Daily Podcast

Daily Podcast: Ain't No Time for the Summertime Blues
Daily Podcast: Ain't No Time For The Summertime Blues
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Daily Podcast: Come Again?
Daily Podcast: Come Again?
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(Not So) Daily Podcast: And We're Back
(Not So) Daily Podcast: And We're Back
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Daily Podcast: No Sale
Daily Podcast: No Sale
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Daily Podcast: Clunker Nation
Daily Podcast: Clunker Nation
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Daily Podcast: What Is the Chrysler Brand?
Daily Podcast: What Is The Chrysler Brand?
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Daily Podcast: Something For Everyone
Daily Podcast: Something For Everyone
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Daily Podcast: CAFE Culture

The list of CAFE violators ( in PDF form) reads like a valet’s to-do list: Mercedes, Porsche, Ferrari, Maserati. These firms pay CAFE fines because, well, they can. CAFE fines are calculated by multiplying each tenth of a mile per gallon of average non-compliance by $5.50, then multiplying that dollar amount by the number of vehicles sold. As a result, luxury firms pay the highest fines when they try to go mass market: Merecedes paid about $30 million for 2007. But if CAFE is already weighted to let small companies off the hook, why are we hearing about new rules which seem to relax standards for firms selling fewer than 400k vehicles per term? Aren’t the regular loopholes enough?

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Daily Podcast: Outta Sight Oversight
Daily Podcast: Outtasight Oversight
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Daily Podcast: A8 Misbehavin'

As promised in today’s podcast, here’s a teaser image of the forthcoming Audi A8 (courtesy of Top Gear‘s blog).

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Daily Podcast: The Great Kuga Hunt

No, we’re not talking about stalking women of a certain age. To my summer flu-addled mind, this Focus-based softroader should be on the US market already, cashing in on one of the few successful segments left here. We hear it’s going to be built in Kentucky, but when?

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Daily Podcast: Confusion for Clunkers
Daily Podcast: Confusion For Clunkers
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Daily Podcast: Fording the River
Daily Podcast: Fording The River
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Daily Podcast: Weeklong Testing

As Robert posted below, TTAC is redoubling its efforts to get timely road tests by reaching out to the very manufacturers we lay into on a daily basis. But why, you might ask, would these giant firms feed the mouth that bites them?

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Daily Podcast: Death To The Car Mag

Like most people under the age of 40, I never read car magazines. Actually that’s not true. I’ve been stealing copies of Auto Motor und Sport from my dad for years. Even after its long trip across the Atlantic, the anal-retentive German’s anal-retentive car magazine still manages to scoop the American mags on many of the most compelling industry developments. But the real draw is the mag’s road testing, which really confirms every stereotype of Teutonic attention to detail. No metric is too mundane to be measured, graphed and scored… think Consumer Reports for people who actually like cars and think OCD medication is for the weak. On the other side of the equation is evo magazine, which is hands-down the best enthusiast-oriented car magazine.

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Daily Podcast: Doom, Unaverted

GM claims to be calibrated to break even at a Seasonally Adjusted Annual sales Rate (SAAR) of 10m sales. Which assumes that GM’s portion of those sales will remain steady. As we’ve learned today, that’s not likely. GM’s market share is being pummelled by bad news, bailout backlash, and (according to the Merrill Lynch report) poor product replacement rates. While GM talks up the Volt, discusses a Prius fighter and touts an American-made compact, its major product push has been centered around a single dying brand (Buick) and its single new product, the LaCrosse. Yes there’s a new Equinox, but has anyone noticed? Camaro may be the choice of bold, audacious lemmings everywhere, but for how long? It’s gut check time . . .

