Seems like the millennium isa year for breaking some oldrules in the auto industry,but also for upgrading somethings that work. There’s al-so a styling/handling trend

that’s very noticeable for ’00 cars—larg-er wheels. (Get used to the ’00 short-hand now; you’ll be seeing a lot of it!)The new Ford Focus has available 15-inch wheels. The new Chevy Impalahas 16-inchers. Due to the low-profiletires that go with them, this translatesinto damaged wheels and flat tires frompotholes and curbs. The fix often mustinclude a new wheel, turning the old $5

flat-fix into a $600 job. You’d better beprepared to deal with the flak.

Wheels aside, let’s take a look at thespecific domestic nameplates and whatthe new century offers.

FordThe Escort and Contour—the firstslightly successful, the second a disap-pointment—are being relegated toother duties, as the new Focus takescenter stage. Escort becomes a fleet“cheapie,” Contour a high-line sportssedan. The stylish Focus, which isshorter but has more interior volumethan Contour, spans both lines with its

three-door, four-door and wagon mod-els. The Focus is a high-tech econobox,which means a lot of sophistication in a$13,000 car. The theory is that if youcan build an econobox that has appealbeyond mileage numbers, you mightbe able to sell it without expensive re-bates. Ford needs to sell lots of Focus-es to reduce its CAFE (corporate aver-age fuel economy) penalties from prof-itable (but gas-guzzling) sport/utilitymodels.

The Focus has Ford’s “New Edge”styling, but how technically differentis it? For openers, it has a fully inde-pendent multilink rear suspension,

48 September 1999

TechPreviewTechPreview

2000 Ford Focus

BY PAUL WEISSLER

Aside from a few new models, it’s more style thansubstance, as the new millennium’s offerings from the

domestic carmakers begin to invade the market.

BY PAUL WEISSLER

Aside from a few new models, it’s more style thansubstance, as the new millennium’s offerings from the

domestic carmakers begin to invade the market.

something you’d expect only on apricey sports sedan.

Ford has developed a low-cost wayto make the multilink, using three steelstampings and just one aluminum cast-ing—a design package that saves 15pounds in the process. The stampingsare the spring link, toe link and a for-ward arm called the “control blade”(yes, it’s blade-thin). The camber link(a lateral arm) is the casting. The shockand coil spring are separately located,which not only improves suspensiontuning, but helps create a wide, spa-cious trunk. The Focus adds externaldecklid struts that provide good access

to the 13-cubic-foot compartment.The front suspension of the Focus is

a MacStrut design, but a super-stiffchassis and today’s highly engineeredsuspension bushings (with shapedvoided areas) give the car excellentride and handling balance. Be aware ofthese precisely tuned suspensionswhen you replace parts.

Two engines are available: One is theold Escort 2.0-liter split-port inductionengine, a 110-hp base powerplant thatseems a lot livelier in the new chassis.The other is the real performer—a 130-hp, 2.0-liter Zetec, borrowed from theEscort ZX2 and Contour. The Zetec

gets a major rework for 2000, however,particularly a “ladder frame” type ofbedplate to add rigidity. It was alsoshaped to tie directly to the bellhousing,which stiffens the entire powertrainwithout the need for extra externalbraces, such as those used by Chryslerand others. Pistons and rods are lighter,and the rings are lower tension types, toreduce friction. Because the tappets aredirect-acting in the DOHC Zetec, Fordalso decided it didn’t need hydrauliclifters, and dropped them in favor ofsolids, with shim adjusters.

The Focus’ Zetec drops the variablevalve timing that has been used on the

49September 1999

Saturn’s Midsize L-Series

20002000

Contour for internal EGR, in favor of aless expensive conventional EGR valvethat’s adequate for Low-Emissions Ve-hicle (LEV) standards.

Both Focus engines have torque-ax-is mounts, which means the front andrear mounts are aligned with the axis,around which the engine tries to rotateon acceleration. This arrangement hasbeen long used by GM to reduce pow-ertrain shake, and the econo-Focusmatches such models as the BuickLeSabre by using a hydraulic mount infront. The mount attaches to a beefyboss on the cast-aluminum front cover.Cast aluminum for a timing belt cover?Yup, top to bottom on the base engine,just up to midpoint on the Zetec(there’s a plastic top cover you can re-move for belt inspection).

