Warning: Today's question is not about your first car. Though we suppose there could be overlap. But what I'm interested in is the car that was used to teach you to drive. When I was eleven-years-old I got into a weird fight with my dad. He said that no Japanese car could be worth $20,000. This was in 1986 and the Legend (so to speak) had just been born. I explained to him that the buff books were all saying very good things about Honda's new luxury brand. My dad loved Datsun Zs and sporty Hondas, but just couldn't wrap his head around that level of sticker shock. So the two of us went down to the brand new Acura Dealer to investigate. A few hours later we drove off with a brand new champagne-colored Integra. It had leather seats (the first car my father ever had so equipped) and a $13,995 sticker price. I mention this because when it came time to get my learner's permit and then take the big test, that Integra served me well. But was it the first car I learned on? My memory banks are a bit foggy. I remember when I was seven or so sitting in the passenger seat of a Nissan Sentra wagon and yelling, "Clutch!" Dad was teaching me how to shift. Then when I was ten I remember he let me drive our enormous Buick wagon up and down a dirt road. His logic being that he learned to drive at twelve, and had never had an accident, ten-years-old would be even safer. But in truth, I gotta go with that brown on brown Integra. You?

Much digital ink has been spilled over Chrysler's "refuel America" promotion. The deal locks fuel prices at $2.99 per gallon for the first 12k miles for each of three years (subject to acres of fine print). Consumer Reports took a closer look. Over the first three years of ownership, the cheap gas gives Chrysler a competitive cost of ownership. After five years, your Chrysler will have cost you between $1k and $8k more than its competitors.  That's driving 12k miles annually, based on CR's "real world" mileage ratings and total ownership cost analysis. It gets worse. The cost of owning a gas-carded Chrysler is higher than buying the same vehicle with the optional zero percent interest rate. The Hemi-equipped gas hogs, for example, cost over $6k more with the gas card during five years of ownership. Little wonder then, that under ten percent of Chrysler buyers are choosing the gas card. The upshot? CR suggests that if you must buy from the Pentastar, take the low interest rate. "However," they say, "we would recommend you consider all vehicles in the segments, as there simply are better choices available based on our testing and analysis." Ya think?

Two Duke University Business School researchers studied the difficulty in perceiving gas saved when comparing vehicles rated by miles per gallon (mpg), versus gallons per 100 miles (gpm). The eggheads argue that the latter more closely reflects real world savings. The article [sub] and accompanying notes illustrate the problem: a nonlinear relationship between mpg and gpm. An example… At 10k miles per year, moving from, say, a Chevrolet Tahoe at 15mpg (6.7gpm) to a Chevy Traverse (that's a Buick Enclave for dummies) getting 20mpg (5.0gpm) nets a savings of 166 gallons. [ED: providing you  could get someone to buy the Tahoe.] Moving from a Corolla at 30mpg (3.3gpm) to a Prius at 45mpg (2.2gpm) nets a less impressive savings of 111 gallons. When given the mpg numbers, tested individuals thought that the latter saved more gas than the former. (Our B&B knew this intuitively all along, of course.) Europe at al are already on liters/kilometers, so why not make the switch?

If you think Tesla's wealthy and influential client list is getting impatient to see delivery of their single-speed supercars, imagine how Martin Eberhard must feel. The co-founder and mastermind of the EV roadster was supposed to receive the #2 Tesla,. It appeared for a while that Tesla had skipped over its godfather in favor of delivering to everyone else. Now AutoblogGreen (ABG) reports that Eberhard's Tesla has arrived from the UK. Unfortunately, it suffered "significant" front-end damage at the hands of a company lacky. Or did it? Tesla's Daryl Siry told ABG that #2 was damaged on its final shakedown before delivery. Eberhard claims "It is news to me that this happened on the day the car was to be delivered." Adding insult to, well, insult, Autoblog founder Jason Calcanis notes on his blog that he will be receiving the #16 Tesla in six weeks. Calcanis jauntily contemplates giving away a Tesla on his holier-than-thou "human-powered search engine" Mahalo.com. For good measure, current Tesla Chariman Elon Musk recently declined to correct Fox Business News' Liz Claman when she called him the "creator of the Tesla" in this so-bad-it's-almost-funny pimpatorial segment. Dude, Elon, give the man his car and his props before this whole thing goes Tango Uniform.

For Edmunds, the upshot of writing what RF calls "Pimpatorials" is that they get to break inside information (although who knows how long they've been sitting on the news). The Inside Line folks report today that Infiniti is planning a small rear wheel-drive (RWD) coupe. The brand extension will be an entry-level two-seater slotting under the Infiniti G37 coupe. The new car would likely pack a smaller engine (2.5-liter V6?). That said, yours truly thinks that'll go out the window once the G37 upgrades to an even more powerful version of the VQ block. But Edmunds says the two-seater hardtop will focus on luxury, not performance. Odds are pretty darn good that this baby coupe will be a close relative of the new Nissan RWD sport coupe (perhaps wearing the legendary Silvia name) about which many have speculated. Sounds like the Nissan model, with naturally aspirated and turbocharged 4-cylinder engines, will be far more interesting. But Infiniti's conquest of the luxury world must march forward, even if that means going toe-to-toe with other badly conceived luxury models (cough – 1-Series – cough).

