Monday, August 27, 2007
Planning To Buy A New Car? The WSJ Says To Wait.
Leaving A Sour Taste
Friday, August 24, 2007
LoJack Locates Stolen Lamborghini In Italy
Thursday, August 23, 2007
One Day Early! A Friday Diversion...
There's more video of SSI's shredder in action here. Enjoy.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
For All Of You Driving Quattroportes...
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
DeLorean Comeback!
Saturday, August 18, 2007
The WSJ On Gas Taxes
- The federal fuel tax in the U.S. is 18.4 cents per gallon. This has been unchanged since 1993.
- The average fuel tax per gallon of gas (including state and federal taxes) is $0.47 in the U.S., $1 in Canada, $1.91 in Japan, and $4.54 in the United Kingdom. Think about that: Britons pay more in fuel taxes per gallon than Americans pay in total for a gallon of gas.
- Fuel taxes make up just under 40% of the $145 billion spent on highways in the U.S. But, the U.S. Highway Account is expected to run regular deficits beginning in 2007, so more funding is needed.
The Gibbs Aquada In Action On Land & In Water!
Notice where the driver / captain sits. Right in the middle of the vehicle. In fact, the whole seating arrangement looks a bit weird to me. But, it's pretty cool to see an amphibious car in action. Very James Bond-esque.
Thanks to CarDomain for the link.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
The Story Of Tesla Motors As Told By Martin Eberhard
One knock on electric cars has been what happens when the battery dies. Batteries generally aren't very friendly to the environment. Martin explains that the Li-Ion batteries that they're using in the Tesla Roadster aren't deemed as hazardous as the batteries traditionally used in cars. And Tesla has apparently partnered with someone to recycle as much of their batteries as possible.
The other interesting big-picture take-away for me is that electric cars really move the choice of fuel away from the driving experience itself. Yes, electric cars require electricity to function. But, electricity can be produced from any number of sources (nuclear, coal, wind, solar, etc.). So, not only is the car itself "friendlier" to the environment than gas-powered cars, but people may further choose that they'd like to power their electric car with solar panels installed on their home's roof, for example.
Martin concedes in the video that Tesla's still got a lot of work to do to get the Roadster to market. And he's noncommittal on a delivery date (even though he expects it to be before the end of the year). Here's to hoping that it's sooner rather than later!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
BusinessWeek Report on High-Tech Cars
Most articles also have a slide show, so if you're interested in how some of this technology actually looks, be sure to look for the appropriate links.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Flogging The Dealer
One of the great and powerful things about the Internet is the ability of a single person, a "common" person, to get their message out to millions of readers with little-to-no effort. And of course, any time the masses gain power, that can scare the establishment.
Jeff Bonnell wrote an interesting article at DealerRefresh about the impact of an example of this sort of power/fear relationship - a customer writing a negative blog post about a car dealership and having that blast show up on the first page of the dealership's Google search results. Bonnell calls this "flogging." The best way for a dealer to deal with sort of situation? Contact the complainer and set things straight. Once resolved, the flogger may actually edit the post and now instead of a scathing review showing up in Google, the dealer may have a glowing review and specific example of their excellent service.
I love this article for two reasons. First, I think it's great to see that now dealers can be held accountable. Customers have always been able to complain to the Better Business Bureau, but who bothers to check with the BBB before buying a car? Now, all you need to do is get out your computer and tippy-tap your way to a message that may well be picked up quickly. There probably aren't that mean real links to Jim Bob's Chevrolet out there, so there's a very real likelihood that your article will be noticed by Google and Yahoo.
The second part of this story that I love is that the most effective and sensible response by the dealers is to do the right thing. Car dealers don't exactly have the best reputation from consumers. People tend to not trust car salesmen, thus the oft-used stereotype of the "used-car salesman." Maybe a new era of transparency and accountability is upon us?
Friday, August 10, 2007
Zipcar Car-Sharing Service
I always wondered how Zipcar handled security. (The keys must be left in the car, as many people can use a Zipcar any given day.) Well, turns out they issue you a little keycard, that can be used to unlock the doors, to gain access.
