Over dinner with our beloved Editor-At-Large two weeks ago, Ed and I discussed what we felt was the coming “post-car” era; rampant consolidation, the death of beloved brands and the subsequent widespread love for classic cars, the adoption of other forms of mobility and a fierce anti-car backlash. A nugget of information buried at the end of a Ward’s Auto report instantly brought all my fears and apprehension to the forefront, a mere fortnight after Ed and I concluded that things weren’t going to be that bad after all.

A crucial aspect of ensuring the future of any vehicle is an understanding between OEMs and city planners. An unwillingness to reform neighborhoods with charging stations, for example, is dovetailing with local pushes for bicycle riding and car-sharing.

“There will be no cars in the city of 2050 if the urban planners have their way,” IHS Automotive Senior Director Philip Gott tells attendees of the CTI forum.

To get the necessary context here, the Ward’s Auto article was primarily talking about the necessity of government intervention in the adoption of alt-fuel vehicles. But the notion of a carless city runs much deeper than that. There is a growing movement nowadays that sees the automobile not just as an inconvenience, but a societal menace. Some of it is rooted in environmental concerns, but a more nefarious form of this anti-car opposition is rooted on dubious social justice initiatives.

A few years ago, there was a famous case where Ontario’s Attorney-General, Michael Bryant, was attacked by a drunk cyclist while driving his Saab convertible at a busy downtown Toronto intersection. Bryant, who was out with his wife, driving with the roof down, panicked and drove off, with the cyclist clinging to the car. The Saab collided with a solid object and the cyclist died. Bryant was absolved of any criminal charges in the case, but his political career was over.

The uproar over the case was palpable in a city where cyclists and motorists are frequently at odds. But what began cropping up was a new form of criticism. One letter writer to NOW magazine, a Toronto alternative weekly, has forever stood out in my mind, with the commenter blasting Bryant and the automobile as being some kind of hierarchical, top-down individualistic mode of transportation (I couldn’t find the letter, so this is paraphrasing) while praising the bicycle as a grassroots form of transportation that is accessible to all.

The above quote suggests that opposition to cars has moved beyond mere environmental concerns into something more ideological. As a downtown resident, I can understand the desire for less smog, less traffic congestion and more pedestrian friendly streets and public spaces. These are what ultimately created the vibrant, bustling urban cores and livable communities (pardon me – I hate that word, but it really is appropriate) that make cities great. I feel that public transit is also a necessary ingredient to this mixture, having seen first hand the nightmare that comes with inadequate infrastructure and a sub-par public transit system.

If urban planners, who are likely working hard for their Masters degrees in the Marxist-infused ivory towers of our North American college campuses, are attempting to eradicate the car from our cities, then they are simply refusing to meet reality on realities terms. Despite the best wishes of public-transit advocates, utopian cyclists and their distant cousins, the general crackpots that infest the world’s great cities, the car isn’t going anywhere. Only Copenhagen has managed to fully embrace cycling, specifically because it’s built for it. A recent trip to New York City saw my girlfriend and I walk and take the subway nearly everywhere. It was fast, efficient, emissions free and yet cars were everywhere. Livery-service Town Cars, yellow Crown Vic taxis, motorcycles, luxury SUVs and even supercars all shared the road in Manhattan, where owning a car is apparently both passé  and a pain in the ass.

I don’t think it would be fair to blame our current crop of urban planners. If anything, the faculty, doubtlessly hailing from the Boomer generation and desperately clinging on the outdated, asinine “critical” theories and “radical” dogma are likely spurring something as, well, vindictive as banning EV charging stations. I agree that a more walkable and transit-accessible city is always a good thing, but that should have no bearing on the presence of the automobile. My experiences with EVs have all been positive, and having a charging station near my office makes things a lot easier – but my neighborhood at home was built before WWII, when garages and outdoor electrical outlets weren’t commonplace. A community initiative to install EV chargers for example, would save me from having to run a 30 foot cord from my driveway to my dryer outlet in the basement.

We’ve seen time and time again how these kinds of social engineering initiatives pan out. The bigger worry is that the opposition to the automobile has crystallized into something more visceral, more ideological and more rigid. It’s in danger of becoming a moral stance akin to one’s position on abortion or same-sex marriage. Fortunately, all it would take up here is a miserable winter of carrying home local produce from the Farmer’s Market on a bicycle and no taxi access to the downtown core to make a number of anti-car types reconsider their choices.

Although news articles on the topic are fairly thin, it seems almost inevitable that Mazda and Fiat will continue doing business together, with the next step involving Mazdas built at Fiat/Chrysler plants.

Articles in Automotive News and Just-Auto have quotes from Sergio Marchionne expounding on his openness to alliances and the “difficult economics” of creating new platforms and engines independently. Our sources indicate that further collaboration between Fiat and Mazda are going to happen.

Mazda needs to form an alliance with someone or risk perishing. Fiat and Chrysler plants have excess capacity, and Mazda is facing a big problem with a strong yen impacting their exports. Their new factory in Mexico can’t come soon enough, and North American built Mazdas would be a lifeline of sorts for the company.

The deeper business synergies between Mazda and Fiat are somewhat obscure, but from a strictly product-focused standpoint, the two companies seem to share an ethos for more compact, fun-to-drive cars. Mazda manages to stretch few resources into some compelling products and technologies, and a Fiat tie-up could ease some of the burden of being an independent automaker, while passing some lessons of their own back to Turin and Detroit.

A news story from a UK-based paper in Norfolk confirmed that Dany Bahar was suspended from Lotus following a “complaint about his conduct”.

Bahar has been temporarily replaced by represenatives from DRB-Hicom, parent company of Lotus and Proton. The news item is rather vague, and makes no mention of whether Bahar’s conduct involved business practices or something of a…ahem, more personal nature. Automotive blogs across the land are certain to have a field day with this one. But we got the scoop.

Thanks Ronnieand Michael Banovsky for the tips

Emerging market-san: Toyota's Yukitoshi Funo

If you are the executive of a car company, then you better be with both feet in the emerging markets, or seek other employment. Markets in the U.S., Europe and Japan are saturated and off their peaks. At the same time, people in the world’s most populous countries are trading in their mopeds for cars, and this is where you want to be. Sadly, Detroit appears to be underrepresented in these markets.

