E2 — The Sentinel at www.cumberlink.com Autos Plus Sunday • March 11, 2012

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$20,495 $22,21425492A 2010 CHEV EXPRESS HITOP CONVERTION................................... $36,995S6336 2011 CHEV CAMARO 2SS RS....................................................... $32,995S6357 2010 DODGE CHALLENGER R/T .................................................. $30,848S6292 2005 CHEV CORVETTE................................................................ $28,99525368B 2008 GMC ACADIA SLE............................................................... $23,995

P6363 2011 DODGE CHARGER SE ......................................................... $21,99521414B 2007 CHEV COBALT SS ............................................................... $10,49521549A 2006 CHEV MALIBU MAXX 2LT................................................... $10,495S6256A 2006 PONTIAC GR PRIX GT........................................................... $8,99525425A 2000 CHEV EXPRESS 10 PASSENGER ............................................ $6,995

2011 chevrolet TRAVERSE LT

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MSrp $38,545 $33,963Sutliff Price

2012 chevrolet CRUZE LS 2012 chevrolet MALibU LS

mpg est.

35per gal.

**mpg est.

24per gal.

**

$159 24$159 24*

/mo. for months $179 24$179 24*

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w/auto

extended cab 4x4 lt extended cab

2500 crew cab lt

mpg est.

33per gal.

**

2012 chevrolet EqUinox LS2012 chevrolet TAhoE LTZ

2012 chevrolet SiLVERAdo 2012 chevrolet CoLoRAdo

2012 chevrolet SiLVERAdo

Stock #25459

MSrp $26,090Stock #25129

MSrp $62,079

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MSrp $34,940 Stock #25052

MSrp $34,940

Stock #25552

MSrp $42,415 $25,264$57,478

$31,03454 $21,214

$37,990 Sutliff PriceSutliff Price

Sutliff PriceSutliff Price

Sutliff Price

mpg est.

29per gal.

**

mpg est.

20per gal.

**

over 15tahoes

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Behind the Wheel

New Volvo goes sportyBY ANN M. JOBFor ThE ASSociATEd PrESS

Start yawning. Another Volvo, the 2012 S60 sedan, earned top safety ratings in U.S. government crash test-ing.

It’s no surprise. With its well-known reputation for automotive safety, Volvo has had cars on government safety lists for years. But the big surprise is the newest, high-performance version of Volvo’s S60 has an ex-hilarating ride. There’s no yawning going on inside this car.

The turbocharged, six-cylinder, 2012 S60 R-Design is the sportiest S60 and de-livers the powerful thrust of 354 foot-pounds of torque and 325 horsepower.

In fact, the S60 R-Design is in BMW performance ter-ritory. The 2012 BMW 535i sedan with twin-turbo-charged six-cylinder gen-erates 300 foot-pounds of torque and 300 horsepower, in comparison.

Unlike the BMW 5-Se-ries, though, the Volvo S60 is a recommended buy of Consumer Reports, which reports the S60 reliabil-ity as better than average. Even better, starting man-ufacturer’s suggested retail price, including destination charge, for the new S60 R-Design is $43,825.

This is some $10,000 less than the starting retail price of $53,945 for a 2012 BMW 535i.

Note the S60 R-Design comes standard with six-speed Geartronic automat-ic transmission with sport mode, all-wheel drive and Volvo’s City Safety system,

a world-first pedestrian de-tection system with full auto brake. It can sense when a pedestrian comes in front of the car and, if the driver does not react, can apply the brakes fully to stop the car.

BMW buyers must move up to a 2012 535i xDrive sedan, starting at $56,245, to get all-wheel drive. The base xDrive 5-Series sedan includes an eight-speed automatic but not Volvo’s City Safety.

The S60 R-Design is the most expensive of the three 2012 S60 sedans, with a re-tail price that’s $11,650 more than a base 2012 S60 T5 se-dan with 250-horsepower, turbocharged five cylinder.

And the mid-model S60, the T6, starts at $39,325. It has a turbo six cylinder gen-erating 300 horses but only 325 foot-pounds of torque.

