Without exception, car makers like to sell their wares by using the phrase: “fun to drive.” Yet behind the scenes, a lot of them are working on turning the driver into a passenger behind the wheel.
Take zoom-zooming Mazda, for example. Its ASV-4 (advanced safety vehicle) has been out on public roads around the company’s Hiroshima HQ. Well really, two of them are probably in use, because Mazda is testing a vehicle-to-vehicle communications system that alerts oncoming drivers at blind intersections or on twisting roads where visibility is limited.
This system aims to prevent (or at least lessen the severity of) two-vehicle collisions, including rear-enders. Not only can one car ‘talk’ to another. If the rear vehicle monitoring system (using radar) detects another car approaching from behind at speed, it can apply that vehicle’s brakes.
This is all part of a larger program called the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) that uses telecommunications technology to create an information network between people, vehicles and the road infrastructure. Sensors along roadways can link to vehicles (known as road-to-vehicle communications), warning of potentially dangerous situations that a driver cannot yet see.
While this is obviously good news from the safety and traffic jam points of view, the Big Brother implications could be far-reaching, such as controlling everyone’s speed -- and no one could complain about saving lives, grief and gas there. But would the fun factor (which doesn’t have to be in conflict with responsible driving) need to be quashed completely?
It looks like even the luxury marques are going for smaller cars nowadays. These wispy design sketches are of a new Rolls-Royce, code-named RR4 and commonly referred to as ‘the baby Rolls.’ Based on the next-generation BMW 7 Series platform (although probably wider, longer and higher than that car), the RR4 is said to have a greater emphasis on driving than the bigger Phantom.
Styling was finalized in 2007 and the company’s manufacturing facility in the south of England is now being geared up to handle an extra model. Despite the 7 Series connection, the RR4 will be powered by an engine that will be exclusive to Rolls-Royce and will not be seen in any cars from the company’s Munich overlords. Rumors have it as a twin-turbo 4.8-liter V-8 or a 6.0-liter V-12. Although it’s hard to tell from here, the baby Rolls might well feature rear-hinged ‘suicide’ rear doors, rather like its Drophead Coupe sibling.
The RR4 is due out in 2010, with a price somewhere around $250,00 to $280,000 and will make its debut next spring at the 2009 Geneva Auto Show.
That tingle down the spine? Those hairs rising on the back of the neck? That’ll be the eager anticipation of the 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X MR.
Not long to wait. The Evo MR, the turbocharged, all-wheel-drive sports sedan with a twin-clutch, six-speed sequential transmission and a raft of driver-focused technology, will be here in June, priced at $38,290.
The Evolution has been in existence for 16 years, growing in stature and capability with each generation and honing its talents in one of the most demanding forms of motorsport: rallying. It’s where drivers possessing otherworldly car control talents whizz through forests or over mountain passes with snow, ice or mud underfoot, at triple-digit speeds, sideways.
Mitsubishi has won world rally championships with its Evolutions. These cars are a whole other driving experience: sharp, precise, eager, grippy, quick, poised, agile -- all those things and more. Hence the thrill of the newest, most sophisticated (the transmission changes gears race-car fast), most technologically advanced iteration being mere weeks away.
Since manufacturers these days are obliged to offer extra gadgets, $40,840 buys the MR with a package that includes a 30-gigabyte hard-drive navigation system/music server, a 650-watt Rockford Fosgate high-end audio system, pre-paid Sirius satellite radio and keyless entry. Even though the sound of the engine should be music enough to most enthusiasts.
About now might seem like a good time to get a basic grounding on green cars and alternative fuels. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Hybrid and Alternative Fuel Vehiclesby Jack R. Nerad (published by Penguin) has been out for a year (so was probably written in 2006), but offers clear and unbiased explanations on things like E85, natural gas-powered vehicles, biodiesel, electric cars and possible future forms of automotive energy.
Nerad knows of which he speaks. He’s executive editorial director with Kelley Blue Book and so has the tech savvy combined with the writing skills. Over the course of 193 pages, he goes into the safety, reliability and running costs of several forms of 'green' transport, all the while displaying a journalistic impartiality, helping the reader negotiate the many shades of gray in this green issue. With people lining up to buy hybrids and finding the current price of gas excruciating, this kind of knowledge is good to have.
Last year at the Pebble Beach bash, a 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso that once belonged to Steve McQueen (and one of only 350 made) sold at auction for $2.3 million. Not bad for a brown car. However, a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder -- previous owner: James Coburn -- has just set a record at an auction held at Ferrari’s own Fiorano test track.