Toyota Executive Vice President Yukitoshi Funo today singled out Volkswagen, Hyundai, and Nissan/Renault as the companies that are in “fierce competition” with his employer when it comes to the growth markets of Asia and South America. A Detroit company was not mentioned.

Much to the chagrin of some patriotic Japanese reporters in the room, Funo said that Toyota’s production capacity in emerging markets skyrocketed from 450,000 units in 2008 to 3.1 million next year, which is “equivalent to our Japanese domestic production level.”

World car production currently stands at around 80 million units per year. Levels of 100 million or higher are expected soon. These cars, says Funo, will be “built where they are sold.” They will be built in emerging markets, not in the U.S., Europe or Japan. 45 percent of Toyota’s sales already are in emerging markets. Conservatively, the number is expected to climb to 50 percent by 2015.

Bolstered by the success of Toyota’s Etios, Toyota will launch eight new compact cars until 2015, designed for and built in emerging markets. Introduced in December 2010 in India, the Etios pierced the 100,000 mark in cumulative sales just a few days ago.

According to ample hints dropped today, the Etios platform will provide the underpinnings to the eight compact cars that will spearhead Toyota’s continued assault on the emerging markets. The cars will slot “below the Corolla and will have a size similar to the Etios,” said Managing Officer Kazuhiro Kobayashi, who promised that “the Etios platform naturally will be made good use of.”

This was then: Toyota's "wild cow", the 1976 Tamaraw

Toyota has big plans for these cars. They form what Toyota call the “new compact car category.” They are supposed to bring in sales of one million units per year before 2015.

This is now: Toyota Fortuner, a small SUV that is a hit in emerging marekts

They will not be low cost cars. Funo rejected rumors of a low cost car that would retail in the 500,000 yen ($6,300) category. Looking at a green Tamaraw, or “wild cow,” a very basic jeepney-type vehicle that led Toyota’s invasion of the Philippines in 1976, Funo said that times have changed:

“Customers in emerging markets no longer like the Tamaraw. They want to shift to better things, they want better and even better cars.”

Toyota wants to leave the low cost car segment to other makers, including its sibling Daihatsu. Toyota is focused on a price level around $12,000, which leaves room for families, bags, and aspirations.

Although Michael briefly touched on this in his review of the 2013 Altima, the 2002 Altima was a watershed vehicle in our market, albeit one that doesn’t get enough credit. Without it, there would never be a Toyota Camry with a sub 6-second 0-60 time.

Two Hundred And Forty Horsepower. Before this magic number, the Altima was an also-ran, too small to be a mid-size car but too large to be a compact, placing it in the weird no-man’s land occupied by cars like the Ford Contour. The 2002 Accord V6 used a 3.0L V6 with 200 horsepower, and the Camry was in similar territory. An Acura TL had a 3.2L V6 with 225 horsepower and cost a few thousand dollars more.

And then came the Altima. The QR25DE powered 4-cylinders weren’t that special, but the prospect of a VQ-engined, 240 horsepower family sedan with a stick shift was a novel concept. The Maxima, formerly the vanguard for the “4DSC” crowd, quickly became obsolete, even though it still lingers on today without a clear identity.

A year later, the Honda Accord debuted with 240 horsepower in their V6 engine. In 2006, the Camry V6 fired back with 268 horsepower. The Altima then upped its V6 to 270 horsepower, while Honda will now sell you an Accord V6 with 271 horsepower. Even brands intent on downsizing and improving fuel economy are getting into it; Hyundai’s 4-cylinder turbocharged Sonata makes 276 horsepower. The horsepower pissing match could arguably be the tipping point for when modern cars evolved to their current state; powerful, heavy, but without any joy behind them. A Camry can handle a WRX in the 1320, but it remains a Pyrrhic victory for one’s soul. Yeah, you beat a sportier car. Would you like to go hunt penned in deer while you’re at it? The Hyundai Genesis is a great example of how horsepower is useless without the appropriate tools. I can’t tell the difference between the original V6 version of the sedan, and the slightly more powerful V6 in the mildly updated 2012 Genesis. But in the coupe, where that power can really be used effectively, really does show you what an improvement the extra 42 horsepower is for that car.

I’m not really sure where things can go from here on out. A 300 horsepower front-drive family sedan just seems asinine, but the manufacturers have effectively backed themselves into a corner. Advertising a car with “30 percent less power!” is going to go over as well as a pork-only buffet at an event for the Muslim Auto Writers Association. The 2012 Fusion appears to be going in the opposite direction, with the 2.0L Ecoboost topping out at a non-insignificant 237 horsepower. The base engines, with 170 horsepower for the 2.5L and 179 horsepower for the 1.6 Ecoboost, are a little behind the current field on paper. Personally, I hope this trend spreads to other manufacturers too.

This is all we’ve got, but we’ll be keeping an eye on things…everyone grab the popcorn.

Alpine is back from the dead, in a way. Celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the Alpine A110 Berlinette, Renault today unveiled the Renault Alpine A110-50. Alpine may be back, but only as a zombie: Officially, the A110-50 is a concept only.

For a concept, is has real world parameters.

• The engine is a Renault V4, a 3.5 liter 24-valve 400hp V6 mounted in mid-rear position, mated to a semi-automatic six-speed sequential gearbox. Fresh air comes through a carbon air intake borrowed from the Mégane Trophy V6. Weight distribution is 47.8 percent over the front wheels and the rest over the rear.
• To stop the car, the brakes use 356mm-diameter steel discs and six-piston calipers in the front and 330mm/four-piston in the back. The 21 inch wheels are fitted with street-legal Michelins.
• The wheelbase of the Renault Alpine A110-50 is identical to the Mégane Trophy (2,625mm), the track is slightly wider at 1,680mm front and 1,690mm rear.
• Renault proudly mentions that “driving aids like ABS, traction control, etc. are not fitted.”