The engines feed into an exhaust sys-tem with a novel flex joint. It almost re-sembles a flex pipe from the 1960s, andit’s designed to allow normal exhaustsystem motion without transmitting vi-bration to the body. In addition, thefront hangers are a soft rubber for gooddamping, with a stiff rubber band-like

wrap as a limiter, to prevent metal-to-metal exhaust contact with the body.

The four-speed automatic transaxleis a new electronically controlled de-sign with 18 inputs to a separate shiftcontrol module. A dozen of the sensorsare external, so any number of erraticsensor signals could affect shift quality.

Two five-speed manuals are available,both with hydraulic clutches (primarilyfor powertrain isolation, but also for alighter clutch pedal). The Zetec manualis the premium model, with a synchrofor reverse, one of what appears to be amodest trend in ’00 gearbox engineer-ing. If you’ve ever struggled to shift in-to the typical manual reverse, you’ll

love the smooth, goes-right-in quality.The Focus is not the only news out

of Ford. The Taurus has been re-skinned, and its marketing emphasis ison safety. The car has a new sensor andelectronic module that measure theseverity of a crash and decide whetherto activate a soft-slow or full-bore de-ployment of the two-stage front airbags. Taurus also gets the power-ad-justable gas and brake pedals that wereintroduced last year on the Expeditionand Navigator. The pushrod Vulcan 3.0V6 is up from 145 to 153 hp (ho-hum),but the 3.0 OHC Duratec V6 is upfrom 185 to a more competitive 200horses. Both Taurus engines meet LEV

50 September 1999

TECH PREVIEW 2000

The Ford Focus’ independent rearsuspension is an inexpensive, multi-link design. As you can see, the for-ward link is a “blade-thin” stampedsteel design, so “control blade” is anappropriate name. Also notice thatthe camber link is an aluminumcasting, the only one in the bunch.

Exterior view of the Focus’ Zetec four-cylinder bedplate shows how it flaresto form a large arc mounting for the bellhousing, to improve rigidity.

ControlBlade

Toe Link

CastCamberLink

Ladder FrameBedplate Extension Mates to Bedplate

There’s no variable valve timing for exhaust gas recirculation on the Focus ver-sion of the Zetec engine. As a result, a conventional EGR valve (arrow) is used.

Ph

otos

: Pa

ul W

eiss

ler

The Focus’ powertrain mounts aretorque-axis mounted, and the frontone is a hydraulic type, which youwouldn’t expect to find in an econobox.

standards, as part of Ford’s “green”agenda. LEVs soon will be required byCalifornia and 13 northeastern states.

General MotorsThere’s an all-new, larger Saturn line for2000 (four-door sedan and wagon). Andalthough it’s loosely based on an Opel, ithas been “Saturnized” thoroughly, with anew 2.2-liter DOHC four-cylinder that’sexclusively Saturn’s—for ’00, anyway. Inaddition, the line gets a reworked ver-sion of the 3.0-liter V6 from the Cadil-lac Catera and Saab. But this V6 willrun happily on regular gas, although at acost of about 18 hp (182 vs. 200 for pre-mium gas applications). The Saturn L-Series is designed to compete with theCamry, Accord and Altima/Maxima. AsSaturn has shown, it knows how to ap-peal to a non-GM audience, too.

Except for a couple of rear side pan-els where build requirements calledfor steel, the larger Saturn sedan andwagon line has plastic body side panelsfor dent and ding resistance, a Saturntrademark.

Both the 2.2 and 3.0 engines aretorque-axis mounted. And because thelarger Saturn is competing in a classwhere two of the Japanese models useelectronically controlled engine

mounts, the accessory end andtransaxle end mounts both are hy-draulic for increased smoothness.

The Saturn 2.2 sort of resembles theGM Quad 4, because it has coil-on-plug ignition, a water pump driven offthe timing chain and a power steeringpump driven off the back of the intakecamshaft. But the 2.2 is a totally differ-ent engine inside, including the use of“aero” wings on the counterweights toreduce crankshaft power draw. Thereare a pair of balance shafts, but they’relocated in the engine block, not the oilpan. The oil filter is a cartridge type, asis the one on the 3.0 V6. The V6 is Sat-urn’s first drive-by-wire powerplant,and the powertrain computer sits atopthe intake manifold, a convenient ser-vice location, for sure.

