Autoblog

Yep, that's Jeremy Clarkson talking up the Chrysler Sebring convertible in his column for The Sunday Times today. What, you expected anything less than a wholesale evisceration? Clarkson weighing in on the astoundlingly sub-par Sebring is pretty much the motor-journalistic equivalent of using a Stinger missile to take out your kid's SpongeBob birthday piñata. It didn't stand a chance.

The laughs come early and often as the Chrysler gets mercilessly worked over like one of Mike Tyson's sparring partners in the '80s, but be forewarned: by the time Jezza puts down his pen, America's Number One Fan has managed to work in AIG, Lehman Brothers and the Iraq war as he slips in his obligatory jabs at the country, which the Chrysler becomes symbolic of.

The way Clarkson sees it, quality sucks in the Sebring and other American cars because we Americans have no sense of history and are thus incapable of planning for the future (by making something built to last). Whatever -- he's entitled to his opinion. Speaking for myself, I can deal with the crappy Sebring in the grand scheme of things; that's a miniscule tradeoff for having something to celebrate on July 4th. Besides, it's not all tea and cookies in the former motherland, anyway...


[Source: TimesOnline | Tip: Kris]

Vandals who mess with other people's cars are scum -- bottom-feeders who are beneath contempt. It doesn't matter what the vehicle being damaged is. Cars are a major purchase, there's often an emotional connection to them, and most importantly, they generally represent the owner's primary source of mobility -- getting him or her to work, to the store, to pick up the kids, and so on.

SUV owners know the deal, and it sucks. Stories of drivers (and dealers) finding trucks partially or completely trashed in the name of saving Mother Earth are nothing new, and now it seems that Prius owners are getting their own taste of this nonsense. Inside Line reports that a recent Los Angeles case in which one of the Toyotas was burned to the ground has been determined to be the result of arson. In Petaluma, CA, meanwhile, seven Priuses were vandalized over a two-week period in April. One poor woman had her car attacked twice, and then when it was in for repairs, the Prius rental she had also got worked over. The conventional wisdom suggests that the Prius is a juicy target because it's a poster child for the environmental movement. And seriously, is this at all surprising? Some sort of anti-eco blowback like this was probably inevitable. People get fed up, so just as the HUMMER and other SUVs are targeted by greens looking to send a message, it was only a matter of time before the anti-HUMMER started getting the same kind of attention from the other direction.

What's it all prove? Nothing, except that asshats are readily found on both sides of every issue. If you don't like a particular car or truck, feel free to talk as much trash as you want (it's practically a sport in the comments section around here). Think the HUMMER represents some sort of rolling apocalypse? Fine. Ditto if you feel that the Prius is nothing but a snob capsule for tree huggers. Just don't turn those thoughts in to actions, because when you willfully screw with another person's car or truck, you're just another stupid criminal, and whatever message you think you're advancing just falls on deaf (and angry) ears.

[Sources: Inside Line, Prius Owners Group]

Think of it as the Carsumer Price Index; new car sales are under pressure from other factors besides fuel prices and economic slowdowns, much like the Consumer Price Index strips out the price of fuel and food and then makes a proclamation about the economy. At least that's the theory that Pinny Cohen posits. Who's Pinny Cohen? As far as we know, he's an average joe with an internet rostrum and a budding web entrepreneurship who makes some salient points. He's also an Autoblog reader and he's got something to say, so we thought we'd share.

If it's not $4/gallon gasoline or economic stagnation that's putting the brakes on car sales, what else could it be? Cohen posits that the better construction of cars these days, a glut of leases that have led to a tsunami of used cars, and online shopping and telecommuting keeping people home are all contributing factors, says Pinny. Something's got to give for consumers, and new car sales seem to be the weakest link. Every automaker will eventually accept these facts, but the question is whether some will have to close up shop in order to realize that it's a brand new day of decreased production. Check the link to read Cohen's thoughts and let us know if you agree or think of more reasons why besides the crappy economy and high gas prices that new vehicle sales are down.