It went for 7 million Euros. That’s 11.4 million in U.S. dollars. I’ll just say that again. $11.4 million. Lovely car and all that, but it begs not one but several questions. The first being: what recession? And when did James Coburn become cooler than Steve McQueen? Especially to the tune of $9.1 million? Has the buyer never seen The Magnificent Seven? Or, more to the point, Our Man Flint (a tacky, ’60s, Bond-wannabe movie if ever there was one)?
The thing is, he probably has. The deep-pocketed one, Chris Evans, is big on the Brit broadcasting scene with a personal wealth of around $90 million (well, more like $80m now). And even he thinks this car will appreciate beyond his considerable means in a few years’ time. For lesser mortals who still might have a few hundred thousand to chuck around, the new Ferrari California website might be worth a visit.
I first laid eyes on the Smart Car in the Los Angeles Times parking structure. Believing I was to drive it home to Fullerton on many a fearsome freeway where this car would be seen, if at all, as a small snack for any semi, SUV, normal passenger car, perhaps even a large motorcycle, I was quite apprehensive. But something strange and magical, if not totally hallucinogenic, happened to me when I opened the magic door and slid inside. The interior is one of the most spacious and comfortable I’ve been in for a while. I’m 6’1’’ and I would expect a much larger man or woman to be equally as comfortable. I could have studied all the interior dimensions before hand during my painstaking research period of at least five to ten minutes. But dimensions mean nothing to me. I can only understand how things feel. It felt large.
In the fullness of time, even the wisest among can realize he may have been hasty, too harsh, or otherwise insufficiently nuanced in his thinking. Not me, of course. Still, I've been driving across the country this week and I've seen some cars in their natural environment that I thought, Huh, maybe not so bad after all. Here's a list.
1) Current generation Jaguar XK -- Prettier than I thought. Nicely executed. Sufficiently uncommon to be something of an event when I see it. Plenty fast too. Overall, more interesting and compelling than a BMW 6-series.
When Shia LaBeouf speeds through a college campus with Harrison Ford riding shotgun, it will be aboard a Harley-Davidson. The motorcycle star of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is a 2007 Softail Springer Classic that was modified to look as if it was built at least 50 years earlier using mostly H-D service and accessory parts. So if you see the movie and have to have one, you might be able to build it yourself, though some of the parts were specially fabricated, including the fuel pump, kick start and saddlebags.
Harley-Davidson supplied Lucasfilm with the bike and asked that it be recognizable as a Harley. But the bike also needed to look era-appropriate because the movie is set in the '50s. According to the bike's L.A.-based builder, Justin Kell, it's "modeled to be a postwar Knucklehead."
Kell, 38, had to build the bike using "one bad pixelated picture on an 8-1/2-by-11 sheet of paper" as his guide. Ripping off the sheet metal and the chrome and hollowing out the exhaust, he lightened the bike by about 70 pounds; it also gained about 30 horsepower. Both improvements were necessary because the bike was used to do high-speed stunts and to ride a staircase in the film.
The disc brakes are a giveaway that the bike is modern. Although Kell "tried to work with different ways to cover them," he said, "the stunts put such a strain on the suspension that nothing would work without being dangerous."
Five bikes were built for the film, one of which was an effects bike that was destroyed in the course of filming, Kell said. Two of the remaining bikes will be returned to Harley-Davidson, which will display them in its new motorcycle museum, opening July 12 in Milwaukee. The two others were purchased by the production company.
The boys in blue are running a ‘Click It or Ticket’ campaign to make sure that Memorial Day weekend, one of the busiest on American roads, isn’t memorable for all the wrong reasons. But when snapping your safety belt into place, regardless of the make of car, give a little ‘thank you’ to Volvo, because there’s a little bit of the Swedish company in virtually every modern vehicle.
Volvo is no Lars-come-lately to the auto safety game. In the 1950s, the lap belt -- a safety belt anchored at two points that went across the thighs/hips -- was the contemporary technology. They held occupants in place, but were plagued by issues resulting from forces impacting on the body during a crash. Lap belts were used mostly by race car drivers at that time and were only available to the average driver as an option. Not a particularly popular one either. Given the choice between lap belts and whitewall tires, whitewalls usually won.
However, in 1958, Swedish inventor and Volvo design engineer Nils Bohlin patented what we’ve come to know as the three-point safety belt, the ingenious aspect being that the lap part of the belt could slip through the central anchor for greater comfort and adjustability. A year later, they were standard equipment in all Volvos.
An early British survey revealed that the three-point safety belt reduced the likelihood of death or serious injury arising from a car accident by 60%. This simple device has saved many people; according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), over 200,000 American lives.
