Ford...the new awesome!

So I have been really impressed by Ford for the past 8 years now...ever since the Focus came to America. I thought, "Ford is finally starting to think..." In addition to my love of the new Mustang, I found a new 2011 Ford that I've also come to love...The new Explorer.

That's right! Look at that picture! How can you go wrong with a sexy SUV like that! It's almost luxury...ish. The one thing I'm thankful for in this economy is that the lack of money has caused American auto makers to start thinking about what people want in a car.

And now some boring history....(I'll let you know when you can come back in.)

What made Toyota so awesome for me is that they were some cheap car company from Japan that had a crazy idea of making great cars that sold for less than the other great cars. Toyota has then jumped to #1...and into a gutter. Because now (in my opinion) they make cars that are expensive...but feel cheap. Today, Hyundai has become the new Toyota. They're offering cars with great awesome features but without the price tag. As a result...they were gaining market share while Toyota fell...

(Now back to Ford...and you can pay attention again)

Like Toyota back-in-the-day, Ford is making awesome cars without the evidential price tag. They drive great, look great, have awesome technology and cheaper! A few months ago, I wrote about the new Jeep Grand Cherokee and thought, "OMG! A great driving Jeep!" That has an MSRP of $30k. This has an MSRP of $28k. And its got the same size engine, and better gas milage...there is one real downside to the Explorer...it has kinda become a crossover....and its FWD...

BUT MAN, DOES IT LOOK GOOD! :P

Get Fit!

On a completely different thought....I thought to be fit was to be muscular...but I think that's wrong.

Anyway, the Honda Fit. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you the Honda Fit is a great car. I've been on the internet... Just search great cars and the Fit comes around the top. But I couldn't help but wonder why? I drove the Nissan Versa, roomier and faster than I thought but you know it's cheap. I also drove the Toyota Yaris, which is fine...just a smaller Corolla. How much better could the Fit be?

Well, it is a world different...First off, this may sound geeky, but I feel like I'm driving a space ship in that car. The gauges look cool and the interior quality just seems so much better than the other two. The most important thing is the way it drives. It really doesn't feel cheap. It's very controlled and easy to drive....AND it's so much fun!

I drive a Honda Civic. One thing I noticed about a new Civic compared to my 1999 version is that the new one is way more comfortable. For some, that's a better thing but I think it loses it's fun in the process. Not the fit! This thing drives great...so much so that I actually smiled as I was driving this thing around town. It's so easy to drive, steering is very responsive and easy to handle and moving forward was just as quick. Yet, it feels new. It's comfortable and smooth when you want it to be. This is great.

Honda! Keep up the great work!

"Hao" is the 2011 Cherokee?

Hahaha, yeah...I guess it is a bit racist....

But enough cheese....This car is Awesome!!!!! It is a whole world different from the previous models. This feels very....German....like a Mercedes? Hmm, I guess that Daimler partnership did pay off.....

I'm really serious about this though....This is a great SUV. The model I drove...from a rent-a-car, so it's gotta be towards the bottom of the options list...was pretty nice. Almost everything was powered/automatic. Automatic windows, power seats, leather wrapped bits, smart key with push button start, very soft and comfortable all around. One of the coolest bits, the Audio controls were on a touch screen LCD. And like most Chryslers, the speakers were pretty good.

The drive was another hugely impressive thing. It was such a smooth ride. Turning was so tight and controlled. For a V6, it had lots of balls when you put the hammer down. It was almost....luxury feeling......but with a $30k price tag? That's the same price as a basic 4Runner V6.......

Now here's the bit that's got me feeling a little sad....IF YOU COULD BUILD THIS, WHY'D YOU WANT TILL NOW AND WAIST MY TIME WITH ALL THAT OTHER CRAP YOU GUYS BUILT.....I even read that the new 2011 Wrangler is a really good SUV. I've driven those before, and even did a review in the past, and I believe I said something like they haven't changed a thing in 50 years.....because it felt like a car that was that old. Now that Chrysler is putting out cars that are worth a damn, I wonder if it's too late. Ford is doing GREAT as they have been for the past 5 years or so and GMC has really turned themselves around...but Chrysler is still losing lots of money....Please don't die Chrysler!!!! I need your cars to finally drive as great as it looks!!!!!!

My Soul has been K.I.A.

That's right...I'm talking about the Kia Soul. (I'm not that Romantic...for those who may have thought this title wasn't about a car...)

