Read Jason Cammisa's comments on driving the 2009 Subaru Forester.

This was a complete base model for $19k, and it's a lot of car for that money. So I might have felt compelled to listen to the Indigo Girls while driving, but that's all good... I briefly touched 30 mpg in normal (okay, not "normal" for me - but slow-paced) driving, which is pretty impressive. Then again, there's not much testosterone dripping out from under the hood - and the flat-four isn't as smooth as I remember it being in other Subarus. If you're patient, you can be very smooth driving the Forester, though it doesn't communicate much with the driver - and I suspect that's just fine with its customers, most of whom probably won't opt for the manual anyway.

In terms of interior materials and fit and finish, the Forester is a big step up from the previous model - and it's a nice place to spend time. The enormous sunroof is pretty awesome, and stays reasonably quiet at moderate speeds. At highway speeds, there's a lot of wind noise around the A-pillars, but I guess this is a pretty upright vehicle. Behind the wheel, it gives you that same sense of competent indifference that you get from the Impreza, which is nice. Vehicular Valium is never a bad thing-especially when you're already chill from listening to the Girls.

Read Jason Cammisa's comments on driving the 2009 Audi S5.

My God is this car stunning - especially in grey with red leather. The engine sounds great too, even if it's a little muffled. I do have a few gripes, though - first, the fact that the glass sunroof doesn't open is a deal-breaker for me. Yeah, it tilts, but it doesn't slide, and that's just a big tease. Secondly, the electronic throttle calibration is awful - and by that I mean even worse than Audi's usual eGas. It's damn near impossible to shift the S5 smoothly, and moving off from a start slowly is, well, just forget about it. As you start to slip the clutch at, say, 1000 rpm to move off the line, you can actually hear and feel the computer opening the throttles to give you a little assistance. The problem is that it gives you a LOT of assistance - so the car lurches forward. Then, once the computer realizes that the clutch has been successfully engaged, it pulls back that additional throttle, and you stop accelerating. I think Audi's trying to mask the fact that the 4.2-liter V-8 actually has very little torque at idle speed, and is easy to stall. I say "tough-let the driver figure it out on his/her own... it's better than having the computer screw up all your launches."

With that said, the Bang & Olufsen stereo is mind-blowing - and such a bargain, compared to the one in the S8. I'd kill to have a stereo like this in my personal cars. Or my house. Or half the nightclubs I go to.

And speaking of kicking it - the Quattro system will actually route some power to the rear on low-speed stuff, so you can actually kick the S5 sideways if you give full throttle when making a U-Turn, for example. If only it would do the same at higher speeds, too.

Read Jason Cammisa's comments on driving the 2009 Scion xB.

On the plus side, the xB's looks are growing on me. And the 2.4-liter is a torque monster down low, making the big anime trucklet feel a lot faster than it is. On the bad side, though, I cannot stand the center-mounted gauges. And whoever decided to tilt the tachometer so that redline is pointing to 5:00, could you please send me an explanation? The back seat is huge - but I can't imagine ordering an xB with LCD screens in the headrests, as this one had. I mean, really - they're trashy enough in an Escalade, but here?

The touch-screen stereo is awful - both in its sound and its usability. It looks like an afterthought, and the motorized face that buzzes into position every time you start the car is both unnecessary and annoying. Toyota should put an easily usable radio in the thing and let the aftermarket choose their own stereos.

Read Jason Cammisa's comments on driving the 2008 Honda Civic EX-L.

Why is it that my right knee winds up being bruised by the parking brake handle every time I drive a Civic? I can't be the only one. I didn't know they made cars this slow any more - the Civic might be able to pull some decent 0-60 times, but its distinct lack of torque makes for a boring ride. Unlike Hondas of ten years ago, this motor isn't in love with revs, so driving quickly results in a lot of screaming from under the hood. The 5-speed automatic's top gear ratio is shockingly long, resulting in fantastic fuel economy - but two-gear downshifts are often necessary just to maintain highway speeds.

The low, expansive dash makes the view out expensive, but gives a strange vantage point on back roads. This is the first time I've driven a Civic with leather seats, and I think Honda's cloth better fits the personality of the vehicle - especially since the seat heaters put out less heat than a 3-watt night light. I love the feel of the turn signal stalks though - they're old-school Honda tight... but the personality that made the mid-90s Civics so much fun is long gone here.

