Junkyard Find: Jacqui’s Chevelle May Clog Crusher With Excess Bondo

Poor Jacqui. Her ’64 Chevelle sedan looked great with her name on the trunklid, surrounded by airbrushed vines and flowers. Then the mean tow-truck man showed up and hauled it away.
Well, maybe this Chevy (which I found in a Denver self-serve yard last week) had a few cosmetic flaws, including an unfortunate bowling-ball-dropped-from-5th-floor dent in the roof.
I like to use chicken-wire as an armature when I use

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Best Selling Cars Around The Globe: Posh Tastes In Bangladesh

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After spending some time in  Israel,  Botswana and  Malta over the last few weeks, we are back in Asia this weekend to visit flooded Bangladesh.

If the sight of flooded streets is becoming too much for you, that’s okay, I have thought of you and prepared info about car sales in 155 additional countries  that you can explore in my blog, so click away!

Now back to Bangladesh. With over 140 million inhabitants living in a country significantly smaller than Florida, you’d expect traffic jams to be commonplace, and they are indeed.

It’s just that the streets are not filled with the cars you’d expect from a country relatively similar to big neighbor India…

To rejig your memory let me just remind you that India is the kingdom of Maruti Suzuki with the Alto and Wagon R minis extremely successful. Hyundai with its i10 is also up there, and by and large the majority of cars sold in India are very small by international standard. To such an extent that what are called ‘small cars’ in the US are considered relatively luxurious cars in India: I’m talking Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic.

This is where the Bangladesh car landscape becomes really interesting.

And No there are no official sales figures that I could find online to establish the best-selling cars in Bangladesh so my old mate YouTube was once again very insightful here to help me come up with a rough ranking for you. However if you do have access to any official data about Bangladesh car sales you have to raise your hand and share the love ASAP!

You see, there are relatively high taxes imposed on Indian imports in Bangladesh and this means all the little Maruti Suzukis that pack the streets of Mumbai and Delhi do not find their way very easily into Bengali streets in spite of the proximity.

But no such thing for Japanese car imports.

The result is that (who else but) Toyota holds 80 percent of the Bengali market and should in all likelihood place the Corolla in pole position by far, a feat that would be absolutely impossible in India due to its high price there. Another element to take into account is that the Bengali car market is only just starting to blossom, with the car still an extravagance only reserved to the elite, therefore having a ‘luxury’ car on top of the sales ranking kind of makes sense.

The other Toyotas popular in Bangladesh are the Noah…

…Voxy…

and Allion.

Again this is not a foolproof estimation and is only based on observation of recent YouTube videos of the streets of the capital Dhaka, so if you have more precise information please ensure you get in touch.

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Great Nordschleifen Time In A LFA. A Bad Day For The Blogs

While Jack is ranting about blackballing PR flacks and journos with pants on fire, let me warn against journalism by Twitter. Here is a prime example: Today, the interwebs are abuzz about a Lexus LFA setting a new Nordschleifen record. The source: A tweet by Chris Harris of EVO. He wrote: “LFA Nurburgring pack just did 7.14 lap of the Ring. That’s mighty fast.” And he followed it by a “Akira Iida was the man who did the LFA’s 7.14. Great time.”  That may be the case. What is shameful is what was made of this tweet.

From Torque News (“Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition shatters production car ‘Ring record”) through GMInsideNews (“Lexus LFA Nürburgring Package Smashes Nordschliefe Production Record with 7:14 Lap”) to Jalopnik (“LFA Nürburgring Edition sets a ring record”), the blogs are blabbering that Lexus sent the standing Nordschleifen-time to the Green Hell. And nobody bothered to check. Which is what anyone should do who calls himself a journalist.

I called Keisuke Kirimoto, Toyota’s genial spokesman in Tokyo this morning. He had not heard about the stunt yet. But he had his lap times in his head: “7:14? Doesn’t the record stand at 6 and change?” He’s right: A look at Wikipedia shows that the Nordschleifen-record for production cars stands at  6 minutes and 48, and it stood there since Michael Vergers drove his street-legal Radical SR8M around the Nordschleife in 6 minutes and 48 seconds in 2009. Wikipedia even lists Akira Iida’s new 7:14 – in number 4.  Well, if the journos are that lazy, no wonder they get treated in a way that upsets Baruth the Brute.

Jack: They deserve it.

Some of them corrected the copy in the meantime. Jalopnik added: “Akira Iida posted a 7:14 lap time of the Nürburgring Nordschleife in a Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition – good enough for either the fourth or fifth all-time fastest lap.” But they didn’t change the headline, and that’s what most Jalopnik readers usually manage to read. Or that’s what Jalopnik hopes they click on.

Kirimoto promised to come back with an official confirmation by tomorrow. Good for him, he doesn’t want to rely on Twitter. Even after his boss, Akiro Toyoda, twittered via the Team Gazoo account: “レクサス LFA、ニュルで7分14秒台を記録か” which according to Frau Schmitto-san stands for “Lexus LFA, 7 minutes, 14 seconds recorded on the Nürburgring.”

Team Gazoo warns on its website that the timing is not official yet, but if it is, then it would beat the times of the Nissan GT-R  (7 min 24 sec), of the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 (7 minutes 19 sec) and that of the Porsche 911 GT2 RS (7 minutes 18 seconds), “which would be a great honor.”

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BMW Has Best August Ever

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August usually is not a strong car selling month. Especially not in Germany, where everybody is on vacation. Nevertheless, BMW sold “significantly more than 100,000 units” in August, thereby breaking all its records for the summer month. “Business is better than we thought,” said BMW CFO Franz Eichiner to Germany’s FAZ.

Of course we are now thinking it’s the Chinese again that bring all that growth. Eichiner says it isn’t so: “In some parts of Europe and America, we have double digit growth.” It must be isolated parts of America. According to our August sales round-up, BMW grew exactly 0 percent in August in the U.S. For the first eight months, there is 15 percent growth, so there are your double digits.

Eichiner wants to sell more than 1.6 million cars this year, quite doable, when you look at the current numbers. Eichiner should know: His production lines are booked until the end of the year.

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THIS Is How You Review A Porsche: National Post Experiences Panamera Engine Fire, Recommends Panamera Purchase

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We (meaning I) have been awfully tough on Porsche’s Panamera this week, what with the Frank Greve article on corruption in the autojourno game and my own confessional regarding my Panamera experience.

To balance out the karma of the Porsche universe, I’ve found an article, published today, where the auto review for Canada’s

What happened, it was found out later, was that the right turbocharger (the Panamera has two) let go, pouring oil into the exhaust system. Unfortunately, the exhaust side of a turbocharger routinely reaches temperatures of 900C. Since oil burns at 500C, we had our impromptu car-b-cue. Covered in a fine patina of bromine (the fire retardant in portable extinguishers), clad in scorched bumper and dripping hot oil out its tailpipes, the Turbo S was a sorry sight and had to be medivac’d back to Toronto.

