When I first started IT Consulting in August 1999 I encouraged clients to keep dynamic content on websites to drive traffic. I tried to follow my own advice by writing daily journal entries until 2002. Over time, my "blog" entries became less frequent, and are now mostly updates on music and reviews of rental cars.
Upcoming Shows and Concerts:
Good For: Practical EV. The Kia Niro EV seems to be an example of how electric vehicles are moving past the toy market, and into the practical mainstream. The boxy hatchback body style is quite roomy. It has a single motor powering the front wheels, so there is no mistaking it for a sports car, but it's comparable to any well sorted out front-wheel-drive car. The Niro doesn't stick out on the road as an EV, and looks just like all the other hybrid variations of the model line. Controls are consistent with other Kias. The panel of touch sensors for the HVAC instead of actual buttons is a little annoying, but these days I should just be glad that it's not buried in the main screen. Paddles on the steering wheel toggle between levels of regenerative braking, rather than change gears, and I found it a neat and intuitive way to do one pedal driving.
Compromises: Hertz did not provide any connectors for charging, so I was completely dependent on the charging network. This required a bit of planning where I live, as EV charging network is not nearly as comprehensive as Tesla's supercharger network. With home charging overnight, the 64kWh battery seems to provide sufficient range even for the driving that I do. I was averaging 3.4 miles per kWh, with some slower trips getting as much as 4 kWh. The computer does a great job of estimating range, and I experienced no surprises when planning trips.
Overall reaction - Thumb down: The Niro EV drives and rides well, and is great as practical transportation. But the EV powertrain comes with a steep initial price tag. Even with cheap electricity, it's kind of an expensive car for overall ownership. At least it doesn't feel or drive like a cheap car, since Kia includes features that you typically see in nicer cars. Kia typically borrows style cues from anywhere and everywhere, and in this case the rear tail lights remind me of Cadillac's signature look.
Good For: Subaru backwards is Urabus. The previous 3-row crossover that Subaru built was a quirky, more upscale niche car, the Tribeca. I love it, and it continues to be my daily driver for 13 years and 330,000 miles. For their second take on the 3-row crossover, Subaru went the other direction. The boxy, cost conscience, practical Ascent reminds me of a bus. It even has the fisheye mirror for looking at your passengers. Inside the box, the Ascent uses the identical gear that works well in the Outback. Driving technology like adaptive cruise control and steering are standard, and the turbo 4-cylinder boxer moves the big box nicely, towing up to 5000 pounds.
Compromises: The identical, practical driving experience that the Ascent inherits from the Outback works, but it is disappointing to me that it does not offer anything more that just more seats and room.
Overall reaction - None: I have found a lot of things to like about Subarus over the years, but I am coming up short on the Ascent. The familiar Subaru badge and switchgear seems enough for folks to get on board. But to me, it's about the same as any of the other mediocre 3-row crossovers that might be available on a given day in the Hertz fleet.
Docu Film on the show at Gruene Hall:
The music must never stop, in my dreams I play a little more.
A clip from a show with TX46:
A clip from a show with Kim Carson and The Real Deal:
Good For: Proper American SUV. While all other manufacturers have morphed all but their largest full-sized SUVs into crossovers, Dodge sticks to classic ingredients for the Durango. It is still rear-wheel-drive-based, powered by Mopar's all-star engine lineup. The product is an SUV that has full-sized capabilities, but is easier and more fun to drive than a truck. It's available with a third row and all the creature comforts, but without a luxury SUV pricetag. It has a good old 4-position shifter on the middle console, and a mechanical parking brake.
Compromises: The 3rd generation Durango was released alongside the 4th generation Jeep Grand Cherokee in 2011, and they share this excellent platform. The stretched Durango has 3rd row seating but just the basic AWD system, while the Jeep can be configured with their more capable AWD setups and differentials. The new stretched Grand Cherokee L now has 3rd row seating, so you can get the best of both, but the Durango has been left on the old platform.
