Car of the Day

A car purchase is a public proclamation about how you feel about cars.  The guy in the SRT-4 wanted speed above all else and don’t call his ride a neon. The guy driving the mini-van may be a repressed car enthusiast, but his family is more important than his fast and furious tendancies.  The guy driving his convertible VW bug is…..well I can’t really explain that one.

A true enthusiast deserves to at least once in their life drive a truly special car.  However, sometimes that truly special car isn’t financially an option and the enthusiast is forced to settle for a lesser car.  Don’t settle, just go back in time!

I’m imaging it is 2004 and I’m thinking about the cars that interested me a few years ago.  The cars had to have at least 300hp and nice degree luxury and certain “special car factor”.  The “special car factor” is more than a simple “special edition” badge.  It is more than a body colored bumper and a fancy pin stripe.  A true special car needs a serious factory tune. 

The first special car I remember being cognizant of was the original BMW M3.  The M Series of cars from BMW do an excellent job of defining that specialness I’m looking for from a car.  Every M engine represents a significant bump in horsepower over the standard top-of-the-line power plant.  There are all kinds of suspension goodies, interior bits and exterior treatments to finish out that factory tune treatment. 

The last few years have seen a spike in these factory tuned cars.  Mercedes-Benz brought AMG in house and are making some Benz’s with power rivaling a freight train.  Ford’s SVT and the Audi S cars other veterans in this game.  We have also seen some relative newcomers to the world of factory tuning.   SRT has long been tuning the Dodge Viper, but now Chrysler has myriad of SRT vehicles for a driver to choose from.  Another pair of relative newcomers to the US market in the last several years is the STI and EVO direct descendants from their rally-car roots.  There is the VW R32 and even Cadillac has their CTS- V.

Unfortunately, there is a price penalty to step up to these cars that keeps some enthusiasts from being able to enjoy the cars that they were meant to drive. 

So if you have a less than $25,000 in your auto budget and you looking at cars like a new VW GTI or a Honda Civic Si you might want to put that plan on hold for a little bit.  Now the VW GTI and Civic Si are excellent examples of economic versions of factory tuned hot rods, but there is a way to get more for your hard earned dollar.

How about going back in time and picking up a truly special car?  How about rare car that is stealthy, luxurious and quick?  I am talking about a car that is regularly available on sites like autotrader and ebay motors.

The car is the Volvo S60R.  The S60R is basically an Evo or STI that has been Volvo-ized. (in a good way) For less than $25,000 you can pick up a gently used example of this Swedish speed machine with less than 30,000 miles on it. 

The S60R receives some subtle interior and exterior treatments that let the S60R run under the radar of most drivers and local law enforcement.  This Volvo brings a turbo-charged, 300hp 5 cylinder engine to the performance party.  If you opt for the 6-speed manual version you get a 295lb-ft helping of torque.  The R gets its power to pavement via its all wheel drive system. 

The S60R isn’t the only hot rod from the Swedish speed freaks; they also have the V70R, which is the choice for the enthusiast who wants a little more space in the form of a wagon. 

I am not here to feed you all the details of the 4 year old S60R.  I am here to remind you of a special car that may be for sale in your area. 

If you want a car with luxury, performance, style, stealth and power then find an S60R for sale in your area and check it out.  It is a great performance option from an unlikely source.

All you have to do is hop into your time machine via the miracle of the used car market and find that gently used example and get yourself a truly special car. 

Now if the Volvo S60R isn’t your thing, think about other special cars that were made around 2004 and find the car that suits your fancy.  Another stealthy luxury option is the 390hp supercharged Jaguar S-Type R, consider it the British S60R. 

I have a small problem.  I don’t care for the Toyota Camry.  And when I say “I don’t care” I really mean “I wish I had a Spy Hunter style missile launcher to destroy them.”

If there was a Camry Haters Anonymous I would attend the meetings and introduce myself with “Hi, my name is Gary, I’m a Camry Hater.”

