Category: Automobiles

Yes, it’s true. Men still dominate the car-buying statistics, although women have been steadily growing as prime car buyers (not simply “influencers”) since the 1980s. Because it’s been the No. 1 woman-dominated vehicle for years, the automotive press has long maligned the VW Beetle for being the quintessential “chick car.” To be fair, the flower vase on the dash does give this impression. But since its arrival in May, the VW Tiguan has taken over the No. 1 position, making it the ultimate in estrogen-based car buying.

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times reports that California’s statewide ban on hand-held cell phone use (it goes into effect July 1) may mean more than a fine. If you’re in an accident while using a phone, the fact that you were breaking the law greatly increases the chances you will be held responsible. It might even be enough to bring a felony charge if the accident has a fatality.

“Violations of a safety law would be powerful evidence of liability.”

“Decent Model T’s and Model A’s have sold on eBay recently for as little as $6,000.”

From an article in at NYTimes.com on affordable collector cars.

“Want a convertible instead? A Mazda Miata is a great pick, and there are plenty of choices for around $5,000. A recently reported sale on eBay of a 1990 red air-conditioned convertible with less than 100,000 miles for $4,575 is indicative of the market.”

Simple answer. No.

Today’s cars use electronic fuel injectors, which rigorously control the amount of gas delivered to the engine when you hit the ignition. As a result, virtually no fuel is wasted during startup, and only a thimbleful is burned as the car roars to life. So forget about the 30-minute axiom you were raised on—the threshold at which it makes more sense to shut off rather than to idle should be expressed in seconds, not minutes.

How many seconds, exactly? A lot of environmental organizations advocate the 10-second rule: If you’re going to be stopped for more than 10 seconds, it’s best to shut off your engine. The one exception is when you’re stopped in street traffic—it’s illegal to kill the engine in many states, due to concerns that switched-off cars are more easily rear-ended (especially if an absent-minded driver forgets to restart once the gridlock abates).

. . . The researchers concluded that restarting a six-cylinder engine—with the air conditioner switched on—uses as much gas as idling the same car for just six seconds.

Idling is similarly wasteful in frigid temperatures. Contrary to popular belief, cold-weather drivers needn’t warm up their cars for longer than 30 seconds. The best way to raise an engine’s temperature to optimal levels is to drive it almost immediately after startup . . .

Slate Magazine

Investigative reporting forced Denver, Colorado to lengthen the yellow at four city intersections where red light cameras are to be installed. In late March, the Rocky Mountain News uncovered how these intersections had quick, three-second yellow times that fell short of recognized engineering standards. Drivers will now enjoy up to two additional seconds of warning at some intersections by the time automated tickets start landing in the mail on June 10.

TheNewspaper

Follow the link for details on the four intersections. Lengthening the yellow at one Fort Collins intersection by one-second reportedly reduced the accident rate 30 percent.

One of my favorite lines ever — “Madrid [New Mexico] doesn’t have any traffic lights yet; there is one in the works, they just haven’t decided what colors they’re gonna use.”

The Sierra Club reports on an electric car “charged by solar panels on the roof of one’s house. They never need gas, and the power is free after the set-up cost.”

Dickey says the Rav4EV is the best car he’s ever owned. “My wife commutes in it 40 miles a day, five days a week. We drive it for our weekend outings and it does errands that are too far or too bulky for the bicycle. It has never been tuned up, and I’ve spent about $50 total on it for maintenance. My wife has not been to a gasoline station in seven years and 70,000 commute miles—not once!”

His home electricity is free, too. (Well, free after the cost of the solar installation, which is almost paid for.)

Last week Sports Illustrated opened its 53 years of archives (or “Vault” as they call it) with free access. A particular favorite article of mine was Brock Yates’s 1972 “From Sea to Speeding Sea,” — “The Cannonball was an out law auto race—unsanctioned and definitely unwise—but off they went, roaring their way toward L.A.” Yates drove the winning Ferrari with racer Dan Gurney from NYC to LA in 35 hours and 54 minutes.

A couple of excerpts:

Determined to find a car to race in the Cannonball, the three men had looked in the Times classifieds in search of a “driveaway” deal—an arrangement where one drives another’s car to a destination for nominal expenses. This is a common tactic used to transport personal cars by people who don’t like to drive long distances. The Long Island gentleman wanted his new Cadillac Coupe deVille driven to California. Opert & Co. obliged, nodding hazily at his firm orders that his prized machine not be driven after nine o’clock at night, not before eight o’clock in the morning and not run faster than 75 miles an hour. Naturally, all the regulations would be violated before the car left Manhattan.

A yellow 4-4-2 Oldsmobile Cutlass appeared in the rearview mirror. It was running fast, coming up on me at an impressive rate. Two guys were on board and I sensed that they were looking for a race. They drew even and we ran along for a way nose to nose. I looked over to catch eager grins on their faces. I smiled back and slipped the Ferrari from fifth to fourth gear. We were running a steady 100 mph when the Olds leaped ahead. I let him have a car-length lead before opening the Ferrari’s tap. The big car burst forward, its pipes whooping that lovely siren song, and rocketed past the startled pair in the Oldsmobile. I glanced over at them to see their faces covered with amazement. Like most of the populace, they had no comprehension of an automobile that would accelerate from 100 mph that quickly. The Ferrari yowled up to 150 mph without effort, leaving the Olds as a minuscule speck of yellow in the mirror.

