By Larry Weitzman

Hyundai is a mature car company that produces cutting edge cars, vehicles that are world class. The new Hyundai GT is another example of real automotive value in a vehicle that has no negatives, not even a small one. If you wanted a vehicle that is comparable, you would have to look at the Mazda3 five-door, and they are so close, comparisons throughout this Road Beat will occur.

Hyundai’s Elantra GT (HGT) is effectively the station wagon version of the Hyundai Elantra sedan. But a lot happens before it gets to the lucky buyer. While the hatchback design is sleeker as with the Mazda3, it is also smaller by a significant amount, with length shrinking about 10 inches to 171 inches, while interior room, volume and practicality all go up. The HGT is about 5 inches shorter than the M3 (Mazda3), a plus for the HGT.

Width is 71 inches, average for this class and HGT stands 58 inches tall, maybe an inch higher than average. But HGT looks sportier than the Elantra sedan, making it the best looking Elantra, especially with its new front end and rakish character lines. I am not yet sold on the rounded rear window line. If there is a difference between the M3 and the HGT, it’s in this small aspect of the overall design giving the Mada3 a slight edge in overall looks. But overall, both cars are great looking vehicles. And the difference may be in the beholder.

Specification
Price $21,235 to $27,460 all in
Engine 2.0L DOHC, 16 valve inline four 161 hp @ 6,200 rpm
150 lb-ft of torque @ 4,700 rpm
Transmission
Six speed automatic
Six speed manual
Chassis layout
Front transverse engine, front wheel drive
Dimensions
Length 170.9 inches
Wheelbase 104.3 inches
Width 70.7 inches
Height 57.7 inches
Track (f/r) 61.1/61.5 inches
Ground clearance 5.9 inches
Weight 3,040 pounds
Fuel capacity 14.0 gallons
Cargo capacity (rear seats down/up) 55.1/24.9 cubic feet
Passenger volume 96.6 cubic feet
Steering lock to lock 2.6 turns
Turning circle 34.8 feet
Wheels 17X7 inch alloys
Tires 225/45X17
Co-efficient of drag 0.30
Performance
0-60 mph 7.23 seconds
50-70 mph 3.96 seconds
50-70 uphill 6.28 seconds
Fuel economy EPA rated 24/32/27 mpg city/highway/combined. Expect 35.6 mpg on the highway and 30-33 mpg in rural country driving.

Underhood is the biggest difference, however, in reality, it’s a small difference. The standard engine for the HGT is a 2.0L DOHC, 16 valve inline four banger. Knocking down 161 big horses at 6,200 rpm and 150 pounds of twist at 4,700 rpm, it drives the front wheels via a six speed manual cog swapper or as in my tester a six speed torque converter, auto cog swapper. Go with the auto as performance is virtually identical and its easier to extract.

Also available is a spunkier, 1.6L turbo engine making 201 hp and 195 pounds of twist and it too connects to the front wheels through a seven-speed DCT. Nice. The normally aspirated HGT was the subject of this Road Beat and it is comparable to the Mazda3 which gets a 2.5L 184 hp engine. Zero-60 mph comes up is a quick 7.23 seconds while passing times of 3.96 seconds (50-70 mph) and 6.28 seconds up a 6-7 percent grade. Not many compact type cars compare. The more powerful Mazda3 betters these times marginally, but the difference is insignificant in the 0-60 test and about a half a second in the passing test where the extra power is more noticeable. But in actual driving the HGT feels just as responsive and powerful. If you are tracking the vehicle, the Mazda3 has the advantage, but otherwise it’s a close toss-up. However, the 201 hp turbo engine HGT might just smoke the Mazda3, dropping the performance tests by a second in each category.

Fuel economy for the HGT as per the EPA tests is 24/32/27 mpg city/highway/combined. But my tests continually exceeded those numbers by at least 20 percent. Overall for the 425 miles driven, the HGT averaged an amazing 33.4 mpg with almost no time spent on the freeway (15 percent) and 25 percent spent in moderate traffic. In my round trip to Carson City from Placerville, the HGT averaged 35.6 mpg and at 70 mph on a level highway with the engine spinning 2,000 rpm, the HGT averaged 39.3 mpg. With 14 gallons of fuel on hand that’s an easy 500 miles non-stop. See if your tank can last that long? The HGT betters the Mazda by about an MPG, which is insignificant.

