You Can, But You Shouldn't ...
July 07, 2008
July 06, 2008
In review: Hyundai Azera
In the Toronto Star, I have a review of the Hyundai Azera. You can find it here.
July 04, 2008
Today's review: Smart Fortwo
On Canadian Driver today, I have a review of the Smart Fortwo. You can find it by clicking here.
June 29, 2008
Biofuel goes bankrupt: who knew?
In the news today: ethanol plants in the U.S. are going bankrupt.
According to a news report on Reuters, soaring feedstock prices, rising construction costs, tight credit markets, and ethanol prices that haven't kept up with the soaring cost of gasoline are to blame for about a dozen U.S. ethanol plants filing for bankruptcy protection.
It also seems that, while gasoline companies are required by law to mix renewable fuels into the fossil stuff, they don't want to pay very much for it, and so the ethanol producers aren't getting enough to cover their costs.
This would all be deliciously ironic if it weren't for the fact that corn is in just about every product we eat or even touch these days. I've read about downward spirals from the times before my time -- the Depression, the Dust Bowl. It sure feels weird to look around and realize I'm in the middle of one.
June 28, 2008
Hot rods: just too much damn fun
Last night being one of the first in recent memory without a torrential downpour, I fired up the Studebaker and headed out to the local cruise night. I'd forgotten just how much fun I can have with this truck.
The Stude used to be my daily driver from April through November; it was how I got to work, bought my groceries home, and how we hauled everything from a queen-sized mattress to our kitchen cupboards back from the store. It saw less use when I started reviewing cars, because you can't judge a vehicle when it's sitting in the driveway. That's a shame, because this little truck's a blast.
I went out to a local cruise night, one of the real ones that are still the way it "used to be". No offense to the guys who work so hard to present regular cruise nights each week, but I'm not a fan of being told what year vehicles can come into the roped-off area of the mall parking lot, and here's your ticket, and park where the attendants tell you, and when the last prize of the night is drawn, everyone fires up their cars and drives straight home via the shortest route possible.
No, this one out here (Pete's Big Bite in Whitby, Ontario, if you're ever out on a Friday night after about 9 pm) is as it was in the beginning: you come in, wait until one of the families getting a meal gets back in the minivan and vacates a spot, you double-park if necessary, and you hang around and talk cars until you've had enough, and then you slowly cruise on home because the night's so nice, and the car's running just right, and you're in the coolest thing on the road, and it's just good to be alive. Gas is how much a litre? At times like this, I really don't care.
June 25, 2008
Volvo: 2,000 jobs out the door
Well, it's not just GM's Oshawa truck plant closure and Ford setting back the F-150's introduction anymore. Volvo has announced that it's axing 2,000 jobs, including 1,400 white-collar workers and 600 blue-collar positions.
It seems that the weak U.S. dollar and the price of raw materials is reaching all the way over to Europe. The company will get rid of some 1,300 people at its plants and offices in Sweden, another 500 consultants on contract to the automaker, and then an additional 300 warm bodies worldwide. The Swedish carmaker posted a first-quarter loss this year of the equivalent of US$151 million.
And don't think it's going to stop there; the elephant rolls over, and it isn't just the Great White North that feels its weight anymore. It's a very scary time to be tied to an auto company, and what's even scarier is that those shock waves go many miles beyond the gate at the front of the plant. I wonder just how far the bottom really is, and where this is all going to end.
Review: Hyundai Veracruz
On Canadian Driver today, I have a review of the Hyundai Veracruz. You can find it here.
June 22, 2008
The European Ford Focus: It's Coming!
Well, after all this time, it looks like it's finally going to happen. For so long, we could only gaze longingly over to Europe, where the Ford Focus zipped about on a chassis shared with Mazda, and handling that was ... well, European. While we got an economy car that did its job, but was simply not as good as it could be.
And now the news: Ford says it is cutting truck production, increasing crossover production, building the Fiesta for worldwide sales, and finally -- finally! -- producing a version of the European Focus for sales in North America. I only hope it's not a case of too little, too late.
June 21, 2008
Gas taxes: who will pay to repair our roads?
In a recent issue of AutoWeek magazine, Kevin A. Wilson -- possibly the most observant and common-sense auto writer on the continent -- brought up a point I'd not considered: as gasoline consumption drops, who's going to fund our roads?
Gas taxes don't just sit in the general coffers; they're used to build and maintain roads. If there's no money for maintenance, no one fixes the cracked pavement. Our roadbeds collapse and our bridges fall down, and eventually, the highway system deteriorates to the point that it starts destroying our cars.