The rear suspension on the L-Seriesis an independent multilink designwith struts. The strut assembly is notattached at the top with the piston rodthrough the body, but rather with boltsto longitudinal flanges. So you don’thave to dig into the trunk and/or re-move rear seats, package shelf, etc., toreplace the rear struts.

The steering on the L-Series has ahigh degree of on-center preload thatreally helps down-the-road operation,yet makes the transition to turns verysmoothly. GM gets this quality in othermodels with Magna-Steer, the premi-um-priced electronically controlledsystem that adds and subtracts from

the torsion bar. Saturn does it with asimple pair of spring clips that hold thepinion shaft to the steering shaft. Oneis C-shaped, the other T-shaped, withthe T-stem fitting into the slot in the Cto provide the extra preload. When thewheel is turned off-center, the T-stemdeflects to produce a solid joint, andthe torsion bar then takes over. It’ssomething to keep in mind if you everhave to service the system.

The automatic transmission uses a

52 September 1999

TECH PREVIEW 2000

This is the flexible exhaust pipe section that bolts to the Focus’ exhaust mani-fold. The flex joint is intended to allow normal motion while isolating the restof the exhaust system and the car body from engine vibration.

The upper half of the timing cover ofthe Focus version of the Zetec en-gine is plastic. It’s easy to removefor timing belt inspection.

filled-for-life fluid, so there’s no dipstick.There are other tech points that

come out of the GM camp for 2000.For example, N-cars (Pontiac GrandAm and Olds Alero) with a new Ital-ian-built Getrag five-speed manual al-so will have a reverse synchro. (Hey,we said it looks like a trend.)

The 2000 Cadillac DeVille, mean-while, is the first car with Hughes Air-craft-developed “night vision”—basi-cally an infrared camera that takes apicture of the unlit road ahead andprojects it into the driver’s field of vi-sion, just above the dashboard. The ’00DeVille is built on a new platform (itshares no parts with the previous mod-el), and its 4.6-liter Northstar V8 wasgiven a redesign, in part to meet LEVstandards. The intake manifold is new,with runners that terminate in aplenum with a central throttle body, toimprove the intake air sound.

The ignition now is a coil-on-plugdesign. The top ring of the piston isjust 3mm from the piston crown (downfrom 4.5mm), to reduce crevice vol-ume between piston and cylinder(where gasoline vapors escape com-bustion, causing hydrocarbon emis-sions). The cylinder head is a new cast-ing, with combustion chambers that

have a faster burn rate. And the camfollowers (“rockers”) now have rollerbearings for reduced friction. Many ofthese changes debuted on the 3.5-liter“Shortstar” V6 introduced by Oldsmo-bile on the Intrigue last year.

GM is giving birth to G-platform

triplets in 2000, with a lot of time be-tween deliveries. The LeSabre was in-troduced last spring, the Bonnevillecomes out this fall and the Olds Aurorais due next spring. The G-platform is asuper-stiff chassis on which the Riviera,Park Avenue and previous-generation

54 September 1999

TECH PREVIEW 2000

This view of the engine compartment of the Saturn L-Series with its new 2.2-liter DOHC four-cylinder shows the coil-on plug ignition module in the center,with the heat sink on the driver’s side. Service should be simplified.

Unlike most engines today, the Saturn 2.2’s water pump (arrow) is driven di-rectly off the timing chain, not the accessory belt, while the power steeringpump is spun by the rear end of the intake camshaft.

The front exhaust hanger on the Focusis soft silicone rubber, but note whatappears to be a rubber band wrappedaround it. It’s a stiffer rubber thatsets the limits for exhaust movement.

RubberBandLimiter

Hanger

Coil-On Plug Module Heat Sink

Aurora made their debut three yearsago. All three feature a cross-cabincast-magnesium beam to which a pre-assembled/pretested dashboard ismounted. The solid beam and pre-assembly are intended to prevent dash-board rattles and squeaks.

