y.m.m.v

Requiem for a Car

The subject of owning a 4×4 has come up, but since we don’t commute to Vermont to ski every weekend anymore and since we don’t own a winterized country house, we can’t see the use of the added complication, lower fuel mileage or higher cost. If we were going in this direction, however, a Subaru Impreza would definitely be on our list.

Phil Bailey’s about a new car is an excellent musing.

Trekka

The Trekka was the only vehicle to be designed and mass-produced in this country. It was a blend of Skoda mechanicals and a New Zealand-designed and produced steel body. Trekkas took to the roads at the start of 1967, when new cars were scarce and expensive, the result of Government regulation to boost local assembly and curb overseas spending on imports.

Car.co.nz

The New Zealand Herald

Valentine's for Guys

At this years Montreal International Car Show, I remarked to my dad how scheduling the show within days of L.A. and Detroit really robs the audience of the glamour and excitement of many show cars and introductions reserved for those more famed of car cities.

I said, “If I was to hold a show, I would pick February, near Valentine’s Day, and give the guys something in trade for all that romantic hullaballoo”. Plus it seems to me a “good thing” to have couples walking around in daydream like bliss at a car show, the mood may just translate into some more interesting purchases. But I digress …

Toronto’s “Canadian International Auto Show” somehow scored those exact days in February, 13-22 in fact, and they will get some nice cars:

BMW X5 4.8is
Dodge Tomahawk (Concept)
Jeep Treo (Concept)
Chrysler Airflite (Concept)
Chrysler 300C and Dodge Magnum
2005 Chrysler Town & Country
Jeep TJ Unlimited
Chrysler PT Cruiser Convertible
2005 Ford Focus ST
Ford 427 (Concept)
Ford GT (Concept)
Cadillac Sixteen (Concept)
Chevy SS (Concept)
Buick Centieme (Concept)
Chevrolet Corvette C6
Pontiac G6
Saab 9-2X
Saturn Relay
Buick Allure
Pontiac Solstice
Buick Terrazza
2004 Rolls Royce Phantom
2004 Bentley Continental GT
Honda FCX
2005 Hyundai Tucson
Kia KCV-III (concept)
Mazda Kusabi (Concept)
Mazda MX Micro Sport (Concept)
Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren
Mitsubishi Diamante
Mitsubishi Sport Truck (Concept)
2005 Nissan X-Trail
2004 Nissan Altima
Porsche Special Edition Boxster S 550 Spyder
Subaru B9 SC (Concept)
Suzuki Ignis Super 1600 World Junior Championship Rally Car
Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI
VW Passat 1.8T 4 Motion
VW Passat TDI

(props to Canadian Driver for the list)

Nue-Fi Targa

Sorry for the silly title. Last year’s Targa Newfoundland will be televised this Saturday 31st of January on Global at 19:00.

Watch a classic rallye in action, narrated by Jim Kenzie

Enjoy!

Chevrolet SSR

The silly author at Canadian Driver seems to think the Chevy SSR has no real purpose. Admittedly, the price is a little high for retro styled, open top, low-rider hot-rod. But if you fail to see this beauty live, your inner-kid will miss the opportunity to daydream about driving in California or Florida, with a surfboard in tow. Or a set of golf clubs. Heck, the “inadequate” trunk is more then enough for beach volleyball gear and such.

This car is for daydreaming, not for utility.

Nissan Murano

Wow! A new SUV! Wow!

That’s pretty much how most of European car press sounds like concerning the Nissan Murano. The rare event has happened, Europe got a “car” after the North American public. Wow indeed.

Move along, there is nothing to see.

Worst Cars

MSNBC is running a Forbes article about the “The worst cars of all time”.

I wonder if they authors even know what a Trabant sounds like. I do.

Gas Price

The truth about gas price fluctuations by Phil Bailey.

So fill as you please and remember that whatever your filling tactics may be, as a Canadian or American, you are getting the liquid in your fuel tank at a very good price.

Interesting opinion ? Read the story then.

Honored Altea

VWvortex informs that the SEAT Altea Prototipo was honoured “best concept-car in 2003 award from the Designers (Europe)”.