The R-Design’s 3-liter, double overhead cam, tur-bocharged and intercooled,

inline six cylinder gener-ates more torque through advanced spark timing and turbo boost of 14.5 psi vs. 13.1 in the T6. This meant the test R-Design four door could launch away from stoplights, and, with scant turbo lag, it raced forward to merge into traffic.

Peak torque comes at 3,000 rpm to 3,600 rpm, so it was easy to tap this thrust during city driving.

With the all-wheel drive, there was no disconcerting torque steer, where the car’s steering wheel would tug one way or another as pow-er is put down to the pave-ment. Instead, the S60 tes-ter moved forward smoothly from the get-go.

I just wished the engine sounds were sportier in the test car. As it was, they sometimes reminded me of a vacuum cleaner.

And fuel economy was

not impressive. The test car, with a government rat-ing of 18 miles per gallon in city driving and 26 mpg on the highway, averaged just 19 mpg in travel that was 70 percent in the city.

Premium is the recom-mended fuel for the R-De-sign, so filling the 17.8-gal-lon tank can cost $80 at today’s prices.

All S60s feel agile on the road. The S60 R-Design rides with more stiffness than the others. Bushings and springs are stiffer, and the test car’s interior was often filled with road noise from the 18-inch tires.

Passengers felt every man-hole cover and most road imperfections. There was no doubt the test S60 R-Design was well-connected to the road, even when it traveled on a straightaway.

The real delight, though came when the car was on

twisty mountain roads. It stuck like glue to the pave-ment and held its line with composure. There was no sensation of body roll, and steering was quick and re-sponsive.

The ride height in the S60 R-Design is 0.6 inch less than in other S60s, but passengers don’t feel as if they’re sitting low to the pavement.

Driver and front passenger in the test car were able to looks through the windows of other like-size cars to see what was ahead on the roads. But there was no way to see over or around tall ve-hicles, like sport utilities.

The rear-view camera in-cluded in the pricey, $2,700, optional multimedia pack-age was a welcome aid when backing up.

The S60 interior is, like that of many Volvos, a bit quirky. It looks simply laid-out, but the radio com-mands could use some streamlining.

Front, leather-trimmed seats in the R-Design are new, with bolsters that are more prominent and seat cushions providing new padding. It’s all meant to keep driver and passenger in

place during spirited driv-ing. It also can mean a bit of a struggle for some, less-athletic drivers and passen-gers to get out of these seats.

With 12 cubic feet of trunk room, the S60 has one of the smallest trunks in the mid-size sedan segment. By comparison, the 5-Series has a 14-cubic-foot trunk.

The S60 back seat can feel confining, too, with just 33.4 inches of legroom compared with 36.1 inches in the 5-Se-ries sedan.

Note that the S60 is nearly a foot shorter than the 5-Se-ries in overall length.

The federal government reports four safety recalls of the 2012 S60. One involved the electrical wiring harness under the front seats that might disconnect, thereby jeopardizing the deploy-ment of frontal and side air bags in a crash. Two safe-ty recalls involved poten-tial faulty fuel delivery that could cause the cars to stall in traffic. A fourth recall in-volved improper labels with tire inflation information for accessory spare tires. As a result, owners might put the wrong air pressure into these tires, which increases the risk of tire failure.

Volvo S60BASE PRICE: $31,300 for T5; $38,450 for base T6; $42,950

for r-design.PRICE AS TESTED: $47,325.TYPE: Front-engine, all-wheel-drive, five-passenger, mid-size,

performance sedan.ENGINE: 3-liter, double overhead cam, turbocharged and

intercooled, inline six cylinder with cVVT.MILEAGE: 18 mpg (city), 26 mpg (highway).TOP SPEED: 134 mph.LENGTH: 182.2 inches.WHEELBASE: 109.3 inches.CURB WEIGHT: 3,877 pounds.BUILT AT: Ghent, Belgium.OPTIONS: Multimedia package (includes premium sound

system, rear park assist camera, navigation system) $2,700; climate package (includes heated front seats and windshield washer nozzles, headlight washers) $800.

DESTINATION CHARGE: $875.

In Focus

Associated Press

The 2012 Volvo S60 is a recommended buy of Consumer Reports, with better-than-average reliability.

The 2012 S60 surprises with an exhilarating ride.