Bonnevilles and LeSabres get the3800 V6, that venerable (and cheap-to-build) pushrod that refuses to die. Nowit’s the first GM V6 to meet ULEVstandards, thanks in large part to areapplication of the air pump and more

catalyst in the converter. The Aurorawill use a 4.0-liter version of the North-star V8 and the 3.5-liter V6 developedoff the Northstar. Note: Although youcan lift the front of the G-platform bythe control arms, use only the cross-member at the rear suspension.

There’s a new Chevy Impala out thisfall, as well. Although it feels like thetraditional rear-drive model of its pre-decessors, it’s actually a transversefront-drive, based on an updated ver-sion of the W-platform, on which theLumina, Regal, Intrigue and Centuryare built. The new platform, namedGMX 210/230, features an extruded-aluminum cradle with added ribs tosupport the front-drive powertrain.

Interior volume is an impressive 122cubic feet, which is close to theLeSabre’s 126. The engines are two fa-miliar pushrod V6s—the 3.4 and 3800.

Expect improved wheel balancewith 2000 GM models, as the makercontinues to switch assembly plants todynamic balancing. Of the car lines,only one J-car (Cavalier, Sunfire) planthad static balancing for ’99, and it’sbeen changed over for the new year.

GM’s ACDelco is introducing a high-tech service program to the aftermarketthat’s designed to put independentshops on a technologically equal footingwith car dealers. Called WISE (Web-In-tegrated Service Environment), it startswith scanning the vehicle bar code intothe shop’s main computer, perhaps load-

ing the vehicle info from the computerinto a scan tool. If the service writer canpick the problem area from a menu, allappropriate service bulletins and specif-ic shop manual procedures (startingwith diagnosis, if necessary) will betransmitted to the technician’s comput-er terminal for display on the monitor.

Availability (and location) of theparts likely to be needed also can beretrieved for the shop operator and or-dered from a chosen distributor, if de-sired, and scheduled for delivery. Parts

57September 1999

TECH PREVIEW 2000

The crankshaft on the Saturn 2.2has “aero” wings on the ends of thecounterweights to reduce air drag.

The Saturn L’s rear strut is bolted tothe body through side flanges, notat the top with a piston rod nut.

Both Saturn engines on the L-Series have cartridge-type oil filters, which seem to be coming into their own lately. The filteron the left is off the 2.2-four and has a plastic cover, while the 3.0-liter V6 oil filter (right) gets a metal thread-on cover.

that arrive for specific jobs can be bar-coded so they’re routed to the specificrepair order. If the technician has trou-ble diagnosing a problem, scan toolreadings can be transmitted (in realtime) to a remote hotline.

Communication with the customer,including transmission of estimates,can be done through WISE by e-mail,fax or phone. The system, in beta test-ing now, is expected to be available be-fore the end of the year. Sure, the fullWISE system is for medium-to-largeindependent shops, but look for small-er modules for smaller shops.

ChryslerThe 2000 Neon got an early debut lastwinter, and new models are scheduledfor introduction after the new year.The first will be the PT Cruiser, a retrohotrod-looking sedan based on theNeon platform but with a new rearsuspension.

Chrysler also will have a five-speedmanual transmission with synchro re-

verse (to make it unanimous amongwhat we used to call the Big 3). But it’sa Jeep application, which MOTOR willcover in a future issue.

The fall still is the primary seasonfor new-vehicle introductions, as youcan see. But as we’ve noted, there alsoare significant additions scheduled forY2K. Although the number of plat-forms and totally new powertrains isbeing reduced to save money, vehiclemakers are relying more and more onspecific calibrations, add-on systemsand parts to produce unique character-istics. And don’t forget that those beau-ty covers hide a lot. Being able to “rec-ognize” an engine is nice, but take aclose look at how it’s dressed beforeyou pick up your tools and go at it.

58 September 1999

TECH PREVIEW 2000

The steering in the Saturn L-Series gets on-center preload and better track-ing characteristics, with the stem of a T-shaped spring on the pinion shaftfitting into the slot in the C-shaped spring of the steering shaft.

One look at this beauty cover confirms the identity of Buick’s venerable 3800V6. But it also covers new parts, including an air bleed for the cooling system.

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circle #24on theProduct

InformationCard on

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T-Clip Spring

C-Clip Spring