Category: Cars

Ever look at one of those behemoth SUVs rumbling down the street and say to yourself, “There oughta be a law!”

Guess what: there may already be.

I discovered this secret ban after noticing the signs at both ends of my narrow Los Angeles-area street (a favorite cut-through route for drivers hoping to avoid tie-ups on bigger roads). The signs clearly prohibit vehicles over 6,000 pounds.
[…] It turns out every big SUV and pickup is too heavy for my street. Here’s just a sampling: The Chevy Suburban and Tahoe, the Range Rover, the GMC Yukon, the Toyota Land Cruiser and Sequoia, the Lincoln Navigator, the Mercedes M Class, the Porsche Cayenne S, and the Dodge Ram 1500 pickup (with optional Hemi). What about the Hummer, you ask? Hasta la vista, baby!
If you look at the manufacturer’s specs for these vehicles, you’ll discover that they all have a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 6,000 pounds. […] Some are way over (the Hummer H2 weighs in at 8,600 pounds, and its older sibling the H1 at an astounding 10,300 pounds—I’m talking to you, Governator). Others manage to top the 3-ton mark by just a hair (the BMW X5 boasts a GVWR of 6,008 pounds). For comparison, a Honda Accord is about 3,000 pounds.

The auto manufacturers have an incentive to make these things this heavy because (a) you can write off the cost (if it’s for “work”), and (b) as trucks they’re exempt from the federal “gas guzzler” tax, not to mention various safety regs.

Still, while benefitting from those laws, the laws they would be penalized by don’t seem to be much enforced.

By weighing in at more than 6,000 pounds, big SUVs are prohibited on thousands of miles of road in California. Cities across the state—including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Pasadena, and Santa Monica—use the 3-ton cutoff for many or nearly all of their residential streets. State law gives them the ability to do this for very straightforward reasons: The heavier the vehicle, the more it chews up the roads, endangers pedestrians and smaller vehicles, and makes noise. […]
As it stands now, big-SUV drivers have it both ways: They use their trucklike status when it benefits them, yet they ignore the more onerous restrictions that “real” truck drivers face.

I can’t imagine any politician actually urging the police to enforce these kind of laws, but it would certainly be entertaining to see.

(via Cronaca)

Say it ain’t so, Hans! Speed limits on the autobahn?

Experts estimate that in the next few years, the EU will impose a standard speed limit on all European highways, including the autobahn.
German politicians could beat them to it.
Growing concerns about safety and the environment combined with high gas prices has led to calls in recent weeks from across the political spectrum for a speed limit. “We have to ask ourselves what price we pay to live out this feeling of freedom,” says Josef Goeppel, a parliamentarian for the conservative Christian Social Union.

If Germany wants to up its tourism market for a year, they can announce speed limits a-coming a year in advance, so that visitors can flock there to clock the high speeds one last time …

(via Hit&Run (heh))

From a personal standpoint, I’m not likely to be an Oldsmobile buyer. Regardless of ad campaigns, my own memories of the Olds is that it was the car of choice for my mom’s folks. First, and one of my earliest memories, a huge white olds sedan (a Ninety Eight?), with red seats you could lie cross-wise across, and the coolest speedometer ever (a green bar marching horizontally across the dashboard, which then turned orange when you passed a certain dangerous speed).

That car eventually went away, replaced by a smaller red with a white landau top (a Cutless Supreme?). Sportier, I suppose, but still The Grandparent Car, into which golf bags would be loaded.

Eventually they stopped buying new Olds. And now nobody will.

(via Daimnation)

A fascinating series of articles from a reporter who was sent “undercover” to work at two different dealerships. It’s a fascinatnig tale of scum and survivors, bad dealers and bad customers. It should also be required reading for anyone going out to buy a car … especially the glossary.

A recent study in New Zealand indicates that silver cars are safer than other colors.

They found a significant reduction (about 50%) in the risk of serious injury in silver cars compared with white cars.
There was a significantly increased risk of a serious injury in brown vehicles and the risks for black and green cars were also raised. The risk of a serious injury in yellow, grey, red, and blue cars was not significantly different from that in white cars.

I can imagine that visibility, esp. at night, might be a factor here. Silver cars are, well, glittery. Light colored cars would be visible, but not as reflective. Darker colors would be less visible.

An interesting study. Though I won’t really believe it until I see it affecting insurance premiums (and you’d better believe that’s being looked at).

(via PRBop)

So, what do you do when you’re hurtling along the dark freeway at 70-odd mph, and realize that (a) there are flashing emergency vehicle lights on the offramp a quarter mile (about ten seconds) ahead, and (b) they’re coming up the offramp straight toward you?

You, ah, slow down, pull over to the verge, stop, pray that the folks behind you do the same, and let the humongous fire truck finish its broad U-turn across all lanes to get to the rather innocuous car pulled over a half mile ahead. Then you proceed on your way, with a nice adrenaline rush to start the day.

First bout of bad weather (cold, freezing drizzle most of the day) for the New Car.

The Good

• Good, solid, excellent, confident handling.
• The rear windshield wiper does a good job.
• Quick defrosting.
• Good heating.

