If you are or have ever thought about buying a car on eBay, you must read The Auto Prophet’s expose of a new scam bubbling around the Internet these days. Amazing how creative crooks can be in their devious ways.
Did you know you can have a plug-in hybrid today? As usual, the private sector is way ahead of the big corporations. Autopia will tell you all about Alison Gannett and the $35,000 conversion kit that turned her Ford Escape into a 100 mpg wonder.
In news from Paris, Peter De Lorenzo at AUTOEXTREMIST spent a good bit of time studying the new Ferrari California and came away wondering if perhaps everything is not OK in Maranello.
Uh oh, The New York Times has got Robert Farago’s ire up, publishing a poorly sourced story suggesting that GM and Chrysler are talking merger. Frankly, my bet is on the man behind The Truth About Cars.
And speaking of GM, over at The Auto Observer, Bill Visnic meditates on the current plunge in stock prices in Detroit. With GM at around $5 a share, either this is the beginning of American Automotive Armageddon or a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy really low and then sell way high in a couple of years once the Volt re-charges the General.
There seems to be a bit of, oh, how should I say this, uh, skepticism at DrivingEnthusiast.net regarding a report in Road & Track that a redesigned Honda S2000 is right around the corner.
The skepticism is a bit more understated at GM-Volt concerning new details of the Chrysler EV program.
Your next equipage ride in New York might be in an alternative-fuel powered taxi. Or maybe not. Steve Parker explains the ins and outs of a debate that could make Gotham like Tokyo … Sorry, you have to go read Parker to understand that connection!
You say you can’t make it to the 2009 F-150 short-lead but you have questions about the newest full-size Ford pickup? Well, drop a line to Dorri at If It’s Got An Engine … because he’s going to be there. Better hurry, though, because that’s next week.
Have you joined the National Motorist Association yet? No? Well, go read Eric Peters’ excellent explanation for why car insurance costs so much these days.
Come on now, admit it, you are absolutely dying to know what “Cookie, the dog’s owner” thinks of Nissan’s answer to the Scion xB. With an intro like that, it almost doesn’t matter what Cookie says at Car Lust, you just gotta read it regardless!
Well, Jim Dollinger still thinks it’s time for “Red Ink Rick” to get the old heave-ho at GM.
Strange things going on at Honda, according to Green Car Advisor, which worries about production delays of the CNG-powered Civic GX. Does T. Boone’s buddy, Aubrey McClendon, knows about this?
WHAT I’M DRIVING THIS WEEK: Audi A4 Quattro Turbo
It was a mid-70s Audi Fox that hooked me on German sedans, so I was biased in favor of the latest A4 when it arrived recently for a week in the Tapscott stable. And sure enough, it took about five miles behind the wheel of the silver 2009 Quattro Turbo tester to confirm the old love.
Yes, I know lots of Three-Series Bimmers and Infiniti G35s and so on and so on are quicker in a straight line and some get around corners a bit more majestically. But the thing that most impresses me about this A4 is its all-around excellence, from arrow-straight stability at triple-digit cruising speeds to an interior that is gorgeous to look at and simply begs to be used.
I’m still not there yet with the Large-Mouth Bass Audi grille, but there are some intriguing details elsewhere with this A4’s exterior styling. From certain angles, for example, you think you are looking at an A5 coupe. And the A4 is bigger, with a six-inch addition to the wheelbase that, among other things, makes for genuinely useful rear seating. At $38,000 and change for the Quattro Turbo, we’re definitely talking premium small German sedan at a not-quite premium price.
See ya next time!
