Kia Spoofs General Motors Advertising

Over the past several months we have been hearing a lot about the automotive bailout and most recently the bankruptcy of General Motors. When the news came of the government assisted reorganization of GM the marketing guru's put together a little piece in attempt to change what was and arguably still is a negative public perception of the 100 year old company. It is essentially a piece that states "oops, we screwed up, not all our fault, please don't hate us, and buy our cars". They say this while displaying numerous patriotic images of American ingenuity and GM heritage video. It certainly makes you feel as if GM is serious about fixing itself and makes you feel darn good to be an American at the same time. Remind me to hire this ad agency for when I run for president in 2020 (write me in). Of course, such an ad is designed to promote the US auto company while making folks feel a little guilty and perhaps treasonous if they purchase a vehicle that is not American.

Kia recently released an ad that has been playing online and is set to play in movie theatres across the country that pokes fun at GM's little advertisement. The ad is promoting the new Kia Forte, a formidable vehicle, and definitely caught my attention. It features similar tone of voice, music, images, and mood. Something tells me Kia wants to start an ad war to drum up publicity for its new small car.

So is this genius marketing or a low blow by the Korean competitor? Take a look for yourself and tell me what you think.

GM Reinvention

Kia Forte

Transformers! Amigos in Disguise

So if you are one of those people who worry about what Halloween costume you will wear months before the holiday look no further. This video displays an awesome Bumblebee outfit from the movie Transformers. I was impressed with the advanced CGI and special effects in Michael Bay's film but this blew me away! Apparently this was done as a promotion by a Chevrolet dealership in Mexico. Watch the video below and be prepared to think "how can I do that". Like the movies or not it is safe to say these amigos have got some talent.

If God drove a Car...

So the guy upstairs is likely not in immediate need of four wheeled transport. Some people in this world envy that and I am sure he is quite content with his situation. Perhaps something that could even make the almighty drool with envy, however, is the new Aston Martin One-77. It is the most beautiful, awe striking, intimidating vehicle I have ever seen. The design is a magnificent blend of form and function. From its air intakes integrated into the bumper and frame to its long, low, and aggressive stance. This thing is almost as beautiful as the stars above (but I would never take that away from him).

Coming in at 1.25 million USD, the hand built One-77 is certainly exclusive enough for even the finest of customers as it is the most expensive new car ever save for the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport which came in at 2.2 million. Still, I would take the Aston Martin over the Veyron any day as it is simply that awe inspiring.

Beneath the hood (which happens to be gold plated underneath for heat control) rests a 7.3 liter V12 that is said to put out over 750 horsepower and 550 lb-ft of torque. This should be more than enough to hit 60 mph in under 3 seconds. The power to roast any Lamborghini or Ferrari currently in production today? Check! The power to bend space and time? Maybe.

Of course, this being an Aston Martin, the fit and finish is impeccable inside and out as attention to detail is clear. The interior is two tone done right and has been set up to truly make the driver feel as if they are in a cockpit rather than a car. A luxurious cockpit which I am sure promises to offer all the amenities you would expect in a fine automobile.

Yes I do imagine the big guy would be quite pleased driving this car. While it may not have the power to create lightning, it certainly can bring the thunder. (Kashiga Kashiga)

If you would like to hear a bit of that thunder just play the video below and if you listen closely you may just hear the choir of angels.

Memories of Old Blue: Brake Check

Old Blue. An uncreative yet totally deserving nickname of my first ride. A 1975 Ford F-100 with a bullet proof 300 cube straight six. While the drivetrain may have been bullet proof, the brakes, had seen better days.

I always heard stories of peoples brakes going out and I often wondered what they did when such a horrific event happened. What would I do? I used to think it would be wise to throw the vehicle into park. Upon gaining greater mechanical knowledge I learned two things about this philosophy. 1) Most vehicles today have a nifty feature that prohibit this to prevent complete idiots from blowing apart their transmission. 2) I did not want to test whether or not my vehicle had this feature in fear of becoming one of those idiots and blowing apart my transmission. Another logical way to deal with such even would be to throw the emergency brake. That is why it exists right?

So of course the next part of the story has to be when my brakes failed. I was sitting in traffic in my high school parking lot when my brake pedal completely hit the floor and my truck started surging forward. My truck, mind you, idled like it had a high performance camshaft in it. If you cannot imagine the sound think of a dragster at the starting line sounding like it is either about to die or blast off. The funny thing about my truck was that it did not have any such camshaft installed. It simply was run down and idled rough. This makes it even more entertaining when you have no brakes as the rough idle will pull the vehicle forward at a comical intermittent pace at idle.