As Wilson points out, cars that get better fuel economy use less gasoline, and electric cars don't use any liquid fuel at all. Less gas = less tax money = who's going to foot the bill for our roads? It's not justification for buying a gas guzzler by any means, but right now, while we're on the cusp of dramatically reducing our fuel consumption, we'd better spend just as much time figuring out how the infrastructure is going to be financed. A car that gets 60 mpg isn't much good if there's no place to drive it.
In today's paper: Car tattoos
I was at the Toronto tattoo convention with my friend last week, where we both added a little something to our collections (call it a weakness), and I put together an article for the Toronto Star on car tattoos. You can find it here.
I didn't get anything car-related this time, just an old-fashioned nautical star. But I do have the Studebaker logo tattooed on my ankle ... a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do ...
June 19, 2008
Another low-fat potato chip comes to showrooms
In the news: Chrysler has launched the Aspen Hemi Hybrid. The Dodge Durango version will be coming, too.
So this is what Chrysler has chosen for its first entry into the hybrid market. Not a juiced-up version of the Caliber, or an auto-stop Sebring, or even a big vehicle that would make sense, like a work truck, which companies and contractors are going to have to buy even if gas goes to four bucks a litre. No, this technology goes into a giant SUV that's already a low-volume model and undoubtedly will continue to be, even with the $1,000-per-year fuel savings that the company claims it will provide.
I really hate to rag on the domestic automakers, because I want to see North America with a solid manufacturing base -- it benefits all of us, no matter how far removed we are from the auto industry. But they just seem to miss the point so often. This hybrid is just one more low-fat potato chip: not as bad for you as a regular potato chip, but if you really want to lose weight, reach for an apple or figure out if you're actually hungry instead. We've got the technology. Let's use it for good, not stupid.
June 18, 2008
Review: Hyundai Azera
Up today: a review of the Hyundai Azera on Canadian Driver. You can find it here.
June 17, 2008
Everything is relative ...
Some rambling thoughts on cars and driving for a Tuesday morning. Not necessarily right, not necessarily wrong, just ... observations.
Everything is relative: My everyday driver is a V8-powered, full-size pickup truck. That's bad these days. A family up in town owns a Prius and a Yaris. That's good these days. They have three children (one still in disposable diapers), a house that's approximately 2,800 square feet, central air conditioning, and up until the pesticide ban took effect out here, a Weed-Man sign on the lawn warning that it had been sprayed with poison. I have no children, my house is 900 square feet, I don't have air conditioning, and my gardens have been completely organic for the last 15 years. Hmmm.
What you can and can't do for fun: Going out for a couple of hours "just for a drive" is now frowned upon, because it wastes fuel and contributes to global warming. The RV and boating associations run regular ads on television urging people to take up these activities because they're fun. Hmmm.
That was how much?: There was a letter in today's paper regarding the blockade the CAW set up at General Motors here in Oshawa over the truck plant closing; the writer said that the autoworkers must obviously be paid too much money if they could afford the gas to drive slowly up and down the street for a couple of hours. Perhaps. But I can drive some 50 km on what I'd pay for a burger, fries and soda at the local fast-food joint. You seldom hear anyone complain that an autoworker's making too much money because he can afford to buy lunch at McDonald's. Hmmm.
Remember, Evian is "naive" spelled backwards: The gas station up the road is currently charging $1.34 per litre for regular gasoline. Go into the store attached to it, and the cheapest bottle of water is $1.00 for half a litre. I remember when there used to be conspiracy theories about backyard mechanics who'd invented special carburetors that would allow cars to run on H2O, but the auto and oil companies got wind of it and had them destroyed and the inventors hushed up. We never realized at the time just how lucky we were that they did.
What's that again?
Every now and again, Transport Canada will send me a list of the latest recalls; apparently, the agency gets the notice from the auto manufacturer and just runs it verbatim. So I'm not sure if it was someone at the government or someone at Cadillac, but taking a few bucks out of the kitty to purchase a dictionary might not be a bad idea:
No remedial action is required due to the unlikely-ness of such an occurrence.
June 15, 2008
Look, Ma, no hands!
I was on the highway today, driving at approximately 110 km/h. I was passed by a young woman in a Cadillac Escalade. I'd say she was about 25 and trying very hard to be Paris Hilton.
She had her cell phone jammed up against her left ear. In her right hand she held an open bottle of water, and the only contact she had with a vehicle doing a minimum of 115 km/h was the side of her hand resting against the bottom of the steering wheel.
Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino says speed kills. I dunno. I'm not afraid of someone doing 140 km/h in a capable car when they're paying attention. But I'm bloody scared to death of supermodels who seem to think that driving is fourth or fifth on the list of important things to remember when you're piloting two tons of steel at 32 meters per second. And what terrifies me even more is that Ms. Hilton Wannabe probably doesn't even comprehend that she's doing anything wrong. I wish you could fix dumb, but it doesn't look like it's possible anymore.
June 14, 2008
Reviews: Saturn Aura Hybrid and Hyundai Santa Fe
I have two reviews in today's Toronto Star. You can find the Saturn Aura Hybrid review here, while the Hyundai Santa Fe is over here.
June 11, 2008
Note to the cops: It ain't the speed, it's the stupidity
In the news today: Ontario Provincial Police chief Julian Fantino ain't happy. It seems that the media -- more specifically, my colleague at the Toronto Star, Jim Kenzie -- has been on his case about Section 172 of the Highway Traffic Act, better known as the "street racing legislation".
In short, if you're caught doing 50 km/h (31 mph) over the posted speed limit, the cop takes your license and your vehicle away on the spot. For seven days, sans judge and jury. It's just him, you and the towtruck.
That's even though Fantino, in a press release sent out today, said that "It is our job to lay the charges; once that happens, it's up to the judiciary system beyond the police to deal with each case individually."
Okay, but even letting that go, I can't agree with Fantino when he then says, "OPP officers are doing a great job of apprehending the most dangerous drivers." Because that all depends on your definition of who the most dangerous drivers are.
Fantino says it's someone driving at 150 km/h in a 100 km/h zone. I say it's someone driving at 100 km/h on a highway with a cell phone stuck to her ear. I say it's someone driving 60 km/h with a hamburger in one hand and a coffee in the other. I say it's someone who's been allowed to take the family vehicle out at midnight, even though he's only been driving for six months, and he's taking along all his friends.
Much of Fantino's effort is the result of a deadly crash in June 2007, when a truck driver went for the shoulder and was killed rather than take out vehicles around him. He had to take action when a speeding driver cut him off. No question: that driver should have been nailed to the wall. But one thing that very few people seemed to notice was a comment from a witness, who said that she saw three cars race past her in the right lane, according to a newspaper report, and then cut across to the left lane just moments after she let the tanker merge into the centre lane in front of her.
Read that again slowly. It doesn't exonerate the man who cut in front of the truck and caused the collision. But if our witness -- who apparently thinks she did nothing wrong, and the police seemingly agree -- had been in the right-hand lane where she was supposed to be, my guess is that the three cars would have continued up the highway in the left-hand lane, and that truck driver would have finished his route safely.
Here's my suggestion, Commissioner Fantino: put your men out there looking for the real problem drivers. Look for the ones who aren't paying attention; who don't know which lane to drive in; who don't obey amber or red lights; who don't know what "right of way" means; and in short, who need to go back to driving school.
Speed makes the result of a collision worse, but it doesn't cause the collision. Stupidity causes collisions. Bone-headed moves cause collisions. Hit on those folks, Commissioner, and the 150 km/h guys will still be breaking the law, but chances will be good that nobody will die. One early morning a few years ago, I hit 220 km/h on a deserted stretch of Highway 407. I knew my car, I knew my ability, and save for the illegal speed, I didn't do anything dumb. I'm still here. I wonder how that is.
Review: Hyundai Tucson
Up today: a review of the Hyundai Tucson on Canadian Driver. You can find it here.
June 09, 2008
Another Review: 2009 Lincoln MKS
I have a longer review of the Lincoln MKS up today on Luxury Car Canada; you can find it here.
June 07, 2008
Reviews: Lincoln MKS, Chevrolet HHR SS
In the Toronto Star today, I have a review from the launch of the new Lincoln MKS, which you can find here.
I also have a review of the Chevrolet HHR SS, which you can access by clicking here.
June 04, 2008
R.I.P., Oshawa Truck Plant
Well, it's official: GM plans to close its truck plant in Oshawa, Ontario in 2009. Funny that that news apparently wasn't passed along when the company negotiated a new contract with the union a couple of weeks ago.
Even more troubling is a blurb in the Toronto Star newspaper today: 2005: Ontario invests $235 million with GM's Beacon project, $60 million of which goes to universities for R&D and the balance to GM for its Oshawa operation. The agreement includes minimum job levels at the truck plant.