Alpine is to Renault what M is to BMW. Alpine has more history and fewer cars. Alpine converted Renault cars into sports cars. 1973, the company was bought by Renault. In 1996, the Alpine brand was put in suspended animation, Renault made its few sports cars under its own brand.

Rumors of an Alpine revival had surfaced several times, only to be quashed later. Spokesfolk in Paris won’t say whether a revived Berlinette will see series production. Renault is sitting on the fence by calling the car or concept and a prototype at the same time. But then, Renault most likely did not go to all the trouble of building the prototype for purely sentimental reasons.

A 1997 Ford Escort is not exactly a rolling testament to the dreams of auto enthusiasts.

But for $300, it beats the ever loving snot out of a Schwinn.

This LX model was a trade-in from one of my customers. Did I rip them off? No. Not at all. One of the cylinders was dead. The interior was as dirty as Hugh Hefner’s mind, and with 221k miles coupled with a 5-speed, it wasn’t about to go on the front line.

But where should I put it?

Rent: Yes, people like small cars and you can always give a good detail to any dirty car. But 5-speeds? I did offer one, and only one, as a rental back in the day. It was a 1995 or 1996 Geo Prizm. I would only rent it out to older folks and would sit with them for a long test drive around town before letting it be sent out. Just to make sure that they knew what they were doing. It worked out real well. But unless I replaced the engine on this Escort, the rental idea would be a non-starter.

A small car like this would typically rent for $20 a day or $105 for a week. Miles don’t matter. Fuel economy certainly does in a semi-rural Southern town where folks have more distance to drive than money in their pocket. So it is possible to make this a rental. Except for one thing.

Lease: A good engine for these things is about as tough to find as a popular American car in South Korea. An inordinate number of these Escorts end up having engine problems between the 120k to 150k mark. Why?

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Escort has an unusually high compression ratio  for an economy car. A low tolerance for bad gas, and an engine diagnostic system which is pretty much the worst I’ve seen in OBDII history. In short, these engines don’t last unless you put at least 89 octane in them and ‘listen’ for issues. This particular one had no check engine light blinking even though cylinder one is now more defunct than an old parrot in a Monty Python sketch.

Lease? $500 down and $50 a week once the repairs are done. But only if I could find a good engine with a prancing unicorn next to it.

Sell: Perhaps, but to who?

There are three types of prospective beater buyers. The ‘cheap keeper’. The ‘cheap flipper’ who would try to nickel you down even if you were selling the car for fifty cents. And the ‘cheap old guy’ who really isn’t in the market for a car at all. But wants to call you up anyway and share stories about his once great ride.

The cheap keeper will sometimes have what I call Craigslist issues. For example, the title of your ad can read.

1 OWNER 1997 FORD ESCORT – 5-SPEED – COLD AIR – RUNS BUT NEEDS ENGINE WORK

And the top three questions you will likely get are…

1) Is it a stick?

2) How many owners?

3) Does it need repairs?

if you live in a major city you will also get…

4) Can it pass emissions?

This is where it pays to know someone who already has a good use for this type of vehicle. In my case, I have a friend who owns one of the largest junkyards in the state. Since all the doors and interior components are in good shape, he will likely get a decent return out of it. I also know a few mechanics who are always looking for a cheap ride for the wife, ex-wife, daughter, son, or the friends they play poker with on Friday nights.

I can sell it quick for $450.

Keep:  How cheap am I? Not at all these days. I used to always drive the most fuel efficient car on the lot or the ‘wore out mop’ that I bought for a low price. These days the small things start to get to me pretty quick. My commute may only be all of 5 minutes when I’m not heading to the auctions or other dealerships to load up on cars. But I have found that driving a car that encourages conversation can offer returns far greater than a wore out beater. The 1st Gen Insight will stay due to it’s popularity. This Escort needs to be gone.

So should I fix and rent it? Pray for unicorns and lease it to a stick smart buyer?  Sell it to the more gritty elements of automotive commerce? Or keep it as a rolling version of chick repellent?

What says you?

The UAW can write off organizing Volkswagen’s U.S. plant in Chattanooga. The effort has been damned by German unions. Volkswagen’s works council will explain to Chattanooga workers that there is no pressure from German unions for them to join the United Auto Workers union. With Reuters taking notes, Volkswagen works council chief Bernd Osterloh offered the most lukewarm support he can afford to give as a union brother:

“Of course, we will support the UAW; we’ve said that all along. But there’s one thing we cannot do. We can’t take workers at VW Chattanooga by the hand when it comes to voting on UAW representation. One has to be in favor if one wants union representation.”

In March, the UAW had been handing out signature cards in Chattanooga as a first step to gain representation in Chattanooga. Apparently, this did not produce the expected echo. In April, the UAW backpedaled and said they did not mean it.  Yesterday, Osterloh mentioned that “sentiment in the southern U.S. isn’t exactly in favor of unions.”

Without forceful support from Germany, the union drive in Chattanooga is doomed. Said a source in Tennessee:

“The workers in  Chattanooga were angry when the UAW claimed that it had  the support of the works council in Germany and that turned out not to be true. The workers identify with Volkswagen, not with the union.”

The Volkswagen works council has picked up on that detail and might offer Chattanooga workers representation without the UAW. Said Osterloh:

“Should workers determine they don’t want a union, we would make efforts to bring about some sort of interest lobby. It’s important that this site has a voice on the global works council.”

Not gaining a foothold in the south would be a major setback for a union that is losing money and lives off its savings. The UAW had been betting on support from the German metal workers union IG Metall, and that support just isn’t there. German unions would rather gain a power base of their own in the U.S.

Nissan now has a zero emissions van that you’ll be able to buy in a couple years -if that’s what you’re into. We won’t judge. Either way, the company seems to be creating a brand identity for its electric vehicles.

Notice how there are vague cues that harken to the Nissan Leaf in the e-NV200′s styling? That’s not a coincidence. Creating this sort of common look between the Leaf and e-NV200 is certainly intentional, and don’t be surprised to see it on future Nissan EVs. It worked for Toyota and the Prius, so of course Nissan is going to try it out here. No details about cost, powertrain or anything worthwhile were announced, just that Nissan will be building it at the same Barcelona plant as the standard NV, and 700 workers will be hired.