■

The Sentinel at www.cumberlink.com Autos Plus Sunday • March 11, 2012 — E3

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Autos880Autos880Trucks860Parts &Accessories825

Photo courtesy of Carlisle Events

The VW Golf’s 2.5-liter inline five cylinder engine puts out 170hp and 177 lbs-ft of torque on regular unleaded fuel.

The vehicle that is Volk-swagen’s best-selling mod-el has long been the Golf, though it was introduced to America in 1975 as the “Rab-bit,” when it was launched to replace the “Beetle” as the VW standard bearer. Volk-swagen has never made an official declaration as to why the Golf designation was not available to the United States until the 2010 mod-el year, but as it entered its sixth generation, the Golf was updated that year with smoother exterior styling, cabin revisions and a diesel engine.

Some trim options have been added for 2012 and the base TDI Clean Diesel model, which is EPA rated bat 42mpg on the highway, has new 17-inch aluminum wheels, but other than re-moving optional side air bags, there are no significant changes this year.

Not to be confused with the new Golf R, which is priced $5k to $10k more at final sticker, and which stampedes out 90 more horses at 260hp and 243 lbs-ft of torque with a tur-bocharged 2.0-liter engine, the Golf 2.5 continues with fine fit and finish, refine-ment in advance of its price, an upscale interior, excellent performance and a friendlier sticker.

Clean, sporty demeanorThe old-day plunging

grille that once adorned VWs is gone, and the head-on look utilizes strong hor-izontal lines with a thin headlight-to-headlight grille around a centered VW logo. The Golf’s bum-per separates the grille and air dam and the swept-back headlight design heightens the athletic look of the car while around back, the tail-lights have darkened lenses and white reflectors at their base. Mounted between those rear lights is the trade-mark Volkswagen badge — push the top portion of the badge and the bottom tilts upwards to release the tail-gate. Black window trim and the absence of side moldings are in keeping with Golf’s clean-cut look. For better visibility for added safety, Golf boasts slender roof pil-lars along with a large tail-gate glass. Exterior features include standard 15-inch steel wheels with wheel cov-ers, standard body-colored mirrors and door handles and optional 17-inch alloy wheels.

With a curb weight of 3027 lbs, the four-door manu-al transmission Golf (also available in two-door and automatic trans configura-tions) measures 165.4 inches long, 58.2 inches high and 70.3 inches wide on a 101.5-inch wheelbase, with ground clearance of 5.4 inches.

ResponsiveUnder hood, Golf’s 2.5-li-

ter inline five cylinder en-gine puts out 170hp and 177 lbs-ft of torque on regular unleaded fuel. Its sister, the Golf TDI and her turbo-charged 2.0-liter inline four yields 140 horses, but tees off with 236 lbs-ft of torque on diesel fuel. EPA rated at 23mpg in city driving and 33mpg on the highway, a weeklong test of the Golf 2.5 delivered a solid 27.7mpg in mixed-use driving.

Handling well on high-ways and autocross chal-

lenges, the ride is comfort-able, if a bit engine noisy while accelerating; the deci-bels quiet while cruising the interstates. Acceleration is generous for its niche, and track tests showed a zero-to-60 run in 8.7 seconds en route to a 16.7-second quar-ter-mile.

Steering was respon-sive and with little wobble, maneuvered well in twist-ies with acceptable under-steer. Strut-type front sus-pension with lower control arms, coil springs, telescop-ic dampers, anti-roll bar and a multilink rear with coil springs, telescopic dampers and anti-roll bar made for a smooth ride in most normal road situations and ABS for all four wheels, electronic brake pressure distribution and electronic stability con-trol make for a secure driv-ing experience.

Golf’s interior is well-crafted for its class, filled with high-quality, soft-touch plastics, integrated with brushed metallic trim and chrome highlights.

Roomy and safeThe German compact

seats five and supplies 39.3 inches of front headroom with 38.5 inches in row two; legroom is 41.2 inches in the first row and 35.5 inches for second-seaters and shoul-der room goes 54.7 and 52.8.

