Ever since TTAC launched its campaign re: fair disclosure for automotive press junkets and cars, the autoblogosphere’s been pretty good about revealing car manufacturers’ contributions to their cause. Of course, we’d like the sites to be more forthcoming about the exact goodies disbursed. Edmunds attended a manufacturer-sponsored event, to which selected members of the press were invited, to facilitate this report” is both condescending and vague (hotels? meals? flights? accommodations?). But hey, at least our colleagues have stepped-up, uh, towards the plate. Unfortunately, today’s Autoblog Toyota Landcruiser vs. Hummer H2 comparo leaves that particular ethical space blank. We tried reading between the lines… “In this blogger’s version of the debrief after a Moons Over My Hammy [ED: by who?], the finding was that the H2 and the Landcruiser will go anywhere you point them. Period. Anyone who says otherwise is, quite simply, incorrect. The only difference is in how they do it.” I’m thinking HUMMER paid the freight, with Autoblog being nice to Toyota ’cause it’s the better rock climber and Autoblog can’t say that. But I could be wrong. So c’mon Autoblog. You did the mucho macho rock climbing thing. Now man-up to who paid the bills, and what they covered.

Another scribe joins the elite squad of automotive analysts who’ve had their Road to Damascus moment re: GM’s inexorable slide into bankruptcy. Alex Taylor Three Sticks’ misFortunate conversion was inspired by the epic tomfoolery commonly known as the GM – Chrysler merger. Taylor warms-up by pre-spinning the General’s forthcoming pitch for a federal bailout. “A government loan wouldn’t be about protecting well-compensated union jobs or keeping afloat inefficient suppliers in Michigan and Ohio. It could be directed toward advancing Detroit’s and the country’s strategic interests by speeding development of alternative fuel technologies that reduce our dependence on foreign oil as well as help limit the generation of greenhouse gases.” Hang on; isn’t the rationale behind the current Department of Energy bailout loan program? Anyway, “GM may have a decent shot at that in a Democratic administration. If not, there is bankruptcy.” Da-da-DAAAAAA. OK, make the jump for Alex’ conclusion, his very own version of “Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love a Cadillac CTS for 25 Grand.” [thanks to Polishdon for the link]

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Winding Road’s (WR) reader interface just keeps getting slicker and slicker. While the articles and photography are no better or worse than a buff book’s (sorry Chris) and you can’t read WR whilst on the toilet, I’m totally into the e-magazine look and feel. I especially enjoy the jump-around navigation. [Quick digression: Why WR chose to integrate with nextautos.com is beyond me. It’s an entirely different gig, confuses the brand and the interface between the sites is a maze mess. Two words guys: Stendhal Syndrome.] I reckon it’s only a matter of time– say a couple of decades– before the “real” buff books follow suit. Meanwhile, it looks like one of TTAC’s favorite car mags, the UK’s Octane, may be headed for e-bookitude. I make the inference via a collaboration (i.e. a pimpatorial) between Octane and RM Auctions. RM’s interactive catalogue for their October 29th sale sets new standards for the e-paper genre. I especially like the animated page turning. But then, I’m a geek. Anyway, if anyone wants to bankroll a TTAC digital mag, let me know.

Like the gas price spike that helped launch the current industry death spiral, nobody saw a possible D3 bankruptcy coming. Well, outside of this little corner of the internet, anyway. But with the mainstream media catching wind of what we’ve been crying in the desert for years now, a number of well-known industry analysts are coming around to the notion that America may not have three big automakers anymore. Jalopnik’s Ray Wert was ahead of the (adjusted) curve, bellying up to the TTAC line (sorta) yesterday. Today, none other than Danny Howes of the Detroit News is playing Cassandra-come-lately as merger and bankruptcy rumors take industry-watchers by storm. To be fair, Howes isn’t blind to Detroit’s sins, and his columns have been taking an increasingly alarmist tone for some time now. But until this week he’s faced the strings and arrows of outrageous fortune with brave face and stiff upper lip. No longer.

