State laws pertaining to car insurance have changed particularly in Appleton, Wisconsin, thanks to the law that was signed by Governor Doyle, which takes effect November this year. The state of Wisconsin does not really require its drivers to take out car insurance policies, which leads to a lot of trouble especially during cases where the driver at fault is not insured or is under-insured. A related change is also the requirement of boosting the coverage levels to a fixed minimum.

Residents of Wisconsin are showing mixed emotions towards these changes. Todd Talady of Appleton says that he is pleased to hear about these changes. He further says that car insurance premiums are always high but living in a place where people can drive their cars without insurance would just put everyone else on the road at risk. This makes the requirement a sound decision for Talady.

However, this mandated change does bring higher premiums for most drivers, if not all. This is especially true for drivers who own policies that cover two or more vehicles. What would then take place is insurance coverage stacking. The coverage limit for each of the cars covered by multiple-vehicle insurance packages would actually double or even triple. This literally means that if you have a policy that is made out to give you $1 million worth of protection for each of your 3 vehicles, you just might incur roughly $3 million in terms of potential costs for each of the 3 cars covered.

Tom Adelmann, Secura Insurance Cos.’ Underwriting manager, says that the additional coverage brings additional expenses for policyholders who take out multiple-car policies. Not only that, because policyholders whose current packages provide lower level protection than the latest minimums allow would still have to deal with higher premium rates. No one is exempted from having to pay higher premiums.

Adelmann adds that because of this increase in premium rates, drivers would find themselves with a limited range of coverage options. Drivers ho cannot afford higher coverage are the ones who will suffer the most. Ironically, these new car insurance requirements may lead to having more uninsured or under-insured drivers on the road.

The proprietor of the Thiel Insurance Group, Body Thiel, shares that this new requirement could likely backfire. With the high rate increases, the people who cannot afford getting car insurance just might end up having to go without it.

Mark Thomsen of the Wisconsin Association for Justice argues that the higher coverage limit will ultimately help drivers. Still, Wisconsin drivers are starting to feel the brunt of the burden and are dreading the time when car insurance becomes mandatory, come June 2010.

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The littlest Volvo: Something smaller than the S40 sedan will be arriving at Volvo dealers by the end of 2006, confirms Hans-Olov Olsson, the CEO of Volvo Cars. Likely to be dubbed the C30, the diminutive Swede will be a front-drive hatchback coupe powered by either a four- or five-cylinder engine and built on the same platform as the S40. Styling will be reminiscent of the Safety concept car shown in Detroit in 2001 and the 3CC concept shown in Shanghai last fall. The little Volvo is part of an ambitious plan to increase sales from 460,000 to 600,000 by the end of the decade.

Quicker Quattroporte: Maserati Quattroporte prototypes powered by the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti’s 533-hp, 5.7-liter V-12 have been sighted running around Porsche’s hometown of Stuttgart. It is believed Porsche is working with Maserati to adapt the larger engine to Maserati’s sedan. The V-12 will not replace the 394-hp, 4.2-liter V-8 but will be offered as a more powerful model to compete with the Mercedes-Benz S55 and S65 AMG, as well as the upcoming Audi S8. The Ferrari-derived V-12 should make in excess of 500 horses but less than the 533 it produces in the Ferrari. According to Maserati, the six-speed Direct Shift Gearbox and a seven-speed automatic transmission are currently being tested for use in the 12-cylinder Quattroporte.

Salient Saleen: A twin-turbocharged version of the hand-built $400,000 Saleen S7 supercar is on its way. Instead of making 550 horsepower and 525 pound-feet of torque from its 7.0-liter Ford-based pushrod V-8 engine, the blown version will put out a staggering 750 horsepower and 700 pound-feet. That’s nearly 50 percent more power for the two-seater that weighs less than 3000 pounds, and a mere four pounds per horsepower. Interior tweaks as well as aerodynamic and suspension adjustments round out the changes. The last S7 we tested ran 0 to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds, and the new one should blow past that and will be, of course, more expensive.

Cadillac inaugurates new styling: Viewers of the presidential inauguration in January were among the first to see the redesigned Cadillac DTS. The President’s 2001 DeVille has been replaced with a DTS limousine that sports the styling of the 2006 DTS introduced at the Chicago auto show. As of ’06, the DeVille and DHS names are officially dead, all replaced by DTS. The Caddy gets a new interior as well as new front and rear fascias that are in keeping with the edgy styling shared with the CTS, STS, SRX, and XLR.

Here we go again: Malcolm Bricklin—who introduced Subaru to the U.S. in the ’60s, built the Bricklin SV-1 two-seater in the ’70s, and imported the cheap-o Yugoslavian-built Yugo in the ’80s—is now planning to import Chinese cars to the U.S. Bricklin’s new company, Visionary Vehicles, is working with Chery, a Chinese car manufacturer that is being sued by GM for making an unauthorized clone of one of Daewoo’s small cars. The Chery vehicles that Bricklin would like to begin selling here in 2007 will not include the car involved in the GM lawsuit. According to a Visionary Vehicles press release, Chery is currently developing five vehicles for export in our market and hopes to sell 250,000 in its first year.

What would Jesus race?

