Looking for an interesting subject for your MBA thesis?
How about tracking the time it takes for various automotive luxury and convenience options to descend from the Olympian heights of Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lexus and Cadillac, to the more prosaic realm of Chevy, Ford, Hyundai and GMC.On second thought, I'll save you all the research and tell you that "not very long at all" is my unscientific observation here at Car Central.
Memory has blurred, but I think it was just last year, 1997 at the latest, that I first reported on the device that General Motors calls "Home Link," a three-button on-board transmitter that allows one to not only remotely open one's garage door but also the gate to one's estate and turn on the lights of one's manse, or perhaps summon Jeeves to carry in the groceries.
I recall being quite impressed with this gadget, being that I have to make do with a beat-up old garage door clicker and haven't gotten around to putting a gate on my estate. But in the "me-too" world of auto one-upmanship, most of the carmakers quickly included a version of the device in their top luxury marques.
Imagine my surprise when I recently slipped behind the wheel of a 1999 GMC Envoy, the new, tonier version of the venerable "Jimmy" (the twin sister of the Chevy Blazer), a compact sport-ute that has not heretofore been marketed to the gated-estate set and found Home Link to be one of its accessories.
But that's the nature of the business. Yesterday's ultrasnooty gizmo is today's ho-hum standard equipment. Remember when power windows were something special? Heck, I go back (barely) to a time when car heaters were an option and some of you may recall when that new-fangled device called an electric starter replaced hand cranks. Now everybody has 'em.
Including the GMC Envoy, which not only comes with an electric starter but a whole raft of goodies previously reserved for its betters; even zebrano wood trim and a Bose sound system for Pete's sake. Aren't the rich allowed to have anything for themselves?
Clearly, there's a trend here. Take a meat-and-potatoes sport-utility, gussy it up with every option you can think of and trot it out as a miniature, budget-priced version of a Cadillac Escalade or Lincoln Navigator.
"Budget-priced" is a relative term, of course, and in this instance last year's buyers of Blazers and Jimmys, whose rides were base-priced at around $25,000, will be shocked to learn that it would take $10,000 more than that to get into a 1999 Envoy.
Base price for my "meadow green metallic" tester (a new medium green color that most folks found very attractive) was a hefty $33,600. A power sunroof added $750 and a locking rear differential $270. And that was it for the options.
Along with a $525 destination charge, the bottom line was an eye-popping $35,145, a pretty high tariff for a vehicle of this class.
In addition to the real wood trim and eight-speaker stereo, the Envoy also boasts eight-way power, heated leather seats with power lumbar support, electronic climate control, power folding outside mirrors, keyless entry, 4-wheel ABS, Autotrac 4wd, automatic load leveling, dual airbags, high-intensity headlights, compressed air port with air hose, automatic load leveling suspension . . . a whole raft of luxury stuff normally found only on larger, pricier SUVs.
In case you didn't pick up on it above, the Envoy is a "compact" sport-ute, which means it will hold four people comfortably but not in La-Z-Boy style. True, there's a third seat belt in the back, but three adults back there gets pretty touchy-feely.
On the upside, compared to those larger sport-utes priced in the Envoy's neighborhood, the GMC's fuel economy is semi-decent at 16 mpg in city driving and 20 mpg on the highway. The fuel tank holds 18 gallons.
Powered by a 190-horsepower 4.3 liter V6 (no V8 is available), the Envoy provides reasonably spirited motoring and while the ride and handling of this vehicle is not "car-like" in the manner of the Mercedes-Benz ML320 or Lexus RX300 (Envoy is derived from GM's small pickup platform) neither is it blatantly truck-like. Its standard "luxury ride suspension system" sees to that.
Nor is the Jimmy/Envoy trendy in the manner of the new small sport-utes, such as the Honda CRV and Toyota RAV4. It's simply a solid, no-nonsense sport-utility that has not set sales records against its rivals Ford Explorer, Chevy Blazer and Jeep Grand Cherokee but has held its own with sales of 75,000 to 80,000 annually.
GM has made only modest changes to the Jimmy/Envoy for the 1999 model year. These include steering wheel radio controls, a "next generation" mini-module driver's airbag, the eight-way power driver's seat with memory and eight-way power passenger's seat with power recliner, three new colors, folding outside mirrors and a "tow/haul" switch for the four-speed automatic transmission.
Likely Envoy customers, says GM, are half male and half female, median age 42, married with an average household income of $100,000 and up.
E-mail max@desnews.com or fax 801-236-7605. Max Knudson's car column runs each Friday.