Five years ago, on a whim, I rented an RV and we headed for the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho, Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons. The late October weather was exquisite; we didn’t see a single cloud for the whole two weeks. And the scenery was stunningly, drop-dead awesome. Once again, my wife and I (and now our youngest son) were hooked on the freedom of the open road and self-contained camping. But steep prices and free-fall depreciation of new RV’s was off-putting. But the answer was waiting just down the street…

The Boston Globe says Chrysler’s 2008 minivans are set to arrive at dealer showrooms with more features– extra air bags, electronic stability control, seats that swivel six ways to Sunday– and sticker prices averaging $2k below ‘07 models. The official party line: the price reductions will improve residuals and lower incentives (current average: $4,400 per vehicle). Yes BUT—Chrysler’s current family taxis are already sold at bargain prices. Base vs. base, the Caravan’s less expensive than a Toyota Sienna (-$4,400), Honda Odyssey (-$5,900) and Hyundai Entourage (-$4100). How can everyone else sell their minivans for thousands more than the company that invented it? The answer has very little to do with the price, indicating that Chrysler's financial salvation does not lie in offering bigger discounts– or more spin.

“It’s more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slowly,” is a common aphorism in these parts. But slow racing? The UK’s Slow Car Club is for drivers who want to race “without going to all the bother of buying a fast car, getting a racing license, or doing any tuning.” South Dakota’s SC (Slow Car) Racing club shares their lack of motivation. Organizer Trevor Puckett proclaims “We are not out to have the loudest car, the brightest underglow, the better brand name, or who can break the law the most in one night, we are all about a driver's skillz, and to have fun.” Our news peg for this story? The Slow Car Club holds its next event on September 2; they need all the advance warning they can get.

When the U.S. and South Korea signed a new trade agreement last week, the dems bitched on behalf of The Big 2.8: "Last year, South Korea exported more than 700,000 cars into the U.S.,” their statement proclaimed. “While the United States exported fewer than 5,000." Setting aside the question of what American-made cars could generate 650k South Korean sales, chosenilbu.com reveals that the existing importers are playing silly buggers. Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has ordered Mercedes to stop price fixing. “The importer allegedly had a firm ‘three-strikes’ guideline for dealers that broke its rules more than twice. The offending dealers were stripped of their sales rights and required to pay penalties of W30 million [US$1=W928].” BMW and Audi may be next.

Speaking of Paris Hilton, Chicago is cracking down on the 25k drivers motoring around the windy city on a revoked or suspended license. The Chicago Sun Times reports that the police will now impound the miscreants’ cars. While the Times points out that Chicago probably doesn’t have the storage capacity for the expected influx, we’re more interested in the fact that “Vehicle impoundment has become the city's catch-all penalty for 13 offenses ranging from drunken driving, fly-dumping and prostitution to loud radio playing, drag racing, and drug and curfew violations.” Not to mention the new $1000 “administrative fee” needed to reclaim an impounded automobile. Hey, I thought judges set criminal penalties… 

Under the “Real ID Act,” the federal government will no longer recognize a state’s driving license unless the state procures certain types of personal information, including proof of U.S. citizenship. The bill was watered down– states can ignore the restriction as long as they print a disclaimer on their license— and its enforcement postponed until 2010. Meanwhile, WCSH reports that “fixers” are busing illegal immigrants into Maine to secure a driving license. The DMV’s hands are tied, due to an executive order banning all state employees from asking anyone about their immigration status. As the report points out, once an illegal immigrant has a Maine driving license, they are free to purchase a gun within the state. 

For some time, commentators on this site have bemoaned the lackluster lineup of small pickups on offer stateside. Many suggested that India's Mahindara & Mahindra should enter the U.S. market with a simple, small, economical and tough-as-nails pickup. Well, how about the Mazda BT-50? The Full Throttle section of the iAfrica website signals the arrival of the latest version of the flatbed formerly known as the Drifter. The BT-50 looks like just the ticket for frugal pickup drivers, what with a 3.0-litre common-rail direct-injection turbo diesel engine good for 115kW at 3200rpm and 380Nm of torque at 1800rpm. (Do the math; it's good.) We reckon if it weren't for that damn 25 percent "chicken tax" on imported pickups, the states would be awash with these next gen small pickups, saving gas and kicking ass.

Porsche's hook-up with VW has paid off– big style. In the first fiscal half of 2007, the Stuttgart automaker's stake in VW generated 2.1b euros ($2.83b) for the formerly fully independent carmaker. According to Reuters, Porsche has taken steps to guard their new cash cow: they've secured financial derivative contracts to limit their foreign exchange exposure and secure the value of their 31 percent stake in VW. Porsche is also hiving-off its own car production operations into a separate corporate entity. Despite the VW-cash bonanza, Porsche CEO Wiedeking is still not satisfied by VW's restructuring progress. This from the man who's watched Cayenne sales plunged 41 percent in the last six months.

