Just Look At The Discovery
In recent years there have been new kids galore on the 4x4 block; nevertheless, think off-roader and you probably think Land Rover, whose expertise and craftsmanship put others in their place. Just look at the Discovery, now in its third generation and, at the last count, the proud holder of 96 international motoring awards. On the other hand, its seven-seat capability and high safety levels could be said to make it a good bus for the school run. More likely, the Discovery is going to operate on the open road, where its feeling of security is even more telling. Many people like the high driving position and here the eight-way electrical seat adjustments mean you don't have to feel you are perched - it all feels quite car-like. The seats in the two rows behind are in stadium style, so everyone gets a first-class view. The top-of-the-range HSE trim of this particular car gave it sunroofs for each row, extra glass acreage that ensures the brightest of interiors.
Here's yet another alternative to the highway when heading toward Los Angeles from Las Vegas. This one runs from Cima Road to Baker along the service road for a powerline, a buried fiber optic cable, and a buried natural gas pipeline. This is on the north side of the highway. The GPS track shown above includes my loop around Turquoise Mountain. I'll describe that in a separate post. The current conditions made the road very easy. I drove this many years ago in my Land Rover LR3 and it was much harder then with several long sections of deep loose sand and some deep ruts caused by a big rain storm. The road is signed as BLM Route NN389. Just south of Cima Road, it passes by a homestead. The road is easy now. It passes by Halloran Summit. This road passes by the rock mesa with an old airmail navigation arrow site on top. I visited that site a couple years ago. Here's that post. There's also a lot of nice petroglyphs on the boulders scattered on the hillside of that mesa. This is this hill just north of Halloran Springs where I found petroglyphs a year ago. This is Halloran Springs Road. I turned right to visit Turquoise Mountain and returned to the powerline road about a half mile to the north. I'll describe the Turquoise Mountain side trip in a separate post. This is where I returned to the powerline road (kinda). I figured out pretty fast that I was not actually on the powerline road, but was on an old decaying asphalt road that eventually joined the powerline road. I wasn't worried because I've made the same mistake in the past and I knew it all works out in a few miles.
There were video screens on the walls and microphones on the table. This was a room where big things happened. It was where Mulally鈥檚 weekly business plan review took place, where the managers at the top of Ford鈥檚 One Team got together to make decisions that led to Ford鈥檚 19 consecutive quarters of profitable growth. Though it was empty, you could feel it hum. A moment later, Mulally whisked us down the hall and into another room, this time a nondescript, barebones conference room almost directly underneath Mulally鈥檚 office. In this room, on the walls, were some 320 color-coded charts laying out goals and progress toward those milestones for each profit center and function. Above each set of charts was a photo of the leadership team member responsible for the results. 鈥淲e are all sitting around the table, and the charts are all color-coded,鈥?Mulally explained. 鈥淐an you imagine the accountability? You come to the table and you were red on the launch of something last week, and you say to the rest of the team, 鈥業鈥檓 really sorry. I was really busy last week. There was another interesting dimension to these meetings.
You and your passengers will also enjoy the extra legroom on long road trips. If you need to haul more than what the car鈥檚 trunk can hold, the Jetta can be had with 60/40 split folding rear seats to increase cargo capacity. There鈥檚 a Jetta for everyone, from a frugal hybrid for the eco-conscious and the fun-to-drive GLI for the car enthusiast who wants a trunk. Like its Golf sibling, the Jetta also gains a new infotainment system for 2016 that has Android Auto and CarPlay compatibility on all but the entry level variants. No, the Nissan Versa Note isn鈥檛 the most interesting car to drive, but for people looking for affordable transportation with plenty of space for passengers and gear, this one鈥檚 hard to beat. The Volkswagen Golf SportWagen offers interior space that can shame many compact crossovers/SUVs. While the current-generation Chevrolet Cruze is on its way out, it remains a good compact sedan that puts comfort first. This means on the road, you鈥檒l be able to sit back and relax in the car鈥檚 roomy interior while the large trunk means you won鈥檛 have to leave anything behind.
