Where the rubber meets the road -- and decides to stick around

We zipped up the freeway a weekend afternoon to run some errands.  It was over 90 degrees out so we had the windows open to soak up some rare Seattle warmth.  We hit the area just south of the 85 ST exit and heard a rumble coming from the back.  That's always been a noisy stretch of freeway, so I didn't think too much of it at first.  Then The GF mentioned something didn't sound right.  I thought it was just loud.

Then I began to feel some odd, subtle vibrations.  I looked in the rear view mirror and saw bits of rubber flying off behind the car.  That was my second clue that something was wrong. Traffic was light enough that I had no trouble merging over to the right as I gradually slowed.  I made it to the offramp and eventually on to the side streets.  My total drive distance since the vibration first presented itself was about a half mile.

While there was a subtle vibration, there was practically no difference in handling.  The car behaved reasonably smoothly at all times.  It accelerated as I expected, and the brakes felt pretty much like they normally do. I had no steering problems.  While something definitely did not feel right, the car performed safely the whole time.  I didn't think the damage would be too serious.  When I finally found a safe place to stop, I was astonished to see this.

I've had tires fail before, but never had such a complete blowout/disintegration.  That fact that the car performed so well despite this serious damage is a testament to the design and engineering that goes into a Subaru.

I popped on the full-sized spare tire and we changed plans.  Next stop was the Costco tire store for new tires.

I'm not sure why the tire failed.  They are the factory-original tires.  I think they were rated for 50K miles.  I've only got 42,000 miles on the car, but it is 7 years old.  I was planning to replace the tires before the fall, anyway. This incident provided the encouragement to speed up that process.

Costco put a fresh set of 60K Michelin tires on the car.  With as much as I drive, I'll probably have these for another decade or so.

I'm pleased with the new tires.  The car seems to ride a little higher, but more importantly, the car rides significantly more quietly.  The cabin noise has always been one of the biggest negatives to my 2004 Subaru Forester, but the new tires seem to make a big difference.

So while I definitely did not want to spend hundreds of dollars that day, it was money that needed to spent.  And I only needed to pay the state disposal fee for three tires, instead of four, since the car itself gradually disposed of one tire across a half mile of Interstate 5.

And I can look forward to thousands of miles of safe driving in the years ahead.

Lexus December to Remember Sales Event

I'm excited.  It's finally starting to feel like Christmas.  You know why? Because I just saw the first Lexus December to Remember Sales Event commercial of the season.

I love the Lexus December to Remember Sales Event! It's awesome.  Someone leads their significant other out the house with hands over their eyes, then they remove their hands so they can see a brand new Lexus with a giant red bow on the roof.  And everyone is all thrilled and pleased and happy.

No one thinks someone just committed a crime.

No one freaks out about the huge amount of money their SO just spent on them.

No one who gets a Lexus panics about how that water filer they got for their SO can never live up to a luxury automobile.

There's just pure joy about receiving a luxury automobile with a giant red bow on the roof.

I don't know why these commercials make me feel so holiday-ey. 

It's not like they were on when I was growing up.  Heck, Lexus didn't even exist then. 

It's not like I ever got a Lexus for Christmas.

It's not like they call to mind a simpler era.

Maybe it's because of the silly, quasi-rythmic name: "Lexus December to Remember Sales Event."  It's just more fun than "Toyota-thon."

Or it could be simple, happy tune.

Maybe it's because Lexus gifts are so wildly, unapologetically, inappropriate for the Holiday season.  There is a level of conspicuous wealth consumption in those commercials that just blows away all the $3000 frying pans from William-Sonoma.  They're like Internet companies from 1998.  They're just so awsomely over the top I can't help but love them.

And the gaint, obnoxious bows look like something out of a Saturday Night Live sketch.  Yet they're still fantastic.

I don't own a Lexus.  And I don't have any financial relationship with Lexus (though if they want to give me one, I certainly won't object).  And I thought about doing a sarcastic rant about the Lexus December to Remember Sales event, but I can't.

Because for some odd reason, the commercials for the Lexus December to Remember Sales event just make me happy.

While the older, more traditional commercial may not be online, below is one of the ones from this year. There's also a video that shows where those big bows come from.

Nissan Pathfinder thoughts

Last week when I landed at the Greenville, SC airport (GSP) Hertz didn't have any cards available with NeverLost (GPS navigation) so they upgraded me to an SUV. I drove out of the airport in Nissan Pathfinder, a mid-size SUV.