Overall reaction - 2 Thumbs up: The 3rd gen Durango is one of my favourite SUVs, and there is no need to fix what is not broken. Unfortunately it is probably the last of a great era in Dodge's lineup, and will suffer the same fate as the Charger and Challenger soon. The classic American SUVs will soldier on in the Jeep brand.
Good For: Transformation. When Chevrolet designed the Camaro, it seems like they built a four-wheeled machine, and then had to slice into it for a spot to put a human driver. When you are in the Camaro, you don't sit in the car, you wear it. It fits cozy and tight, with an enormous transmission tunnel against your leg, high window sills up to your chin, topped by a low roofline. Storage cubbies inside are also tight, and are a bit like the pockets that come with skinny jeans. Controls are cleanly placed, and the HVAC buttons are tucked neatly into a single row. The rotating rings around the air vents for temperature and fan speed are brilliant. Gauges and displays are familiar GM interfaces, and it's kind of neat to see them bolted to an interior that feels more like a space ship than a car. The Camaro seems to take a different direction from the retro references that the Mustang and Mopar muscle cars went for, and set out towards transforming what an American sports car can be. The turbo 2.0L 4-cylinder in the car I drove has more of the zing of an import 2+2 coupe than an American muscle car. The Camaro has no problem hustling like a sports car ought to. Four cylinder turbo motors are quite punchy these days.
Compromises: Only pack what you can carry, because the trunk opening is exactly big enough to deposit a suitcase or a milk crate. At least the rear seats fold down for a trunk pass-through. The hatchbacks of older Camaros are infinitely more practical. The base audio system gets drowned out easily by road noise, but the dash speakers have great sound staging.
Overall reaction - 2 Thumbs up: I have never driven a car that is so easy to just cruise in effortlessly for hours and hours at high speeds. This might be what people mean by a "grand tourer". It's the most stable and balanced car I have had the opportunity to push. It has traction and stability control that doesn't intervene much, because even when it is off, the car never threatens to be out of control. And like a true sports car, it is available for a manual transmission.
Buick Encore GX
Good For: More subcompacts. The Buick Encore GX is a great representation of what has changed in the automotive market in 20 years. Buick's all-sedan lineup has given away to one that contains only crossovers. The Encore GX is also the first GM car offered in the U.S. with a 3-cylinder engine since the Metro 20 years ago. But the small engine is no problem, as there there is sufficient power from the turbo powerplant and CVT transmission.
Compromises: The tall, heavy car doesn't get the same kind of gas mileage as most other cars this size these days.
Overall reaction - None: The Encore GX is noticeably roomier than the first generation Encore it replaces, having the interior features and design to make it not seem like an entry level car. But there is also nothing that makes it stand out among the crowded field of crossovers in the market. And that could be a problem for a brand that is completely invested into this segment.
Chevrolet Tahoe
Good For: Convoy Support Vehicle. The newest Tahoe is even bigger than before, and the high, small windows makes it feel like you are in an armored van. The improvements to the interior room are also van-like, with a 3rd row that still has space behind for luggage. The seats fold flat to the floor, and the 2nd row seats slide and fold too. The hefty car and magnetic ride control absorbs any road surface you throw at it.
I really like that the rear hatch window still opens out, and that there is even a button on the remote fob for it. Turn up the great sounding Bose audio system, and your rolling bunker is complete. The 10-speed automatic has all the gears to let the modern small block V8 rev up and scurry away. It's no race car, but handling is surprisingly responsive for such a large vehicle, probably due to the new independent rear suspension, which is displayed out back as prominently as the quad exhaust tips.
Compromises: Crosswinds produced some very annoying high-pitched buzzing sounds around the mirrors, which by the way, are not nearly big enough to monitor the perimeter of this tank.
Overall reaction - Thumb up: The Tahoe is still doing what it does best. In this latest iteration, GM has also made the Tahoe a lot less like driving a truck, without compromising any of its truck-like capabilities, while gaining some van-like capabilities. With all the van-like improvements in the interior, I was shocked to find such a shallow cubby when I opened the middle console cover. I loved the deep box found in the Silverado, what happened to it? We do get a new cute cubby in the dash, though.
