Latest news with #BenHumphrey
Car and Driver
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
1977 BMW 320i Test: Never Dull
From the December 1976 issue of Car and Driver. To begin with, it's a splendid little car. The new 320i is not just a successor to the great 1600/2002 legend; it's a whole new level of sophistication and style in the 20-year evolution of BMW from bankrupt-builder-of-kitschy-sedans to personal and public darling of the West German Economic Miracle. You might be a little stunned by the price (about $8000) at first, but the car's undeniable charm makes it seem more reasonable every time you fire it up. Our test car was a glorious sort of restrained dayglo red. Maybe the reddest red on the road. A color you would prefer to be if lost at sea or marooned on the wrong side of Annapurna. At first, it also seemed like a color guaranteed to get you arrested, but in these days of radar and Vascar, old-fashioned visual observation isn't so much a part of the policeman's portfolio. The wheels were good-looking, argent-painted steel cosmetic racers with a lot of offset; there was some discreet black-and-chrome trim laid on the here and there; and the whole thing reeked of understated wedge-shaped go-fast. View Photos Ben Humphrey | Car and Driver Open the door, and the vinyl interior is just about perfect. Ours was what the British used to call "biscuit," and the seats were—like the first exterior impression—an open invitation to drive somewhere very nice very quickly. Our test car had a sunroof mit crank that worked very smoothly and seemed quieter than most at speed. The white-on-black instruments were neatly clustered in a semicircle framed by the top half of the steering wheel, right where the driver can see them, and at night they're indirectly illuminated by a red glow that reminds you of war movies shot in submarines. The wheel itself is a thing of beauty—small in diameter, slightly dished, and raked at exactly the correct angle for serious pleasure. Lights, turn signals, windshield wipers and washers are all controlled by wands on either side of the steering column, and the shift lever for the four-speed transmission is on the floor, exactly where you'd have put it yourself. View Photos Ben Humphrey | Car and Driver The front seats are firm and very German in the way they position you relative to the business at hand. The rake adjustment is controlled by a handy lever that you push to release, and the range of adjustment goes anywhere from puritan vertical to profligate horizontal. The front seat backs are folded forward by means of a release lever on either side of each seat—making it possible tor the driver to fold the passenger's seat forward without either getting out or lying down across the compartment. Fore and aft adjustment is both smooth and vast—you can even get too far away from the wheel. The rear seats are roomy and comfortable. Real people really can ride there, largely because the rear wheels are set so far back on the chassis. Our first drive in the 320i was a little more than 500 miles from New York City to New Pittsburgh, Ohio. We drove through some awful rain squalls in Eastern Ohio, averaged just about 55 mph for the trip (including a stop for lunch) and achieved a not-to-be-sneezed-at 22.7 mpg for the trip, cruising at 75 most of the time. The car was superb. It ran like a train, hour after hour, and the absence of features like a radio or air-conditioning or power steering was never noticed. It's surprising how inconsequential such things become when you're in a car that works. View Photos Ben Humphrey | Car and Driver Our photographer, Humphrey Sutton, drove the BMW back from Detroit a few days later after photographing the new Ford Thunderbird. His reaction was like ours. "It's a wonderful car, that," he said. "It's very comfortable, quite nippy, really perfect for that sort of long drive. It gives you the feeling that people who really cared actually sat down and thought seriously about all the things that went into the design. Everything works the way you'd want it to. I'd swear that it's bigger inside than the Thunderbird and it goes faster. It'd be hard to come up with a reason for buying anything else." Once we got going, we tried to catalog our initial impressions. First, it's a much more sophisticated car than the 2002, the design of which was getting a little long in the tooth, no matter how much we loved it. Second, the smoothness and quiet in no way detract from the car's overall sportiness. Third, it's a long-legged car-while waiting to pass somebody at 55 or 60, you can preselect third and cruise along indefinitely without any feeling that the engine is straining or that the noise level is becoming intolerable. All the frequencies seem to be tuned for blissful cruising somewhere between 60 and 80 mph. It isn't one of those Europeans that simply rebels at the 55-mph limit, but it does feel best going a little faster. It's possible that the car would settle down at 55 a little more enthusiastically if you ordered it with the optional ZF three-speed automatic transmission (our test car had the standard four-speed). View Photos Ben Humphrey | Car and Driver The heater/fresh-air system has been improved and will now move 89 percent more fresh outside air or 42 percent more heated air through the passenger compartment than its predecessor. We tried both. For the first 400 miles of our westward journey, we ran