Sunday, 23rd of August, 2009
Even with the sportier suspension and rubber, you can only do so much to disguise the weight of this 3300+ pound coupe - it felt a bit like driving a German sedan. $22k (and $25k for the V6 model) is a good price for RWD fun, but that "Track" package adds $4500 to the price. Furthermore, it doesn't delete the sunroof, so you're going to have helmet clearance issues if you actually do take this car to the track.
So it's not a good track car, but is it good, cheap, RWD fun? It could be, but this year the new Camaro is also out, with a 304 hp V6 as the base motor and standard LSD, starting at $22k also. It's nice that RWD coupes are coming back, but there really is nothing interesting here - do we really have to have the boring trunk instead of a hatchback? (Where's my T-top Z28?)
They did let me sit in the caged drift car on display in the event tent, which was fun.
Picture - They also had the new Elantra wagon ("Touring") on display, which was so quietly introduced this year I had no idea it existed until today. $17,800 is a lot for a small wagon nowadays though - even if it has a special A/C vent for the glove compartment.
Friday, 14th of August, 2009
Thursday, 13th of August, 2009
Wednesday, 12th of August, 2009
Tuesday, 11th of August, 2009
Monday, 10th of August, 2009
What they do with the cars that are traded in to be scrapped is they drain the oil and add 2 quarts of Sodium Silicate. They start the engine, and most engines run for a few seconds and seize up, "disabling" the engine so it never pollutes the environment again (except that it rots away in some salvage yard for hundreds of years.)
Not so with the 2000 Volvo S80. It just barely met the requirement of being 18 mpg, and the Blue Book trade in value is just under $4500. Twin Turbo I6 motor, as you can see. I started tearing up around the 2 minute mark, watching the Volvo fight for 4 minutes, running with no oil.
Youtube Video - This is the way they intended the engines to die, like on this Jeep.
Kudos to GM, by the way, for the engineering on their washer fluid tanks. On both the Fleetwood and the Tahoe, when the light comes on in the dashboard for low washer fluid, 1 gallon of fluid will fill the reservoir exactly up to the very top.
Sunday, 9th of August, 2009
Saturday, 8th of August, 2009
Picture - We needed an SD card for the new camera, but instead of just getting an SD card, for a few dollars more we picked up the 8GB Kingston multi/mobility kit. This is really the way to put your SD card to work. The 8GB microSD card goes into the adapter, which can then be used like a regular SD card in the camera.
When it's time to transfer photos off of the camera, forget using the cable, or having to install the camera software and worry about whether drivers are available for your OS or platform. Just slide the microSD card into the USB adapter and it reads like a flash drive. It gets better if you have a phone that reads microSD cards - transferring files between the computer, your phone, and your camera is easy now.
The USB adapter comes with a plastic cover to keep the dust out of the SD slot. A string with a ring keeps it all together even when it's plugged into the USB slot, which is a good thing since these are tiny bits that can be easy to lose.
Thursday, 6th of August, 2009
Picture - We have had the new camera for 24 hours and Haley has already taken almost 300 pictures of our 2 pets.
Picture - Mollie enjoys playing in the packing paper.
Picture - She even rests in the paper.
Wednesday, 5th of August, 2009
Top 10 replacements? Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Prius, Ford Escape, Toyota Camry, Dodge Caliber, Hyundai Elantra, Honda Fit, Chevy Cobalt.
I'm glad $4500 is enough to convince some these people to get rid of this debris - though there may be tons perfectly good trail-rigs (Jeeps) going to the scrapyard. On the other hand, if you are looking for cheap transportation, these are the cars that are going to be all over the salvage yards in the next few months - parts galore.
Saturday, 1st of August, 2009