What the shill toady unbelievably corrupt pawn of people who consider him to be basically a robot who can be programmed to spew crap for a lower-middle-class wage journalist, David Booth, writes next may shock you, but it will almost certainly make you laugh.

The full review can be found here. Check it out if you like, but we will cover the relevant bits in the close reading which follows.

The article begins

the quad pipes belched a six-foot plume of flame as if the Panamera were trying to storm the Imperial Army on Iwo Jima. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t in the brochure.

What, you mean the part where the Germans helped take Iwo Jima? No, David, that part wasn’t in the brochure. David then goes on to discuss the likely cause of the fire, as detailed above: turbocharger blows up, oil goes into exhaust, massively hyperbolic, death-defying description of minor engine-area fire. Well, since this piece of shit $190,000 sports-car-cum-sedan blew up on a relatively tame track (Shannonville, while nice, is more of a large parking-lot autocross than, say, an inch-perfect recreation of Spa-Francorchamps), Booth then goes on to utterly eviscerate Porsche for building cars that can’t handle simple track work.

Right?

That’s what he does, right?

“So what’s the lesson in this, Dave?” you’re asking. “Don’t buy a Porsche Panamera Turbo S, right?’

Well, not quite. In fact, quite possibly the opposite. You see, though it was the wonky bearing that caused the turbocharger to go kaput (a German technical term related to rapid dispersion of lubricant), I may have contributed at least a little to its demise as my enthusiastic flailing along Shannonville’s long straight was not exactly the ideal way to break in a virtually brand new engine.

No, dumbass. Turbochargers don’t need to break in.

More tellingly, the Panamera’s big 4.8-litre V8 was completely unharmed by the conflagration, despite losing oil for more than half of Shannonville’s 4.03 kilometres with Yours Truly’s foot planted firmly to the metal. (Remember the dullard assertion – I had failed to notice those great plumes of smoke wafting behind me for almost an entire lap.)

That admission, right there, should make sure Mr. Booth never sets foot on a track again in his life. He wasn’t just being a “dullard” — he was

Okay, enough sanctimony, back to the unintentional humor.

The reason was simple. Porsche designs all its engines for the worst-case scenarios of racing.

One more time:

The reason was simple. Porsche designs all its engines for the worst-case scenarios of racing.

I’m sorry. Once more.

I’m reminded of Harrison Ford’s famous comment to George Lucas while filming

One of the by-products is that the Panamera’s engine carries a whopping nine litres of oil in its semi-wet-sump oil pan rather than the more common four or five.

Again with the “Semi Wet Sump” crap that Porsche has been pushing since the M96. It’s a “Semi Wet Sump” like Charles Manson is a “Semi Murderer”. My 993 has

Pretty much any other turbocharged motor would have lunched its components under the same circumstances… (In fact, I am going to drive it post-impeller surgery just to see if the doctors have made it as good as new.)

The first part is a lie, the second part — reminding Fong et al that you expect to drive the car again in exchange for fellating its dirty exhaust pipe in public — is probably a good idea. Speaking of, time for the money shot.

So, the lesson is this: Pray you never blow a turbocharger. But, if you do – and turbocharger failure isn’t as uncommon as might be thought – hope that you’re in a Porsche. Or a car that is equally over-engineered.

Actually, David, turbocharger failure in brand new cars

One last thing. What would have happened if Booth — hold on, I have some more laughing to do. What would have happened if Booth — cough — chuckle —

• Abuse, accident, acts of God, competition, racing, track use, or other events

A further clarification below:

Note 1:Components and/or parts that fail during racing or driving events (including Porsche sponsored events) may not be covered by the new car Limited Warranty.

Let’s amend Booth’s craven PR ad copy to something that’s a little more real:

So, the lesson is this: Pray you never blow a turbocharger. But, if you do – and you’re in a Porsche – better hope nobody at the track saw it happen.

9:07 PM | 0 comments | Read More

Review: 2012 Volkswagen Passat V6 SE

After a mere six decades of testing the waters, Volkswagen decided to get serious about the American car market. For the second time. To avoid a repeat of the Westmoreland debacle, this time they’ve designed a pair of sedans specifically for American tastes. They’re also building the larger of the two, intended to lure Americans away from their Camcords, in an entirely new, non-unionized American plant. And so, with the new 2012 Volkwagen Passat, tested here in V6 SE form (earlier, briefer drives sampled the other two engines), we learn what Americans really want—as seen through a German company’s eyes.

#1 – We have the aesthetic sense of retired engineers

The new Passat is very cleanly styled, and none of its aesthetic elements can be faulted. But the whole could not be more conservative. Put another way, many American car enthusiasts find the exterior boring. But perhaps their Camcord-driving parents will love it?

The tested silver car was shod with the base SE’s 17-inch wheels. The Passat looks both more expensive and sportier with the available five-spoke 18s (more on these later). Darker colors bump up the elegance.

#2 – Good materials and warm colors are wasted on us

When I learned that Chrysler would be supplying Volkswagen with a version of its iconic minivan, I wondered how they could possibly upgrade its notoriously cheap interior to VW standards. Fast forward three years, and Chrysler has substantially upgraded its interior materials. They also banished light gray—which makes all but the best materials look cheap—from their interior color palette. All of the budget-grade light gray plastic discarded by Chrysler has found a new home in the 2012 Passat, judging from the tested car. VW emphasizes the soft materials used on the tops of the instrument and door panels, but you’re more likely to touch the hard stuff lower down. The Passat’s interior is as plainly styled as its exterior, with right angles and flat surfaces. The problem with flat surfaces: they directly present more area to the eye, so hard plastic looks like what it is. Luckily, beige and black are also available. Hard plastic tends to look best in the latter. Prefer warmer, even bright colors, or at least colorful accents? The Passat isn’t your sort of car.

How cheap is the interior? Not as cheap as that in the new Jetta, but the analog clock would gather dust in a dollar store. Memo to Volkswagen: the entire point of an analog clock is to make an interior seem more upscale.

#3 – We like big cars with scads of room, especially legroom and trunk room

The American Passat is bigger than the European Passat, which is an updated version of the previous global Passat. Compared to the 2010 Passat, the 2012 is 3.4 inches longer (191.6), half an inch wider (72.2), and half an inch taller (58.5). Still not quite as large as the super-sized Honda Accord (194.1×72.7×58.1) and Mazda6 (193.7×72.4×57.9), but at least as large as anything else in the segment. Of course, what really counts are the interior dimensions, and here the new Passat truly shines. Through masterful packaging the interior encompasses limo-like legroom, 42.4 inches up front and 39.1 in back, for a total of 81.5, meaningfully more than in the Honda Accord (79.7) and Hyundai Sonata (80.1). Better, the Passat’s cabin feels even roomier than its dimensions suggest. Credit the straight-edged interior styling that, as in the 2012 Camry, maximizes perceived space. The Hyundai Sonata, with a swoopier interior, feels much tighter (if also sportier) from the driver’s seat.