Hyundai comes with all the creds for being a sports sedan/wagon, except the rear suspension is a semi-independent torsion beam instead of the HGT Sport (1.6T) fully independent multilink system. For 99.9 percent of buyers, no one will notice. The rest of the creds are all high performance, sports tuned suspension (meaning it’s just tightened up a bit), a quick electric power rack (2.6 turns lock to lock) and 17 x 7 inch alloys shod with 225/45 series tires. It adds up to confident, flat grippy handling made easy with good steering feedback.

In the twisties the fun was adding throttle to balance the car mid turn. Very nice. HGT will surprise most people with its powerful agility. While the Mazda3 may be marginally better, it would be hard to discern any difference. Turning circle is a tight 34.8 feet.

Ride quality of the Hyundai is very good, smooth and quiet and very quiet on smooth roads. The cabin is quiet and over heavy bumps, pitch motions are well controlled. It is certainly equal to the Mazda3.

Safety is everywhere. Four-wheel discs (fronts ventilated) with all the acronyms and with the Style Package ($1,800) you get blind spot detection. Add the Tech Package (4,3000) and fabulous LED headlights. Both those packages include oodles of extras, most of them desirable.         

Inside is where the Hyundai also excels. Quality materials are everywhere, including with the above packages, leather, power and heated seats that are superb. Instrumentation is perfect, big tach and speedo flanking the center info/trip computer and a super easy to use center stack.

The hatchback/station wagon design offers versatility and utility with 55 cubes with the rear seat folded and 25 cubes with the seats up.

Now here is where the GT scores, price. The base car which still comes with loads of standard equipment stickers for just $20,350 plus $885 for the boat from Ulsan, Korea. My tester had two packages, the Style pack ($1,800) which adds BSD, push button start, power to the driver’s and heat to both front chairs. The Tech pack ($4,300) adds leather, nav, LED lights, big sunroof and more. Add a $120 for the embroidered carpeted floor mats. Total damage is $27,480, a couple of grand less than the Mazda. That makes the Hyundai GT hard to beat, especially considering the standard 10 year/100,000 mile powertrain warranty.

Larry Weitzman has been into cars since he was 5 years old. At 8 he could recite from memory the hp of every car made in the U.S. He has put in thousands of laps on racetracks all over the Western United States.

Barton Foundation dispersed $85,000 to increase patient safety and privacy, offer comfort for children and their family members, and provide education and training for local first responders.

At Barton Memorial Hospital, the MRI imaging suite now has a ferromagnetic threat detector installed at the entrance. This device detects metal objects inside of or being carried by the patient before they enter the MRI suite and risk becoming a projectile. Barton Health Skilled Nursing Facility received Accora floor beds that reduce the risk of falls and improve patients’ head and foot mobility to receive care while still in bed.

Patient privacy has been improved through sound resistant privacy curtains in Lake Tahoe Surgery Center, which extend all the way to the floor. Privacy glass has been added at the Barton Community Health Center, ensuring more privacy for tele-medicine visits.

Barton Foundation presented a wagon full of teddy bears to the hospital’s emergency department to help ease anxiety for pediatric patients. Further relief is being offered in the form of Buzzys, a combination ice pack and vibration kit that numbs and distracts individuals nervous about needles.

Recommended by the American College of Surgeons as well as the Department of Homeland Security, Barton ER staff will receive training on the Stop Bleed Program. This program educates medics and nurses on the use of tourniquets in the event of a mass casualty incident. Training classes be available to local first responders at schools, police departments and fire protection agencies in addition to Barton employees.

Tom Rosenberg

By Stephen Magagnini, Sacramento Bee

Tom Rosenberg, whose parents fled Nazi Germany with him in 1938 to America where he helped preserve the American River Parkway and Lake Tahoe, died on Valentine’s Day in Sacramento at age 85.

Rosenberg, who had Alzheimer’s disease, was in hospice care, said Hilary Abramson, his wife of 32 years and a former Bee reporter.

“Everyone who knew him knew his mantra: ‘You need one of three ingredients to be happy: hope, a sense of accomplishment and love,’ ” Abramson said. “He was known as ‘Father of the American River Parkway’ for helping run a bond issue for it and ‘Bingo King’ for the nonprofit bingo games he ran in Sacramento for Capital Public Radio, the Developmental Disabilities Service Organization, the Sacramento Asian Community Center, The Sacramento Children’s Home and others.”

Read the whole story

University of Nevada Cooperative Extension and its certified master gardeners will be offering free gardening classes.