With Mother’s Day done and dusted, the next headache is Father’s Day, a breed who are notoriously difficult to buy for -- or please in any way. But help is at hand. This coming June 15, take Pop to Rodeo Drive, set among the rolling hills of Beverly. No, not to do any shopping (as if), but to attend the 2008 Rodeo Drive Concours d’Elegance. Which is a fancy-schmancy name for a car show.
This year’s event is themed: ‘Haute Wheels: Celebrating Car Couture’ which is a fancy-schmancy way of saying that there will be some pretty high-end machines there. “An extraordinary array of antique and contemporary automobiles [that] focuses on custom coachwork and exceptional style,” say the organizers. Such as this DuBonnet Xenia Hispano-Suiza H6C Saoutchik Coupe (which obviously had to have a long nose just to fit the name down the side). This is a joint creation by race driver and pilot Pierre DuBonnet and designer Jacques Saoutchik that blends aspects of automotive and aircraft designs.
And just to show that they do build ’em like they used to, a new Bugatti Veyron (contender for the fastest and most powerful production car in the world) will be joined by a Versace Edition of a Lamborghini Murciélago LP640, one of only 10 in existence. In addition, there will be around 100 exotic and classic cars with a combined value of about $75 million. It all happens between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on the 300 and 400 blocks of North Rodeo Drive. Unusually for the area, admission is free to the public, which should really please Pop. And dutiful daughters can go look for shoes. More information is just a click away.
The 2008 Chevrolet Malibu is already a hit with consumers and critics alike, making inroads into the Accord/Camry hegemony. Now, with its well-equipped LTZ model, the Malibu comes with the combination of a four-cylinder, 2.4-liter engine coupled to a six-speed automatic transmission — an arrangement that’s unique in this segment.
Having one extra ratio provides the benefit of adding a sportier feel to the driving experience while simultaneously improving highway fuel consumption (albeit by about two miles per gallon, but it beats being thirstier). The gears have been spaced so that the engine works at its peak efficiency more often, with an advantageous side effect of a quieter operation. For greater control, the driver may use the gearbox manually, tapping up or down through the ratios.
The Malibu LTZ starts at $26,545 (including $650 destination charge) and sports LED tail lights, heated seats and leather trim as standard, while offering XM satellite radio, OnStar navigation and an eight-speaker audio system.
Art Astor's car collection is astonishing. Plus all the antique gas pumps, vintage radios, telephones, televisions and various other gems from way back when. To see it all is like going back in time. There are more than 250 vehicles; a few have been restored, but many appear factory-fresh. And now, two-thirds of the whole shebang is up for auction.
All the cars are operational (Astor still drives most of them), original, low-mileage examples, spanning from the 1920s through the 1970s. There are Chryslers, Fords, Cadillacs (the collection is predominantly American machinery), several woodies and possibly the most Packards ever brought together under one roof.
Some have celebrity provenance or historical interest, including cars owned by Clark Gable, Gary Cooper and Howard Hughes or used by Admiral Nimitz in World War II. Lovers of more modern cars will appreciate the Jaguar E-Types, Mustang fastbacks and a fabulous Healey 3000.
Bidding for more than 200 cars and 800 lots of memorabilia begins June 27 in Anaheim, with the last fall of the hammer on June 29. RM Auctions, which is officiating at this no-reserve event, calls the Astor Collection "perhaps one of the most diverse, highly original and extremely well maintained of its kind ever offered to the public."
Well, the Speed Racer movie is now out. And along comes the merch. But at least this product has more relevance than the usual lunch box. Just as the film is based on an old-school animation series, an old-school slot racing set forms the basis for the Carrera GO!!! (yep, all three exclamation points) Speed Racer game.
This may seem hopelessly retro in these days of Grand Theft Auto, Guitar Hero and a plethora of other video games, but it has the advantage of being tactile, demonstrating the laws of physics, and something a parent can play along with their child. They could even, y’know, bond.
It comes with two cars (Speed Racer’s Mach 5 and Racer X’s Shooting Star) and just over 20 feet of track that includes a spectacular, gravity-defying 360-degree loop. Recommended for children of eight and older, and priced from $69.99.
And if Speed Racer doesn’t do it, perhaps the company’s Batman-themed set (ready for a new film in that franchise) will do the trick instead. See the Carrera website for dealer locations and more information.
Meet Peter Mooney, a native Angelino, currently residing in Fullerton, California whose decidedly twisted view of the car culture was fully formed -- and irreversibly tainted -- by the 25 years he spent as an automotive advertising creative chief. His job was to create car commercials, radio spots, magazine ads, outdoor billboards and the like -- thus the nickname of Mad Man. Brands including Acura, Isuzu, Volkswagen and Audi have benefited from Peter’s outrageously original musings and now, so might you.