This to me is a classic case of the corporate world trying to flex its muscle on the “nobodies”. Is the MOCA the appropriate place for this kind of flexing? Of course not …or is it? Giving the power of curation and enforcement of corporate policies on an exhibition and venue like this is not the way it is supposed to go down. Is MOCA a car lot? Is MOCA a venue for advertisements where the interests of the brand comes before the art? Who empowered them to simply go around and pluck whatever art out of the show to throw in the trash? I made this art on my own dime, traveled down there on my own dime, displayed it on my own time.

According to the HuffPo, media artist Chris Silva had his exhibit at Mike D’s MOCA Los Angeles show, “Bring Your Own Beamer (Projector)” turned off by event staff before the show could even begin. Why? Silva’s “art” was a projected picture of the Peugeot 908 HDI LeMans racer. Quoth Silva,

I was then told that I had to take down what I was showing and that I could show something else if I had it. I was also told that the reason I couldn’t show it is because someone from Mercedes corporate was “pissed” about it and basically took it as a “fuck you” to Mercedes. I asked to talk to the person who made this decision, and was denied, literally told “you don’t want to talk to them, they are pissed”.

While your humble author’s involvement with the “art world” is limited to the occasional Chihuly purchase and the strategic positioning of H.R. Giger prints in his senior-year dorm room to further aggravate a roommate who was already a known suicide risk and prone to terrifying, grotesque nightmares, this whole thing seems a little bit difficult for us to believe. Peugeot and Mercedes-Benz no longer compete in North America, either for sales or for motorsports dominance. Indeed, unless one is simply an ironclad fan of the dearly departed 505 Turbo, it can be easily argued that the two firms have never competed here. Most art-show goers, upon being confronted with a large picture of a Peugeot race car, would probably just think “generic racing vehicle,” not “OMFG I AM GOING TO SELL MY C300 AND FLY TO PARIS TOMORROW TO IMPORT A PUG JUST LIKE CAPTAIN MIKE SOLOWIOW!”

While this incident hasn’t done anything to increase the number of Peugeots brought into the country, it has raised the profile of Mr. Silva, who has been able to firmly position himself as an “artist” who uses a projector to put pre-existing pictures on a wall. Perhaps this is less about intra-European rivalries and more about Mr. Brainwash…

Thanks to Ronnie Schreiber of Cars In Depth for the tip!

Anyone who has watched Harvey Keitel and/or Nicholas Cage chew up the scenery in the two “Bad Lieutenant” movies knows how delightful it can be to be a truly evil policeman. The problem, of course, is that most cops aren’t anything like that. Officer Derrick Saunders, on the other hand, does all the fun stuff that us civvies like to think we’d do with the protection of the badge. When McDonald’s was a little slow with his order, he allegedly put a pistol in someone’s face about it. Come on! You’d do the same thing, wouldn’t you? And when he felt like having a drink and busting along at one hundred and forty-three awesome miles per hour, he just went ahead and did it!

Now, thanks to TTAC reader dfp21, we have an update on the kind of swift justice that the system has meted out to Officer Saunders.

According to the Daily Caller, “troubled policeman” Saunders was reinstated by a three-person Civil Service Commission panel.

“[T]he disciplinary action of termination far exceeds the discipline given to other officers in comparative or greater misconduct cases,” the commissioners said.

What’s “comparative” to this? Did some cop get lit up recently and tool down the freeway at 142 miles per hour? City safety manager Alex Martinez is appealing the reinstatement, but while he does, Officer Saunders’ license to kill is back in full e-fizz-ect, yo. TTAC’s advice for Denver residents? Better hurry up with those fries.

A credit to my parents (among many); they turned everything into a “teachable moment”. A new addition to my vocabulary came with a lesson on the root word, and whether it came from Latin, or French or Greek. A new song came with a quick history of Manchester  80′s New Wave, or Delta blues. My allowance was paid after chores and before a lesson on budgeting. A new car magazine had to be read and not just scanned through for pretty pictures.

And so came one of the lessons that ended up changing how I viewed the world. I was in my early teens, and had just discovered Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities, when my father suggested I read Paul Fussell’s Class. “It’s even got some car stuff in there; he talks about how people buy SUVs to look like they’re rich enough to have a country home. Just read it. You’ll like it.”

I devoured Class, as well as Bad, which I considered the advanced, up-to-date version, and never looked at the world in the same way. Not many books have done that. To explain both would take another essay entirely, but both books do a wonderful job of deconstruction consumering, advertising, marketing and most importantly, how all three prey on people’s insecurities relating to social status. Read them and you will feel both immune to “aspirational brand” marketing and also wondering about the class signals given off by friends, peers, people you interact with – and yourself.

Paul Fussell died today at age 88, and while his body of work is incredibly important in an era where class and money no longer have anything to do with one another, and the push to define ourselves through consuming goods has never been stronger. I leave you with the passage below, from Class, where Fussell ruthlessly dissects the semiotics of the automobile (and also perhaps, shows some indirect Panther love – remember, this book was written in the early/mid-80s)

“If your money and freedom and carelessness of censure allow you to buy any kind of car, you provide yourself with the meanest and most common to indicate that you`re not taking seriously so easily purchasable and thus vulgar a class totem. You have a Chevy, Ford, Plymouth or Dodge, and in the least interesting style and color. It may be clean, although slightly dirty is best.

You may not have a Rolls, Cadillac or a Mercedes. . . . The worst kind of upper-middle-class types own a Mercedes, just as the best own elderly Oldsmobiles, Buicks and Chryslers, and perhaps Jeeps and Land Rovers, the latter conveying the preppy suggestion that one of your residences is in a place so unpublic that the roads to it are not even paved, indeed are hardly passable by your ordinary vulgar automobile.”

And of course, some wisdom from my own mother, upon seeing the first $399/month lease deal for a BMW 320i

“Anyone can have a BMW now…and [redacted, her billionaire godfather] drives an old, beat up Buick.”

