Photoblog: The 2005 Woodward Dream Cruise

Dream Cruise Signs

Today was the famous Woodward Dream Cruise, a gigantic gathering of people who like cars, and who like to drive their cars slowly up and down Woodward Ave, while looking at other people who are doing the same thing.

It is pretty lame, actually, if you live near Woodward. Traffic becomes increasingly heavy the week before the cruise, and for the entire weekend, Woodward is impassable. I made peace with this, however, and decided to go to Birmingham and take some photos.


Raining Hard...

The Dream Cruise was cursed with heavy rains for the first half of the day. As late as 4:00, it was still raining steadily, and quite a few drivers bailed out early.


Birmingham Theater Area



Fords in Birmingham


Ford Motor takes over downtown Birmingham

Ford set up a large area in the downtown Birmingham park, where a large number of old Fords were on display, as well as new products. There were many Mustangs, old and new, as you might expect. There was also a strong Saleen presence, and lots of Shelby related displays.


1967 Mercury Cougar

I am not sure exactly what this is, I think it is a 2006 Focus ST. It is not much different from the 2005, that I can tell, except that Ford added a very agressive loooking front fascia, probably cribbed from the outgoing European model.


2006 Focus ZX4 ST (?)


Mobility Mustang GT--This car had a spinner knob on the steering wheel, and hand controls for the throttle and brakes.


2007 Shelby Cobra


2007 Shelby Cobra Engine


Shelby Concept Car


Saleen Mustang GT

Saleen was suprisingly well represented at the Ford area. There were numerous variations of the Saleen Mustang, as well as a S7 and a Focus.


Saleen Focus


GT40--An original example



A Bigfoot was parked by the Birmingham Police HQ.

After an over-dose of Ford corporate stuff, I decided to walk down Old Woodward to see the non-sponsored cars.


Pair of Edsels


Pair of Bentleys


Austin Healey Club


Cobra (Replica) Alley--Most "Shelby AC Cobras" that you see are replicas. Real ones are rare and very expensive.


Lincoln V12


1962 Chrysler LeBaron


Lebaron Interior


Cadillac LaSalle



Pontiac "Spirit of Daytona" race car, designed to race in the rain.


Interior of the Pontac Daytona race car


Pontiac Daytona race car engine

After walking for a while south on Old Woodward, I found myself in the Chevrolet display area. GM was showing off a collection of race cars (NASCAR, etc.) but most of these were covered with tarps after the rain. The Chevrolet product lineup was there, unlocked, and people were crawling around the vehicles. Product "models" were on hand to answer any questions about the cars, such as "Does this V8 Impala have front wheel drive?". (It wasn't me).


Chevrolet HHR. The HHR doesn't have much to see under the hood, but it does have lots of room inside and a nice interior for the price. I'm not excited by the retro styling, but overall, it seems to be a nice package. You can order one with a 5 speed manual transmission, which is a big plus in my opinion.


Impala SS with 5.3L V8 (but front wheel drive). I 'm not sure what I think about the new Impala. It has a crisp, clean design, but it is bland.


Impala SS interior


Monte Carlo--GM tried to sharpen the lines of the new Monte Carlo. It is less ugly than the previous model, but not less bland.


Woodward view, southbound, near the Chevrolet area

Leaving the Chevrolet area, I walked to the next light and crossed Woodward, near Borders Books.


Old School Cruising


Crossing Woodward


Pickup Hoops (heh)


Porsche Carrera GT. This was parked near an exotic car dealership, and it was attracting a lot of attention.


Segway. This guy was also attracting a lot of attention, but not in a positive way, I think.



Saleen S7. Not content with displaying in the Ford area, Saleen also had a display area set up on Woodward ave., showing an S7.


Saleen S7 cockpit


Update: I saw this guy the day after the Dream Cruise. Note the 9/11 Mural on the underside of his hood. He also had scissor doors, a DVD system with subwoofer, and the obligatory cold air intake.


Noble M12. The importer of the Noble M12 was on Woodward on the northbound side. The M12 is a small volume car built in South Africa, but sold here as a kit car to avoid OBD and crash regs. It is powered by a modified Ford 3.0L V6, with twin turbos, and claims 352HP.


Noble M12 cockpit


DeTomaso Pantera Club. I was not aware of the story of the Pantera, but one of the owners was nice enough to tell me about it. This amazing looking car was built for Ford, and was powered by Ford 351 Mustang engines. Only a small number were imported, and they are quite collectible, but not as prized as other Italian exotics.


Pantera Interior


"Modified" Hyundai (heh). I'm sure the blue plug wires are worth at least 10HP.


"Modified" Hyundai.


Her sign says "Burn it out" on the other side.


SmartCar. There were a small parade of these at the Dream Cruise. I am not sure if they were there from Daimler, or were Canadians mocking us.


Old firetruck


Tricked out 300, with scissor doors, spinners, DVD, etc.


Elvis and Marylin together?

Flogged A Fusion

I had the chance to drive a Ford Fusion today. Ford invited me (as a potential customer, not as a blogger) to come to the Detroit edition of the Ford Racing Technology Tour, which is a Nascar themed marketing event, intended to show off the new Ford products to the Nascar crowd.

