Book Review: Sixty To Zero
Michael Karesh lives in West Bloomfield, Michigan, with his wife and three children. In 2003 he received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. While in Chicago he worked at the National Opinion Research Center, a leader in the field of survey research. For his doctoral thesis, he spent a year-and-a-half inside an automaker studying how and how well it understood consumers when developing new products. While pursuing the degree he taught consumer behavior and product development at Oakland University. Since 1999, he has contributed auto reviews to Epinions, where he is currently one of two people in charge of the autos section. Since earning the degree he has continued to care for his children (school, gymnastics, tae-kwan-do...) and write reviews for Epinions and, more recently, The Truth About Cars while developing TrueDelta, a vehicle reliability and price comparison site.
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- TheEndlessEnigma Poor planning here, dropping a Vinfast dealer in Pensacola FL is just not going to work. I love Pensacola and that part of the Gulf Coast, but that area is by no means an EV adoption demographic.
- Keith Most of the stanced VAGS with roof racks are nuisance drivers in my area. Very likely this one's been driven hard. And that silly roof rack is extra $'s, likely at full retail lol. Reminds me of the guys back in the late 20th century would put in their ads that the installed aftermarket stereo would be a negotiated extra. Were they going to go find and reinstall that old Delco if you didn't want the Kraco/Jenson set up they hacked in?
- MaintenanceCosts Poorly packaged, oddly proportioned small CUV with an unrefined hybrid powertrain and a luxury-market price? Who wouldn't want it?
- MaintenanceCosts Who knows whether it rides or handles acceptably or whether it chews up a set of tires in 5000 miles, but we definitely know it has a "mature stance."Sounds like JUST the kind of previous owner you'd want…
- 28-Cars-Later Nissan will be very fortunate to not be in the Japanese equivalent of Chapter 11 reorganization over the next 36 months, "getting rolling" is a luxury (also, I see what you did there).
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As a novice writer I've learned access is important, whether it's access to engineers and executives or access to test vehicles. Without access you're just another guy with an opinion about cars. Farago pissed off a lot of people. It helped build TTAC's brand and credibility with readers, but it impaired TTAC's access with the car companies. Remember the Lutz press event for automotive bloggers where GM's communications guy didn't even want to let Robert in the room? Hell, when I get credentialed to the Detroit show I usually get them issued for another site that I write for. If I say that I write for TTAC, I'll get a smirk and have to end up describing myself as the site's "unofficial Detroit defender". There's a saying that family therapists use, "Is this the hill you want to die fighting for?" You want to get the truth, and ask sincere, probing questions. At the same time, if you get known for negativity, you're not going to get many interview opportunities. So you try to balance fair criticism with sucking up. My approach is to not be openly confrontational, and to work hard at coming up with questions that the interviewee hasn't heard a million times. I've found that a unique question isn't usually answered with a sound bite. If that unique question is thoughtful, that goes a long way towards establishing credibility.
CJinSD - you are SOOO right!