Read Rusty Blackwell's comments on driving the 2008 Chevy HHR SS.

I agree with Phil. The HHR SS is definitely underwhelming, a feeling largely attributable to this four-speed automatic. Still, the engine and the chassis tuning make the SS more fun to drive than the standard HHRs, even if the ride is understandably compromised. This HHR has a purple-y/blue paint that's actually quite nice, although I could do without the seat fabrics that resemble gym shorts.

Nonetheless, I wish GM would build an HHR SS Panel with a five-speed stick. Now how sweet would that be?

Read Jason Cammisa's comments on driving the 2009 Acura TSX.

I'm not sure why Acura decided to hit the TSX with an ugly stick - the last one was great looking, and this one is over-done and contrived. At least it offers the same driving experience - I love driving a rev-happy, short-geared four-cylinder sedan with a precise, short-throw shifter... it reminds me of a time where cars didn't need 1000 hp to be fun. The TSX is easy to be smooth in, and although the steering is a little nervous (and a lot sensitive to crosswinds), it's a relaxing car to drive quickly. I don't like the Bluetooth phone integration - it refused to work seamlessly with the Blackberry, and there was a huge amount of static, even when the phone wasn't connected.

The backup camera's display is bright and clear, but I'm not in love with the rest of the display's functions. Give me regular buttons any day over this interface - or even Audi's MMI. The short sixth gear means no downshifting is necessary to maintain speeds up hills on the highway. We're all getting a little too spoiled with power, and the TSX is one of those cars that reminds us you don't need to have power to have fun. And its lack of torque means no torque steer - a nice change in a front-wheel-drive sedan.

One year ago today, one of our favorite local motorsports writers, Mike Brudenell of the Detroit Free Press, published an excellent story about driving an open-wheeler at the hallowed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

We’ve reprinted the story below. Enjoy your ride with Mike! And enjoy this year’s Indy 500, set to kick off at 1 p.m., next Sunday, May 25.

May 16, 2007

INDIANAPOLIS - In racing terms, I climbed Mt. Everest on Tuesday.

I might not have made it to the summit - perhaps base camp at best - but it was exhilarating, for a moment or two frightening, and joyously fun.

I drove four laps at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Drove. Lapped. Roared over the Yard of Bricks and past the giant scoring pylon.

I was Walter Mitty and A.J. Foyt rolled into one.

I won't start the race May 27 because they don't let 57-year-old writers who fancy they can drive a bit into the greatest motorsports event in the world. But they can't ever take away the fact that I ran an Indy car at the speedway, joining the all-time greats like Louis Meyer, Wilbur Shaw, Mauri Rose, Foyt, and Rick Mears.

Thanks to the Indy Racing Experience, I got the chance of a lifetime to shadow Stephan Gregoire of France around the giant 2 1/2 -mile oval in a ride-and-follow exercise. He was at the wheel of a two-seater Indy car in which professional drivers spirit a passenger around the track.

But Gregoire, who will attempt this weekend to qualify for the 500, checked out. While I was warming my tires by weaving back and forth, he was off to the races, leaving me in his dust.

Didn't matter. Once I'd taken a deep breath and gotten my pulse rate under control, I mashed the gas and began to explore the driving line.

Tucked into an open-wheel car, you're almost lying on your back, the cockpit like a cocoon. Your feet search for the clutch, brake, and gas pedals because you can't see anything but the top half of your body once you're belted in.

The Indy Racing Experience folks make sure everything is right before you hit the starter button, the engine coming alive as you dump the clutch and push on the accelerator pedal. You don't want to stall and make a jerk of yourself.

Someone up there was looking over me. The car rolled away with a sputter and a pop, and I felt a huge load off my shoulders.

With Gregoire in the distance, I merged on the back straight, the golf course to my right, Turn 3 looming, and thoughts of spinning on cold tires and whacking the SAFER Barrier large in my mind.

But thanks to a well-worn groove around the track, I picked up the line, planted my right foot, and attempted to make some gains on Gregoire, who has made seven starts at Indy, his best finish eighth in 2000.

No luck.

Gregoire was high-tailing it down the short chute between Turns 3 and 4, and I was losing ground fast.

