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Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Rocky Road Trip

Rocky Road TripThere was no avoiding the ice cream. See, my friend Nick invited me over for what he called a ridiculously healthy dinner. But he made one fatal mistake-he served me the twigs and green things in front of a TV displaying a documentary on ice cream. During a commercial break, Nick professed his love for Cold Stone Creamery and his regret that there was none close by. Doubting him, I Googled the name and found a Cold Stone. It was late at this point-just after 9pm-but this particular shop was open for another 45 minutes.  Problem was, it was an hour away, according to Google. "No problem," I said as the two of us flung our half-eaten plates of healthiness aside and ran down the stairs towards the Volkswagen Tiguan parked out front. VW says the Tiguan is the GTI of SUVs and we were going to verify that claim. We ran out of the building like it was on fire, over to the Tiguan, and headed out of the parking spot at full throttle.A front-wheel drive GTI would have easily laid 100 feet of rubber-a far more dramatic exit-but the Tiguan put all the turbo four's horses to the ground uneventfully. And continued to do so as I drove like an animal across town and onto the interstate. An average of 90 mph ought to get us there in time, and I put Nick on cop duty because I had left my radar detector at home. So much for thinking that a ridiculously healthy dinner would be followed by a ridiculously lazy drive home.Under this kind of life-or-death pressure, the Tiguan's leisurely acceleration didn't exactly feel sports car-like, but the VW maintained near-triple-digit speeds comfortably. When we finally reached our highway exit, we had exactly nine minutes until the store closed. We could relax slightly, as the navigation system said we were only five minutes away. See, speeding does pay! (Just kidding. Always follow the posted speed limit lest you die in a fiery crash. Professional Driver on a closed course. Do not try this at home.) Practically tasting the creamy deliciousness in my mouth, I didn't bother to slow down much for the exit ramp, sliding through all 270 degrees of slightly banked, constant-radius corner with all four tires howling and the stability control light flashing. "Oh yeah, the GTI of SUVs," Nick laughed, as I flew past a 25-mph sign that was flashing at us. And then, the inevitable. More flashing-from behind, coming from a police car. An award-winning string of expletives ends only when I roll down the window for the officer."You in a rush tonight?" he asks.There's a pause. "Actually, to be honest, kind of, yeah," I say, smiling."Oh, really? You guys have a hot date or something?" "Oh no, nothing nearly that cool. See, we just drove almost an hour because the doofus in the passenger seat wants Cold Stone. And they're closing in eight minutes." Nick nods. "Seriously, I couldn't make this sh*&t up if I tried." Oh fantastic, I not only just admitted that we're idiots, but I dropped the four-letter poopy-word directly to the cop's face. He laughs a little, and then regains his composure. After asking me couple of questions about who owns the VW, the officer takes my license and goes back to his car. I go back and forth between consoling myself that I reduced my chances of getting the ticket by making the officer laugh and being hysterical that, after all my heinous speeding, we're not going to get our ice cream. And I'm probably going to jail.The officer comes back to the window, hands me my license and explains that he's waiting for the call back that there are no warrants out for me. In the meantime, I get a well-deserved speech about slowing it down a little. And not sliding around exit ramps."Oh, you saw that too?" I asked, shocked."More heard than saw, but then you flew past me at 50 mph, so I knew it was you."Yikes. Okay, even the most flagrant speeders should agree that doubling the speed limit is excessive. In my own defense, I was still slowing down from the exit ramp-even I don't double speed limits. Just then, the call came through his radio that (miraculously) there were no warrants for my arrest. The officer tapped the door sill and said "Slow it down, and enjoy your ice cream, guys."Easy for him to say. We now had only four minutes to get to Cold Stone. I did my best to keep the speeds under, say, double the speed limit, but it wasn't looking good. I made Nick call the store and beg them to stay open. "No, sir, listen. I understand you're closing in two minutes, but we're only two and a half minutes away! This is a matter of life and death, and we just drove an hour to get here. An hour! To top it off, my friend, who's driving, just got pulled over for doubling the speed limit and sliding around an exit ramp. Seriously. This is Code Red. We need Cold Stone! I made him eat spinach for dinner, for Pete's sake!" Nick's voice was now at mezzo-soprano pitch. Not a good sign.I couldn't make out what the guy on the other end was saying, but I could hear a distinct lack of amusement in the squawking coming from the phone. No matter, though, because we pulled up in front of the building at 10:00pm sharp, just as the manager, still on his cordless phone with Nick, was walking towards the front door to lock it. Perhaps it was the squealing of a full-ABS panic stop ten feet in front of the store, or perhaps it was the look on both of our faces as we threw ourselves out of the Tiguan like two car-chase perps on Cops, but the manager stopped dead his tracks. And gave us our ice cream. There are a few things to be learned. One, the Tiguan is, in some ways, the GTI of compact SUVs. Two, don't slide around exit ramps when a state policeman is within earshot. And most importantly, don't ever do something so stupid as eating twigs and branches if you're going to watch a documentary on ice cream. You'll wind up almost getting arrested on your way to the ice cream shop.Read More | Digg It | Add to del.icio.us

