Just don’t ask what the newly-released rules will do to the upfront cost of your new car. Though the EPA claims that 35.5 mpg by 2016 is “within reach” of the industry, OEMs will certainly pass some of the $2 billion in costs to meet the standard onto consumers. Let’s also not forget the billions of taxpayer money spent on retooling loans intended as a payoff to the industry for agreeing to the standard, or the EPA’s estimate that new regulations will save consumers $3,000 in fuel cost is over the vehicle’s lifetime. Good thing the new rules will save the environment and improve energy independence. Otherwise we’d have a really hard time being positive about all this.

Too bad Obama already skewered this kind of presidential salesmanship. Hilariously.

Farago clearly enjoyed his time with the old Golf R32, but I’ve always thought there was something not quite right about V6-powered Golfs. Considering VW has approximately 750 vehicles based on the same platform, I figure you save the six-pot for the Audi. Anyway, my pedantic preferences are remarkably in line with, well, rising efficiency standards, so VW’s latest top-end Golf is getting a turbo four just like God intended. And the numbers that VW is claiming for the Golf R are the kind that would make the Almighty nod his head approvingly. All wheel drive, 270 hp, 260 lb·ft between 2,500 and 5,000 rpm, 0-60 in 5.5 seconds (with DSG) and 27 MPG. All wrapped up in an reworked Mk VI Golf body that makes the R32 look like a rice special. The inevitable downside is that VW won’t say whether it’s coming to America.

I was completely prepared to leave this Bob Lutz’s CTS-V race thing to Jalopnik. And then Lutz went on the FastLane blog and said he’d welcome all comers: “One of the social media initiatives we’ve launched is a challenge with the Cadillac CTS-V, which we claim to be the fastest 4-dr production sedan in the world, and we have asked any potential challenger to meet us at Laguna Seca and race what you brung.” As the TV lawyers say, Maximum Bob opened the door. So I called Cadillac PR flack David Caldwell. Is this a Jalopnik-only deal? If so, so be it. “You know who I work for,” Caldwell said. Yes . . . “If Bob said he’d take all comers then he’ll take all comers.” Which means TTAC is in on the action, which will go down at Monticello (not Laguna Seca?) sometime in the first two weeks of October. Or not.

UPDATE: Hyundai PR’s talking to their CEO about racing MB in the Genesis. Jaguar’s pledged the XFR.

Bob Lutz may well prove that the Cadillac’s CTS-V is the fastest production sedan in the land, thanks to an engine transplant from the Corvette ZR-1. But what about a genuine all-Caddy production racer? Something you could take to Le Mans, and challenge Europe’s finest exotics. Or just down to the local drag strip, and blow away every production car in its day. You’d have to turn the clock back sixty years, when Cadillac’s new V8 was the hottest engine in the land. But if you were serious about racing with it, like Briggs Cunningham did at Le Mans in 1950, or the original owner of this car, you’d have to request the factory to make one important change, which alone makes this hot rod Caddy the most historically significant Curbside Classic find to date. Well, there was that Vega…

Got a heads-up from the PR Newswire re: Florida DUI Attorney John Musca. Mr. Musca wants you to know that he’s fighting for your (i.e., his clients’) constitutionally-guaranteed rights and freedoms. Musca’s press release trumpets the dismissal of a recent DUI case, where a careful reading of the law saved his client’s pickled bacon. NB: if the Florida po-po let you go after three minutes, remember: even though you’ve only got one minute to save the world, please observe all posted speed limits.

The state of Florida concedes that DUI checkpoints are constitutional and valid. The Supreme Court acknowledges that DUI checkpoints do in fact constitute a “seizure” relative to the Fourth Amendment yet are constitutionally acceptable with evident effectiveness and minimal intrusion. Hence the three minute rule where every vehicle that enters a designated checkpoint site cannot be detained in traffic for more than three minutes. In the event of exceeding the three minute time allowed, the officer in charge must temporarily suspend the diversion of vehicles into the checkpoint lanes and begin a systematic selection of vehicles to be stopped at the discretion of the checkpoint commander. Vehicles will then proceed back into the checkpoint lanes when the period becomes less than three minutes.

3,319 lb·ft of torque from four electric motors, and the best 0-60 time Audi came up with for its E-Tron concept was 4.8 seconds? Thanks but, uh, we’re not idiots.

Or is that pointlessly endearing? First off, they’re MINIs with trunks. Figure that out. Our first reaction to news of the Coupe and Roadster was to observe that the only thing the MINI brand needed was cars with a little less room. But, as MINI’s press release points out, the brand-defying decklids do have a point. Specifically, “[giving] the car a notchback look clearly distinguishing the MINI Roadster Concept from the MINI Convertible.” Too bad three-box MINIs aren’t MINIs. They’re RILEY ELFs. Ultimately though, brand confusion shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Not because nobody’s mentioned the Riley Elf in decades, but because the concept has a “buddy radar” display which alerts drivers to the presence of other MINIs. Which was a great way of addressing the second least common complaint among MINI drivers: anonymity.

