The English say it’s horses for courses. The French say it’s horses for main courses. And the German say it’s horsepower uber alles Schätze. Well, everyone except Porsche. Since ’96, Stuttgart’s parsimonious power brokers have restricted their entry level Boxster’s engine so as not to steal big brother Carrera’s thunder. Porsche’s policy stands in direct contradiction to Mercedes and BMW, who happily pump-up the volume on vehicles that need more speed like an obese caffeine addict needs a bottle of Black Beauties. That’s just mean; the Boxster deserves proper motorvation. And now, finally, it’s got it.

In the next few weeks, F1 junkies will see the kind of close-run drivers’ championship battle they’ve craved for nearly ten years. It’s highly likely that the remaining Grand Prix races will extend the competition to the very last race on the F1 calendar. Equally important, the end of the ‘06 season will signal the changing of the guard. Whether or not Michael Schumacher clinches the title, his retirement will signal the most dramatic shift in F1 in a generation.

Why do we come here? Why do we visit this site weekly, daily, hourly, or every couple of minutes when we can spare the time? I began to consider this question in the wee hours this morning, not at all displeased to be trading valuable sleep time for an issue with absolutely no life relevance.

My first ever dream car was the Batmobile, and yes, I'm talking about George Barris' Lincoln Futura riff. Looking back, it's funny how I totally missed the TV show's camp humor. Like the cut from the flames jetting out the back of the Batmobile to a Dynamic Duo crotch shot (celebrated by safety campaigners for showing Batman and Robin buckling-up their bulges). Well, not totally. I remember an episode where Catwoman (Julie Newmar? Eartha Kitt? Dianna Rigg? Tera Patrick?) trapped The Caped Crusader in the proverbial room with the concertina-ing walls. Via a video link, Catwoman asks Batman if he'd like to rule Gotham City or, um, die. His response? "What about Robin?" WTF? Even a pre-pubescent boy knew that Robin was OK, but Catwoman was rrrrrrr. Anyway, I like movie cars. They sound better and go faster that their real world counterparts. I look forward to seeing what Quentin Tarantino can do with the killer car thing, but a new Viper would've been a more logical choice than an old Camaro for his new flick. If ever there was a death car– from either the driver or pedestrian's POV– the Viper is it. It's hotter 'n Hell too. Yeah, the Viper deserves a super violent movie. How about Snakes on a High Plains Drifter?

First the good news. For the first time in eight long months, George Pipas, Ford's man in the crosshairs Manager of Sales Analysis, could deliver glad tidings to anxious stockholders and stakeholders. September retail and fleet results reveal that sales of Ford’s cars and truck were up when compared against the same month in '05. Although FoMoCo’s sales increases didn’t come anywhere near Toyota’s dramatic advance, the Detroit-based automaker bested cross-town rivals GM and Chrysler by a considerable margin. And the hits keep happening. 

Remember the dorky kid who aced college, landed a great job, maybe even got married, but still never got a firm grasp on how to enjoy life’s rich tapestry? That’s the Lexus GS450h. For all its hybrid gee-whiz engineering, swanky trimmings and performance credentials, the Lexus GS450h is only really a great idea on paper. […]

The ‘Sclade re-started it, the Navi went with it and the C made it official: bling is king. What began as an urban tuner phenom– modifying domestic SUV’s with flashy wheels, “presidential” window tinting, an infestation of video screens, a stereo powerful enough to make rap music even more painful than it already is (to me), etc.– has become industry practice. One need only glance at the new Escalade, Navigator and Aspen’s gleaming prows to see that bling now comes standard. And thank God for that.

There are three basic ways you can build a low-priced automobile. You can use lower-cost materials (and workforce). You can limit the standard features. Or you can keep variations to a minimum. When making the Rio, one of the lowest priced cars sold in American, Kia employed all three strategies. Is that a good thing? It depends entirely on where you draw the line between “cheap” and “inexpensive.”

GM’s September sales figures are out. Despite generous Labor Day incentives, zero per cent financing to anyone with a pulse and an easy year-on-year comparison (GM was in the post-Fire Sale mode last September), vehicle sales are down seven percent. Given GM’s upcoming production cutbacks, there’s only one way sales can go from here: down, taking GM’s declining market share with it. Never mind. According to GM Exec Maximum Bob Lutz, "Whatever our market share stabilizes at in the US— 22, 23, 24 percent— I don’t really care. The idea that GM… has got to get back to 30 percent is a wacky notion with all this global competition we’ve got."