The Detroit edition was held in the ample parking lot of the Pontiac Silverdome, former home of the Detroit Lions, now home to monster truck races.

Ford set up several short autocross style tracks where one could test drive a Fusion, Mustang, F-150, 500, or Freestyle. The 2006 Explorer ("Audi-face") had a course which featured several large piles of dirt, which had been trucked to the parking lot to form obstacles, on which one could test out the vehicle's off-road capabilities.

I skipped the lower-rank Nascar driver autographs that were available, such as Jon Wood (Clorox/Wisk #47), and the pack-the-Freestyle-with-stuff challenge, and went straight to the Fusion autocross. After getting my ID tag punched (only one ride per vehicle per customer), I strapped into the seat of a red V6 Fusion, with a cute blonde in the passenger seat, wearing a black and red Champ Car uniform. The Mustang, Fusion, and Explorer rides had a Champ Car person in the passenger seat, for safety, The F-150, 500, and Freestyle were solo rides.

My co-pilot told me she was a driver, so I asked to to watch me drive and give me pointers when we were done. After easing around the first turn, I went WOT and tore around the track as fast as I could, squealing tires most of the way. I don't think I ever broke 35MPH, because of the windy design of the course, but I didn't look at the speedometer, so I'm not sure.

I tried to do a good job of it, using some trail braking, tipping back in at apex, and keeping as tight a line as I could. After about 1 minute of fun, I ran out of track. Champ Car girl wasn't impressed--"You really want to use a 9:00 and 3:00 hold on the steering wheel", she said, bored. "You will have much better control if you need to make a correction". She was right.

The Fusion was not a bad ride. It was quiet. It had nicely weighted steering, good linear brake feel, and fairly crisp dynamics. There was some body roll, but not an excessive amount. I have driven the Mazda6, which is the platform-mate of the Fusion, and the Fusion is not as tight. When I hit hard corners, handling seemed very neutral, and I never really went into over-steer or under-steer, though I was usually making the tires shriek.

I was not overly impressed by the power. There didn't seem to be a lot of torque, at the lower speeds of the autocross, so I never felt like I was getting a lot of acceleration. Maybe the transmission was shifting up into too high a gear for the activity. The tires were howling, but I didn't feel that I was driving that fast.

These are just quick impressions, though, based on about 1 minute of hard driving at low speeds with tight turns. Overall, my impression of the Fusion was that it was solid, comfortable, and fun, but not as fun as a Mazda6.

The 500 was actually fairly entertaining to race around the autocross track. It has more body roll than the Fusion, which is emphasized by its tall stance. I drove an AWD/CVT version, which allowed me to spool the engine up to near redline very quickly. Taking the corners at speed was fun: when the tires started to shriek, the car actually seemed to want to oversteer, and I could feel the car moving sideways a little bit, as the AWD probably kicked in.

The Mustang was very nice, but the track was much too short. After the starting straightaway, where you could get a nice chirp on the 1-2 shift, there really wasn't room to go fast, just lots of tight turns. The Mustang was much more tightly glued down than the Fusion, of course.

The Explorer ride was nothing special, just a slow crawl up a few piles of dirt. Not my bag.

There were a number of interesting cars on display. Several Nascar cars, including a cut-away model showing the inner structure of the car. The star of the Nascar area was the Fusion car, which of course is exactly the same shape as the Taurus, but has different graphics. There was also a Focus rally car. A number of modified Mustangs were on display, Roush and other tuners. There was a Ford GT, which was unlocked, and visitors were welcome to sit in the car and fondle the interior. Which I did.

I should have some digital photos to post from the event soon, taken by one of the employees at the event.

Smart Cars Mistaken For Food

An amusing story from the U.K.: visitors to a safari park driving Smart cars have been stalked by the lions. From The Scotsman:

Hair-raising accounts have emerged of the tiny two-seater vehicle, designed for nipping into tight parking spaces on congested city streets, becoming the automotive prey of choice for lions at the Knowsley Safari Park in Merseyside.

While larger, more substantial vehicles visiting the park barely raise an eyebrow among the safari's pride of lions, those touring in Smart cars are routinely chased by aggressive lionesses.

Animal experts point out that the vehicle is of a similar size to the lions' principal prey - antelope, gazelle and wildebeest.

Last year, one couple visiting the park in their Smart vehicle attracted unwanted attention; when lions approached their car, the driver sped up, then watched with mounting horror as three or four lions began pelting after him.
...

Yesterday, Mr Ross said: "The lions are used to seeing saloons and family cars, but they had never seen a Smart before.

"They are also likely to want to play with it. The Smart car is obviously much smaller than other cars and so the lions take more of an interest in it."

I wonder if they try to mate with Jaguars?

Maybe Americans are onto something, driving larger vehicles.

Culture Shock For Gisela Zetsche

Dieter Zetche's wife, Gisela, is in legal trouble in Bloomfield Township, MI. She hosted some parties where teenagers were served beer, like in Germany. The police found out, and she has a court date on September 13th, charged with a misdemeanor for hosting an open house party, punishable by a $500 fine or 90 days in jail. The punishment is a relative slap on the wrist, and she may even get out of it with some kind of community service agreement. Maybe a public service announcement.

