More info on that cool, euro Elantra Touring from the auto show: Touring Mini-site Just checking out the specs: - 24mm front & 21 mm rear swaybars - Factory B&M Short throw shifter - 140hp (yeah, it’s a Hyundai Beta engine…) - Stiffer springs & dampers (EURO, BABY!!) Might have to go drive these when they hit the dealers…sounds like a redux of the Protege5 (or the Plymouth Colt Vista for the 21st century)
Made a pilgrimage to the Cincy Auto Show on Saturday: Cincinnati Auto Show 2008 Impressions, briefly: VERY impressed with the offerings from Hyundai. They seem to fill every niche (aside from Hybrid), and the interior materials and fit/finish are great, for a good price. Particularly loving the Elantra Touring, which is a proper hatchback version of the elantra. Eminently practical, getting 30mpg. The rebirth of the car. Interest in Trucks & SUVs was nil…the crowds were all around the cars and some crossovers. “What’s the MPG?” seemed to be the question of the afternoon ...
Link Brock Yates and some other ex-C&D guys have a new home, and so far, I like it: - More terse and coherent than autoextremist.com - Profane. Gotta love some locker-room profanity when talking about cars. - Not TOO profane. - Simple, easy visuals, good RSS feeds. Are you listening EDMUNDS!? - Did I mention terse? Edmunds.com, particularly Karl Brauer, treat the internet medium as a license to blather….forever… - They review cars people might actually buy and give honest opinions based around the target audience of that car. Is a Ford Ranger awful? Compared to a Lexus, sure. As a small, effective work truck? It’s awesome, and these guys say so. ...
So, my esteemed father-in-law had a little birthday surprise of his 60th birthday of his own: A Ford 500! (Not his, obviously…) He picked-up a 1 year old Limited model (leather, the works…) at Crossroads Ford in Indiana. It had only 10k miles on it, and I got to take a test drive yesterday. It’s a very well-executed car, and a great replacement for the Crown Victoria: Tremendous interior room, comfort, and driveability. The car stops, turns, and steers like a Euro sedan; driving it, I kept thinking “Volvo” or “Audi”. I found the suspension tuning particularly impressive–not harsh at all, but very well controlled…bumps caused one well-damped motion. There was no float or wallow; the car went where it was pointed and changed directions better than it ought to given its size. ...
Carriage Ford, honey :) Whitney - Feb 1, 2008 Carriage Ford, honey :)
Wow…I’ve been underwhelmed before, but just…wow. Okay, so let’s review: I had a bout of unaccountable Car lust starting earlier this week. The Astra was the newest Euro kid on the block, all sexy and angular. So, today, I took a detour on my way to work and drove one. Walkaround: The car is handsome and substantial…it really doesn’t look like an economy car, but rather an upscale small hatch, a segment the MINI Cooper created. Doors open and close with an assuring thunk. The hatch is pure euro, complete with parcel shelf and a good-sized storage area with the seats up. The rear window is very small (but we’ll get to that…) ...
Yeah, yeah, I’m a eurosnob. Sue me. The Camry is getting on my nerves…it sure beats walking, and it gets great mileage on the highway, but I’d really like to get back into a hatchback stick with good steering. I’ve heard good things about the Mazda3, but I don’t like their looks all that much. The E30 has world-class steering, but it’s only a coupe, it gets 20mpg on a good day, and it’s loud and rides like a brick. And it’s about as safe as a car designed in 1980 with 1st gen high-explosive Airbags can be (that is, not very) ...
TCL goodness One girl told me I loved my car more than I loved her. I replied that I love my car. I don’t love you. Oy. Make a girl feels special, whydoncha?
She: Your car is a hunk of junk. Me: At least i… Jeff Roberts - Aug 2, 2007 She: Your car is a hunk of junk. Me: At least it doesn’t belong to my Daddy. Yeah, that was the beginning of the end.