I had the chance to drive this thing around and I EXTREMELY hate to admit...I really like it. I think it has a young/funky look to it and driving it feels very controlled. It was so easy to drive and if you wanted to be rough with it, it didn't let down. The steering was firm and the acceleration was predictable...it reminds me of my civic. And when you put your foot down, it wasn't exactly sluggish. Not what I was expecting from a Kia...

But these are things that makes a modern car average. Almost every new car is pretty good....maybe not a base cobalt but you get what I'm saying. The thing that makes me want to BUY one of these cars is the fact that it has filled a gap in my heart, left by Toyota. The first gen xB to be specific.

The 1st gen Scion xB/ Toyota bB was a great car. Easy to drive, fuel efficient and lots of room for anything. It really was a great city car. Then tragedy struck when Scion decided to release their own version of the xB...(Not Toyota based). I thought it looked cool...but that's about it. The electric steering felt disconnected some how. The car was much bigger too, harder to drive and had a bigger engine...meaning less fuel efficiency. The xB was no longer the fun compact box wagon that I loved....it got fat and became bitchy....hahaha (I can say this because I'm still single....or maybe it's the other way around :P)

So if I'm looking for an cool looking, fun to drive, economic box wagon...there's not much... Nissan then released their Cube in America, which can be cool looking....but unless you add the extra bits (front lip, rims, spoiler, etc.) it doesn't really look all that cool....dare I say ugly. SUDDENLY, Kia introduces the Soul, with hamsters jamming to cool music in a box wagon with a nice sound system.....I thought...omg, Korean is becoming cool.....WHAT'S THE WORLD COMING TO!~

My J-pan pride is SCREAMING as I have to say...The Kia Soul is an awesome car!!! Ouch!!!....my soul died a little more....

Please refer back to blog "Korean Bastards pt. 2" in March 2009 for my past criticism on Korean cars....

Make like a tree and Leaf!~ hahaha

As a fan of cars...I am interested in the way the automotive industry is trying to move.........anywhere. Mainly in the direction of alternative fuels. I guess Electricity is an alternative fuel.

Next year, Nissan and GM will be introducing the Leaf and Volt into the mass market. The Leaf is 100% electric and can travel about 100 miles. The Volt is another, more hybrid-ish option. You can travel 40 miles on all electric but can go up to 350 with assistance of a gas engine. Neither is new to the world, but this is the first (that I'm aware of) mass release of a plug-in electric vehicle.

I love the idea of an electric vehicle, however I can really say this isn't for me. (Shocking for people who know me. "Wayde...NOT wanting a car?") Well, the electric car is cool, and I would be on this if I lived in a house where I could charge my car. I live in a town-house now, and mainly lived in apartments and condos.

Then, I have to say....what's wrong with gas? Well for most, it's pollution and sustainability. Here in Hawaii, most of our electricity comes from fossil fuels....but we're working on it. We also have one of the highest electricity rates in the nation. Even with this, the Leaf takes 22.1 kilowatt hours to charge from 0-100 (100 miles). The Oahu residential electric rates are 22.51 average cents per kilowatt hour (on the low end) and the Big Island is at 32.69 cents per kilowatt hour. I travel about 350 miles per week. It would cost me about $17.41 per week to drive a Volt on Oahu. This is compared to my $35 I spend to fill my Honda Civic.

The problem I see with the Leaf is the limited 100 miles per charge. 100 miles depends on your driving conditions. If, for some reason, I decide to take a trip to the other side of the Island....like I did a couple of days ago....I would be screwed. The Volt fixes this problem. I could go only on Battery, then if I need to go farther, I can depend on a hybrid mode. But then, there's the life of the battery....Batteries lose their charge potential as they age.

If you switch out batteries as the car ages, what do you do with old batteries? Is this environmental to have all these batteries? In conclusion, I vote Fuel Cell!~ haha

Still has electric drive and can simply fill the fuel tank if I run out of juice (instead of waiting to charge) and less net carbon emissions than plug-ins (in my opinion).

Credits:

Please listen to this NPR article comparing both the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129180183

Hawaii Electric rates were collected from the HECO website.

http://www.heco.com/portal/site/heco/menuitem.508576f78baa14340b4c0610c510b1ca/?vgnextoid=692e5e658e0fc010VgnVCM1000008119fea9RCRD&vgnextchannel=10629349798b4110VgnVCM1000005c011bacRCRD&vgnextfmt=defau&vgnextrefresh=1&level=0&ct=article

Nissan Leaf charge amount came from the Hamiltonian Function blog (I think that's what the blog is called).

http://hamiltonianfunction.blogspot.com/2010/02/nissan-leaf.html

The Love/Hate TSX

I shall start by saying, I drive a Honda Civic. I love my CIvic. I've owned it for 12 years now and it's a great car from the time I got it. I must say....never really cared for that "Ricer" image that they give, but I was swayed by how much I liked to drive it. I guess it's the same way I feel about BMWs...which probably means I will end up owning one some day......Anyway......