I slowed again and turned up the volume on the stereo. Buck Owens and his Buckaroos were sonorously singing I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail. I laughed all the way to Las Cruces.

Go read it all.

Dan Neil takes the new Lexus IS-F for a spin. His review includes this:

The car also sings. The IS-F is equipped with an eight-speed automatic transmission, in which the gear ratio intervals are very evenly spaced. Eight speeds happen to correlate to eight notes of the diatonic scale — do, re, mi, etc. If you hold the throttle and speed steady, and you shift up and down with the shifter paddles, you can actually coax simple melodies out of the stacked-pipe quad exhaust, for instance, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” And, yes, I get paid for this.

An 8-speed transmission!

Many parents would agree that 15-year-old superstar Hannah Montana, a.k.a. Miley Cyrus, is a good role model for kids.  But a gaffe in her Disney blockbuster 3-D movie, “Hannah Montana/ Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour” might challenge that opinion. 

Why?  One scene in the movie shows Miley and her dad, country music star Billy Ray Cyrus, riding in the back seat of a Range Rover on the way to rehearsal for the concert tour.  Neither was wearing a seat belt.

Why should we care?  Because, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in about 55 percent of passenger vehicle fatalities in 2006 (the latest data available), the occupants were not wearing seat belts.  Even worse, in the 13- to 15-year-old age group, that percentage climbs to 65 percent.  Unfortunately, we’re not surprised by these grim statistics because a 2002 survey by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety showed that when parents were dropping teens off at school in the morning, nearly half the teens weren’t using seat belts.

Consumer Reports

These numbers actually mean a lot more than they say because approximately 80% do wear belts — in other words, more than half of all vehicle deaths come from the imbecilic 20% not wearing seatbelts.

Of course, if one looks at it from a Darwinian perspective . . .

Jeanne, official friend of NewMexiKen, sent this along.

Look at the photo above. Click the image for a larger version.

You can see where the truck broke through the guardrail, to the right where the people are standing on the road pointing. The pick-up was traveling from right to left when it crashed through the guardrail. It flipped end-over-end, across the culvert outlet, and landed right side up on the left side of the culvert, facing the opposite direction from which it was traveling.

Now click here for a little better perspective.

“Arizona uses freeway speed cameras to cut budget deficit by $120 million. But it’s not about the revenue”

FARK.com

Here’s the background.

[T]he Prius was one of America’s best-selling vehicles in 2007. That’s vehicles, not just hybrids. Toyota sold 181,221 of the gas-electric hatchbacks. That’s more than the entire Acura or Mercury lineups, and the model was nipping on all of Buick’s heels. The Prius also outsold the Chevrolet Tahoe, the Toyota Tacoma, the Honda Odyssey, every Jeep, every Chrysler, every Dodge (except Ram) and every Ford but the F-series.

The Truth About Cars

Automakers spend billions of dollars to promote their vehicles and build brand awareness. Yet, marketing alone does not shape consumer perception without a clear connection to the vehicles in the showroom. In the latest Auto Pulse survey conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center, Toyota and Honda brands ranked first and second, respectively, by dominant margins over all others. Likewise, the vehicles from those brands have consistently performed well in our testing, often ranking among the best in their classes, and have been mostly at the top of our reliability ratings over the years.

This survey focused on how consumers perceive and rank car brands in seven crucial areas, including safety, quality, value, performance, environmental friendliness, design, and technological innovation. It also looks at which of those factors are most important to consumers when buying a vehicle.

Consumer Reports

Top in brand perception by category:

Safety — Volvo (by a huge margin)
Quality — Toyota
Value — Honda
Performance — BMW
Green — Toyota
Design — Mercedes Benz and Lexus tied, Cadillac close third
Technology/Innovation — Toyota and Lexus

It runs on compressed air — up to 125 mile range, speeds up to 70 mph, on $3 worth of air. Seems ideal for urban/suburban life.

President Nixon signed legislation 33 years ago today mandating a federal speed limit of 55 miles per hour. The Edge of the American West has a discussion, including a couple of comments by yours truly.

Oil is at $100 a barrel today for the first time. That’s 68€. A year ago oil was $58 a barrel, 44€.

In a year oil has gone up 72% in U.S. dollars but only 55% in European currency.

Dan Neil loves a GM car.

So here’s a new thought, worthy of defending: Cadillac makes a better car than BMW or Mercedes or Lexus or Infiniti, and that car is the 2008 CTS. No other car in the mass market, with so much at stake for its makers, dares so much as this expressive and audacious bit of automotive avant-gardism. In a segment that lives and dies by European benchmarks, the CTS sets fire to the bench and throws it through the shopkeepers’ window.