I’ll take an E30-size car with 240 hp for under $30k, please, Alex :-) I think BMW finally figured-out that the 3-series was getting a little too big. Supposedly, there’s plenty of the previous gen 3-series engineering in this car (as there is in the R50/R53 MINIs). Nummy…now in about 10 years when I can afford a used one :-)
Interesting Consumer Price Index chart, from 1978 to now Basically, some items are going up much faster than inflation (Cost of college being #1) and some are flat to declining (cost of cars, televisions). I’ve got this theory that people are buying more expensive cars because of zero down, 0% interest loans that encourage them to get overextended. This leads to debt-slavery, meaning you become accustomed to always having a car payment, even though that (probably) isn’t necessary. ...
As we’re all a little down about Joey leaving for the summer, I suggested we go test-driving. Whitney’s been jonesing for minivans since Maria arrived, and I thought a test-drive of two of these behemoths would get it out of her system, or redirect her at something smaller like a Mazda5. Nope. Her current object d’amour: That’s a Sienna LE.
Let me summarize: I got asked to leave and not come back. I was asked to LEAVE A CHARITY EVENT and not return. This is not a proud story, but I’m learning to deal with it. Here goes: I got to Don Jacobs BMW around 1:15 and signed my waiver with my information (including my cell phone #). They had all sorts of BMW’s to drive, from Z4 roadsters to 3-, 5-, 6-, and 7-series cars, all with different engines and Rear- and All-wheel-drive configurations. I was in heaven. ...
Yeeeouch! Jeff Roberts - May 2, 2007 Yeeeouch! Just thought I’d let you know that you fit nicely into this morning’s devotion about how even if you only break a small part of the law, you’ve broken the whole law and thus no matter how “good” you are, we all need Jesus bc even a little sin is a sin and sinners don’t go to heaven…eg, even if the light is only a little pink, it’s still breaking the law and ….. ...
Hrm…so, when using your snazzy power bleeder from bavarian automotive, you note the following: You’re unable to get the pressure in the bleeder past 10 psi, no matter how hard you pump the cylinder. You’re hearing a strange hissing, dripping sound You peer past the master cylinder and reservoir to note the large puddle of brake fluid pooling beneath your car. Sir, you have two alternatives: (A) You just asploded your 17-year-old master cylinder by pressurizing the system past the seal tolerance ...
…is a good one :-) There’s a very vocal minority who read my blog just for the “What’s broken on his car today?” aspect. Not to disappoint: I came out of the office last Friday to see not only the usual weird-piece-hanging-down, but a whole buncha things hanging down. Looked under the car and it looked like the whole heat shield was loose. “Not a problem”, I thought. Bolt probably fell out or rusted through. Should be simple enough to fix. ...
Arr arr arr! Jeff Roberts - Apr 2, 2007 Arr arr arr!
MINIs set record 'Cause we got a mighty convoy Rockin' through the night Yeah, we got a mighty convoy Ain't she a beautiful sight C'mon and join our Convoy Ain't nothin' gonna get in our way We gonna roll this MINI convoy 'Cross the USA Convoy Convoy
link The Supreme Court has charged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with protecting us from ourselves, limiting the Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions from sources like power plants, cars and trucks, and those methane factories known as cattle. What does this mean in real terms? More expensive everything. Most of the power produced in this country is from fossil fuels, and cleaning these plants and/or implementing ‘cleaner’ solutions. Energy costs like that will ripple through our economy from top to bottom. Costs of production and OpEx for every company will rise. ...
Other titles consider: - Oh Haiiiiiil, no! - What the Hail? - Hail for certain. * * * At 3 o’clock this morning, I awoke from a dream where I was apologizing to my dead Uncle Chester for ragging on him my entire life, only to hear what sounded like large pigeons (possibly pelicans…I’m not sure) pounding against my roof. Looking outside, we quickly determined a few things. - No pigeons. - There was lightning - Our windows were all open. - My Beamer was sitting outside. ...