Also, these three had some problems getting out of a secure parking lot, as they couldn't find the "clicker" to open the gate. They called the Zipcar hotline and got sorted promptly, which impressed me.
If you're interested in Zipcar, or you'd like to learn how Zipcar approaches the rental car industry with their different approach, check out this video.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
From Tesla's Tuesday Presentation in LA!
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Suzuki Recalls 75,000 Vehicles
Monday, August 6, 2007
The Umweltzonen Are Coming!
Other cities (like Manila) forbid vehicles (based on each vehicle's registration number) from entering restricted zones at certain times on certain days.
Now, Germany is implementing a system that "grades" cars based on how "friendly" they are toward the environment. German cities will be divided into zones (Umweltzonen), ranked from 1-5. Only the most enviro-friendly vehicles, for example, would be able to enter zone 5. Special badges will be given to drivers when they register their vehicles in Germany that will show what zones their vehicles have been cleared to enter.
This strikes me as an interesting approach to the problems caused by vehicle emissions and congestion. It does seem to be a convoluted way to influence vehicle purchasing decisions (how to quantify the "cost" of not being able to drive into zone 5, for example). But it should help reduce air pollution in certain areas of their cities.
Autoblog has more.
Li-Ion Battery-Powered Toyota Prius
Joe explains how a regular Prius (with its factory-installed nickel-metal hydride battery) operates and talks about other plug-in concepts (like the Chevrolet Volt) as well. And there's a short video documenting his experience with the modified Prius (which is not sanctioned by Toyota and invalidates the Prius' warranty).
Joe's reaction to this experience? "Wow! Who wouldn't want this?" But he also considers some of the remaining hurdles for plug-in technology, including reliability, safety, range, and cost.
Ford Recalls 3.6 Million Vehicles
Friday, August 3, 2007
Friday Diversion: Dancing Cars
I have seen cars bouncing around in commercials and movies, but I haven't seen this type of "dancing" before. One of the cars actually cracks apart mid-dance. And keeps going. Enjoy.
I Wish I Were In LA.....Next Week
Autoblog On Picking Up Your New Car Overseas
Autoblog has some new information for us in this post. Apparently:
- 80,000 Mercedes buyers avail of the European Delivery option,
- Volkswagen's Autostadt gets a million visitors a year, and
- BMW has developed its own European Delivery center (for $275 million!) and dubbed it BMW Welt, expecting 45,000 customers to pick up their new cars there each year (alongside 800,000 visitors).
Commenters to Autoblog's post seem pretty excited about their European Delivery experiences. And they report saving a nice chunk of change on their purchases as well.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
It's On! X-Prize For Commercially-Viable 100 MPG Car
This X-Prize will award millions in hard, cold cash to the team that can produce a vehicle that gets at least 100 MPG (or equivalent), is commercially viable (read: people will want to buy it), and performs well in a cross-country road test (which is expected to take place in 2009 or 2010 and be covered on TV).
This is cool stuff. And it has the potential to really increase awareness of energy-efficient alternatives to vehicles' (and the world's) current reliance on oil. Competitors have already applied from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and Switzerland. Oh yeah, Tesla Motors (which we last wrote about here) is one of the entrants!
Extending The Oil Change Interval
One of the quotes I found interesting is this: "Shell Lubricants, which owns the Quaker State and Pennzoil oil brands and operates the Jiffy Lube oil-change chain, long ago abandoned its corporatewide 3,000-mile oil-change message." Really? Then why do they keep putting their "come back in 3,000 miles!" stickers in our cars?
Thanks for the tip goes to Automotive Digest, which--as usual--does a nice job of summarizing the key points of the original article.
And I'd be remiss if I failed to mention that BrightCar helps you keep track of the manufacturer-recommended interval for your car's oil change and other important maintenance items. Download your free trial and check it out.
Electric-Powered Dragster Blows By "Gassers"
One of the cars, the White Zombie, is a 1972 Datsun purchased for less than $585 in 1985 that has since been converted to electric power by Portland resident John Wayland. The White Zombie goes from 0 to 60 in 3 seconds! And it's been trouncing so-called "gassers" at a local drag strip. Click through for the story and some cool video of the White Zombie in action.