The description of the bust reads rather comically (to me). I imagine drunk suburban rich kids diving for the bushes while the cops are pounding on the front door.

At the latest party in June, attended by 100 youths, Gisela Zetsche was present but her husband was not, witnesses said. Police responding to a complaint charged her with allowing minors to drink alcohol.

...

At 11:56 p.m., a neighbor called the township police to complain about the noise and that minors were drinking and tossing things at passing cars. Two officers arrived at 12:37 a.m., later saying they could smell the alcohol from the roadway 50 yards away.

"The cops are coming," a youth yelled when the two officers walked into the back yard. Most of the teens ran into the house, up the stairs and out the front door. They left behind a dozen cars, including a 2005 Saab, 2004 BMW and 2005 Volkswagen Jetta.

The officers stopped 30 kids and found 10 others hiding in closets throughout the 5,100-square-foot home. Two others were caught trying to drive away.
...

The police administered Breathalyzer tests to the 42 youths, and half were found to be drinking. The 14 boys and seven girls were charged with minor in possession of alcohol, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $500 fine and 90 days in jail.

Detroit News article here.

Zeta Coming (Again)

According to the Detroit Free Press, GM is planning large rear wheel drive cars for Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Buick, likely including the long awaited return of the Camaro, code named Zeta. (Sounds familiar, no?)

The first of these big new cars will go on sale in mid-2006 as the Holden VE Commodore sedan in Australia.

...

A concept vehicle showing what one of the U.S. production cars -- perhaps with a Camaro nameplate -- will look like could be shown as early as 2006, according to a source familiar with the program. The cars should go on sale in the United States in 2008 or 2009. It's not clear which of GM's U.S. brands will get a Zeta model first.

This is good news, but I do have one comment. If the US cars are slated for 2008 or 2009MY production, in this business, it means that the vehicles are only in their early planning and prototype stages now. Which means that GM only recently decided what it was going to do.

What took so long? Why all the flip-flopping?

New MPH Magasine Web Site

The car magazine MPH (web edition edited by ex Autoblog writer David Thomas, and new employer of C&D's Daniel Pund) has re-launched its web site, and apparently is trying to become a more serious source for auto news and opinion.

It would help if they would lay off the T&A displays, for those of us who may be surfing from work now and then. Nothing like having your boss walk by your desk and see a barely dressed girl flashing on your monitor.

MPH will be hosting a blog, in addition to the more traditional car mag features, such as car reviews and spy shots.

Detroit Free Press Pans Hybrid Toyota Highlander

The Detroit Free Press' Mark Phelan has rated the Toyota Highlander Hybrid "not good enough".

"Oh yeah. They're all like that."

That's how a Toyota spokesman responded when I pointed out loose, poorly fitted pieces in the company's high-profile, high-tech and high-priced Highlander gas-electric hybrid SUV.

In addition to poor fitting interior trim, which is usually unheard of for Toyota, Phelan criticizes the cheap fabric seat covering, which is not appropriate for a vehicle with a $37,000 price. He was also unimpressed with his fuel economy, of only 20.6MPG, compared to the EPA rating of 27/31. The electric power steering felt numb.

All in all, while the Highlander hybrid does offer good performance and some fuel savings, those benefits are not great enough to outpace competitive SUVs like the TrailBlazer, Nissan Pathfinder and the Ford Escape hybrid or overcome the fit and finish defects in the one I tested.

You can read the whole review here.

The Ugliest Mustang Ever

Ford has built a limited run of New York Yankees edition Mustangs. They are white with blue pinstripes and giant Yankees logos.

They look awful. I hate the pinstripes, which are vertical on the sides of the car and completely clash with the lines of the body.

See a low-res TV commercial here, courtesy of MuscularMustangs.com.

Update: MyFordDreams has a much better picture.

Solstice Spotting

I went out for a walk in my neighborhood, and I spy a brand new Pontiac Solstice nestled in next to the neighbor's Chevy Malibu. It was most likely a GM exec car, as it did not have a manufacturer plate (??M ???) or a dealer plate.









The car is gorgeous.

Will it save GM? No, not on its own. But if GM keeps building cars with this much sex appeal, GM will save itself.

Sherlock Strikes Back [Blogging]

One of the posters at the leftie blog Daily Kos hotlinked to an image created and posted by Joe Scherlock. Since Kos has a large number of readers, Kos was in effect stealing bandwidth from Joe.

Joe retaliated, in hilarious fashion. Check it out here.

Ford: Toyota Undermining Hybrid Production

In today's Detroit News, a report that Ford is claiming that suppliers which are part owned by Toyota are unable to sufficiently increase production of hybrid parts, such as the Aisin planetary transmission in the Escape HEV.

Ford suspects it may be getting squeezed out by its Japanese rivals. With the fall launch of the gas-electric Mercury Mariner, Ford is tripling its hybrid SUV lineup over three years. But its transmission supplier, Aisin Seiki Co. Ltd., can boost deliveries by only 20 percent, to 24,000 transmissions annually.