Coming out of Turn 4, I looked up at the wall, then down the track as far as I could, the tires bouncing up and down, the wind trying to rip the helmet from my head.

Here we go - down the main straight at 200 m.p.h., past the media center, the Bombardier Pagoda, into Turn 1, and immortality.

Hold up: I'd like to be running 200, but I know I'm not remotely near it. The Indy Racing Experience limits the speeds.

It doesn't really matter anyhow. While there's no speedometer in an open-wheel car, I've got the gas pedal buried and it feels like I'm a real racer.

By Lap 3, I'm in the zone. The tires are hot and nice and sticky. The engine sounds right. I'm in heaven.

One lap left and Gregoire is in Ft. Wayne, but I make the most of it, knowing it's my last chance.

When I ease to a stop in the pits, I look up at the stands, imagining what it would be like to be here racing in front of 300,000 people.

I unbuckle, climb out of the car and leave my helmet on a while, savoring the experience.

I'm sure the ghosts of Eddie Sachs, Gordon Smiley and Scott Brayton would approve.

Contact MIKE BRUDENELL at 313-222-2115 or mbrudenell@freepress.com.

(Photos courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway; words courtesy of the Detroit Free Press)

I'm not very proficient at calculus, but I did happen to craft my own theorem the other day:

As the upper limit of gas prices increases, personal insanity approaches infinity.

Unlike any of my limit problems in high school, I was actually able to prove this one this morning:  A 1993 Geo Metro sold for $7200.

One look at the trim (XFi) and the powertrain (1.0-liter I-3 and a five-speed manual) shouts why this car sold for such a high price: fuel economy.  The 49-hp hatchback, devoid of virtually every luxury imaginable, was able to return close to 58 mpg on the highway.  

That figure seems to be increasingly attractive at a time when gas has surpassed the $4.00-per-gallon mark.  Recent eBay auctions for similar cars have yielded transaction prices over $5000 - and easily 20 to 30 bidders fighting for the lithe hatchback.

But does 58 mpg really warrant $7200?  For a Metro?

That sale price is over the XFi's BlueBook value.  Way over; as in seven times over.  Popping over to Kelley Blue Book's website, we see the expected retail price of a used '93 Metro XFi - with 22,000 miles and no options, like this example - is $1100.  Mind you, that's for a Metro in mint condition.  This car had some bubbling in a rear fender, meaning it's in "good" condition.  We should be looking at $950, max.

Besides, XFi Metros never sold for $7200, even when they were brand spankin' new.  Some diligent digging in the Automobile archives produced the base price of a '93 XFi hatchback.  That sum?  A whopping $6795; tax, title, and exorbitant options (like a passenger-side mirror) not included.  Granted, inflation puts that price closer to $10,000 in today's currency, but should a base Metro depreciate by only 2 grand over 15 years?

And did I mention it's a Metro?  Although devoid of the stigma carried by the infamous Zastava (known and despised on these shores as the plagued Yugo), Metros weren't anything special, unless basic, stripped-down subcompact hatchbacks regularly frequent your fantasies.  They weren't devoid of problems, either; for example, the three-cylinder mills were prone to compression problems unless the EGR system was religiously cleaned.

I'm not criticizing the idea of downsizing a daily driver in order to save money.  However, there are better options.  There are plenty of clean 1996-2000 Civics - capable of highway mileage in the mid- to high-'30s - trading hands for similar prices.  Want to go new?  For less than double the money, you could step into a Toyota Yaris.  With a five-speed manual, that's capable of 29 mpg in the city and 36 on the highway.

Granted, you're not getting the 58 mpg promised by the Metro, but either gives you a car that can safely and comfortably carry four people - and still manage to get out of its own way when merging onto freeways.

Lest you think I've concluded human kind is carrying itself to hell in a hand basket, fear not.  I'm saving that reservation for when I see a Chevette Scooter fetch upwards of $4000 at Russo & Steele.

I spent a couple of days at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Pahrump, NV last week (60 miles west of Las Vegas). The last time I was there was in January of 2007 and only one building was on site. Now, it's absolutely amazing.

John Morris and Brad Rambo purchased the Spring Mountain facility in June of 2004. John was on hand during my visit and is a huge car guy. He reminds me a bit of Walt Disney; he wants everyone to just have fun. Shortly after we met, he threw me the keys to his Lotus Exige Cup and then asked if I wanted to drive his Radical SR3. Both cars are huge fun on the track and it's always great to run a car on slicks.