The trunk extends forward virtually forever even before the rear seats are folded. Unlike many these days, it’s also very regularly shaped. Don’t swap in a full-sized spare and there’s more space beneath the floor. Inside the car, there are plenty of usefully large storage areas. Unlike in many current luxury cars, my superzoom camera fit in both the glove compartment and the center console.

#4 – We’re so delighted by some unexpected electrical bits that we’ll overlook the curious absence of others

VW might have nickle-and-dimed the interior materials, but they spent freely on light bulbs and minor electrical bits. Even the cheapest Passat has turn signal repeaters in the mirrors, puddle lights, a curb light in each of the wide-opening doors, comprehensive red switch backlighting, and dual-zone automatic climate control. All four windows have auto-down and auto-up. A power lock button that operates all four doors is present in each of them—even the two in back. (Great fun for the grandkids.)

Curiously MIA even in the top-of-the-range SEL Premium: separate front and rear height adjustments for the driver seat (raising the seat also tilts it forward) and rear air vents. The former are common among competitors, and it’s a mystery how VW figured the Passat would be fine without them. And the latter—why provide a huge rear seat if the people back there are going to bake?

#5 – We don’t like to gaze across acres of instrument panel, but otherwise have little need to see the outside world

The Passat’s staid exterior makes for good sightlines from the driver’s seat. The A-pillars are relatively thin and upright, and the instrument panel (abetted by a bi-level upper surface) appears compact by contemporary standards.

With this, VW decided they’d done enough to aid visibility. Even with the high beams on, the halogen headlights cast a narrow beam at night, and xenons are not available. With the body tall and high-waisted in the current idiom, rearward objects (still breathing and otherwise) can be obstructed by the high trunk, but neither obstacle detection nor a rearview camera is offered.

#6 – We like flat, hard seat bottoms and well-bolstered seatbacks

Okay, maybe not. No explanation for this one except that you can’t entirely remove German tastes from a German car. Where’s the pillow-top velour option?

#7 – There’s no replacement for displacement

No turbo Benzinmotor here, but the available V6 packs 219 cubes (3.6 liters for Americans who’ve learned some metric) and is good for 280 horsepower when wound to 6,200 rpm, the most you’ll find among direct competitors. Not the smoothest or the quietest six, with substantial engine noise at both idle and once over 3,000 rpm. But traditional American V8s also enjoyed expressing their pleasure when subjected to a heavy right foot. And VW’s six uses its extra ration of gasoline (EPA ratings of 20/28 vs. the Sonata 2.0T’s 22/34) to produce much more sporting noises. Do a pair of front-mounted 215/55HR17 ContiProContact tires struggle to transfer this much power to the pavement at low speeds? You bet. But…

#8 – We like spinning our tires

The new Passat V6 continues a fine American tradition of cars with far more torque than traction. But wait…you can’t actually buy a Passat like the (pilot production) tested car, with both the V6 and the 17-inch tires. At a dealer you’ll only find V6 Passats with 235/45HR18 Bridgestone Turanza EL400s (and a sunroof also absent from the tested car). Still not a performance tire, and still no match for the V6’s 258 foot-pounds of torque channeled slush-free through the DSG, but nearly an inch wider and so a little grippier.

All-wheel-drive would help, but is no longer available.

#9 – We like lightning-fast shifts

Okay, probably not a priority among the Camcord set. But if you’ve got the next big thing in transmissions, flaunt it. The five-cylinder base engine is paired with an automatic, but the others get VW’s famed “DSG” dual-clutch automated manual. With the V6 shifts are virtually instantaneous and, except for some barely perceptible bumping about at low speeds, generally smooth. Those seeking to extract the full potential from the powerful six can use paddles on the steering wheel or the lever to manually shift the transmission. Or just stick the lever in S, in which case the transmission will keep the engine continually on boil (consequently this isn’t a viable option for typical driving). What the Camcord set won’t like about the DSG: $350+ fluid changes every 40,000 miles (just beyond the 36,000 miles of free maintenance).

#10A – We like to feel (and hear) the road

In the late 1980s, Toyota intensively studied the U.S. market and concluded that we get our kicks from super-smooth, super-quiet cars. Either times have changed, or VW used a different methodology, or they chucked the survey results in this case and did what they wanted to do (see #6). Whatever the reason, on concrete you’ll experience Honda levels of road noise and on the highway you’ll experience a similar abundance of wind noise.

Personally, I love a detailed read of the road through the seat of my pants, and consequently enjoyed my week in the Passat more than I would have a week in a Camcord. Instead of a smoother, more insulated ride, I wished for a nose that didn’t retain a bit of float and bobble (a partial concession to American tastes?) and the conventional steering offered only with the five-cylinder engine. Compared to the electric-assist system in the TDI and V6, which starts talking only under duress, the 2.5’s conventional system provides much more nuanced feedback and makes the car feel smaller, lighter, and more agile. But the Americans the new Passat is styled and sized for? Their taste in cars tends to differ greatly from mine.

Or perhaps VW’s research found…

#10B – We’re going to play the audio system loud anyway, and when we do we enjoy our bass at 11, even when it’s not

Five years ago VW partnered with Fender, legendary American manufacturer of guitars and guitar amps, to include a free GarageMaster with every car. Perhaps realizing that few of the Camcord owners they hope to lure away aspire to become six-string samurai, for the new Passat (and the new Jetta as well) VW had Fender help develop (or at least put their name on) an audio system manufactured by Panasonic. The 400-watt system can put out a lot of volume, with an extra helping of strumming guitar-amp-style bass even with the slide centered, and even with songs that you weren’t previously aware had much bass. Prefer a more balanced sound, similar to the default position in other systems? Simply use the touchscreen to move the slide to the left a click or three.

Or, perhaps as a result…

#10C – We’re deaf

#11 – We can be suckered by a low starting price

VW successfully captured Americans’ attention by starting the Jetta just below $15,000, and clearly hopes for repeat by starting the Passat below $20,000. But these prices are before $770 destination, and without the popular third pedal delete option. The least expensive automatic Passat lists for $23,460. The least expensive with a V6: $29,765. (Add nav like in the tested car: $31,365.) In defense of the $20,000 car, a Passat with the 2.5-liter five-cylinder engine, its attendant conventional steering and lighter curb weight, and the manual transmission should be the most engaging of the bunch. Not a bad way to go for enthusiasts with two big kids and a small budget.