with the sunroof open, the heater controls in the maximum fresh-air "Vent" mode and the swing-out rear windows open, because it was hot and muggy. We never felt too warm, and neither the fan nor the sunroof noise was in any way obtrusive. We could still talk without shouting. Near Youngstown, Ohio, the temperature had dropped considerably and the rain reached cloudburst proportions. With the BMW all buttoned up, the windshield suddenly fogged over at about 70 and we needed defrosting fast. Slam the vents closed, open the defrost lever, push the temperature-control lever about a half-inch toward the red and, voila, a clear windshield again. Not many European cars could have done so well under those circumstances. Our second set of impressions were more those of the traditional road-tester and a bit less those of the blown-away car fancier. The gear spacing in the transmission was a little hard to get used to. First is a fairly short starting gear, with a longish gap between it and second. Then second, third, and fourth ratios are spaced logically and predictably. Unless we wound the engine pretty tight, the first-second upshift never sounded or felt quite the way we wanted it to. Also, we found the engine a little rough and hesitant below 3000 rpm. It never actually balked or spit back at you, but it did seem to vibrate and stumble a little when trying to cruise at lower rpm. We avoided this by simply changing down to a lower gear whenever the revs dropped below 2800, but less-keen drivers might find the phenomenon disquieting. View Photos Ben Humphrey | Car and Driver As our experience with the car grew, we came to appreciate how large and commodious the luggage compartment turned out to be. Initially, we threw in a rather heavy load of luggage, which was no problem. Then there was a side-trip in Ohio for a little antique shopping and several more parcels disappeared into the well-appointed cavity. Then two framed prints we'd promised to pick up for Bruce McCall and, finally, a framed painting—a wedding gift—that measured about 30 by 40 inches and simply slid into place on top of everything else without any danger of compression or damage from the hinges. And as a sort of luggage-compartment tour de force, we peered under the open deck lid and discovered a neat little fitted tool kit, offering exactly those six or eight implements without which one should never leave one's driveway. In the cold hard light of testing, the brakes are a delight, pulling this new BMW down straight and sure from 70 in 218 feet. The 2002's arrangement of a power-assisted front disc/rear drum system has been carried over, but front brakes are now ventilated. On the skidpad, the adhesion is impressive at 0.71 g, but the combination of slow steering (4.0 turns lock-to-lock), softened ride and rather upright body is tough to keep track of. At the limit, the semi-trailing arm rear suspension occasionally kicks wide, and retrieving it takes great flinging of elbows. However, none of these aberrations occurred on the road, under any circumstance, so we're inclined to ignore them. It would appear, however, based upon this road test and on conversations with BMW personnel here in the States, that the new 500-series and 300-series products do represent a deliberate move away from the racer-you-can-drive-to-work concept and toward a sophisticated road machine. View Photos Ben Humphrey | Car and Driver The 300-series BMWs have a great deal to live up to. The 1600/2000 series enjoyed amazing success over a decade or so, and were in many ways the cornerstone of BMW's new-found preeminence in the upper atmosphere of enthusiast automobiles. The new cars seem to be worthy successors to that critical responsibility. They are undeniably better and more contemporary cars in every way. All of the basic pieces are recognizable to anyone familiar with the older car, but they've all been reshaped, honed and upgraded, then assembled in more sophisticated ways. Brakes are bigger, cooling capacity is greater, the structure has become far more crashworthy, noise and vibration are sharply reduced, the heater/ventilation system is a paragon of thermal virtue, and the car looks right for the next 10 years. View Photos Ben Humphrey | Car and Driver The BMW 320i stands as eloquent rebuttal to all those who'd have us believe that small economical cars that conform to the U.S. safety and emissions standards must be, by definition, slow and dull, or that automotive performance for the late 1970s is best achieved with decals and trick names. This car is good-looking, sublimely comfortable, fast, safe, economical, and exciting. It is also expensive, but then what isn't? To drive through any major city in North America and check its inventory of Mercedes, Jags, BMWs, Porsches, Cadillacs, and Lincolns is to come face to face with the fact that there is apparently no top on the market for truly expensive cars anymore. The BMW 320i is real value-for-money, no matter how much it costs, because it's beautifully engineered and it's not boring. If that isn't reason enough to buy a car, then we'll transfer our allegiance to mass transit. Specifications Specifications 1977 BMW 320i Vehicle Type: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 4-passenger, 2-door sedan PRICE As Tested: N/A ENGINE SOHCinline-4, iron block and aluminum head, port fuel injection Displacement: 121 in3, 1990 cm3 Power: 110 hp @ 5800 rpm Torque: 112 lb-ft @ 3750 rpm TRANSMISSION 4-speed manual CHASSIS Suspension, F/R: struts/trailing arms Brakes, F/R: 10.0-in vented disc/9.8-in drum Tires: Continental TS771 185/70HR-13 DIMENSIONS Wheelbase: 100.9 in Length: 177.5 in Width: 63.4 in Height: 54.3 in Curb Weight: 2606 lb C/D TEST RESULTS 60 mph: 10.5 sec 1/4-Mile: 17.3 sec @ 77 mph 90 mph: 29.8 sec Top Speed (observed): 108 mph Braking, 70–0 mph: 218 ft Roadholding: 0.75 g C/D FUEL ECONOMY City/Highway: 21/24 mpg C/D TESTING EXPLAINED
