y.m.m.v

New Energy Bill for the US

The parties are split over the 12 billion dollar energy bill in the US. On one hand, it gives almost 2.5 billion dollars in tax incentives over 10 years for hybrid and clean-diesel vehicles. On the other, it contains plenty of slush (8+ billion) for the energy industry, friends and relatives of the Republicans.

You can find tons off articles on this right now: sample

In my view, if the 3500-4000$ tax break stays on hybrid and clean-diesel, Canadian government may follow suit. Add the laws on low-sulphur diesel coming online in 2006 and we may just see a tremendous boom.

Now if Canada could just shift some of the agricultural output to bio fuel, we wouldn’t have to make a mess like opening the Alaska Wilderness Refuge to drilling, another political land-mine inside the new US energy bill.

All that stands in the way of this bill is the Senate. Similar proposals have died there yearly since 2001.

Wikipedian Answers

There are days when I read a comment or article online and my certainty in something falls in doubt. I must then re-confirm “what I know”, damn whatever-ever I was doing.

This morning, pre-first-coffee, I read a whole series of posts on “short-block” engines and had gone completely blank what the term “actually meant” in context.

Onto the net! Google it! If you want 10 billion answers … sure…

But if it is a term you wish to define, then by all means use Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia of the Internet. It may not be 100% accurate or even have what you need, but it’s certainly capable of great answers like: short-block

Now searching there is ok, but best use Google for speeding it up like so:

Google => short-block site:wikipedia.org

The “site:” will tell Google to specifically search on Wikipedia.org.

Neat no ? Now you can read about such great engines as Wankel engine or the Horizontally-opposed engine and much, much more.

Caterham CSR260

PistoHeads has become a daily visit for me. They are now showing the new Caterham CSR260; same as the older Lotus Super Sevens … just better.

Dave, this thing costs the same as two Subaru WRXs …

Nice quote: “deliver more smiles per mile than anything else on the road”

Intrrrrresting

Typo Lou seems to be in a “Bill the Cat” mood.

She sent this as a follow-up to my “Cars for Women” bit:

see more of the infamous pickup truck from Kill Bill.

Forester STi JDM

These seats look awfully familiar!

The newly minted Subaru Forester STi has the same seats I now use, but in very impressive black.

“Hug the World” Indeed! Funny how they use English words.

As for the engine …

In order to adequately handle the powerful new specs, the cylinder block is a semi-closed deck structure and the pistons and connecting rods are made of a high strength steel.

If you hear grumbling, that’s my dad.

Blame N.Y.

New York became the first state in the US to require automobile licence
plates on this date in 1901. Automobile owners were charged a fee of
$1. (From Answers.com)

^{props to Typo Lou for this bit of trivia}

Cars For Women

I left out the full title Top 10 Car For Women for fear of plagiarism (snicker => muttley).

I notice that this article lacks a date, therefore one must infer a production of this page based on the information contained within. The only items that seem to place it in the last 6 months for me is the mention of the Mazdaspeed Miata, a not too distant creation.

What do you folks think of this list ? Valid ? Tepid ? Marketing “Mumbo-Jumbo” ?

Hybrid US Military Jeep

The Wired News article’s title make it sound like the Humvee met it’s match and will be replaced by this vehicle.

Far from it: this is an alternative to the Humvee when the situation doesn’t warrant a big, 11MPG diesel combat ready transport.

Cheaper, lighter, hybrid with en engine that seems to be the size of a Smart Two-Fours’, it looks more like an overgrown golf cart.

And it makes perfect sense. Remote controlled ones, or even “follow-the-leader” convoy members would be really good for in field delivery.

If this vehicle proves simple and rugged, there are many more mundane setting where it would fit the bill. Too bad the Army doesn’t seem to own the design, they could have made some money on this.

^{Props to Denier for the article}

Ultima Daydream

Build a car in your garage, tracking each receipt carefully so that clear ownership can be demonstrated. Have the police review it and give their stamp of approval and then go for a technical inspection. Take both receipts and then insure your car for the road.

That is how one goes about, more or less.