As I sat in the traffic jam with my truck rocking back and forth I began pumping my brakes feverishly to stop the big truck. I then stretched my foot out to hit the E-Brake when I remembered the flaw with my second plan shall my brakes ever fail. The emergency brake in my truck had not worked since the day I bought it. I then resorted to getting out of the lot by switching my truck between neutral and drive all while pumping up my brakes to save any pressure I might have left.

Two miles later I somehow made it home without plowing into anyone or running the 3 stop signs between school and the house. A replaced master cylinder later and I was stopping like a champ. I was truly blessed that day for losing them when I did. Had I been doing 35 mph on a busy road I would have been in serious trouble.

Hate to Love it but Kia has got SOUL!

Who would have thought people would have the desire to drive a vehicle that is essentially a box on wheels? After Scion brought the little xB to America in 2004 it seems every automaker is following suit with a little box of their own. Nissan recently released the funky Cube and now Kia has the SOUL. Of all the "box cars" I have to say the new Kia has really grown on me.

From a pure design perspective it works. The side profile draws you in instantly as the rake is reversed from the norm. This "reverse wedge" design has always appealed to me as I loved the effect it had on the redesigned 2002 Ford Thunderbird. While it may look like an aerodynamic nightmare, the SOUL is no slouch in the wind tunnel as it still achieves up to 31 mpg on the highway.

Perhaps my favorite angle of the SOUL is from the rear. The wide rear pillars and vertical tail lights make room for a rear hatch devoid of any extra lights or panels that are not needed. The simple design reminds me of a bank vault which is strong, safe, and somewhere many of us will never be in. What could be more exciting than that?

On the inside everything seems to be laid out in a very functional manner. For a car that starts at just a hair over $13,000 the interior will make you feel as if you spent much more. Like its exterior, it is a funky yet functional design which can be optioned out with all the tech goodies you would expect in a car today. Not to say that it is the nicest interior in the world because it most certainly is not. What I am saying is that unlike many other economy cars it does not feel like you have been thrown into the penalty box when you slide behind the wheel.

The get up and go factor is delivered via a 1.6 liter or 2.0 liter 4 cylinder. While neither will pin you to the back of the seat from brute acceleration they are adequate for daily driving. That being said the 2.0 liter may be a better bet for those who would like to pass a semi on the interstate without feeling the need to say an Our Father and Three Hail Mary's.

Kia has amazed me over the past 10 years in continually improving its products. The more unique models introduced such as the Soul the better for business. Efficient, high quality, affordable vehicles that don't make you yawn when you see them on the road? Maybe a few other automakers should take note of this strategy as it seems to sell cars.

What were they thinking?

When I heard Nissan was coming out with a competitor to the Scion Xb "box car" I was interested. Perhaps this design revolution of putting four wheels on a brick was taking off. I personally have driven both generations of the Scion Xb and while not my favorite, I must admit is a pretty good little car with ample interior room if you can get past the odd styling.

Nissan announced a few years back it would bring the Cube to the US as it was previously popular in foreign markets. The Cube starts at a hair under $14,000 and offers a lot of standard safety features, tech goodies, and "unique" styling all while delivering 30 mpg on the highway. Of course, when I say unique styling, I mean hideous. I am all for creative design but when I look at the Cube I don't know how anyone can think it is attractive. Nissan has definitely taken things too far as the Cube looks like a poorly made toy car. If the exterior hurts your eyes, don't fret. Slide behind the wheel and take a gander at the optional shag carpet dash and all your worries will go away...

Styling is subjective. What do you think?

Chevy Volt: 230 MPG!

For those of you have been living under a rock for the past year let me catch you up. In 2007, General Motors unveiled a concept vehicle by the name of Chevrolet Volt that promised to change the automotive world forever. It uses both gas and electricity to propel itself, yet, is not like your typical hybrid. Your typical hybrid has a battery pack on board that is charged by the engine and to a certain extent braking. The Chevrolet Volt can be charged in these ways as well, but, that is where the similarities end.

According to Chevrolet, 75% of U.S. citizens commuting needs can be met by the Volt without using a single drop of gas. How you might ask? The Volt is actually what is know as a "plug in hybrid". Park your car overnight, plug it into a wall outlet, and you will be able to drive up to 40 miles using the lithium-ion battery pack alone. Should you exceed the 40 mile range a small gas engine will switch on charging the battery to keep you going. The gasoline engine actually never powers the wheels in this car making the proper term for it a generator as it is simply generating electricity.

So where did 230 miles per gallon come from? That number, which GM has been teasing over the past week via Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook, is a result of the EPA deciding on a standard test for measuring plug in vehicles' efficiency. As you can imagine, GM may be the first to the plug in party, but certainly not the last requiring the EPA to set up a standard quick. While the specifics of the test were not mentioned as of yet, the results for "real world city driving" were a spectacular 230 miles to a single gallon of gas. If that number does not sell a car I don't know what will.