It's no secret that we treat GM's plug-in electric hybrid vehicle (PHEV) with a healthy dose deal of skepticism. But at least GM is actually trying to develop a production plug-in car. The PHEV strategy at Ford is considerably less admirable, being largely composed of procrastination and panhandling. When asked to speak at a Brookings Institute/Google symposium on the question "Plug-In Electric Vehicles 2008: What Role for Washington?," Ford's President of the Americas Mark Fields had THE answer: writing checks. To that end, Fields touted the "success" of the as-yet-unreleased Escape plug-in. Sure, only 20 of these wunder-autos will ever be made. But that's where your tax money comes into play! The feds should be "creating a new industry/government partnership to aggressively advance battery research, development and commercialization; injecting significant federal funds into advanced plug-in vehicle technologies and into facility retooling to produce these vehicles; enacting comprehensive climate change legislation; requiring regulatory policies that stimulate innovation, rather than just imposing new mandates; and, enacting one national standard for fuel economy – rather than allowing a patchwork of state and federal regulations." In short, you give us our entire lobbying wishlist, and we'll build a plug-in. Ah, modern capitalism.

Images and details of Alfa's compact MiTo are officially official, and so is the press kit. Thanks to this modern marketing marvel we can bring you a gallery of photos as well as some specs on the upcoming car, that's not upcoming to America until someone has an IPO for Swine Airlines. This car is meant to be a B-segment entry for Alfa, so in Europe that means it'll compete head on with the MINI, among others. At launch, only three engines are available (and they are stick shift only). A 1.4 liter 4-cylinder, which this writer drove in the Fiat Grande Punto and is a giddy little 78 hp engine. Alternatively, buyers can opt for a 16 valve turbocharged 1.4 liter engine with 155 hp. And if diesel is your schtick, a 1.6 liter 120 hp, 206 lb ft oil burner will be available also. The suspension and drivetrain are fairly sophisticated for a small car, and should help improve the handling for this little front wheel drive car. In an apparent ode to competitor SEAT, the MiTo's interior is not particularly exciting – nor is it original (compare the MiTo's interior to the SEAT Ibiza's). Still, hopes are high that this will be a more reliable and yet still fun new cheap Alfa, which is desperate for new small-car product. [Source: Alfa Romeo]

The car we know as the Pontiac G8, you probably already know is a twin of one of GM's Australian bread and butter cars, the Holden Commodore. They've got all sort of variations of it over there – El-Camino style sport trucks (yes Jalopnik, we know), station wagons, AWD models, long wheelbase luxury versions, and yes, in-house specially-tuned high-performance professional ass kickers. We'll be getting one of the latter category of INSTHPPAK models as the Pontiac G8 GXP with a 400 horsepower 6.2 liter V8 out of the Corvette. But that's not enough if you're properly power hungry. Holden's HSV tuning folks presented the 7.0 liter (they call it a 427, because they are that badass) LS7 powered murderer version of the Commodore. Not only that, but in the ultimate act of hilariosity, the HSV W427 model as it's called will be available in the stretched luxury car called the Statesman. Like the Corvette Z06, the Holden W427 will have a hair over 500 horses and 472 lb ft of torque. Holden is building only 427 examples of the car, and they cost $150,000 AUD. That makes it 3.5 times the cost of a V6 Commodore (which is the $27,000 G8 V6 in America), but about the same price as BMW M3 in Australia. Still a hell of a bundle of cash.  [Source: Holden ]

Click here , here and here for aural sex. 

Several readers sent us a link to "Honda: Extreme Meets Mainstream" (a.k.a. "Sipping Gas and Taking Names; How Honda is Going to Own Toyota"). It's a love letter straight from the ad department heart. To wit: "When times are tough and gasoline prices rise, people come home to Honda," Paul Lienert gushes. "There's something unique about this company that seems to speak to Americans." In his campaign for Honda's deification, Lienert mentions a couple of flops (Ridgeline, Accord Hybrid) and mentions styling and performance-oriented probs. But they are but speed bumps on the road to immortality. "It all comes from a willingness to think outside the box. Sometimes it wins and sometimes it loses, yet Honda is always willing to embrace things that are new and different… The payoff has been unswerving customer loyalty… If Honda seems suddenly clairvoyant, the foundation for its most recent triumphs has been carefully and consistently laid over four decades." While no one begrudges Honda their success, Edmunds gets enough press releases without having to pay for one. 

