I know it’s been a while since I last posted and this post has very little to do with tech *cough-GPS-cough* but here’s an article from Autoblog that has got my blood boiling:
Oregon ran a pilot program in 2006 and 2007 that fitted 300 cars with GPS receivers, which kept track of the cars’ mileage. The receivers also kept records of when the cars were on the road, noting whether they traveled during rush hour or not. When the drivers went to several specially-equipped gas stations, they paid a mileage tax based on how far they had driven and when they drove, rush hour being more expensive than the wee hours.
Taxing mileage — as opposed to trying to raise fuel taxes — is an idea that’s not only raising eyebrows, it’s also raising interest. Seven other states are reported to be interested in finding a publicly-palatable way to tax mileage. A panel in North Carolina even recommended that drivers be charged a quarter-cent-per-mile for their year’s driving. In such a scenario, after 15,000 miles you’d owe the state $37.50.
GPS? The hell were they thinking? I understand states are losing revenues they normally would been counting on from gas tax but going the extreme route of charging by the distance traveled is a bit too much on the big brother side. When gas prices were this low 3 years ago, how were the states making money then? If people drove less, it would mean less stress on the roads which would also mean that there would be less maintenance required. Sleazy politicians always trying to find ways to tax the citizens to bring out short-term solutions for their own work performance shortcomings.
At this rate, small towns will be affected even more so. A lot of people commute to and from work from small towns or suburbs which would lead to some of them moving into the already crowded cities to avoid the “mile tax” or “toll booths”. I hate you Lou Dobbs because all you’ve been saying the past 5 or 6 years of your CNN existence has been about “heartland” and “illegal immigration” but now it’s about time you use your clout to stuff your big head into the courtrooms about those governments and do something good for once.
You know things aren’t going the greatest when companies like Microsoft and Google put on hiring freezes, Yahoo! goes on a firing spree, electronics giant Best Buy making moves to reduce staff, folks out at Target Corp getting the chop, and every other person is out there job hunting because of this economic downturn. To make matters worse, credit card companies like American Express began lowering or freezing borrowing from their valued customers making matters worse for those looking to invest. Even my favorite blog site, The Consumerist, has fallen under hard times and is up for sale. You can tell times are bad cuz their ads are so big, they cover blog post titles.
And thereby, we can claim that the economy is just as miserable as the weather is right here in Minnesota.
Unfortunately, this trickle down effect has now hit the world of auto sports breaking the seemingly life-long bond between Subaru and the World Rally Championship. Without going into details, a statement from the parent company Fuji Heavy Industries (owned by Toyota) revealed that (Subaru) has officially pulled out of the 2009 WRC campaign. The economy could be one of the bigger reasons behind this decision but irrespective of the cause, it’s a sad day to see an icon like Subaru divest itself off of the rally championships. This from a company that made a name for itself by designing passenger vehicles from all of their testing and experience in the World Rally Championships. Truly a shocker!
You know how when you’re minding your own business and driving about town, there’s always the one idiot cruising around with reckless abandon? They drive with inches separating them from the car in front and then they scamper off somewhere – usually to smoke with buddies over at by shady run-down apartments or going out to fancy dinners at McDonald’s. Earlier this evening, an asswipe was tucked in behind my car for roughly 10 minutes on the highway with one headlight on high-beam blinding me in one eye and his bumper close enough to compete with Kyle Busch in NASCAR.
So when I got the chance, I pull over to the right lane to let the ass-rider room to go. He zooms off only to get stuck in traffic ahead later. Lucky for me, I found plenty of room on the far left lane and passed him. Some red-neck (possibly hippie) looking dude with long hair glaring at me as I left him behind.
Thought it was over. Not quite for the dude cuz apparently, he was in a battle zone and had to come on top. He raced by at the opportunity hurling obscenities as he blew past a slowing traffic. At times like this, I get distressing thoughts of pointing objects known as guns at said persons.
So in ode to the phantom tailpipe sniffer from tonight, I declare a massive “F-U” to all the habitual tailgaters in this community.