^{SEAT is VW’s Spanish brand under the management wing of Audi}

I honestly hope that Subaru’s “wing design nose” car evolution will look as appealing as the Altea’s similar shape. An almost Toyota Matrix like wagon body on an Impreza AWD running chassis would certainly spice things up.

^{above is the new R2}

Sprinting to Work

Standing tall inside a work oriented van is perhaps possible for me at 5’11” in rare situations, but my dad 6’2” is nigh impossible. Well, not anymore.

The Dodge Sprinter, with it’s mighty German built price, still left us impressed with the scale and quality. More then any other commercial vehicle, the fire-truck red Sprinter attracted a genuinely interested crowd. Why ?

“Would make an incredible camper…” was the most obvious. Others discussed the ease at delivering news-papers. Many were simply floored by the sheer utility.

I really wish Dodge hadn’t cancelled plans to build this “workhorse” in North America, as the imported price is too dear for non-professional buyers.

Montreal 2004

My dad and I just spent some 3 hours roaming the Montreal car show. Major failure of this show is the timing being so close to “Detroit” and “LA”, therefore only a minute amount of prototype and pre-production cars are ever presented.

Our choice for the “Car of the Show” is the VW Touareg V6 for sheer quality and scale. If they ever import the plain-jane 2.5 litre 5 cylinder TDI edition, we might just re-think our current cars. (Dutch commercial vehicle edition)

Impressive in person, though unapproachable was the Nissan C-Note. The Renault Megan’s influence was unmistakable. If this car replaces the Sentra, then wow.

Mazda3 Sport hatchback in Titanium Grey Metallic was a beautiful combination of comfort, style and most likely running gear. Mazda3 will be Montreal next big car in my opinion.

Oh, and BMW still rolls-over-the-competition with the M3 Coupé . Stunning in person.

Disappointments ? Yes, the Infinity G35 Sedan’s seating position, the Suzuki built and “GM badged” cars. So close and yet …

Pleasant Surprises ? Chevrolet SSR and BMW 6 Cabriolet. Either would suit our Florida & California driving experience.

Sub-Truckin'

Much furor has been heard in the media in the last few days about Subaru’s re-classification of the upcoming ‘05 Outback series as a “light truck” rather than passenger car.

Formerly Legacy station wagon derived light-duty off-roader, the Outback has been slowly metamorphosing into an altogether separate vehicle. Joining the Subaru Baja (another Legacy derivative) and the Forester (an Impreza derivative) as a “light truck”, the new model offers the greatest towing capacity in the entire line: 1800 kg (Australian spec).

The furor seems entirely focused on the potential rules loop-hole that Subaru “may” be using to get around Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) restrictions. Passengers cars have 27.5 MPG limits and light trucks 20.5. Yet, according to all news, the ‘05 Outback, lighter by 180-kg and equipped with more modern engine management will actually be more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly then the current model.

So this may just be a knee-jerk reaction to the vehicles’ classification. Though, it must be made clear, Subaru vehicles are not fuel-economy champions. The full-time AWD mechanism alone increases the consumption and in my opinion, then engines designated for low-octane North American situation are not running in their optimum either.

Read more :

NT Times
The Car Connection
NRDC
Subaru USA’s statement

NASIOC discussion

GT4, "Prologue"

Fans of the Playstation game series “Gran Turismo” by Polyphony Digital, a Sony exclusive studio, are in for a nice treat with next instalment: GT4.

To wet appetites, Sony released the a “Prologue” edition available in Japan and through importers such as Lik-Sang.com (where I still buy Dreamcast gear).

If you wish to see how this “Prologue” looks, simply watch the not so exlusive (BitTorrent-ed) movie made by GameSpy. This 480MB Quicktime Movie contains the often shown promo video followed by in-car footage and then replay of “Citta di Aria” in a Honda Integra Type R 98 Spec (1998), “Grand Canyon” driving of a Toyota Celica GT-FOUR Rally Car (1995) and “New York” in an Integra Type R again.

WRC In Short

“The World Rally Championship (WRC), a series of motor sport events staged around the world, is poised to rival the popularity of Formula One.”

There are some strange ownership and rights issues in my opinion though.

