Ruining the People's Car

The one car that identify with VW, growing up in Hawaii, is the original Beetle. When the New Beetle was introduced, I thought to myself, "Well that's great." However, I drove one a few days ago and I've come to discover something quite important. THE NEW BEETLE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE OLD ONE. To me, what made the old one great is the fact that is was a real car, and cheap. Engine in the back, light weight, surprisingly roomie, cheap, and basically a fat Porsche in terms of performance. The new one, not the same. As I was driving it, I realized...wow this is very boring. It doesn't feel anything like a mid-ship....and I opened the trunk......to see a trunk........THE ENGINE IS IN THE FRONT!!!!! Oh well...now I see why this is only a girls car. Boys, buy a Jetta or Golf or something with testicles.

Ford Flex's It's Muscles

Today I drove the new Ford Flex for the first time. I must admit...I love the way that car looks. For those who know me, I do like my boxy cars (xB, Cube, etc.) but I really think this car just looks good and not looks good to some.

Inside was nice and roomie. I'm 6'5" and I don't usually fit well in cars, but the Flex is very comfortable. However, and I don't ever say this, but the car feels too big... From the outside, it looks nice and not unusually big, but inside it's very comfortable and there's 3 rows of seats. I looked back and thought, "Is this too much?"

Driving it was very comfortable. The model I drove had black leather seats and I thought, I would be proud to pick up someone important in this car (Boss, Mother-in-law, etc.) The sound system in there is also very nice (Sony I believe). The car's breaks and acceleration wasn't too sharp in any one direction. It was just very predictable. And for 2010, you'll have the option of the SHO engine (3.5L twin-turbo) that pushes 355hp and 350lb.-ft of torque. I bet that'll be exciting.

New Classic Jeep

I recently started a job that lets me drive a bunch of new cars. A few days ago, I got to drive the new Jeep Wrangler...I remember riding in a Jeep when I was a kid. The suspension was stiff and the ride was bouncy. I though to myself, "I bet this vehicle hasn't changed in 30 years." The Jeep was from the 80's so I'm relating to the old war Jeeps. Hoping in the new one...both 2dr and 4dr...I hate to admit that it still feels like the same old Jeep. Even though it looks much more modern, riding down the road still feels the same. I remember driving my grandpa's old 1970 ford Bronco and the suspension felt similar.

I havn't decided yet if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Kinda like, don't fix what's not broke...

F3: Failure at Fun Factory

Today, Aug. 23 is tournament day at the Maui Mall Fun Factory for a Tekken 6 Warm-up Tournament. This is basically a pre-tournament to get people ready for the Tekken tournament that is going to happen.

A friend of mine, who loves the game, enters because of his love for the game...and the $60 grand prize too. However, there is one major problem.....

The tournament rules that has been set up by Fun Factory are extremely F#@ked Up:
36 people entered the tournament today; Each person receives a number.
In order to play, you MUST pay for the game as if you were playing in the arcade normally. ($1 per game).

Player 1 is set to play Player 2. If Player 1 wins, he stays on the machine and Player 3 challenges Player 1. This continues unless Player 1 loses, then which the player who beat him stays on the machine.

The problem with this, if you don't already understand, is that Player 1 has to play through 35 people to win the prize. This gives him a 1 in 36 chance of winning and has to pay $35 to get through that far. Player 36 then has the best advantage. He has a 1 in 2 chance of winning and only has to play $1. I think 50% is too high compared to 2.7% chance of winning....FAIL.

I'm very dissapointed in you, JAL....

I was in Japan for the past month, and it was awesome. But I must comment on my return yesterday. I few Japan Airlines (JAL) and I love flying with them, but this experience was quite horrible.

First, we arrive late with an hour left before boarding. I'm checking in to the JAL desk at Kansai International Airport. My bag is 3.7kg over and the lady at the counter asks me if I can take something out. Now, I'm thinking, that's not so bad...I think I can take out that much. Customer service in Japan is great because the culture requires them to be so polite. But then a lady from another desk comes out and says, "Your gate's closing already. Just pay the $50." First thought was "$50!" Bullshit, that's a lot of money for 3.7kg. I could have shipped that back to the USA for less than that. Which turned out to be ¥5000, which in this economy is more like $54.

Then I think, how rude is that. And with that lady standing there making sure I pay, ofcoarse I have to pay. I'm not going to make a fuss in the Air Port, expecially since that's become a big taboo these days.

Then the flight was madly delayed anyway, leaving more than 45 minutes late.

Then the in flight entertainment system was down!

I don't believe I've ever had a bad experience with JAL but there's a first for everything. A message to JAL, as if you have time to browse the internet: "FIX IT!!!~"

Shirokiya You Cheating Bastards!!!

