Autoblog

We're sure there are plenty of reasons some people would want to live in New York, but it's hard to see why a car guy would want to. Forget the traffic, the kamikaze cab drivers and astronomic insurance rates. Even if you can put up with all that, where the heck are you gonna park a car?

The New York Times' story, "The Ultimate Luxury: A Garage," gives us even more reason to shun The Big Apple as a place of residence. Apparently, New York houses, condos and apartments with garages command about 5% more than those that don't. In some neighborhoods, add 25%. So that means if you have a condo worth $1 million, adding a garage could get you at very least $50,000 more than your car-hating neighbors. One real estate broker estimated that a six-bedroom townhouse he's selling will bring an extra $1 million because of its car accommodations. The townhouse is priced at $18.75 million.

So why aren't real estate owners on a garage-building spree? Because convincing the city's Department of Buildings that you need a curb cut is a long, trying process. The government agency approved only 54 new Manhattan curb cuts in 2008; three less than last year.

And then there's the anecdote of one family paying $6,600 a year to put their car in a public lot. That's enough to convince this bunch of car guys that there are better places to call home.

[Source: New York Times]

Yet another example of a Homeowner's Association run amok... A Texas homeowner in Frisco (just north of Dallas) has been told by the Stonebriar HOA that his new Ford F-150 isn't allowed to be parked in his driveway. The Association, established to protect Jim Greenwood's interests (that's the theory at least), will allow his neighbor's Cadillac Escalades, Honda Ridgelines, and even a HUMMER or two, but his new pickup violates a rule that prohibits pickups in the driveway. When Mr. Greenwood inquired as to why a Lincoln Mark LT could park in the neighborhood, but his practically identical F-150 couldn't, the response from the HOA was, "'It's our belief that Lincoln markets to a different class of people." Doh! As of now, Mr. Greenwood's options are to get another vehicle, or move. If it were us, we'd replace the F-150 with a yellow Caterpillar 972H Wheel Loader. Yeah, that would get them to quickly change their mind... Thanks for the tip, Neil!

[Source: Dallas News]

Don't you just hate it when you're idling around in the parking garage and there aren't any empty spaces? How do you feel when you spot somebody with a nice car who's purposely taken two spaces so that nobody can park next to their car? Yeah, pretty infuriating. Looks like somebody decided to do something about it, if the letter above is for real. In case you can't read it, here's what it says:

Dear person,

I'm sorry I put a dent in your car. I didn't want to, but I did when I tried to park next to you. I am not leaving my information because you chose to use two spaces and I just wanted to park in one. The scratches are because I used a towel that had sand on it to try to clean the dent/paint off. Beaches are fun.

Please look your car over for the dent and scratches and each time you see them, remember not to park in two spaces.

Sorry!!!

NOTE: We at Autoblog do not condone the denting of cars on purpose. Yes, beaches are fun.

[Source: Carscoop]

The honchos at VW decided that Park Assist (PA) wasn't enough. That's where the car parallel parks itself while you twiddle your thumbs behind the wheel, and when the Fasten Seat Belt sign is extinguished you can get out and go on about your business. The latest development from VW is called Park Assist Vision (PAV), and it will park the car for you in any kind of spot -- parallel or perpendicular -- and you don't even need to be in the car.

A PAV-equipped car is ringed with cameras and ultrasonic sensors, and when you find a spot you want, you select it on a touchscreen. You place the car in "P" and get out if you have that much faith in technology not to scratch your paint. Your remote control keyfob tells the car what to do from then on, and the car parks itself, shuts down and locks itself up, as any happy android car should.

PAV is still in development, but it's a neat idea. It could especially come in handy when trying to slip into one of those ever-shrinking "compact" parking spaces, since it's so hard to get out of the car once you get in the space. Now if they could develop a feature that actually locates available parking spaces for you, we'd be in business.

[Source: Autocar]

By most estimates, there are about 250 million registered passenger cars in the United States (you can drop the number down by a few hundred if you still don't consider the Yugo GV a car). For many motorists, it seems that every single one of those cars is trying to park in their location -- their frustration of looking for parking is only compounded by the countless unused parking spaces that sit empty all day long.

Less than two years ago, a 24-year-old entrepreneur from London, England, launched ParkAtMyHouse with the intent of marrying despondent drivers with unused parking slots. Overnight, the "driveway rental business" was hatched. His site connected drivers with open parking spaces in Great Britain in a rather simple manner. The Internet-based program asked visitors to input either an address, postal code, or area name. The search results displayed on an easy-to-read Google map, with clickable icons representing the parking locations and their associated fees. The clever idea caught on, and their resulting success was the catalyst for recent expansion to the States.