Two teachable moments, expressed in slightly different ways, updated for our times. Go out and buy the books. For the cost of a couple spark plugs, your outlook on the world will never be the same.

Despite an explicit suggestion from Opel’s own CEO that Chevrolet cars could be built in European Opel plants, GM Korea has shut the door on such an idea.

GM Korea CEO Sergio Rocha told reporters as the Busan Auto Show that plans for such a move didn’t exist, even though they were “…looking at it”. Vehicles like the Captiva and Orlando are mainly sold in Europe despite being produced in South Korea.  According to Automotive News, South Korean trade unions have threatened “war” against GM if a production move took place.

With the majority of European Chevrolet models built in South Korea, it seems only natural for GM to make such a move. It may be that we have to wait for the whole Opel mess to shake out until we know why they decided against taking advantage of their extra capacity to build hot selling models.

With the my Miata now gone (sold to a friend who has given me the right of first refusal when it comes time for him to sell it), I needed a new car with a bit more practicality, and a low price tag. A quick call to my friend Vasco, who functions as Toronto’s version of our own Steve Lang, led me to the car you see above. Did I mention it’s a manual?

Originally, my plan was to sell the Miata and pick up a friend’s high mileage but well cared-for E36 BMW 328i. I’d already sold the Miata (for a sum that was impossible to refuse) and was looking forward to getting behind the wheel. The car drove well and was in great shape overall, save for one minor detail – during the government safety inspection, a portion of the frame near the jacking point was discovered to have rotted out. It was a double blow for me, since it wouldn’t be worth fixing, and I suddenly felt a wave of regret over selling my beloved first car, despite my now healthy bank balance.

A quick message to Vasco asking for “anything decent and cheap”, came up with the Volvo. It was his brother’s car, and Vasco had bought it at auction, using it briefly as his own car before handing it off to his older brother. For the last year, it had carried his brother, sister-in-law, their three kids and a large Rhodesian Ridgeback. It was a1998  non-turbo 2.4L with 162,800 miles on the clock, but it had a 5-speed manual and Vasco only wanted $1500 for it.

I hemmed and hawed for a few minutes (and looked at a couple S70 T5s – V70 turbos were all automatic, save for one V70 AWD that was questionable enough to make me walk away) but ultimately decided to take a chance with it. The Carfax came back clean, and although there were a number of scratches and stone chips, there was no rust on the rockers, quarter panels or frame rails. To pass inspection, it would need a further $325 for new rear brakes, parking brake shoes and a tie rod, plus $75 for the inspection and $30 for an emissions test. Another $200 or so for taxes, fees and licensing and it now sits in my driveway.

For now, the V70 will be a great shuttle to take me to Mosport for my bi-monthly karting series, as well as a bit of a beater to leave in parking lots while I have press cars. With the Miata, I always worried about leaving it sitting in outdoor lots for weeks at a time – it was in beautiful shape, but a few steps away from looking like crap. The Volvo is liberating in the sense that it’s totally anonymous, and any cosmetic damage is frankly inconsequential.

Although it’s not the most thrilling to drive, the V70 is enjoyable in its own right. As a manual wagon, it has its own novelty, and even with all those miles on the odometer, the engine is strong, the clutch feels like there’s lots of life left, and the interior is far better than the one in my Miata. The Volvo is also much better equipped (heated seats are going to make the frigid winters infinitely better), will fare far better in a crash and has some decent highway manners. With that said, I will likely have another Miata sooner than later (or something faster. who knows). The Volvo will go to my brother as a reward for his eventual graduation from a very demanding business school (and entry into law school, if he so chooses) – and also because his roommate has the exact same car, down to the wheels and missing roof rack.

Over at Edmunds, the team has started “Project Debt Free”, to prove that one can buy a decent car for a relatively modest sum of cash. They managed to come away with a $3800 1996 Lexus ES300 with fewer miles. Personally, I think our car is more interesting, but it may not have the clockwork reliability of the Lexus. In the spirit of that project, I’ll also keep everyone updated on any maintenance, issues and positive experiences. So far, the car will need some body work (14 years of stone chips has necessitated a re-spray of the front end), not to mention a good wash and a tune-up. But the V70, as boring as it may be, it’s not something I’d be embarrassed to drive, and is just interesting enough to make me look forward to driving it.

By the way, Project G-Body and Project Rallycross are still on. The Grand National is still in the shop awaiting some new old stock interior bits. Once that’s on the road, the hunt for a suitable Rallycross Project will begin.

The Subaru Tribeca, aka “The Flying Vagina“, aka the car that really got things going for TTAC, is due to die after the 2013 model year.

With Subaru selling a little under 3000 Tribecas every year, the SUV’s death warrant has all but been signed. Subaru will keep selling the car through the 2013 model year, but after that, it may disappear from the lineup.

Between the Outback, Forester and the upcoming XV, the thirsty, 6-cylinder Tribeca is basically redundant. At least it’s no longer ugly. Of course, such an integral part of TTAC lore deserves a fitting send off. Perhaps once the official word rolls around, both the staff and readers can come up with some sort of fitting farewell.

Reports of a next-generation Cadillac Escalade, due in 2014 after a brush with the Grim Reaper, have us asking the all-important question; what was GM thinking in trying to kill the car off in the first place?

The Escalade is, without a shadow of a doubt, the Cadillac brand. Sorry, the CTS-V isn’t it, and the XTS is destined to become something that you ride in the back seat of when you get dropped off at the airport.

The SRX may just be a generic GM crossover with Cadillac styling, but the Escalade is even more cynical. It’s just a Yukon with a few plastic Cadillac bits. And yet, it is the core product of Cadillac, offering irresistible profit margins and peerless name recognition.

Why GM wanted to kill it off is an utter mysery. Even with gas prices at record highs, the Escalade could still have lived on as a status symbol for the vulgar and ostentatious. GM claims that the margins on the Escalade were too fat to walk away from, but let’s be real for a second. Killing off the Escalade would mean that Cadillac would flounder, Lincoln-style, with a bunch of product that can’t quite hold its own next to the foreign competition that Cadillac is so desperately trying to fight.