"Aisin, which is minority-controlled by Toyota, has interesting shareholders they have to answer to," said Mary Ann Wright, director of Ford's hybrid programs research and advanced engineering.

I am surprised by the blatant hammering of Aisin in the public press. These are heavy handed tactics. What does Ford expect--that a Toyota supplier, which is probably much better treated by Toyota than by Ford, would choose to give more business to Ford over Toyota? If Aisin has limited capacity, wouldn't they give the business to their best customer?

This may be a ploy by Ford to deflect criticism from the Greenies that it is not producing enough hybrids.

Also, given that the profit margins on hybrids tend to be negative, does Ford really want to dramatically increase production?

Torres baby born, Susan Torres RIP [Culture]

Yesterday, Susan Anne Catherine Torres was born via cesarian section, 2 months premature. Today, Susan Torres, the brain-dead mom who was serving as an incubator, was disconnected from life support and died.



Welcome, baby Torres, and RIP Susan. I am sure that Susan Torres' soul is elated at her accomplishment. Her brain may have been dead, but her body fought to the end, sustained her babies life, and somehow remained alive, despite being attacked by cancer.

The Torres family has racked up huge medical bills to achieve this. If you can help, please visit http://www.susantorresfund.org

Italian Traffic Movie [Humor]

Heh. Some of the funniest scenes are the "un-PC" ones, like the handicapped parking, or the dog that get squashed because the driver didn't swerve.

http://windward.nodalpoint.net/doc/media/liikenne.swf

(HT: Autoblog)

Ford Ditches Mathers

Ford was, according to a Detroit News item, approached by representatives of rapper Eminem (Marshal Mathers), asking for a hot new vehicle for a rap video. At first, Ford was going to give them pre-production Fusions, but then they figured out that Mather's rap is not exactly family oriented music.

Ford: Eminem lyrics too shady

The Detroit News

Ford Motor Co. marketers were thrilled two months ago after being approached by representatives of Detroit superstar Eminem. For his next music video, the rapper wanted a hot vehicle not yet on the market, Ford says. The automaker offered its upcoming Ford Fusion midsize sedan and Eminem's people agreed. Boom! Instant street cred for a key new vehicle. But Ford marketers cringed when they saw the title of Eminem's new single: "Ass Like That." And when they read the lyrics -- essentially middle school locker humor that rhymes -- the fledgling alliance with Slim Shady crumbled. "It wasn't any problem with Eminem," said Ford spokesman Jon Harmon. "It was just that the song was over the top. It just wasn't Ford." An Emimen spokesman said he wasn't aware of any dealings with Ford.

Good move on Ford's part--the kids who value "street cred" don't have money to buy new cars. The Fusion is not supposed to be a Scion--it is supposed to be Ford's bread-and-butter family sedan. Leave songs like "Ass Like That" to Chrysler's marketing group, which revels in a lack of taste. (Remember "Concorde", or "Size Does Matter"?)

Australian Beer Ad [Humor]

Biggest. Beer. Ad. Ever.

Here.

(HT: Trollhattan Saab)

Ford Sells Ranger EV's

Unlike GM, which responded to environmentalist protestors with a single digit salute, (some were even arrested) when they demanded the right to buy off-lease EV-1's, Ford has decided to allow people to purchase the remaining 200 Ranger EV's. LA Times article here.

It is a minor, and mostly symbolic gesture, in an attempt to curry favor with the Greenies. It is good public relations, on Ford's part, and it won't cost Ford much money, but I doubt it will generate any lasting goodwill from the likes of the Rainforest Action Network or the Blue Water Network.

The RAN publicly accuses Ford of intentionally "underproducing" hybrids, to slow down the development of the hybrid market. The BWN is currently lambasting Volvo for selling SUV's. It would rather have Volvo go out of business, than do they best they can.

That's the real goal.

UAW's Viagra Benefit

I heard an amazing thing today, driving in to work. WJR's (AM760) Paul W. Smith was interviewing The Car Connection's Paul Eisenstein. According to Eisenstein, who has it from a reliable source, GM spends about $15,000,000 a year providing Viagra to its active and retired healthcare beneficiaries.

[Insert your own bad puns here]

When the ship is in danger of sinking, I think it is wise to give up on medical treatments which are in the cosmetic or "quality of life" category. Let the retirees pay for their own Viagra.

Baby Mirror Safety

We have friends who have a baby, and along with the rear facing car seat, mounted in the rear seat of the car, they use one of those little mirrors so they can watch the baby without having to crawl back into the back seat.



Recently, the mom went to a free carseat clinic put on by the local police department. After checking the car seat installation, the officer told her that baby mirrors are a safety hazard. In a crash, the mirror could detach and become projectile, hitting the baby or the other passengers of the car. Instead, he told her, "If you want to check the baby, have someone ride in back, or just pull over. If you are looking at the baby mirror, you aren't looking at the road".

This is an excellent point, and one that I did not think of before.

If you do want a baby mirror, I would consider a hard-mount, maybe by screwing the base onto the rear pillar, or bolting it down through the rear deck.

The Jaguar Daimler

Jaguar owns the rights to the Daimler name. According to the Detroit News, Jaguar is going to build a car in the $100,000 range, placed above its current high end car, the XJR. They may call it the Daimler.