Take the wayback machine to 2007, the last year VW last offered a Passat with a V6 but without leather, and you’ll find a $30,820 sticker. Adjust for the 2012s additional features using TrueDelta’s car price comparison tool, and the new car’s price advantage widens to about $2,400 (but only about $1,400 comparing invoices, dealer margins have been squeezed). So the new car is less expensive even when comparably equipped, just not to the degree suggested by the $7,180 base price drop.

A Honda Accord EX V6 lists for $28,050. Even after adjusting for the Passat’s additional standard features it undercuts the Passat by about $400 at MSRP, and nearly $2,000 invoice-to-invoice. Willing to trade two cyliders for a turbo? The Hyundai Sonata SE 2.0T lists for only $25,405. The feature adjustment is only a few hundred in this case, leaving the Korean competitor with an over $4,000 price advantage.

#12 – We’re ready to forgive and forget VW’s past reliability lapses

Unfortunately, it remains to be seen how reliable the new Passat will be, and how soon Americans will be ready to accept that VW has changed (assuming it has). Based on responses to TrueDelta’s Car Reliability Survey, the new Jetta is about average so far, not bad for an all-new car. But the cars are still young.

At the end of the week, I wondered about some of VW’s choices with the new Passat, yet remained intrigued by the car’s combination of qualities: plain styling, lots of room, lots of power, an engaging chassis (if less engaging steering), value-grade interior materials, and limited refinement. If VW was trying to develop a twenty-first century interpretation of the groundbreaking 1977 Chevrolet Caprice (or the Ford Crown Vic that aped it) with the “cop suspensions,” this is about where they’d end up. With the TDI the Passat would make a great cab. With the V6 it would make a great cop car. Ed was in town for a few days while I had the car. His riff on VW’s current tagline: “Das Impala.” Coincidentally (or not), the current Honda Accord is quite similar. Did VW simply riff off the Japanese? Or do both the Germans and the Japanese know us better than we know ourselves?

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Chart Of The Day: The 25 Best-Selling Nameplates Of August

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Hammer Time: The Real Rock Stars

“Steve, whatever you like! It’s yours!”

I was standing inside one of the most notorious strip clubs in the French Quarter. Women everywhere who collectively had less clothing on than I had on my right foot. There was a side area where I could enjoy the newfound festivities without the prying and amused eyes of my host. I was young, 30, wife and two kids. Thankfully, that area also had an exit.

The chance of me doing something was about the same as the Kia Rio becoming the official car of the Royals. It wasn’t gonna happen. But there was a LOT that did happen, from that first day on through the next two years.

A free education. Well, at least an 80% free education. My corporate captors had offered me an almost free MBA from Duke in exchange for my services. I was in charge of inspecting, appraising, and liquidating over 10,000 vehicles a year for them. It was not very hard work. But it did give me one hell of an education that far eclipsed the textbooks, lectures, and group projects of my glorified Yuppie union card at Duke.

Every day was cars incarnate. I would fly into a city by myself and inspect vehicles and ponder the great issues of the day.

Would this one give a better return if we put new rubber on it? Why the hell does every Kia misfire? Do people really think that fake bullet holes complement the looks of a two year Taurus station wagon? This and hundreds of other ‘Jack Handey’ car questions would go through my head as I inspected each one of the vehicles.

My goal was simple. Make as much money as possible at the auction so that the poor fellow who lost his car would have as small of a balance to pay as possible.

My job wasn’t a hard one. Walk the cars. Recommend upgrades and make sure the vehicles get properly detailed before the sale (a huge issue at auto auctions). This would often take no more than 30 to 45 minutes.

Then I would be taken out anywhere I liked for as long as I liked.

You would usually go for a nice dinner. Then it was ‘play time’. From nightclubs to hunting lodges to go kart racing. Heck, you could get plastered if the mood struck you. Most everyone did.

The next morning you would do a final walk to make sure all your ‘requests’ were fulfilled. If one wasn’t done correctly, you pulled it. No exceptions. I pulled everything from Dominique Wilkins’ repoed Mercedes (somehow his wheels went missing), to a Corvette that was put in the inop sale cause it couldn’t get into 3rd gear, “Is it going to need 3rd gear when it’s going through the auction lane? Do you guys expect me to be that damn fast on the block?” I remember that vehicle ended up bringing well over a $5000 premium from it’s prior bid in the junk sale.

After going through the final walk I would go on the block, sell off most of the cars (70% to 100% depending on the market and time of year) and then do about an hour’s worth of paperwork. That was it. I had no homework to take with me. No responsibilities. Not even anyone to look over my shoulder. It was great. Oh, and a free lunch.

But the perks paled in comparison to the education available to you. Many of the successful dealers and wholesalers would tag along for the dinners and the days out. They picked your head. You picked their head. Pretty soon you both learned something.

This was only the beginning of ‘the education’. If you were really smart you would spend time at the detail shop, the mechanic’s shop, even with the salvage buyers. Everyone had an angle and an insight at these auctions. Since I represented ‘the cars’ and not their competition, I learned an awful lot.

Pretty soon I had the perfect weekly routine. Buy cars Monday morning at a nearby Carmax auction. Fly out from Atlanta to do my work at the auctions while my purchased vehicles were given their needed repair and detail work. Come back to Atlanta Thursday evening, pickup those cars, and buy a few more cars at another auction. Put all the cars up on Ebay, Craigslist, or Autotrader on Friday depending on what sales channel provided the best price. Then sell.

I also would do impound sales on the weekends. There I would sell some of the cleaned up low-end stuff I bought for cheap while buying a few of the nicer vehicles at these sales since they had less competition.

The fact that I was also doing the bid calling at these sales was fine as far as the owners were concerned since I always invoked what I call ‘the seven second rule’.

Every final bid gets seven seconds of exposure. No one bids? It belongs to the final bidder. Everyone can bid. Even me. Even the Latinos since I could also do my bid calling in Spanish.

Within a few months I was making more money selling cars on the side than I was working on my day job. The day I fulfilled my tuition reimbursement requirement I quit my day job (but gave them four months advance notice so that someone could be trained) and became a full-time dealer.

If you ever wonder why I have an almost Rainman level of knowledge about cars, sun up to sundown for two straight years can get you ready for anything.

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What’s Wrong With This Picture: A2, Take Two Edition

I was living in Austria when the first-generation A2 came out, and I was mildly shocked to find that I couldn’t find a single native who was as geeked about Audi’s baby aluminum wonder as I was. Sure, it was geeky and overpriced, but for me it surpassed even the TT as the apotheosis of Peter Schreyer’s bauhaus-inspired design language. Tyroleans of all ages laughed off my enthusiasm as eccentricity, and across Europe the A2 never sold especially well.

