TTAC commentator Holydonut shares some of his time with us:

I don’t know if you’ve tried out the Google Trends tool to see search and news activity on google.com for some auto-related searches. First: I just put in GM, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Toyota, and Nissan to see their trends [click here]. And another fun one . . . I compared searches of “gas prices” and “mpg” to some automaker names [click here]. I filtered the lists to show only USA region searches. Searching for “Ford” is misleading since the name is so common that you get several non-auto “Ford” topics all mashed together. If you go global, then Toyota and Honda become regular names of people, so it over-states the results as well. But for the selfish USA-only view, it seems mostly valid. Unfortunately this also means comparing a search for HUMMER versus Prius is invalid. The rankings themselves against each other aren’t very relevant, but the fun stuff lies in the change of the changes in the trend due to known events. Some interesting takeaways:

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When I was a small child, I would spend hours sitting in a cardboard box pretending it was a car. Now, I spend hours sitting in a car that pretends it’s a box. As a card carrying cubist, I’m always ready to jump in when a new carton appears. The last time I did that, it was about as traumatic as when my older brother tried to duct-tape me inside my favorite cardboard “ride”. I couldn’t get out of the gen2 Scion xB, and my review left no doubts about it. My progeny liked the Kia Soul, but it’s not a real genuine box. But a new package has arrived at the local Nissan dealer, named Cube, no less. So how does it square up?

KBB is ever-so-sensible. Here’s their “top ten back to school cars:” 2010 Kia Soul, 2010 Mazda3, 2009 Ford Focus, 2007 Suzuki SX4, 2006 Honda Civic, 2005 Chevrolet Silverado. Wait! That’s only six! I’ve got to click from the press release to the website to get the last four? The suspense is killing me/you/no one . . . 2009 Nissan Cube, 2007 Suzuki SX4, 2005 Ford Escape, 2009 Honda Fit, 2005 Scion xB. So how did kbb pick their winners? They like them! Mind you, “Every new car listed on this year’s Back-to-School list features New Car Blue Book Values that start at under $18,000. Every used car identified has a Kelley Blue Book Suggested Retail Value of less than $12,000.” I guess they never heard of Beverly Hills 90210. Or college kids with a grand in the hand. So it’s time for YOU to pick TTAC’s top ten “back to school” cars, price no object, on either end of the spectrum. UPDATE: Wow! You guys are a serious-minded bunch. Here are some of your wilder choices and some of mine. Tell me what should stay and what should go (in its place), and why. Or not. Either way, thanks for the help.

I’d say we all could use some R&R after exhaustively documenting the Vega’s innumerable weaknesses and frailties. So how about we spend a little time communing with its polar opposite in almost every conceivable way possible (while still being a small wagon). I could have picked any of some thirty or forty Tercel wagons still hard at work on the streets of Eugene to shoot. But check out the impeccably-restored 140 year-old Carpenter Gothic house behind this one. The house and the Tercel are both owned by my nearby neighbor David Gusset, a renowned maker and repairer of fine violins, including my 1833 Valenzano. If anyone can appreciate a well made instrument built for the long haul, it would be him. Read More >

Well, I knew it was only a matter of time. Down in the furthest recesses of a new car dealer’s lot, I saw a line of vehicles with windshields covered in chalk. They all said the same thing: “C.A.R.S. Impound from K.O. Towing Company bought July.” There was a Ford Explorer, an Isuzu Rodeo, a purply swirly conversion van, and about 30 other bastard orphans. They were forsaken by their prior owners. Some voluntarily. Others perhaps on the influence of drug-laden stupidity. Then the real surprise came out . . .

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“Nissan Leaf = 367 mpg, no tailpipe, and no gas required. Oh yeah, and it’ll be affordable too!”

NissanEV shoots back at the latest Volt hype on Twitter, using the same DOE estimate as GM. That hit from the PR crackpipe sure didn’t last long.

Easy (Warm-Up for TTAC’s Best and Brightest)

1. Major Anthony Nelson on I Dream of Jeannie drove a convertible of what 1960s muscle car?

A. Chevrolet Chevelle SS396

B. Buick Skylark GTX

C. Pontiac G.T.O.

D. Oldsmobile 442

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Just as GM is prepping a green themed “230” Volt hype campaign, comes word from Automotive News [sub] that green is so 2003. “For all the talk about green vehicles,” intones the industry rag, “blue is the new color of choice to embody clean driving.” Did you think that Mercedes BlueTec and VW/Audi’s “AdBlue” names came from the blue tint of their diesel-emissions-treating urea fluids? Nope. “The color blue is associated with freshness, dynamism and lightness,” say VW flacks. And according to Hans Tempel, president of Mercedes-Benz Japan, “Blue perfectly encapsulates the cool, clear sky of a world unsullied by greenhouse gases.” Gagging yet? The best eco-chromatic marketing analysis awaits post-jump.

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The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) low-speed bumper repair data [download here] is good news for owners of the 2009 Honda Accord, Hyundai Sonata, Mazda 6 and Nissan Maxima: repair costs sank from 2007 levels. Moving beyond the headlines, the IIHS gives the Nissan a “poor” rating ($1,500 plus). And reports that the 2009 Chevrolet Malibu and 2010 Ford Fusion’s bumper repairs costs have soared. “Ford fit the Fusion’s front and rear with weaker bumper beams, and this had a big effect on the test performance,” IIHS Veep Joe Nolan’s PR flack writes. “The difference is easy to see in the 6 mph full rear test, which simulates a common parking mishap like backing into another vehicle. The Fusion’s bumper buckled, which caused it to underride the test barrier, resulting in twice as much damage as the 2007 model in the rear test. In the full front test, the Fusion had $2,529 in damage, more than any other vehicle.” Malibu misegos the jump.