I have two questions.

First, why does Jaguar think they will make money in this market, when VW (Phaeton), Mercedes (Maybach), and BMW (Rolls Royce) are struggling? Will they be able to add enough value and cachet to their current platform, to make it desirable, while at the same time keeping things common enough that costs will be low?

Second, does Jaguar think that U.S. consumers, even high-end ones, will keep the Jaguar Daimler brand separate from the DaimlerChrysler corporate name? Shouldn't Jaguar be worrying about fixing the Jaguar name, first and foremost? They are bleeding money.

Do You Use Engine Braking?

Autoguy has finally joined civilization, and taken up the art of manual gear selection.

Ben Kraal argues that "gears are for going, brakes are for stopping", and advises against engine braking.

A question for my fellow gear rowers:

Do you use engine braking to help you slow down, by keeping the car in gear and just stepping on the brake, waiting to clutch-in until the RPMs drop to near the stall point?

Or do you always clutch-in at the start of braking, and use only the brakes to stop?

Or, do you drive like a "race car driver", and downshift before braking, to maximize engine braking? And, I believe, maximize clutch wear!

In my experience, there is less braking effort required if you use technique #1 above, and I suspect less brake wear. If you rely only on "foot" braking when driving downhill, you will boil your fluid, and have little braking power at all.

Some people claim that keeping the engine in gear will put additional stress on the drivetrain. I don't see how this is so, but then again, I'm an electrical engineer.

Carnival of Cars #3

AutoMuse has done the honors, this time, and posted Carnival of Cars 7-11 (#3).

Amazon.com Selling Car Stuff

Amazon.com has started an online store devoted to automotive goods. They are building a large index of various parts, accessories, and tools. You can't order a new engine yet, for your El Camino, but you can order a set of floor mats. Or a carbon fiber faux spoiler wing, for your 1987 Cavalier.

The Mazda5: Automotive Origami

My local Mazda dealer is showing off a 2006 Mazda5, ahead of the official August roll-out. I stopped in today to take a look at it, and I was blown away.

The Mazda5 is somewhere in between tall wagon and minivan. You might call it a "microvan", except that it is not that much smaller than the MPV minivan. Like a minivan, it has third row seats, and sliding rear doors. Unlike a minivan, you can get it with a manual transmission (yes!!!).


Image from Edmunds.com

I wasn't able to test drive the car, but I did crawl around it a bit, and here are some quick impressions:

The overall length of the vehicle is about the same as a Mazda6. It is much taller, though, and is within a few inches in height of the MPV.

It has an attractive wedge shaped design, which makes it look more like a tall wagon than a minivan. The wheels are proportionally large, and pushed towards the corners, for relatively low overhangs. The rear of the vehicle has a slightly down-sloping roofline, which combined with a up-swept beltline, and a rounded tailgate, gives it a more wagon-like rear.


Image from Edmunds.com

Sitting in the driver seat, you are sitting fairly high, but not perched on captains chairs like in a minivan. The seating position is closer to a Mazda3 or Ford Focus. The shifter is located on a pod coming out of the dash, rather than on the floor, which is a good place for it--it is within easy reach, and you get some space open on the floor. If you opt for the DVD nav system, there are nav controls right next to the shifter. The ergonomics are great. A tilt/telescope steering wheel is standard.

Sitting in the second row, I was pleased that there was plenty of room for me. A critical test is the "can you sit behind yourself" test. I am 6' tall, and in many cars, I can not comfortably sit behind myself; in the Mazda5, I did not have a problem. The 2nd row seats slide forward and back and recline. They also have seat cushions that pop up, revealing a storage space. A console with cupholders folds out of the passenger side seat cushion, and can be stowed in the under-cushion storage space.

The real surprise was the third row. It actually has room for 2 adults. It isn't hard to get into, because the 2nd row seats slide and tilt forward. Once I was back there, I was less squashed than I expected, although my head was grazing the roof. The head restraints are usable, offering whiplash protection. You are forced to use them, because if you don't they annoyingly poke you in the upper back.

If you aren't using the 3rd row seats, they fold down into a flat floor, offering about 3 linear feet of space from the liftgate to the 2nd row seatbacks. Behind the 3rd row of seats, there is about a foot of space, with a covered tray under the carpet. If you fold down the 2nd row seats, you have a nearly flat floor that is about 5 feet long.

The only engine offered is the 2.3L I-4, with 157HP @6500 RPM, and 148 ft*lbs @3500 RPM. The standard transmission is a 5 speed manual (!). Given a weight of 3333lbs, it should have similar performance to the Mazda6 2.3L wagon (~3300lbs), so I would expect a 0-60 run of about 10s--I would call this underpowered. The plus side to being under-powered, however, is that the estimated fuel economy is 22 city/27 highway.

If Mazda is smart, they will offer a Mazdaspeed upgrade in the future, such as the the Mazdaspeed6 turbocharged 2.3L powerplant, yielding 270HP @5500RPM and 280 ft*lbs @3000RPM.

I suspect most of the zoom-zoom in this car will be in on the handling side--I would expect solid road feel, and good cornering, considering the Mazda3 underpinnings. The Mazda5 uses electrically powered hydraulic power steering, which is said to have a speed-sensitive boost.

