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Car Minded

The Best TV Cars Ever!


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Not long ago I chose my favorite movie cars of all time, and needless to say, not everyone agreed with my choices. Now I want to know about your favorite TV cars ever! First, though, here are my choices:

KITT: 1982 Pontiac Trans Am, “Knight Rider”

Forget the Mustang GT500 in the pitiful remake of the classic “Knight Rider” – the original KITT was cooler on so many levels!

The General Lee: 1969 Dodge Charger, “The Dukes of Hazzard”

General Lee

Remember how Luke and Bo would leap into the car right through its open windows? Or jump the car through barn walls? In this case, the car wasn’t just part of the show, it MADE the show!

1975 Pontiac Firebird, “The Rockford Files”

Jim Rockford lived in a trailer and drove a gold Firebird. Could he have solved his cases without the car? Maybe. But I don’t think as many people would have watched him do it!

Stair car, “Arrested Development”

Driving a portable staircase is plain funny, especially when it’s the family’s main mode of transportation. Here’s a nod to an under-appreciated classic!

Mach 5, “Speed Racer”

Hey, I never the said the cars on this list were all going to be real. The Mach 5 has been around since 1967, was the star of a recent movie, and was even put through a “road test” by Road & Track magazine. Zero to 60 in 0.6 seconds!

Which do you think are the best cars ever featured in a TV show?

-tgriffith

Small Car, Big Title: 2009 MINI John Cooper Works Performance Cabrio


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mini-jcw-open-rearMINI/BMW has announced the new JCW Convertible, one nifty car, though it will cost you $34,950 base. The standard MINI Cooper convertible, hardly plain old vanilla, had an MSRP of $24,550. What does that extra ten grand get you? With a 208-bhp turbo, the JCW should be a blast to drive (0-62 in 6.9 seconds), and it possesses an “outstandingly sporting character,” per the press release.

See it at the Geneva Auto Show March 5-15, or get one from your local dealer starting in April. Whether or not you can afford the price, we bet you’ll be tempted.

This new car has all the MINI virtues and more: a Sport button to press for more torque, plus better throttle (drive-by-wire in this car) and steering response; 17-inch alloys with run-flat tires; larger discs and Brembo brakes; and a host of options. Here are the ones for the JCW Hardtop; those for the convertible aren’t yet on the website, but may well be the same.

Neat as this car is, I still think it looks kind of lame with the top up—very much like the PT Cruiser, that is, bulky in back with blind spots.

But this baby ain’t no PT Cruiser. Beginning in 1947, the Cooper Car Company began producing those marvelous Cooper rear- and mid-engine F-1 cars that dominated racing for much of the ‘50s. (Short history here.) In the 1960s came the Classic Mini Cooper, one of the great rally cars of all time, and finally the MINI Cooper S versions, which BMW ownership of the JCW brand has only enhanced.

Of course, it’s overpriced. But would you buy it if you had the bread?

—jgoods

What’s the best movie ever about cars?


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We all know that a great movie usually has at least one great car in it. But what about great movies that are ABOUT cars? I’m talking about the best movies that revolve around car culture, rather than just featuring a sweet ride in a couple of scenes.

We want to know what your favorites are! While you’re thinking about it, here are my top 5 movies about cars:

Cars

cars-lightning-mcqueen

The story of a cocky rookie race car realizing what’s important in life is as heartwarming as it is exciting. Yeah, it’s an animated “kids” movie, but adults can be entertained and learn from it just as much. We can even learn a thing or two about driving (turn right to go left!?).

Days of Thunder

days_of_thunder

Another hot-shot rookie race car driver (this time in human form) gets his shot at the racing big time. Fast cars, intense racing, true love… what else do you need? How about “the need… the need for speed!”

Talladega Nights

talladega_nights

“Shake” and “Bake,” baby! The top two NASCAR drivers always finish 1st and 2nd. But uh-oh… here comes a French Formula One driver ready to take over NASCAR! As funny as Will Ferrell is, Sacha Baron Cohen makes this movie. Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr. even make appearances!

Speed Racer

Maybe it’s just because I have a 7-year-old son, but I’ve seen this movie twice and loved it even more the second time. This movie lacks real cars, is partly computer generated and has completely unrealistic race scenes. Still, the race scenes are as fun as they are furious. This isn’t just a movie about racing; it’s a movie about saving the world of racing.