The fact is that Cadillac needs this truck in the same way that it needs to stop trying to sit at the same lunch table as the cool kids. The Escalade, awful as it may be, is American luxury. Big, bold, over-the-top, profligate and firmly in opposition to everything the cap-and-goggles throttle-steer crowd stands for. Beyond that, the Escalade is an important halo vehicle for a lot of buyers reared on hip-hop music, many of whom are the target customer for the ATS (hey, even MCA of the Beastie Boys was pushing 50). Kill it off and what’s left? The SRX? Well, I’ll let ODB tell you what I think of that one (NSFW language)

What would you do? You’re taking your five year old son to feed ducks by the river and as you stop to choose a parking space, he hops out of the car and before you can do anything, your child runs towards the embankment, a 35 foot drop to the river. You’d do exactly what Frank Roder, of Winfield Park, NJ did. He jumped out of his 2006 Jeep Commander, ran to his boy and snatched him up, just a few feet from the ledge. As he was hugging his son, Aidan, the boy brought his father’s attention to the Jeep as it rolled into the Rahway River below.

Great story, no? Heroic father saves child. Here’s where it takes a turn into Alice’s looking glass. Union County police and a crane arrived on the scene. The Jeep was hauled out of the drink and surprisingly started right up, though Roder expects his insurance company to write the car off. While this was going on cop walked up to Roder and handed him two tickets, one for failure to produce proof of insurance, which was inside the soaked car, and one for not using his parking brake, $110 in fines all together.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Roder said. “He said, ‘If you would have taken the five seconds to apply the brake, this never would have happened!’

“I say, ‘Really? And if I did and my boy stepped over the edge and fell instead of the Jeep, then were would I be?’ He says, ‘Jail, for child endangerment.’”

Discuss amongst yourselves. My personal opinion here.

Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can dig deeper at Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don’t worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks for reading – RJS

As part of their I Feel Gassy series on energy issues, Benjamin Preston posted Why We Aren’t Driving Natural Gas Powered Cars, contrasting the current glut of natural gas in the United States (and significant new finds of recoverable gas deposits), with this country’s relative paucity of natural gas powered vehicles. Much of Preston’s article dealt with the controversy over fracking, since extracting gas from those new plays will most likely involve hydraulic fracturing. While I think he could have been more balanced in his selection of sources and treatment of the subject, what really jumped out at me was his categorical (and factually wrong) statement on how natural gas gets to consumers.

Ben makes the legitimate argument that there are many costs to extracting natural gas, financial and environmental, that are not immediately obvious. The extractive industries use a great deal of water and producing fossil fuel has its own carbon footprint. Preston goes on to argue that one hidden cost and environmental impact of drilling for natural gas is that America lacks pipelines to get the gas to market.

[Extracting natural gas] uses a lot of water, and with no pipeline infrastructure, transportation costs money and adds to air pollution.

When I first read that, I thought, “What do you mean, no pipeline infrastructure? There’s a gas line to my furnace!” Upon second thought, though, I considered that Preston might have meant that there were no pipelines for carrying needed water to the wells. Farther down in his piece, however, Preston makes it clear that my first impression was accurate. Those increased air pollution and transportation costs are supposedly the result of needing to use tanker trucks to move the gas from the wellhead to consumers.

As it stands now, most natural gas is transported by tanker trucks — a lot of tanker trucks.

I realize that most website editors don’t do a lot of fact checking, but don’t any of the Jalopnik editors ever cook with gas? Do none of them have a natural gas fired furnace heating their homes? Have they never seen a natural gas well in a rural area? Does Ben Preston really think that most natural gas is transported by trucks and that we don’t have an infrastructure of pipes that carry gas from the well to consumers? Does he think there’s a constant stream of tanker trucks queuing up to every natural gas well in America?

Regarding our supposed lack of a pipeline infrastructure, an image search on “natural gas pipelines” yielded a variety of maps of the interstate and intrastate pipeline networks that crisscross the United States.

Sure looks like a pipeline infrastructure to me.

As for Preston’s contention that “most natural gas is transported by tanker trucks”, again that’s simply not true. Don’t take my word for it, take the word of Ed Tucker, who runs Tucker Gas Processing Equipment, which, among other services, will transport natural gas via trucks. TGPE’s website explains when that makes sense:

Many sources of natural gas are shut-in and abandoned because the economics simply do not justify their development. In some cases, access to public transmission lines may be limited by distance or local geography. In other cases, the need for additional processing to bring the gas up to pipeline quality standards may be a factor. While many industrial applications can utilize gas that does not meet these strict standards, the distance to the nearest such industrial consumer may not justify the cost of laying a direct pipeline. In such cases, transporting the gas by truck may provide a solution.

When I asked TGPE what percentage of US natural gas is transported to market via trucks, Ed Tucker told me (emphasis added):

The answer would be next to none. The CNG trailers in the US are used primarily to transport gas from one place to another when they are repairing a pipeline and have to shut down a line for a few hours. Some years ago we had two small projects transporting from small gas fields. We had an inquiry from Vermont earlier this year where they wanted to substitute CNG for propane since there were no pipelines and the ratio of cost for propane was $28 per one million Btu versus pipeline gas at $2.50 per one million Btu.

Had Preston’s remarks about there being no natural gas pipeline infrastructure been restricted to newly developed wells, that might have been more accurate. However, based on what Tucker told me about how little gas is actually trucked, I think it’s safe to assume that the developers of any new natural gas wells include hooking them up to the existing pipeline system as part of the installation of those wells. In addition to dedicated natural gas wells, natural gas can also be a byproduct of extracting petroleum. Tucker pointed out that in the Williston Basin (under Montana, the Dakotas, and Saskatchewan), oil producers that aren’t serviced by gas pipelines will flare off the natural gas they produce rather than truck it and sell it. The cost of trucking it to a processing or gas sweetening plant is just not cost effective, particularly at a time when natural gas prices are low.

So, contrary to what Jalopnik says, there are thousands of miles of natural gas pipeline infrastructure in the US and no, there aren’t “a lot of tanker trucks”  used to move gas from wellhead to your stove, furnace, or even a natural gas vehicle refueling device.

Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can dig deeper at Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don’t worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks for reading – RJS

An interview in July’s Automobile magazine has Sergio Marchionne putting to rest a number of future product plans for Chrysler, among them, the definitive fate of the minivan.

Speculation has been brewing over which of the current minivan twins will live on, and which will be come a crossover. Sergio himself claims that “the owner of the minivan is Dodge”, and that the new Grand Caravan will be a more exciting vehicle, despite retaining the classic minivan features. The Town & Country will become a Mercedes R-Class type vehicle that will be more European luxury than updated Chrysler Pacifica. A range of 4-cylinder and V6 engines as well as front and all-wheel drive will be available for both vehicles when they launch around 2015.

The next Chrysler 200 will be based on the same architecture as the Dodge Dart (i.e. the Alfa Giulietta platform) and be sized roughly in line with the Audi A4. A sedan, coupe and convertible will all be available, with 4 and 6-cylinder options. Chrysler will continue to provide vehicles for Lancia, but the brand’s future seems dim, with Marchionne expressing little interest in investing resources into Lancia. The Chrysler 100 hatch will take a while to appear – Automobile cites a launch date of 2016, which seems like far too long.

Jeep is considered by Marchionne to be one of the two “global brands” (along with Alfa Romeo), and Marchionne says that all future products will have a Trail Rated version. The new Liberty, based on the Giulietta architecture, will launch in Detroit next year, with a host of other products to follow. Among them are a new “Jeepster” (a subcompact with an Alfa version), a new Compass and a full-size SUV dubbed the “Grand Wagoneer”.

Dodge will lose the Durango, Avenger and Caliber as Marchionne seeks to trim the brand lineups to around 5 vehicles each, while Fiat will continue along with a 500-based lineup, including a 500 Zagato, 500L, 500XL (presumably the 7-seat version) and the 500X crossover, similar to the Mini Countryman. And finally, Marchionne says more is coming from SRT. The article doesn’t quote him on anything, but suggests SRT versions of the Dart, Journey and a possible SRT Barracuda that could also give way to a new Alfa sedan using the same platform. Marchionne did stress that the Dodge muscle cars need to evolve, rather than re-invent themselves. As far as accuracy goes, the article more or less confirmed the MX-5 based Alfa Spider, and was presumably written long before the announcement was made. Hopefully the rest is just as accurate.

A little acceleration. A lot of plastic, and a Lilliputian’s worth of smallness.

The Fiat 500C Cabrio that had been parked on my driveway seemed like a small car’s dream gone by. There were a few chrome accents. A soft top that retracted like an old power curtain contrivance from a 1960′s James Bond movie. Power? The spec sheet showed only 101 horsepower and a mild level of torque. To be brutally blunt, I was ready to be subjected to a Corolla’s worth of acceleration with enough wind buffeting to make the experience not even worth the effort.

Then I turned the key…

Jacque Hedonist: I have never received so much attention from a daily driver! This Fiat was the most widely admired car I’ve ever had on the road. Price be damned.

Top of the line Benzes with custom wheels. A tricked out Mustang police interceptor with the Sheriff’s exterior decals still on it.  Even a gold 1974 Ford Ranchero with the Southern Cross painted on the bed didn’t get the eyeballs and conversations that this Fiat received on a daily basis.

I think a big reason why is the copper exterior paint job. Some cars seem to be made for particular colors and the Fiat apparently is a perfect fit for ‘Rame’, which apparently is a sophisticated way to say ‘Copper’. Yellow looks a bit weird on it. White and black make the Fiat generic. Rame? A perfect fit for a nee-retro droptop with European pretensions.

Stefan Frugalist: Four flagdowns in three hours just on the first day. Movies, Costco, Two stop lights. Each one was no more than a brief moment’s worth of outside exposure for the Fiat. Yet folks seemed to be all too comfortable with going up to a young family in a small car and start jabbering away about whether we liked it or not. Other than the first generation Miata, I can’t think of a single new car that generated so much immediate and friendly feedback.

Jacque: There was another surprise to the Fiat 500…

It is indeed smaller than a first generation Honda Insight. Over 15 inches smaller length-wise and about three inches smaller in width. Yet two adults and two kids (11 and 9, normal in terms of size) fit in the back with no problem.

The main reasons why are the ride height and ergonomics. The Fiat is about seven inches more spacious in height than an old Insight, which dramatically improves the drivability and the seating positions.

Chrysler/Fiat also saw fit to eliminate as much aero design clutter in the cabin area as possible.

The A-pillar is not intrusive. The dashbaord doesn’t stretch forward like the cockpit of an airplane, and other than the 5-speed, nothing is jutting out in front of you or vying for your attention. No navigation systems. No big-screen infotainment doo-dad’s that vie for your eyeballs. The interior is a simple and intelligent design for those of us who value driving over ceaseless electronic communications.

Stefan: There a couple of drawbacks, depending on what you want out of a car. The interior design encourages an almost completely upright driving position. As a result, the driving experience is a bit less sporty than you would expect from a modern day small car.

Other than fourth gear, there is also no burst of acceleration that would be considered ‘fast’ and the chassis trades a little bit of comfort for less road feel. This Fiat 500c isn’t so much about sport as it is about in-town cruising and errand running.

The highway ride is surprisingly comfortable and other than the worst of roads, the 500c is always poised and taut. You do have enough power to keep up with traffic with the 5-speed and the fuel economy of 30 city / 38 highway, beats every convertible by a wide margin except for the Smart fortwo Cabriolet.

Jacque: Yes, but the Smart isn’t a real choice given the standards of most of today’s consumers. The Mini Cooper Convertible is likely the closest competitor. But it’s also a modern day speed racer type for Gen’s X and Y, while this Fiat is more of a weekend play toy for empty nester’s who want comfort and fun. This 500C with all the options short of leather came in at an MSRP of $21,750, which is thousands less than either the base Mini or another ‘kinda’ competitor, the Mazda MX-5.