But by the time production ended in 2005, the A2 was as fresh as the day the first example rolled out of Neckarsulm, and even to this day its resale value has held up extremely well. To be completely honest I don’t actually have the numbers to back that up, but it’s what I was told when I was in Germany earlier this Summer. And in Volkswagen’s

Will the next A2, a concept version of which is headed to the Frankfurt Show, be as special? It still has an aluminum spaceframe… but it’s also 2011, not 1999. The A2 2.0 has its work cut out for it…

12:59 PM | 0 comments | Read More

Ask The Best And Brightest: Which Automaker May Be Fudging Their EPA Numbers?

The Environmental Protection Agency’s fuel economy testing system is notoriously weak, relying on self-reporting for the vast majority of vehicles, and exhibiting vulnerabilities to “gaming.” But rather than attacking each others’ EPA numbers, automakers seem to have agreed that it’s best if everyone does their best to juice their own numbers and allows the imperfect system to limp on. But over at Automotive News [sub], we’re hearing what could be the first shots fired in a new war over EPA ratings, as Product Editor Rick Kranz reveals that an OEM is starting to complain about another OEM’s fuel economy ratings. He writes:

An executive of one U.S. automaker suggests there might be some sleight of hand going on and that the EPA is not catching the offenders.

The issue: There’s a noticeable difference between the mpg number posted on some cars’ window sticker and an analysis of the data submitted by automakers to the EPA.

Ruh-roh!

Kranz continues:

The executive raised a red flag earlier this year. He told me his company was unable to replicate the city, highway and overall fuel economy numbers achieved by some automakers for their 2011 car models.

He didn’t name the automakers or the car models in question. Neither would he give the percentage differences between the mpg numbers posted on new-car window stickers and an analysis of the data taken from dynamometer readings his company purchased for certain competing models.

But he said consumers are being misled. The mpg numbers on some window stickers or in advertising are being misrepresented, he said.

Here’s the thing: if an executive is complaining about another OEM gaming the EPA test or somehow fudging its results, this executive must be extremely angry or frustrated. After all, a weak EPA testing regime benefits all automakers at the expense of customers. And if someone is willing to blow down the EPA’s house of cards, there’s no knowing where the fallout could end. There are basically three possibilities:

1) The accusing executive has the wrong end of the stick, and is just lashing out without cause.

2) The accusing executive is on to something and an automaker is fudging its EPA numbers.

3) The accusing executive is on to something, and he’s just scratching the surface of a problem infecting a large part of the industry.

As fuel economy becomes a bigger factor in car-buying decisions, the EPA needs to recognize that there is more riding on its weak, “faith-based” fuel economy testing regime than ever. It should not only investigate this allegation, but it should perform supplemental targeted verification tests on vehicles with “suspiciously high” fuel economy ratings. Consumers need to trust their window stickers, and if there are rumors of gamesmanship around the production of those numbers, competitive pressure will spread deceptive practices around the industry. This needs to be nipped on the bud.

So, in hopes of helping the EPA get a handle on this situation, I ask the B&B to share their thoughts about what automakers might be fudging their numbers. What vehicles would you spot-test to see if they can achieve their window sticker numbers?

10:57 AM | 0 comments | Read More

Initiatives to End Photo Enforcement Scheduled for Upcoming Elections

Voters in at least seven cities will soon have a chance to decide whether to prohibit the use of red light cameras and speed cameras. Initiatives are being certified for the ballot in five states across the country, despite an all-out effort by photo ticketing firms to block any public role in the matter. Early voting is already underway in Albuquerque, New Mexico for the October 4 municipal election.

“Shall the Albuquerque city council continue authorizing the ‘Safe Traffic Operations Program,’ commonly called the ‘red light camera program’?” the city ballot asks.

Albuquerque’s non-binding advisory vote was placed on the ballot by a 5-4 vote of the city council. Officials in  Westminster, California unanimously agreed in July to ask voters to decide on a binding red light camera ban on the November 2012 ballot. Everywhere else, the ballot measures were accepted with great reluctance.

“Under duress I’m going to vote yes,” South Euclid, Ohio Councilman Moe Romeo said in moving to place a camera ban on the November 2011 ballot.

During the August 22 city council meeting in the Cleveland suburb, Councilman Jane Goodman argued that the city should ignore the petition submitted by voters demanding a say on the use of red light cameras and speed cameras. City Law Director Michael P. Lograsso said the council had no choice in the matter.

“Based on my research, my recommendation to the clerk is that the petitioners have satisfied all procedural and constitutional requirements and you should send this measure to the board of elections,” Lograsso said. “They have the ability under the charter and the constitution to put this forward. They did it correctly. I don’t know what else to tell you. This amendment was put forth I think you have a duty to send it on to the board of elections… On a charter amendment the case law is very clear from the Ohio Supreme Court that it’s the Ohio constitution that takes precedence over our city charter on this issue. So it’s ten percent of the people voting in the last general election.”

The final vote was 6-1 with Council President David Miller adding he was also allowing the public to vote “under duress.” In East Cleveland, the city council voted on August 30 to allow the referendum on cameras to be placed on the ballot. On August 29, the city council in Dayton, Texas decided to ask voters to vote on red light cameras before entering into a contract with American Traffic Solutions to start an automated ticketing program.

Washington state ballot measures have seen the most fierce opposition. Voters will not have a say in the city of Monroe after Mayor Robert Zimmerman filed a lawsuit that postponed legal consideration of the measure until after the ballots would be printed. Instead, Zimmerman placed his own ambiguous measure on the ballot where either a yes or a no vote could be construed as backing the camera program. The lawsuit filed in Bellingham by American Traffic Solutions resulted in a judge imposing a $10,000 fine for violating state statutes designed to guarantee public access to the ballot. As a result, the city’s voters will vote on the measure as written. In Longview, a judge ruled that voters would only be allowed to vote on whether to hold an advisory vote on cameras at the next election.

Initiative votes remain pending in a number of other jurisdictions.  No photo enforcement program has ever survived a public vote.

[Courtesy: Thenewspaper.com]

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Lutz Back At GM, Check Out TTAC’s Exclusive Interview With Him Next Week

The original “car czar” is headed back at General Motors, as the company announced today that it was officially retaining former Vice Chairman Bob Lutz as a Senior Advisor. The General’s press release notes

Lutz will be available to executives on a part-time consultancy basis effective immediately. He brings a wealth of experience built over the course of more than 40 years in the industry, including two stints at GM. He has also been a senior executive at Ford, Chrysler, BMW and was CEO of Exide Batteries.

Lutz has been providing advice to GM executives informally since retiring from the company in 2010.