Before I tell you about my experience test-driving the new Smart Car around and around until I got a real sense of its purpose in this world, you should know something about me. Mainly, after too many years in the automotive advertising field, I am a cynic of the highest order. (Maybe it would be the lowest order? I suppose it depends on whether you see the glass as half full, half empty, or as in my case, you ask, what glass?)
Yes, I see the world through a windshield darkly. At least compared to the incredibly cheerful people who moved here from Michigan by the trillions to get out of the snow and have made our freeways the largest parking lots in the observable universe. But I’m happy if they’re happy and willing to overlook the fact they’ve made my life less enjoyable.
But the good news is if they all switch to driving the new Smart Cars, our existing freeway system could accommodate all the immigrants in the entire world. Which would be good since they’re already here. Plus, our surface streets would much safer to cross since the Smart Car is so incredibly tiny, I imagine you could be run over several times by one and be left with nothing more serious than a possible need to wash the tire marks off your shirt and trousers. Maybe it’s why they call it a Smart Car.
This is the latest car from the Prancing Horse, the 2009 Ferrari California. It’s a two-seater with a folding hard top, a 4.3-liter V-8 engine that develops an impressive 460 horsepower, a seven-speed gearbox and a zero-to-60-mph time of under four seconds.
Beneath the sleek body of hand-formed aluminum are plenty of other examples of race-bred technology and instead of the often-seen Ferrari mid-engine layout, the California has its powerplant at the front, but set as far behind the front axle as possible for an optimum weight balance.
This is a resurrection of the California name. One of the most famous earlier incarnations was the 1958 250 California Spyder depicted in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The new car makes its official debut at the Paris motor show coming up in October. PCH is waiting.
Recently, I had a chance to test-drive the new electric ZENN low-speed vehicle in Los Angeles. And I lived to tell the tale. ZENN -- Zero Emission, No Noise -- is a Toronto-based company that takes a French Microcar MC-2 city car and stuffs it with six lead acid batteries and a 7.6-hp electric motor. The resulting LSV is certified to operate on city streets with no higher than 35 mph speed limits, while the car itself is limited to 25 mph. (www.zenncars.com).
The car weighs less than 1,300 pounds, so it actually gets off the line pretty well and motors around congested city streets with aplomb. The problem is that no one in Los Angeles drives the speed limit and, on busy city streets, the ZENN constitutes an adorable rolling roadblock. Also, since these kinds of cars are not engineered to pass American crash tests, they are somewhat vulnerable in the event of a collision with, say, a Vespa.
The ZENN also has a hugely noisy cabin, the result primarily of a lack of any kind of suspension bushings to speak of. I think the car could spare 20 pounds for more isolated shock tower mountings.
Still, the ZENN would be huge fun to drive in low-speed environments such as Santa Monica or Playa del Rey or just about any planned unit development of retirement community you can name.
Thoughts? Electric cars are the future of personal mobility, but the tradeoff between battery weight, cost and power are still difficult to reconcile for most consumers. Also, smaller and lighter car design -- without which electric mobility would be impractical in the short term -- has to coincide with efforts to reduce the average fleet size. It's just unnerving to drive these Euro-sized city cars around big trucks and SUV's.
What is the most radical, craziest, looniest suggestion yet to deal with America's gasoline crisis? Lower the national speed limit to 55 mph, an idea so subversive that the well-known socialist Richard Nixon imposed it on the U.S. in 1974, during the first oil shocks. The federal government's power to regulate speed limits, before and after, the purview of the states, was rescinded in 1995. But it's perfectly legal and plausible. So I say bring back the double nickels. I observe this because, recently, I drove a Saturn Astra with an instantaneous fuel economy readout. At 55 mph, the car achieved above 33 mpg. Above 75 mph it achieved around 23 mpg, a 29 percent reduction in fuel economy. Now, there are many considerations here: national productivity, the cost of transitioning to lower limits, the potential safety issues caused by a sudden rise is highway speed differentials -- between compliant drivers and the non-compliant.
However, the argument -- and it will certainly be mounted against any such movement for the 55 mph speed limit -- that is it somehow not effective in reducing fuel consumption, well, that's flat wrong. It absolutely would be effective, as long as it is effectively enforced.
Other radical ideas:
Tire-inflation tickets. Police and DMV could be empowered to check cars and trucks for proper tire inflation and write citations if they at less-than-optimal pressure.
Junker laws: Mexico recently stipulated that no car older than 10 years could be imported into the country -- the idea being to prevent Mexico from becoming a depository for America's crappy old cars. Well, why not here in the U.S.? Let's work to effectively phase out less efficient older cars. And before anyone raises the spectre of big guvmint taking away our "freedoms," rest assured you will search the Constitution in vain for a passage that provides the unfettered freedom to drive whatever hunk of junk you want, heedless of the greater good. Also, don't fail for the collector car canard. No one is saying you cant own a rare antique car; you simply can't license for the street. Eat that, SEMA!