It's way more vehicle than I would typically need, but I like it.

The version I had featured a comfortable seat, well placed cupholders, and effective airconditioning. For a large vehicle, it handles surprisingly well. I had no trouble zipping in and out of parking spots. The blind spots weren't nearly as bad as you usually get with an SUV.

Since I had to drive from Clemon, SC, to Christiansburg, VA, I got to put it through its paces on the highway while I listened to the RadioLab on my MP3 player. It's a tall vehicle but I never felt like it would tip over. The stability was impressive.

The weird thing was that sometimes I would get in and discover that both the driver's and passenger's windows were rolled down. I'm not sure how it happened because I don't think I triggered it. It appeared to happen when I had been putting luggage in the back. I guess it's possible that if it's a certain temperature out and you open the tail gate for a certain amount of time, it lowers the wondows to cool things off. But it's kind of a weird feature. Or a bug.

So if you are looking for an SUV, the Pathfinder is worth some investigating.

Ocean Shores, WA and the Judith Ann Inn

The GF and I just got from a relaxing couple of days in Ocean Shores on the Washington coast. We stayed at a great place called the Judith Ann Inn.

There aren't any Hilton properties out on the coast so that meant no free stays. So I searched out a unique place.

The problem with most of the neat places out there is that they are bed and breakfast type places. Which is nice, except you have to get up early if you want breakfast. And you usually end up dining with other guests. That means you have to talk to them and be all nice and friendly, and who wants to do that?

The Judith Ann Inn isn't a bed and breakfast. While we were there, we didn't have to talk to anyone. And there was not big breakfast we were expected to join. Instead we had our own full kitchen.
Our room had a great view of the ocean.



We took the car down to the access road and drove right on to the beach.

Unlike many states, in Washington the beach is actually a state highway. You can take the car right out onto the sand. That was a lot of fun for my Subaru. It's doesn't get to play much in the city streets or the airport parking lot, but letting it run around in the sand really brought it to life.












The trick with driving on the beach is to obey the warnings that say you should stay on the firmer sand, and not drive close to the water, especially when the tide is coming in. These folks help demonstrate why.




A few people had picnics going out on the beach, and it looked like a couple people were planning on sunbathing, which is not really a good idea. WA beach wear is less about the bikinis and more about the fleece. It's cold and windy and refreshing.

And it is an awesome place to go.

GM and the PUMA

GM just announced a partnership with Segway and is now showing a prototype of a two-person, two-wheeled electric vehicle capable of 35 MPH with a range of 35 Miles.

According to the Seattle Times:

The Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility, or PUMA, project also would involve a vast communications network that would allow vehicles to interact with each other, regulate the flow of traffic and prevent crashes from happening.

"We're excited about doing more with less," said Jim Norrod, chief executive of Segway, the Bedford, N.H.-based maker of electric scooters. "Less emissions, less dependability on foreign oil and less space."

The 300-pound prototype runs on a lithium-ion battery and uses Segway's characteristic two-wheel balancing technology, along with dual electric motors. It's designed to reach speeds of up to 35 miles-per-hour and can run 35 miles on a single charge.

... More

A reporter from CNN got to ride in one as a passenger.

During a test ride - for now, only trained drivers are allowed to operate the prototype vehicle - the PUMA transporter felt perfectly stable. Other than the fact that it can rotate while standing in place, it felt similar to riding in a small car at slow speeds.

As he pushed the steering wheel, the vehicle leaned gently forward and trundled off to the end of a blocked off section of Manhattan's West 18th street. When we reached the end of the street, the driver pulled back on the steering wheel and the car stopped, staying balanced on its two wheels. He then turned the wheel rotating the booth-shaped car 180 degrees and off we went in the other direction, steering to avoid hitting our CNN cameraman.

Only when the vehicle prepared to park did it feel a bit unnerving, as the vehicle leaned forward to settle onto its extra set of small front wheels.

...More

I can't help but wonder if things like this are the reason GM is about to go bankrupt, or if failing to do this kind of things over the past 20 years is why they are on the brink of bankruptcy. It's probably some combination of the two.

This kind of vehicle does sound like it can have a plac3e in the modern transportation infrastructure. The question remains, though, whether the buraucracy of GM is even capable of bringing something like this to market, of it is all just some last ditch PR effort.