The Fast and the Furious

The underworld of LA street racing: fast cars, beautiful women… so tempting even an undercover cop isn’t sure he wants to give it up!

Did I miss one of your favorites?

-tgriffith

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Is Ford alienating youth with newest feature?


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MyKey, as Ford is calling it, will allow parents to limit the top speed of the car, sound a continuous alarm if the seat belt is not buckled and even limit the volume of the stereo system.

The feature will be standard on some 2010 Ford models, beginning with the Focus.

I can see Ford’s strategy here of giving concerned parents a way to control the driving habits of their teens. And I agree with the fact that teens are notoriously bad drivers and probably shouldn’t be allowed behind the wheel until they are 17 or 18.

Considering all that, you might think that I’d sing the praises for MyKey, but in fact I despise the idea for one simple reason: trust.

The fact is, America’s legal driving age is 16. Whether I like that or not it’s the law. As legal drivers, we need to trust teens to make the right choices behind the wheel just as much as we trust every other legal driver.

I wonder if Ford has considered this little fact: teens are fickle.

Especially the group of teens known as Generation Y. If these teens feel a lack of trust from a corporation now, they’re less likely to give that corporation their business a couple years down the road.

When it’s time for the teens of today to make their first vehicle purchase, do you think there’s any chance that they’ll buy a Ford? The same company that didn’t even trust them with the radio controls?

This is potentially a huge alienation of the next group of auto buyers, and a real opportunity for brands like Scion to step up and embrace teens with a very simple message: We trust you.

What do you think of MyKey?

-tgriffith

2008 Nissan Cube: Thinking Inside the Box


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I’ll ‘fess up – I’m not sure I get the whole automobile-in-a-box concept. Over the past dozen years or so, I’ve driven just about every car that’s on the road, from supercars like the Lamborghini Diablo to American muscle cars like the old Trans Am (I drove a mid-’90s model, which was a rattle trap) to cool little roadsters like the Mazda Miata. I love the sleek, glasslike lines of the new BMWs (which many die-hard fans are finding hard to like), and I love spotting some elusive, sporty beastie on the highway and tailing it for awhile, checking out its design, its stance, its uniqueness, until inevitably the driver guns it and I’m left in its dust.

So whenever I have the chance I try to drive something I haven’t driven before. A few months ago, on a trip to Florida, I had a chance to rent a PT Cruiser. Sounded like fun, I thought, as I jumped behind the wheel. And in a sense it was. I know the PT Cruiser (and the similar Chevy HHR) has a big following, and their owners love them. But to be honest, I thought it was an odd driving experience. It took me awhile just to figure out how to open the windows (the buttons are on the center console, not the doors). You sit high in the vehicle, which was okay. It drove well enough. But my biggest gripe was the view out the back and sides, as the rear pillars tended to limit visibility. Sure made lane-changing tricky, and often a little dicey.

In recent years, the PT Cruiser, which is an undeniable hit, has yielded even more boxy cars, like the Scion xB and the Honda Element (neither of which, I confess, I’ve driven). And now comes another boxy car to join the square-shaped parade — the 2008 Nissan Cube.

Ya gotta admit, it’s certainly a descriptive name. No misunderstanding here when you see it on the lot, although a cube (or a square) is not a totally accurate name. It is, in a sense, a box (though I’ll grant you that the Nissan Box is not a particularly colorful name).

Which brings me to my point — why are these cars so popular? They’re certainly not sleek-looking. They’re not aerodynamic (which has been the general trend in automotive design for the past couple of decades). There can be only one answer — they’re different, and perhaps even (dare I say the word?) cute. And it’s that difference (and cuteness) that appeals to a certain segment of the automotive-buying public (i.e. young drivers).

Even more mysterious — early reports have the Nissan Cube as being woefully underpowered, with a mere 1.5-liter engine. That would certainly be fuel-efficient, but also seriously lacking in power. However, reports are still very sketchy, and everything is subject to change, including the design — supposedly the Cube that will show up in the U.S. later this year will be an updated version of the Japanese model, shown above. We’ll have to wait until more info emerges to determine if Nissan is really thinking inside (or outside) the box with its new Cube.