Stefan: The Fiat 500C is more of a second car for couples and singles who are looking for ‘frugality with fun’, instead of the painful austerities of a Smart or the near go-kartish nature of the Mini and Mazda. In the real world, it strikes an excellent balance for those among us who are looking to row their own gears and enjoy the sunshine with minimal drama.

If that sounds like you, go for a test drive. You can always enjoy the sunshine.

Imagine barreling down the road in a hot prototype. Now you don’t have to imagine anymore, because these pictures, taken on the first day of the annual conference of the Japan chapter of the SAE, show you in graphic detail what your workplace would look like.  Like a mess.

You would be surrounded by a maze of wires. Your stick shift would be encased in something that makes a chastity belt look like a piece of lingerie. In the next turn, the laptop will smash into your head.

Stay clear from any pedestrians, because with these things on your wheels, you will drag a pedestrian a long, long way.

Do you still want to be a professional test driver? Kyowa, the company that outfits vehicular torture chambers the world over, will be happy to be of service.

Ford Chairman Bill Ford Jr., the great grandson of Ford founder Henry Ford, said, “The Ford Blue Oval is back where it belongs with the Ford family of 166,000 employees around the world. This is a great day for us and is the result of several years of hard work and progress by everyone associated with Ford.”

The hocking of the Blue Oval was a hugely symbolic step for Ford to take, emblematic of the straits the company faced. Ford Jr. said that the logo was more than an asset. “We pledged our heritage.”

Ford CEO Alan Mullaly, who relied on the advice of now retiring CFO Lewis Booth in taking out the loans, had described them earlier as “the world’s biggest home improvement loan.”

In a statement (full statement below) announcing the debt upgrade, Mullaly and Ford said, “Moving forward, we will continue to focus on driving profitable growth for all of our stakeholders. We are confident that, by staying focused on our plan and working together, we will maintain strong investment-grade ratings through all economic cycles.” Under Mullaly’s leadership, Ford has returned to profitability and the Dearborn automaker has hacked away at its debt in huge chunks. Ford’s current debt stands at $5.9 billion.

In other credit rating news, Moody’s continued General Motor’s Ba1 rating, saying that they expect GM to be upgraded to investment-grade status within a year. “GM’s credit quality continues to improve and the company remains on track to regain an investment-grade credit rating over the course of the next 12 months,” said Bruce Clark, Moody’s chief analyst for the North American auto industry. The credit rating company listed GM’s performance in North America and China as upsides, with the company facing challenges in Europe and continued concern over pensions, GM Financial, and the consequences of the U.S. Treasury Department’s stake in the automaker.

From: Bill Ford and Alan Mulally

Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 3:50 PM

To: The Ford Team

Subject: Investment Grade

This afternoon, Moody’s Investors Service announced its decision to upgrade Ford Motor Company to Baa3 with stable outlook, or investment grade. This is a significant milestone for all of us and the result of several years of hard work and progress by everyone associated with Ford.

We all can be very proud of today’s decision by Moody’s and the resulting release of the collateral securing the loans we took out in 2006 — particularly the Ford Blue Oval. This is further proof that, by staying laser-focused on our One Ford plan, the Ford team can deliver great products, build a strong business and contribute to a better world even through the most challenging external environment.

When we pledged the Ford Blue Oval as part of the loan package, we were not just pledging an asset. We pledged our heritage. The Ford Blue Oval is one of the most recognized symbols in the world, and it is a source of great pride and passion, both inside and outside our company.

Moving forward, we will continue to focus on driving profitable growth for all of our stakeholders. We are confident that, by staying focused on our plan and working together, we will maintain strong investment grade ratings through all economic cycles.

The Ford Blue Oval is back where it belongs. This is a great day for everyone associated with our company.

Congratulations and thank you!

Bill and Alan

Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can dig deeper at Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don’t worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks for reading – RJS

Back when I was searching for my first car, I briefly found an Alfa Romeo Spider that looked like it would be in passable condition. Before I could even call the number from the classified ad, my father chimed in with his usual wisdom. “Oh, you don’t want to start with those. They were crap! Just get a Miata and finish!”.

Now, after 25 years of utter dominance, the Miata has finally consumed the last icon of European two-seaters, the Alfa Romeo Spider. Mazda and Fiat signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop new, lightweight roadsters specific to each brand. Both would be built at Mazda’s Hiroshima plant. While the new MX-5 is just around the corner, the Alfa would start production in 2015.

Alfa Romeo cars, particularly vintage ones, have an enormous following in Japan, and the tie-up with a “premium” brand will reflect well on Mazda, which is saddled with financial troubles and a gloomy future, despite a new wave of promising product. Unfortunately for Miata owners, it will be hard to harp on Alfas for oil leaks, electrical issues and other maladies once Mazda starts building the Spider to the Miata’s superb level of reliability.

The big question here is the implications for Mazda and a potential Fiat alliance. Mazda has been adamant about forming partnerships in order to ensure its survival, and Sergio Marchionne told Automobile this month that a broader partnership with Mazda would be attractive. When you think about it, a Mazda/Alfa partnership isn’t too much of a stretch…

When new car sales will be announced on June 1, sales could be up by 30 percent, thinks Kelley Blue Book. When sales approach 1.4 million units, or 14.2 million seasonally adjusted annual sales rate (SAAR) in May, Kelley expects GM and Ford to underperform the market, while Toyota could nearly double its sales and surpass Ford in market share.

These projections are based on real time sales data, but they remain projections until the real and hopefully true data come in. One of the reasons for the big jump are two additional selling days in May, and a strong Memorial day weekend.

Sales and market share projections, May 2012, Kelley Blue Book

Toyota and Honda are expected to be up strongly. In May last year, inventory shortages from the earthquake in Japan became a factor. In May 2011, Toyota was down 33 percent, Honda 23 percent. Both are back with a vengeance. Kelley sees Toyota nearly double its May 2011 sales, and expects Honda sales to rise by more than 50 percent.

While GM and Ford are expected to underperform the market with a sales gain around 10 percent, Chrysler is seen continuing its race to the top with a plus of nearly 40 percent.

General Motors, Ford and (surprise) Hyundai are expected to lose market share. Toyota is seen gaining 5 percent of share.