I think it's time that Ontario had a second look at that particular piece of funding, methinks.
June 03, 2008
GM: Time for "strategic initiatives"
In the news today: GM chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner used the stockholders' meeting to outline the plans in store for GM. It looks like gas prices have finally gotten through.
There's going to be more emphasis on smaller vehicles, an all-new Aveo, a new global compact Chevrolet, and funding to get the Volt on the road.
There will also be plant closures, including one at the truck plant here in Oshawa, Ontario, where I live, which should go over really well. I've never figured out why the plants that win the most awards for quality always seem to be the first to close.
And there's going to be a "strategic review" of the Hummer brand. Gee, ya think? The only surprise is that it took them this long.
June 02, 2008
Nissan Pathfinder, and the Auto Baron's Ball
On today's Canadian Driver, I have a review of the V8-powered Nissan Pathfinder, which you can find here.
I also dropped by Parkwood, the home of GM of Canada founder Robert McLaughlin, where the annual Auto Baron's Ball fundraiser was in full swing. There's a piece on it over here.
June 01, 2008
Today's Translation: Ford Corporate-Speak
In the news: Ford is transforming a full-size truck plant near Mexico City to build the new Fiesta, a compact vehicle that will be sold in global markets worldwide under the name. Mexico will produce all Fiesta sedans and hatchbacks for the North American market.
Ford president and CEO Alan Mulally: "Ford is absolutely committed to leveraging our global assets to accelerate the shift to more fuel-efficient small cars and powertrain technologies that people really want and value. Our investments in these facilities in Mexico are part of our plan to further realign our manufacturing capacity in line with the introduction of more small cars and crossovers."
Translation: Nobody's buying our big trucks and SUVs, so we'll build small cars. Naturally, we will find the global plant where it costs us the least amount of money to make them.
May 31, 2008
What's That Again?
In the news today: Ontario has announced it is now issuing its license plates in both English and French, in keeping with the fact that some 550,000 Francophones live in the province. The provincial slogan, Yours to Discover, can now also be ordered as Tant a Decouvrir.
So here's what the Francophone Affairs Minister had to say about it: All Ontarians now have the opportunity to show, on our roads and wherever else their travels take them, that Ontario is proud of its French culture and language.
"Wherever else their travels take them?"
Take note: if the guy beside you on the airplane is sitting in his car with the new license plates bolted to the bumper, it's just because he's really proud. Honest.
Honda Accord Fuel Challenge: We Won!
May 29, 2008
Today's translation: GM Corporate-Speak
In the news: some 19,000 GM hourly workers in the U.S. have accepted the company's attrition program, and they'll be out the door and home by July 1 at the latest.
First crack at their jobs will go to current employees "whenever possible", according to a release from GM. But if new workers have to be brought in, they'll come in at entry-level wages and benefits.
According to GM North America president Troy Clarke, "This attrition program gives us an opportunity to restructure our U.S. workforce through the entry-level wage and benefit structure for new hourly employees."
Translation: We're going to save a bundle by getting the old guy out of the slot, and putting in a new guy at a lower wage.
Now yes, I do understand that the domestic auto companies are still bloated from a quarter-century ago, and that trimming down doesn't happen without some tough decisions.
But before you jump on the bandwagon and say "about time", keep a few things in mind, including the fact that good-paying jobs generate higher taxes and more disposable income than low-paying jobs. Those taxes help pay for your social programs, your schools, your neighborhood, your police and fire protection, your parks and your libraries. Do you want your neighborhood funded by an autoworker making $25+ an hour, or by someone whose job description includes "Do you want fries with that?"
Henry Ford, back when he was still turning out the Model T, raised the salaries of most of his workers to $5.00 a day, which was twice the going rate. His theory was that a decently-paid worker could afford to buy the product he built, thereby increasing demand for the product and turning it into a cycle. How many minimum-wage workers do you know who are buying new cars?
And don't kid yourself; if the auto plants could get workers to screw together the vehicles for a buck an hour, I doubt the price would go down. Profits would go up and the shareholders would be happy, but don't think Flint would be fired back up to make $2,500 Tata cars. One of Chevrolet's best-selling models is made in Korea, but its price doesn't seem to reflect the wages those workers make over there.
Now, don't get me wrong -- the automakers need to do something to stay afloat in these troubled times, and they're probably doing the best they can.
Just don't make the mistake of thinking that what's good for General Motors is necessarily good for America.