• David Richards, a former World Rally champion, chairs International Sportsworld Communicators (ISC) which acquired all the TV and commercial rights to the WRC from Bernie Ecclestone (of F1 and FIA fame).
• Mr Richards is the owner of Prodrive, which allied to Subaru races in the WRC and won the title last year.
• Mr Richards is the agent of Collin McRae, an out-of-favour (due to monetary demands) former WRC champion now racing in the Dakar with Nissan.
• Mr Richards is also now the team principle at B.A.R. (British American Racing), the “ecurie” of former F1 driver, Jacques Villeneuve.

As chairman’s statement of Prodrive, David Rivhards says:

In motorsport, we’ve won our sixth World Rally Championship title, won four outright victories with Ferrari in the American Le Mans Series, took the GTS class win at the 24 hours of Le Mans, competed in the US Rally Championship, launched Ford Performance Racing in the Australian V8 Supercar championship, and continued to manage and run the B.A.R. F1 team.

Hmm, don’t you spot some “conflicts of interest” ? Or is it safe to say that the “Entertainment” aspect of the sport is approaching the WWE

( read more )

Prodrive Group N Impreza

British company Prodrive, partner of Subaru in WRC team 555, launched a new edition of the FIA homologated Group N rallye car. ( more )

( more pictures )

This is exactly what I would love to drive given the funds and a long clear-of-traffic back country road.

Ford Shelby Cobra Concept

Aimed far above the hottest upcoming Ford Mustang GT and below the production bound Ford GT40, the Shelby Cobra Concept could easily fill the niche market for a “massive motor in a tiny, lightweight car .”

Pistonheads & Autonet.ca have more information.

What is becoming very apparent from the concept cars shown in LA & Detroit is that the car industry may finally be ready to build small production quantity, quasi-custom cars for a reasonable “surcharge”. Exclusivity and uniqueness are a strong attraction to those with the funds.

Bad Gas

Shell Canada has settled a class-action suit with customers in all Canadian provinces save Quebec: vehicle fuel gauges or pumps were gummed up by a gasoline additive

“A company spokeswoman said a separate lawsuit involving Quebec customers remains unsettled.”

A copy of the settlement agreement is posted on the Internet at www.shell.ca. Customers with questions can contact Shell at 1-866-691-2697.

Up in arms about Dakar 2004

Reuters is reporting that the Dakar rally organizers have cancelled this weekend’s stages 10 and 11 du to advice from French and Malian authorities about reports of armed gangs awaiting the rally in the west African country that borders Algeria to the north.

Leaving the EPA

“The E.P.A. announced in November that it was going to suspend investigations into utilities after the administration loosened the sections of the Clean Air Act that govern aging coal-burning power plants.”

Since the Bush administration is in power, “the agency’s enforcement division to drop investigations into about 50 power plants for suspected violations of the Clean Air Act.”

Read the New York Times article

Why does this feel like a giant political Ping-Pong game while pollution levels fail to even decrease an iota ? Lacking hydroelectricity, US must do with coal and nuclear power … for all those hybrid cars no doubt.

Are the pollution level of these “energy factories” taken into account ? You think ?

U.S. Oil Imports Set Record in 2003

U.S. Oil Imports Set Record in 2003, Trend Seen Up

Are you really surprised ?

Twenty years ago, the US imported 28%, in 2003 it was 63%. It was the biggest consumer then and now.

Union of Concerned Scientists

Reauters’ article about the Union of Concerned Scientists and their report in front of congress about the The Diesel Dilemma.

I’ll summarize: They say diesel is bad economically and environmentally.

Though the second paragraph states:

If emissions challenges can be overcome, diesel cars may be able to incorporate and compete with other fuel-saving technologies, such as more efficient engines, better transmissions, improved aerodynamics, and high-strength materials. Diesel will still carry a higher price tag, however.

So, they say it’s all about cost then.

And it is likely that future diesel vehicles will require two expensive exhaust control systems: one for particulates and one for nitrogen oxides. Thus, while cleaning up diesel vehicles may be technically possible, it is a high-risk venture with potentially significant fuel infrastructure and cost implications.

Yep, when fuel costs the equivalent to 36 cents/liter, or about half then here in Montreal, it must be a hard “cost-benefit” calculation.

