Shiny Bits of Life

Yes, I love this car. I’m selling it because we already have two cars. And it’s not our car. (I’m selling it for a family who left the country to live in Southeast Asia.)

Here’s my description in the Craigslist ad: 2.4 liter 5-cylinder. EXCELLENT condition!! Loaded with leather, sunroof, & 3rd-row seat. 178k but VERY well-maintained, many service records, recently new tires, timing belt changed at 108k. Recent work: replaced front struts & bushings, replaced front CV boots, upper engine mount, right front ball joint, new windshield, front brake rotors turned & new pads.

I’m asking $5,400. The only one I could find listed out there in internet-land is one from Washington state with 118k miles – at $8,950!

Update: A family bought it. They love the car. It was a pleasure to see their joy.

Not long from now, you’ll be seeing a Mini SUV on the road. As in, Mini Cooper.

It’s just wrong.

Focus… stick to what your core strength is. My guess is that they will sell about twenty. (I am joking – but I do not think that this will be their most popular model.)

It gets as little as 20 mpg. It’s 16″ longer and 6″ taller. If you will remember back to when the Mini was reintroduced (2001), the idea was to have a sporting car that got decent fuel economy. No more.

My take? Buy a used Mini and a used Toyota RAV instead. Then you will have your SUV – and what God intended – a fun, sporty car. All for less than the $29,000 starting price of a new Mini Cooper Countryman AWD.

Photo courtesy of Road & Track magazine.

The 2012 Mercedes S-Class sedans will have 9-speed transmissions. The idea is for them to have the smoothest and quietest shifts you can get.

To me, it’s overkill. Yes, refinement is great, but it is worth the extra expense? Our Honda minivan has a 5-speed transmission, which is wonderful. At highway speeds, it’s purring along at a very low rate of rpm’s. Our Toyota sedan makes do with just a 3-speed. That bothers me a bit, knowing that it would save some fuel if the engine spun at lower rpm’s in top gear.

I remember 10-speed bicycles being an innovation in the USA. My 1972 Gitane road bike came with a 10-speed. I upgraded it to a 12. Today most road bikes have 27 speeds. I’d be happy with 18. (Actually, I am happy with 12 – but I’d appreciate the difference 18 would add to my cycling experience.)

Jeepneys are the main way people get around in the Philippines. In East Africa, people ride in Matatus. I liked them so much I featured them a fair amount when I lived in Nairobi.

So I came across this photo of a Jeepney in a missionary magazine* – and I was struck by how the artwork was so similar to what could be found on Matatus in downtown Nairobi! It’s just amazing that the influences that shape how artists do their craft are similar, even 6,000 miles (9,500 km) apart!

Not only does matatu art reflect the latest trends in society, it always shows the cutting-edge of young artists’ creativity. (However, some matatu artists are better than others!) Often the several random sayings on one matatu provide a good laugh. One of my fantasies while living in Nairobi was to hire a photographer to take a million photos of matatus – and then I would create a coffee table book out of the best pix. Any angel investors out there willing to chip in?

* (Sorry, there was no credit given to the photographer, or I would have passed that on.)

Ever since we moved Heather’s parents out of their home of nearly 40 years, I have been keenly aware of the need to not keep things.

As I read an article in Car & Driver several months back about middle-aged men collecting and selling their childhood Hot Wheels toy cars, I regretted that I gave away my collection at about age 12. I thought, “Why should I keep these? I don’t play with them anymore!”

Then, I saw what the very first car I bought was going for at a shop not far from where we live – about $80. (The same model was actually pictured in the article – the ugly red Ford Thunderbird. Mine was a sort of gold color.) Oh well.

What thing do you wish you had kept?

(Photos thanks to Car & Driver.)

If American traffic engineers would mirror-reverse these two signs, thousands of gallons and hours could be saved, probably every day.

You see, whenever someone is in the right lane and wants to go forward (under the system shown in my photo), they hold up everyone behind them who wants to turn right (if the traffic is clear).

My way? Everyone in the right lane could turn, if there was no traffic coming.

This “center stack” of dashboard controls looks pretty cool. It’s from a Volvo. (I can tell by the typeface.)

Design mistake? When you’re driving down the road at 75 miles an hour (120 kph), the last thing you want to do is take your eyes off the road long enough to figure out which button you need to push to make the hot air go to your feet rather than at your face.

Takeaway? When you’re designing that thing – or planning that speech – go for what will serve the user best rather than what causes the biggest wow. (But be sure to leave enough wow in to make it exciting!)

Top: The forth-coming Audi A8. Notice the resemblance to the front of a train. That design trend started in Europe because their pedestrian safety laws forced vehicle fronts to be more horizontal and less pointy.

Bottom: Matte-finish paint seemed to be popping up in a few places among the cars we saw at the Denver Auto Show. My son Jay and I both liked the visual effect. (Left is a Lamborghini and right is a Lexus.)

Last weekend, my son Jay, his friend Taylor and I went to the Denver Auto Show. It was great!

A highlight was seeing the Honda CR-Z in real life. It’s a small 2-seater that’s the grandchild of my favorite car that I ever owned, a Honda CRX. They both have a great combination of fun driving and excellent fuel economy. The CR-Z updates the formula by adding hybrid drive. (And of course the cost will be about four times what the CRX was, not adjusted for inflation.)

The lowlight was the new Jaguar XJ. For more than $72,000, it did not deliver anything close to my expectations. Admittedly, I did not get to drive one. But I sat inside and played with all the knobs and controls. I was completely unimpressed at how one of the rear passenger lighted mirrors did not come on like it was supposed to. And from this pic, you can tell that they stylist chose a clock that would have been more at home inside a 1980 Cadillac. It also looked like I could have bought one off a vendor in the streets of Nairobi for about $20.

My only regret about the show was that John could not join us. (He’s in Germany.)