[Source: PinnyCohen.com, Photo: DealerConnection.com]

Filming for the NBC pilot for Top Gear has wrapped. Speculation about the show's format and hosting choices has left Top Gear fans hoping for at least a decent representation of the popular British show. Some of those prayers may be answered , as NBC brought in a number of BBC folks, along with the original Top Gear producer, the assist in the pilot's taping. The show follows the BBC version's format, right down to the set details. Also, as noted earlier, the "star in a reasonably priced car" segment gets carried over. However, the driver might come as a bit of a surprise (a really awesome surprise, at that). The signature top-notch video production viewers expect is there, though it must be said that the geography of the United States offers a richer variety of visual possibilities than you might be accustomed to seeing on Jeremy & Co.'s show.

One key to the BBC Top Gear's is the camraderie between the presenters. As such, it's probably a little unfair to compare the Top Gear of today, 11 seasons in, to a crew just coming together for the first time. Still, Carolla, Foust and Stromer are off to a good start. Their interactions during taped segments were wildly entertaining, enough to distract the show's own crew members from their tasks. Each host fits into his own role, but not the exact molds laid out by Jezza, Hamster and Captain Slow. Carolla's razor-sharp wit is on full display. Causing at least one member of the audience to say, "That is the most funny Adam Carolla has ever been." Foust is also not made out to be anything more than a total car geek -- his true personality. His enthusiasm may be too technical for general consumption on its own, but it's perfectly complimented by Carolla's blunt comedy. Stromer doesn't fare nearly as well. Before the live audience, he comes across as if he were presenting a sales pitch to a room full of prospective timeshare buyers. Hopefully, he'll adapt his field mannerisms, which are far more easygoing, into his studio presence in the future. That is, if the show has a future on American television.

Click above to see what else was found hiding behind a rock.

Not to mention any names or anything (*cough* Baja *cough*), but there have been some downright ugly trucks to go from the concept stage straight through to production. Usually, though, consumer reaction is properly gaged and the most egregious styling mistakes are usually swept quietly under the rug. Until, that is, somebody starts digging around for the most grossly misshapen models they can find... which is exactly what PickupTrucks.com decided to do. The results of their efforts have been ignominiously placed up on their website for the whole world to gaze upon in disgust. They are as follows:

1. Nissan Nails
2. Rinspeed Tatooo
3. Nissan XIX
4. Dodge MAXXcab
5. Chevrolet Borrego

Though these concept vehicles have been ranked, we hesitate to call any of them winners. See for yourself in the gallery below -- if you must.


[Source: PickupTrucks.com]

In the wake of the Chevy Beat news that started pounding the wires before the 4th of July weekend, the Wall Street Journal reached out to Bob Lutz for some commentary on the topic. Lutz, in an email to the Journal, said, "We always thought we'd do it at some point, but now it obviously enjoys a much higher priority." Based on what the Journal says, this loosely translates to "the 2012 timeframe." Unfortunately for GM, this is a car that its U.S. operation needs approximately yesterday. It would behoove the brain trust in the RenCen to stop debating this and simply end all the speculation by formally announcing a U.S. Beat and attaching a timetable, already (as in, now). We think that the car's appearance as an Autobot in next summer's Transformers follow-up will help create enough public interest for that GM will be forced to make some sort declaration if they haven't by then already (TF2 opens on June 26, 2009).

As we've suggested, GM would probably do itself a big favor by greenlighting production versions of all three Triplet concepts, sending the Trax (also featured in TF2) and Groove to showrooms, too. The argument that Americans aren't into small cars/econocars/hatchbacks is quickly losing water, as automaker sales numbers would attest. There's a reason the Civic now outsells the F-150 and that the Hyundai Accent saw a 70% jump last month. Toyota isn't adding the 5-door Yaris to the U.S. lineup on a whim, either. Market forces, in the form of elevated fuel prices, are altering the landscape, and people are a lot more willing to look at (and buy) something smaller and more economical. It's just reality. The longer General Motors deliberates, the longer it's going to get beaten by competitors who have product ready to go right now. Don't wait for for the popcorn-chompers to play focus group and beg for these cars next summer. Grow a set and make the announcement now. Who would've thought that Michael Bay has a better vision of the future than the General itself? In his, GM's cool, stylish minicars will be on the streets next summer. We know that's not possible in real life, but GM needs embrace the fact that a market now exists in the United States for the Beat (and its siblings) and make the obvious call.