An upgrade

I landed in SoCal yesterday and picked up my luggage. Next stop was the rental car garage. Normally I can get just go straight to the car and the keys and paperwork are waiting for me. This time, there were stars on the board next to my name, instead of a stall number.

That's never good.

After some silliness with the credit card, the agent began looking for a car for me.

"Mr. Cromely, I see you reserved a mid-sized car. I have a Toyota Corolla for you." I say it's fine and look forward to getting to my hotel room.

"Well, Mr. Cromely, if you want, for $14 a day more, I can upgrade you to ..."

Awesome. They are offering me an upgrade. They took one look at me and must have though I need something cooler than a Corolla. What kind of car do they think befits a character as suave and cool as me? A Cadillac? A Mustang Convertible? A Jaguar? An H2? That special sports car in the back?

"Well, Mr. Cromely, if you want, for $14 a day more, I can upgrade you to ... a Camry. Would you like to do that?"

What?!?! A Camry? The car I belong in is a Camry? For $14/day more? That's what you see me in? I'm Camry material?

Now don't get me wrong. The Camry is a lovely vehicle. I've rented a few. But today, despite all the nifty looking cars they have, the one they think I will want to pay an extra $14/day for is a Camry.

Am I really that old?

I declined the offer.

And let me tell you, that Corolla can really tear it up on Alton Parkway.

GM bailout proposal -- 10 point plan

CNN Reports that GM is burning through cash at a mind-boggling rate.

But the most shocking news came in its statements about its cash position. GM said it had burned through $6.9 billion during the quarter and warned that it "will approach the minimum amount necessary to operate its business" during the current quarter.

In addition, the company said that in the first half of next year its "estimated liquidity will fall significantly short" of what it needs to continue operating. It said the only thing that would save it would be a significant improvement in economic and automotive industry conditions, help from the federal government, better access to capital markets or some combination of those options.

... More

The slowing economy, poor product decisions, and the Union/Management relationship have all contributed to this situation, but one of the biggest issues likely has to due with the short term credit markets that froze up after Lehman Brothers fell. Ultimately, this credit freeze is what the $700 billion bail out may help with.

Regardless, looks to be seeking $10 billion to $60 billion in federal loans.

Shelly Lombard, senior high yield analyst at Gimme Credit, an independent research firm, estimates that GM will need to get between $10 billion and $15 billion in federal assistance in order to avoid bankruptcy by 2010 and that the chance of bankruptcy without help is probably 80% to 90%.

...

Among the topics discussed were a $25 billion loan to fund union-controlled trust funds that would be set up in the coming year to cover the health care costs of retirees and their family members. Shifting about $100 billion of those costs from the automakers' balance sheet to the trust funds was a key concession the companies won from the UAW in the 2007 labor deals.

...

The automakers also renewed their pre-election request to double the $25 billion low-interest loan program approved by Congress to help automakers convert operations to make more fuel-efficient vehicles and meet the demands of car buyers and new federal rules.

But Wagoner said just doubling the money available under that program won't solve the immediate cash crisis facing the industry. And for the first time, he put a dollar amount on the cash that automakers are looking for from the federal government right now.

"In the meeting yesterday we talked near-term liquidity support for the industry in the range of $25 billion," he said. "No one said yes or no to that number."

...More

Should the get the loans?

Absolutely. GMs failure would have serious repercussions for the economy. The hundreds of thousands of people that would be out of work would cost the US a huge amount of money anyway.

But we shouldn't reward GMs failures easily.

Here are my proposed terms for a GM Bailout

1. Up to $75 billion loan to be given to GM over 5 years.
2. Interest rate will = 30 year Treasury Bond rate, plus 2%.
3. Repayment begins in 6 years, and must be complete thirty years after that.
4. Within 10 years, the GM fleet fuel efficiency must be 5 MPG higher.
5. Each year after, the GM fleet fuel efficiency rating must rise by 1 MPG more. Note: the target fuel efficiency will always be based on today's standard. In other words, by year 10, standards will be 5 MPG higher. In year 11, they will be 6 MPG higher. In year 12, 7 MPG higher than today. If in year 11, they are actually 8 MPG higher than today, in year 12, they still only need to be 7 MPG higher than today, removing the incentive to sand bag the number.
   