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Hyundai and Subaru are beginning to be familiar faces near the top of the monthly “who’s losing least” numbers. Sure, everyone expected Hyundai to cash in on the clunker sales boomlet, but who’d have thought Subaru would log its best sales month ever? Tribeca was down for Subie, but everything else was up by 33 (Outback) to 41 (Impreza) percent. Forester is still the top dog though, at 7,574 units. That’s almost as much volume as Hyundai‘s Accent (+13 percent), which was part of the expected Hyundai clunker boom along with Elantra (+30 percent) and Sonata (+17 percent). Santa Fe barely moved at 6,793 units, but the Genesis is anemic at 2,015. Volkswagen sales fell just over one percent, buffered by TDI sales that made up 30 percent of total deliveries. 80 percent of Jetta Sportwagons and 40 percent of Jetta sedans are being chosen with oil-burner engines. Otherwise, VW sales look dreary. Nissan‘s sales (-25 percent) are distinctly “meh,” with only the Rogue (+4 percent), Versa (-2 percent) and Cube (3,293) looking remotely assertive.

A month ago, a diagram of the just-announced Nissan Leaf EV appeared on the web. Unlike the Tesla S, the Nissan EV appears to be a fairly conventional front motor/front drive (FF) vehicle, with the battery pack in front of the rear axle. A shovel nose appearance, thanks to the small electric engine, results in a aerodynamically advantageous tiny frontal area. A degree of crush space is maintained for the pedestrian-cum-hood-ornament that will inevitably occur with the Leaf’s quiet powertrain. The distinctive snout, combined with some distinctive curves at the beltline and rear, give the Leaf a, ahem, unique visual identity. If Nissan was trying to create the Prius of EVs, they’ve succeeded. Now, if they had only stamped plant-like veins in the sheet metal . . .

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Do you have a vehicle that was eligible for the government’s CARS program until the EPA revised old mileage averages? If so, your vehicle is no longer eligible for the $3,500-$4,500 incentive. If you had set up a deal before the final rule came out, however, the government will hook you up regardless. “We’ve tried to come up with the fairest possible solution under the circumstances,” CARS’ long-suffering spokesman, Rae Tyson, explains to Automotive News [sub]. But it’s hard to see what exactly is fair about that. Didn’t NHTSA specifically warn that “if a dealer chooses to structure a transaction before the final rule is issued, they will bear the risks associated with later demonstrating that the transaction meets all of the specifications of the final rule”? Why are the folks who ignored the warning being rewarded, while those who waited for the rules get the shaft? More importantly, if anyone got away with engine-melting a 1987 Alfa GTV (recently reprieved by the EPA mileage mulligan), there are going to be phones ringing in at least one congresscritter’s office. Hit the jump for a complete list of clunkers which saw their eligibility change due to the EPA revision.

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UK magazine Which? Car reports that automakers in the Land of Hope and Glory have hiked prices, effectively killing the advantages of the country’s cash-for-clunkers (a.k.a. scrappage) scheme. The mag cites three examples: “The price of a mid-range Ford Fiesta has jumped from £11,570 in October 2008 when the car was launched to £13,195 in July 2009—a massive 14% increase.” And “Vauxhall’s new Insignia looked affordable in January 2009, priced at £17,981 but it has now broken the £20K barrier with a list price of £20,430 in July 2009, also a 14% jump.” And “Another chart-topping supermini, the Nissan Micra, was priced 11% higher in July 2009 (£12,395) than in September 2008 (£11,200), although its equipment has been improved.” Said the actress to the Bishop. Yes, well, the conclusion is inescapable. Ish.

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“We’ve gotten thousands of thousands of questions regarding issues that Congress never dreamed of,” admit NHTSA spokesfolk to the NY Times. Say it ain’t so! The latest clunker stumper is the issue of gray market imports, which do not have official EPA ratings. When the Gray Lady’s Christine Negroni asked NHTSA if her gray market 1985 Mercedes 230E would qualify for a CARS rebate, the answer was likely accompanied by a heavy sigh. “It’s a question of determining if there’s a comparable model being sold in the U.S. that can determine fuel economy,” explains NHTSA’s Rae Tyson. “Our lawyers are going to have to make a decision.” Meanwhile questions like this have flooded the CARS hotline with some 45,000 calls. Not that calling the hotline would help with the gray market question. “If the question has stumped me, it’s going to stump the hot line too,” says Tyson. “It’s going to require an interpretation that we’re not equipped to make right now.”

Yoga teacher and ForbesAutos refugee Matthew De Paula has brought his zen insights and love of top ten lists to MSN Autos. Given the popularity of the genre (which we now usurp in the name of truth, justice and the American way), Bill Gates’ Boyz must be happy enough with the result—although Matt makes a few choices that will surely give pistonheads pause. We report, you deride. Well, we do too, but I’m sure you catch my drift.

1. Ford Fusion — I’m not saying De Paula is a Detroit apologist, but if ever a qualifier seemed po-faced, well, here it is: “The Ford Fusion doesn’t just hold its own against competitors, it beats them in some ways: The least expensive 4-cylinder Fusion is as fuel efficient on the highway (34 mpg) as the pricier Toyota Camry hybrid.” And that’s it: the only way mentioned. Oh wait. “The updated 2010 Fusion uses higher-quality materials, has better fit and finish, and a quieter ride than the model it replaces.” Don’t you just love it when relative excellence means relative to itself? Me neither.

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