GM Car Czar Maximum Bob Lutz’ recently stated that anyone who thinks that GM will shutter divisions is a “weenie” who doesn’t understand the cost of dealer lawsuits. Yes, well, one day, GM will have to jettison brands. Perceived wisdom dictates that The General should pare itself down to Chevrolet (low end cars), GMC (trucks and SUV’s) and Cadillac (high end cars). As for Saab, Buick Hummer and Saturn, bon voyage!  And then there’s Pontiac. Yes, Pontiac. I believe GM’s product starved “performance” division has the greatest potential of any of its current brands. With great products, Pontiac could go from neglected stepchild to superstar son.

It’s been a while since my description of the Subaru B9 Tribeca’s front end as a “flying vagina” got TTAC banned from… BMW’s press fleet. At the time, the German company’s PR flack promised/threatened to monitor the site and “get back in touch;” you know, when he’d decided that we’d been good little boys. Yeah right. There’s a higher likelihood that Godot will hang with Vladimir and Estragon than a Bimmer flackling calling TTAC to welcome us back into the fold. Still, we’ve managed to end run the embargo. And we’ve shown no animus or (Godot forbid) favoritism in our reviews of their products (e.g. Jay Shoemaker recently declared the 335i one of the millennia’s best motors). So I can once again state without fear or favor that BMW’s SMG gearbox is the worst gearbox on planet earth, by a large margin. Now, thanks to a generous reader, we’ve learned that BMW has bought Borg Warner’s dual clutch transmission (DCT) technology. The world’s best gearbox (known as DSG in Volkswagen/Audi world) will appear in BMW products as early as next year. So who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Speak, Rover BMW, speak!  

I’m a suburban husband, father of two who owns a large dog. I commute 19.5 miles to work five days a week and spend my weekends shuttling between home and Home Depot. I take the family on a road trip twice a year. And even with gas back to two bucks and change per gallon, I’m tired of pouring my hard-earned money into my SUV’s jumbo-sized gas tank. Honda made the all-new 2007 Honda CR-V for me. Whether I want it or not is another question.

Peter F. Drucker grew up in Frankfurt just as the Nazis gathered power. When Hitler was elected Chancellor, the future business guru fled for England, watching the storm clouds of centralized power in his rearview mirror. No wonder the concept of decentralization became one of Drucker’s first and more useful contributions to American business theory. Drucker and his beliefs came to prominence with the publication of "Concept of the Corporation" in 1946. Hard to believe, but the landmark work was based on 18 months Drucker spent studying General Motors.

When I moved back to the US from the UK, I was delighted to discover right wing media commentators. After living in a country with a media dominated by anti-American, government intervention in all things left wingers, it was a relief to see that another perspective still existed. Fifteen minutes later, I realized that Bill, Rush, Savage and Sean are such egomaniacal asses that their politics don't really matter. GM's decision to hire Sean Hannity to host a flag-waving national radio promotion doesn't really matter either– except to the people for whom it does. Surfing the left-leaning blogs, it's clear they are one whole Hell of a lot less than happy about GM's choice. Hiring such a contentious commentator certainly seems like a bone-headed idea. The General needs all the friends it can get– from either side of the political divide. Still, it's bound to please the red state "heartland," who could well be GM's last redoubt. Has it really come to this, then, or am I just being overly politically sensitive? Listen and discuss. 

I like to drive fast. I don't think I'm breaking new rhetorical ground to suggest that anyone who likes to drive fast violates the speed limit from time to time. In fact, depending on your predilection for automotive velocity, "from time to time" easily becomes "all the time." There are plenty of ways to justify chronic speeding: posted speed limits are unrealistic (set low to reflect average vehicles' and drivers' capabilities), they're a guideline rather than an absolute indication of safe speed (which don't reflect variable conditions such as weather, road surface, traffic, etc.), they're relatively unimportant (compared to inattentive, reckless or drunk driving) and the vast majority of motorists exceed them anyway. Strangely, the last excuse is the most potent.