The Bad

• The right windshield wiper comes to the middle of the driver’s sight light. That’s not a problem per se, but it seems to make subsequent mist and drizzle accumulate right at that spot.
• The gas cap panel easily freezes shut.

The Ugly

• I didn’t get the self-defrosting wipers, so they still had the normal hit-or-miss on the window, due to ice.
• Also didn’t get the wing mirror defrosters, which meant that the rear view mirrors were having a tough time.

Still, net, very nice, in particular dealing with the biggest problem, to wit, handling on wet pavement. Huzzah!

If you have an out-of-state title on your car in Colorado, even if you’ve been registering it in-state, before you can sell it you need a Colorado title. And before you can get a Colorado title, you have to take it to an emissions control station, which will verify your VIN. Even though your VIN was verified when you registered it in Colorado. And even though your VIN was verified when you previously took it to an emissions control center.

And the DMV may either take several weeks to then print up the title, or else it may be able to do it over the counter. Maybe.

Just a note for future reference.

Everyone jokes about New Car Smell — most of which is fresh volatiles from plastic, rubber, and adhesive (and thus not terribly healthy for you), but it’s always been considered something of a joke that someone should market little aerosol cans of the stuff.

Well, the next best thing seems to be tailoring the New Car smell on upscale Cadillacs to be just what people subliminally want from a new vehicle.

General Motors recently revealed that its Cadillac division had engineered a scent for its vehicles and had been processing it into the leather seats. The scent — sort of sweet, sort of subliminal — was created in a lab, was picked by focus groups and is now the aroma of every new Cadillac put on the road.
It even has a name. Nuance.
“You pay the extra money for leather, you don’t want it to smell like lighter fluid,” said James T. Embach, G.M.’s manager for advanced features. “You want it to smell like a Gucci bag.”

The article also notes how the sights and sounds of cars are also being much more carefully crafted (or varied by market) to fit certain marketing expectations.

Margie and I ended up both picking up Katherine at day care (long story). Which meant that we drove back home in two cars through rush hour. Kitten was riding with Margie, behind me, and they were chit-chatting.

“Daddy has a new boyfriend!” Katherine declared.

“Oh?” Margie repllied, slowly.

“He has a new car!”

“Oh. Ah. You think Daddy’s car is his boyfriend?”

“Uh-huh!”

Well … yeah. Though I share him it with Margie, on occasion, too. How sick is that?

Well, we didn’t end up with the “Cheesy Mac” car. And my primary choice, the rich metallic blue, wasn’t to be either. The Subaru is silver.

And it occured to me, as I walked to lunch and watched the cars driving past, that’s not bad. Because the problem with most rich car colors is that they end up looknig dated awfully fast. I looked around at the few rich metallic blue cars in the lot, and I could tell, by the particular shades that were used, the old ones and the new ones.

Silver is forever. Or something corny like that. And it doesn’t show dirt very much.

Of course, if I’d gotten the STi …

… but, then, remarkably enough, an STi drove by. And, y’know what? I’m glad I didn’t get it. Because, really, you look a little stupid driving a souped up rally car with hood scoop and huge spoiler and all … when you’re wearing a white dress shirt and tie. Unless you look like James Bond, and this particular driver didn’t (and I certainly don’t).

So. Two more reasons to like what I got.

More things I’ve learned about our new Subaru:

• The cup holder situation definitely sucks. There is only one of a decent size, a CD-tray sort of affair in the dash, which does not really hold things reliably upright; it’s relatively large, but I know its capacity an be easily exceeded.
  There’s also a cubbyhole by the gear shift and parking brake lever, but it’s about the size of a soda can, max; a large drink will not fit inside of it. Bleah.

• The air flow through the vehicle is awesome. Even with the fan off, air flows through (when traveling on the freeway) with a strong draft. I’m going to need to adjust the heater on it during the winter. (The heater, btw, works great, as does the a/c.) I’m very pleased by this.

  I can also get a nice cross-breeze with the front-driver and rear-passenger windows down. One minor drawback: the seatbelt/carseat strap thing that hangs down behind the rear right passenger seat has a goofy tag on it with the instructions that insists on flapping in a loud and annoying fashion when that window is down, unless I somehow snag it under the rear compartment cover.

  A negative (though hardly a unique one): the rear windows only roll down part way. Common with smaller sedans, I know, but it would bug the heck out of me as a passenger.

• I so like having a CD player. Especially a multi-disc CD player. Especially during pledge week on our local NPR affiliate.

  And the (upgraded) sound system works just fine.

• Pulling onto the freeway today, I was behind a slower line of cars, and wanted to swing into the fast lane, but I could see another car coming up in that lane. With the Saturn, if I’d done it, it would have lagged and lugged and probably been irksome to that oncoming car, and me. In the Subaru, it was zoom-zoom, and no worries.

  I like having a zippy car.