The Volt is scheduled for production as a 2011 model, likely entering showrooms in late 2010. It's price tag is said to come in around $40,000 and looks to offer all the normal creature comforts you would expect in an automobile. The only difference you will notice is a much smaller bill at the gas pump.

Chevrolet Volt concept displayed at the 2007 North American International Auto Show

Memories of "Old Blue"

We all have that special memory. For some it may be joyful, others horror. For me it is a mixture of the two. When I was 15 years old I purchased my first vehicle. It was big, loud, smelly, and most everyone agreed ugly. To me it was a thing of beauty. Something I had worked hard for and something that could take me anywhere I wanted to go (like gas pump to gas pump). This first vehicle was a 1975 Ford F-100. It had a 300 cubic inch inline-6 and a whole lot of "charm". Shortly after its purchase the rusty old floor boards and cab mounts were replaced and a much needed power steering pump installed. I was king of the world all while doing 0-60 in about 15 seconds as these beasts were never known for speed. This minor detail was a huge comfort to my mother I'm sure.

For the most part I left the trucks internals fairly stock in its first year under my ownership save for the removal of the glass-pack muffler and the addition of a proper Flowmaster exhaust. Some would say this brought the truck down from a 10 to an 8 on the "redneck scale". Nothing made me smile more than pulling into my high school parking lot with all the kids driving their "2 fast 2 furious" rides staring me down. Turns out my trucks exhaust note was drowning out the sound of their Folger's coffee-can exhaust which they all claimed added "like 30 horsepower bro". Sure they had fuel injection, airbags, and brakes (more on that another day). But I was driving something truly unique. It was something I worked hard for and no one could convince me it was not "cool". Sometimes I wish I could go back and tell my 16 year old self I never was, and never will be "cool", but I suppose that would have ruined all the fun.

So tell me. What was your first ride?

Memory lane: What happened to Lincoln?

Sorting through old pictures from the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit I came across a concept I had forgotten. Cobo hall was full of spectacular vehicles on that cold and rainy day yet the Lincoln MkR was perhaps my favorite. It is positively one of the most handsome concepts to wear a Lincoln badge, ever. So why is it that in 2009 we are not seeing anything like this on the road?



Lincoln has been in a constant identity crisis since the 1970's as it has never truly settled on what kind of car brand it would like to be. Originally, it was meant to be the best of the best that the Ford Motor Company had to offer. It was supposed to mean something when you drove a Lincoln much like it does when you drive a BMW or Mercedes today. Lincoln then fell into the trap of rebadging base Ford vehicles while offering little more than its logo, grill, and trim pieces to differentiate between say its Lincoln Town Car from a Ford Crown Victoria.



Fast forward to 2007 where Lincoln made an attempt to change things by showing off what its idea of the new Lincoln would become. If every Lincoln had the attitude and passion behind the MkR the masses would surely forget the past mistakes and buy like crazy. The concept had a powerful twin turbo motor which, in credit to the Ford Motor Company, has made it under the hood of the Lincoln MkS sedan. The MkS, mind you, is presumably what the MkR was supposed to be. While the engine made it, the original and exciting exterior design seems to have been lost in translation. Sure the new Lincoln MkS looks fine and is a good performing car. Unfortunately, so is the Ford Taurus which shares the same platform and costs a lot less. If the Ford Motor Company wants me to shell the extra cash for the Lincoln logo they need to wake up and realize that the only way to achieve this is to make a better product for their "luxury" brand. GM has figured it out with Cadillac as is evident by the new CTS. Why not Lincoln?












2009 Lincoln MkS

Which would you rather drive?

Is Tesla for real?

Over the last several years I have been following what was a small Silicon Valley start up whose intent and purpose is to bring electric vehicles to the masses. In the past, many of these ventures have yielded vehicles that are extremely over priced with little or no hope of ever competing with today's automobiles. It was Tesla's duty to break the world free of the thought that electric cars could be nothing more than over priced or over sized golf-carts which could not be driven over 30 miles. I am often reminded of Chrysler's GEM cars when I think of why the public has such a hard time taking EV's seriously.

Tesla seemed to hit it out of the park on paper. While its $100,000 price tag seems high to most of us, this is an attractive price for a high performance roadster capable of reaching 60 mph in less than four seconds with the ability to travel over 240 miles on electricity alone. Building a car that has never been built before is hard and expensive work. This is the first company to seriously commit to using Li-Ion batteries (the advanced cells found in you laptop and cell phone) to power the wheels as previously it was thought it could never be done at an affordable price. Tesla knew that its car could soon replace the Prius as the "green" vehicle to be seen in and the high price tag was just what they needed to raise cash for future vehicle design.