Some important safety equipment is standard: 4 wheel disc brakes + ABS; side airbags and side curtains. All-wheel-drive is not available. A mistake, in my opinion.

I think the Mazda5 is going to be a hit. The packaging is fantastic, like an automotive example of origami. It is not a sports car, but should be a fun-to-drive alternative to the minivan, in a handier and more fuel efficient size.

Ford GT Refund

A British writer buys a Ford GT, one of only 28 destined for his country. He has dreamed of owning such a car since his childhood, when the GT40s beat Ferrari at LeMans.

His car arrives, and promptly starts to malfunction. The anti-theft system constantly thinks the car is stolen. The Check Engine light comes on. After numerous ineffective repairs, he gives up, and asks Ford to buy the car back, which they do.

They put £126,000 in my account and sent a man to pick up the car. "“Is it the alarm system?"” he said. "They all do that."

So there we are. A 35-year dream. A two-year wait. Ten years of damn hard work. And what do I get? The most miserable monthÂ’s motoring it is possible to imagine.

Strangely, however, as the GT rumbled down my drive for the last time, I felt like Julie Walters watching Michael Caine getting on the plane at the end of Educating Rita. I actually cried.

"They all do that?" Ouch. And Ford wonders why it is struggling in Europe. A halo car cuts both ways--nail it, and you get free buzz. Screw it up, and you screw your whole image.

(HT: Just Auto)

Pikes Peak Run on IFilm

There is a short movie of a French team's run up Pikes Peak circa 1990. Absolutely amazing stuff.

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2674471

George Orwell Was British

Lately, the Brits have been proposing all kinds of improvements for their cars. Each "improvement", however, sounds more sinister than the last. The latest news comes from the Sunday Times. A system has been developed and tested which combines a GPS nav system with a database of speed limits, and has an interface to the ABS. When you exceed the speed limit, the system slows your car down by pressing on the brakes.

The system is not being pushed as a requirement, yet. It is being proposed as a voluntary system, which would allow people to get a discount on the congestion tax.

Could you imagine buying yourself a nice sporty car, knowing that Big Nanny will step on the brakes if you drive with too much enthusiasm? Would anyone still want to buy powerful cars?

Britain Considering Carbon Rationing

According to the Telegraph, Britain is considering rationing energy useage by its citizens, and creating markets where energy misers can sell their credits to energy gluttons.

Under the scheme for "domestic tradeable quotas" (DTQs), or personal carbon allowances, presented to the Treasury this week, everyone - from the Queen to the poorest people living on state benefits - would have the same annual carbon allocation.

This would be contained electronically on a "ration card", which could be the proposed ID card or a "carbon card" based on supermarket loyalty cards.

It would have to be handed over every time a form of non-renewable energy was purchased - at the filling station, or when buying tickets for a flight - for points to be deducted.

Think about that. You like to drive, so you use up your carbon ration fuelling your Opel. Then you decide that you want to take your family on a holiday overseas. You would not only have to pay airfare, but you would first have to pop into the carbon market, and buy enough credits to pay for your jet fuel.

It would certainly have the intended effect--people would be much more careful about how much energy they use. But why not just let the real markets work? When the markets think that oil is becoming scarce, the futures prices shoot up. Eventually, things cost more, and people use less.

Global warming? 1) Not proven to be due to human activity. 2) Will Britain invade China, India, and Brazil, and force them to join the carbon market?

(HT: Captain's Quarters)

Bloglines: Cool. [Blogging]

Bloglines.com is a great free service which lets you subscribe to RSS feeds, including most blogs. If you subscribe to all of your favorite blogs, you can see at a glance which ones have new posts. You can also access your feeds and blogs from anywhere, since bloglines is a web based service, not a local RSS reader. Check it out.

Tom Cruise Worships A Space Alien [Culture]

I don't normally pay attention to what the "stars" have to say, since many of them can't think their way out of a paper bag, and few of them have any weight on any issue other than maybe their profession. I do grant that some of them do good works.

Tom Cruise is getting on my nerves. His criticism of Brooke Shields is irresponsible, because unlike your blogger, there are some people who do listen to what the idiot has to say. Tom Cruise may contribute to actual harm to another person, if that person is foolish enough to be swayed by Cruise's "arguments" against psychiatry.

Let's review the facts. Tom Cruise is a Scientologist. Scientology is a psuedo-religion, or perhaps more of a cult, which was started by a second rate science fiction writer, L. Ron Hubbard.

Scientology teaches that the universe exists because of spiritual energy, which in humans is called a Thetan. Humans have problems, diseases, and bad behaviors because Thetans are re-incarnated in different bodies, and over time accrue hurtful experiences. These hurtful experiences form bad "programs', called Engrams. If a person gets rid of his Engrams, he purifies his Thetan, and becomes happy, successfull, powerful, immortal. To get rid of your Engrams, you have to be audited by an Auditor. This is process where you are connected to a mysterious lie detector like device called an E-Meter, and asked probing questions. You are then given exercises (brain washing) to do to try to rid yourself of the Engrams.