I understand there’s a lot of animosity towards the Honda Civic but that’s mostly due to the ricers out on the streets with the giant spoilers and fart-cans crammed in the rear exhausts. Unfortunately, my bone-stock Civic never fails to land me a surprise year after year.
When I first got my car, some asswipes keyed the rear trunk in a parking lot of a grocery store. Another grocery store had someone trying to pry open my gas cover which at that time was around $1.25/gallon. Unfortunately for me, the cover’s controlled from the inside so when they tried to forcibly get it to open, it bent something there and now the gas cover on the outside doesn’t shut all the way. Then 2 years ago, someone left me a AOL CD on the rear window lodged between the rubber strips with a scratched-on Nazi Swastika sign in broad-daylight in the afternoon. That was at the Cub Foods location in New Brighton, Minnesota, considered by many as a nice quiet suburb. Another time, someone left behind pliers on my trunk lid while at some friends place in St Cloud. Some stupid college kid put up a fake ticket behind my windshield wipers last year. We all get those little cards or fliers once in a while but yesterday, there was a “Minneapolis Summer Fun” newspaper stuck on my wipers when no other car had it in the parking lot. If that didn’t get me riled me up, a bloated tampon lodged in the rear trunk-lid surely did. It wasn’t used (ewwww) but it’s still gross.
So what am I doing wrong? There are no bumper stickers to aggravate people of various sociopolitical differences or large exhausts, colorful paint etc that really makes this Civic stand out. No one else I know has had anything like that happen to them and they have rides that aren’t normal, yet I get targetted on a yearly basis. Why? So my message out to all you asshats who pull these stunts is QUIT LEAVING YOUR CRAP BEHIND ON MY CAR or I’ll have to find a way to knight you with this baseball bat on your heads!
Despite not being released out for sale, you might be lucky enough to spot the newly redesigned 2009 Mazda6 plying on the roads out to nearby dealerships. Just last Friday, saw one of those beauties heading out west (NW) on MN-55 (aka Olson Memorial Hwy) in Minneapolis while on my way to work at like 8:15AM. The car took a left (west) on CR-6 possibly to take a left on Xenium Ln and get back on 394W where 2 Mazda dealerships lie close.
It just stood out very clear from the Camrys, Accords, and Passats with the swooping lines and the heavily accentuated wheel arcs jutting out in a muscular sporty way. I thought it was strange body-kit on an RX-8 from the rear until I got closer and realized it was a 4-door 6. The headlights were unmistakable and so was the overall design. In terms of looks alone, this is a must-have. Sorry Accord. You’re upscale but if the girlfriend thinks you’re “boring” everything I point you out enthusiastically, you have no chance.
Obviously, the plan is that the dealers get peeks at the new Mazda6’s in person to get the extra push to sell off all of their remaining rather plain looking current generation 6. No wonder you see Mazda putting them on the ads on tv every day.
Update: Pictures of the new and unreleased Mazda 6 out in the open, courtesy of Autoblog.
Arguably the world’s first and only true exotic supercar from the land of the rising sun, Honda’s NS-X (Acura in the USA) was a pillar of marvel for automobile designers with it’s light-weight aluminum frame molded into a sleek aerodynamic design. The low-slung mid-engined beauty ran on it’s rear wheels and could out-handle it’s European counterparts from marques like Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche.
Unfortunately for Honda, manufacturers and fans of the established exotic sports cars refused to accept the NSX because of the rather anemic V-6 powerplant and the fact that it wasn’t from Europe. Regardless, there is no doubt that it’s design was years ahead of it’s competition back when it first came out in 1990 and Honda is aiming to try and make another home-run.
Honda’s HSC (probably stood for Honda Sports Concept) made the fans somewhat happy but the boring and derivative design wasn’t NSX which is why it was replaced by the equally boring “Advanced Sports Car” concept. This time, it’s going to be front-engined on a rear-wheel drive setup which could alter the balance the previous iteration had achieved.