So I'm at this store at the Ala Moana Shopping Center in Honolulu called SHIROKIYA and they're clearing out their electronics section. So I thought, okay I'll take a look. They have a clearance section that they're selling their Display Models and Returns for a large discount. There they had a pair of MDR-V250 Headphones. Well, I thought, this is quite a nice pare of headphones for only $12. This is quite a deal. I take them home to find out that one side of the headphones is BROKEN AND CAN'T BE WORN!!!!! Looking at the reciet, it's stamped in bright red: "ALL SALES FINAL". Now I feel that $12 is a lot for BROKEN headphones and I'll give you something in red, SHIROKIYA CAN'T BE TRUSTED!!!!!!! Like the Shirokiya of Maui, the Ala Moana version is soon to follow...

The Cutest Toyota iQ I Ever Saw

This has to be one of the cutest cars ever. His name is Pichon-Kun. He's the character for an AC company called Daskin. It supposed to be a drop of water. Good stuff, those crazy Japanese...
[http://life.oricon.co.jp/news/photo/index.php?n_id=65884&p_id=p00200905070790054001241677905L&seq=2]

As if the GT-R wasn't awesome enough...

I picked up a Japanese magazine at my local J-Market and in there is an article about the Nissan GT-R...LM. WTF!~ As if the car isn't awesome enough, this will be the high performance version of the Nissan GT-R...Not the Spec-V. This version will have up to 592hp!!! Uh...Feeling...Week...Want...GT-R.....

Who says the Yaris isn't cool?!?!?

In Japan, the Toyota Yaris 5-Door is called the Toyota Vitz, and in the mother land they have the Vitz RS. This is a modified, Turbo version of the Vitz. This car comes loaded with an LSD, lowered sports tuned suspension, OZ Racing wheels, Recaro seats, and a turbo setup from TRD and Toyota's in-house tuner, Modellista. I REALLY hope Toyota grows some balls and puts a turbo on the Yaris.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE Yaris IS A GIRL'S CAR?!?!?

The Even Smaller Sony Vaio...

Sony has the Vaio P-Series, Lifestyle PC...and it's a super tiny notebook computer. It's pretty basic, other than being small, and has a built in camera and a 4 hour battery life. The thing I found interesting, that I think is worth mentioning, is it has GPS navigation. If you have a PDA, you might think about using one of these instead.

I would totally have one of these in my car. All I need is one of those wireless internet cards and I'd have GPS and internet radio...even YouTube to distract me into a tree!

The NEW Scion iQ?

So AutoWeek has spy photos of the Toyota iQ getting rebadged as the Scion iQ. Doesn't really suprise me. With the exception of the tC, everything is a rebadged Toyota in some way...
[AutoWeek]

April Fools, BMW....

Oh BMW...You crazy Germans. But I must say, this would be a hilarious thing to have on the road. This reminds me of an episode of Top Gear.

What if Kia's are cool?

I've been thinking about getting a new car, but I can't help but feel the shrinking economy as a huge negative point to buying a car. For those who actually need a car, for whatever reason, often rely on cheap cars like Kia as their mode of transportation. Their cars are often super cheap and offer a 10 year/whatever thousand mile warranty. But what if Kia's were still cheap, AND cool? I couldn't even imagine a world like that. All I can say, Kia, is that if you plan on making cool cars you should still keep them cheep. Or they better FAR out perform any Honda or Toyota. In the photo, is the 2010 Kia Koup. Don't F___ this up Korea. This is your chance to win me over.

Spec-V Me!

Sweet Mecha-Jesus! I LOVE the new GT-R...but this is the kind of erm in your pants awesome. The new Skyline GT-R Spec-V is looking to come out in 2010 and Toshio Suzuki plans to return to the Nuremberg ring with it to chop off about 4 to 5 seconds off the time held by the current GT-R. The car won't be too dramatically different; some computer upgrades, weight reduction, and new styling. There is one element that looks to change...The $170,000ish price tag! That's a huge difference! Well, fortunately (or unfortunately) it doesn't look like you can get one out of Japan anytime soon. (Start saving). [http://www.rsportscars.com/nissan/2010-nissan-gtr-spec-v/]

All that BuZZZZZZZZ...

So I've been hearing some noise lately about the new 370Z from Nissan...some great, some terrible. I have to voice my opinion also...

There were some comments on Road & Track about the new 370 and the one that really caught my eye was the complaints about the Rev Matching feature. I have to say, this is a great thing. Not every person in the world is going to be great at heal-toe. I am 6'5" and as a result, never have the leg room to heal-toe. Therefore, if I want to drive a car HARD and not end up in a ditch, I need an automatic (which is sacrilegious). So I applaud Nissan for their work in this technology...you bastards.