[Source: Wall Street Journal]

Car & Driver is a common choice as bathroom reader around Autoblog HQ, though thumbing through the latest issue had us contemplating using the glossy pages for TP. C&D got its hands on Nissan's new GT-R and its development benchmark, the Porsche 911 Turbo. That's great so far, as everyone wants to know how the Nissan stacks up against its bogey. The trouble comes when a BMW M3 gets tossed into the mix. What? The M3 is a hell of a car and it clearly earns its perennial 10-Best status, but it's outgunned and mismatched in this company. Somehow it managed to win a three-way comparo with two supercars anyway.

For Autoblog Podcast #95, we mix it up again, and this time Chris Shunk has corralled Alex Nunez and Sam Abuelsamid. We're using our time honored format -- we hit the Autoblog Garage first (some awesome stuff in it recently), then move on to news. We hit some nuggets like the LF-A crash, the Chevy Volt subsidies fight in Congress, and $10 airbags, to name a few. It all wraps up with some listener emails, one of our favorite parts of the podcast. We'll take the 'cast for another spin next week, thanks for listening!


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In the interest of bringing you a weekly podcast, which Neff, Lavrinc and Nunez seem completely incapable of doing, we've drafted a B-Team of hosts and pressed them into service for Autoblog Podcast #94. In this episode, Chris Shunk, Sam Abuelsamid, and Dan Roth go over a few bits of recent news, discuss some Autoblog Garage vehicles, and answer reader emails. It should be no different than with the old hosts, except maybe funny this time and intellectually stimulating at the same time. Let us know what you think of our newly redoubled effort to get you podcasts in a more timely manner - opinions, tips, recipes; send it all to podcast at autoblog dawt com. Thanks for listening and see you next week!

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The GMnext blog has a post up that talks about the potential viability of a low-displacement turbocharged motor -- the direct-injected 2.0L Ecotec turbo, specifically -- in upcoming GM cars, including the Camaro. Let's talk about this a little. The breathed-upon Ecotec delivers 260 horses and 260 lb-ft of torque, and if you've driven, say, the Sky or Solstice equipped with it, you know just how ballsy it really is. It's more powerful (but less torquey) than either V8 offered in the '87 IROC-Z that I thought was so cool back during high school. The turbo four might well be a nice solution in a future iteration of the Camaro, but is the fuel economy argument for it as rock solid as it might seem on the surface?

The Pontiac Solstice GXP with the turbo four has an EPA fuel economy rating of 19 city/28 hwy when mated to a 5-speed manual. Not bad at all for the performance it delivers, but that same drivetrain in the bigger, heavier Camaro isn't likely to give you equal returns in terms of fuel consumption. Over at AutoblogGreen, Sam notes that the 2.0 turbo's lighter weight relative to the six- and eight-cylinders the Camaro's going to launch with should help somewhat. He follows by reminding us that GM's next-gen mild hybrid system will work with RWD cars and predicts that we'll see a 2.0T hybrid Camaro by 2011 or so. This would dovetail neatly with the first phase of the new CAFE regs, and we're sure GM would find a way to engineer a hypothetical turbo/hybrid's fuel economy numbers so they'd play nice within Uncle Sam's rules. Great.

The issue with all this talk of four-cylinder turbos and hybrids for a muscle car (along with attempts to redefine the class and reset expectations) is that everyone conveniently overlooks just how good the existing V8 is. In the 2008 Corvette Coupe, the big bad 6.2L LS3 is rated at 16 city/26 hwy. Hardly a guzzler in the traditional sense, the V8's rating isn't that far off from the direct-injected Ecotec turbo. Furthermore, the V8's fuel economy comes with 430 horsepower and 424 lb-ft of torque. Those are numbers befitting a muscle car like a Camaro. Who's to say a direct-injected LS-family V8 with efficiency tech like hybridization and/or cylinder deactivation wouldn't be just as effective at meeting the federal fuel economy requirements that begin taking effect a few years from now? You could potentially satisfy the government-created CAFE gods without giving the customers who want actual, traditional muscle the finger in the process. Yes, the consensus seems to be that smaller engines will be a necessity across the board in the new CAFE era, but let's not summarily ignore the bigger ones just because they're big.