The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety celebrated their 50th anniversary by playing chicken with a 1959 and a 2009 Chevrolet. Neither car blinked and now they’re dead. If I had a choice, I’d go with the 2009 Malibu… and my life.
This is the extended footage, which includes scary interior footage from the Bel Air.
Last night after grocery shopping with the family I discovered a problem with the brick. It started up fine, but when I went to put it in reverse the shift lever went slack. I tried putting it back in Park, but it was stuck in reverse and the shift lever could just bounce back and forth through the range of gears without any resistance. I pulled the parking brake, shut it off and explored under the car.
A rod hung from underneath the shift lever and after a little exploring I saw that it should have been attached to another lever on the transmission. But there was nothing to hold it in place. I was parked over a sewer grate, so if there had been something that fell of it was gone. Luckily I had just thrown a roll of duct tape into the trunk, so I was able to fasten the levers and drive home.
This morning I removed the duct tape, pulled the mechanism and walked to the local hardware store for a retaining ring and washer. The guy in the nuts and bolts section was clueless when I asked for help. He told me they didn’t have retaining rings, but after a short search on my own I found a drawer with plenty.
Reassembly was easy and now it shifts properly. But the whole shift assembly is loose and sloppy, so someday I may have to go in there and swap out some of the bushings. Right now I’m just glad we were able to get home, and the repair only cost $.75 in parts.
Guy needs to either buy wheelie bars, or something other than a Chevette.
It looks like the Honda Acura Crosstour isn’t the only crossover beast from the east this fall. In April Acura announced the ZDX, a “four door sport coupe”. Huh? From the round rear end I assume they’re referencing the Porsche 928 of yore, but it’s so bulky it doesn’t really add up. Searching for “four-door-coupe” on Wikipedia pulls up the sleek Mercedes CLS, a sedan with a small rear seat and a graceful roofline. But the ZDX looks more like the bulky Infinity FX.
The BS really flies when you hear what the designers think of their achievement.
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This Pontiac Holden Clubsport has a Corvette V8 engine with 425 hp and 405 ft/lb of torque. Too bad this GM isn’t available in the states.
Honda is developing the Accord “Crosstour” pictured above, and decided to post some teaser images onto Facebook. Mistake. The page got mobbed by station wagon lovers, and others who are tired of rounded-rear “Cross” badged vehicles. Comments were scathing, and many posted images of what they wished it had been, like the 80’s wagon above, or what they thought it was trying to be, like the Pontiac Aztek. It was enough to make Honda defend itself for not offering a real wagon:
It’s not the European wagon: We’ve seen a lot of comments about the desire for a wagon, but this is neither a wagon nor designed for wagon buyers. We think the Euro wagon is a cool vehicle, too, and we appreciate the feedback… but a version of that wasn’t our intention here. That’s another segment worthy of our consideration, but the Accord Crosstour, built on the larger, Accord platform, is meant to give you the best of two worlds – the versatility of an SUV with the sportiness of a car.
With a sloped rear like that, you’ll have a hard time calling it versatile. Can I fit all my families bikes in there without folding down the rear seat?
After the jump, a collection of choice words from FB users.
We got back yesterday from a long trip to California. It was nice driving around in a new rental car. We drove up to the Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park in our Hertz Mustang convertible. Having the top down was amazing, as the roads wound wind around the mountain, with beautiful views and giant, 3000 year old trees towering overhead. The Ford had a V6, which wasn’t too bad, considering the roads were so twisty that you couldn’t really open up the throttle anyway. But it was low and firm, which was great for the tight turns and switchbacks.
I wonder what this guy was like driving INTO this spot.
I read Tom Vanderbilt’s book Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do
From the NY Times book review:
Vanderbilt, who writes regularly about design and technology, cites a finding that 12.7 percent of the traffic slowdown after a crash has nothing to do with wreckage blocking lanes; it’s caused by gawkers. Rubberneckers attend to the spectacle so avidly that they themselves thenget into accidents, slamming into the car in front of them when it brakes to get a better look or dig out a cellphone to take a picture. (This happens often enough for traffic types to have coined a word for it: “digi-necking.â€)
It’s now available in paperback
After spending the morning finalizing my design for a “Save the Clunkers” t-shirt, it turns out the C4C program will end Monday. Let’s hope the government’s servers can handle the last-minute rush from people who were on the fence about trading in their old Mercury Marauders for Honda Fits.
Please give me a vote of “6” at the 6 dollar t-shirts site. If I get enough votes you’ll be able to buy the shirt for… $6.