Scrap current fuel economy standards and start over with a carbon gram/mile standard, modeled after Europe's. Carbon is a definitive indicator of efficiency since it it the result of combustion. Our current EPA/DOT regime is a failure. Re-write so that manufacturers, without obfuscation, achieve a fleetwide equivalent of under 150 g/km.
I'll be awaiting the pitchfork wielding rabble at my office...
In a move that makes absolutely perfect sense, Automobili Lamborghini is setting up its North American base in sunny Santa Monica. The company’s CEO, the impeccably attired Stephan Winkelmann, admitted that the Italian headquarters would have to wait until the afternoons to phone its U.S. operation, but called this “the best decision.”
Although the East Coast was also in the frame for a time, California got the nod because it is “where the future trends are. It’s where our PR agency is. It’s where many of our buyers are,” says Winkelmann.
He can say that again, Californians buy more Lamborghinis than Italians or Germans, about 30% of all the company’s U.S sales, helping it make a pre-tax profit of about $72.8 million in 2007. Which is the rosiest the corporate coffers have ever looked. Oh, and there’s a more powerful Gallardo just coming out -- the LP560-4 Gallardo.
This Sunday, May 18, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. is the 2008 NSRA (National Street Rod Association) Appreciation Day Car Show at the California Car Cover Company, 9525 De Soto Avenue, Chatsworth, CA 91311.
This is the 13th such event and the honoree this time around is Galpin Auto Sports, a leading SoCal customizing shop and force behind MTV’s Pimp My Ride. Several vehicles from Galpin’s ‘Kustom Kulture’ collection will be on display, including creations by cult car figure Ed ‘Big Daddy’ Roth and George Barris (who has made loads of cars for film and TV, including the original Batmobile for the Batman TV series of the ’60s). Among the 400-odd cars in the show, there’s also an 800-horsepower ’65 Impala that runs on diesel and is called the ‘Bio Rocket’.
By Susan Carpenter This week's magnitude 7.9 earthquake in Chengdu, China, reminded me of a question I've always wanted answered: How should a motorcyclist react when the earth starts rolling beneath the bike? I know the chances are slim that I'd actually be on a motorcycle when The Big One hits, but being a resident of fault-laced Southern California (which, according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey Report, is pretty much guaranteed a 6.7 quake by 2028) and a motorcyclist who logs about 20,000 miles a year, it doesn't hurt to be prepared.
So I reached out to Ray Ochs, the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's director of training systems, to see what advice he had for riding through a quake. Personally, he said, he'd never ridden through one -- nor had he ever been asked this question! -- but he'd talked to people who'd experienced a quake in a car, and they said it feels like the earth is rolling.
"If the terrain starts to shake," Ochs said, "your normal balance would probably take of you. For a rider with good perceptual skills, it's probably going to be a situation similar to how he'd respond when a car pulls out in front of him."
Ochs emphasized the importance of a two-second following distance, which typically gives a rider enough time to respond to whatever is happening in front of him. Beyond that Ochs had the following advice:
- Watch for cracks in the roadway so you have enough time and space to stop.
- Pull off to a safe location away from any potential falling objects.
- Stay away from underpasses because of the danger of collapse.
I have no idea if anybody else out there has thought about this or if it's only my brain that's filled with nuts and bolts and worst case scenarios, but if you're at all like me, now you know!
To the general public, Easy Rider may be the definitive motorcycle movie, but to many riders of a certain age, the 1971 documentary On Any Sunday is at least equal if not more significant -- not only because it was real but because it showed the sport's great breadth, from hill climbs to enduro races and everything in between.
Those of us who aren't of a certain age have only been able to see the film on DVD, but on May 21 the legendary doc gets the big-screen treatment at the second On Any Sunday Reunion. As the name implies, it isn't just a screening but an assemblage of many of the legendary racers who starred in the movie, including Malcolm Smith and Mert Lawwill. Director Bruce Brown will also be at the event, which features 40 bikes, some of which were used in the movie. The screening of On Any Sunday, the reunion of its racing legends and the Moto Expo of bikes will take place on May 21 at the Regal Big Six Theater on Fashion Island in Newport Beach. For tickets, visit www.onanysundayreunion.com.
Regular readers of the esteemed Mr. Neil’s automotive reviews -- and car nuts in general -- will have heard of the Nürburgring Nordschliefe, the daunting 14-mile race circuit in Germany that is by turns (and there are over 100 of them) exhilarating and scary. Although there is no single repository of official lap times, it’s generally recognized that anyone who completes the course in under eight minutes is going some.