Of course, buying a kit car, which already has some form of certification (SVA or Single Vehicle Approval in the US) helps. Plenty of happy Caterham and clone owners worldwide go through this process.

But if you wonder about how far can this go, all the way to Ultima GTR, the world’s fastest car. Most likely.

Fancy building one in your garage ? You can!

Porsche + Penske

Porsche and Penske got back together to race in American Le Mans Series (ALMS). This is a fantastic news, signaling the potential new peek of the entire Prototype and GT racing scene.

Speed Arena news item.

We have to wait until later in 2005 to see more and wait for answers on such technical questions as:

Is the prototype related somehow to the road-going Porsche Carrera GT

1.1 Billion Dollars

General Motors has suffered a 1.1 Billion Dollars net loss in the first 3 months of 2005.

Ouch.

They blame: car sales, economy, health care costs, oil prices.

They don’t blame: uninspired designs, crap quality

I give them credit: it’s really non-PC to mention that your costs in employee health care are a major factor of your budget, especially since all those robots aren’t that health-care-needy. GM is a microcosm of the overall health-care issue the rest of North America has to face with the retired Baby Boomer generation exceeding the current workforce population. GM is just the first to have their old promises unravel their internal economy.

Please note, GM Financial Services made money, again.

BBC News coverage

Honda + Soybean = Profit!

Rare is the well spun corporate promo story that has a grain of awesome truth to it.

The story in one sentence: “Since 1986, Honda has been packing it’s car containers full of soybean for the return trips to Japan.”

This really marries the need for a shipping company, in this case Honda itself, in making the “ballast” profitable.

Read more with Google

Nissan's 50th

CarDesignNews is showing a Nissan 50th Aniversery exhibition review .

MG Rover goes POP

What happens when a car company the size of MG Rover in the U.K. goes bankrupt ? Some people protest others look at their car’s insurance in dismay.

Nothing in this world guarantees anything anymore. Get used to it.

Toyota Avalon

Toyota’s largest passenger car looks derivative of Bangle’s 7 series from the rear and its side displays odd proportions. The car in question, observed live in it’s satin silver finish, seems unable to contain its shapes due to the immense center habitacle’s proportion.

Another glaring omission is the wheel size: 17 inch wheels running 215×55 are inadequate to match the sheer scale of this beast of a car. I bet its reliable though.

Read what Car and Driver has to say.

Tiny Update: Sonata 2006 preview

Canadian Driver indicates that the new ‘06 Sonata should be arriving at dealers in May and pricing should be online by then.

Record Prices in U.K.

Prices seem to have a new record at 85.6p for a liter of regular and even higher then that on highway stations.

That’s 1.996 CDN or 6.135 US$ per gallon.

Ouch. Diesel make sense there don’ it ?

Great Seats!

The seats are installed and make the car smell a bit of “Eau de Garage”.

My idea of swapping the seat bases was well founded, though a snag did appear. Turns out that two little u shaped metal wings are welded to the base unit at the right place to support the legs’ under the cushions.

All I need is to weld similar pieces to my original seat-bases and then I have adjustable gear on both driver and passenger. In the meantime, I’m driving sitting a bit taller (well, quite a bit from my norm), but the bolstering and fit is divine.

This morning’s drive-in-to-work was stunning … I can corner! :D

Now I have to find an evening to change from my winter/4-seasons to my summer tyres.

Are you sitting comfrotably ?

I picked up a pair of used JDM (Japanese Domestic Market ) STi seats for my little silver wagon. These super comfortable seats have to be tinkered with a little to fit : move the seatbelt sensor over, see if lift mechanism can be adapted. Then make sure the bolts are torqued to the prescribed number.

Why did I switch seats and in this case to a right-hand-drive cars’ ?

JDM performance seats are very well bolstered, designed by Recaro and fit my frame well. So this means I wont’t be sliding around as much in corners… and I mean me, not the car. Though that is now quite likely…

As for my old seats, I’m keeping them. Plan to turn one into my Online driving seat and the other just a lounge chair.

