News

The economy-minded Mitsubishi Lancer surprisingly offers the best factory satellite navigation system in the business, a recent study of such systems concludes.

The 2008 Navigation Usage and Satisfaction Study by U.S.-based J.D. Power and Associates ranks systems on six factors that contribute to overall customer satisfaction. In order of importance, they are: ease of use; system routing; system appearance; voice directions; navigation display screen; and speed of system. The study also measures quality by examining problems per 100 (PP100) navigation systems, in which a lower score reflects higher quality.

In Canada, the Mitsubishi system is available on the Lancer Ralliart and Lancer Evolution MR Premium and can be ordered as an option in the regular Lancer; it is also available in the Outlander, according to Mitsubishi Canada.

The Mitsubishi system's win for GPS customer satisfaction marked the first time in the navi award's 10-year history that a non-luxury model took the award. Second place went to the Xanavi system in the Infiniti G35 sedan, with third going to the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, which also uses a Mitsubishi Electric navi system.

Handheld ban: The news of the study comes as the Ontario government moves to ban the use of hand-held devices while driving, including hand-held GPS units and cellphones.

The Ontario government will join Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and various U.S. states in banning the use of any hand-held device while driving, once the legislation tabled last week passes. It aims to cut down on distractions behind the wheel from cellphones, iPods, portable games and smart phones such as the Blackberry and iPhone. About 50 countries have similar bans in place now, Ontario's Ministry of Transportation says.

Viewing movies on portable DVD players or laptops would also be covered under the ban, which proposes a fine of up to $500.

Phones with hands-free Bluetooth functionality would still be allowed, with or without the ear pieces, as would plain old speaker-phone use.

You can still listen to your iPod tunes behind the wheel, but it would have to be connected to the car's audio system and allow you to operate it hands- free, which not many systems with an auxiliary input do now.

Ontario Ministry of Transportation spokesperson Bob Nichols said the bill won't become law until spring 2009 at the earliest. And that's best- case scenario, which assumes that the bill passes this year before the Christmas break, and with minimal opposition.

This looks likely now, as even the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association suggests that they're not opposed to requiring hands-free mobile use. "Hopefully [the hands-free requirement] won't be used to increase the amount of time spent talking on the phone while behind the wheel," said CWTA spokesperson Marc Choma.

Reports out of Quebec that cellphone sales have actually increased in the wake of the ban instituted this year will likely also dampen this opposition, with users upgrading to new devices, although most cellphones these days come with ear buds, which are also allowed.

Factory navigation systems such as the Mitsubishi's won't be affected by the ban, since most settings cannot be changed by the driver while the vehicle is in motion - but would it really be that tough or dangerous to use the same seat sensor that keeps the passenger-side airbag from deploying into no one's face to unlock those navi settings?

PORSCHE CANADA

PRESIDENT LEAVES

After introducing Canadian media and Porsche customers to its new president the week before, Porsche Canada and its first president unexpectedly parted ways late last month, after about six months together.

Christian Marti is now in the running for the record for shortest period of time to lead a major Canadian auto maker, a record matched in August with the announced departure of Ford of Canada president and CEO Barry Engle, also after six months.

A short statement released by Porsche Canada in late October announcing Marti's departure said it was due to "a difference of opinion on the strategic direction of the company."

The search continues now for Marti's replacement, said Michael Bartsch, executive vice-president of Porsche Cars North America, who will act as interim Porsche Canada CEO until a permanent replacement is found.

Bartsch said in an e-mail that the decision to part ways with Marti was a mutual one, made by Marti and the Porsche Canada board, of which Bartsch is a member.

Marti was one of Porsche Canada's first employees, with Porsche North America announcing in February at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto that Porsche Canada would be created in April. It was previously run as a sales zone of PCNA, and looked after by Bartsch for the past four years.

SNEAK PEEK

AT 370Z

With the Infiniti G37 Coupe and sedan now officially receiving Nissan's more powerful 3.7-litre V-6, the impressive powerplant will now make it into the next-generation version of the Nissan Z coupe, the 2009 370Z.

Scheduled to make its world debut at the Los Angeles auto show Nov. 19, the car will employ a version of the well-regarded VQ engine series, which produces about 330 hp in the G37s. There will also be new but evolutionary styling changes all around that cues into the same sweptback headlight motif Nissan has used lately with its 2009 Maxima and Murano.

Nissan is characterizing it as a "super evolution" of the Z, which was introduced back in 2003. But the debut of the Infiniti G37 hardtop convertible at the same show will no doubt have some comparing rooflines of the two, to see whether a drop-top version of the Z may return to the market.

TESTFEST OOPS:

IT'S BMW... NO, MERCEDES

Although several major news outlets, including our website, initially reported that the BMW X6 won AJAC's Best New Prestige Car category - several included film of a happy BMW rep accepting the award - a typo in the entry information discovered after the ceremony meant that the award then went to a pair of Mercedes-Benzes instead.

To highlight how close the balloting was, the two Mercedes winners - the SL 63 AMG hard-top convertible and the four-seat CL 550 4Matic Coupe - each received 627 points after the correction, with the X6 SUV "coupe" coming in just behind them at 626 points.

The X6 paid for its dramatic style in this contest, because the mix-up was the result of BMW misstating the SUV's cargo room - the manufacturer provided the seats-down figure, not the required seats-up one. The X6's steeply sloping roof cuts into that cargo room sharply, although who knows if it would have scored as many style points without it.

It was the first time such a situation has arisen in the Canadian Car of The Year testing run by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada. This year, the process was compacted; the winners were announced at the end of TestFest in October, two days after final ballots were submitted, instead of in a separate event weeks later.

Flip-flopping winners like this may not have looked very good for the credibility of the awards, which is unfortunate because it's still by far one of the most elaborate and painstakingly independent auto awards on the planet. But at least the false win that almost happened didn't. And you can be sure there will be lots of triple checks on the info submitted next year.

CLARIFICATION

J.D. Power's 2008 Navigation Usage and Satisfaction Study ranks how customers surveyed by the firm rated factory satellite navigation systems

the market research company does not rank the systems itself, as a Nov. 6 article implied.