Recent Comments:
Ford to invest $209m in South Africa for new Ranger pickup {Autoblog}
Jan 31st 2008 7:28PM This isn't a small pickup. For non-US standards, the ranger is fairly large. Down here small (half ton) pickups are typically Ford Bantums, or Opel Corsa Backies. Now seeing either of those on the roads of America would signal a change in attitudes & fuel prices...
Mulally makes it official: Next Focus and Fusion based on global platforms {Autoblog}
Aug 23rd 2007 5:35PM This is the kind of global rationalization American auto companies need to really get up to speed with.
Th new Focus platform is a globally developed car. led by Mazda with input from Volvo and Ford Germany. With cars like the Mazda 3 getting so much praise in the US, it seems strange that Ford have been so slow making an application on this platform for the whole market.
G-Wiz! London drivers going electric {Autoblog}
Jun 26th 2006 6:29PM As a car owning Londoner, I'm at a loss why people bother to drive. I use my car for leaving London on weekends, I frankly don't see the point of sitting in very expensive traffic during the week.
Incidently the congestion charge is a road toll, not a tax, and it has actually improved life for residents and pedestrians, slightly. If it can encourage more electric cars, then great, I can look forward to a day I can walk to work without suffocating in the traffic fume smog.
The official Autoblog 'Current Car(s)' Readership Survey {Autoblog}
May 24th 2006 12:54PM 1991 E30 BMW 325
Bought used for R20,000 ZAR about a year ago with just over 200,000km on the clock. (That's 125,000 miles for you yanks)
I wanted something fun, fast cheap, and for me to experiment on.
I love it because it will outperform almost any car on the road, down here in Cape Town, and will happily cruise vast African distances at 240km/h. I hate it because the last owner abused it, and it's kind of unreliable. Being German the electrics break easily, which can occasionally lock me out. The suspension also needs a rebuild, resulting in a tendancy to spin on sharp left hand corners (always interesting when you lend the car to someone else!)
It's pretty much stock, other than being chipped for more power.
If I had to replace it I may try and track down a rare South African E30 333i, otherwise consider a p-car. Due to lack of money that would be a 924, or if I could bribe the right official, a UK imported 944.
Ford to take all-wheel drive lead from Subaru? {Autoblog}
May 22nd 2006 3:04PM Sounds like a smart market move to me. Consumers get the predictability and economy of FWD with the winter benifits and 'showroom appeal' of AWD. And Ford gets to make money off a reliable and proven system. If you want to drive like a hooligan, get a Suburu, these Fords are meant to be improved regular cars, not rally cars.
Generation Y continues to flummox automakers {Autoblog}
May 18th 2006 9:55PM 83 here.
There does seem to be a trend here; us gen yers drive cool classics, but would swap them for a cheap modern rwd coupe? Well guess what, I drive an E30 325 and am about to upgrade to a Nissan 350zx...
Stock analysts say we could be in an "ethanol bubble" {Autoblog Green}
May 4th 2006 5:21PM Until ethanol usage increases, it will always be a minor fuel and liable to many price shocks, perhaps we're in a bublle, perhaps not, but for the time being ethanol prices are bound to shoot up and down. In the long run they're probably good, as ethanol is essentially a gasoline replacement. I work as an energy analyst for a major investment house, and we're telling our clients that oil will never drop below $60 barrel (a bit less than $3 at the pumps) again... At that price ethanol starts to look like a good idea, even with its price uncertainties.
Rabbit, Run: It keeps going... and going... {Autoblog}
Apr 17th 2006 9:50PM As far as I know, it's an A1, as they sold Citis at the same time as the mark 2 Golfs!
Spy Shots: E92 BMW 3-Series coupe {Autoblog}
Apr 17th 2006 2:10PM 306bhp from a turbo 3.5ltr is a bit dissapointing? The M3's been pumping out 100bhp/ltr normally aspirated for years, I was hoping for at least 350bhp!
Is Mazda the solution to Ford's troubles? {Autoblog}
Apr 16th 2006 8:34PM no.8, you have a point perhaps Ford and GM could actually learn from their european arms. I'm not a GM-basher, I live in europe and drive an Opel, but the comment on the Mazda having good fit and finish alarmed me. Ford or GM have sold cars in europe with Mazda quality or better fit and finish for years, are things really that bad in US auto production?