Gardening in Nevada: The Bartley Ranch Series is for anyone who wants to garden – those with big yards, small yards, or just patio or balcony space. The classes, offered in partnership with Washoe County Regional Parks and Open Space, run 6-8pm every Tuesday, Feb. 20-March 27, at Bartley Ranch Regional Park, 6000 Bartley Ranch Road in Reno.
  
The classes are taught by cooperative extension horticulturists, experts and certified master gardener volunteers, as well as local business owners.

For more info, go online.

By Andy Greene, Rolling Stone

The Monkees’ Michael Nesmith and Micky Dolenz are hitting the road in June for their first-ever tour as a duo. They’re calling the tour The Monkees Present: The Mike and Micky Show (as opposed to simply “The Monkees”) because their fellow surviving bandmate Peter Tork is not participating. Though the set centers around the classic group’s vast catalog, Nesmith and Dolenz plan to roll out deep cuts and rarities. 

“It will be very different than a Monkees show,” Nesmith told Rolling Stone in January. “I mean, it’ll be Monkees music, but there’s no pretense there about Micky and I being the Monkees. We’re not. We’re the remnants.”

The duo will be at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe on June 9.

Read the whole story

Milo

Milo is a handsome 11-month-old orange tiger short-hair kitten. He likes to play with dogs and has lived with children. Milo is friendly and loves to be petted.

Milo is neutered, microchippeded for FIV, and vaccinated. He is at the El Dorado County Animal Services shelter in Meyers, along with other dogs and cats who are waiting for their new homes. Go to the Tahoe animal shelter’s Facebook page to see photos and descriptions of all pets at the shelter. 

Call 530.573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet. 

For spay-neuter assistance for South Tahoe residents, go online. 

— Karen Kuentz

By Sean McAlindin, Tahoe Weekly
 
There are few things humans like more than a good mystery — other than solving one, of course.

When Elizabeth Pitcairn’s grandfather put forth a $1.6-million secret bid at a 1990 Christie’s auction to win ownership of the legendary Red Mendelssohn Stradivarius violin, she was just shy of her 17th birthday.

In 1720, Antonio Stradivari crafted the historic instrument at his small shop in Cremona, Italy. It is said to be from the golden period of Stradivari’s work, which includes some of the most acoustically perfect creations ever achieved by man.

For nearly two centuries, the whereabouts of the violin were unknown. Those years were beautifully reimagined in the fictional 1998 Canadian film “The Red Violin.”

Read the whole story

By Shivani Vora, New York Times

Think you won’t have time to exercise on your next vacation? Not according to Annette Lang, a New York City-based certified personal trainer. “You can actually maintain and even improve your fitness level when you’re on the road,” she said. “And, you don’t have to bother with a gym to do it.”

Lang naturally has plenty of tips on how to get some exercise while you travel. Here are some of the ones she offers her clients when they tell her they’re leaving town.

Think about how you can include some activity on each day of your getaway, Lang said. If you’re in an urban destination that has a bike share program, for example, consider renting a bike for an hour or two, and take a ride along a waterfront or other scenic part of town.

Read the whole story

Ronald Butterbaugh

Former South Lake Tahoe teacher Ronald Robert Butterbaugh died Feb. 3, 2018. He was 82.

The Grants Pass, Ore., resident passed away eight days shy of his 83rd birthday.

Ron was a twin born in Covina on Feb. 11, 1935, to Merle and Harriet Butterbaugh. Ron and brother Harry were the first set of twins born at Inter-Community Hospital that survived.

Ron attended Bonita High School and La Verne College, both in Southern California.

He taught wood shop and mechanical drawing for many years at South Tahoe Intermediate School. He was a resident of South Lake Tahoe for more than 30 years.

In 1997, Ron married Joan Christians. They built a home in Sedona, Ariz.

Ron was preceded in death by his wife, and his twin brother Harry.

In 2014, Ron moved to Southern Oregon to be near his children and grandchildren.

Ron is survived by his older sister, Lois Godfrey of La Verne; children Sue Raycraft (Steve), Tom Butterbaugh (Kim) and Cindy Egli (Dennis), of Grants Pass; 11 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchilden.

No services are planned.

Artist, poet and naturalist Obi Kaufmann has had to cancel his Feb. 17 talk at South Lake Tahoe Library for personal reasons.

It is possible the author of “California Field Atlas” will reschedule.

His book was highly acclaimed by Lake Tahoe News in this review.