With the first car in production, Tesla wasted little time teasing its future vehicle. The recently revealed Tesla Model S promises to deliver a maximum 300 mile range and achieve 60 mph in under six seconds. What's even better is that it looks fantastic, seats at least four adults, and will start at an estimated base price of $49,900 pending a tax credit worth $7,500 from Uncle Sam. Other notable technology includes "quick charge" which charges the battery to nearly capacity in about 45 minutes. This feature allows the Model S to carry the family on cross country road trips without stopping overnight for a re-charge.

It would seem this little EV company has a lot going for it these days. It has a hot little sports car on the market that can outrun most super cars and a large sedan due in 2011 that looks to appeal to both greenies and everyday drivers alike. The future does look bright for Tesla and they are not shy about telling the world the next step for the company. Following the Model S will be a smaller car with the same range capabilities and a target price of around $30,000. If Tesla can live up to these claims, the large auto giants of the world will have been shown up by a little EV company out of California. It seems I am not the only one to take notice as Daimler has rushed to get a piece of the action.

Goodbye Diesel?

A recent report by pickuptrucks.com has got my attention as of late. It turns out they have uncovered a future engine program that could potentially put an end to the need for diesel engines. The reason we use diesel in the states is primarily to power large trucks as the high power output enables them to do more work at higher efficiency. Recently, America has learned from our neighbors across the pond (Europe) and started to adopt the idea of using small diesels with efficiency in mind for cars. The TDI Volkswagen Jetta gets 42 mpg highway for example. The "problem" with diesel engines is that the EPA and many "green minded" folk do not particularly like the emissions they spew from the tailpipe and thus extremely expensive and complicated smog reducing equipment must be installed on every vehicle. So complicated that they sometimes roll off the assembly line with hilarious results as witnessed by Ford's "thermic event" issue. (Don't worry, if you pass by on of these on the road your paint should be safe as the problem has been solved.)

The future engine is code named "Bobcat" and it is essentially Ford's new 5.0 liter V8 with twin turbos, direct injection, and direct ethanol injection. The last part of injecting ethanol into the cylinders is what should grab your attention, as without it, the motor is nothing more than an eco-boost V8. With all crazy tech jargon aside, the end result is a huge power output from a relatively small engine. The current 6.4 liter diesel V8 from Ford produces a whopping 350 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque. The 5.0 liter gas V8 with the new ethanol injection tech is said to be able to produce over 500 hp and 750 lb-ft of torque. All of this power with higher fuel efficiency and no need for expensive emissions equipment that modern diesels require. The real question in my mind, however, is that if they can do this with a big V8, why not put it in a smaller 1.5 liter 4-cylinder. I wouldn't mind driving a car that puts out over 200 hp and 300 lb-ft of torque all while getting 40 mpg on the highway. Especially if the only extra work for me is to fill a small ethanol tank every so often. Sounds like too good of an idea for anyone on the engine program not to consider.

Camaro Outsells Mustang for Second Month

We all know the story. Bow-tie boys razz blue oval boys over which brand is better. My F-150 can out tow your Silverado and vice-versa. For the last several years, however, a critical debate has been missing. 2002 marked what would be the final year of the Camaro. After 35 years of continuous production it simply could not keep up in the sales department when compared to the Ford Mustang. The reasons for this are many. I personally like to credit Ford with producing a less expensive and more attractive pony car. Let's be honest, a muscle car should not look like a Dodge Stratus from any distance. Even with its dull looks, the Camaro at the time arguably was the better car. It had a much stronger engine lineup and suspension in comparison to the Mustang. Unfortunately, for Chevrolet and Camaro fans world-wide, the people chose the Mustang.



After seven years the Camaro is finally back on the roads. This is a positive for both Mustang and Camaro drivers as both cars will certainly get better from the increased competition. Pick or choose which car looks the best today. Both are 1960's inspired, a throwback to the glory years in muscle car history. The current model year Camaro undoubtedly has the better engine lineup with its 304 horse V-6 and 426 horse V8 compared to the Mustangs pathetic 210 horse V6 and smooth yet long in the tooth 315 horse V8. With killer looks and plenty of "go" it is no wonder the Camaro has outsold the Mustang for the past two months. The question is how long will it last? Perhaps the arrival of an all new engine lineup in the Ford Mustang for the 2011 model year will tilt sales back to Ford? I argue that sales will begin to swing in the Mustang's favor by September as the initial die hard Camaro fans will have their vehicles nestled in their garage.



July Camaro sales = 9,320










July Mustang sales = 7,113