Recent Comments:
IIHS releases official results on the smart fortwo {Autoblog}
May 14th 2008 12:44PM Great post.
If you know you can't personally make use of the car, you don't gain credibility by slamming it. I'll never have a use for a Silverado HD 2500 crew cab, so what business do I have pointing out it's towing and hauling deficits toward a similar Ford or Dodge?
IIHS releases official results on the smart fortwo {Autoblog}
May 14th 2008 12:29PM The IIHS actually made note that you can get bigger cars with the same or better mileage than the Smart. They institute was primarily interested with the safety of the car, which is now proven by their standards.
I'm not sure why the Smart detractors are decrying the car's practicalness this late in the game, because it clearly isn't being marketed solely for its gas mileage and passenger carrying. It's a rolling fashion statement. If it were just about practicality, would anyone choose a Mini over a Yaris or Versa hatchback?
IIHS releases official results on the smart fortwo {Autoblog}
May 14th 2008 12:18PM The IIHS side crash tests were conducted using a barrier mimicking a truck or SUV traveling at 31 mph. Front crashes were conducted with 40mph offset that all vehicles are tested with.
Are you really trying to say the tests aren't rigorous enough since the Smart fared well with them? If there's anyone with a vested interest in automobile safety, it's the insurance industry. More importance should be placed on their crash tests than should NHTSA's, IMO.
GM may divorce trucks and full-size SUVs {Autoblog}
May 9th 2008 1:34PM I like your thinking. The folks blathering about needing to tow their boats, RVs, ATVs, trailers, and their egos will still have choices in hauling all of that stuff around. They'll just have to pay for it. Buy a Suburban or a HD Silverado.
GM is being smart about producing a mass market vehicle that is closer toward what people use it for everyday.
GM may divorce trucks and full-size SUVs {Autoblog}
May 9th 2008 1:28PM The smallest engined 2008 GMC Yukon (RWD) gets up to 19 highway mpg, according to fueleconomy.gov. The same site shows that an '08 GMC Acadia (FWD) gets up to 24mpg on the highway. The unibody 'utes CAN get significantly better mileage.
As far as towing goes, you'll probably see some correction in that too. Folks will either get smaller items to tow (smaller boats, RVs, trailers) or those items will eventually be streamlined before they're produced out of the same necessity to reduce costs.
If you own this, you should probably be ordering the salad {Autoblog}
May 9th 2008 12:43PM It's about time they got around to this. All that my friends have had to look forward to previously was the interior door pulls...and when they didn't have that, between the legs of slackers who didn't wash their Dockers.
Chrysler criticized for $2.99 gas, Suzuki jumps on bandwagon {Autoblog}
May 7th 2008 4:58PM Probably because they aren't proposing a gas card plan that has few claims of saving drivers money--in terms of improving gas mileage so that gas price itself (amongst larger environmental concerns) isn't as much of a burden.
I doubt they're playing favorites as you assume.
Chrysler criticized for $2.99 gas, Suzuki jumps on bandwagon {Autoblog}
May 7th 2008 4:54PM I call bull. Chrysler built a small car that regularly got over 30mpg and FWD cars that could approach that number on the highway less than ten years ago. They instead chose to replace them with thirsty RWD cars and a small 'entry level crossover' with the mileage of a large car.
It's not that they can't do it, it's that they don't want to spend the money to do it...or to do it RIGHT.
Strike forces GM to suspend truck and SUV orders {Autoblog}
May 7th 2008 4:34PM In an all too quick, oversimplified explanation:
Do a quick Wikipedia search on the Industrial Revolution of the late 1800s-early 1900s. Much of the growth of mass production in factories took place in the north and midwest. People in the South, ravaged by the end of the Civil War, took whatever job creation it could get (largely from companies still based in the north).
Just not the same historical context for organizing workers against employers.
Strike forces GM to suspend truck and SUV orders {Autoblog}
May 7th 2008 4:27PM While I tend to side politically with unions, I can't really fault GM for looking at this as a temporary 'problem that took care of itself', so to speak. Truck and SUV sales are down dramatically and they aren't losing out on sales that didn't have much of a chance being made.
Then again, I'm also crazy enough to think that the strikers themselves know what they are doing. By striking on an easy target like slow selling SUVs, they can get GM to the negotiating table BEFORE they threaten to shut down production of the cars they'll increasingly need.
The strike carries some merit for both sides.