Piston Slap

Noise coming from the engine bay, somewhere under the hood, sounds like metal hitting metal. Not a fun sound, especially when the car is relatively new.

Piston slap is well summarised by Jim Kerr at Canadian Driver and he makes the clear point that with newer piston design it is even considered “normal”.

But what in blazes do you do when you feel like it isn’t, or that the sound ties your stomach into knots. Well, if the sound makes you uncomfortable, then you may be engine-educated-enough to spot the potential ruinous future of the engine: the sound is a precursor of much worse things.

What to do ? Well, in this day and age, it is best to rely on the solid experience of mechanics and warranty you poses for a new vehicle. Document the problem, have them log it at your dealer and if it truly becomes an issue: insist politely but firmly to have it fixed.

Why am I harping about this ? Well, my mum’s engine is making the dreaded sound at 42,000 km. My father’s stomach is in a knot because of it. Is it really a bad engine ? I don’t think so, as the story is complicated by design and mechanical choices.

In the past engines had timing chains. Metal, stainless, strong and noisy. But quite durable and accurate. Today, in a quest to reduce noise, many engines have been re-designed to use strong yet quiet rubber-and-mesh/metal belts. Belts slip, belts stretch and they are the mechanism that keep the diverse parts moving to a single rhythm. So belts get a “tensioner”, a device that attempts to keep an even pressure so that no slippage may occur.

Nothing is perfect though, especially when both rubber (in belts) and hydraulic fluid (in tensioner arms) are temperature sensitive.

To give you an idea how much a little “slack” is noticeable, I replaced my car’s default clutch hose (rubber) with a performance one (braided wire hose). The original changed shape based on temperature and pressure, while the new keeps to very tight tolerances. Effect ? Clutch pedal feel is fantastic and constant. Best 150$ ever spent on a manual tranny car.

Engine design is a series of compromise, but old-school rules and habits make it hard to accept a noise that used to signal “immanent death” of you car as being normal. Yet it may very well be.

Hmm, or is that all just marketing ? Lemon Law seems to think so.

GM seems to have the most trouble with Piston Slap

Not so Smart after all

Many articles will tell you how Smart corporation was founded by Mercedes and Swatch as an experiment in car making. Many will then broach the fact that Swatch pulled out and that financially, Smart has never been … smart that is.

Articles written in the very recent past, like The Car Connection ’s, will inform you of the very bad state of affairs of the firm and the measures Daimler-Chrysler have taken to turn things around.

Drastic is the word. Drop roadster, cancel the mini-4×4, reduce-reduce-reduce and become profitable. Profitable ? What a novel idea.

Sorry Dave, scratch another two seater of your list for good.

Gas Prices

I’ve said it many times “Fuel economy is not related to cars only, it is the economy.”

To follow such deep and self-serving words, here is the quote form Paul A. Eisenstein of The Car Connection that I agree with 100%.

Surprisingly, the run-up in oil prices over the last two years has had relatively little impact on the sort of cars and trucks people are buying. Chrysler, for example, is still struggling to meet demand for its big HEMI V-8, and Ford continues to set records with its F-Series pickup. But despite the seemingly optimistic public pronouncements, industry officials are increasingly worried and wondering whether it’s time to ramp up production of small cars, in-line four engines and hybrid-electric vehicles. If consumers start downsizing, it could be bad news for Detroit’s Big Three. But the trend could also be trouble for Japan’s big makers, too. They are, after all, investing billions to develop new trucks - like Honda’s big Ridgeline, and Toyota’s next-generation Tundra - and plants to build them. If gasoline prices start to stabilize, consumers will likely get used to paying a bit more. But if the current trend continues, it could mean big trouble for the entire auto industry.

2007 FHI

Rumors and fake pictures are common sight in car related online forums. It take very little effort to get any brands’ faithful to froth at the mouth, both in the positive and negative sense.

The pictures below come from a BabbleFish translation and point at the Fuji Heavy Industries’ quest to enter the upper-crust of automakers; and the larger European profitable market segments.