But back to the facility. John isn't afraid to put money into his facility and it shows. Spring Mountain offers a private motorsports country club. The clubhouse is amazing (and offers everything you'd find at a golf club including a pool, a spa room, and outdoor BBQ grills). As their material says, trade in your golf clubs and come play with cars. In this case, play with your cars on a 3.5-mile road course (or reconfigured into a 1.5 mile and 2.2 mile track). The track offers three membership packages, the classic, the charter, and the corporate. Initiation fees start at $7500 and monthly fees vary between $125 and $500. After this, you pay $60 per day for exclusive member track time, guaranteed up to 16 days a month. In addition, you can rent garage space, get professional driving instructions, participate in various member racing series, enjoy karting, and even join the airplane flying club. Future plans include a hotel, more garages, an exotic car dealership, and even a possible condo project. Oh yeah, maybe you should bring your golf clubs as there's a course right across the street.

Hey John, can you build another facility in Ann Arbor and ship all your cool cars to Michigan? I've never been a big fan of Vegas. At least your weather is a bit better.

For more info on the track, check out: www.springmountainmotorsports.com

Read Rusty Blackwell's comments on driving the 2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid.

Typical of the latest Toyota hybrids, the Highlander’s hybridness is successfully seamless. Now say that sentence five times fast …

I’m a big supporter of vehicles this size (Ford Escape, Saturn Vue, Honda CR-V, etc.), because they’re more car than many owners of big-dog SUVs ever need. The Highlander is particularly nice because of its third row. (In a great example of Toyota’s SUV overlap, however, even the new RAV4 has a third row ...)

With its aggressive but inoffensive stance, the Highlander looks good, in my opinion. Overall, this is a great car for a nonenthusiast who needs to haul people, and it’s also a good platform for Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive. But it’s not fun to drive. At all.

Read Rusty Blackwell's comments on driving the 2008 Lincoln MKZ AWD.

Ford did a pretty nice job classing up the Fusion to make the MKZ, but this Lincoln is no match for the Cadillac CTS, even with the Lincoln’s slightly lower base price. The MKZ wants to be supernice, but like the Chrysler 300C, it's missing quite a bit in the execution of the interior (material qualities in particular), and this weakens its effectiveness as a luxury car. I do like the styling themes of the exterior, though, particularly in the grille. A few hints of sweet-drivin’ Mazda 6 roots are detectable, so the MKZ doesn’t drive like a pillowy Town Car. Still, the suspension is sprung a bit too much, so the car is extrabouncy on rebound.

I like the concept of an entry-level Lincoln, but Ford has quite a bit of catching up to do—not only to Cadillac, but to Acura, Audi, Lexus, etc, etc.

Read Phil Floraday's comments on driving the 2008 Chevy HHR SS.

I didn't think this 2.0-liter turbo engine felt very strong last night and I presumed the automatic transmission was wasting a lot of power. Then I actually did a little research and found out the HHR SS with an automatic transmission only gets 235 hp and the manual car gets 260 hp. Why in the world is this thing offered with an automatic if the output is reduced so much?

The chassis felt very stable in high-speed turns, but I wanted more punch when I hit the gas, especially over 60 mph. I really enjoyed the 2.0-liter turbo engine in a Sky Redline I drove earlier this year, but this automatic feels very unimpressive. The HHR SS is ready to cruise at autobahn speeds all day, but with this transmission it takes half the day to get to cruising speed. Quirky and impressive are words that come to mind to describe the vehicle as a whole, but pathetic best describes the transmission.

We're not quite sure what's more awesome--the scratched Peterbilt badge over this Kia Sedona's grille badge, or the Jolly Roger license plate with a stylish barbed-wire frame.

For reference, at left is a stock Sedona, also photographed at Dick Scott Kia in Canton, Michigan. Below are more shots of the Kiabilt.

News that Cadillac's 2009 CTS-V lapped the Nurburgring in 7 minutes 59 seconds was exciting, but we were eagerly awaiting video of the record-setting event.  As footage from the run made its way online today, our wait is over.