I spent nearly three hours with Lutz last week, and he never mentioned a possible return to GM. He did, however, discuss his entire career, his experiences at Chrysler and GM, his product development philosophy and much, much more. You can read all about it starting on Tuesday, when we begin to publish content based on our interview.

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Rescue Workers Drop Car On Motorcyclist. Motorcyclist Dies

A Brooklyn college student was pinned under a car that had crashed into his motorcycle. Rescue workers tried to free him with a hydraulic jack. When the car was 4 feet in the air, it dropped on the student.

“A firefighter cursed at another guy and yelled, `What are you doing?’ ” writes the New York Post. After the car fell on the student, he didn’t make a sound. The student died in Brookdale Hospital.

A police source told the Post that the student died of injuries from the crash.

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Junkyard Find: 1980 Honda Civic 1500 GL

Back in the Malaise Era, why did anyone buy a Corolla (or an Omni or GLC or any other miserable underpowered econobox) instead of a Civic? Somehow, Soichiro‘s little car managed to be economical, reliable,

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GM On Its Own In Japan

GM will go it alone in Japan. From November on, GM will “switch to direct sales for all its Japanese-market models, some of which are now sold by a Mitsui & Co. unit,” reports  The Nikkei [sub]. Mitsui Bussan Automotive began handling GM vehicles in 1992 and focused mainly on large SUVs, such as the Cadillac Escalade, Chevy Avalanche, Traverse, Silverado and HHR.

When taking over the business from Bussan, GM will drop all the cars except for the Cadillac Escalade. Sales of the other cars will end after inventories run out. GM will focus on smaller cars like the Chevrolet Sonic and other models for which it anticipates strong sales. Its own unit imported cars like the Cadillac CTS and SRX, and the Chevrolet Corvette, Camaro, and Captiva. According to data by the Japan Automobile Importers Association, GM sold 2,345 cars in Japan last year, including 376 Hummers (which were popular amongst a certain segment that is often short a finger.)

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TTAC Grades The Analysts: TrueCar Wins In August

This is round two of TTAC’s “Grade The Analysts”. Last time, we graded only on how closely analysts hit the SAAR number ( table provided by Bloomberg.). If we would have done this this time, all would have received an A or better. The guesses were THAT close. The overall SAAR  for August was 12.1 million, and none of the analysts did bet on less than 11.9 or better than 12.3. Instead of giving them all gold stars, we made it a bit more interesting.

According to the grading established in July, anyone hitting the SAAR number with a precision of less than 1 percent would get an A+, less than 2 percent would get an A. That would have resulted in five A, five A+, and four A++ for a bull’s eye 12.1. Even the average would have walked away with a bull’s eye. Boooo-ring!

To make it more interesting, and to honor the analysts that stick their necks out and give estimates for the Detroit 3, we brought that into the mix. Cowardly analysts that would not provide an OEM estimate were penalized with a 100% wrong per OEM. Then, we established a composite of SAAR and OEM. And the winner is …

Analyst	GM	Ford	Chrysler	SAAR	SAAR Delta	OEM Delta	Overall
Jesse Toprak (TrueCar.com)	20%	12%	22%	12.2	0.83%	9%	9.83%
Jessica Caldwell (Edmunds.com)	20%	14%	21%	12.3	1.65%	12%	13.65%
Brian Johnson (Barclays)	15%	14%	15%	12.1	0.00%	19%	19.00%
Seth Weber (RBC)	15%	14%	13%	12.1	0.00%	21%	21.00%
Chris Ceraso (Credit Suisse)	20%	18%	12%	12.1	0.00%	25%	25.00%
Patrick Archambault (Goldman Sachs)	11%	14%	10%	12.0	0.83%	28%	28.83%
Peter Nesvold (Jefferies)	19%	16%	NA	12.3	1.65%	106%	107.65%
Himanshu Patel (JPMorgan)	NA	NA	NA	12.1	0.00%	300%	300.00%
Rod Lache (Deutsche Bank)	NA	NA	NA	12.2	0.83%	300%	300.83%
George Magliano (IHS Automotive)	NA	NA	NA	12.2	0.83%	300%	300.83%
Alan Baum (Baum & Associates)	NA	NA	NA	12.2	0.83%	300%	300.83%
Itay Michaeli (Citigroup)	NA	NA	NA	11.9	1.65%	300%	301.65%
Adam Jonas (Morgan Stanley)	NA	NA	NA	11.9	1.65%	300%	301.65%
Jeff Schuster (J.D. Power)	NA	NA	NA	11.9	1.65%	300%	301.65%
Average	17%	15%	16%	12.1	0.00%	17%	17.00%
Actual	18%	11%	28%	12.1

Jesse Toprak of Truecar.  His SAAR estimate (12.2 instead of 12.1) was off by 0.83 percent. However, his OEM estimates had nearly laser-like precision.  He is followed by Jessica Caldwell of Edmunds, the winner of last round. Best analyst without the benefit of real time data is Brian Johnson of Barclays.

Here is hoping that this exercise will motivate the other analysts to provide more than a SAAR number. Even if you hit it exactly, for a true podium finish, you must provide estimates for the Detroit 3.

4:51 AM | 0 comments | Read More

Saab In Trouble Deep, Goose Cooked, Reputation Shot

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If the Shanghai Daily isn’t hallucinating (their writing is pretty sober, if not sobering), and if their source is reliable (the source is Pang Qinghua, chairman of Pang Da, the yellow knight from China that was supposed to save Saab from the abyss,) then Saab’s goose is cooked.

Chairman Pang told the Shanghai Daily that “Pang Da Automobile Trade Co and Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co have not submitted an application to the Chinese government to inject much-needed funds in Saab, increasing fears that the Swedish carmaker may drive into bankruptcy due to a cash crunch.”

Why does that mean that the goose is good for eating? Because Saab says so.

Words of wisdom from the mid-term report of the Swedish Automobile N.V.:

Months ago, we had been hearing noises of foot-dragging in China. We didn’t believe then that the paperwork would be handed in “within weeks,” and we don’t believe it now.

A Bloomberg report, printed verbatim in China Daily quotes Wang Yin, Pang Da’s board secretary, who said yesterday that Pang Da and Youngman “plan to submit the application in the next two weeks” to China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). His Chairman Pang Qinghua did not want to comment to Shanghai Daily.

A month ago, it was said that the paperwork would be handed in within weeks, and it wasn’t. We provided the Chinese-English translation:

Even if the paperwork is finally submitted to the NDRC at some point far away in the future, then that’s only one of a number of government agencies that have to say

Even when all ducks are in a row, they tend to waddle slowly. A month ago, we reminded our readers:

Bottom line: It doesn’t look good. Reassuringly, Pang Qinghua told Shanghai Daily that “Saab was not in danger of an imminent bankruptcy” simply because “its chief executive officer was in China yesterday to coordinate rescue efforts.” Meaning: As long as Victor Müller is in China, he can’t sign papers in Sweden. Now that’s nice.