Props to NYCshopper on NASIOC

Impreza

Impreza MPV

Roadster

New models of Subaru: Drive shaft the Japanese specialist for all-wheel drive wants to expand in Europe strongly. Therefore a wave of new Subarus rolls in the next years. Heart of the product offensive is starting from 2007 the new Impreza. The Japanese automakers see in Europe still much Wachtumspotenzial - not only to Nippons Branchenprimus Toyota, but also the small manufacturer Subaru, which per year so far builds only 600,000 cars. Already 2007 want to sell 750,000 units to Subaru, until 2009 even scarcely 900,000 - of it 100,000 in Europe where the autosection of the Fuji Heavy of Industries company sets today straight times 60,000 off. In Germany, beside Great Britain and Switzerland largest European Subaru market, are to rise the annual sales of 10.000 to 18.000 units. The growth path desired can be walked on however only over an expansion of the model program. Therefore numerous Subaru novelties roll in the next four years. Most important column of the program is to become the Impreza, so far an outsider, because wrongly positions and in too few karosserievarianten available. But that is to change. New Impreza also basis for Kompaktvan and roadster first of all come to the IAA in the autumn of this yearly a Facelift and more achievement for the two-litre double-piston engine, which there is to then be uniformly with 160 HP. The Impreza is correctly again presented to Tokyo engine show in the autumn 2007. It is to carry the new Markenlook of Greek chief Designer Andreas Zappatinas come of Alfa Romeo as the first Subaru Serienauto. Planned are from the new Impreza beside the four-door sedan also a Coupé, a combination and a Minivan. Also a compact roadster as competition to the Mazda MX-5 is to be based on this platform. A further key to larger Subaru spreading in Europe might be the first box he turbo-Diesel of the mark. The four-cylinder debuetiert 2007 together with the Impreza, has somewhat more than two litres capacity and is to carry at least 160 HP out. The engine comes starting from 2008 then also in the new edition of the Forester to the employment as well as in the Legacy. In order the siebensitzigen SUV named B9 Tribeca in Europe well marked out to be able, is missing still another six cylinder turbo-Diesel double-piston engine. That does not come however 2008 ago - so for a long time prospective customers with the thirsty 250-PS-Sechszylinder-Benziner must take before dear. Zurzeit is homologiert the large SUV for the employment in Europe. The Potenzial for the German market sees annually limited managing director Jens Becker without Diesels on 500 units: “with Diesel we could sell the quadruple surely.” Increase gives it however not only in the Top segment, but also at the basis. Seriously is considered the import of the small car g 1, which was shown for the first time on the of this year Geneva salon the European public. For local conditions the only 660 cubic centimeters measuring four-cylinder turbo engine would have to yield however a larger engine. And whether it would be at all competitive with a price of 10.000 euro in the competition-intensive surrounding field, it remains being waiting. It stands firmly however that the next Minicar generation is developed by Subaru, which already rolls in two years from the outset for European requirements with.

Particle Filters

Sounds like Diesel is so popular in Europe … there is shortage in the critical emission component the particulate filter.

Over 56% of Mercedes’ worldwide sales is diesel powered vehicles and in some segments, other brands are now approaching 80%.

Effective particulate filters require a very low content of Sulphur, which is why diesels have yet to really take off in North America.

On the flip side, places like India, China and Russia suffer from diesel emissions as the economies of those nations have yet to sustain the proper maintenance and technologies for such emission control. Diesel is harmful, unless it’s low sulphur blend with a high quality particulate filter.

Need a Camera ?

I was just looking a refurbished camera deal and heard of this great site where people post their own pictures with the cameras you are looking for/at.

Go to PBase and see what the camera can do in real people’s hands.

Songs from USA

Hyundai. The name contains memories of inexpensive, cheap, prone to rust cars of the 80s. Cars that looked like refugees from decades’ past in both style and quality.

No more. Now, the JD Power car of choice is the Hyundai Sonata, which looked like a pastiche of bland cars.

But the 2006 looks like a pastiche of good cars. With the caveat, now Made in America, this might be the car even I would buy.

More @ Edmunds
and more photos

Autoblog