May 28, 2008
Subaru Impreza Review
Saving Gas: Common Sense
In the news today: the European Commission has launched a campaign to promote more energy-efficient driving. Over 45,000 fuel stations in 29 countries will take part in the campaign, distributing leaflets that explain fuel efficiency and "responsible driving behavior" to motorists.
"To reach our ambitious targets of CO2 reduction and energy savings, we have to make a big effort in all sectors," said Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs. "In certain cases this will require high-tech solutions, but in others we just need to apply some common sense. This campaign provides a set of simple tips to reduce CO2 emissions and save money, simply by driving more intelligently. Learning a few tricks will help (European Union) citizens to keep more fuel in their tanks, more money in their pockets and more CO2 out of the atmosphere."
Common sense. That's a phrase I hear bandied about a lot in North America, but it's usually mated to "technologies" or "plans"; I very seldom hear it in the same breath as citizens.
Last weekend I participated in a fuel efficiency driving challenge, which had me driving 250 km or so in a four-cylinder Honda. I won the fuel contest, averaging 6.8 L/100 km against the vehicle's published rate of 8.3 L/100 km. I sweated over every light, every hill, every unnecessary rpm, but I saved the equivalent of $2.03 per 100 km by the day's gas prices -- which is quite a savings when you add it up over the 20,000 km or so that the average vehicle travels in a year. No special technology, no fancy propulsion system, just a light foot and some common-sense driving. (And the realization that I would have saved even more fuel by not making an unnecessary trip.)
This is the part of the equation that's so often left out, and I applaud the European Commission for having the guts to target it. It's partly the car you buy, but more importantly, it's the way you drive it. North America doesn't want to hear that; North America wants the easy solution. North America wants to eat low-fat potato chips when it should be reaching for apples, or even deciding if it's hungry. Common sense: possibly the most uncommon element on the planet these days.
May 27, 2008
Now that proper word use and spelling are no longer necessary ...
I carved this out of a press release I read today. I wish I could say it was the first time I'd ever received something like this, but it's becoming all too common. It's obvious that Spell-Check has its limits, and someone really should dip into the dictionary to learn the meaning of "unique":
The lineage of Zukor's Packard is rather unique: it's first two owners have stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Webster wept ...
Rolls-Royce: Just Because You Can ...
I spotted this at a golf resort the other day. It's a Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe, an extremely rare and extremely expensive variant of an already extremely rare and extremely expensive brand. According to the enthusiastic desk clerk (it belongs to his boss), this is one of two examples currently in Canada.
That's two too many, say I.
I'm sure it rides like a dream, bathes its occupants in opulence I can't possibly imagine, and eats up asphalt like a jet fighter at takeoff (and probably so quietly, you wouldn't even know the engine was running). But good heavens, who designed this thing?
The nose looks like one of those front ends that the basketball players put on the Chrysler 300s. The wrinkly top looks like it's off our 1966 Dodge Dart. And that windshield frame -- it looks like something off a plastic model kit, where it has to be oversized because it can't be made to scale.
Several people were all over it, praising it to the hilt, but I think it's just a case of money talking. So I'll be the first to say it: yes, it's expensive, but man, this thing is fugly!
May 26, 2008
Senior Drivers: "Driving is a privilege, mobility is a right"
Recently I attended the Aging Driving Mobility Forum, where experts from numerous fields and from across North America came together to try to find solutions for aging drivers. You can find my report, on Canadian Driver, by clicking here.
May 25, 2008
Drop the top: A history of convertibles
May 24, 2008
May 22, 2008
What you say ... and what you don't ...
In the news today: the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) crash-tested the Dodge Grand Caravan.
Here's what was on the IIHS' website: Front and side crash test ratings are GOOD but rear protection is MARGINAL.
Here's what was in the press release that Chrysler (U.S.) made available to the media: The all-new 2008 Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan earned "good" ratings, the highest ratings available from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), in both frontal offset and side crashworthiness tests.
And save for an enthusiastic quote from the minivan department's vice-president, and an assurance that Chrysler's concerned about safety, that's it.
Rear protection crash tests determine whether seat and head restraints have been properly designed to minimize the risk of neck injury in a crash. It still isn't high on a lot of automakers' lists: the Grand Caravan finished mid-pack, behind the top "Good"-rated Hyundai Entourage, Kia Sedona and Honda Odyssey, but ahead of the "Poor"-rated Toyota Sienna, Nissan Quest and Chevrolet Uplander.
