Recent Comments:
GM launches Facts and Fiction site to correct what's written on the bathroom wall {Autoblog}
Sep 6th 2008 12:33AM 1) Not a bailout? $20+ million to pay for redesign that has been resisted by GM for years? I'd rather bailout mortgagees.
2) "More models" with higher than 30 mpg? How many models does each Japanese company have? How many are over 35 mpg? This is a red herring: trucks and SUVs were high profit items that didn't count under CAFE; GM resisted designing fuel efficient cars because they thought the cash cows were going to sell forever.
3) Vaporware by my definition is any touted product that is not remotely ready for production or distribution. The Volt meets that definition.
4) can you change a plant from building trucks to building economy cars in three months like the Japanese can?
5) another red herring: up X% from what? If CTS sales were down 18% last year, 33% doesn't even make up the difference. Let's face it: if GM was doing as well as your mythbusters infer, you wouldn't need government-backed loans.
If this is a capitalist society, take your lumps; if this is a corporationist society, take the money and run.
"Figures lie--and liars figure."
PS I've got a Vette and an Aveo. Can't bitch; but I knew I wasn't buying a Porsche Boxster or a Yaris, either.
Prius schmius -- try an Austin-Healey Sprite and 36 mpg {Autoblog}
Aug 11th 2008 10:08AM Damn! A Cosworth Vega. In black. With gold stripes down the side! Nice planter for the front yard.
Prius schmius -- try an Austin-Healey Sprite and 36 mpg {Autoblog}
Aug 11th 2008 10:06AM Deux Cheveaux kicks butt with mpg plus doesn't look like anything on the planet. Good choice! I think the total populations of Open Kadets in the US won't even reach the double digits!
Prius schmius -- try an Austin-Healey Sprite and 36 mpg {Autoblog}
Aug 11th 2008 10:02AM Not as much as you'd think. Except for the steady 65 mph rides across Indiana, I'd guess 24-26 average. The Solexes dripped gas all the time and most 356s weren't really tuned right.
Prius schmius -- try an Austin-Healey Sprite and 36 mpg {Autoblog}
Aug 11th 2008 9:57AM imoore:
I'll give you a nod for the 510, if you can find one with no rust below the door handles, or hasn't been raced since 1975. The 240Z is a Nissan also, which is a big plus, but it's not going to do you any favors at the pump. The Healey is no more dangerous than a cycle, gets great gas mileage, is one of the few cars that can shut you down when the power wire wiggles off the electric fuel pump. The Sprite has a huge advantage over the other two: it's one of the few cars that is absolutely a hoot to drive at 45 mph. at 50 it scares the living sh*t out of you. A great car and no tickets!
Huzzah! TVR lives... again. {Autoblog}
Jul 10th 2008 6:17PM Not only that: it comes back to bleed you again, and again, and again.
After they stopped making the 2500 or 3 liter M (depending on which side of the pond you were), each subsequent TVR became more of a gold chain/poseur's car. Also, they got traded faster than the woman you woke up with on Saturday morning.
The older TVR was once described as a truculent Troll of a car. Everything that could fall off did, even with duct tape. But with the MGB 1800 engine and the bonnet vibrating and smashing about, you could scare yourself to death at 50 mph. There's something to be said for that.
I remember when the wedge got imported in the mid 80s to the USofA. They were $27k in 84, a new 84 was $20K in 85, and a new 84 could be bought in 86 for $14k all day long. Needless to say, the importer was very very optimistic.
I've heard that there were new 84s for sale in 87, when someone bought the rest of the inventory and were selling them for $10k. Nothing like watching your $30k car depreciate 80% in four years.
Ow.
Italian Revolutionary
Bentley to release Continential Flying Spur Speed at British Int'l Motor Show {Autoblog}
Jul 9th 2008 6:31PM User:
Of course you're correct. I was being glib. Here in Maine we don't see too many Bentleys. One day while driving the Maine Turnpike, I saw someone coming up in the left lane at a monstrous rate. I thought it was a LEO in an incredible hurry. Problem was, it was the wrong color. In about two seconds, a Bentley went by at about a buck twenty. Some guy about 75 driving it. With diplomatic plates. Not too shabby.
Italian Revolutionary
Bentley to release Continential Flying Spur Speed at British Int'l Motor Show {Autoblog}
Jul 8th 2008 7:06PM Nissan did a GREAT job redesigning the '98 Maxima! It'll probably be more expensive, though. If it were $30k, I'd jump on it in a heartbeat. I betcha it's super reliable, too. I bet you could score lots of babes...
Italian Revolutionary
Rain dampens Ultima GTR 'Ring record attempt {Autoblog}
Jul 7th 2008 7:06PM Gotta love the Brits:
they've been playing this game for years, right down to the photo with the water droplets. Whether it's a kit or bespoke or made by Hyundai, sub 10 sec quarter mile times were considered impossible territory for AA Fuel Dragsters when your daddy was a baby. And it wasn't until the late 60's Chapparals that people began to think G-forces above 1.0 were even "theoretically" possible.
Nonetheless, even with a bowtie motor, it's still a Brit car, and is all that needs to be said, me hearties.
Italian Revolutionary
Bizarre Lotus Eagle campaign uses weird, faceless people {Autoblog}
Jul 3rd 2008 6:03PM And I thought Sting looking out the window from the back seat of a Jag was a real puker....Now if they had Bones say, God d**n it, Jim! I'm a f*cking doctor, not a Lotus Eagle," THAT would be funny. Or maybe Pete Townshend beating the crap out of it with a Rickenbacker. The possibilities are endless. The art guys must've gone into a coma before they came up.
This is a long way from Shelby painting the first Cobra six different times so the magazine guys thought they had already built six cars.
Garibaldi
