TTAC commentator JollyJerry posits the following:

I’m looking for some recommendations and insight on highway cruisers that would coddle me and my girlfriend on a long multi-state road trip. I’m a tall lanky guy at 6′ 4″, so the Scion xB has been a perfect car for me so far. It’s definitely the wrong car to take for a long trip because it hurts my back, and I can’t stand the engine, wind, and road noise after a few hours. Here’s a list of cars I’ve been researching just to give an idea of what I’ve been looking at on TTAC and other sites: Ford Crown Victory / Mercury Grand Marquis / Marauder Toyota Avalon Chevy Impala / Monte Carlo Chevy Caprice Lexus LS Chrysler 300M Pontiac Bonneville Hyundai XG350. The ideal car would be cheap (<5k), reliable for at least a few months, incredibly comfortable on our bums and backs, and dead quiet. For this car, I wouldn’t care about looks or handling if I could get the above list. Good mileage would be a nice to have too because we’ll cover a lot of miles. Last generation domestic full-size sedans seem to do well on price and comfort. I’m more afraid of the Buicks and Cadillacs because of repair costs. Cost is also a big factor for most of the European sedans. What do you all think? Is there a car I’m missing that would be great for traveling all over the country and then selling?

Ford Brand             Ford Luxury Brands          Mazda

Focus: 9,182 (-11.3%)          Milan: 1,574 (-5%)                Mazda3: 6,227 (+3.3%)

Fusion: 10,834 (+9%)          MKZ 1,536 (-2.7%)               Mazda6: 3,484 (-5.7%)

Escape: 8,692 (-5.1%)        Mariner: 1,335 (-32%)          CX-7: 1,561 (-13.8%)

Edge: 4,477 (-32.5%)          MKX 1,514 (-13.6%)             CX-9: 1,390 (-34.1%)

The BMW 1-series was a bust as was the Audi A3 in America. Sales are in the tank and everyone sits back and wonders why we don’t buy small cars. We buy small cars, just not yours. Heck look at the MINI. Maybe BMW is just not as cool. Oh right, BMWs are way cool and they own MINI. Maybe it was the Euro against the dollar, price walk ups from the 1-series/A3 to the 3 or A4 respectively, true mileage gains, looks . . . I don’t know. Or maybe these manufacturers are looking through beer goggles. Let me break it down for you like a fraction through flip flops and tip tops. First some flops . . .

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Hyundai is awesome. They are undoubtedly a threat because their products are cheap, and the quality is improving

Honda CEO Takanobu Ito in the Canadian Press. “Hyundai is the biggest threat for the Japanese automakers,” adds Nissan senior VP Shiro Nakamura. “We have to offer the equivalents of sushi, tempura and kaiseki to compete against Korean barbecue.” Now imagine the reaction these quotes would have received ten years ago.

I have no doubt the guys at Sharkwerks know their onions when it comes to engine modifications. But here we have yet another video where the soundtrack underneath is as inappropriate as an intern dancing buck naked on a boardroom table at Black Rock. Not only does the keyboard player deploy a pseudo-strings sound originally sampled by Robert Arthur Moog in the late sixties (true story), the performance asks the bizarre question “what’s wistful about a Porche 997 GT3RS with a highly modified 3.9L engine producing 500hp?” Answer: nothing. The Best and the Brightest know that the last thing a powerful engine needs is a backing track that makes the artistes at royaltyfreemusic.com seem like Gustav Mahler. Click ahead to 7:00. For fifty-five blissful seconds, we hear all we need to hear. All we want to hear. Note to car video producers: step WAY from the synth. Your true destiny lies in San Fernando Valley, where porn producers treat generic audio wallpaper with all the respect it deserves.

Bill Owen from Carport Confidential shares a graph comparing September 2008 with September 2009 sales.

A second appellate ruling has struck down a California city’s red light camera program as illegal. On September 22, the California Superior Court for the County of San Mateo, Appellate Department overturned motorist Al Bullock’s $387 conviction for making a right turn on red. Presiding Judge Mark R. Forcum concisely found that San Mateo’s cost neutral contract with an Australian company, Redflex Traffic Systems, was in direct violation of state law. “Reversed,” Forcum wrote in a one-word decision.