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You may remember project D: Chrysler’s plan to build something better than the world’s worst car for the mid-size segment. As it continues its campaign to replace the definition of the word gullible in Webster’s dictionary, Autobloggreen breathlessly reports that the fruit of Project D might be an electric vehicle! Tracing the story back to Automotive News [sub], it’s clear that this entirely theoretical car or cars might also run on unicorn farts. “Chrysler LLC will decide by late winter whether to partner with another automaker on its global mid-sized car platform, known as Project D, says CEO Bob Nardelli. Chrysler must decide whether to engineer the platform in-house and build vehicles at its own factories or work with another carmaker. The company has indicated it would prefer a partner. Chrysler said it has to decide ‘in three, four, five months,’ Nardelli said last week in an interview at Chrysler headquarters in suburban Detroit. ‘We have costed out the in-house version, and we’re still working with two or three platform providers.'” What’s the rush? Chrysler will be tango uniform long before any rubber can meet the rental car parking lot. Oh right, the alt power bit…

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The autoblogosphere’s self-styled Autoextremist normally posts every Wednesday. So you know things are OOC when Peter DeLorenzo feels compelled to unleash his weekly rant on a Monday. A good thing too; Sweet Pete knocks one out of the park. “Let me get this straight right off the bat,” DeLorenzo writes late in the fifth inning. “The reality of a merger between GM and Chrysler would be an unmitigated disaster of incalculable proportion, one that would decimate both companies… When you have one company that has too many models, too many divisions and too many dealers, how could you possibly think that combining that company with another company that has too many models, too many divisions and too many dealers would be a good idea?” Beats me. Having dispensed with that little piece of business, DeLorenzo is ready to predict ChryCo’s T.O.D. “With Cerberus being ‘done’ with Chrysler, the fate of the auto company based in Auburn Hills has been set. Within six months, Chrysler will be taken over or ‘parted out.’ Either way, Chrysler will cease to exist as we know it by next spring, if not sooner.” From there, it’s GM’s turn…

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These guys can’t win from losing. I mean, first GM seeks to evade responsibility for its cratered bsuiness by claiming that “no one” could have forseen the sudden spike in gas prices (or, God forbid, planned for that contingency after, what, two previous oil price shocks). And now GM Car Czar “Maximum Bob” Lutz is telling the LA Times that low gas prices threaten its plug-in electric – gas hybrid Volt-shaped Hail Mary. “We may hate high fuel prices, but they’ve been driving us in the right direction when it comes to fuel economy,” General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz told the Times. “The company’s leading cheerleader for its $500-million program to develop an electric car” said “If we suddenly went to $1 or $1.50 a gallon, that would be really bad.” Don’t get me wrong. Lutz is right. As he was when he called federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards a “crock of shit.” No wait; that was global warming. Anyway, the thing of it is, stop bitching Bob. As someone who’s followed Lutz’s career at GM– listening to every excuse for his employer’s dismal performance short of “the sun was in my eyes”– I would like to officially go on record saying that GM needs to builds vehicles, not sound bites. That is all.

What’s beyond irony? Farce? Whatever it is, the fact that Chevrolet decided to underwrite Christian Slater’s new NBC series entitled “My Own Worst Enemy” is it. The show’s “bumpers” featured the Chevrolet Traverse and the Chevrolet Camaro in split screen head-on action, supposedly reflecting the electronically-induced multiple-personality disorder suffered by the show’s main character. Or is that characters? Although I was busy surfing the net at several points during the show– checking to see if Autoblog was live blogging (“we know it’s Albright having intercourse with Spivey’s wife cause he strikes her on the buttocks”)– I don’t think the Traverse was ever shown in motion. I guess NBC suits decided that Spivey couldn’t be THAT much of a Mr. Mom. That said, the Traverse did survive a nearby bomb blast without a scratch. But where was the dismembered limb on the windshield routine? The silver Camaro was ready for its close-up when Spivey got bored and took Albright’s whip (don’t ask) for a little late hoonage..