After a week or so of driving the Subaru, vs. the Saturn, here are a few things you won’t read about in Car & Driver:

• The hood is much shorter. This gives better visibility (even with the scoop), and lets me park a lot further forward. I have still not figured out how to park as far right as I used to. even though the car is no wider.
• Unlike the Saturn, which had a long, broad hood, and a trunk, there’s no good place on the Subaru to stack stuff (incoming mail, sprinkler supplies, sections of the newspaper, groceries, boxes of soda). This is, I suppose, a good thing, but it’s a bit irksome at times, since we are seriously short of stacking surfaces in the garage.

• The Saturn had flip-up headlights that went dark (but didn’t flip down) when you turned off the motor; instead, a chime would, er, chime. The Subaru headlights go dark when you take out the key and all, but there’s no chime (and, obviously, they don’t flip back down). Result: I keep finding myself driving home in the afternoon with my lights on. The only way I notice it is when I can’t see the clock display because it’s dimmed (because the lights are on). This is not, I suspect, what they meant by “daytime running lights.”

• No antenna to go wubba-wubba-wubba when I drive up into the garage before the door is completely open. No antenna to be whipped back and forth, and possibly destroyed, by car washes. No antenna onto which to put little antenna bongles from Carls or Jack in the Box.

• The cruise control is non-persistent. It turns itself off when the motor is shut off, so I have to turn it back on again to use it. I’ve never quite understood that. It has a lever control, like the van does, but the on/off is on the lower-left console, which is an annoying thing.

• I’ve loaded six CDs into the CD player. Woo-hoo! Alas, it doesn’t remember the position last played on each CD, so if I change, it starts over from the beginning. That makes a great deal of sense, but is nonetheless annoying. Especially if I toggle between radio and CD (on commercials) and accidently hit the wrong button.

• The gradations on the speedometer are less fine than on the Saturn, so it’s tough to say when you’re really on a given MPH. On the other hand, 73 MPH seems to be (I kid you not) straight up on the gauge (“12 o’clock”), which is, ah, very convenient.

• The positioning of the clutch is still a bit weird. If I sit close enough to foot the clutch all the way in without stretching, then I’m too close with the other foot on the accelerator. If I’m fine on the gas, then I’m toeing the clutch in. Weird. I’m adapting, though.

• I dropped by the dealership yesterday to have them remove the annoying dealership badge they’d glued on (despite my request to the salesguy, who, to be fair, pointed it out to me). Now I just need to get a specialty license plate holder, and I can cease to advertise for the dealership. Oh, and a license plate. Well, I have until Thanksgiving to do that part.

The car rides well, and drives well, and I enjoy it very much. I’m figuring out how to deal with the sluggish response from a dead stop, and how not to let the turbo send me down the road at 95 MPH. The car is, amazingly enough, still clean and uncluttered inside. I am a happy camper.

I’m not quite sure how the subject came up, but it was one of those jaw-dropping, staring-in-disbelief moments.

“What?”

“Your car, man,” said Doyce. “It’s turquoise, right?”

The Saturn? Turquoise?

“Yeah,” agreed Stan. “Turquoise. Isn’t it?”

Okay, Stan, I can imagine, because he’s never been to the house that much. But Doyce? I’ve had the car longer than we’ve known him.

“It’s pink,” I said, emphatically. “Silver pink. There’s not a bit of turquoise anywhere on it?”

“Are you sure?” Stan asked.

“No, it’s turquoise,” said Doyce, like I was pulling some sort of stunt.

About that point, I needed to go remind Katherine is was time for her to be in her room, asleep. When I came back down, the door to the garage was open, as was the garage door, and Stan and Doyce were looking at my Saturn.

“Huh.”

“There,” I said. “I told you.”

“Huh.”

“Because it’s not like you’ve never been in the garage to get a soda or something while the Saturn was there.”

“Dude, I never looked at the car.”

As I said, surreal.

Postscript: Jackie came over later with cookies. “Hon, what color is Dave’s Saturn?” Doyce asked her. “Lilac,” was the response. “Metallic lilac.”

That’s at least in the ballpark. Go, Jackie.

Doyce sat down opposite to me and, looking me in the eye, solemnly said, “I need to tell you that we mean something very different by a particular word.”

It was a vaguely surreal. I immediately tried to figure out what was going on. Had I made a gaffe somewhere? Posted something that had been taken amiss? Screwed up somewhere big-time?

Nah. He went on to explain, I defined “zippy” a different way than he did.

When he uses the term “zippy” in reference to a car, it means that it has pep, pick-up, is lively and fun to drive.

When I use the term, he opined, it means that I want to moonlight as a gun-runner.

He then continued, smiling, rattling off the list of vehicles I’d mentioned test-driving and finding wanting in the “zippy” category, cars that they had decided had plenty of zip and pep and vim and vigor. Whereas now I was saying I’d found something “zippy” in the Impreza WRX, and they assumed that it was going to do some sort of Roadrunneresque roadway-flipping-up-as-I-drive-past thing.

He also noted that Jackie reglarly reported my passing her on C470 in the morning.

Well, harumph. I guess. And I only go 73 on C470, 8 mph over the posted speed limit.

But maybe I’ll let it creep up a little higher than that tomorrow morning. For the inaugural voyage, so to speak.

Zoom-zoom.

(title with apologies to Adam)