I must say it looks ugly as f*ck and a lot of enthusiasts expressed similar thoughts when this car debuted last year at NAIAS (North American International Auto Show). Almost Chevy Corvette like and somewhat bland to the eye so I used some quick Photochop to make it once again a mid-engined supercar that it should be.
Didn’t know how to fix the headlights but that’s just my interpretation of the direction Honda should be taking. I know Honda went back to the drawing board after a huge negative reception for the ASC design but would love it if they could take cues from what I have above or at the least, bring back a mid-engined supercar.
A few weeks ago while driving down right off-of Central Avenue by Columbia Heights and Fridley, I saw an angry velociraptor-like vehicle driving towards me on the other side of the 2-lane road. My heart skipped a beat, the pupils of my eyes dilated, and everything went into slow-mo. It was starting to get dark but the low-slung advancing menacing outline was quite unmistakably the brand new 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. Fleeting seconds yawned into minutes and the world seemed to pause giving me the kind of experience space travelers would be going through in the distant future as they engaged into warp speed.
At that very moment, my heart beats were obnoxiously loud as they blended with the rumbling sounds from the 2008 Evolution’s dual-exhaust tail-pipes leaving behind only a haunting melody. A flash of red and the doppler effect acting upon the exhaust notes blew by as I sat in my Civic mesmerized by it all.
I said “OMG DID you SEE that? That was the brand new Mitsubishi Evolution X!!!” to which Kaci said “That green car up ahead?” motioning to some soulless home appliance of a Ford Taurus as it pulled into our lane and sped away.
A week prior to the sighting of this rare beast, I happened upon the previous incarnation of it on Larpenteur Rd with Nima and Kaci in tow. The Evolution IX was a beauty to behold but in terms of sheet-metal magic, the new Evolution (no longer called the Evolution X) was decades ahead of the car it was replacing.
Above is a picture of what the new $32,990 (plus a handsome $5,000 in additional junk any dealer would throw in to bump the price) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution looks like. It comes with an intercooler turbo mounted to feed the stampeding 291 horses hidden in the 2.0 liter MIVEC engine. All 4 wheels roll on the usual grippy S-AWC (Super-All Wheel Control) AWD (all-wheel drive) setup allowing you for greater control in slippery conditions than any FWD (front-wheel drive) or RWD (rear-wheel drive) automobile.
So why did I bring this up? Was driving out on 10th St today heading west when all of a sudden, I felt a sense of deja-vu. The space time continuum ripped to shreds as time stood still. My hands gripped the now seemingly unfamiliar steering wheel of the Civic as an ominous shadow loomed in at my one O’clock. A black 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX peered out from a back road looking to get onto the busy street. If you’re into cars, you are most likely to understand the immense rivalry between the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Subaru Impreza WRX (STi) fans.
Unfortunately for Subaru, ever since Toyota bought a majority stake in Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent company of Subaru, it was to be expected that the wild bluestars of World Rally Championship legends was finally going to be tamed. So when the 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX (the WRX STi is eye-candy but is quite a bit more expensive) was unveiled, there was a visual sigh of disappointment from millions of fans across the world. While the exterior design elements focused on function over form, the spongy suspension system on the AWD (All-Wheel Drive) didn’t make much sense. After all, this was an Impreza WRX, not a Subaru Legacy (the car you pick if you prefer comfort with AWD in a Subaru).
It wasn’t supposed to be comfortable. It wasn’t supposed to look like a doorstop. Most of all, it wasn’t supposed to be a Corolla. But for the brief 5 seconds that I got to see it, I could tell it was almost as tall as the ugly Dodge Caliber but the giant turbo scoop on the front brought things into perspective. It was a nice looking ride but then again, somewhat plain-jane like a MazdaSpeed3. The black paint definitely helped.