The last TSX gave me mixed feelings. I loved the way it looked and drove. It was like my Civic, with luxury options....and 4 doors. But I felt weird about it, because it is a luxury(ish) car. Should it feel sporty? The problem is that it really felt like an Accord. Even though I drove it softly, it didn't feel soft. It's shifts felt sharp and the revs would try to stay high...I thought, this would be more comfortable if I had the 6 speed manual.....which is already not very luxury. Therefore, I really had to look at it from my Japanese perspective. It was a Honda Euro Accord. I remember watching Japanese racing videos of guys testing the Euro Accord R around the track and thought, "Wow, how quick for a large 4 door sedan." But then, I can't help but think of that luxury element in the Acura version. And then I can't help but think of the Front Drive element. For a car that sporty, it could have rear wheel drive...but then I thought, Audi A4's are front drive and tons of g***s and t@@@s buy those things. I'm censoring this out for my friend who likes Audi......

The NEW TSX has solved part of my problem. They really focused on the Luxury. Driving this made me feel like I was in a luxury car. The 4 cylinder made me think, I'm getting good value for the money, because it's fuel efficient but not sluggish and hard to drive. The seats were very comfortable, there's much more room, a great sound system and the little things like your side mirror tilts down when you reverse (if you select it on).

The one feature that I absolutely love....the paddle shifters. I usually hate these things, because if you want to down shift in...lets say an IS250....I need to shift the car into manual mode and then click the shifter down to the gear I want or push the paddles down to the gear I want. This is very distracting to me. First, I have to look at what gear I'm in after shifting into manual mode (so I don't over downshift). I felt like, in that time I shifted to Manual and figured out how many gears I had to shift, my reason for shifting has been lost by my need to press the break. (I'm sure if I owned the car, I would have adapted to it, but my point stands). In the TSX, you don't have to shift into a manual mode to shift the paddle shifters. If you're driving down the road start coming down a steep hill, you can just click on your shifter to shift you down a gear or two or three. To get back into auto, just shift back up. Though, some might complain that as a result, you'll never have a real manual mode....but neither does an IS250. You can easily drive your car in Manual 6th gear the entire time, and your car will still shift gears like normal drive.....

The sport option is also kinda fun where it makes the shifting aggressive...though this is where the negative comes in. Though the car feels much better.....it's bigger and heavier. The 4 banger doesn't really pull it's weight anymore. Though the TSX now comes in a V6 option, you sorta lose the Honda essence of fuel economy. Though, for a V6, that engine is still very fuel efficient, and has lots of balls.....Sounds good too.

Overall, I say its a good buy. Looking at the market, you can't really find many small, luxury 4 door that has that kind of luxury and that kind of fuel efficiency. I just wish they didn't go with that ugly chrome thing in the front......

LFA....wow (good and bad)

Let me get this in writing right away....I am a fan of Toyota. Lexus is putting out some great cars but this car gives me mixed feelings. The technology in this car is amazing. The engine revs up to 9000 RPMs, putting out 552 hp. This engine sounds like an F1 car. It's got an all LCD gauge, because a normal Tachometer can't keep up with how fast the engine revs. Similarly, with the Nissan GT-R, they removed that moving/tracking headlights because the headlights could not keep up with how fast the car can turn.

This is my problem.....the price. If you want one, the price tag is $400,000. For one of those, I could buy a new Porsche 911 Turbo, Audi R8 AND the Nissan GT-R. Is the LF-A good as all three of those cars combined? Going back to the GT-R...this car is about $90,000. Motor Trend did a drag race between these two cars and found the LF-A was only 0.1 sec faster in a quarter-mile. Is 0.1 sec worth an additional $310,000?

I'm sure the car is a great one, and Lexus tells me I can't even buy the car anyway (lease only). See, I think my problem is where I'm relating these two cars. I remember watching Japanese videos of people comparing the Nissan Skyline GT-R and the Toyota Supra Twin-Turbo. These cars are fast, and were very close in terms of performance. When they both died, I was sad...Then I heard Nissan was bring it back (AND bring it to America) I was sooooo excited. Then rumors from Toyota came out about a new Supra.......

The GT-R made it's comeback......the Supra came back as a $400,000 Lexus.......