But while the rating itself is important, the real story here is what Chrysler said ... or rather, what it didn't say. "Error of omission", I call it, and I think it's just as newsworthy.
May 21, 2008
Auto Journalism: Where are the ethics?
On his blog, Joe Clark of Toronto tackles the thorny issue of ethics in auto journalism, and specifically he takes on The Toronto Star, where I'm published. It wasn't easy to read his entry from my chair, but overall, when it comes to the industry in general, he's right. You can read it by clicking here.
The problem of objective reporting turning into an advertorial crops up any time a product or service is reviewed, but automobiles and travel are the most likely to come under fire, and usually with good reason. That's quite the photo I've posted here. That's the resort where I stayed when I was on the launch of a family vehicle -- one that starts at $20,000. The people who buy the vehicle will probably never set foot in a place like that in all their lives.
I like to think that I do write objectively about the vehicles, no matter what the automaker does, but the public doesn't see it that way, and they shouldn't. I also know a few writers who never met a car they didn't like, because they never met a press trip they didn't like. Some of the old boys quiver with righteous indignation if people like Clark suggest that they have a price, but the fact is, some do. Many of the automakers have eliminated gifts on press trips, which didn't go over too well with some of them. (Mark Richardson, the editor mentioned in the story -- my boss -- tried to pass a ruling a couple of years ago with the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada that no member would accept gifts from automakers. It was voted down.)
I am the first to admit that I benefit from the perks of my job, and that I'm also guilty of non-ethical behavior. I've travelled to places I normally would never have a chance to visit (and Clark failed to note that the journalist, not the car company, keeps the frequent flier miles). I have kept many of the gifts. I have stayed in hotels and resorts I could never afford, eaten in restaurants I could never visit otherwise. That's the way this game is set up. It's not right. But short of quitting my job, I honestly don't know how to fix the system. I really don't. I wish I knew the answer.
May 20, 2008
Infiniti EX35 Review
On Canadian Driver today, I have a review of the 2008 Infiniti EX35. You can find it by clicking here.
Letters? Oh, yes, I get letters ...
As a freelancer, I work at home, rather than in an office; there are times I feel like I'm working in a bubble. That's why it's nice to get feedback from readers, whether it's through the printed newspaper or my online work. But every now and again, well ... let me share some examples from the mailbag.
The conspiracy theorist: A reader wanted me to investigate and expose GM for false advertising, claiming that it was advertising a car at a higher mile-per-gallon average than he figured its L/100 km rating was when converted. I investigated ... and reported that if he'd converted into Canadian gallons, instead of the smaller American ones, the math would work ...
Now there's an incentive: The inventor of a new auto-related product asked me to feature the product in a story -- in effect, a free ad. In return, he said, "I promise to read all your stories twice each time if you do."
I must have been asleep that day: A reader chided me for writing about new cars, and giving up my newspaper column on used cars. I told him I'd never written a column on used cars. He said I had, called me a fraud, and said he'd check the previous issues to prove it. Needless to say, I didn't hear from him again...
Feeling gassy: A reader was told by the dealer that her brand-new vehicle had been filled at an Esso station, but she wanted to patronize the Petro-Canada station closer to her house, and asked me what damage she might do to the engine by changing brands.
I think I saw that already: A reader mailed me a copy of a magazine article on old trucks, thinking I'd be interested in it. He apparently didn't notice that I'd written it.
Yes, that's a good reason: Someone complained when I found fault with a Pontiac; I needed to "stick to the positive," he said, "because GM employs the most people per car."
Ooookay: I mentioned that two mechanically-identical models had "unique sheet metal" to describe the styling. Someone wrote and told me I was wrong; he'd called the company, who confirmed they used the same type of sheet metal in both.
I'll get right on that: "Would you mind ranking, in order, the safest minivan to the least. Also, please confirm my assumption that American cars use soft metal that quickly loses its compression, thereby increasing fuel consumption after only five years."
May 19, 2008
Beverly Rae Kimes: In memorium
Beverly Rae Kimes has passed away. If my calculations are correct, she was 67. To say that the automotive world has lost a giant in the field is an understatement.
A writer and editor since 1963, Kimes had the helm of Automobile Quarterly for many years, and was a contributor for decades. She was the author or editor of more than twenty books, including the definitive history of such makes as Packard and Mercedes-Benz. She was also a rarity, a female writer and historian in a male-dominated field.