All of this costs lots of money. If you reach the highest levels of Scientology, "Operating Thetan", you have the opportunity to learn the truth about the universe. Here it is, OT level III:

Data (1) (1)
The head of the Galactic
Confederation (76 planets around
larger stars visible from here)
(founded 95,000,000 yrs ago, very space opera)
solved overpopulation (250 billion
or so per planet) -- 178 billion
average) by mass implanting.
He caused people to be brought to
Teegeeack (Earth) and put an H Bomb
on the principal volcanoes (Incident 2)
and then the Pacific area ones
were taken in boxes to Hawaii
and the Atlantic Area ones to
Las Palmas and there "packaged."
His name was Xenu. He used
renegades. Various misleading
data by means of circuits etc.
were placed in the implants.
When through with his crime Loyal Officers
(to the people) captured him
after 6 years of battle
and put him in an electronic
mountain trap where he still
is. "They" are gone. The place (Confed.)
has since been a desert.

(Source: http://www.xenu.net/archive/OTIII-scholar/)

That's right folks. A space alien warlord named Xenu created us by "mass implanting" Thetans on earth. He also put some h-bombs in volcanos.

In short, Scientology is a mishmash of ideas from Buddhism, science fiction, hypnotism, mind control, and L. Ron Hubbard's drug induced hallucinations. It has all the characteristics of a cult: secrecy, coded language, paranoia, expensive dues, ostricism of refusers.

Scientology claims to be scientific, but Hubbard's claims, and his E-meters have not tested, peer reviewed, and debated by scientists. There is no body of Scientology research. It is all invented by Hubbard. Hubbard goes so far as to call his writings "the Tech" (the technology), as if it is a hard scientific fact. It isn't.

Psychiatry, on the other hand, has been tested, peer reviewed, debated, and evolved over many years. Try as Cruise may, he cannot make the claim that psychiatric treatment does not work--because the science is there.

Nothing Tom Cruise says about psychiatry should be given any weight whatsoever.

For lots of information about Scientology, see www.clambake.org

Activation Code [Politics]

This is a message for all field operatives of the Michigan cell of the Vast Rightwing Conspiracy.

Clambake Foxtrot Zulu Zulu. Elvis has left the building. Activate plan 173.

Arise, Vast Rightwing Conspiracy! Arise, Zionist Shadow Government! The Supreme court will soon be ours! And their little dog, too!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

(Sandra Day O'Conner is retiring. Should be entertaining.)

The JD Power 3YIS Survey

The results of JD Power's 3 years-in-service quality survey have been posted. There is some good news here for Detroit: Ford, GM, and Chrysler all have divisions that place above industry average. Ford has Ford brand, Mercury, Lincoln; GM has Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac; Chrysler has Chrysler brand.

Interestingly, the most reliable Ford car at 3YIS is the Lincoln LS/Ford Thunderbird. (The LS and T-Bird appear to be dying off, quietly)

However, there is some definite bad news here, too, on the other side of the industry average line. Ford has Mazda, Volvo, Jaguar, and second to dead last, Land Rover. GM has Saturn, the defunct Oldsmobile, GMC, Pontiac, Subaru, Saab, Daewoo, and Isuzu at worse than average. Chrysler has Dodge, Mercedes, Jeep. Mercedes is actually worse than Chrysler brand and Dodge. In fact, Mercedes is closest to Saab, with 273 and 278 defects/1000 vehicles, respectively.

Why are Ford's premium brands worse than industry average? The Premier Auto Group needs some kind of whoopin'. It is no wonder that Lexus and BMW is eating their lunch. And Mazda--Mazda is supposed to bring Japanese quality to Ford, not the other way around.

GM's domestic premium brands are doing well, but the bread and butter--Saturn and Pontiac, GMC--are not. This will continue to hurt residual values, so GM has to turn these guys around. Like Ford, GM's foreign premium brands are struggling.

Some highlights of the competition:

Hyundai is slightly worse than average, however, its cousin KIA is dead last, with 397 problems/1000 vehicles.

VW/Audi are in the bottom 20%. It is no wonder they are struggling.

surprisingly, MINI is near the bottom as well, not expected from BMW.

Nissan is mediocre.

Subaru Tribeca: Ugly?

I am on the fence. I can't make up my mind if the Subaru Tribeca is ugly, or merely uninteresting. When I look at pictures on the web, I think 'UGLY!". I saw one in person the other day, and it was merely bland.

It looks a little like a BMW X5 and some kind of Alpha Romeo had a child.


Detroit News


Detroit News

What do you think?

The "Hat Tip" [Blogging]

It has become customary among bloggers to give credit to other bloggers if they were the source of a news item or blog idea, using the "hat tip", or HT. This is good form, because it acknowledges the work of others, and also forms a web between like minded bloggers.

Sometimes, so many bloggers are looking at the same information, there is no reason to HT or link to another blogger. The articles just happened to be posted in parallel.

I would like to see more people use the Hat Tip technique, if they don't have trackback cookies (Blogger.com doesn't).

The Horror: No Cable TV!

From a recent Detroit News story about the coming benefits war between GM and the UAW:

Doris Wamsley, a 78-year-old widow in Flint, fears she'll one day have to
choose between cable television and prescription drugs.