FoMoCo made use of the "Capri" appellative a lot in the past on a diverse collection of vehicles: the UK Consul Capri of the ‘60s, the Australian convertible of the early ‘90s and a whole bunch of Lincolns and Mercurys all shared that name. But, you don't really remember all of those, do you? And that's because the Capri that sticks in our minds is the coupe produced by Ford Europe between 1969 and 1986. The European equivalent of the pony-car was affordable, smart, sexy, and popular even in the US. Long story short, Ford wants the same level of the success all again and plans to bring back the Capri in 2012. While the idea is not exactly new, it seems that this time it's actually going to happen. Expected to follow Ford's new design language, the little coupe will get some genes from the Iosis concept. Finishing touches like the metal-grid side vents should produce the required amounts of flashbacks for the nostalgic.

[For more Avarvarii photochopistry, click here]

The reason most people don't take concept cars too seriously is that manufacturers not only exaggerate styling, but often make major engineering changes to concept cars that kill the concept. To wit: Volkswagen's up! concept car this year (probably going to be using the Lupo namplate, just as the iroc concept car became the Scirocco), was a cleverly packaged rear engine, rear wheel drive city car. It was supposedly going to offer 2-3 cylinder engines, depending on the market. Today the German car pub Auto Zeitung has news that the up! production model will be significantly less interesting. In the name of costs, the rear engine gives way to a front engine. The rear wheel drive of course becomes front wheel drive. And the frugal 2 or 3 cylinder engines? Try small displacement straight 4s. So overnight, our Beetle (or smart) inspired city car has become just another car. That is the last thing Volkswagen needs to compete in the booming market for cars in developing countries.

You say you have a class reunion coming up and just can't show up in your eight-year-old Corolla? Well, cheer up Bunkie– that's what rental cars are for. And since anything worth doing is worth doing right, Gotham Dream Cars has just the car for you. For a mere $4000/day (plus insurance) you can make your grand entrance in a Saleen S7. However, if you want one of the supercars, you'll need to plan ahead– Gotham expects a six week (or longer) wait list. They'll have one in both their New York and Miami locations but to rent one you have to be a "returning GDC customer" or member of their "exclusive DreamShare exotic car club." You can also bet there'll be some bodacious restrictions on far you can take it or what you can do with it. Hmmm… I can get a direct flight from Atlanta to NYC or Miami reasonably cheap, and a membership in their DreamShare club can't be that much, can it? RF, how much money do we have in the road test budget????  (Hat tip to gizmag )

With fuel expenses that rival Joan Rivers' botox bill, a lot of smaller towns are feeling the budget crunch. USA TODAY reports the Holly Springs, Georgia, police department is doing something about it. No, they're not switching to biofuel or putting their officers on bicycles. Starting July 1, if you're stopped for speeding in this Atlanta suburb, you'll be charged a $12 "fuel surcharge" for the gas the po-po used to catch you. (They didn't say if they'd increase the surcharge by the number of cars used to run you down.) Police chief Ken Ball expects the surcharge to add between $19.5k and $26k to the city's coffers. Looks like Atlanta's next; Monday, the  city council approved a proposal to add $10 to $15 to tickets for speeding and other moving violations within their borders. Don't smirk if you live elsewhere, though– Ball says he's been "inundated" by calls from other cities wanting a copy of the ordinance.

If you can't wait for Toyota to launch a plug-in electric hybrid vehicle (PHEV) Prius, there are several companies who will convert your hybrid to a PHEV. Sure they may set you back $10k on top of your Prius purchase, but being the first one on the block with a plug-in is priceless, right? First, consider what might happen to your carbon footprint if your PHEV suddenly catches fire. CRN reports (via DailyTech) that a Prius outfitted with a Hybrids-Plus PHEV15 conversion kit caught fire and exploded last week during routine highway driving. The late Prius, part of a test fleet operated by the Central Electric Power Cooperative of South Carolina, and had been experiencing charger-related malfunctions. Because the A123-sourced lithium-ion battery was "largely intact and functioning" post-kaboom, the cause of the fire is listed as "unknown." A specialized EV forensic team (yup, they exist) is investigating. Pending their findings, those who have criticized the OEM's tentative approach to li-ion technology might want to take the opportunity to eat a little crow. And those OEM's who are banking on a rushed li-ion release (cough, GM, cough) might want to take this as a sign to run one or two extra tests. Just sayin.  (Hat tip to Jalopnik) 

The VW Phaeton was the answer to a question no one asked: who wants to buy a $70k Volkswagen? Marketing mishegos aside, "Piech's folly" is a superb car: relatively quick, preposterously quiet and completely comfortable. Lest we forget, VW Chairman Ferdinand Piech is something of a master engineer. He was directly responsible for Porsche's 917; a race car so dominant they canceled the entire race series. Piech also willed the Bugatti Veyron into existence. The Touareg V10 TDI was born from the same world-crushing crucible as the Phaeton and the Veyron. So, how does the uber-oil burner measure up?