Doing a search on their website about BioDiesel yields no links to this information, which I take to mean that their data is based on regular, available now “3rd World Quality” diesel with high sulphur content.

So if the economy of the US can maintain artificially low fuel prices, the cost-benefit of diesel will remain suspicious.

The is what I think, “Your Milage May Vary”.

Fuelin' Agriculture

Another great quote from The Car Connection

Volkswagen AG and Archer Daniels Midland, the big American food processor, plan to collaborate on research to develop and utilize biodiesel fuels.

“Given the tremendous environmental, economic and quality-related benefits of increased diesel usage, we believe this joint research agreement will go a long way toward advancing and furthering the development of this vital renewable fuel choice,” said Dr. Bernd Pischetsrieder, chairman of VW’s Board of Management after the agreement was signed at the North American International Auto Show. 

Another big issue is the quality of the diesel fuel sold in the U.S., other VW officials noted. The diesel-fuel sold in the U.S. now has the same amount of sulfur in it as fuel sold in China, one VW official noted. “We really have third-world fuel in this country,” the VW official added. -Joe Szczesny

I love the idea of bio-diesel and appreciate the kick of the last comment by the VW official. 3rd World Quality fuel indeed!

Kickin' Bronco

Ford’s answer to the 4×4 market is a real tool in the form of a concept vehicle: Ford Bronco

From The Car Connection

Ford Bronco Concept Based in Brazil

One of the vehicles that Ford Motor Co. plans to unveil during the North American International Auto Show utilizes an old name and a back to basics approach in its design. “It’s concept that marks the return of what we think SUVs were all about at their inception. This is the Ford Bronco concept. This is a raw, authentic bare-bones SUV that’s meant to function more as piece of equipment than as a symbol of status or pretension, which so many SUVs are today. This Bronco concept really is a chunk of iron with just enough room for people and a spare tire and very little else,” said Ford design VP J Mays. Mays, however, said the Bronco is more than just a design exercise. It answers the question of what else might be added to Ford’s SUV lineup, Mays suggested. “The Bronco concept fits underneath the Escape in size and price,” he noted. “This is a tough, capable off roader with double rear shocks,” similar to those used in rally cars. The concept is based on the Brazilian EcoSport SUV not yet sold in the U.S. Mays added the Bronco concept vehicle is equipped with a 2.0-liter turbodiesel that produces double the torque and more horsepower than is found in the SVT Focus. -Joe Szczesny

Turbodiesel and lower price then an Escape. Sounds good. Bring it on Mr Mays.

Unlimited Wrangling

Although JEEP has publicly decided that car featuring their label need not survive the Rubicon Trail, they still produce ones that could.

The 2004.5 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited is a good answer to the rather cramped original models, helps with road-holding and towing capacity as well.

Now, they should shoehorn a Mercedes diesel in there and call it a real utility vehicle. This one is to own.

Unpredictable

Phil Bailey breaks out his list of 2004 predictions about the future of the car companies that have a hold on the North American markets. Each company gets a short mention, biggest and deserved kudos to Toyota.

My brand of choice, Subaru, got this little blurb:

Subaru will continue to sell its vehicles to previous owners who appreciate inner splendour and mechanical function, as opposed to avant garde styling. Subaru is supposedly working on improving its designs for its future models, but don’t hold your breath. In the meantime, their technology is being bandied around inside the GM organisation, as witness the latest 4×4 from Saab.

Fair dinkum. I don’t even mind that Saab gets some help with the 9-2X, but how about some help with marketing tips to Subaru in trade ?

Teaser Web

need-desire.com is Subaru’s answer to the age-old “teaser”, a website to wet appetites until Monday January 5th for their introduction of Japan’s “Car of the Day”, the new generation Subaru Legacy, to the US.

The Legacy GT, with 250HP and AWD capability is a “grown-up” version of the well known Subaru Impreza WRX.

2005 Corvette

Known as the C6 model, the new Corvette broke cover.

Canadian Driver has done a nice job of showing this more “European Looking” Corvette.

LA 2004

The “Los Angeles Auto Show” is on again, with some nice cars presented for the first time.

Dodge Sling Shot, based on the ‘smart’ Roadster

Ford Mustang GT, fastback looks and modern car

and many more found at Automotive News

Welcome 2004