Cadillac claims the CTS-V used for the run was entirely production intent, sporting no significant modifications from what will be offered at your local showroom.  That said, Cadillac did fit the car with a roll bar, six-point seat belt, fire suppression system and a few cameras, actually adding some weight to the 4200-lb sedan.  

Credit must also be given to the clean driving of GM Performance Division executive John Heinricy, who makes the most of the 550-hp sedan across all 17.6 miles of the track.

We'll let you enjoy the video at the link below, while we now anxiously wait to make the CTS-V's 6.2-liter supercharged V-8 sing in a similar manner.

Source: Cadillac Blog

Tired of supplying your buddies with beers and sodas when they're hanging out at your house? Why not get yourself a vending machine, and stock it with their favorite beverages?

Get a cool vintage one with custom art-say, an automotive or a racing theme, perfect for the garage or man cave-and it will be a conversation piece that also turns a profit.

American Soda Machines (www.americansodamachines.com) can work up a design featuring any image you like, using stock photos or your own, on their restored vintage machines. The squared-off, 1960s-style provides the biggest canvas, but the company also offers the older, rounded-top and chest-type styles.

Prices for a custom machine at $2695, while a restored beverage-themed machine is $2495.

While listening to the radio yesterday, I heard two public service announcements sponsored by the Department of Transportation warning drivers that police will be strictly enforcing seatbelt laws starting this weekend.

(Likely as a prelude to the upcoming Memorial Day weekend crackdown.) This really isn’t news--we’ve all heard the “Click it or ticket” marketing tagline before. But it made me wonder how big a problem seatbelt scofflaws really are.

So I performed an admittedly unscientific survey. Namely, I used my superior eyesight to scrutinize the driver of every car I came across during the next twenty-four hours, trying to get a rough idea of the percentage of drivers who motor along sans safety restraints. To my surprise, I didn’t notice a single person who opted to go without.

I grew up in an era during which pretty much no one wore seatbelts (as a child, sitting untethered in the front passenger seat, my mother would attempt to restrain me during hard braking using her extended right arm). But since 1984, when New York became the first state to mandate seatbelt usage, the campaign to get drivers to buckle up has been largely successful--and has no doubt saved thousands of lives.

So, to the police and the Department of Transportation: go ahead and enforce those seatbelt laws. But I’m betting that you won’t find too many violators.

If the legal battle between Tesla Motors and design firm Fisker Automotive wasn't shocking enough, Fisker's CEO, Henrik Fisker, effectively threw a battery onto the fire.  Earlier today, the firm launched a countersuit against Tesla's accusations of industrial espionage.

The battle started shortly after Fisker debuted its Karma concept at the 2008 Detroit auto show, announcing the plug-in hybrid sedan would go on sale in 2009.  The car certainly looked good in both blue and white hues, but the powers at Tesla only saw red.

Fisker, it seems, had been hired by Tesla to style an electric sedan project, codenamed WhiteStar.  Tesla's lawsuit, filed last month, alleged the design firm produced a subpar design while stealing proprietary battery and motor technology for use in the Karma.  What that technology may be is still uncertain; company representatives only refer to the Karma's powertrain - called Q-Drive - as being of a proprietary design.

Fisker's countersuit alleges Tesla's accusations are "ridiculous," citing the entire suit as means to pull the wool over problems encountered with the firm's first electric vehicle, the Roadster.  Deliveries of the two-seat speedster, built in part by Lotus Cars, are currently running months behind schedule.

Fisker also claims Tesla's unhappiness with the produced design was in part due to drastic changes in the WhiteStar's packaging.  As a result, the entire concept was "morphed" from Tesla's original vision.

In regards to the whole quagmire, CEO Fisker says the situation amounts to nothing more than a petty spat.

"It's just sour grapes," he told CNET.  "That's all I can make out of it."

Source: CNET

I was standing with designers when the A5 broke cover at the 2007 Geneva Auto Show. They weren't Audi designers, but definitely interested parties. Audi's Walter da'Silva leads one of the most talented design staffs in the automotive world so the competition lines up for the show.

There was much talk about the "lazy line" that gave the A5 a bit of a sag in mid-body. One design Veep sniffed that the A5 looked like "a partly deflated rubber dinghy." Ouch.

I could see the slouch, but I really admired how sleek the upper looked, and once again gave the strong grille high marks for presence.