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
American Airlines Announces Big Change at Major Airport
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways Earlier this week American Airlines finally announced their new suites with sliding doors will arrive on plans in June 2025. The initial news regarding the update plane setup came back in September 2022 while the design was expected to start in 2024, but American faced delays from suppliers. The new suites on the Boeing 787-9 will debut for regularly scheduled service on June 5 between its hub at Chicago O'Hare International Airport and London Heathrow Airport. That's not the only news from American Airlines and it's Chicago O'Hare hub, though. The airline recently announced an expanded winter schedule with new routes from Chicago O'Hare with increased service on a number of lines and new service to several locations. Here is the list of changes, via NBC Chicago: Aruba (AUA): Increase to daily service starting Dec. 18 Cancun, Mexico (CUN): Up to three daily flights starting Nov. 2 Curacao (CUR): New Saturday-only service starting Dec. 6 Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands (GCM): Increase to daily service starting Dec. 18 Guatemala City (GUA): New up to three weekly flights starting Nov. 6 Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR): Increase to daily service starting Dec. 18 Los Cabos, Mexico (SJD): Up to two daily flights starting Nov. 2 Montego Bay, Jamaica (MBJ): Up to two daily flights starting Nov. 2 Nassau, Bahamas (NAS): Up to daily service starting Dec. 18 Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (PVR): Increase to two daily flights from Dec. 18 to Jan. 6 San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO): New daily service starting Nov. 2 San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU): Up to two daily flights starting Dec. 18 St. Croix (STX): New Saturday-only service starting Dec. 6 St. Maarten (SXM): New Saturday-only service starting Nov. 8 St. Thomas (STT): Up to daily service starting Dec. 18 According to a report from Travel + Leisure, "the new flight frequencies and added destinations are the biggest flight expansions for any American hub so far this year, according to the airline." Vice president of Chicago operations Ben Humphrey issued a statement regarding the change. 'As we get our first taste of spring in Chicago, we are already looking ahead to giving our customers a reprieve from the bitter Midwest winter with more than double the flights to popular vacation spots,' he said. Related: U.S. Issues Travel Warnings for 2 New Countries
Chicago Tribune
28-02-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
American Airlines' boarding enforcement technology comes to Chicago
American Airlines' technology that aims to eliminate boarding group scofflaws has come to Chicago. The software sounds a chime if a passenger attempts to board their flight before their assigned group is called, alerting the gate agent and the customer to the error. It will not accept the boarding pass of someone assigned to a later group. The technology was tested in late 2024 and rolled out to more than 100 U.S. airports just as the busy Thanksgiving travel season got under way. American brought it to O'Hare International Airport this month. The program is designed to give staff more visibility into the boarding process, American Airlines said, and to help ensure passengers board with their assigned group. That can be a particular benefit for American Airlines' loyalty program members or those who purchase certain types of fares. When the technology alerts passengers and the gate agent to someone trying to board with an earlier group, staff will ask the customer to rejoin the line when their assigned group is called, American said. If a passenger is traveling with someone in an earlier boarding group, the agent can easily override the alert and accept the boarding pass. The new software comes after American, one of the two main carriers at O'Hare, said it planned to boost flying capacity out of the city's major airport. The carrier is adding nine new domestic and international cities to its Chicago routes this year, and this summer has scheduled 25% more seats and 22% more flights from the city than last year. American will also be making another boarding change, adding five minutes to scheduled boarding times on many domestic flights. The move, set to start May 1, is intended to allow more time for pauses between groups, relieving congestion on the jet bridge and giving passengers more time to put their bags away and get settled on the plane, the carrier said. At O'Hare, American recently also added express service kiosks and reconfigured its lobby. 'These investments, as well as our major expansion at O'Hare, reinforce our commitment to the bright future we have here in Chicago,' American's Vice President of ORD Operations Ben Humphrey said in a statement.