Good For: Slow urban commutes. I arrived late in the night at DFW, and Hertz only had a very large fleet of Tesla 3s available. I had never driven a Tesla before, so the the long night became much longer as I had to look up instructions for basic tasks like starting the car and increasing the brightness on the screen that has all the controls, which of course was set to 2 percent. There was quite a bit of confusion in the Hertz parking lot among everyone else who were also first-timers. The attendant at the exit booth asked to see the key to scan the bar code, and groaned when all I had to present was the card that serves as a key for these cars. Once I was finally out in the street, the Tesla felt in its element in the city, inching its own way through traffic with adaptive cruise control and conserving energy with regenerative braking.
Compromises: But my plans were to go straight out to Horseshoe Bay the next morning for lunch. I felt like I took the Tesla completely out of its element doing 75 mph on rural Texas highways. I have spent a lot of my life driving up and down US-281, and I know the kind of hit these speeds and terrain take on a gasoline car's efficiency. The 272 miles of indicated range flew out the window quickly. There is only one Supercharger on the route, and by the time I had gotten there I had done 111 miles and was down to 42 percent charge, so the stop was mandatory. Charging costs worked out to be 10 cents per mile range recovered, which at today's gas price is the same as filling up a 26 mpg SUV. For this car to make sense, Supercharging has to be the exception, not the norm.
Overall reaction - 2 thumbs Down: The Tesla delivers the punchy acceleration that everyone talks about, but I was mostly done with the car after that. Not only was the drive slow, it was uncomfortable. The ride in this heavy, small, short wheelbase car is comparable to cars like the Mazda 2 hatchback. Build quality is questionable. The top of the steering wheel was already melted and damaged from being in the sun. This is my first time driving an EV, and it really showed me how much we can take the convenience of internal combusion engines for granted. Tesla packed a lot of advanced technology in energy efficiency and supercharging into this small car, just to get me to my destination 30 minutes late.
Good For: Mazda goes upmarket. Mazda opted not to bring the 3rd generation of the sub compact Mazda 2 to the US market, and instead went upmarket and turned it into the CX-3 crossover. The taller roofline does make it feel roomy for a subcompact. The CX-3 can also can be loaded with nice features. The rental I drove had heads up display, adaptive cruise control, sunroof, and Bose audio. Interior switchgear layout is straight out of the luxury car playbook, with volume and infotainment controls in the middle console by the shifter. The gauge layout reminds me of a motorcycle, with the only gauge being a big tach in the center, and the speed displayed in digits in the corner of the gauge. The stiching and mixture of materials all over the dashboard round off the more upscale, sporty feeling of the interior.
Compromises: Upscale also means up weight. The short wheelbase gives it pretty good zoom zoom handling but it is not a race car. The real Mazda 2 ended up being rebadged as a Toyota in the US market as the Scion iA and Yaris.
Overall reaction - Thumb down: Toyota also gave up on the cheap hatchback race and discontinued the Yaris in the US market in 2020. One might say that Mazda made the right play with the CX-3, but it seems to have just joined a huge field of different $30k subcompact crossovers in the market.
Good For: Mobile office. When I saw the F-150 SuperCrew towering over the other car selections in the Hertz Gold aisle, I went straight for it. But this size is standard in the full sized truck market now, and they make great mobile offices. Everything is where it should be. The middle section of the front bench seat folds down to make a nice working surface. The shifter is mounted on the column, the ignition has a physical key to turn, and all the windows roll all the way down past the massive two-tier door pockets. It's nice to see that in 2023, not all vehicles have been ruined.
Compromises: Unfortunately, electronic parking brakes are the standard now, but that one complaint doens't ruin the truck.
Overall reaction - Two thumbs Up: The tachometer displays a tower of gears vertically ascending from 1 to 10 like a downtown office elevator. Other amusing touches include the truck silhouette on the HVAC recirc button. But what is most delightful is the Coyote 5.0L V8, which sounds like it is straight out of a 5.0 Mustang. The torquey V8 is the way trucks should be, effortlessly climbing up hills without having to shift out of the 10th floor penthouse gear.
