y.m.m.v

Tune In on the 50th

“The humble car radio is 50 years old …” so reports AutoExpress

Such events should be celebrated, so I bought a new radio for my new car … one that plays MP3s and has a “line-in” for those funky devices that keep dazzling my eyes, like Apple’s iPod.

You must know that cars get broken into more for the silly radios then anything else, except maybe the airbag.

50th anniversary of car radios, the same for Porsche Speedster and Playboy. Figures.

Cobalt Blew

“So, did you hear that GM finally revealed the new Chevy Cobalt ?”

“Yep, it looks like they stole the front off a Civic, the tail of a Neon … err Dodge Sex and then put inside some valid European Gertrag & Ecotec technology. Bastard car … hope it sells.”

2005 Chevrolet Cobalt preview at CanadianDriver.

Speed TV: WRC-athon

Yes, that’s right — ALL day on the 1st, Speed TV is playing the whole season 2003 season of WRC.

From 7:00 am est - 9:00 pm EST

Then at 9:00 pmEST — 1 hour special “The Year In Racing - World Rally Championship”

^{props to grindMARC}

Happy Winter Holidays!

Silver Safety

New Zealand scientists claim that silver coloured cars are the safest.

They did not explain why car colour has an influence but said previous research suggested that white or light-coloured cars are less likely to be involved in a crash than cars of other colours.

Really ?

Rally Pics

While reading NASOIC, I ran across pictures by Arek Mazur that are fantastic account of the NorthAm rally events. Worth more then a glimpse.

Fake Month

Jery Flint wrote an interesting article over at The Car Connection concerning the almost mythical month of December vis-à-vis car sales.

Now December is a hot month. And I can’t but wonder where all these December car buyers are coming from. Where do they get the time and the money and even the inclination in December? Don’t they have to buy Christmas presents? Don’t they have the year-end insurance bills? The house fire insurance, the insurance for the stuff, and even the medical insurance? Don’t they have the house taxes due at the first of the year? Why are they buying cars in December? It’s snowing. Who wants to buy a car when it’s freezing out there?

Long Days, Short Days

Following a long day at work yesterday, which ended with Montreal’s weather shifting from snow to rain, today’s snow-mixed-with-rain and the lack of sun has certainly made the day, well, short.

Montreal Gazette story on the cost of this first storm

Such warm-then-cold conditions are simply a feature of the city, in extreme case, leading to something like the 1998 Ice Storm.

Having gone shopping for food to replenish the fridge, I can state my favourite motto: “This is Subaru Weather”. Heck, when the city looks like this, much like our cottage road but worse due to the amount of drivers, it qualifies for the second motto: “This is Subaru Country”.

Nokian gets high marks for making the car well shod in traction grabbing WR tyres.

Going shopping in such hellish conditions is not supposed to be so much fun right ? Guess I really am a “Foul weather fiend”.

Careful when you drive though, although you may have the right equipment and controls, others may not.

Lancer WRC Drivers

My favourite tarmac driver, Frenchman Gilles Panizzi and his brother/co-pilot Herve will lead the Mitsubishi WRC attack. Gilles must have the smoothest high-speed driving I have ever witnessed, an almost telepathic steering ability and an intense level of concentration. No wasted energy.

Read SpeedArena’s full account and Gilles’ assessment of the new car.

Race-Touareg

Like former Paris-Dakar events, the name shortened “Dakar 2004” starts on New-Year’s Day. VW will contest a new-breed Race-Touareg, a technical upgrade of last year’s Tarek. VWVortex has done a great PR review job.

I’ve always said, the Dakar is one event I would love to try.

X-mas Party

Last night we had our company X-mas Party at the Jello Bar. It was an open-bar event and my recent furlough due to being sick was the only worry on my mind. Shivering due to a mild fever while drinking would have been bad, but I was actually fine.

How fine ? Well, the dry-dry-dry Martini is excellent and the staff’s attention is equal. After three glasses I tried my hand at the Segway that was brought along by our compadres at Seg!. Turns out it’s very much like a mixture of arcade game controls and basic leaning/weight-shift balance exercise. Very cool.

So, then another 4 Martini’s while dancing, some water for good measure and the night progressed. We all had taxi coupons so I had some more Martini’s. How many ? Unsure.

At 2 AM I decided it was time to head home. None of the damn Taxi wanted to take the coupons so I walked instead. 90 minutes while being a happy drunk.

This morning, 10 AM, I‘m at work. Woke up with a buzz, still in great mood. That is the way a good party should leave you.

First, eat a hardy meal two hours before going out. Then, pace yourself. Finally, dance! Drink water before going to sleep and the whole experience is worth mentioning.

But most important, forget about driving, forget about your car.

Happy Holidays folks!

Gifts for Petrolheads

Do you have a “Petrol Head” on you gifts list and unsure what to buy ?

Well, besides fuel coupons, you may wish to gift them:

• Car Design Yearbook 1: The Definitive Guide to New Concept and Production Cars Worldwide is wonderfully conceived and illustrated. This hardcover has been through my hands over-and-over. Photography is excellent and the commentary insightful. Coffee-table style and yet more.
• Car Design Yearbook 2: The Definitive Guide to New Concept and Production Cars Worldwide must assume yearly updates with the same amount of content quality. #2 sure proves that.
• Jeremy Clarkson DVD’s aren’t too well known in NorthAm, the “most opinionated Brit” car reviewer is a blast. He is obnoxious, silly, tall and cheeky. But he makes watching a car review somehow fun. BBC’s TopGear actually re-hired him, mostly due to ratings.
• Almost any DVD from Duke Video
• Drift Bible DVD by the “Drift King” Keiichi Tsuchiya and Best Motoring from Japan. Heard of drifting ? Watch this DVD, be amazed and notice how the youngsters are all-into-it at the arcades.