Why do I hate the bestselling car in America?  It is kind of a long story.  I recognize that a Toyota Camry is a well made car.  If you own a Camry, I mean no personal offense, but the Camry has no soul. 

A Camry wasn’t made for people who like cars.  A Camry has no idea of what is fun about driving.  A  Camry represents what would happen if Consumer Reports ruled the world. 

If you have no passion about driving or cars, if you only care about getting from point A to point B, if you think of your car and your dishwasher in the same thought, then the Camry is right for you. 

A Dishwasher and a car in the same thought? There isn’t a “The Truth about Dishwashers” website for a reason.  A dishwasher is a dishwasher.  It is a simple appliance that makes your life easier.  People aren’t enthusiastic about their dishwashers.  Even the yahoos at MTV don’t have a “Pimp My Dishwasher” show to further help the youth of America’s brain to leak out of their collective ear. 

Paul Walker and Vin Diesel won’t be starring in a film entitled the “The Clean and the Cleanliness”, that highlights the underground world of dishwasher racing.  We won’t hear cheesy lines like “I clean my dishes in a high speed, no spot cycle, in those ten minutes or less I’m free.” or “Ask any dishwasher, any real dishwasher, it doesn’t matter whether you clean your dishes with a drop or a gallon, clean is clean!” 

That is because a dishwasher is a freaking appliance! There is nothing to be passionate about, it is just an appliance. 

And that is my problem with the Camry, it is an appliance.  It has no sporting soul.  It’s not that “fun-to-drive” is low on the Camry’s priority list; it is that “fun-to-drive” isn’t even on the list, or on the list next to the list of good things about a Camry.

This hatred for the Camry is contagious to other cars that are related to the Camry. 

Whenever I see a Lexus ES, I don’t see Lexus’ excellent entry level luxury sedan.  I don’t see a car that is an amazing combination of value, quality and luxury.  I see a tarted up Camry!  I see Toyota tricking people in buying “Fancy Camrys”.  I’m ticked at Toyota for tricking these people into buying a dressed up Camry. 

When I see a Toyota Avalon I simply see a bloated over-sized Camry.  The Corolla is simply a mini-Camry wannabe.  A Highlander? I don’t see Christopher Lambert on his quest to be “The One.” I see a Camry SUV. 

And the worst offender, the worst pretender, the most confusing vehicle of all is the Toyota Solara.  I seriously can’t believe that people buy this car.  I would rather eat glass than own a Solara. 

I just want to grab the Solara owners and ask them “what were you thinking?”  Were they even thinking?  The Toyota Solara is an automotive oxymoron.  It is the sporty Camry.  I can’t imagine someone being a the car lot looking at a Camry thinking “this is a fine car and can probably do a fine job of cleaning my dishes, I wonder if there is a bloated coupe version of this car with a lame name?” 

Do they even know that they just bought a Camry coupe?  Or are they unsuspecting victims thinking they bought the cool Toyota coupe? 

Because the Camry appeals to the people who don’t care about the joy of driving it attracts a disproportionate amount of bad drivers.  The next time you on the road and there is an obliviot (oblivious idiots) doing a famous job of horrible driving, more often than not it will be a Camry or Camry-base vehicle. I’m talking about cars doing a 14-point turn on a 2 lane road, cars backing up the entrance ramp, cars sitting through green lights and driving 15 miles under the posted speed limit. 

So that is my cross to bear.  I hate the bestselling car in the country and am forced to see them everywhere.   And if you hear of some horrible Camry hate crimes I promise it wasn’t me.

PS – There is one exception to my blanket Camry hate and that is the new V6 SE it has a bit of soul and some respectable performance numbers.

Today’s car of the day is one of the greatest COTD’s ever and that is a car that isn’t out yet.  When you obsess over cars and it seems like you want a new car every day, the car that has not been released yet is an attractive option.