6. The government will receive 20% of the company in some form of preferred stock that can, at the government's discretion, be sold on the open market.
7. That stock will earn dividends at the same rate as other share holders.
8. After accepting the loan, the CEO, CFO, and 50% of the remaining executive staff will leave the company, with renegotiated severance.
9. At least 50% of the replacement executives must come from outside the auto industry and be from companies that have generated a profit for at least 5 of the last 7 years.
10. Replacement executives from within the auto industry must come from companies that have generated a profit for 5 of the past 5 years.

This is a first draft, and there may be plenty of things to adjust here. Given the challenges with pay, working hours, locations, etc., I am open to discussing changes to the UAW contracts. While I'm not one to say the whole problem with the US auto industry is the union, decisions by both management and the union got GM to where it is today. And like the stock holders, suppliers, and local communities, the unions will also suffer tremendously if GM goes bankrupt.

It's an expensive plan for GM, but it's also a risky investment of tax payer dollars.

This plan should help GM survive, ensure there are consequences for executive failure, bring in people with a track record of success, compensate US tax payers for their risks, minimize the chances that hundreds of thousands of autoworkers will lose their jobs, and provide increased environmental protection through greater fuel efficiency.

A cheap brake "repair"

Tonight while puttering about my apart, I listened to NPR's "Car Talk" podcast. If you are not familiar with Car Talk, it's a highly entertaining call-in car repair show. You don't need to be a car expert to appreciate it; most of the callers aren't. Tom and Ray answer questions, tell jokes, pick on one another, and generally have a good time for an hour.

People often call in asking about warning lights on the dash. It got me thinking about my experience with warning lights.

The first car I owned was an 85 Subaru GL that I bought with 103,000 miles on it. I drove it for years until it finally dies at about 187,000 miles. But that is a tale for another time.

One night while driving from Great Falls to Helena, I encountered a sudden red glare out the corner of my eye. I looked down and there on the dash was a bright red warning sign that said "Brake."

I was zipping up and down hills on the interstate at, um, "Montana Appropriate" speeds. A few light taps on the brake pedal seemed to slow that car, and it was late, so I decided not to worry about it too much.

But the big problem was that the light was so bright. I had dimmed my other dash lights because it was dark out, but this one was making it harder to see. Why do danger warning have to be so obnoxious?

So I pulled over at an empty exit, dug around in my trunk and found the tool I needed to fix the problem with the brakes -- black electrical tape. I tore off a small piece and stuck it right over warning light and solved the problem.

Anyone else fix their brakes this way?

After a week or so, I took the car in. For some reason, the mechanics were appalled at how I handled the situation. It turns out I needed a new hill holder switch.

Which is pretty cool because at that point I didn't even know my car had a hill holder switch.

I worked out a little better than that time I decided to repair the windshield crack with duct tape.

Stupid Lincoln

I'm watching an episode of Missing, a show focused on missing or kidnapped people. These events are often disasters in their lives.

Speaking of disasters, have you seen the Lincoln MKS ads?

Cat Power • Lincoln MKS Ad • Major Tom

They chose Major Tom as the theme music.

To launch a new car, they chose a song about a failed space mission where the main character, Major Tom, drifts off into space, presumably to his death.

Do you really want to associate your new car with major vehicular failure and driver death?

Electric Car Business Model

Recently Wired profiled Shai Agassi and his company, Better Place.

The company is pushing electic cars and is working on a pilot rpogram in Israel and Denmark.  What makes things different is that he approaches is like the cell phone model. The plan is not to make money selling cars; it's to make money selling subscriptions to battery charging stations and battery swap facilities.

Speaking without notes, Agassi roams the stage, preaching the inevitability of his plan. He has a way of describing things that is never zero-sum; everybody wins in his version of the future, even when he's selling massive disruption.

"For the car companies, we made it simple," he says. "We separated the ownership of the car and the ownership of the battery. See, car companies don't know how to assess the life of the battery. So they go through these complicated programs of testing them for a long period of time. And we told the car company, you know what? Just like you don't sell a car with a card that says 'Here is oil for the life of the car,' you don't sell cars with the batteries for the life of the car, because the battery is crude oil." He explains that his plan alone, once scaled up, could produce a 20 percent drop in the world's CO₂emissions. And he wasn't stopping there. "If we also buy clean generation, we reduce the price of clean electrons so that at the end of 10 years, clean electrons are cheaper than coal-based electrons, and nobody builds another coal plant at that point. That's another 40 percent of CO₂ emissions; that's the treaty Tony Blair is now working to get for the world by 2050. I'm telling you, we can get there a decade after we finish the car side. We can get there in 2030—60 percent reduction in our CO₂ emissions."