Posted by Newton Myler at 6:00 PM 0 comments

GM's Wagoner heading to Congress in Malibu Hybrid

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Click above for a high-res gallery of the 2008 Malibu Hybrid

While it won't get him there as quickly (or as luxuriously) as a Gulfstream corporate jet, GM CEO Rick Wagoner will drive to Washington this week in a Chevrolet Malibu hybrid to ask for taxpayer-funded bridge loans. Last month, Wagoner, Ford CEO Alan Mulally and Chrysler LLC CEO Robert Nardelli, all received some serious flak from both lawmakers and the public when they arrived in Washington via three separate private jets while begging for $25 billion in federal money. All are expected to take alternate forms of transportation this time around, with Mulally already announcing plans to drive a Ford Escape Hybrid. Simple math says Wagoner's Malibu hybrid should only burn about 15 gallons of fuel during the 520-mile trek from Detroit to Capitol Hill, costing the automaker about $30 in gasoline (compare that to the estimated $10,000 cost of the jet one-way). It should be quite the road-trip.

[Source: Google/AP]

GM's Wagoner heading to Congress in Malibu Hybrid originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Click above for high-res image gallery of the Fisker Karma

Just one short year after Fisker debuted its plug-in hybrid Karma show car at the Detroit Auto Show, the house that Henrik built will be returning to the Motor City to debut the production version of its ambitious project. Fisker says the production model, which is shown above in this just-released official pic, will only vary slightly in design from the show car, including a different upper grille that's a bit larger towards the outer edges and a larger lower air intake. The exhaust pipe from the internal combustion engine will also exit from an odd place: behind the front wheels. We'll also get our first view of the Karma's production interior in Detroit next month.

Fisker announced last month that it had chosen General Motors' turbocharged, direct-inject 2.0L four-cylinder as its ICE of choice, and after sampling that engine in the Chevy Cobalt SS Turbo, we're very eager to see what it will do in a hybrid set-up designed to make one very large luxury saloon move like the wind. Combined with the hybrid system's 22.6 kWh electric motor, the drivetrain as a whole is said to produce 408 horsepower and propel the car to 60 mph in 5.8 seconds and onto to a top speed of 125 mph. What sounded like vaporware 365 days ago is starting to take form, and we'll be on hand in Detroit next month to bring you more.

Gallery: Fisker Karma


[Source: Fisker]

Continue reading Detroit Preview: Production Fisker Karma will debut in Motown

Detroit Preview: Production Fisker Karma will debut in Motown originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In just a few short days, Ford and its two cross-town rivals will be required to lay down a plan before Congress that points a clear path towards profitability and global competitiveness. These days, any automaker's future will involve plenty of greenery, and as the first of the three automakers to submit its comprehensive business plan to the lawmakers in DC, Ford's plan includes electric vehicles slated for launch starting in 2010. First up will be a new electric van for commercial use, followed in 2011 by a new electric sedan. Other highlights include U.S. versions of the European-designed automobiles that are currently making their way across the pond, the sale of all its private jets, further plant closings and continued negotiations with the UAW.

So, what kind of money are we talking? The Blue Oval's plan calls for a bridge loan of $9 million to be made available, though it hopes it doesn't need it. You may remember that Ford bet Henry's farm already when Mulally first took office at the automaker, so it's already got a load of financed cash on hand to weather the current stormy climate through 2010. What's more, Ford hopes to get $5B of loans under the already-promised $25B for fuel efficient cars. On the negative side, the plan suggests that a bankruptcy of either General Motors or Chrysler would be enough to cripple Ford's operations. Barring that, even with a forecast of flat sales of 12.5 million units per year for the next three years for the U.S. auto industry, Ford believes it's on its way back to profitability as early as 2011. Check out the Blue Oval's official press release detailing its proposed plan to Congress after the jump.

[Source: Ford]

Continue reading Ford claims to be back in black by 2011, release EV sedan same year

Ford claims to be back in black by 2011, release EV sedan same year originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If using less fuel and working towards an petroleum-free future just makes too much sense for you, then rest assured that there are some greenies who like the absurd. Case in point: the treadmill bike. Another example, killing high performance cars because of their tires.

Oh, and this is what the auto CEOs should have said.

AutoblogGreen for 12.02.08 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 05:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Newton Myler at 2:01 PM 0 comments

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