Korean Bastards Pt.2

Now, I am a HUGE fan of the Japanese box wagon. Toyota bB/Scion xB and Corolla Rumion/2nd Gen Scion xB are awesome cars. Kia is coming out with this Beast that's really caught my attention and I CAN'T STAND IT!!! The only Kia I would WANT to buy...

(Fat EMO tear)

Korean Bastards Pt.1

So I was driving home one day and I had stopped at the light just before my house. It's usually a long light so as I sit there JAMMIN' to my music, this sexy car pulls up to the light next to me. I think DYA~MN that's a hot car.....(seeing the Hyundai badge) Mother F@#(ers...

I can't believe my eyes...I good looking Korean Car?!?!? Much to my suprise, they really went all out on this car.



However, I still get to make fun of Hyundai because there's a commercial that says, "You win one award, and suddenly everyone gets your name right." The best part...the narrator for the commercial says the name wrong! Stupid!~ XP

Shocking...Get it!

Ah yes, another cheesy reference but true. This is the new electric car from Aptera and it does catch the eye. This California company started with the idea of building a car that is safe and efficient. What they built is a wing on wheels. The 2e is a very aerodynamic electric vehicle (0.15 drag coefficient) that is light and strong. The 2e can travel 100 miles on one charge, 0-60 in under 10 seconds and a top speed of over 85 mph. This car has a few interesting extras, including LED interior lighting, radio/CD/DVD/MP3 player, climate control, GPS with touch screen monitor, backup camera, keyless entry and ignition and gullwing doors. That's not even the cool part. There are solar panels on the roof that power a cabin cooling system to keep the interior temperature down at all times! That would be useful here in Hawaii...

The Great Escape

The other day, I had the opportunity to drive a Ford Escape Hybrid...and I hate to say, "I Loved It!" Unlike the Prius, it doesn't feel hybridy. I don't hear a loud roar of a small engine waking up because the electric can't pull it's weight, and it doesn't kick in every time I try to accelerate. I was driving to the Costco in downtown Honolulu, pulled off the freeway steped on the break to slow for traffic and the engine had cut. From that moment on, the engine didn't even turn on once. I drove from the freeway exit to the Costco entirely on electricity...ironically driving past a long line for Costco Gas. The engine is so quiet that you can hardly tell when it turns on unless you're at a stop (Engine needs to run for AC to work) or really tring to give it some gas (pun intended). It was a lot of fun.

The Hatch For Me

When it comes to Hatches, there are many to chose from these days. At first, you're option was really the Honda Civic. We didn't have the options that Europe and Asia has. But because of the down economy and high gas prices, we got to now have our own. From the Toyota Yaris to the Scion xA/xD and Suzuki SX4, there are many sexy options. I have officially decided on the one for me however. It will have to be the SX4 AWD. I love the way the SX4 WRC Car looks and I know if you go to the dealer, you won't get anything that looks like it, but thanks to Suzuki Sport Racing in Japan, I can get something similar. NICE!~

Scion xD...XD <--Laughing

I must say, when I first saw the new xD, I really didn't like it. However, I've someone grown to like it. If it were a couple of inches lower, it would totally be an awesome hot hatch. Some of you may also know that this is also the Toyota Ist in Japan and I must also say it's pretty sexy. Go see Mike Chang at Servco Scion Mapunapuna (If you live in Hawaii). I would like to see more Ist replicants!!!

Built Chang Tough

So I currently am driving a Ford Taurus, and I was talking to my friend Mike about the posibility of buying another American car. He went on about it's going to break down so quick and American cars suck and he would never buy one in his life. I can't knock the spoiled out of him, I have a friend (Keri) who thinks the exact same way. But some of us are college students who only make a few hundred a month and can't really afford to buy a Japanese car.

I tried to explain how American cars aren't too bad and that Ford has really come up in reliability. So this article is for you, Mike.

Read This! (http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2008/10/ford_reliability_closes_in_on.html)

You'll even like the part about how reliable the xD's are.

The Z Factor

I'm sure that titles been used before...

My good friend Eric passed away 1 year ago (Jan. 19th) and in his memory, I have is old 300z. I was thinking about it the other day and got myself thinking about Z's in general. I remember this article from Car and Driver abut the new 370z.

At first, I kept thinking, if I were trying to be cheap, I would just buy an old 350z. I didn't think anything was wrong with it. The money you would save makes up for the difference in HP. But then...something caught my eye more than the weird looks and the increase in power. [S-Mode]. A little button that I hadn't seen before. Reading more into it, I discovered that the 370z has something called "SynchroRev Match" that basically does Rev Matching for you.