The Pope invited the Ferrari Formula 1 team to the Vatican to congratulate them on Ferrari’s dominance of the sport. The Associated Press reports that the Pontiff congratulated the assembled drivers, engineers, and executives and told them, "The church considers sporting activity, practiced in full respect of the rules, a valid educational instrument for the younger generations." The Ferrari crew gave the Pope a model of Michael Schumacher’s car. In response to this, Eddie Jordan is rumored to have invited the Dalai Lama to visit with his team.

Callum’s collar: Members of the media at January’s Detroit auto show were all asking one another the same question: How did Jaguar’s director of design, Ian Callum, break his collar bone? One dashing rumor floated by PR operatives was that Callum broke his clavicle while snowboarding. However, Oliver Boulay, former Mitsubishi design chief and an avid winter sportsman, began to question Callum about what kind of snowboard he uses and other specifics that Callum, a man who, it turns out, has never snowboarded, couldn’t answer. Callum had to admit the break occurred on a staircase at a hotel in England.

Article source: http://www.caranddriver.com/news/car/05q2/from_tiny_volvos_to_broken_collars_and_saleen_supercars-car_news

In addition to hard-to-ignore good looks, the new

is also bigger than its predecessor: 189.8 inches long (versus 188.9) on a 110.0-inch wheelbase, a stretch of 2.6 inches. Width is essentially unchanged, at 72.2 inches, as is height (57.9), although the roofline slopes away faster from the B-pillars aft. Though the dimensions have expanded, the turning circle has remained the same—just 35.8 feet, according to Hyundai, tidiest among the major players in this segment.

Hyundai claims the new unibody represents gains of 25 and 19 percent, respectively, in torsional and bending rigidity, and if the Sonata is any less stiff than the Accord, it’s hard to detect by one’s gluteal meter. The doors close with that nicely damped thunk that sounds like quality, and the interior is quiet in most operating modes, though at full-tilt-boogie, the engine begins sounding a bit thrashy.

The Sonata’s 2.4-liter, DOHC 16-valve four is the first in its class to be fed by direct injection, with variable valve timing on both cams. It’s rated for 198 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque in base (GLS) and top-of-the-line Limited models, 200 ponies in the SE version, thanks to its dual exhaust. If 200 horsepower doesn’t seem sufficient, there’s a turbo version—“more than 250 horsepower,” according to Hyundai—due this fall, as well as a hybrid.

Limiting the Sonata to four-cylinder power allowed the design team to optimize componentry for the lighter engine, which, in turn, added up to reduced curb weights. In our test car, this was 3340 pounds—only 20 pounds less than the Accord, but the Sonata also had the most features, which swelled the total.

In addition to output that’s stout for a naturally aspirated four-banger, Hyundai’s new engine is also capable of a high thrift index—22 mpg city (24 with the manual), 35 highway, according to the EPA. As noted earlier, we didn’t do quite that well: 24 mpg for our 400-mile tour.

A six-speed manual transmission is stand­ard in the GLS (from $19,915) but not in the upmarket models, which send power to the front wheels via a new six-speed automatic engineered and produced by Hyundai.

The absence of a manual transmission in the sporty model seems peculiar. However, the SE does have a set of paddle shifters affixed to the steering wheel. Up- and downshift response time is relaxed, as are passing kickdowns when in drive, but, generally speaking, Hyundai’s new homegrown gearbox is a smooth operator.

Smooth also applies to ride quality, and if the Sonata isn’t quite as athletic as the Accord, the distinction is subtle.

Look at the accompanying charts and you’ll see that the Sonata won nearly every objective category. And, as also indicated, it wins flat-out for style. Created at the Hyundai Design & Research Center in California, the sleek shape suggests motion even when it’s parked, thanks to that fast roofline, down-swooping character line running from the taillamp to the front fender well, and a chrome spear extending along the beltline all the way to the headlamp cluster.

We’ve heard suggestions that this shape—“fluidic sculpture design,” in Hyundese—is little more than a knockoff of the more expensive

, but this seems invidious. The Sonata design was undoubtedly largely locked in by the time the CC hit the show circuit, and, in any case, both cars owe at least some inspiration to the earlier

.

The interior, which was designed in Korea, is equally classy, as well as bright, at least in this SE model, with its attractive gray-and-black cloth upholstery, vacuum-fluorescent instruments, and HVAC controls that require only the quickest of glances to interpret and operate.

We wish the bucket seats provided more lateral support and that the rear-seat cushions weren’t quite so flat and quite so hard. More than one of our crew wished the telescoping steering column offered an inch or two more of travel. And the sloping roofline limits rear-seat headroom—tall-in-the-saddle passengers won’t be happy back there.

Nevertheless, these are lesser demerits in a car that gladdens the eye. As one of our test drivers observed, the Sonata “definitely feels half a class above its price tag.”

You might object that the Sonata was the most expensive car in this test. But that as-tested price includes a $2600 option package—navigation, power tilt/slide sunroof, and premium audio. A similarly equipped Accord would cost $29,540. And the Sonata also includes an exceptionally long list of standard features, a typical Hyundai marketing procedure.

Stir in standout styling, and it adds up to a winning recipe. Is the Sonata the new mid-size benchmark? Well, it’s clearly moved into the front rank. And it’s equally clear that the answer to the thesis question—does styling matter in a mid-size sedan?—is yes.

Article source: http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/comparisons/10q1/2010_honda_accord_ex_vs._2011_hyundai_sonata_se_2010_subaru_legacy_2.5i-comparison_tests/2011_hyundai_sonata_se_page_4