As I drove by admiring the car (What a hypocrite. I just dissed it right here in my blog in this very post), my eyes fixated themselves on a vertical black-sprayed metal thing behind the front grill and the oval logo. Not sure why but everything was in slow-motion and it felt like I was quickly panning the car to look for something that stood out other than the air-intake hood scoop. Controlling the movements of my eye balls felt like using a dusty old analog computer mouse that needed cleaning and you knew it because of the jerky cursor movements on the screen. I duly noted that this WAS indeed the brand new turbo-charged 224 hp $24,850 Impreza WRX and not the STi nor the Legacy nor anything else. And then, I drove past it.
An album of the British band, The Subways, was blaring out OH YEA OH YEA on my CD player and so I missed the chance to even hear the toned down whimpers of the Mitsubishi Evolution’s once great arch-nemesis. Oh Subaru. You will be loved … again someday.
A couple of videos on the Impreza WRX STi against the Lancer Evolution.
Most people are against red light cameras. Heckeven I’m against red light cameras. The long history of increased accidents upon installation of the cameras and the various scammer like activities from the local authorities in doling out tickets certainly don’t make things better for the advocates of those cameras.
So what exactly is a “red light camera?” It’s not a camera by your local red light district, nor is it a special infrared camera and it certainly does not remove the “red eye” effect. A red light camera is an actively computer monitoring system that snaps pictures of the license plates and sometimes, faces of the drivers in the event of a violation – more specifically, running a red light. They’ve already been banned out of Minneapolis-St Paul due the ruling that they were unconstitutional after a slew of tickets were mailed out to supposed violators.
Usually, RLC (Red Light Cameras) are placed at 4-way intersections with 4 cameras … one facing each side of the street. Do note that the cameras in question are mounted up high on tall structures like lamp-posts. They’re usually not situated by the traffic lights themselves so don’t go thinking every infrared sensor (used by cops and emergency vehicles to alter traffic lights) is an RLC. Also, the cameras look like the regular security cameras you see at government locations. For more info on RLCs, click here.
Below are 2 RLC locations in St Cloud, Minnesota, which in my opinion has definitely shortened the AMBER/YELLOW light times. Both locations are notorious for their rather long RED lights especially if you’re heading NORTH-SOUTH (or vice versa) on either 9th Ave S or 5th Ave S.
If you’re heading north on 9th Ave S (Great River Rd) and attempting to make a LEFT on 10th St S, you’re SOL during rush because the GREEN light arrow pointing LEFT changes to AMBER in 3 seconds which takes under 3 seconds to turn RED. Otherwise, both locations have now improved the RED light waiting period. I don’t have to dread driving near it because I know that it will turn GREEN soon. The short AMBER/YELLOW light period is annoying but nearly not as the waiting periods for the RED to turn GREEN from days of yore.
This article on Autoblog highlights six cities that were caught red-handed for shortening the yellow light wait period to snare unsuspecting drivers with fines. Rumor is that the companies that install those cameras charge the cities a boatload of fees and the only way those cities can recoup the costs was by increasing the number of violators.
So the question remains, are Red Light Cameras a “Blessing” or teh “Devil?” I guess only time will tell but for now, let’s just hop on that bandwagon to vilify our cold-hearted robotic overlords.
Supposedly hailed as one of the greatest car movies of all time, the cult-classic from the 1971 “Vanishing Point” is back in the lime light. Honestly speaking, I saw the remake starring Viggo Mortensen and loved it. It was a bit different from the regular stuff but at that time, I’d never heard of the movie until I caught it on cable back in the late ’90s. Then after finding out about the original, I checked it out and wasn’t disappointed with Kowalski’s exploits in the “supercharged” 1970 Dodge Challenger.
Chrysler/Dodge is bringing back the Challenger as an ‘09 model and this ad does a great job in forcing nostalgia down on us. Clips of the commercial is from the original movie and if you haven’t seen it, I will ask you to go to the nearest library / movie-rental / NetFlix and get it!
One bit of criticism for the new Challenger is that the wheels are too large. Makes it look like a ‘roided version of the original classic beauty. Oh and another criticism for Chrysler/Dodge is that they’re retiring the overscooped-ducted but venerable Viper.
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