Rev Matching...from what I could determine...is when you're going to shift a manual transition, and make that shift smooth, you're going to do this thing called Rev Match. Let's say you're going from 3rd to 2nd in making a turn (heal-toe style): step on the break, push in the clutch, shift into 2nd, (while still on the break and clutch) pump the gas to bring the revs up, let go of the clutch before the revs drop, let go of the break and you can now gas it through the turn. Sounds like a lot of work to me. That's why I've never tried. With this "SynchroRev Match" (of what I THINK happens): step on the break, push in the clutch, shift to 2nd, let go the clutch and go.

Nissan...you're making it too easy for people to drive fast...and I congratulate you for it.

The Eric I'll Never Forget

It's interesting seeing this image.

It's been a year since the passing of my good friend Eric Rynearson and I must say that I'm still sad he's gone. I'm almost bothered that I didn't even get to see him that often because I've been here on Oahu.

As I'm about to graduate, I'm starting to look at moving back to Maui as an option because of the many things I'm missing there.

And yet I'm thinking of leaving the country all together and going to Japan for a year. I've never been outside of Hawaii for more than a few weeks and I wonder what that would be like. To live in a new place...almost totally unfamiliar to you...

Well, Eric, just wanted to let you know you're still in our hearts and minds.

It's Electric

If you've read some of my previous blogs, I LOVE cars. Anything about cars and car related stuff. So to continue my Foodland movie rentals, I had to see this film.

I have a love/hate feeling about electric cars. I love the idea: simple, clean, cheap. However there's one big problem for me...how do I recharge the damn thing. I live in an apartment. I park my car in a parking not. No plugs. But I live in Hawaii... In Cali, they had put in recharging stations and made a big push to have them around but because of a fear of loss in profits from a number of people (Oil and Auto Companies for example) they trashed the idea.

In it's replacement they have Fuel Cells. I am a huge supporter of Hydrogen. The thing about Fuel Cell cars, that I agree with Top Gear (BBC) on, is that it's not much different from the current car of today. I drive it, I need fuel, I go to a station and fill it up. I don't have to wait 16 hours to fill the tank. (For those who wish to check out the Top Gear episode, it was season 12 episode 7 aired Dec. 14 2008) However the documentary makes a few good points as well, and I know my science enough to understand. Hydrogen is very expensive to make. Currently it uses more electricity to make hydrogen then if you were to just have an EV or even a gas car.

To plug my brothers company (H2 Technologies), he's working on making it cheaper and easier to produce Hydrogen. They even got an old Suzuki Sidekick to run off hydrogen. Just as there are people working to make EVs more efficient and viable, there are people out there doing the same for hydrogen and I still feel that hydrogen is going to be the energy of the future. Honda, the ball is in your court. Don't drop the FCX like the EV.

Bangkok What?

So I discovered that Foodland has these DVD vending machines renting DVD's for $1/day and I randomly decided to watch Bangkok Dangerous. In my mind, I'm thinking it's going to be this terrible movie - with the stereotypical white male killing Asian men and sleeping with their women. (Yellow Rage - as someone would say).

However, as the film went on, it really stopped feeling like that. I really started to like it...and at the end of the film, I really liked it.

This film is a remake with the same directors as the old one, and I don't know what the old one was like, but I recomend this one to friends if they want an action film that's not the Hollywood stereotype.

Where are you going?

Another year has gone from my life and I can't help but think how it's been wasted...

I saw my friend Charles the other day and can't believe how depressed I would be if I had his life. His father left his family when he was young and hasn't heard from him since...and his mother has ovarian cancer and doesn't have much more to live...

In that, I can't help but think of a book I've read. (なぜ生きる)

Every action has a definite purpose. Riding in a taxi, for instance, even the quietest person speaks up without hesitation to tell the driver his destination. Otherwise, the driver would have no idea which way to go. Heading off in a direction chosen at random would be a waste of time and money.

Ask someone why he is studying, and he is likely to mention a test the next day, or talk about getting his license. Ask someone where she is off to, and she may say she's going shopping, or out for a breath of fresh air. All our actions have a purpose.

What if someone asked you the point of living? What would you answer?

And I must admit, I don't have one. Why do we go to work? Why do we have families? Why do we live? In the world, there is always a cause and effect. If humans were to disappear from the earth, what would be effected? In high school, a friend felt that humans have no purpose in life and should not exist in the world....I should ask him how he feels today, because maybe that's how I'll feel tomorrow.