It's a great story.  I don't know if it will work, but it is refreshing to see new, potentially plausible ideas and business models in this space.

You can read the whole article here.

Pontiac Grand Prix

I had a fun rental car this week. The Pontiac Grand Prix surprised me.

I've wanted to be a fan of the Grand Prix for a while. The problem is it's ugly. Really ugly. It's a mid-sized sedan that wants to be a sports car. But it's too long to look sporty. It's usually fun to drive, though.

And the new one I had today is really fun to drive. This car wants to go. It accelerates slowly at first, then takes off. The brakes grab nicely, and it corners well.

It also has some neat toy features. It has a Heads Up Display. The car actually projects your speed, direction, and other details on the windshield. It's like driving a fighter jet.

The information console in the dash displays all the usual data -- miles traveled, gas mileage, time to empty tank, oil life, etc. The Grand Prix also records max G-Forces. So I know at one point I had .72G on acceleration, .60G on deceleration, and .52G on lateral acceleration. I have no idea what I could do with that data, but it is very neat.

Sadly, the machine is still to ugly to be a cool car.

PT Cruiser

I don't like it.

The PT Cruiser came out 5 to 10 years ago when the retro look in cars was all the rage. it was designed to look like the wagons of the thirties and forties. Many people hated the look, but I thought it was cool. For some reason I've always been partial to the boxy look in a car. I hoped that at some point I would get to drive one.

Today, I got my wish. My rental car on the current business trip is a PT Cruiser. And it drives terribly.

The acceleration doesn't feel quite right. More importantly, the steering on this car is terrible. The thing cannot make a tight turn. I think the Ford Explorer makes tighter turns than the PT Cruiser. I'm amazed at how much pavement it takes this car to simply go left.

There are very few cars I actually dislike on the rental aisle. They include the Ford Taurus, the Kia Optima, and now the PT Cruiser.

It looks cool, but simply doesn't drive well, which defeats the purpose of having it.

Next time, just give me the Hyundai.

Subaru on the slopes

My first car was a 1985 Subaru GL sedan with front wheel drive. I paid $2,500 for it in 1991 and it had 83,000 miles on it.

At the time I lived in MT and drove through snow and old logging road that most people wouldn't think about touching. I also drove that car across the country at least 3 times. It finally died with about 180,000 miles on it in 1999 because I let it sit for about 6 months.

The point is Subarus can handle some amazing things. It's why my current car is a Subaru Forester.

And while I know this video is staged, and they probably used multiple vehicles, it's still almost believable.

Speed? What speed?

This week in SoCal, I rented a Saturn Ion. It's considered a mid sized car at Budget.

It's not a bad car. It's fairly comfortable. It handles well. And it has acceptable power. I would have liked a little more oomph trying to merge in a construction zone, but I've learned not to expect much from a rental car.

The best thing about it, though, was the AUX jack. I plugged in my new Gigabeat (a Toshiba MP3 player) and listened to netcasts (or podcasts) of NPR program that I missed when they first aired.

It's great to be a able to listen to whatever episode of This American Life, WNYC Radio Labs, or clips from A Prarie Home Compantion whenever I want. I didn't have to learn the radio stations in the area, and I didn't have to worry about faded signals while driving around the hills.

I don't understand why AUX jacks aren't more common in rental cars. A large number of business travelers and families carry music libraries with them. Instead, most rental cars come with a CD player or tape deck.

How many people actually travel with all their CDs these days?



The instrument panel was a little disturbing, though. Instead of putting the speedometer and other gauges behind the wheel, they put them in the middle of the dash. Maybe this is supposed to be cooler. Maybe it makes it easer to build a version with right side steering for sale in Britain and Japan. And it probably doesn't matter once you get used to the car.

But I'm not driving the car long enough to get used to it.

It can be a challenge for night driving. I look down to check my speed or fuel level and just see a black space. My first instinct is that my dash light are not on, and I should check my headlights. When I see that they're on, I wonder what is wrong with the car. Then I look a couple inches to my left and there are the instruments.

Of course, it probably takes less than a second to run through this, but it's certainly disconcerting.

So it's not an exciting car, but it's decent.

And, most importantly, it's not a Taurus.