The Surprising Challenger

I decided to take a trip to my home town for the 4th of July weekend this year, something fun to see my parents and childhood friends. When I arrived to pick up my rent-a-car, they gave me a New 2010 Challenger SE (I doubt a rent-a-car would ever buy SRT8s). The car is HUGE. It had a very long nose which made it a bit hard to see....but I hate to admit, I'd totally spend the money on one.....

First: The looks~

This is such a sexy looking car....for those who like classic American. I am a fan of that square front nose that looks like it could suck in and eat a cat as you drive by one. It definitely has personality. And the stretched out tail lamps in the back is definitely attractive to me.

Second: The feel~

Something I love about Chrysler, and this might be thanks to Daimler...but I absolutely enjoy the sound system in Chrysler cars.... I went out and bought one of those Droid phones before going and listening to my Pandora radio stations in that thing was a great joy.

I was also interested in how they designed the back seats. They put lights in the back of the chairs to light the area for the people in the back (as my friend puts it, a "Crotch Light"). They also gave the back seat a center arm rest with cup holders. I thought that was pretty good...just wish they'd give more space for your legs (as I complain about later).

The car was also Crazy comfortable. I remember riding around in a Camaro that I got my hands on and I remember it being very low to the ground and very sporty. Still a very good car...but this is a totally different feel. You ride a bit higher, visibility is better, the ride seems softer and more comfortable yet doesn't feel like a boat around corners. This model has a 3.5L V6 and I hate to admit the power is lacking in this car, but strangely enough I didn't mind too much. I was happy with the fact that I was driving this car, with it's comforts and looks.

A couple of down sides....The interior is a bit plain.....If this car was the SRT8, I would excuse any plainness that this car has because of how much fun that car would be to drive. However as a normal one, looking at the dash was a bit boring (unlike the Camaro with the retro gauges).

And~ I am 6'5"....Looking into the back seat told me that a small child or an amputee would be the only people who could sit behind me. The back seats were a bit small. However, if I'm honest, it's a sports car.....Who's going to use this as their family of 4 car? It'd be you and your girl up front, windows down, rocking out and cruising the pacific coast/country side.

Journey to a Dodge Dealership.....

So I got to drive around a Dodge Journey today and at first glance, I didn't really feel a need to drive one. I was a bit excited because this was the R/T version and I'm a bit of a fan of Dodge cars at times. The big problem that I always felt about driving one is once the adrenaline died down from all the fun, I would think, "I would never buy one. It's too impractical." However, I think I may have found the cure.

I felt that the car or SUV whatevers was pretty responsive. When I stepped on the gas, it really went somewhere. I would turn the wheel and it pulled me in whatever direction I wanted it to go. It felt like (if I were a parent) could drive my kids to school and go straight to a race track in the same vehicle. This thing as 3 rows of seats, leather, great sounds and the most surprising; good fuel economy...good for a dodge anyway. I got around 22 mpg, which is about the same as my Taurus and this has a 3.5L V6 that really feels great. I just had this feeling that the car wanted me to step on the gas. In this, I wanted to keep going faster....maybe because I was driving in traffic, haha~

I hate to say, I would really want to buy one.

Ride that....Taurus?

I must first say that my present car is unfortunately a Ford Taurus.... It's a 1994 with the 3.oL V6. It's not a horrible car, I've driven worse; like the Escort for example. However the only real reason I drive this car because it cost me only $500, and it still works. In a way, it was a great deal; (I didn't spend thousands to fix it).

Now, with the current Taurus, the feeling I have is not the same. I might say I would pick that above most every car available on the market. If I were walking down the rows of National-Rent-A-Car and came across the new Taurus, I would pick that in a heartbeat.

And Why? I must say that Ford really stepped up their game. I think the car looks great, and handles great. I had the chance to drive a brand new one (straight from the pier) and decided to open her up a bit. It was fun. This model was the Limited model and it had comfortable leather seats, a backup camera (which is rare in Hawaii), a 6 speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters, and a great sounding audio system; just to name a few of the great things.

The one thing I remember the most above all that is how great the suspension felt when taking a turn. I wasn't very shy to take corners a bit quick, but the suspension really held up and worked well with the transmission. Even though I had it in full auto, the computer seemed to know that I was driving a bit harsh and didn't up-shift as I let go of the gas. It kept a low gear and I could take the corner very smoothly.

I really liked it a lot. I must say the only real down side to this car...the 3.5L V6 felt a bit week. Fortunately, if you're willing to dish out the money, there is a twin-turbo SHO version!!!~