So now it's here, rolling on the street in a vivid blue that makes it hard to find that droopy line. Instead, every one of the three valet parkers to whom I handed the A5 for safekeeping waxed eloquently and overlong on just how spectacular this car was.

"You brought the first R8 I ever saw," shouted one, "and I knew it was you again from a block away. Oh my God this car is beautiful!"

So there you have it, Mr. It Looks Like a Rubber Dinghy.

I know some of the guys are bored by two-tone taupes and beiges, but there isn't a surface inside this A5 that doesn't reek of quality, precision, and taste. I'm also a big fan of MMI, which makes short work of diving deeply into the electronic layers of audio, nav, and temperature controls that I frequently access. This is the most sensible array of excess equipment assembled in a luxury car today.

It's a slight bit underpowered, but nevertheless a pleasant car to drive. The S version is the one to wait for.

Hyundai may be trying to move upmarket but it still does small and inexpensive quite well.

There is no question that the Hyundai Accent is an economy car, from the lack of exterior frills to the very basic, mostly plastic interior. That being said I was pleasantly surprised by a number of things the Accent does well for its price. The plastics are hard but the fit is quite good. The seats are a touch firm and flat but are comfortable and have four different adjustors to help the driver find just the right spot. The car is civil and quite enjoyable in around-town driving. It won't win any races, but the Accent's 110-hp, 4-cylinder engine is peppy—the 5-speed manual probably helped—and the suspension is composed over broken pavement. It’s econo-car roots really show on the highway, though, where exceeding 75 mph could be hazardous to your hearing.

There's something about that new-bike smell. It's a lot like new-car smell, and that spells trouble for the rational shopper on a budget. At least it did for me this weekend.

As the most casual of bikers - my riding is largely confined to cruising the neighborhood with the kid and picking up bagels and the Times on the weekend - I had been scouring Craigslist for something a tad lighter and with a few more gears than my 1970s Schwinn Suburban (which is almost as heavy as a Chevy Suburban).A fateful visit to a bike shop filled my head with that intoxicating new-bike smell, and visions of new-bike ownership soon followed.

After an absurd amount of time lost in the black hole of online research, which proved more confusing than conclusive, I found myself at REI in the final hours of their anniversary sale trying to decide between the $300 bike (on sale from $350), the $340 bike (regularly $400), and the $400 bike (list price $480). The pierced and tattooed little mountain-biker sales dude was yammering about the different components, but for my purposes, the bikes were functionally identical.

Predictably, I bought the most expensive one. Why? Because I liked the looks of it the best. It's just like buying a car. A used car would work fine, but the new ones are so seductive, and the one that's the rational choice is never the one that looks the coolest.

And in both cases, the showroom's sweet stew of off-gassing chemicals obviously impairs brain function.

Has Ford been working on a "baby" truck to slot in below its F-150?

Rumors out of Dearborn suggest a new mid-size truck could be on dealer lots by 2011, as the aging Ford Ranger will finally be phased out (the St. Paul, Minn., plant where the Ranger is built should close in the near future).

Because of rising gasoline prices and CAFE standards, it appears a smaller, fuel-efficient truck would boost Ford's image and benefit the company's bottom line.

If Ford does build a baby F-150 (some are calling it the F-100), we expect the body-on-frame truck to share many of its parts and development costs with the next generation Ford F-150. Engine choices for the vehicle may include naturally aspirated and 'EcoBoost' twin-turbo direct injection V6 engines and a V8 option similar to Dodge's Dakota.

Source: Pickuptrucks.com

Volkswagen of America found some prime East Coast property for its new headquarters in Virginia, but Lamborghini's moving in the opposite direction.  Automotive News reports the VW supercar subsidiary is settling down in sunny Santa Monica, California.

This coincides with Automobili Lamborghini's decision to create an independent sales division for North America.  Forty-one percent of Lamborghini's 2007 sales came from the continent, with Californian deliveries representing a third of that figure.  With nearly 329 cars sold in the state last year, California outpaced Lamborghini sales in both Germany and the automaker's native Italy.

Lamborghini's CEO Stephan Winkelmann said within the company there was a debate about whether to locate on the east or west coast.  Ultimately, California won because, as Winkelmann put it, it's "where future trends" and Lamborghini clientele are.  A smart move, as it's unlikely Herndon, Virginia will become a prime market for Gallardo LP560-4s anytime soon.