While this fleet clique normally involves dedicated racing machines and the usual Euro supercar suspects (plus the new Nissan GT-R), there’s one surprising name that has infiltrated the ranks: Cadillac. Yes, Friday May 9, 2008 was a star-spangled banner of a day for the American marque. Its CTS-V sedan stopped the Nürburgring clock at 7:59.32. Which could well be the fastest-ever publicly documented time for a production sedan. And that’s with no go-faster bits outside of those planned for the street model, which should go on sale in the fall.
The 2009 Cadillac CTS-V has a supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 engine that is said to produce around 550 horsepower. The plan is to make this car the fastest production sedan in the world -- not such a far-fetched notion. Video footage of this blistering run will soon be uploaded to http://cadillac.gmblogs.com.
Voice-activated phone, audio and navigation systems — they’re wonderful things. Trouble is, such equipment is usually available on brand-new cars only — with most of those being in the luxury bracket (although Ford has its Sync system for the Focus). What about the drivers with older cars who don’t see themselves changing anytime soon but would like to upgrade their in-car entertainment, or ICE? Especially in light of the hands-free law coming into force July 1?
Perhaps something from Pioneer’s AVIC-F range might do the trick. The AVIC-F500BT is a portable on-dash unit that will handle iPods and Bluetooth-equipped phones (including uploading the phone’s contacts list), take spoken commands and provide directions. Its 5.8-inch touch screen may also act as a monitor for a reversing camera (which must be purchased separately). It will cost $600.
The next step up is the AVIC-F700BT ($850), which is an in-dash design (these units require professional installation or at least a high level of proficiency), It’s ready for satellite radio, has a CD player and USB slot, and uses a power amplifier that kicks out four channels of 50 watts each. The AVIC-F900BT adds a DVD player and MSN Direct -- a service that provides real-time traffic reports, plus things like movie theater information, weather forecast and gas prices – into the mix for $1,100.
The thing about all these units is that they recognize conversational phrases, like: “Let’s hear the artist, um, U2” or “I want to listen to, er, artist Justin Timberlake” (it might be fun trying to confuse it with: “Let’s hear the artist formerly known as the The Artist Formerly Known As Prince” -- or maybe not). They use a new generation of voice recognition technology. The graphics are pretty nice too.
Automakers are desperate to sell product. Within the last few days, Chrysler has promised to lock gasoline prices to $2.99 a gallon and Volkswagen has announced that it will put $1,500 toward a college fund.
Considering that Californians are paying about $4 a gallon, the Chrysler scheme might seem tempting at first. The deal applies to various Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep models (though not the gas-guzzling ones). Buy one of them new and the company will supply a credit card to use at the pump. The customer pays $2.99 a gallon, with Chrysler settling up the remainder. However, this has a cap of 12,000 miles a year for three years, and a customer cannot take advantage of other incentives.
If a driver did 12,000 miles a year and got an average of 20 miles per gallon, he or she would use 600 gallons. Let’s call the Chrysler deal $3 a pop against the current $4 at the pumps. So that’s a saving of $600 a year, $1,800 over three years (no doubt more as the price of crude oil rises, but by how much is an unknown quantity). Hold that figure for a while.
Someone with youngsters might well fancy an all-new, seven-seater VW Routan. It seems like a nice, practical family vehicle. That someone might also be looking to the future and wondering how to fund a college education for his or her pride and joy. Right now, Volkswagen will leap in with a check for $1,500 toward tuition fees.
So then, that's $1,800 from Chrysler, $1,500 from VW. The way things are at the moment, anyone who walks into a showroom could probably get more off the price of a new car just by gentle negotiation. And regarding the first deal, it might be a smarter course of action to purchase a more fuel-efficient car. This would provide financial benefit throughout its whole operational life, not just the first three years. Just remember: It’s a buyer’s market.
As Los Angeles Times blog editor I don't always sit in my big fancy chair and bark out orders to people. Sometimes I get sent on assignment too. Last week I was invited to blog for both L.A. Now and Soundboard as we covered Coachella as well as we possibly could. Simultaneously I had a friend who was flying in from Canada to see the three-day festival in the desert. I asked our senior producer for autos, Joni Gray, what car I should rent to wow my visitor, because I have a '94 Nissan Sentra that would impress nobody.
"Rent?" Joni said. "How about reviewing a car for Up to Speed!"
I gladly accepted her generous offer and she went through a list of possible cars. "How about this great BMW?" she asked. I cut her off. Beemer? When I pumped gas at an all-full-serve station in Beverly Hills we had a joke about BMW drivers, comparing them to porcupines. The punch line was that porcupines had pricks on the outside.