There is another rumor that is making the rounds: Youngman and Pang Da would guarantee the famous bridge loan. CNBC heard it from Reuters, which in turn heard it from Sweden’s Dagens Nyheter. Even the faithful at Saabsunited, which usually cling to the thinnest tread of hope, didn’t want to buy into that story:

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Dr. Strangehatch, Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Hate The Panamera

The publication of Frank Greves’ article in American Journalism Review served as a rude reminder to me how time really does fly. Mr. Greves describes the fallout from my less-than-fawning review of Porsche’s Panamera and Panamera Turbo. What follows is the story he

A serious warning before you click the jump: Sex, violence, skullduggery, harsh words, and excessive alcohol consumption are described in semi-graphic detail below. This is not for the faint of heart, the excessively moral, or the uncritically Porschephilic. It’s also not a short story. You’ve been warned.

It’s five hundred and six miles from my front door to the paddock entrance at Road America in Wisconsin. In October of 2009, I packed up my Audi S5 to make the trip. The mercurial owner of LeftLaneNews, Canadian entrepreneur Nick Aziz, had asked me to meet him there for the Porsche Panamera preview and had agreed to pay my fuel bill there and back as compensation for reviewing the car. Needless to say, I was excited.

Let’s get this out of the way: I was, and am, a Porsche fanatic. I own three Porkers — a white 993 Carrera 2, a Boxster 550 Anniversary I bought in 2005 for the purpose of competing in SCCA’s National Solo, and a white 944 2.5. I’ve visited Stuttgart and toured the factory. I own approximately two dozen 1/24-scale Porsches and perhaps eighty books about Porsche. I’ve read

Yes, I knew that loving Porsche was often a lot like loving Ike Turner. The company too-frequently pushed junk out the door and expected its customers to serve as field testers. Replacement parts cost too much. The pricing of the cars themselves is beyond ridiculous. Warranties are voided for the slightest of purposes; Porsche simultaneously deluges its customers with images of Porsches on-track and rebukes them for daring to put their own Porsches there. Doesn’t matter. I was a fan.

The night before the Panamera event, I met Nick and Matt, our videographer, at a Motel 6 near Elkhart Lake. They had an entire bottle of Smirnoff Lime and insisted that we finish the thing. Although I’m about fifteen years older than they are, I did my part and then some. At four AM, I woke up to find an email on my phone from an old college girlfriend whom I’d recently started seeing a bit when her schedule would allow. It was fairly racy, to put it mildly. Still buzzed from my share of Nick’s vodka, I sent back a five-paragraph response, typed with my thumbs, which shamed

The arrival of the mail caused her iPhone to buzz. Although she was sound asleep, her husband, who was a firefighter, was getting dressed for his shift and decided to check her mail in case it was urgent. Needless to say, my phone rang at 4:10AM. And again at 4:12AM, by which time I had found the phone. My buzz was now a raging headache, and my eyes were too fuzzy to see the caller ID.

“Hell. Hell. Ow. Hell. Oh.” I slurred.

“CAUGHT YOU, YOU DIRTY MOTHERFUCKER!” the voice at the other end of the phone screamed. “I’M GONNA KICK THE SHIT OUT OF YOU. YOU THINK YOU CAN FUCK MY WIFE AND GET AWAY WITH IT?”

“Who. Is. This?” I replied. I didn’t recognize the voice, and honestly, dear readers, there were a few people who could have made that call.

“You don’t know who this is?” the firefighter asked.

“I’m so. So. Sorry. My head hurts,” I explained.

“Well then… uh. Um. Well. Fuck off anyway, Jack!” And the phone went dead. I fell back asleep with the phone in my hand. Three hours later, when Nick banged on my door, I thought I’d dreamed the whole thing. A quick check of my phone showed I hadn’t and filled in the blanks. Oh well. The firefighter in question was certainly capable of kicking the aforementioned ass of mine, but my experience has been that this never happens. Most people do the easiest thing in life, given the choice. Last time I heard, they’d made up and everything was fine.

When Nick, Matt, and I arrived at the Panamera event, we found out that Porsche wasn’t expecting us. There had been a communication snafu, the details of which would take a novella to relate, and we weren’t actually invited. After some conversation between Nick and the Porsche PR people, it was agreed that we could stay and do some videotaping. Color me furious; this was going to a be a thousand-mile roundtrip to

In the hours that followed, we attended the inevitable self-congratulatory speeches and technical presentations. I was permitted to catch a ride around Road America with Patrick Long. There were two other journalists in the car and I noticed that Long was deliberately “thrill-riding” us, hitting curbs and using too much throttle on the exit. Needless to say, my colleagues were impressed beyond words. although in my experience a print journo can always figure out a way to describe how impressed he was by Each. Awesome. Car. Out. There.

Next up was the press drive itself. Each journalist was to be allowed three supervised laps around Road America. Some of them didn’t bother to take their turn. Nick asked about getting me into one of the idle cars, but was told “No, you’re not on the list.” This list was very important, apparently. After some back-and-forth, it was agreed that we could take a Panamera Turbo, along with our Rainier truck

To earn our low-speed filming, we were forced to sit through a lunch presentation and watch some videos. For the lunch itself, I was seated next to David Donohue. He was regaling the table with tales of derring-do. “I’m racing a Camaro at VIR in thirty days,” he said. “It’s professional, Grand-Am, very interesting stuff.”

“Ooh!” I squealed. “I will be racing there too.”

“It’s a Grand-Am race,” he said.

“I know! I’m running ST! You must be running GS! Should be a lot of fun!” He literally turned away from me and stopped talking, making a listen-to-this-crazy-guy face at the other journos. They nodded in sympathy at poor David Donohue and the mentally-ill fan pretending to be a fellow racer. I left the table in shame and grabbed my helmet for the low-speed laps.

My suspicions about the “low-speed laps” turned out to be correct. The track was empty and the corner stations were empty, too. As long as we kept it slow by the Porsche tent on the front straight, we could do whatever we wanted. After doing some genuine low-speed photo laps, I sent the Rainier ahead, waited a while, and lapped at my own pace. Uh-oh. This car was fast, yeah, but it wasn’t exempt from the laws of physics. They’d promised a “911 driving experience”. That was a lie, and I knew that to be true because I owned a 911. They’d also promised that the Panamera would be the premier luxury sedan. That, too, was a lie. At the time, I was still driving my pair of Phaetons in addition to my S5, and I’d had an A8 and CL55 as company cars in the previous year. I knew what top-notch luxury cars were like to drive, and the Panamera didn’t meet the standard. It didn’t ride well, it was overly complicated to operate, and the Bluetooth was as half-assed as the rest of the telematics. Against the 1999 S-Class, this would have been mildly impressive, but the Panamera hit the market with an interior and features package that was already past its sell-by date.