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While we await Andrew Dederer’s (or similar) translation, we are assured that Nissan has released this higher quality official version of their record-setting Nurburgring run to refute Porsche’s claims that their Japanese rivals were cheating. GTRblog.com says that “Nissan go on to say that the GT-R used in the official laptime was actually at a disadvantage due to up to 50 kilograms of testing equipment along for the ride. Offering Porsche some driver training lessons if they want to give it another try.”

I have no idea why Autoblog transcontinental trekker Sam Abuelsamid has suddenly and finally “woken up” to the fact that the U.S. new car market– indeed the entire U.S. economy– is in a deepy parlous state. But some prince has kissed our sleeping beauty. And now Sam is beginning to realize what we’ve been saying before he turned a wheel [slowly] in anger on behalf of Audi’s poorly-timed diesel-powered High Mileage Marathon: the whole project is a futile gesture. “The TDI technology used by Audi is available now with more coming to the U.S. market in the coming months. The question is will anyone be able to buy it or any of the future powertrains? Very few people buy new cars with cash. The industry relies on being able extend credit to drivers. The key element of what is happening this week is that financial institutions have become unwilling to loan money to anyone. After loaning way too much over the last decade to people who couldn’t afford to pay it back, there is now nothing going out. That creates a great deal of uncertainty in product planning. Audi made the decision to launch their new diesels in the Q7 long before this ever started and it’s unclear what their future path will be. The A4, Q5 and A3 have all been talked about as potential future U.S. diesel products, but without knowing where auto sales in general are going it’s hard to choose a direction. With Toyota already having canceled its planned diesel for the Tundra and rumors of other product cancellations on the horizon, the only thing we know for sure is that we know nothing.” Point taken.

It’s hard to know which aspect of hypermiling is the most dangerous. Switching off your engine to coast? A soup tureen of not good. Driving more slowly than the surrounding traffic flow? A plunge pool of uh-uh. How about drafting an 18-wheeler? Let me put it this way: I’m watching Final Destination 2 right now. And yet, in Sam Abuelsamid’s latest installment of “And Now for Something Completely Mundane,” Autoblog‘s main man is happy to do just that– as are some of his new best buds. Before I share this excerpt, a word to the wise: NEVER DO THIS. “Jim managed to get hooked up behind a semi that was cruising at a good clip for an extended period of time, while we had trouble finding any trucks running faster than 60-65 mph. The day before, on the trip from Chicago, we tied at 28.8 mpg although Jim and Kevin had a slightly higher average speed at 63 mph vs our 60 mph. We’ve since become aware of a couple of tricks that seem to be helping, which I’ll divulge at a later time. Never let it be said that journalists aren’t competitive. As I finish writing this paragraph, a slightly faster truck passed us, and Steve has slipped in behind it. As we slid past, I glanced over to see a very unprofessional finger gesture from Mr. Kelly. Kevin and I will be discussing that tonight over steaks in Amarillo.” Note to Audi PR minders: someone needs a bitch slapping.

Even before you read the review, it’s obvious Car and Driver scribe Mark Gillies doesn’t like the new Mazda 6 i Grand Touring. For once, the strapline accurately reflects the author’s take, without prevarication or sugar-coating: “Mazda’s new family sedan offers more of everything except excitement.” OK, the “verdict” below returns us to Car and Driver’s ad-friendly editorial style: “A worthy rival to the mid-size heavyweights” (instead of “Mazda sells its soul for sales”). And the article itself is one-quarter press release, one quarter praise and one quarter pulled punches (e.g. “Subjectively, the 6 feels good on a back road but not as athletic as you might like.”) But the real news arrives late in the fourth quarter. Car and Driver has declared metphorical war on TTAC’s simile-lade prose. And here we go… “The Gran Touring version of the 6 is as loaded as Keith Richards on tour in the 1970s;” “…setting up a Bluetooth phone connection is as simple as a plate of pasta con aglio e olio;” “The highway ride is as supple as an Olympic gymnast;” “Peel into a corner, and the 6’s tires squeal like a pack of preteen girls at a Jonas Brother concert.” Note to Csaba: sprinkles taste like shit on vanilla ice cream. Or something like that.