining obstacles with hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are cost and durability. The fuel cell technology will likely be ready in the 2012 time frame. This will give the car companies four to six years to improve on the fuel cells that are in the existing prototype hydrogen vehicles.

However, there are two other cost issues. The car companies will also need to optimize the manufacturing process and mass produce the hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in order to make them economical for consumers.

Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler, said in early 2009 that his company will be able to produce hydrogen fuel cell vehicles at the same cost of a hybrid vehicle in 2013 or 2014 assuming at least 100,000 units are built per year. Daimler is planning to begin limited production of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles this summer.

Toyota has said that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will arrive at dealerships by 2015 or perhaps sooner. GM has said hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will be sold beginning in 2014 or 2015.

Building the hydrogen fueling infrastructure is the real issue
Since hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are very close to being ready, the real issue is that the hydrogen fueling stations need to be built. The car companies are clearly taking care of their part. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will be ready to be mass produced in three or four years.

However, despite the tremendous amount of progress with hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, the hydrogen industry as a whole is thinking very small when it comes to ramping up the hydrogen infrastructure. There is almost no talk right now of building thousands of hydrogen fueling stations by 2015. Moreover, a “real world” hydrogen fueling station (i.e. one that could dispense 1000 or 1500 kilograms of hydrogen per day) has yet to be built. The existing hydrogen fueling stations typically dispense tens of kilograms per day for a small number of vehicles.

With peak oil looming, oil prices are likely headed back to $100 or $150 per barrel in the next two or three years. Furthermore, they could potentially go even higher five years from now. Therefore, the lack of a sense of urgency to get the hydrogen fueling infrastructure built on a scale that is necessary is baffling.

Another unsettled issue is how the hydrogen fueling stations will be financed. The focus up until now has been on the oil companies and the federal government. However, both have shown little interest in building the hydrogen fueling infrastructure.

Last fall, I proposed a way to build the hydrogen fueling infrastructure that does not involve the oil companies, federal government, or subsidies. The idea is to have hydrogen fueling station cooperatives. Here is how they would work.

One thousand people who live near each other would agree to purchase a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle and each pay $2000 extra in order to finance a $2 million hydrogen fueling station. Each person would then own 1/1000th of the fueling station. This would solve the hydrogen infrastructure “chicken and egg” problem, because both the vehicles and the fueling station would come at the same time.

Furthermore, the idea is scalable. For example, the concept could be used to build 50 hydrogen fueling stations that are spread throughout the Phoenix metro area. The stations would provide fuel to 50,000 residents of Phoenix who purchase hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

It should be noted that these hydrogen fueling stations will most likely be selling hydrogen that is produced on-site from natural gas. This will likely be the most economical way to produce hydrogen for at least several years. While this will result in around half of the carbon dioxide emissions as cars powered by gasoline, the downside is that the increased demand for natural gas will eventually cause the price to go much higher.

However, hydrogen can also be produced from wind, solar, or nuclear power. The short-term cost will be higher than producing hydrogen from natural gas. On the other hand, these production methods will result in very stable prices for consumers.

With electricity generated from wind, solar, or nuclear power and transmitted over the electric grid, the hydrogen could be produced on-site with electrolyzers at fueling stations. Another option is to produce the hydrogen at wind, solar, or nuclear facilities that have a large number of electrolyzers and then distribute the hydrogen to fueling stations via pipelines and trucks.

The hydrogen could also be produced at solar or nuclear facilities through methods that utilize the heat from solar or nuclear power. These methods are much more efficient than first generating electricity from solar or nuclear power and then producing hydrogen via electrolysis. In this scenario, pipelines and trucks would also be used to distribute the hydrogen to fueling stations.

Summary
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that meet mainstream customer requirements will arrive at dealerships by 2015. However, people need to be thinking much bigger when it comes to building the hydrogen fueling infrastructure. Perhaps this will happen when oil returns to $100 or $150 per barrel in the next two or three years.

This is a guest post by Greg Blencoe, CEO of Hydrogen Discoveries, Inc., which is a start-up company with a large-scale hydrogen storage technology and a hydrogen pipeline technology that is based in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He also publishes the Hydrogen Car Revolution blog.

Four of the five pollute less than some hybrids

With all the attention the emerging technologies are getting in the automotive press, you tend to forget about the decades-old standard, the conventional gasoline engine.

You're definitely paying a premium to be green, with hybrid technology easily adding two or three thousand dollars to the price of a car. And most electrics, such as Tesla's roadster, are priced only for the wealthy. Makes for great red carpet press for the Hollywood-types but the everyday, commute-to-work driver, just can't afford it. Even GM's Volt will be priced in the $40,000 range, before any government subsidies kick in.

So rather than concentrate so much on the new, NADA Guides has released a list of the top five cleanest conventional gasoline cars for this year's Earth Day.

"It is no surprise that on Earth Day the automotive world will be focused on the latest and greatest hybrid vehicles, but the fact remains that consumers are still overwhelmingly buying and driving conventional gasoline cars," said Michael Caudill, spokesperson for NADA Guides. "The Top Five Cleanest Conventional Cars show that consumers have options for vehicles that are easy on the environment without the higher price point of emerging hybrid technology."

The cars that made the list were based on a combination of scores from three criteria: greenhouse gas emissions, smog-producing air pollution and combined miles per gallon. All data was based on 15,000 miles of driving per year, with 55 percent of it city driving and 45 percent highway driving.

Greenhouse gas emissions include carbon dioxide, methane gas, nitrous oxide and hydrofluorocarbons. Theses figures are expressed in tons per year. Smog or air pollution includes nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, various carbon-containing compounds (including hydrocarbons), formaldehyde and solid particulates.

It's nice to see three of cleanest cars are from American manufacturers; i.e., the 2009 Pontiac G5, the 2009 Chevy Cobalt LS and the Ford Focus S. The Hyundai Elantra GLS lands up in the middle of the pack with the 2009 MINI Cooper coming in last. It's surprising to see the MINI as the dirtiest of the bunch, with it emitting the most air pollution yet still being very efficient. You can bet BMW will work to clean it up.

As many would argue, hybrid and electric technology is not ready to replace the traditional gasoline engine. Will prices adjust eventually? Probably. But until then, you have a few options to be green without paying for it.