"Jaguar?" Joni suggested. Do I look like an old lady on the way to Nordstrom? I asked.
I reminded her: desert, rock music, Prince was gonna play, twentysomething Canadian single female....
"Nissan 350Z convertible," Joni gasped. And we were in agreement.
If you happen to have $109,000 burning a hole in your pocket and are eager to buy a zero-emission, all-electric sports car, then you should go to the intersection of Santa Monica and Sepulveda boulevards (just near the 405) and walk into Tesla’s new dealership. Although calling it a dealership makes it sound like a run-of-the-mill car showroom. This is more like a retail outlet.
The store — owned and run by Tesla and covering 10,000 square feet — has gabled wooden ceilings and salaried (not commission-earning) staff. Owners can drink coffee and enjoy free Wi-Fi while enjoying a full view of the service bay. The decor looks as if it was designed by someone who usually does upscale restaurants. On one wall is a selection of colors the car comes in. The Tesla Roadster runs on a pack of lithium-ion batteries that takes four hours for a full recharge. There was some trouble regarding transmissions, but the company has settled on a one-speed version. After the order is placed, it’s about a 16-month wait until the keys are handed over. And George Clooney will be one of the first to take delivery. Not because he’s famous, but because he put in his order quite awhile back. So far, Tesla has about 1,000 orders.
The showroom is open from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays.
It's been in the works for years, but the Harley-Davidson Museum is finally set to throw its doors open to the public with a grand opening celebration July 12. Planned festivities include a custom bike build, a tattoo artist, live music and dining at the museum's restaurant and cafe.
More than 450 motorcycles will be on display at the new 130,000-square-foot museum, which sits on 20 acres in Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley. While the motorcycles Harley-Davidson has manufactured in its 105 years are the main draw, the culture of Harley-Davidson will also be brought to life with photos, videos, clothing and never-before-seen archival documents. The Harley-Davidson Museum is located at 400 W. Canal St., Milwaukee. Tickets for the grand opening go on sale May 20 at www.h-dmuseum.com/tickets. You can also watch the museum being built on Harley's live webcam, complete with time lapse photography.
When most people buy a convertible, they expect to get a tan and some fresh air but not necessarily a deeper understanding of herring. But then again, most people don’t buy the 15 millionth Volvo.
That’s what happened to a San Diego couple who saw the Uddevalla-made 2008 Volvo C70 coupe-cabriolet (with the folding metal roof), became smitten and decided to get out their checkbook.
This situation is a bit like that of the lucky kid who downloaded the billionth song off iTunes. They just happened to buy the 15 millionth Volvo car ever made. And this one had a special treat in its glove box: two tickets to Sweden — airfare, hotels, a visit to Gothenburg (Volvo’s hometown) and a tour of the factory, which no doubt includes some kind of smorgasbord for lunch.
Coincidentally enough, the very first Volvo, produced in April 1927, was also an open-top model: the ÖV4 (ÖV is Swedish for "open car" and the digit denotes the number of cylinders the engine has). As they fly over England, our lucky San Diegans will probably be giving thanks for not buying a Jaguar and winning a trip to that industrial blight known as the Midlands.
Forty years ago, the Shelby GT500KR — a more powerful and capable version of Ford’s Mustang — came out. In celebration of this anniversary, Shelby will make a limited run of a new model, the 2008 Shelby Ford GT500KR. Incorporated in its look are several design nods to the original, such as Le Mans-style stripes and a sculpted hood.
Under that hood is a 5.4-liter V-8 engine sending 540 horsepower to the rear wheels via a six-speed, short-throw manual transmission. Which sounds like a lot of fun.
Less amusing will be the price. Ford is "suggesting" a sticker price of $79,995. But limited-run cars typically see dealers charging a premium over the sticker amount. One has been seen on EBay going for $169,000, and the first car off the line was presold at a Barrett-Jackson auction in January for $550,000.
To commemorate the big four-oh, 1,000 examples constitute the 2008 run, while a further 746 (571 of which are destined for the U.S.) will be made for the 2009 model year. Incidentally, KR stands for "King of the Road" — which might have sounded cool in a naive way back in 1968 but seems to have attained a certain cheesiness with the passage of time. The car should be available this month.
The guys can’t help it. That’s the finding from a study into the tendency of young male drivers to take risks. This academic review is called: ‘Sex Differences in Driving and Insurance Risk' and it was carried out by a Professor Geoff Beattie, the Dean of Psychological Studies at the University of Manchester, in the U.K. Yes, these figures come from across the pond, but young men are more or less the same the world over.