On this side of the Pond, the "driveway renters" won't find themselves alone. Other companies such as ParkingHunter and ParkingSearch have already established themselves in the sector. All of the sites operate in a similar manner, keeping the learning curve shallow for newbies. And, since fees only change hands once the slot is rented, nothing prevents a parking space from being listed on more than one site. Now, if they could just get the system to work at the mall during the holidays...

[Source: ParkatmyHouse]

Lexus must be doing a booming business in Philadelphia. The city's Wachovia Center, host to the 76ers basketball team and Flyers hockey team, already has a courtside VIP club sponsored by Lexus. Now, in an expanded sponsorship deal, the Center has set aside two special parking areas for Lexus owners. The Lexus sections will be in the Center's C-Lot and E-Lot, but there's no info on how close to the building those areas will be.

And these lots don't appear to have anything to do with the VIP lot or VIP entry. Which means that the guy in the Hyundai Azera could be parked closer than you and get in before you do. But you'll at least get to be with your peeps. Perhaps this will lead to Lexus-only tailgating parties, though we wonder how well the IS folks will mix with the LS600 folks. Regardless, next time you want to see the 76ers and Flyers, um, struggle... make sure you take the Lexus. Follow the jump for the full press release.

[Source: Lexus]

The question of the day is, "If you're tasked with teaching a three-time Formula One champ to drive, what's the curriculum?" Some instructor in Brazil will be forced to answer that very query when he gets Nelson Piquet behind the wheel for a refresher on the rules of the road.

Piquet, who's racked up quite a collection of speeding offenses and parking tickets, is being forced by a Brazilian judge to go back to school for 30 hours over the course of eight days, after which he'll be required to re-take the driving test.

The 54-year old F1 wiz seemed rather jovial when asked to comment on the matter, simply saying that, "I think we have to pay for our mistakes." We're more than interested to see how it turns out, and we'd expect his instructor to come away with a host of intriguing stories and maybe a few new skills of his own.

[Source: Yahoo! News]

To give you an idea of how much of a premium Manhattanites place on parking, consider that a new condo development on the Lower West Side is selling five guaranteed parking spaces for $225,000 apiece. That number is on top of whatever the condos themselves cost. The knee-jerk reaction is, of course, to laugh and dismissively say something like, "Who in their right mind is going to pay that to park their car?"

There are eight people vying for those five spaces.

[Source: The New York Times]

Just last year marketing agencies were bemoaning the advent of the TiVo and similar digital video recorders (DVRs) that allow viewers to fast forward through commercials. A few of the smarter marketing folks, however, are embracing it. San Francisco-based Venables Bell & Partners was hired by Audi at the end of 2006 and the first campaign produced by the ad house has already hit the airwaves. Two of the ads, named 0.2 Seconds and Moment, feature 0.2 seconds worth of images flashed on the screen in a rapid fashion. It almost looks like subliminal messaging, but it's too noticeable. In fact, Venables Bell & Partners want you to rewind your DVR after the commercial and plays and go through it frame by frame to see those images. It's an interesting idea, if only because this is the first time anyone's thought of engaging a TV viewer through the medium of a DVR. We would quickly go back to skipping commercials if our favorite shows were surrounded by ads like this.

Since these are the first commercials of their kind, Venables Bell & Partners has also produced a How-To video for Audi, which shows your average couple on a catch experiencing the commercials for the first time and using their DVR's remote. Wow, we think everyone's aware how to rewind and use frame-by-frame on their DVR.

Of course, Audi's agency also produced a traditional commercial for the A4 sedan so that the throngs of DVR-less TV watchers out there have something to enjoy, as well. It's a playful ad that takes a jab at Lexus and its "self-parking" system in the LS.

Check out the commercials, including slow-mo versions of the DVR targeted commercials, after the jump.

[Source: Audi]

It's a scene we've seen hundreds of times in movies – predators emerging from the shadows in a dimly lit parking garage. It used to be that you could look for the cigarrette ember so you could meet up with Deep Throat, but Raleigh, North Carolina has beat back the shadows as it became the first LED City. Parking garages in Raleigh have seen their standing with the public improve since LED lighting systems replaced the old high pressure sodium lighting. The whiter, brighter illumination led to a 76 percent increase in "very safe" replies to a survey on how the security of the garage was perceived. Whether the change has precipitated an actual drop in parking garage crime, or if it was even a problem in Raleigh to begin with, we can't say; but changing perception's not a bad thing, either. It's another feather in the cap of LED lighting technology, along with reducing energy consumption and the aforementioned lighting quality.

[Source: CREE via engadget]