A former COTD is the BMW 135i.  It is the little brother to the BMW 3 Series.  It is powered by the same 300hp twin-turbocharged engine that drives the 335i.  This engine has a bit of reputation of being underrated, significantly underrated.  When the 335i’s first started showing for road tests with the automotive media, car journalists were incredulous at the numbers this “300hp” sedan was putting up.  So there were several well documented dyno tests of the 335i and the net results of the tests showed that BMW was underselling the performance of the new engine.  It was not uncommon for the cars to show 300hp at the wheels meaning it really had about 350hp at the crank.

Why would BMW under-promise by 50hp?  My theory is that the previous generation 333hp M3 was sitting in the showroom at the same time that the BMW 335i hit the floor.  This meant that if BMW really advertised the true horsepower rating of the 335i it would have more hp than the almighty M3.  Thus they over promised and under delivered.

I said all of that to say this that the BMW 135i has a special edition car coming out soon.  The BMW 135i tii, is an homage to the great 2002 tii, in execution and theory.  The tii is a lightweight, turbo-charged, small coupe that continues to perpetuate the brand that is the Ultimate Driving Machine.

Are you looking at buying a new Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz or Porsche?  Why not visit Germany and actually take delivery of your fine German automobile from the mother country? 

I’ve already discussed the greatness of the new BMW M3 Sedan here. So if you are going to purchase a special car like this why not head to Munich and pick up your car straight from the factory? 

Some of the manufacturer’s offer a discount for customers willing to take a European delivery of their car.  The discount can well pay for your vacation and it’s not just a vacation it is a chance to drive your new car in its home country.  A country where there are roads with no speed limits. 

The nice thing about these European delivery programs is they aren’t reserved for the super expensive models; all of their models are eligible for this option.  The down side with a European delivery is having to wait for your car to be shipped back home.  It can be a bit like meeting your soul mate on an exotic vacation and then having to wait way too long to see her again.  It can be a long wait until your new baby gets back to the States. 

It makes for a very interesting option for a vacation.  The team at AskMen.com has more information on their site.

Audi is currently working on some higly tuned versions of their 2.0 liter TDI engines.  The engine in this concept has 221hp and 332lb-ft of torque.  This car is the Audi A3 Clubsport. 

There are currently no plans to bring this car into production, but is does give us a glimpse of what is possible in the future. 

Someday a “Car of the Day” could be a sporty diesel powered car.  You can read more about the Audi at Autocar-UK.  In Europe the diesel engine and fuel station network is much more common and accepted.  There are still a few challenges here in the United States before diesel is seen as anything more as just an “alternative” fuel option.   Sporty automotive applications such as this could help the American case for diesels.

Here is today’s “Car of the Day” — if I was to go out and purchase a car today with a $35,000 budget, it would be a Mitsubishi Evolution X GSR. 

The Evolution or Evo as it is fondly referred to among enthusiasts is a civilized rally car.  It has a super trick AWD system complete with Active Yaw Control, but the heart of this Evo is its 2.0 liter 290hp engine.  This little car has enough grunt to cover the 1/4mile 13.6 seconds.  If the 60 mph benchmark is how you measure speed, then you would be done measuring speed before your stopwatch hit 5 seconds. 

The styling isn’t for everyone; actually the car isn’t for everyone.  If performance is on the top of your priority list and you prefer 4 doors, this offering from Mitsubishi is a very attractive one.  The Evo X has actually received a little negative press for being a little softer than the previous Evos.  However, the previous Evos could stand to be a little softer, they were a little too closely tied to their rally race car brethren.  This made an Evo a challenging car for a daily driver. 

The newer Evo has resolved some of the pains that plagued the Evo IX. 

There are other ways to get near 300hp in the $30,000 price range, the primary option that comes to my mind is the Infiniti G35.  The G35 is a fine car, but is not quite the purpose built performance machine that the Evo is. 

To some the Mitsubishi Evolution is just a tarted up econobox, but those that get the Evo, those have driven one, those that appreciate the Evo know otherwise and understand that an Evo is a like a Japanese Audi RS4 for half the price. 

$35,000 may not sound like a deal for a car that started life as a Mitsubishi Lancer, but it is a deal for a car that has all of the high performance bits of a street legal rally car.