Professor Beattie says: “Much of the circuitry of the human brain evolved to meet the requirements of societies and cultures very different from our own, those of the hunter gatherer that existed for over 99% of our evolution as a species. Our 21st century skulls contain essentially ‘stone-age’ brains, and this can help to explain the differences between the sexes in terms of their risk-proneness while driving.”
This ‘cavemen in cars’ study was prepared for Esure, the insurance company. An Esure spokesman adds: “There has been very little broad thinking about why young men suffer so much worse accident and conviction rates. This report makes a clear point -- it is not just about skills or enforcement, it’s about teaching young men in particular to overcome natural instincts that have evolved to enjoy speed, danger, risk taking and showing off. It was fine for cavemen but not for the modern car driver. This is a serious point that hasn’t received nearly enough study or attention by policymakers.”
So that’s where they’ve been going wrong. They drive sophisticated vehicles around with misplaced confidence when, in their heads, they’ve only just invented the wheel. Curse that testosterone.
Oh dear. The Toyota Camry/Honda Accord stranglehold on the mid-size sedan segment might soon be broken. Those cars are going to get some serious competition in the form of the 2009 Mazda6. This is an all-new model, bigger and with more interior space than the car it replaces, plus more powerful engines. The smallest, a new 2.5-liter four-potter, joins the tried-and-trusted 3.7-liter V6 found in the company’s award-winning CX-9 SUV.
On sale later this summer, the new Mazda6 (which is the third consecutive Mazda be to be designed and engineered specifically for North America) will be available as a four-door sedan exclusively, with three trim levels: Sport, Touring and Grand Touring. No prices have been set yet, but a 2008 Mazda6 starts at $18,990. Since the market is ultra-competitive right now, don’t expect much of a deviation from there. The last model was pretty good to drive, so this one should be even better.
The most powerful engine General Motors has ever made is the 6.2-liter supercharged V-8 that will be under the hood of the 2009 Corvette ZR1. Its output is officially rated at 638 horsepower. After three, everyone... one, two, three -- woohoo!
That’s a heck of a lot of muscle, but then the Corvette is a heck of a lot of muscle car, said to be equally at home on the street or the track, refined yet tough. It goes on sale this summer, so look for the models with the polycarbonate window in the hood that shows off the supercharger. And should a prospective ZR1 buyer suffer a pang of conscience, GM states that its engineers are confident that this will be the most fuel-efficient 600-plus horsepower car on the market (although the competition probably won’t be that stiff).
Just to give an idea of what that kind of power is capable of, GM took the ZR1 to a high-speed track in Germany where it reached 208 mph, averaging 205 mph after taking into account runs in the opposite direction. Here’s the video. Enjoy.
-- Colin Ryan
Photo: General Motors
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About the Blogger
Our Bloggers
Dan Neil is a Los Angeles Times Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist who writes the weekly column, Rumble Seat.
Ken Bensinger is a Los Angeles Times staff writer who covers the automotive industry.
Martin Zimmerman is a Los Angeles Times staff writer who covers the automotive and finance industries.
Joni Gray is a Los Angeles Times staff writer who covers the automotive industry.
Whitney Friedlander is a Los Angeles Times staff writer who writes for both Autos and Travel section blogs.
Colin Ryan is a freelance writer who covers the automotive industry.
Without exception, car makers like to sell their wares by using the phrase: “fun to drive.” Yet behind the scenes, a lot of them are working on turning the driver into a passenger behind the wheel.
What is the most radical, craziest, looniest suggestion yet to deal with America's gasoline crisis? Lower the national speed limit to 55 mph, an idea so subversive that the well-known socialist Richard Nixon imposed it on the U.S. in 1974, during the first oil shocks. The federal government's power to regulate speed limits, before and after, the purview of the states, was rescinded in 1995. But it's perfectly legal and plausible. So I say bring back the double nickels. I observe this because, recently, I drove a Saturn Astra with an instantaneous fuel economy readout. At 55 mph, the car achieved above 33 mpg. Above 75 mph it achieved around 23 mpg, a 29 percent reduction in fuel economy. Now, there are many considerations here: national productivity, the cost of transitioning to lower limits, the potential safety issues caused by a sudden rise is highway speed differentials -- between compliant drivers and the non-compliant.
As Los Angeles Times blog editor I don't always sit in my big fancy chair and bark out orders to people. Sometimes I get sent on assignment too. Last week I was invited to blog for both L.A. Now and Soundboard as we covered Coachella as well as we possibly could. Simultaneously I had a friend who was flying in from Canada to see the three-day festival in the desert. I asked our senior producer for autos, Joni Gray, what car I should rent to wow my visitor, because I have a '94 Nissan Sentra that would impress nobody.