I'm sorry but this example does not incite much pity from me. I myself don't have cable TV--I prefer to spend my money elsewhere.

There no choice between medecine and TV, and it was a really stupid example.

Another quote:

"There were smart people who saved their money -- and I was not one of them," said Sanderson, smoking a Marlboro in the living room of his tidy one-story home in the Cleveland suburb of North Ridgeville, Ohio. "It just goes back to being
stupid enough to believe we were going to get all the stuff we were promised."

Right! Now we are getting somewhere--how can anyone assume that things are never going to change? Just because GM promises lifetime benefits which are among the most generous in the corporate world doesn't meen you can count on them.

Any more than you can count on Social Security for your retirement. That's why I have a 401(k).

Don't get me wrong. I don't want to see widescale impoverishment of our aged retirees. However, the retired population is the most affluent segment, as a whole. And the economic destruction that will occur if GM goes under will be much more painful than adjustments to benefits now.

Keep Kicking, LIttle One [Culture]

Susan Torres was a 26 year old pregnant wife and mother, who collapsed on May 7th, 2005. At the hospital, it was discovered that she had advanced brain cancer. She was brain dead, and has no hope of recovery.

Her body is being kept alive so to save the life of her unborn child, who is at 21 weeks of gestation. The family hopes to deliver the child when it reaches 30 weeks.

More details are here: http://www.susantorresfund.org/


Susan Torres

The web site is raising money to pay the mounting medical bills. It costs about $1,500/day to keep Susan on life support, which is not covered by insurance. They take PayPal.

The 500MPG Trick

A "fact" has been swishing around the 'net for a while now. Certain greenies are promoting the idea of a 500MPG car, based a combination of 3 trendy new technologies: hybrid-electric engines, plug-in hybrid, and ethanol, all rolled into one dreamy Al Gore burrito, with some Ralph Nader sprinkled on top. From the L.A. Times:

Add in "flexible fuel" options that already allow many cars to run on a combination of petroleum and fuels like ethanol (derived from corn) and methanol (from natural gas or coal), and you could build vehicles that could get --— drum roll, please --— 500 miles per gallon of gasoline. That's not science fiction; that's achievable right now.

Set America Free estimates that if we convert entirely to flexible-fuel, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, U.S. gasoline imports in 20 years will drop by two-thirds.
... This would not only reduce the Middle East's strategic importance but also help reduce emissions to Kyoto-mandated levels.

There is a detail here, though, that many are missing: the G in MPG stands for gallon, not gasoline. You may get 500 miles per gallon of gasoline, however, you will not come close to that in miles per gallon of fuel.

When you consider the whole fuel, you see that it is not as green as promised. For one thing, ethanol requires a great deal of energy to produce. Much of that energy comes from (drumroll...) gasoline and diesel fuel. Fuel for the tractors. Fuel for refining and pumping. Energy to make the fertilizer.

If ethanol was cheaper than dinosaur juice, we would be using more of it. But Congress has to pay farmers to produce it, and require its use by law--because ethanol is more expensive to produce than gasoline. If the market was allowed to work, ethanol would go extinct.

Methanol is derived from coal and natural gas. Where are the large deposits of natural gas? Russia, and the Arab states of the middle-east. How does using more natural gas reduce reliance on foreign energy sources? Do the greenies really want to encourage more coal mining?

Ethanol is less energy-rich than gasoline. You need to burn more of the stuff to get the same power output. Ethanol has a heating value of 11,500 BTU/lb, compared to gasoline's 18,000 BTU/lb (source: Alternative Fuels Data Center). Also, the stoichiometric mass ratio of Ethanol is 9:1 air/fuel, compared to 14.7:1 for gasoline. That means that for a given engine displacement, you need 1.6x as much ethanol as gasoline, by weight. Given an engine, and a driving cycle, you will get worse MPG running ethanol.

The other detail here is the "plug-in" part. Again, most of our electricity is generated from fossil fuels--natural gas or oil. Unless the greenies are going to agree to build lots of nuclear power plants (which I would heartily support), they are not going to reduce carbon emissions or imported energy use by much. California already has a problem generating enough power for its current needs--can you imagine what would happen if Californians had to plug their cars in to recharge every night? I have previously criticized the economics of plug-in hybrids (here).

Given a set of requirements, such as passenger capacity, crash performance, and 0-60 acceleration, a plug-in flex fuel hybrid will be dramatically more expensive than a comparable gasoline car, even at high production volumes. You have to pay for a whole parallel powertrain, including electric motors, batteries, charging transformer, etc. And the extra components will break, increasing overall maintenance costs over the vehicle lifetime.

As usual, the greenies are throwing up a (marijuana) smoke-screen by moving the emissions around. Don't be fooled. The goal of the greenies is to make personal transportation very expensive. If they wanted to reduce carbon emissions, they would be clamoring for nuclear power. If they wanted to reduce oil importation, they would approve more exploration in non-Arab states, and places like ANWR. What the greenies really want is for us to ride government controlled mass-transportation systems.

(Peter DeLorenzo at AutoExtremist does a nice job on this topic)