Recent Comments:
In the Autoblog Garage: 2009 Lincoln MKS {Autoblog}
Jul 7th 2008 1:36PM So I'm kinda confused - is this car supposed to replace the Town Car? It's big and roomy, but I don't know where it fits into the grand scheme of Lincoln's lineup. They're going to have to replace the "Crown Vic in a Tux" before too long, and that's the only Lincoln that really counts as far as their sales and image go.
Also, the one thing that bugs me about every Ford car being made right now is that they all use the same crummy gauge cluster. It's not really attractive in any application I've seen so far, and being the part of the interior the driver looks at most, you would thing they would spend a little more time on it. Or make a couple of different ones. It doesn't matter if you're driving a Taurus, F-150, or this fancy Lincoln - you're staring at the same small dials. They hide it a little better in the Mustang, but it's still the same mechanism.
It's a personal peeve, but I can't be the only one, can I?
In the Autoblog Garage: Volkswagen Jetta 2.5 SE {Autoblog}
Apr 9th 2008 2:04PM I rented the Golf/Rabbit 2.5 a couple of months ago, and really enjoyed it. It wasn't the fastest thing on the road, but it's not really supposed to be. It had good pick-up in town and for freeway merges, was very comfortable, and I really liked the engine sound. I found that if I put the auto tranny into sport mode, that it shifted where it should and responded pretty well.
The only problem with it was that somebody broke off the washer nozzle for the rear window and it shot washer fluid about 20 feet straight back. I must admit it was amusing...
I do a lot of business travel and have rented tons of different cars. The Rabbit was one of the few that I would want to drive again. Most often, I get done with a rental and say, "well, that's another car I would never own." The VW is not on that list.
I pay a lot more attention to the interior of a car than the exterior, since that's where I end up spending my time, and the VW has a much nicer interior than the Fords, Chryslers, GMs and Japanese cars. I drove an Aura a couple of weeks ago, and while the interior was good it wasn't as good as the Rabbit. Same thing goes for the Fusion, Camry, Impala (yuck), Charger, or the last-gen Malibu. At least GM is getting better - Ford hit the level of "not bad" and stopped trying. I have yet to drive a Chrysler product that I've liked at all.
But yeah, I'll hold out for the TDI. Throw a DSG in the TDI SportWagen and I'll be at the dealership ready to sign.
Happy birthday: take a trip in America's largest flying gadget (part 1) {Engadget}
Mar 24th 2008 8:16AM Happy Birthday! I Love, You, Man!
Scientists concoct material that superconducts at room temperature {Engadget}
Mar 20th 2008 12:23PM While this is certainly good news, it's not going to lead to either hyper gaming rigs or a fantastic utopia without a lot more work. TFA says this is happening under some pretty special conditions, like high pressure.
The main ingredient, silane, is a gas at room temperature so it still takes a whole lot of pressure to make it a solid...more than you're going to be able to sustain in your house or in a wire, circuit board, etc.
Also, silane is pretty scary stuff itself. It spontaneously ignites on contact with air. I've worked with it quite a bit and you have to be very careful around it. I'm sure peeps who work in semiconductor manufacturing can back me up on this.
Personally, if I need semiconducting materials I would much rather keep my GeForce 99999Ultra immersed in liquid helium than make it out of ultra-compressed silane.
So yeah, it's awesome news and there's a lot of potential here. But don't sell your gaming rig just yet.
VIDEO: Hyundai Genesis Super Bowl ads {Autoblog}
Jan 31st 2008 12:13PM Jeff Bridges IS The Dude. See The Big Lebowski
Barrett-Jackson 2008: General Lee Dodge Charger brings $450,000 {Autoblog}
Jan 20th 2008 10:55AM I remember as a kid we went on the studio tour in California Universal? I don't know) and there was a parking lot full of General Lees. I think my dad might still have a picture of that. It was very cool to see them all there. The guide also said they went through 1 or 2 of them per show.
They also had 3 "BJ and the Bear" trucks parked there, with the trailers and everything. It was a kid's dream.
Merry Christmas: win two round trip tickets on JetBlue + noise canceling headphones {Engadget}
Dec 25th 2007 11:03PM I'll take Vegas - more money to gamble!
Goodbye, Chrysler Crossfire {Autoblog}
Dec 20th 2007 3:52PM I've always liked the Crossfire - would own one now if it weren't for the fact that I'm too tall for it - I tried test driving one and couldn't find a position where my knees weren't pressed up against the dash. One of the few problems with being tall is that lots of the fun cars won't fit. Oh well, it's a small (no pun intended) price to pay.
I though the styling was very good - not as good as the concept that spawned it, but at least they tried something that wasn't already done a million times before. The boat tail and hood strakes worked pretty well, I thought...sort of drawing on the art-deco theme Chrysler was promoting at the time. And using the SLK platform as the basis was a good move - it was a good car for the time, and still drives pretty well by today's standards.
And as for the PT Cruiser - it may be useful, but that's an ugly car. Offensively so. The convertible was by far the ugliest of the bunch, and I'm not real upset that I'll have fewer of them to look at. I'll miss the Magnum though - I rented one a couple of months ago and had a very positive experience. I'm not crazy about the cheap-azz plastic interior, but it was a comfortable long-trip car that hauls tons of stuff.
Phosphor E Ink watch giveaway (part 1) {Engadget}
Dec 19th 2007 2:08PM I'm wearing a 1970 Bulova chronograph - spring-driven watches FTW!
2007 Holiday Sweepstakes Day 5: DashDAQ Series II {Autoblog}
Dec 14th 2007 2:13PM That's freakin' awesome. I would love to have one of those.
