Recent Comments:
Audi system detects stop lights, tells drivers to floor it {Autoblog}
Jul 23rd 2008 2:25AM mostly @Bungle, but everybody-
Very good points. I see that this story is not just about innovative Audi technology but about how the price of fuel is pushing us all to reconsider everything, including nothing less than civil engineering, also called city planning. Great discussion idea.
A big smart idea is the humble roundabout. The traffic circle. Simpler than traffic lights. No moving parts. The intersection can accommodate flowers and trees. And get this, they slow traffic while they keep it moving.
I don't know about where you live, but here in eastern Loudoun County, Virginia, they could have done well to make circles of several intersections. With complete seriousness, they opened large right-angle intersections with stop signs but no traffic lights. While (yes) it forces everybody to a complete halt, tell me how that conserves fuel and mechanical wear better than would a traffic circle. And you can guess at the severity of drive-time backups. Ridiculous. Spirit-crushing.
I know, I know, in moderation. I read of an English town that had so many roundabouts that local mechanics noticed the lefthand edges of car tyres wearing excessively :)
Audi system detects stop lights, tells drivers to floor it {Autoblog}
Jul 23rd 2008 1:59AM tbcolby-
agreed. totally +1.
"couldn't this be considered a green technology too?"
No, because the people who gave themselves the authority to decide for you what is "green" and what isn't are the same people who scorn you and yours for both driving your Audi and for enjoying it.
Mercury rising: Thursday announcement expected to lay out Euro-infused future {Autoblog}
Jul 22nd 2008 3:38PM "Look at the brand people, it's a rubbish, irrelevant brand."
+1
Volkswagen considering offering Polo in U.S. market {Autoblog}
Jul 18th 2008 6:23PM As Declan says, DO IT! I'll be right behind him in the sign-up line. How about VW Brazil's new Gol? Seriously.
McCain backs $5000 tax break for Volt, others {Autoblog}
Jul 18th 2008 6:19PM "Enough sunlight falls on the planet in 40 minutes to power all of human civilization for a year..."
Declan... What? Tell me more!
McCain backs $5000 tax break for Volt, others {Autoblog}
Jul 18th 2008 6:16PM Whether tax relief for electric cars (which would be a good idea), how about tax relief for, say, gasoline powered motors of 2000cc or less? How about greater relief for gasoline powered motors of 1600cc or less?
If GM's situation worsens, McCain open to "every option" {Autoblog}
Jul 18th 2008 6:04PM You could say that the candidates are advised to say anything they can to mollify potential voting blocs, and I can't blame them; I sympathize with anyone lunatic enough to want the job.
I'm of two minds on government intervention to save large domestic companies, whether motor companies or other...
1. Generation X has been waiting patiently for decades for some brands to leave the highway dealer strip and be properly relegated to history. Yes it was a little sad to learn that Plymouth and Oldsmobile had to be euthanized. But some brands, of which Chrysler, Mercury and Pontiac are prime examples, are going to have a steep uphill climb to surmount problems that can no longer be solved solely with "quality and value."
I'm sure not a minute elapsed before the pile-on began after Robert Lutz, whether by personal opinion or gaffe, described Pontiac as a "damaged brand." But he was right, and at this point it's immaterial whose fault it is. They're a damaged brand.
However scientifically inaccurate it may be, many Americans consider Pontiac a favorite of (excuse me) buyers with low educations and incomes who live outside of population centers; the same consider Chrysler a brand for old people. And hands up anyone with a good reason why America should keep Mercury. Those dealerships should be all be closed and replaced with parkland with lush grass and trees.
But
2. at bottom, it's not really the choice of new cars we fear for, right? It's the workers and their families and friends and neighborhoods and communities who will suffer, and eventually this nation of communities who will suffer, and reflexively we want to do what we can to avert that. Including vote for smart policy ideas.
VW up! could be switched to FWD {Autoblog}
Jul 18th 2008 5:25PM The up! should be front-drive.
I want Volkswagen US to offer the new Brazilian Gol.
Chrysler may nix top-of-the-line Avenger, Sebring {Autoblog}
Jul 18th 2008 5:12PM A damning indictment of the last DC car show maybe, but the one Avenger they bothered to wrangle was actually one of the more interesting midsize family sedans on display. It was the line-topper you almost never see in real life, as the only Avengers you see (round here anyway) are government mules.
I would totally consider a properly outfitted Avenger, were it only incentively cheaper than the class leaders (whose names you all know by rote).
Dressed nicely, she's very cute, inside and out. Somebody will laugh as I call that 'American styling,' but Avenger doesn't look and feel like everything else. I like that.
Spy Shots: Kia VG foretells next Azera {Autoblog}
Jul 18th 2008 4:35PM FWD seems just fine for this offering. The technology is thoroughly mature and all major brands do it well. Would be an appropriate standard bearer for the Kia showroom, and if done well a refreshing sporty counterpoint to the Azera. Bring it over, Kia.