The cabin features body-hugging side bolsters for added support, eight-way manual adjustment, two-way adjustable lumbar sup-port, and adjustment for height. Also included are tilt and telescopic steering col-umn, power windows with auto up/down, cruise con-trol, adjustable intermittent front windshield wipers, compass; trip computer, air conditioning, cloth seating surfaces and RCD310 radio with single CD and eight speakers.

Safetywise, Golf provides a strong and rigid body structure, six airbags (dual front, side, and side cur-tain airbags), and Volkswa-gen’s Intelligent Crash Re-sponse System that shuts off the fuel pump, unlocks the doors and turns on the haz-ard lights instantly in certain types of collisions.

Priced aggressively, the 2012 Golf 2.5 2-door starts at $17,995 base and moves up to the 2.5 4-door at $19,795. My test 2.5 with four doors had a sunroof and Premium touchscreen sound system that added $185 and the Convenience package that added $845 for hands-free Bluetooth capability, an ad-justable front center armrest and a cold weather set-up with heated front seats and washer nozzles, for a base of $22,455. Reflex Silver Me-tallic paint and Titan Black cloth seats were standard as were 15-inch steel wheels. My test car was more pedes-trian without exterior frills, but a cool roof edge spoiler for $499 and a ground ef-fects kits for $1950 would have been styling additions. Destination charges of $770 brought the sticker as tested to $23,225.

———Mike Blake, former editor

of KIT CAR magazine, joined Carlisle Events as senior au-tomotive journalist in 2004. He’s been a “car guy” since the 1960s. Visit www.Car-lisleEvents.com for more on the automotive hobby.

2012 Volkswagen Golf 2.5

Sporty compact delivers performance and style

E4 — The Sentinel at www.cumberlink.com Sunday• March 11, 2012

2012 DoDgedurango

sxt awD

was $32,540 $30,999*

+1.9% for up to 60 mo.!

2012 DoDgecharger

se rwDwas $27,715

$24,699*

2012 DoDgeram 2500

slt crew cab 4x4

was $51,370$41,370*

* All rebAtes Applied to sAle prices. 0% AvAilAble on select models in lieu of rebAtes with lender ApprovAl. plus tAx And license fees. see deAlerfor detAils

6720 Carlisle PikeMeChaniCsburg, Pa

2012 DoDgeram 1500

quaD cab 4x4was $34,210

$28,699*

2012 DoDgejourneyse 3rd row Seating!

msrp $24,385 $22,699*+0% for up to 60 mo.!

2011 DoDgeavenger

mainstreetwas $24,975

$20,575*

2011 DoDgecaravan

mainstreetwas $28,300

$24,220*

2011 DoDgenitro

heat 4x4was $26,385

$21,999*

2012 DoDgecaliber

sxtwas $20,360

$17,999*

srt82012 challengers

+ chargers

rates as low as 0%*– plus –

$1500 Minivantrade BonuS

on 2012 Grand Caravans

no charge3rd row Seat

on journeys

$1000 raMBonuS caSh

now in stock!

cumberlandvalleyvolkswagen.com

2012 Volkswagen

Jetta Sv7469 I msrp 18735.00 now

$17,875

2011 Volkswagen

Golf tDIv7346 I msrp 26,990.00 now

$25,453

2012 Volkswagen

CC Sportv7445 I msrp 30825.00 now

$29,321

2012 Volkswagen

tIGuan Sv7508 I msrp 27030.00 now

$25,732

The all-new 2012 Volkswagen PassaT2012 Motor Trend Car of the Year®

2012passat S

v7401 I msrp 23695.00

now$22,515

2012 Volkswagen

BeetlePZEV

msrp 21,935.00

now $20,939

i’m back.better than ever.

6714-6720 Carlisle PikeMeChaniCsburg717.697.9448Toll Free: 800.382.1436

Das auto.

800-382-1436Open 24/7 @ CumberlandValleySubaru.com

2012 Legacy2.5i cVTruby red Pearlalloy wheelsFog lamPsall weather Package

$21,4402012 OuTback2.5i cVTgraPhite grey metallicalloy wheelsFog lamPsall weather Package

$24,8312012 FOresTer2.5xautosage green metallicalloy wheels

$21,886

2012 Impreza2.0i spOrT premIum

sage green and ice silver metallicauto dim mirrorsPlash guards

$20,700