Who owns Who ?

It almost always turns into a fascinating story about how certain famous Automotive brands were snatched-up, hitched-up or forced to merge with their most unlikely competitors. Some brands keep changing hands.

Although New Zealand’s Car.co.NZ does an ok job of listing Who own who?, GlobalAuto.org does it better.

Bits left off the charts: Fiat owns Ferrari and Maserati.

As for Porsche, “Descendants of the founding family control Porsche”, though since 1972’s the firm stock is traded publicly and day-to-day operations are handled by “non-family” (read not Porsche-Piech). Until recently, Ferdinand Piech, the elder’s Porsche’s grand-son was the head of VAG, or Volkswagen AG. Who really knows what is behind the scenes…

20 or 35 ?

The Automobile Journalists Association of Canada “Car of the Year” competition is held each year on and around the Shannonville racetrack, near Belleville, Ontario.

And so begins the CanadianDriver article by Paul Williams that covers the Coupe/Sedans under $35K

Though this may constitute cheating, let me congratulate Mazda on their “3” series. Around Montreal, the sedan and “hatchback”/”5 door” models already abound. Visually, the sticking point on the sedan is the prominent lip of the rear bumper and for the hatchback it is the almost “Lexus RX330” clone rear-end.

But they are very nice looking overall, and given Ford’s lack of Focus, this may be the best representative car in technology and design for the Ford Conglomo.

Already a big Mazda Protege city, Montreal should be huge for the “3”.

The Mazda3 sedan was very impressive in the Economy Car category, and the Mazda3 Sport was equally impressive here. The as-tested $23,185 (base $20,185) four-door hatchback was definitely the little car that could. It uses a 2.3-litre, DOHC, four-cylinder engine that produces 160-horsepower and 151 lb.-ft of torque.

Expect the Rethink What’s Possible Mazda ads to show-up during the holidays.

Saab 9-2X

This is a picture of the 9-2X, a Subaru WRX with nose job and badged Saab. Should be in NorthAm this spring, as the car was intentionally aimed for this market. Australians are clamouring for the non-turbo model it seems.

Fair dinkum.

more pictures below (click for larger)

Smart-test Slingshot

The Chrysler Group is already mentioning cars it will present at January Detroit show.

The Slingshot is a small nimble roadster based on the Smart Roadster.

Pumpe Duse

VW has finally introduced the “Pumpe Duse” diesel engine in NorthAm. The first car to travel with this excellent injection system is the 2004 VW Jetta, but the great news is the arrival of the Passat with 2.0 l PD engine. Canadian Driver previews the Jetta TDI PD.

Pumpe Duse is a new fuel management and delivery system that places a pump injector at each individual cylinder producing a finer spray for better and more efficient combustion. Instead of a pre-combustion chamber found in most diesels, fuel is injected directly into each individual combustion chamber under terrific pressure at precisely the right moment. The PD works like an overhead cam system, using cam lobes to determine the timing and amount of the spray into each cylinder. The new system reduces heat loss, results in a quieter, cleaner engine, faster cold weather starts and improved low-end torque.

The PD system will also feature on the lighter Touareg Sport, a VW model inspired and equiped with parts from the Race-Toureg that contests the 2004 Dakar Rally. This model will generate over 200HP and even more torque from a 5 cylinder PD engine

Unconcerned with Power

Phil Bailey’s commentary on the need, or lack there-off, for hugely powered cars.

If, on the other hand, you can discover the joy of skilled driving on local roads in your regular family car, your motoring life will be much more rewarding. An expensive car is most unlikely to change the inner state of its driver, and it is certainly not going to transform our overcrowded roads into a Watkins Glen or a Circuit Mont Tremblant. Those days are long gone.

Great View

While looking to find some nice pictures of the upcoming Aston Martin DB9, to mark the brands return to racing in 2004 at Le Mans, I stumbled upon the nicest site for car lovers.

HighResAutoImages.com

Examples, such as the DB9 in question show a collection of press quality pictures.

Enjoy.

Kiwi Awards

“It is the ideal vehicle for many New Zealander’s outdoor recreational lifestyle, yet it is a practical vehicle for family and business use.”

Another Forester XT award

Whale of an Idea

ARO motor company of Romania has thought of a novel approach to save their firm: ask male employes to sell their sperm

This is very much like an Urban Myth, yet may just be true.

Scion-era

It is confirmed that Toyota’s “Youth Brand”, Scion, will introduce the new tC coupe at next January’s Detroit Auto Show and have on sale across the entire US by June.

Scion Launches All-New 2005 tC Sports Coupe At The North American International Auto Show
12/01/2003 Torrance, CA
Scion, the new marque from Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., will stage the world premier of the Scion tC sports coupe at a press conference at the 2004 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Sales of the tC, designed specifically for the U.S. market, will begin in June 2004 and will coincide with the national launch of the Scion brand. The reveal will be held on Monday, Jan. 5 at the Riverfront Ballroom in COBO Center.

It may just be this pictured car

4 sedans

^{props to Babelfish for the translation}
Japan’s BigGlobe news-site covers a comparison between four local sedans:

• Subaru 2.0 Legacy Turbo Legacy Sedan
• Mazda 2.3 L Atenza Sedan (“6” series here)
• Honda 2.4L Accord Sedan (Acura TSX here)
• Toyota 2.0L Altezza RS200 (would be Lexus IS200 here)

Most intriguing is the last page, with a mapping of a 4 axis chart for habitability, engine quality and travelling (fuel) efficiency.

5W-20

Does the oil in your new car have to be 5W20 ? Not really

So, if you put 0W30 synthetic in your car, will you be able to claim oil changes at 35,000 km or 1 year ?