Recent Comments:
Tweaked 2009 Ford Focus Coupe debuts {Autoblog}
May 13th 2008 3:21AM This car is incredibly cheap.
Only the tiniest cars cost less in Europe, and they have 1100cc engines.
This rather undistinguished Ford is a decent size, comfortable, economical and well put together. With fuel prices the way they are what's not to like?
[SPOILER ALERT] Turkish Grand Prix was dog gone good {Autoblog}
May 12th 2008 12:46PM There are differing accounts: one says the government of the young turks had them removed from the city in 1910, and they then starved to death, another that the Sultan Abdulmecid (1839-1861) had them removed but public outcry was such that they had to be returned.
Either way, the Turks, and Muslims in general, are ill disposed towards killing dogs, even though they are considered unclean.
Apparently there is an Arab proverb that considers a city without the barking of dogs to be a dead city.
I can tell you that no Turkish city is a dead city!
[SPOILER ALERT] Turkish Grand Prix was dog gone good {Autoblog}
May 12th 2008 11:44AM Packs of stray dogs are everywhere in Turkey and their constant barking is hardly noticed by the locals.
They cause any number of road accidents, but people seem oddly unwilling to kill them.
At the end of the nineteenth century they rounded up all the strays in Constantinople (as it then was) and put them on one of the islands. The city was quiet for a time, save for the howling from across the water as the dogs tore each other apart and then finally starved.
Sadly, they missed a few and Istanbul seems to have as many dogs as ever.
Shooting would be kinder.
If you own this, you should probably be ordering the salad {Autoblog}
May 9th 2008 1:16PM Now, if only someone would come up with the auto-commode drivers' seat, with a built in wash and wipe facility of course, there's be no need whatsoever to slow that journey down even for five minutes.
Ford Europe launches new top shelf Mondeo - the Titanium X Sport {Autoblog}
May 6th 2008 2:31PM Agreed.
I am one of those who really doesn't much care about the feel of the plastics and such, as long as it is all durable and works. For me, if the car is reliable it is high quality, if it breaks down, it isn't. All the luxury tactile surfaces in the world don't count fopr anything when you are sitting on the side of the road with a broken widget.
Platform and component sharing is a good thing, and essential for cost reasons, but I reckon the buyer of the non-premium product ultimately gets the better deal. It all comes down to preferences inthe end.
Ford Europe launches new top shelf Mondeo - the Titanium X Sport {Autoblog}
May 6th 2008 1:28PM Expensive yes, but then you get very good pensions and social security. Very good schools and healthcare, and a very safe, clean country to live in with universally high standards for pretty much everything.
Taxes well spent I reckon.
Also, American cars are cheap, always have been, but they are no longer as profitable as they once were for the manufacturers.
Somebody said Volvos are better built: not so. These Fords are very well screwed together.
Score! New Mayor of London a true motorhead {Autoblog}
May 5th 2008 4:36PM He is actually a very bright, if eccentric man.
However, even though born there, he'd never be accepted as an American presidential candidate because his great grandfather, Ali Kemal Bey, was the last interior minister of the dying Ottoman Empire. These Muslim antecedents would worry Americans.
Damn that Flex is sexy! {Autoblog}
Apr 17th 2008 9:24AM If handsome is sexy: this thing is sexy!
Ford Focus CC Black Magic: Any color, as long as it's black {Autoblog}
Apr 14th 2008 5:23AM It is obvious that the US and European markets are totally different. Cars in Europe tend to be smaller for all manner of reasons, only one of which is that the largest American cars simply wouldn't fit.
I'm not sure if European built cars sold in the US actually make an money at all for the manufacturers these days, hence the relatively few sold there, and I'd like to know the profit margins of those makers who do sell there.
American manufacturers are hardly profitable either, so perhaps the traditional very cheap American car is unsustainable?
Rendered Speculation: Alfa MiTo GTA {Autoblog}
Apr 10th 2008 11:29AM Those are all larger, heavier, cars.