Source:  Automotive News

You meet a lot of roadkill when riding on a highway's hard shoulder - dead furry things, torn tires, and I think I even saw a pigeon.

What granted me the unexpected opportunity to putter along on the side of I-96 at 40 mph last night? My beloved 1972 Honda CB450, or, more accurately, my neglect of said motorcycle.

Let me back up a bit.

A family friend gave me the bike when I was 15. It was dirty, a bit worn, and painted a lovely metallic brown. My dad and I spent a winter disassembling, cleaning, and generally restoring it to rideable condition. The tank and side covers got a coat of candy red paint and it was ready to go.

Since getting my cycle endorsement at age 19, I've taken it out a few times each summer - just enough to remind myself why it's almost pointless to ride in southeastern Michigan. Because I ride it so infrequently, maintenance has consisted of checking the tire pressures before each trip, and adding fuel stabilizer to a full tank of gas when storing it for the winter.

Last summer, I made the bold decision to ride the bike 40 miles to work. This was, incidentally, the first time I'd tried riding it long-distance at sustained highway speeds. Everything was going fine until I was almost at work and the bike began to bog down. I took surface streets back home that evening and never determined the source of the problem. Then it sat again all winter.

Fast forward to this spring. I'm taking the bike out for a ride to attempt to recreate the problem. After a while I do, but this time it completely dies. I'm on the side of the highway, about a mile from my exit, so I manage to get it fired again and keep the revs up so it stays lit. I dodge the aforementioned shoulder items and make it safely off the freeway. Then the bike gets really upset.

Pop, sputter, sputter, pop, sputter, pop. It's backfiring. I see a driveway to a U-Haul/self-storage place and I take the opportunity to pull off the road. Not a moment too soon because that's when the final death pop hits and my CB450 (most likely operating as a CB225 at that point) becomes a CB0. It won't turn over, not even with the kick-start. It's seized. I feel stupid.

A few phone calls, a text message, and an e-mail later (isn't modern technology wonderful?) and friends arrive with a pickup to rescue the Honda.

A quick inspection revealed one cold and one warm exhaust pipe (leading me to the CB225 theory) as well as the saddest looking spark plug I've ever seen. It's the black one pictured here and has a smashed electrode, as well as a nick in the bottom rim. Apparently the bike had been burning oil during all of those short summer trips, and, as you'd imagine, that took a toll on the internals. Whoops.
 
There is a bright side to all of this, that being my continued existence. If the bike had died a few minutes earlier and locked the rear tire, I could have easily become a hood ornament.

So now I'm scouring the Web for a replacement engine. I haven't had the chance to open mine up, but I can't imagine things are too happy inside after running with little to no oil for who knows how long, and given the condition of that spark plug. I have to look at all of this as a (truly embarrassing) learning experience, and I thank my lucky stars that I'm not roadkill myself.

(Donor bike whereabouts are welcome in the comments.)

An early, early, early S1 Lotus Elan just turned up for sale. This is why they should take away my computer.

About a year ago, I drove a very nicely restored Lotus Elan Coupe for a feature we did on the coolest driver's cars of all time. It wasn't my first vintage Lotus experience—that honor goes to a full-blat, bug-teethed, eat-the-wind S3 Seven that I rode in during high school, a car that scarred me for life—but it was, in all likelihood, the best. The Elan danced up and down the Massachusetts back roads during that drive like it was guided by the hand of God: great, fantastic, light-as-a-feather stuff. Classic by any definition of the word. And enough to convince me that I wanted one.

Which is why I kind of blanched when a friend emailed me the link below. It's $19,000, but someone is selling a hugely patinated (ten years ago, that term would've been replaced with "projectized") early Elan. Early enough that it's got the six rear taillights. Oh, how I want. Oh, how I want. Ohhhhhhh, how I want.

Thank God I'm broke. And that my banker hates me and refuses to loan me money. And that I have no garage space.

Somebody buy this before I start warming up my credit.


http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16538

My friend Pat M., who lives in Chicago, spent the night in Ann Arbor last Sunday before flying out of Detroit Metro airport early Monday morning. (Don't ask why he drove all the way from Chicago to fly out of Detroit; it's too complicated.) Anyway, as it happened, I was scheduled to leave Detroit at the same time, on the first leg of my journey to Korea to drive the new, 2009 Hyundai Genesis. So I decided to ride to the airport with Pat.