Okay.  I will admit it.  I’m not a believer in “global warming” and I frankly see most of the “going green” campaigns as a marketing gimmick.  However, that being said, there is something being a responsible global citizen and if “going green” can help save some of my hard-earned green, I’m little more inclined to be interested.

So what is the ultimate green car?  A Honda Insight? A Toyota Prius? A Tesla Roadster? A golf cart? Your bicycle? Or is it this?

It’s the Grassy Beetle!  There is a strange faction of people out there pimping their cars, not with bling but with blades of grass. Remember the old Chia Pets?  Well there say hello to the Chia Car! 

You can see more Chia Cars here and if you want to read about all things automotive and green check out the fine work being done by the folks at AutoBlogGreen.

The great thing about modern turbo charged engines is that they are a simple reprogramming away from a serious horsepower “boost”.  It isn’t uncommon for a proper tune on a turbo charged engine to result in an extra 100hp!

Is a Mitsubishi Evolution, Subaru STI, Legacy GT, Forester XT, WRX or a BMW 335i on your list of potential next cars?  Do you wish that your future car had a little more power?  Each of these can get an easy 40-100hp from just a new ECU. 

A 300hp BMW 335i can become a 400hp BMW 335i with just the Vishnu ECU tune.  Vishnu turns the 335i into a car that hit 60 in 4.4 seconds and cross the 1440 ft mark in 12.7 seconds.

If you have a Mitsubishi Evo IX then Vishnu has a deal for you.  For $750 you can add about 100hp to your Evo and turn it into a 380hp beast that can do 60mph in 3.9 seconds and trip the ¼ mile lights in 12.3 seconds.  That is a great deal and only takes about 20 minutes to install. 

If any of the cars Vishnu tunes ended up in my garage, I guarantee that the Vishnu tune would end up under the hood and seriously boost the output of my ride.

Learn more about Vishnu at http://www.vishnutuning.com/. 

How would like to be able to hit a website and have it easily figure out your annual fuel costs?  www.fueleconomy.gov allows its visitors to pick from any car made since 1985. 

Another excellent feature is the ability to customize your mileage and fuel costs.  If you live in a locale where gas prices are little higher or lower than the national average, just customize the settings.  If you drive a lot more city miles or highway miles you can personalize that setting also. 

Once you’ve customized your settings you can select your current car and then your top 3 cars you are looking at buying and see how much money you would save in gas.

Let’s say you broke down a few years ago and finally bought that Lamborghini Gallardo, but now the gas prices killing you and you are thinking about picking up a Honda Civic Hybrid.

With the help of www.fueleconomy.gov you would learn that the Gallardo would cost you $5760 in annual fuel costs and that the Civic Hybrid would only cost $1289 in annual fuel costs and that would net you a savings of  $4471 per year, run that out to 5 years and that would total over $22,000! 

They also have an area on the site where you can find the lowest priced gas in your area.

Check it out and save some money!

What if you could join a country club but instead of playing on a golf course your got to play on a 3.1 mile road course?  I don’t play much golf, but I guarantee a day at the track racing, is more fun than being on the green putting.

Well this isn’t a car enthusiast’s fantasy it is a reality. Texas Motorsport Ranch is a real place.  They bill themselves as a “Sports Car Country Club”. 

Texas Motorsport Ranch has member days where you can race your own car out on their track.  Local car clubs also can come out and rent the facilities for the day.

I’ve had the good fortune of spending a few days out at the track and I highly recommend it for anyone that get out there and race.  I especially recommend it if you find yourself driving a car that was really designed to excel in a track environment. 

There is a driving school located at the track to help you fine tune your track driving skills.  If you live anywhere near the Dallas/Ft. Worth area look into the Texas Motorsport Ranch, it is worth the visit.

Have you been waiting to buy your Lotus Elise until it got more power?  Perhaps you were waiting for the supercharger installed from the factory?