Readers may recall that my previous review of the Subaru Tribeca described the SUV’s front end as a flying vagina. Shortly after this aesthetic assessment hit the web, the San Francisco Chronicle canceled my regular reviews. Both Subaru and BMW banned The Truth About Cars from their press cars. While the column is history and the ban remains, Subaru got the message. The new Tribeca’s front end looks nothing like airborne pudenda, and everything like a Chrysler Pacifica. 

I'm not particularly enamored by BMW's new M3, and not just because a replacement wheel would clear out my life-savings. On paper, it's just not that impressive. It costs $60 large (when all's said and done), tips the scales at 3600 lbs. and summons those braggadocios 420 horses by stretching to a Honda-like 8300 rpm. Where's the torque? The new M3 stumps-up the same grunt as BMW's new 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbodiesel (295 ft.-lbs.). While the RS4 and C63 AMG present viable alternatives for twist-lovers, the twin-turbo straight six-powered 335i lurking in the background looks like the real deal killer. The 335i's got less horsepower than the new M3, but it's far more usable at the same exact fighting weight. The 335i will also save you some $15k– and that's before the inevitable M3 dealer markups. A test drive should tell the tale. But before you weigh-in here (and criticize me for my empirical ignorance), check out the M-fur flying over at pistonheads.com.

Ford and Rousch Racing– the folks who bring you the 800hp, V8-powered, rear wheel-drive Fusion NASCAR racer– are feeling the need. This time, they're teaming up with Ballard and Ohio State Universities to beat the land speed record for fuel cell-powered vehicles. Although you'd think a car named "Fusion" powered by a hydrogen fuel cell would holster a flux capacitor, the car is motivated by a 770hp electric motor. Autoblog Green provides no word on whether it'll be driving the front wheels, the rear wheels or all wheels, but this bad boy's got to crest 315mph to take the title. Call us upside down superstitious, but even though we get the historical allusion, we would have named it something other than "Fusion Hydrogen 999." Just sayin'. 

Yesterday, Ford CEO Alan Mulally announced that Ford would have plug-in hybrids for sale in "five to 10 years." Today, Consumeraffairs.com &#39reports that FoMoCo's spinmeisters are touting hydrogen as the fuel of the future. We're talking about Ford, right? The same Ford that backpedaled on their 2005 promise to build 250k hybrids by the end of the [last] decade? The same Ford that "rethought" their 2000 promise to improve SUV fuel economy by 25 percent? The same Ford that promised alternate fuel vehicles for Europe and nowhere else? Naturally, today's round of attention-grabbing was carefully hedged with cunning caveats: hydrogen fuel storage limitations, public concerns, "if all things were perfect," etc. Except Honda already has a running hydrogen fuel concept, slated for production and public consumption in less than three years. Oh dear.

Reuters reports that Bentley sold 5600 vehicles for the first half of 2007. That's not half bad, considering the company sold 1017 vehicles in all of 2003. As The Continental GT and Continental Flying Spur account for nearly all the sales, VW's handling of the Bentley brand can now be officially labeled bloody brilliant. As VW flounders and Audi fights tooth and nail just to hear BMW say "We don't consider Audi a competitor," Bentley has hit (if not created) the low six figure sweet spot, just above Mercedes and BMW. The Conti's priced high enough to keep out the luxury car riff-raff, but low enough so that it doesn't scare away all the CEOs and Managing Partners (as would a Rolls-Royce or Maybach.) Where does Bentley go from here? That's a question that the Bentley brand, which sold the same car for the 20 years before VW bought it, will have real trouble answering.   

Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan province, and one of Pakistan's most important military locations. (Quetta means fort in Pushto). It's also a German driver's worst nightmare: roads stuffed to the gills with over-loaded smokey wrecks, shopkeepers setting-up stalls on parking spots, traffic lights that don't work (which everyone ignores anyway) and pettifogging wardens who are easily (if not enthusiastically) bought off, who've still managed to write 38,910 tickets so far this year. OK, you say, that describes most of the "developing world." But have you ever wondered if there's a bureaucracy behind the madness trying to bring order to chaos? This story in the Daily Times sheds some representational light on Quetta's microscopic blue line. 

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that Chrysler has paid an undisclosed amount of money to the Escobar family of Cobb County, Georgia. On June 6, 2006, Gabriel Escobar crushed his brother to death when he shifted the family's 1997 Plymouth Voyager out of park. Although the story claims the death could have prevented by a $9 brake shift interlock– which Chrysler didn't fit to its vehicles until 2001– it's also true that the minivan wouldn't have moved if the Escobar's babysitter hadn't let young Ian "escape" from the house and Mrs. Escobar hadn't left four-year-old Gabriel Escobar unsupervised in the minivan– with the keys in the ignition. Escobar's lawyer claims there have been 23 similar deaths nationwide, including a recent tragedy in Connecticut. In that accident, a toddler knocked a 1999 Grand Voyager out of park, sending it into a lake, drowning four.