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Our friends over at jameslist.com sent us a heads-up re: today’s collector car auction at Coy’s of Kensington, in Ascot (famous enabler of post-modern millinery). “Bargains isn’t [sic] Coys’ game, but if you are a collector in search of fine automobiles, or happen to be on the hunt for a Jaguar XJ200 with less than 200 miles on the odometer, then Coys is for you.” Now that’s what I call a niche market. Forget the how-low-can-you-go odo. Aside from styling, Jag’s early-90s foray into the supercar market was an abject failure, rendering the vehicle “collectible” only in the Edsel sense of the word. The headline issue: a late-in-the-game change from the original engine spec (a 500hp 6.2-liter V12) to a 3.2-liter six V6. V6? Forced induction? The new engine had about as much to do with Jaguar heritage as a Wolo Bad Boy Compact Airhorn. And sounded worse (if slightly quieter). Not . . . to mention . . . TURBO LAG! Hard to believe, but that wasn’t the worst of it . . .

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From The Detroit News:

Pelosi said Democrats want automakers to “thrive,” and she hasn’t ruled out additional support for automakers if they show that they are “viable.”

When President Obama championed the federal stimulus bill, transportation and infrastructure projects accounted for a relatively small chunk of the total tab ($787 billion). BUT the Powers That Be hyped it hard; the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) piece of the pie was going to generate more than half of the 3.5 million jobs the Obama administration promised to create or save (don’t get picky). ProPublica’s crack investigative squad now reports that the DOT is having a little trouble shoveling the spade-ready jobs out the proverbial door. “Of the $48 billion in transportation stimulus funds, so far DOT has paid out only $3.4 billion, or 7 percent of the total,” according to Sunshine State Rep. John Mica, the top ranking Republican on the House transportation committee. DOT spokeswoman Jill Zuckman had an answer for that one. “The amount of money spent on highways isn’t as important as the amount of money that’s been approved, which has reached $19.4 billion.” Do people really think like that? Holy shit. It gets worse . . .

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A little birdie tell us GMC is raising its prices. Yes, raising.

GMC will announce revised 2009 model year prices effective for all Sierra and Yukon models produced on or after October 1, 2009. All model dealer discounts will be reduced. Dealer invoice amounts will increase accordingly.

Dealer price schedules will be available in GM Dealerworld under Sales &/Or F&I Tabs effective October 1, 2009. Reference administrative message #VSF20040006 (dated February 26,2004) for more information regarding this web site.

Sold order price protection eligibility dates are dictated by the customer and dealer order dates as follows:

-Customer order date must be prior to the date of the price increase.

-GM systems order date (date dealer enters in GM system) must be no more than one work day after date of the price increase.

These units will be invoiced at prices in effect at the date of production; however, the dealer open account will automatically be credited for the price increase once the unit has been delivered.

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Having declared distracted driving an “epidemic” and “menace to society,” Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood moved to protect the American public with decisive leadership… by example. According to a DOT press release,

Last night, President Obama signed an Executive Order directing federal employees not to engage in text messaging while driving government-owned vehicles; when using electronic equipment supplied by the government while driving; or while driving privately owned vehicles when they’re on official government business.  The order also encourages federal contractors and others doing business with the government to adopt and enforce their own policies banning texting while driving on the job.

Which is a bit like fighting an epidemic (to continue Secretary LaHood’s metaphor) by telling federal employees to take an aspirin. Unless LaHood decided that the problem wasn’t as big as was making it out to be…

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“My client was terrified. She slept with a machete next to her bed and she slept with mace. She could barely sleep or eat normally.”

Los Angeles attorney Nicholas Tepper explains why Toyota and its ad firm Saatchi & Saatchi went too far with their viral “The Other You” campaign. Tepper calls the effort a “terror tarketing campaign,” and according to his lawsuit [via Ad Age… follow the link to watch the ad], his client “became physically ill” because she was convinced “a disturbed and aggressive” stranger was en route to her house. No wonder Akio Toyoda recently admitted “Toyota has become too big and distant from its customers.” Thumbs down.

[via The Freep]