TrueDelta has once again updated the results of its Car Reliability Survey. Based on over 10,000 responses for the first time, the new results cover owner experiences through March 31, 2009. Elsewhere, results continue to be based on an April 2008 survey. Thanks to these prompt quarterly updates, TrueDelta can provide reliability stats on new or redesigned models sooner, and then closely track cars as they age. Among the highlights: the 2009 Audi A4 has required 37 repair trips per 100 cars per year—similar to the benchmark Honda Accord. The implication: most of these cars will not require any repairs in their first year.
Start with this: Automotive News [sub] reports that FoMoCo is set to out-produce cross-town rivals General Motors this year. This according to auto industry analysts IHS Global Insight. “Ford will rank first with North American production of 1.9 million units, a 17.7 percent decrease from 2008, IHS said. GM, which is shutting most of its plants as it braces for a possible June 1 bankruptcy, will build 1.7 million vehicles, about half as many as it did last year.” A fifty percent production decline. Whoa. And what’s with the probable on the GM C11? AN should’ve saved the modifier for GM’s projected production; it’s entirely possible they won’t even build that many. Especially if/when Nissan/Renault buys-up the bits. As you might imagine, “new” Chrysler keeps on slipping, slipping; into the man-u-re . . .
As it struggles to find its way through bankruptcy, Chrysler Corp. has announced its most recent cut back. The automaker is eliminating turn signals from its vehicles. In a written statement, a Chrysler spokesperson said that with turn signal usage falling below 10 percent, slicing the cost from each car (estimated at $22) would save the Fiat division over $44 million a production year (based on sales of over two million cars in 2007). “Our studies of vehicle equipment usage found that sixty-five percent of drivers were unaware that their cars actually had a turn signal device,” the press release revealed. “Of the thirty-five percent that were aware of the devices, only half even knew how to use them.” To counter safety advocates’ criticism of the equipment deletion, and bolster its case for a NHTSA waiver, Chrysler released the results of a driver survey.
Would you like to supersize your irony with that, sir? Having received one bailout, flunked a stress test, now in line for another $7.5b, GMAC knows the meaning of the word “unfit.” And their recent Insurance National Drivers Test shows that 20 percent of American drivers, some 41m people, are a danger to themselves and the financial system. I mean others. Idaho, Wisconsin, Montana and Kansas top the states in “basic road rules” test results. New York, New Jersey, Hawaii and California’s drivers averaged the worst scores. According to GMAC, 5,000 licensed Americans were asked 20 actual questions taken from state Department of Motor Vehicles exams. Anyone changing their mind about speeding?
Now that Jack Baruth’s editorial series “Maximum Street Speed Explained” has hit the servers, more than a few of TTAC’s Best and Brightest have hit the roof. A few of them felt so strongly about the inadvisability of the rants’ publication that they’ve followed Elvis’ example and left the building. I can understand that. Road safety is an emotional issue. As Lord Humongous said, “We’ve all lost someone we love.” Or worry about same. But, in this case, my empathy does not extend to self-censorship. In other words, I stand by my decision to publish Jack’s editorials. Before I present my case, I want to get a few things out of the way . . .
Early reports on the new national emissions/CAFE standard seemed to imply that California would be barred from moving the goalposts again on emissions. Not so, it seems. Automotive News [sub] reports that California’s Air Resource Board (CARB) is preparing the next round of emissions standards, and (surprise!) they will become more strict rather than the other way around. Or, as CARB Chair Mary Nichols puts it, 2016 will see the emergence of “a much more stringent standard.”
The sun breaks through trees and plays off the long bonnet. As I loaf along the arrow-straight road, I absorb the soundtrack: the baritone exhaust note of the big-bore, long-stroke, inline-six. Ahead, I spot that sign that makes every true driver shut down the internal dialog in their brain and focus on the here and now: Winding Road. Amazing what a sign can do to lift one’s spirit. In a Jaguar E-Type, elevation quickly becomes ecstasy.
How many Mercedes owners change their own oil to save a few bucks? The latest “Meet the Volkswagens” TV ad doesn’t just insult Benz owners— and everyone else’s—intelligence. It’s also racially insensitive. By depicting a middle class white guy with his face blackened with oil, it raises the specter of 19th century minstrel shows. OK, that’s a stretch. But so is VW’s supposition that reminding customers of their over-familiarity with their local dealer’s service department is a good thing. And what does a Microbus sliding out of a nearby garage have to do with anything, Amigo? Wait . . . cue-up the Routan commercial . . .
CTV.ca reports that GM emailed 245 of its 700 Canadian dealerships notifying them that they’re the biggest losers. According to CNNMoney, this time ’round, GM isn’t basing its dealer downsizing on simple volume. “The auto maker said that, due to the ‘unique aspects’ of the Canadian dealer network, its rationalization efforts will focus on key urban markets. ‘The end result in Canada will be a more competitive dealer network with higher volumes, while continuing to maintain the strongest and broadest dealer network in the country better equipped to serve GM customers.'” In theory. In practice, this is only the General’s opening salvo. The friendly fire is sure to get worse when GM files for C11 at the end of the month.
In March 2008, China’s Shuanghuan (SH) Auto presented the Noble to the Greek media. The two-door may look like Daimler’s Smart, but there are crucial differences. The three meter long Chinese vehicle can can carry up to four people; Daimler’s mini (not MINI) mobile seats two. The Noble is a front-engined, front wheel-drive car with a unibody structure; the Smart’s engine is underfloor with a rear-biased drivetrain, built around a “Tridion” safety cage. Yes, well, in April 2008, Daimler’s crack legal team moved quickly to prevent import and sales of the [alleged] Chinese Smart clone. This week, a judge struck down Daimler’s case.
The über-wealthy have many fascinating ways to speed on America’s highways, from night-vision goggles to convenient spotter planes overhead. But those of us who toil in the middle class have to earn our velocity by hard graft. Freeway speeding is the crack cocaine of fast-road driving—cheap, easy, addictive, and deadly—and nighttime freeway speeding is both more glamorous and annoying than its daytime counterpart.
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