Not sure what I think of these sketches of the forthcoming 2010 Chevy Impala, courtesy of Josh Oliver at GMSource.com . Like the new Camaro, the redesigned Impala is supposed to be inspired by a 60s Chevy, the 67 Impala. I always thought the 66 and 63 were the best of the 60s Impalas.
AskPatty.com has a great Women in Motorsports Carnival. Check out especially the section on Chrissy Wallace.
Those of a certain generation who suffered through grade school and junior high dreaming about hot rods and sketching same will instantly recognize the illustration currently gracing The View Through the Windshield. See ya when you get back, Joe.
Night races have been common in NASCAR and IRL for years but F1 just held their first event under the lights. George Katinger at FastMachines.com has the details from the Singapore Grand Prix.
Paul Newman passed away over the weekend, and Mike Spinelli at Jalopnik has an excellent tribute.
My own memory of Newman came from an SCCA National at Summit Point Raceway in 87 or 88 when actor Tom Cruise was in his mercifully brief racing phase. Cruise would go out in a practice session, put in a fast lap, then crash. After several iterations of this, Newman was seen standing over Cruise in the back of their team trailer giving him a finger-jabbing lecture.
Cruise apparently lost interest in racing shortly after that weekend.
A deisel-powered GTi? Left Lane says it's so.
If you live in the Southeast, you may be having a hard time finding petrol. Stephen Markley at Kicking Tires has thoughts about why.
More Lambo teasing at Motor Authority.
So, got a couple of tickets in the space of a few months, right? Eric Peters, writing on the National Motorist Association blog, totals up the damage one or two tickets can do to your wallet and your insurabiltiy.
WHAT I'M DRIVING THIS WEEK: Nissan Rogue
Remember what your mother said about not doing something just because everybody else is doing it? Nissan should have listened to its automotive mother and resisted the temptation to do like every other manufacturer and producing a compact-sized SUV. It's especially difficult to stand out in a crowded market when everybody looks so much like everybody else.
The Rogue is based on the Sentra platform and is pleasant enough, sporting a 170 horsepower 2.5 liter four-cylinder powerplant mated with a CVT tranny. Acceleration is acceptable, passing power is acceptable, fuel economy is acceptable, NVH is ....are you getting my drift here?
Don't get me wrong, the Rogue is styled like the new Murano, but the smaller exterior doesn't afford quite the opportunity to do interesting things with the sheet metal. And it is certainly comfortable, despite the prevalence of plastic stuff around the interior. My loaded AWD SL tester checked in at $22,795, which is, again, acceptable.
See ya!
desmolicious says:
01:03 PM, 09/29/08
That article on the black boxes was very interesting. it mentions that Mercedes and
'other German mfgs' do not use them as they are an invasion into privacy. DO the other mfgs include BMW/Audi/Porsche for sure?
This can affect my next purchase, as what's the point of having a high performance vehicle if the warranty can be voided for exuberant use? etc etc.
billt9 says:
01:41 PM, 09/29/08
"This can affect my next purchase, as what's the point of having a high performance vehicle if the warranty can be voided for exuberant use?"
You... pay for your own repairs? You take a series of super hard turns, trip on some rocks, and you bend your axle. That's out of your pocket. The car's not dead. You just pay for your own repairs.
albook says:
01:42 PM, 09/29/08
About the Impala- there is no way. It can't look like a 4 door Comaro bacause it's front drive. GM would be lucky if this is almost as good looking as the Nissan Maxima in trying to convey rwd. And how long is America going to go for this whole retro thing? Looks great now, but it could go the way on chrysler's cab foward design. On the bright side, the drawings of the charger couldn't have been half this good.
stovt001 says:
03:42 PM, 09/29/08
That Impala sketch looked like someone just elongated a rough Camaro sketch and added extra doors. If that's what we have to look forward to, then FAIL. I'm hopeful GM sees the limits of this retro thing and just makes a very nice looking modern car, like the Malibu.
As far as the black boxes, well I've considered the German cars to be overpriced but if they're the only ones to not force this on us, well I know where my dollars will be going, even if I have to buy used.
estreka says:
03:14 AM, 09/30/08
Count me in on the Impala bashing. It doesn't even look retro, just...overstyled.
With regard to the black box, most domestic manufacturers use them already (not sure about Chrysler). This is yet another reason I buy older cars.
desmolicious says:
01:52 PM, 09/30/08
"You... pay for your own repairs? You take a series of super hard turns, trip on some rocks, and you bend your axle. That's out of your pocket. The car's not dead. You just pay for your own repairs."
How do you equate exuberant use with crashing a car? Is this something from your past driving history?
ateixeira says:
09:33 AM, 10/ 1/08
Rogue FWD gets 22/27 mpg, that's best in class, not merely acceptable.
george2040 says:
02:14 PM, 10/ 2/08
The problem with Event Data Recorders is most drivers violate the speed limit, but not by enough to get a speeding ticket. Does the fact that I exceeded the speed limit by 8 mph half an hour earlier allow some weasel lawyer to argue that I'm partially at fault for an accident when another driver hits me? Does driving a rental car 80 mph, normal traffic speed on a 70 mph interstate, result in a surcharge? I worry that the De facto tolerance for speeding within 10 mph of the posted speed limit wouldn't be allowed by lawyers, courts, and insurance companies.