Recent Comments:
Mitsubishi releases jeans-themed "i" Kurashiki Edition {Autoblog}
Dec 14th 2006 8:11PM Mitz needs to do something to attract customers. Just heard an ad on the radio this evening: the Mitsubishi dealer in the north end of Nashville is getting rid of every last car, closing up, then reopening as a Nissan dealer.
Amazing.
TRW invents non-rotating airbag {Autoblog}
Dec 9th 2006 6:15PM I remember a car with the center hub not moving, and it contained buttons that stayed put when you turned the wheel and everything.
It was called the Edsel.
False alarm: Toyota recalls 220,000 vehicles for lying check engine light {Autoblog}
Dec 9th 2006 8:05AM I don't see all the "bashing" as being because someone is an import hater. I think the bashing takes place because Toyota had, and still has, this smug, nose-high attitude about just how blasted PERFECT they are. Combine that with the smug attitude of the owners and you get this sort of thing. It was the same thing 40 years ago, but in those days the brand in question was VW. Rust-prone, ill-handling, underpowered, flimsy, dangerous junk with short-lived engines with what was probably the best advertising campaign ever to come along.
I have never owned a Toyota; they don't make anything I want. I am sure some Toyota dealers are quite good about things. But I have heard from a few too many owners of Toyotae that when there IS an issue, they get met with "Nothing's wrong. It's a Toyota. That is not a problem, it is how it works. It's a Toyota". This told to people with failing transmissions at 40K (Camrys), brakes consistently gone at 18K (Tundra pickups) and the like.
And, I am just cynical enough to think a hell of a lot of dealers milked customers plenty of money to "fix" the "problem" the check-engine lights were falsely announcing.
30 Minutes with the 2007 Lincoln MKX {Autoblog}
Nov 18th 2006 5:19PM Did the Aviator even sell? Seriously: I have seen fewer of those than I have seen of Blackwoods or (fill in name of whatever the Lincoln calls their F150).
30 Minutes with the 2007 Chrysler Sebring {Autoblog}
Nov 13th 2006 9:01PM Actually, the British car makers in their heyday offered a feature virtually NO other manufacturers ever mastered. And this feature was standard on virtually every British car. Even their motorcycles had it! I just don't know why no other manufacturers, even the Japanese, offer a self-lubricating garage floor.
VIDEO: A legend is born {Autoblog}
Nov 4th 2006 7:15AM Uhh, 1950s. Fumblefingers... just washed my hands and can't do a thing with them...
VIDEO: A legend is born {Autoblog}
Nov 4th 2006 6:59AM iQuack, that rear-end hum carried will beyond 1955. A neighbor of ours had a 1959 Chevy wagon. It did the same thing, and did it for many thousands of miles without a hitch.
I am gonna get soundly thrashed with the soft cushions and made to sit in the comfy chair for this but... MY favorite Chevy of the 1959s was the 1954 Bel Air hard top. Yes. 1954. It looks stodgy next to a 55 or 56, but it was a very nice-looking car. All it lacked was some power.
Alfa Romeo 159 spotted in L.A. {Autoblog}
Nov 4th 2006 6:51AM I had the unbounded joy of running around San Francisco in a 1750GTV back in the early 70s; I borrowed it from a friend. It was, without doubt, the most "right" car I had ever driven. Everything about the car was "right. The shifter was perfection, as were the brakes, steering, and handling. Just an AMAZING experience. Were it not for my being older and arthritic, I'd want one exactly like it again.
VIDEO: From L.A. to N.Y. in under 4 minutes {Autoblog}
Nov 4th 2006 6:43AM From the look of the dashboard, it is about a 1966 Chrysler convertible. we had its sister, a 1966 Plymouth Fury convertible. An amazingly good car; we kept it until it had 130,000 miles on it, and I wish we still had it.
As for using a NiSuToyBishiDaZda for the trip... I think not. Nor a SaaBenzAuVoGen. There is just something special about touring a big country in a nice big solid (yes, solid) land-yacht convertible. Even a sniveling collectivist lefty like Andre Codrescu (sp?) saw the wisdom of that when he toured the US in a 60s-era Cadillac convertible. (For the record, I'd prefer the Chrysler).
BMW shooting brake in 2008 {Autoblog}
Oct 15th 2006 7:40AM Hyundai Excel: hatchback
Chevette: hatchback
Toyota Starlet: hatchback
Dodge/Plymouth Omni/Horizon: hatchback
Add $25 kilobucks to the price
BMW 3-series: hatchback shooting brake