Well get your checkbook ready and start writing a check that begins with a 5 as in a $55,000 base price.  For your $55k you will get the usual Lotus Elise underpinnings.  You get a car that tips the scales right at 1 ton.  It is still powered by the 1.8 liter Toyota sourced engine.  The difference is now there is a supercharger bolted to it.   That extra bit of forced induction is good enough to send the little Toyota engine to peak output of 218hp.

This car should be on the short list for people who spend time at a road course track on a regular basis and if you have $55k to spend on your track car.  Think of it as a very expensive, very fast Miata. 

The guys at InsideLine.com have a full review of the Lotus Elise SC for your reading enjoyment.

For those of you that don’t know the “35” designation on the back end of BMW series number refers to the BMW’s 3.0 liter twin-turbocharged inline six cylinder motor.  The folks from Munich don’t want us to forget that the “M” in BMW stands for “motor”.

When the 335i first hit the streets a lot of automotive testers couldn’t believe the performance numbers that they were getting from the car.  They couldn’t believe it so much that the 335i’s were being sent to dynos to get a real rear-wheel horsepower number.  The 335i’s that ended up on the dyno were regularly showing 276hp and 300lb-ft of torque at the wheels. 

To understand why the 335i was underrated by BMW it helps to think about the showroom at BMW dealers across the country.  When the 335i was first introduced it shared the floor with the outgoing 333hp BMW M3.  BMW couldn’t have its much vaunted M3 outgunned by an average 3 Series. 

This is an award winning engine.  If you are fortunate to drive a “35” powered auto, count your lucky stars because it is a great motor with great potential.

There was a time that 400hp was reserved for the Ferraris and Lamborghini’s of the world.  However, today there a number of 400hp cars on the market today. It wasn’t that long ago that the almighty Dodge Viper and Corvette Z06 were just tripping the 400hp barrier.

Now you can by a Pontiac GTO, C6 base Corvette, Nissan GT-R, Chrsysler 300 SRT8, Dodge Charger SRT8, Dodge Magnum SRT8, Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, Frog Mustang GT500, Cadillac CTS-V, BMW M cars, Mercedes AMG cars, the Audi RS’s and there’s even a Chevy Trailblazer SS that you can get with a Corvette sourced LS2 pumping out 400hp. 

If you want some horsepower there is plenty out there to be had.  The V6 Honda Accords and Toyota Camrys are more powerful than the BMW M3 from a decade ago. 

If you know your muscle car history, then you know that our last golden age of muscle cars was killed off by high gas prices.  I’m sure you’ve noticed the recent pain at the pumps.  Could the second golden age be coming to an end?  I sure hope not. 

The hope that is out there is in cars like the VW GTI, Honda Civic Si, Mazdaspeed3, Cobalt SS, the STI and the Evolutions that are out there.  There are people getting more and more power out of smaller engines.  They say there is no replacement for displacement and that is true for the drag strip.  However, there may be a pretty good compromise in a time of peaking gas prices.

There is one other promise out there and believe it or not it lies in the Toyota Prius and cars of a similar design.  How do you make an engine more powerful? Turbo? Supercharger?  NOS? Some kind of power adder, right?  What if a hybrid vehicle used its electric motor for a performance boost instead of just for economy.  Imagine what a rush you would feel with a 100hp electric motor ready to kick in when you wanted it.   There is hope for speed freaks out there.

The top 10 cars are very strong and a quick primer in the world where cars and entertainment meet.

Iron Man’s Audi R8 even makes the Honorable Mention List. 

And speaking of the Honorable Mention List, if you don’t see your favorite movie car, it is probably noted there.

Here’s an interesting little something I learned from Carspace.com.

There is a new California state campaign that is trying to get people to stop changing their oil every 3000 miles. 

The campaign is centered around the “3000 mile oil change is a myth” tagline.   Today’s vehicles and today’s manufacturers actually recommend oil changes at less frequent intervals. 

They even have a website http://www.3000milemyth.org to help get more information out there to the public.

Check out when your manufacturer recommends oil changes for your group follow that schedule.  It will help keep more money in your pocket and more on supply for everyone. (oh yeah, and it’s good for the environment)