This occasion gave me the opportunity to take stock of Pat's well-worn 1996 Honda Civic sedan, a car he owns because I implored him to buy it, brand-new, twelve long years ago. You see, Pat is not a car guy. He is more of a shoes guy. An antiques guy. A dog guy, and a fluffy down comforters guy. A car, to him, is simply a means of getting from here to there, and he wants to do it as simply, as cheaply, and with as little fuss as possible. Considerations of style and performance are largely irrelevant. I'd already seen him burned by the purchase of an early-90s Pontiac LeMans, the rebadged Daewoo that was one of the worst vehicles GM has sold in the United States in the past quarter-century. Pat's LeMans was no exception, giving him endless grief nearly from the moment he innocently rolled it off the Pontiac dealer's lot. I don't recall if he traded it in on the Honda or if it had already died by that point, but in any case I insisted that he spring for the Civic, as I knew he would drive his next car for many years.

Which is what he has done. The Civic has 170,000 miles on it, and nothing major has gone wrong. All Pat has ever done is replace tires, put in a new clutch, and conduct routine maintenance. And I suspect he hasn't been particularly punctual about doing that. The car spent its first nine years on the mean streets of Detroit, never garaged, and now leads an equally hard life in Chicago.

I stepped outside my front door on Monday morning and climbed into the passenger's seat. The interior has held up reasonably well, although the seat seemed kinda low. Some sort of aftermarket stereo face plate was buried deep inside the radio hole; I never ascertained if it works, but I don't think Pat would go without a radio. The muffler was rattling and vibrating and was well beyond the point of needing to be replaced. "Yeah, I just haven't gotten around to that," Pat shrugged. "More important, I need to get my aftermarket security system taken out. It wouldn't allow me to start the car one time recently, so I'm just going to get rid of the damn thing."

As we headed east into the morning sun, Pat impatiently weaving in and out of rush hour traffic, I noticed that the windshield had thousands of tiny scratches in it. "Is this your original windshield?" I asked. "Yep," replied Pat with a note of satisfaction. "And see the big crack toward the bottom? That happened within the first month after I got the car, and I never bothered to get it fixed!" I started to tell Pat that he ought to buy a new Mazda 3 hatchback, but he cut me off: "I'm gonna drive this car for another five years. Why not? There's nothing wrong with it!"

I told Pat about another friend of mine, David L, a Classics professor in San Francisco, who bought a Civic upon my recommendation about a year before Pat bought his. David was replacing the beater 1984 Nissan Sentra that had carried him through graduate school and to the Bay Area. Like Pat, he wanted a car he could drive for years. He called me one day in 1994 or 1995 and expressed his desire to buy a Dodge Neon, a notion I found alarming. "You really ought to consider a Civic, David," I said. "I know you will keep this car for a long time." "I looked at them," he replied, "but they're too expensive. I still have student loans to pay off!" I implored him to squeeze enough money out of his beginning professor's salary to cover a Civic. He hemmed and he hawed, but he finally relented and bought the most stripper Civic hatchback imaginable. It had no radio, no A/C, and nasty vinyl seats.

David, one of the most parsimonious people I have ever known, drove that damn car through the streets of San Francisco for the next twelve years. Every so often, I would ask him how it was doing, and invariably the reply was, "It's been great. I never do anything to it." Naturally, I would take the opportunity to say, "Aren't you glad you listened to my advice? Don't you want to thank me?!? Have you seen any eight-year-old Neons rattling around San Francisco? No? I didn't think so."

By last year, David was a fully tenured professor and chair of his department, so apparently he was feeling more entitled than usual. In a huge departure from his normal character, he went out and bought himself a fully loaded Lexus ES350. I about fell out of my chair when I heard the news. "Well, I put $20,000 down," David admitted sheepishly, "so my payments are about what they'd be if I'd bought another Civic. That's how I'm justifying it to myself."

"What are you doing with your old Civic?" I asked. "Oh, I put an ad on CraigsList," David said with amazement, "and I had dozens of calls. Some kid was at my door within an hour with $2500 in cash and happily drove it away."