I had the opportunity to interview her by telephone in 2002 for Old Autos newspaper, and the first thing I mentioned was that when I first became aware of her writing, I assumed from her ambiguous name that she was a man. She said that just about everyone made that mistake, but in the early days, it was to her advantage: her meticulous work earned her a place on the page, and "By the time they found out I was a woman, (at a time) when women weren't regarded as favorably as they are today with regard to the workplace, I had already established myself," she told me. "I had been writing for several years, so they couldn't really take that out on me at that point."
Although she would gain a reputation as one of the top historians in her field, she told me that she'd known nothing about cars when she started. Fresh out of college, she first got a job with a theater magazine that folded shortly thereafter. Sent on a lead by her agent, the job turned out to be the fledgling Automobile Quarterly. Although she admitted her ignorance of automobiles, the editor hired her anyway, on the basis of the research she did for her Master's thesis. Her first story, on the Curved Dash Olds, sparked an interest in finding out the story behind the vehicles.
My story on her contained a minor error, which most readers would never have caught, but Kimes was mortified, especially when I showed her the transcript of our interview and she found the error was hers. I didn't realize it at the time, but she was recovering from a serious illness, which left her a little fuzzy at times. She requested (and received) a correction; her attention to detail would have allowed nothing less.
Kimes entered the field during the infancy of writing about automotive history, and along with a small handful of peers, she set the standard both for research, and for the stories that resulted. Every auto writer who's ever turned a key owes a debt to her, especially women writers, for whom Kimes put a foot in the door. I know I certainly do; all I can say is, thank you.
Electric vehicles: More than just the car
I just read a news report, a follow-up to Nissan's earlier announcement that it will sell a completely electric vehicle in the U.S. and Japan in 2010. The company has embarked on a full-scale study in Kanagawa Prefecture to set up a charging network and incentives program that can possibly be repeated nationally and even globally.
That's a huge report, and it's one that I hope to see with many more automakers.
Up front: I'm a fan of electric vehicles, and I think they're going to have an important place in the overall goal of sustainable transportation. But I also think that many of the people who champion them are not looking at the big picture overall.
I've spoken to many supporters, who tell me that people will simply plug the cars in at home, or plug them in at work, and that's the extent of their vision of infrastructure. The problem is that many of these supporters live in single-family homes, and work at small companies where running a few extension cords from the building isn't an issue.
But many more people live in apartment buildings, or in older city areas where they have to park on the street. Many work at large complexes or factories, where a few thousand cars might occupy the parking lot. Suddenly, the situation isn't so simple as these devotees like to think it is.
Any new technology is going to be chicken-and-egg; early motorists had to buy their gasoline from hardware stores, because gas stations had yet to be developed. By working on the hen as well as the egg, automakers and governments can help to make this happen. Maybe, in future, parking meters will charge the cars parked beside them. Maybe apartment parking lots will include stand-alone charging systems. Maybe, if they do, the electric car will be more than just a conveyance for a lucky few, and instead, become a feasible option for many.
May 17, 2008
Safety first!
In today's Toronto Star, I have a short piece on seven tips for vehicle safety. You can find it by clicking here.
May 14, 2008
Those were the days ...
That's me, age 13, on my mother's new car, a 1972 Plymouth Scamp. (She just about had a bird when the photos came back from the drugstore.) I learned to drive on that car when I was 17, and not long afterwards, it became the first car I owned. Less than a year after I learned to drive, believe it or not, the city of Toronto gave me a taxi driver's license.
I was thinking about that Plymouth the other day, and the cabs I drove in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when I was assessing a brand-new car and marking against it because it had very few storage cubbies.
How times have changed. My Plymouth had a glovebox and an ashtray, and that was it. With the cabs, we'd sometimes buy plastic consoles that sat on the transmission hump. They could be a pain if someone wanted to sit in the middle, though, because most cars had front bench seats.
Cars didn't have cupholders back then, save for the inside of my glovebox's metal lid, which had a couple of indentations to hold a mug if you stopped at A&W for a root beer. I don't remember people drinking anything when they actually drove. We did in the taxis, because there wasn't time to stop. Coffee shops used styrofoam cups, not paper, and we'd wedge them between the dash and the windshield. Some guys bought cupholders that hung off the windowframe, but they were more trouble than they were worth. We'd put a lid on the cup and then tear out a hole so we could drink on the go, and sometimes passengers would marvel at such a great idea. Now the lids come with the holes already scored.
