1. You may already have heard that a few dealers are upcharging for the upcoming Subaru BRZ (above)—to the tune of $5,000 over MSRP. Some have called this price gouging, which, of course, it is. Anyone paying this price is a turkey.
One imbecile argues that this is owing to the immutable law of supply and demand. Since the BRZ is in high demand and deliveries are late, if you don’t like the upcharge, “go buy a Civic,” he says. He also questions why anyone would want a BRZ when you can buy a Mustang with over twice the horsepower for the price of the BRZ plus the upcharge (around $30K).
The over-list gouge is not a new thing, of course. It’s been done with the Prius and other cars. Manufacturers should absolutely forbid it and, as one commenter said, take away the dealer’s allocation. It’s a perversion of supply and demand.
2. The Responsible Young Drivers group in Belgium came up with a great idea: Make teens take a driving test in which they are forced to text and drive, with the driving instructor telling them that this is a new legal requirement.
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Gov. Brewer, red-light cameras, Subaru BRZ price gouge, texting while driving
The subject of obesity is often a very sensitive one. I have a close relative who is enormous and who gets very upset if you mention diets, exercise or heart conditions.
Imagine how fat car owners feel. If they think about it, they might realize that cars have gotten very much bigger and heavier over the years, in part to accommodate them.
One study now reveals the astonishing costs of getting fat:
U.S. hospitals are ripping out wall-mounted toilets and replacing them with floor models to better support obese patients. The Federal Transit Administration wants buses to be tested for the impact of heavier riders on steering and braking. Cars are burning nearly a billion gallons of gasoline more a year than if passengers weighed what they did in 1960.
A billion gallons a year? That comes from a 2006 study on obesity and driving habits. Since then, the obesity problem has gotten much worse, now affecting over one-third of all U.S. adults, so you know it’s way more than a billion gallons.
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obese cars, obese people
Considering how many products the “Made in China” tag has been applied to in the United States, it’s amazing that cars have not been added to the list.
That won’t last, as rumors of a Chinese car company entering the U.S. market have circled for years. When it will actually happen remains unknown, but when it does, we could be in for a repeat of the Hyundai/Kia story that has unfolded over the last 25 years.
Would the first Chinese cars to arrive be as low-quality as the very first Hyundais were in 1986, or is it possible that the cars will impress with a quality no one expects?
Well, if the first Chinese car to come here has a talking robot that pops out of the dash, things could get interesting. Weird, but interesting.
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build your dreams, BYD dash robot, Chinese cars in America, distracted driving
Do taxes early, stay alive!
We all know the bit about the certainty of death and taxes. While cliche, it’s absolutely true that both are darn near impossible to avoid.
We should, however, be able to avoid death and taxes happening on the same day. At least death by car accident.
A new study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and reported on by Bloomberg, says traffic accidents on and around April 15 have risen an average of 6 percent for each of the last 30 years. More of those accidents resulted in fatalities than on other random days of the year.
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Here she is, folks, the texter of the week, maybe of the year. Her name is Shawndeeia Bowen, and she got pulled over on an L.A. freeway after texting with a baby on her lap while driving. Two small kids were in the back, unsecured and without seatbelts.
Over the past three years, Ms. Bowen
has had two accidents and numerous citations, including not using child restraints, not having insurance, not wearing a seat belt and not having a valid license. She also has missed nine court dates.
Her kids were taken into protective custody.
The stories go on and on. One recounts the tale of an Illinois man driving drunk at 3 in the morning, texting his brother and hitting the wall of a building. A New York state lobbyist, Allison Lee-Hinchey, also was drunk while texting and smashed her 2010 BMW into a 2002 Nissan. No report on which car sustained the most damage.
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Yes, it's real...
So it has come to this.
Our cars serve many purposes in our lives. In addition to the intended purpose of transportation, our cars often serve as makeshift restaurants, makeup studios, kitchens, offices, music players, romantic bedrooms and traveling movie theaters. If there’s a human function in life, somebody somewhere has figured out how to do it in a car.
One thing I thought would never infiltrate our cars is coffee—not drinking it, of course, but making it.
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The NHTSA is currently trying to figure out how or whether to ban handheld devices like smartphones from use in cars. And the automakers are supporting such a ban or at least some restrictions.
But they are also very concerned that such a ban might force them to redesign their built-in systems. What a shame that would be.
No one should be surprised that a recent British study confirms that smartphone use while driving is much more dangerous than driving drunk. With a test group of 17-24-year-old drivers fooling around on Facebook, their reaction time slowed by about 38 percent. (Blood alcohol at the legal limit slowed reaction time by 12.5 percent.)
They missed “key events,” wandered out of lane, and failed to respond to speed changes by a car in front. About 25 percent of drivers admitted to texting or social networking while driving. I’ll bet it’s more in the U.S.
None of this, in fact, is very surprising. Nor is it surprising that mobile multitasking, as much as some people love it, is clearly addictive and distracting. If you’ve observed how young people operate with these devices, you get the picture.
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Like many auto writers, I was quick to jump on the recent story of the Fisker Karma breaking down during a Consumer Reports test. Yes, it was big news and a huge embarrassment to Fisker. Yes, the timing was terrible, and it was an incredibly hurtful public introduction to the Karma.
But the breakdown might not have been Fisker’s fault.
Automotive News reported yesterday that A123 Systems, the supplier of the Karma’s batteries, will recall the lithium-ion packs used to power the luxury sedan. The defective batteries are linked to the recent problems experienced by Fisker Karma owners, according to A123 CEO David Vieau. The company has taken full responsibility for the problem and will spend $55 million to make it right.
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I’ve never been in a car that accelerated on its own. Well, this one time, I was in a Dodge Viper that leaped to 100 miles per hour faster than I could buckle my seat belt, but I was a passenger. The driver giggled in glee as I tried to hide my panic.
Yes, that was an episode of unintended acceleration from my point of view, but not one that would cause any worry to our friends at Dodge.
I’ve also driven plenty of Toyota, Lexus and Audi vehicles without any car ever going any faster than I wanted it to go. I attribute my driving success to the fact that I know which pedal is for “go” and which is for “stop,” something that people who suffer from “pedal misapplication” fail to understand.
A new rash of unintended acceleration cases, though, should cause some pause for people in the used sedan market.
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Ford Taurus, pedal misapplication, unintended acceleration, used car listings
List of things you don’t want to happen:
- Have spinach stuck in your teeth for the duration of a first date.
- Buy a new car and have it break down on the way home.
- Have the car you built and sold to Consumer Reports break down even before it’s checked in.
A positive Consumer Reports review can make or break a new car. Even established cars can suffer when the great CR Oracle turns its head away, as the Honda Civic is well aware.
So what happens when a start-up automaker sells a $100,000 car to the almighty CR, only to have it on a flatbed truck moments later? It’s not going to be good.
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