At this point, I had a couple of options. I could fawn over the car and repeat the talking points provided to us in the briefing. (For an example of just how hard somebody can suck the collective Porsche PR staff off, read the Edmunds Panamera review.) Alternately, I could speak my mind and face the consequences.

After returning to the press tent, Nick schmoozed us forty-five minutes on the local roads in another Panamera Turbo for filming. We ended up creating this video from the footage. (The outtakes from this video are used for Matt’s “Wikileaks” video at the top of the page.) The video wasn’t super-complimentary, but neither was it a Farago-style blast: I called it “the most fun-to-drive full-size sedan money can buy,” while admitting that “If you’re a 911 intender… this is not going to replace any of those.” After some discussion with Nick, I even agreed to call the interior “sufficiently competitive”.

I then drove the five hundred miles home and wrote this review for Speed:Sport:Life. These paragraphs sum it up for the click-averse:

The Porsche Panamera Turbo is the fastest mass-produced sedan in history, by virtually any measuring stick one would care to use. Only the AMG biturbo V12 cars come close in a straight line, and on a racetrack they wouldn’t see which way the beetle-backed Por-sha went. Our passenger laps with Flying Lizard driver Patrick Long only served to confirm what we learned driving the Panamera Turbo around Road America ourselves: this is the Corvette of luxury sedans.

And therein lies the problem. The Panamera is supposed to be the Porsche of luxury sedans: characterful, beautiful, desirable, perfectly conceived to suit the needs of its owners. That was the goal. Unfortunately, the “Porsche of luxury sedans” was, and continues to be, the Audi A8. By contrast, the Panamera is fast but flawed, dramatic but disappointing. It produces the numbers but fails to hit all the targets for true satisfaction. After years of reminding auto enthusiasts that pure power and performance numbers don’t make for a perfect car, Porsche has gone ahead and proved the point themselves.

And that was it… until Gary Fong read the review in S:S:L and contacted my editor, Zerin Dube. I don’t believe I have permission to publish the e-mails, and I know it would be hearsay to repeat what I was told concerning Zerin’s contacts with Mr. Fong, but I believe it’s reasonable to convey at least the gist of the initial conversations. Gary’s primary mission was to “correct the inaccuracies” in the article. His first correction was pricing: I wasn’t given any information so I guessed high by about five grand. That was fine, and I appreciated his input. Next up for “correction”: my driving impressions. He expressed his concerns that I hadn’t driven the car enough; ironic, since I’d begged for time in the car. He suggested that I had missed out on some critical information which had been given out at the combo presentation/party the night before — but how is that relevant to the way the car steers, rides, and handles?

In the world of automotive “journalism”, very few people are ever willing to go on the record. In the months that followed, I was told the following, always by people who refused to let me quote them or even refer to them when trying to get someone

• “You’re blacklisted, and Fong is asking other companies to blacklist you, too.”


• “We always give Porsche first review on our articles before we publish.”


• “If you give a Porsche a bad review, or if it doesn’t win a comparison test, you will have to explain why to PR before you get another chance at a car.”


• “It’s too much trouble to criticize Porsche. They cut the cars off, and hey, I like driving them.”


• “So what if the Panamera’s an ugly piece of shit? Do you want to work in this business or not? You want to take a 911 Turbo to your high school reunion, or do you want to be on the outside looking in?”

In the year afterwards, I repeatedly watched small-town newspapers, freelancers with no expectation of publication, and jobless ex-print-journos take free trips to Europe on Porsche’s dime while the company refused any and all requests we placed for test automobiles. One rather infamous journo reportedly took his girlfriend/escort on a private jet to Sicily courtesy of Porsche’s bottomless press budget. All you had to do get on the gravy train was to sing the praises of the cars, apparently, and who cares if those praises are warranted?

Well,

Eight months ago, I was contacted by Mr. Greves regarding his AJR article. I told him the unexpurgated story, including names and dates for the allegations which have been anonymized above. It is any surprise that nobody wanted to be quoted in his article? People in this business are afraid of Porsche, they are afraid of Gary Fong and his co-workers, and they are willing to deceive their readers so they can impress their neighbors with loaner cars they are too lazy and unsuccessful to purchase themselves.

Here at TTAC, we are always willing to give someone a chance to prove their ethics, so we will be making a formal request to Porsche Cars North America to be added to their press-fleet list. I’ll keep you posted on how it works out, but I will tell you now: don’t hold your breath. When you’re used to reviewing and “correcting” stories before they’re even published, the prospect of being reviewed in TTAC must be too horrifying to consider. That’s funny, because it’s exactly how

EPILOGUE: Walking out of the driver’s meeting for the Koni Challenge race a few weeks later, I bumped into David Donohue.

“DAVID!” I yelled. The look on his face was worth every penny I ended up paying for the engine I blew that weekend. My co-driver, 2008 Grand-Am champion Jamie Holtom, blew a

2:37 PM | 0 comments | Read More

Catch TTAC’s Steve Lang On The “Wheels Events Radio Hour,” At 7PM Eastern

TTAC’s own

I will be filling for a couple of good friends at a radio show this evening. The ‘Wheels Events Radio Hour’  will be broadcast live at 7:00 P.M. Eastern time at  this   Internet   site. We will be covering upcoming events with the SCCA along with my own miscellaneous ramblings about cars and the auto auction world. Who knows? I may even try to do some bid calling if they give me something to sell.

Sadly, while Steve’s on the air I’ll be busy gawking at a ’37 Hispano-Suiza, Jag XK-SS, Bugatti Atlante and the other ridiculous rides that make up the “Allure of The Automobile” Exhibit with my old man. So why don’t you tune in for me?

2:37 PM | 0 comments | Read More

What’s Wrong With This Picture: Future Smart Edition

If you’re one of those people who can’t stand the glacial styling evolution of the Porsche 911, look away now. Smart’s new Forvision Concept is said to preview some of the look of the next-gen Smart and, well, it’s no radical change. In fact, if you were to strip away all of the “concept-y” features from this thing, you’d be left with something like a current Smart with a fancy bodykit. Oh sure, it’s got “organic solar cells” on the roof and heat-conductive and insulating “e-textile” seat coverings, but this plug-in concept really just proves that Smart is a fixed idea. Though updates will be welcome in the European market where Smart already does well, but unless Smart shows a concept with a lower price, higher efficiency and more satisfying transmission, it’s hard to see the American market losing any sleep over such a “future Smart.”

1:36 PM | 0 comments | Read More