Here’s what I’ve been driving this week. It’s an Audi R8 and boy is it fun most of the time! Unfortunately this particular example is fitted with semi automatic transmission that seems to try it’s hardest to make the driver look like someone who can’t drive a stick. The car itself is drop dead gorgeous and fast when the gearbox cooperates.
Max and I are in Virginia this weekend for the inaugural race of the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup. You can read all about that at Diesel Forecast and AutoblogGreen. If you’ve been watching TV in recent weeks you might have seen Volkswagen’s new brand campaign featuring a series of interviews between some pseudo celebrities and “Max”. Max is the star of the ads and he/it is here this weekend for the race. Max and Max met face to face for the first time this morning. The TV Max is the one on the right in the commercials.
I was on the road again this week, having spent a couple of days in Manhattan covering the New York Auto Show. I can say with complete certainty that although New York and Chicago have better facilities than Cobo Hall in Detroit, we definitely have the best show in North America when it comes to newsworthy content. One particularly annoying aspect of Manhattan is trying to catch a cab. Although countless taxis drive by when you’re looking for one, finding one that doesn’t already have passengers can take forever. After the Kia reception in Wednesday night I stood out in the rain for twenty minutes trying to get a cab. However, once I finally got one and got back to the hotel it was worth it. My Autoblog colleagues (John, Damon, Alex and Chris) and I walked about 6 blocks to one of Alex’s favorite restaurants in the city, Victor’s Cafe. Alex lives in Connecticut and goes into the city fairly regularly. Victor’s is a Cuban restaurant on W. 52nd and both the food and the service were absolutely outstanding. I had the most amazing Paella that had shrimp, mussels, lobster, and chorizo. The coconut flan for dessert was a great finish. Even John who is a vegan and often has a hard time finding something he likes in restaurants enjoyed the Frijoles Negros. If you’re ever in New York and looking for a great meal, check out Victor’s Cafe.
Last week I finally got my chance to get behind the wheel of the amazing Tesla Roadster. The Roadster is an all electric sports car with some amazing performance. I was lucky enough to be the only online auto writer to get invited to drive the car in it’s near production spec. Check out the whole story at ABG. I also have an alternative telling of the story at my day job at GreenFuelsForecast. Let me know which version you prefer. I love my job!
After what seems like forever, Jules has finally started posting to her blog Lip Balm! She’s writing about whatever grabs her attention. She’s just getting started so head over to PutSomeOn.com and get the conversation going.
The first two weeks of 2008 have been pretty hectic. I had a ton of stories to write about all the cars debuting at the Detroit Auto Show which is opening to the public this weekend. In the middle of all that I flew out to Las Vegas for a couple of days to cover the unveiling of the Cadillac Provoq concept at CES and interview several GM executives. Once I got back it was into three solid days of covering the show. Lots of photos, words and espresso. Now you to can partake in some of this fun too. If you’ve got a way with words, and an interest in the future of transportation, you can now earn some extra money sharing your thoughts with the rest of the world. AutoblogGreen is looking for some extra contributors. Check out the requirements here and if you’re interested, submit some samples to Sebastian. If you can write and you’re more interested in gadgets, the crew over at Engadget is looking too.
If you happen to drive by our place in the next few days and you see what appears to be a black and white police cruiser in the driveway, don’t be concerned. It’s just a press car I’m driving for a review this week. Chrylser loaned me one of their police car demonstrators for an evaluation. It’s not the most subtle car I’ve ever driven but it will be fun for a few days.
For years I’ve been wondering how so many people can afford to such expensive cars, with 40, 50, $60,000 SUVs running around. Now I know. They can’t. It’s hard to believe but there is something even more idiotic than the real estate bubble. I wrote an Autoblog post that went up today about people who frequently buy new vehicles and rollover debt to the new car loan. Imagine buying a $30,000 car that’s worth at most $20K two years later. But you still owe $23K on the loan. Take that $3,000 and tack it on to the loan on a new $35,000 vehicle that you put no down payment on . Rinse and repeat a couple of times. Now all of a sudden, after 6 or 7 years, you’ve made tens of thousands of dollars in car payments, your vehicle has a trade-in value of $27,000 and you have a $40,000 loan balance. Hard as it might be to believe, a lot of people and banks apparently are this stupid. I’ve never bought a new car when I still owed money on the previous one so the thought of doing anything so ridiculous never even occurred to me. It’s mind boggling how stupid this capitalist system has made us. Just wait until India and China catch up!
As we roll in 2008, and I finish clearing my driveway sufficiently that we can get in and out, I’m just glad I didn’t have to drive anywhere last night. I also wish it was just a few degrees colder so the snow was so wet and heavy. As I continue to plow my way through a pile of articles that will appear over the next couple weeks as embargoes expire, I’m looking forward to busy and exciting year kicking off next week with the Consumer Electronics Show, followed by the Detroit Auto show the following week and on through the calendar. Now if we can just get past all the wing-nuts like Mike and Rudy and phonies like Mitt and Hillary and find decent candidate to lead us back to the path of what America is supposed to represent we’ll be all set. Happy today everyone!