The New York Times is running an Op Ed supporting Senator Charles Schumer’s anti-texting legislation. The Alert Driver’s Act of 2009 would compel states to enact anti-texting laws—or face the loss of 25 percent of their federally-supplied highway funding. The Gray Lady starts as it means to finish: misrepresenting the truth. “A leading road safety group, the Governors Highway Safety Association, has reversed field and announced its support for state laws banning drivers from sending and receiving text messages.” No, yes and kinda. GHSA Executive Director Barbara Hasha told TTAC that the organization hadn’t reversed itself. Before now, they simply “weren’t ready to endorse” the bill. And then they read the study cited by the NYT: a July 2009 Virginia Tech Transportation Institute report claiming truckers are “23 times more likely to cause a crash or near-crash than a nontexting trucker.” Why truckers? Because the stats are 10 times higher than those for car drivers. (How many truckers text vs. car drivers?) And while the GHSA is pro anti-texting laws, they are NOT in favor of Schumer’s threat to remove federal funding.

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The tires v.v. chicken war has sent stock exchanges lower. It has the price of rubber plunging. It has people deeply worried. The Wall Street Journal has arrayed comments from economists around the world who call the Obama decision everything from “something really stupid” to “disappointing news.”

State-run Chinese news agency Xinhua trotted out their own team of experts, which came to the conclusion that “the new U.S. tariffs on Chinese tire imports could escalate trade disputes between the two countries, but a full-blown trade war is unlikely.” What, no trade war? Wait, there’s worse.
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What’s it with Ford and sliding doors? After getting its butt kicked by every minivan manufacturer known to man (excepting GM and including a descendant Chrysler), the Blue Oval Boyz got out of the minivan biz. Ford then got it into their head that there’s a huge swath of American consumers who want a minivan, but won’t buy it because it’s a minivan. “Sliding doors carry a stigma, which is why the minivan has fallen” out of favor with some US buyers, Ford group vice president of global product development Derrick Kuzak told Automotive News [sub]. Instead of selling these minivan refugees an existing SUV or CUV, Dearborn’s darlings spent billions developing a car that looks like something between a scaled-up MINI Clubman and a funeral hearse (a.k.a. the Flex). Wrong answer. And just in case that answer wasn’t wrong enough, Ford’s bringing over the C-Max. It’s a seven passenger vehicle—with hidden sliding doors! So it’s not a minivan. It’s not a wagon. It’s not a Flex (whatever that is). It’s a . . . “multi-activity vehicle.”

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GM’s constant reference to the “perception gap” is, without doubt, the most galling thing about the company. Despite sucking-up over $62 billion in taxpayer money, the nationalized automaker continues to insist there’s nothing wrong with our products. Oh no, American-consumers are a bunch of [Jap-loving] idiots. If if they would just open their minds they’d see that they’re idiots. And buy our cars. And save the company. And keep Mexicans Americans employed. And get their taxes back. Now, adding insult to insult, they’re launching a taxpayer-funded ad campaign based on that premise: “May the Best Car Win.” Note to New GM: it HAS been winning. Ipso ’effing facto. Now LEAVE IT ALONE. But oh no. In fact, the car Czar who drove GM into the dirt is flooring it, betting the company’s future on this series of comparison ads. And he’s got a new name for “the perception gap” not because he understands the problem but because he’s bored with it.

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Guess what happens to the car market between Labor Day and Thanksgiving? Nothing. Nobody buys cars unless they absolutely need to during this time. You have no shopping holidays. No ‘tax season’ with refunds aplenty. Not even a hint of any government windfall or pork barrel rolling down Capitol Hill. This is the time of year where 2009s and even 2008s will slowly make their march to the ‘deep’ discount aisle. Should you buy?

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The city of College Station, Texas is planning to spend thousands of taxpayer dollars on advertising that could save the city’s red light cameras. A citizen-led initiative has put the program’s future up for a public vote on November 3, but documents obtained under freedom of information laws by College Station resident Jim Ash indicate the city intends to spend thousands to saturate local television with pro-camera commercials and run full-page advertisements in the local newspaper. These ads would run in addition to those paid for by the for-profit companythat operates the cameras. “Could the City of College Station go so far with this voter eduction program they end up violating spirit or letter of the Texas Election Code, by the nature, size, timing, and aggressiveness of their planned ‘educational program?'” Ash asked. “Is this the same city that could not find even one more dime in spending cuts last week?”

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