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Daily Podcast: The Wages Of Sin
Daily Podcast: The Wages Of Sin
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Daily Podcast: What's In A Name?
Daily Podcast: What's In A Name?
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Daily Podcast: The Once And Future Czar
Daily Podcast: The Once And Future Czar
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Daily Podcast: Sex Sells
Daily Podcast: Sex Sells
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Daily Podcast: Cars Of Future Past
Daily Podcast: Cars Of Future Past
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Daily Podcast: Board To Tears
Daily Podcast: Board To Tears
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Daily Podcast: Converjence
Daily Podcast: Converjence
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Daily Podcast: The Sajeevcast
Daily Podcast: The Sajeevcast
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Daily Podcast: Extended Range
Daily Podcast: Extended Range
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Daily Podcast: Halo, Old Friends
Daily Podcast: Halo, Old Friends
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Daily Podcast: Zunecast
Daily Podcast: Zunecast
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Daily Podcast: It's All German To Me
Daily Podcast: It's All German To Me
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Daily Podcast: Eco-Friendly Family Edition
Daily Podcast I: A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama
Yes, it’s a palindrome. No, it’s not my favorite. (Do geese see God?) But as a history buff—as in that’ll buff right out—I&rsqu…
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Return Of The Wirtschaftswunder: German Car Sales Up 21 Percent

No, you are not hallucinating. Germany’s February car sales are out. Bottles of champagne will soon follow. Unbelievably, German cars sales rose in February by 21 percent. This is what the Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA) told Automobilwoche [sub]. 278.000 units were moved. “These are the highest February sales numbers in the last ten years, ” VDA-President Matthias Wissmann said at the Geneva auto show. “For the first time in six months, registrations are growing. We expect that domestic sales of the complete first quarter will be above prior year numbers,” Wissmann said. It’s getting even better, much better:

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Daily Podcast: GM Loses $84.7m a Day
Somewhere in the background, a White House spinmeister is busy telling the cross-dressing Fox News anchor (if he doesn’t, he should) that his viewers s…
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Daily Podcast: What Happens Next?
Now that Chrysler and GM have submitted their “viability plans,” the Congressional corridors of power have been eerily silent on the subject. Oh…
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Daily Podcast: Extra Effort
I hopped in my Boxster and headed to the Lexus dealer yesterday. We’d agreed on a price for their ’08 2k mile IS-F. Only a single hurdle remained…
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Daily Podcast: Name That Knob
Capn’ Mike is back from the Middle East. Our Road Test Editor has been busy looking for something tasty to take to his next posting in Germany. MS repo…
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Intermittent Daily Podcast: The Weirdo's Paradox
Intermittent Daily Podcast: The Weirdo's Paradox
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Rant: To Tell the Truth
I blame the Quakers. My Friends-owned alma mater’s motto is “For the Honor of Truth.” What the Hell does that mean? What for the honor of t…
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Rant: U.S. Car Market D.O.A.?
Rant: U.S. Car Market D.O.A.?
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Intermittent Podcast: Lieberman and Berkowitz Talk Crazy
In today’s podcast, Jonny and I talked — among other things — about the Toyota Century (mistakenly referred to as the Toyota Crown at first…
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Rant: What Is A Cadillac?
Coming of age in the 70’s (lucky me), Cadillac represented everything I didn’t like about American cars. Like its lesser-priced sibs, it was an a…
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Rant: Force of Habit
In The Incredibles, as Syndrome is about the vanquish Mr. I, the fan-gone-bad pauses to explain his actions. As he does so, our hero counter-attacks. “…
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Intermittent Daily Podcast: Maserati Warning Light
Engineer A: How’s testing on the Merak going?Engineer B: The brakes catch fire all the time.Engineer A: Put in a warning light.Engineer A: Make it big.
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Intermittent Daily Podcast: It's the End of the Acura NSX, and I Feel Fine
The car bloggers went sub-ballistic (what would that be, scientists?) today because Honda announced that it was killing the NSX project. Well, I say good rid…
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Daily Podcast – Lieberman Edition: I Love the Mitsuoka Himiko
Daily Podcast - Lieberman Edition: I Love the Mitsuoka Himiko
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Daily Podcast: How Far We've Come
Sure, it was 1925. But do you ever see even slightly similar ads anymore?
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Daily Podcast: Yesterday's Podcast Today
Daily Podcast: Yesterday's Podcast Today
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Welcome to Podcast Country
Welcome to Podcast Country
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Daily Podcast: Renting a Car in Europe
Daily Podcast: Renting a Car in Europe
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Daily Podcast: Lieberman Edition – The Collector's Pontiac Garage