Monday, 24th of July, 2023
Good For: Less is more. Mitsubishi's lineup is no longer an enthusiast's dream, and the skinny selection in the US market might have one wondering if they are about to waste away. The Outlander Sport is still based on the same old GS platform. But that platform served the potent Lancer well, and perhaps there is no need to re-invent the wheel. The car is refreshingly straightforward, with the handbrake where it belongs, and CVT modes that don't pretend to simulate gears. D is the most efficient selection, taking every opportunity to use the sub-2000 rpm band, and D-Sport constantly keeps the engine well above 3k and ready for action. It's so simple, and it actually makes it the most enjoyable CVT I have driven, because I actually feel like I am in control, rather than fighting some complex logic.
Compromises: Like other boxy crossovers, the Outlander Sport has the footprint of small car but maximizes utility. This is close to being a really good 5-door, but if you are running a barebones lineup the tall crossover market is the one to grab.
Overall reaction - Thumb up: Even the price is less than the rest of the market. It's nice to see that Mitsubishi is still a good player and staying in the cheap AWD car game.
Sunday, 9th of July, 2023
Good For: Forward looking interior design. VW/Audi interiors have historically been a reliable source of forward-thinking and effective interior designs that then get imitated by other brands. In this A4, the control to pay attention to is the cruise control stalk, which has two notches of up and down, making it easy to increase and decrease the set speed in 5 mph increments. More generally, all controls are well-placed physical controls that help the driver stay focused on drivin the car forward.
Compromises: While the controls are progressive, the A4's overall cabin reflects a very traditional compact luxury car layout. The car's exterior dimensions are larger than my Subaru Legacy, but the interior is relatively cozy. The transmission tunnel is most enormmous, turning the back seat's middle position into child-seat only, and there is almost no center console storage. Also, interior materials do not feel as high quality as Audis in the past.
Overall reaction - Thumb down: Aside from minor creature comfort improvements, the overall driving experience is just a significant step down. The Quattro AWD is not what it used to be, and it wasn't even included in this base spec rental. The 7-speed dual clutch automatic takes its time to find gears, even in S mode, and there is no manual transmission available. The turbo 4 motor gets up to speed nicely, but that is to be expected from the ubiquitous VW powerplant. It also happens to be quite efficient, making the premium gasoline requirement painless.
1. You can feel the mechanical coupling. When the two manuals are coupled, the resistance on the keys doubles, and there is this halfway point at which only one manual sounds because the key has not opened both manuals. When the pedal is coupled, I can feel the corresponding keys moving underneath my left hand! For me, the feedback adds a little confidence to playing.
2. When playing a sustained note, if you add other notes to the chord while sustaining, the original sustained note sometimes bends pitch because of the change to air pressure caused by the opening of other notes. It makes the whole experience more organic than playing a digital instrument with "perfect" pitch.
3. Physical placement of pipes is wild. The order of the lowest pipes in the first rank starting from the left to center is C2, D2, E2, F#2, G#2, A#2, an so on. From the right to center it is C#2, D#2, F, G, A, B, and so on. Even playing within the same octave, notes come dancing in from the extreme left and right from specific places in the "orchestra" in front of you. When there are modulations that call for new notes, they enter like a new instrument that has been resting the whole time, coming from a new source in the rank.
Good For: Cadillac Minivan. The XT6 features all the room and practicality of the Chevrolet Traverse that it is based on, but with an appropriate touch of Cadillac luxury. The interior is well thought out, with an open storage area under the center console and wireless phone charging. The volume knobs and control are on the middle console between the front seats, which is more comfortable than reaching for the dashboard or trying to find buttons on the steering wheel. The big sunroof was great for my drive through the California mountains.
Compromises: The GM 3.6L V6 is a familiar engine that gets the job done, but the torque steer makes this Cadillac driving experience below par.
Overall Reaction - Thumb down: The XT6 is the product of successful badge engineering, as we would never mistaken it for a Buick. But with the GM C1XX platform underneath, it's clearly the aiming lower than the higher end crossovers offered by the German luxury brands.