Cars didn't have door pockets. They didn't have a mirror on the passenger door, but they did have vinyl roofs that were definitely not the stylist's finer moment. If you ordered a rear defogger, it was a fan in the parcel shelf that blew warm air on the window, very noisily. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven the day I got a taxi that had air conditioning, power windows and power locks. It was like driving a Cadillac. And those were back in the days when the only thing better than a Cadillac was a Rolls Royce. Good heavens, I feel old.
May 13, 2008
A discussion with GM's Larry Burns
On Canadian Driver today, I have an interview with Larry Burns, vice-president of research and development at General Motors. A fascinating man, and with quite a bit to say on the future of transportation, including the work his company is doing in that direction.
While the issue of oil dependency and future technologies comes with as many opinions as there are molecules in hydrogen, he presented a number of issues I hadn't considered before. I don't know if I came away sold on all of them, but I'll say this -- I'm putting a lot more thought into the total effect that any form of transportation will have, even when it's one that I think is a solid one. I'm still a fan of diesels, for example, but Larry gave me a lot to think about when he told me that they may not be the way to go. There are a lot of people who'll tell you that "this" is the answer. I'm more interested in those who say this might be it.
The story's available here.
Premium fuel: yes or no?
This was the sight that greeted me at the gas pump today when I filled up a vehicle. Fortunately, my ride called for 87 octane, which was "only" $1.25 per litre. The premium stuff represented a jump of 12 cents a litre. That would have added about eight bucks to my total.
The Internet's awash in articles on whether most cars really need premium. Few will come out and actually say you can run the lower-grade stuff, liability being what it is, but the general consensus seems to be that if it isn't turbo- or supercharged, the lower grade should see you through.
Things were different way back when, before cars had computerized fuel management systems and knock sensors, and using a lower grade could damage a higher-performance engine. Today's cars can make up the difference by dialing back a little, which shouldn't be too much of an issue to the average driver. I don't know about you, but I doubt I'd be able to tell if my car was producing 300 horsepower instead of 302.
I have another unproven pet theory, and it has to do with prestige and image. Many of the premium-brand manufacturers call for high-test across their entire product lines, regardless of engine size or horsepower. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you will, but I wonder if the thinking is that premium fuel = premium car ... and a car that takes "regular" fuel is, well, just a regular vehicle. In other words, it ain't the car that needs the expensive fuel, but the owner's ego.
May 12, 2008
Gas pump advertising: make it stop!
As if it isn't bad enough that I'm paying $1.25 a litre for 87-octane fuel, I now also have to listen to a television commercial while I pump my gas.
If you haven't seen one of these things yet, count your blessings, but trust me: it'll be coming to a station near you. It's a screen atop the pump that comes to life as soon as the pump turns on and gets ready to dispense fuel. While $62.83 quickly drained from my gasoline card to fill a Volvo tester, I got to listen to extremely annoying ads shilling pizza, bottled water, and something to do with the Olympic team.
Enough already. I can turn off my radio or television if I don't want to listen to an ad. The same courtesy should be extended when I'm at the pump. If I want to know about the price of pizza or whatever the Olympic team is doing, I'll make an effort to find out. In the meantime, I'd like the gas companies to shove these infernal advertising devices up their pipelines. Hard. Oh, and considering that these advertisers have paid Esso good money for the privilege of annoying me ... why isn't the gas any cheaper?
May 11, 2008
No dogs allowed ... for safety's sake
In the news: there's a bill pending in California that would make it illegal to drive with a dog on your lap.
I don't have a dog -- I live in a house owned by a cat -- but while I think it's sad that we have to legislate common sense, I hope this one passes swiftly, and then spreads rapidly to other jurisdictions.
I've seen plenty of dogs, both small and larger than expected, wedged in behind the wheel in the driver's lap, and I have to wonder what people are thinking. Collision avoidance can require rapid wheel movements that these drivers simply can't make because Rover is in the way.
Beyond that, an unrestrained dog is unsafe for both pet and people. If the airbag deploys and a dog is in the front seat -- whether on the driver's or the passenger's lap -- the airbag will undoubtedly kill the dog. In the back seat, the dog will be thrown violently about, either injuring itself or becoming a projectile that injures human passengers. In short, the safest place for a pet is in an approved car harness that locks into the seatbelt, or in a pet carrier.
Many people complain that their dogs don't like being confined that way in an automobile. So what? I'm sure there are plenty of children who'd love to stand up on the seat unrestrained. Would you let him have his way just because he doesn't like the seatbelt? Or do common sense and safety trump the wishes of someone incapable of comprehending the danger? Do everyone a favor -- when you buckle up, buckle up your dog as well.