We just got the fairly obvious news that the Pontiac G8 will die on the vine. Fast forward thirty years. Pontiac cars will only be a historical name, like Lagonda, or Pierce-Arrow. Imagine though, the bitchin’ 1980s-2000s collection that a retro minded old codger could have in his garage:

1. G8 GT
2. GTO (2006)
3. Solstice GXP
4. Trans AM WS6 (2002, with 325 hp LS1 V8)
5. Aztek (for historical purposes, of course).
6. Fiero V6

It could be like all the other cars (like the G5) just never happened. As if.

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Daily Podcast: Is It Really 8:20 Already?
Daily Podcast: Is It Really 8:20 Already?
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Daily Podcast: TTAC Meetup in 2009 … At the Nurburgring

We’re actually planning a few meetups in 2009 for TTAC readers and writers, many of them right here in North America. But with Captain Mike’s upcoming work-related assignment to Germany – a mere one hour from the Nurburgring – we’re going to have a European adventure as well. I’m beginning the search for sponsors (who? uh…). In any case, it should make for a downright thrilling trip, including more than a few frightening rides in the ‘Ring taxi. Separate from driving, I envision copious beer drinking and regional sausages. We’ll be sure to give you plenty of warning ahead of time, should you be planning any business trips to Europe, or be sitting on a pile of frequewnt flyer miles, or actually be an EU resident yourself. I’ll bring the Porsche 911 Turbo, you bring the Nissan GT-R.

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Daily Podcast: Keep Your Eye on the Balls
Daily Podcast: Keep Your Eye on the Balls
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Daily Podcast: Thanks for the Tips!
Daily Podcast: Thanks for the Tips!
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Daily Podcast Lieberman Edition: A Curse On 3.7 Liter Engines
This is about as scientific as the fifteenth-century Vatican, but I think 3.7 liter engines are cursed. Six vehicles come to mind, featuring five engines. Click through to see the gallery and my descriptions.
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Daily Podcast: Tesla Fashionability Shows Problem for Startup Car Companies
Daily Podcast: Tesla Fashionability Shows Problem for Startup Car Companies
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Daily Podcast Lieberman Edition: A Different Day, A Different Dream Car
Daily Podcast Lieberman Edition: A Different Day, A Different Dream Car
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Daily Podcast: OK, I Lied
Well, not lied, exactly. More like flip-flopped. In my last podcast epistle, I said TTAC wouldn’t make you jump on blog posts because that would be bet…
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Daily Podcast: What Do You Think of the New Design?
Daily Podcast: What Do You Think of the New Design?
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Daily Podcast Lieberman Edition: We Went Over Time. Again.

Sometimes, when we podcast, we just have too much fun. Jonny and I were yammering about the Nissan GT-R, Porsche’s PDK transmission, and of course Toyota’s ass-kicking Hilux and Audi’s bizarre plans for the R8 (which I still don’t totally grasp). The result? We ran way over time. Twelve minutes, forty-one seconds. That’s not okay. The mission is ten minute podcasts with perhaps a minute for a grace period. We’ll be sticking to time from now on. As for the video, never underestimate the stupidity of Russian oligarchs and their even stupider children.

WARNING: Podcast contains some profanity, including an f-bomb.

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Daily Podcast: I Haven't Put Gas in My Car In Three Weeks
One of the joys of telecommuting: no actual commuting. No train ride (I’ll thank you for not spilling your coffee on my New York Times again, strangers…
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  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
  • Carson D The UAW has succeeded in organizing a US VW plant before. There's a reason they don't teach history in the schools any longer. People wouldn't make the same mistakes.
  • B-BodyBuick84 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport of course, a 7 seater, 2.4 turbo-diesel I4 BOF SUV with Super-Select 4WD, centre and rear locking diffs standard of course.
  • Corey Lewis Think how dated this 80s design was by 1995!
  • Tassos Jong-iL Communist America Rises!