Coming soon to Nissan’s US showrooms, the Cube:

At Buffalo’s Central Terminal. July 26th.

Running against Jack Davis (D-In Name Only) is like running against Mr. Burns from the Simpsons; a curmudgeony, bitter, angry man who is supposedly spending $3 million of his own money to run for congress a third time, after losing twice already. Oh, and did you know Davis doesn’t like the Chinese or Mexicans? Yeah, it’s true. In fairness, Davis has better hair than C. Montgomery Burns.

One wonders why he’s bothering to run again, seeing as he expressed “relief” upon losing to Tom Reynolds in 2006.

But Davis’ resemblance to the fictional Mr. Burns isn’t just limited to temperament and wealth. You’ll recall that Mr. Burns own the Springfield nuclear power plant. Well, Mr. Davis owns $35 million in energy stocks.

From a Powers campaign press release today:

Jack Davis revealed in financial disclosure documents that he owns up to $35 million in Big Oil and energy stocks. A recent poll released by the Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg revealed that 76% of Americans blame Big Oil, George Bush, oil speculators, and OPEC for record high gas prices.

At a press conference held at a Mobil gas station in Amherst, NY, where the price for a gallon of gas was $4.19, Powers called for an end to corporate greed that is causing skyrocketing gas prices. The Powers plan for Securing Our Energy Independence calls for increased investment for renewable energy and curbing corporate greed by reigning in oil speculators.

“We now know Jack Davis has up to 35 million reasons to vote against lower gas prices. Exxon Jack is no different than George Bush and the politicians in Washington, DC who are already bought and paid for by the oil companies. Western New York needs a Congressman who will look out for their interests, not Exxon/Mobil’s bottom line” stated Powers Campaign Manager, John Gerken.

TOP 10 QUESTIONS JACK DAVIS MUST ANSWER ABOUT HIS OIL INVESTMENTS

· How can you say you are not beholden to special interests when you have up to $35 million dollars invested in Big Oil and energy while hardworking Americans struggle to fill their gas tanks?

· How can hard working Western New Yorkers trust you to lower gas prices when you profited by up to $280,000 off of Big Oil and energy last year?

· Why should Western New Yorkers believe that you will vote in our interests and not your own when it comes to Big Oil?

· Do you support drilling in ANWR?

· Would you vote against tax breaks for big oil?

· Is there really any difference between spending your own money that you received from Big Oil and taking special interest money?

· Isn’t it a little hypocritical that you made more than 5 times the median income of the district last year off of Big Oil and energy, but you say you understand the hard times Western New Yorkers are facing?

· What would you do in Congress to lower the price of gasoline and help the families in Western New York that you want to represent?

· Do you believe that renewable energy will help alleviate man-made global warming?

Davis won’t answer these questions because he never answers any questions. Not from voters, anyway. He doesn’t go out and meet them. He’ll show up and speak with reporters or party leaders and hurl invective at his opponents, but his stock answer to every problem, every issue is “foreigners”. Don’t believe me?

EDIT: VIDEO REMOVED FOR OBNOXIOUSNESS

That MacBook on Jack’s desk? Made in China. He also claims he won’t take special interest money.

His one big contributor is Jack Davis. He is his own special interest. It’s quite easy to make that pledge when you’re a millionaire.

On the other hand, Powers doesn’t make almost $300,000 per year off of energy stocks. His plan for energy:

An Energy Bill that Invests in Our Future – Provide tax credits to investors who empower scientists to develop renewable energy. Instead of giving away billions to Big Oil, we should provide funding to scientists and engineers to develop renewable energies. As of right now, Congress only provides an advancement of one year to investors who want to develop renewable energies while they provide billions to Big Oil. We need to extend these credits to 10 year allotments in order to provide scientists and engineers with the funds necessary to cure America’s oil addiction and make our Country safe.

A Menu of Options – There is no silver bullet solution to the energy crisis. The United States must not limit Americans to any one particular form of renewable energy, but provide several options in order to protect against future monopolies such as the one oil currently holds.

Apollo Sized Ambitions – When we come together as a nation, we can accomplish anything. The United States had a vision to get to the moon; we made the commitment and accomplished the task. If we are truly going to be energy independent, Congress must set firm goals of when America will be powered by renewable energy and then commit ourselves to making sure this happens.

A Government that Leads by Example – Jon Powers will support legislation that requires all newly purchased nonmilitary federal vehicles (including Postal vehicles) to be American made and use hybrid technology or E85 fuel within five years. We must also provide state and local governments incentives to move all non law enforcement vehicles to do the same.

Helping the Consumer Lead by Example – The federal government allows for a tax credit of up to $3,400 on hybrid vehicles. This incentive is only given to the first 60,000 models of each car sold. Jon Powers will work to make sure that all hybrid vehicles receive this tax credit until hybrids and other clean cars make up a majority of all vehicles sold. Jon Powers also supports housing tax credits for homeowners who invest in making their home more energy efficient.

Stopping Corporate Greed by closing the Enron Loop-Hole – Special Interest groups and Big Oil have created a loophole in the law that allows speculators to manipulate the price of oil and inflate it by $30-$50 per barrel. While Americans pay over four dollars per gallon of gasoline, Big Oil is making record profits. Jon Powers supports closing the loophole and forcing speculators to provide realistic estimates so our gasoline prices will go down.

An America that Leads by Example – Jon Powers will fight for legislation to require the use of safe, renewable energy sources like wind, solar, and hydropower to generate 25% of the nation’s electricity by 2025. America must also invest in technologies to improve ethanol and convert to cellulosic ethanol so that America can grow its own fuel and it will not affect the food supply.

Forcing Oil Companies to Lead by Example – Jon Powers supports legislation that will require oil companies to install bio-fuel pumps at 25% of their stations.

Reducing Carbon Emissions – Jon Powers will support legislation to cap emissions of greenhouse gases and reduce them by 20% by 2020.

All I know is, Exxon Jack’s tank of ideas and solutions is running on empty.

For many, many years American automakers Ford, GM, and Chrysler relied on SUV and pickup sales to help the bottom line while development of regular old cars declined. Some of them got the message a couple of years ago and started a new push to develop decent passenger cars that could at least try and compete with Toyota and Honda.

GM, ever slow to adapt, will be closing four truck and SUV plants in North America. The Hummer brand may go the way of the Dodo.

Wagoner said the GM board has approved production of a new small Chevrolet car at a plant in Lordstown, Ohio, in mid-2010 and the Chevy Volt electric vehicle in Detroit.

Wagoner announced the moves in response to slumping sales of pickups and SUVs brought on by high oil prices. He said a market shift to smaller vehicles is permanent.

GM shares rose 36 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $17.80 in premarket trading.

The cuts will affect about 2,500 workers at each of the four facilities, although Wagoner did not know exact numbers. Many will be able to take openings created when 19,000 more U.S. hourly workers leave later this year through early retirement and buyout offers.

He said the company has no plans to allocate products to the four plants in the future.

The moves will save the company $1 billion per year starting in 2010. Combined with previous efforts, GM will have cut costs by $15 billion a year, Wagoner said.

Wagoner said GM’s board approved the production schedule of the Chevrolet Volt, and the company plans to bring the plug-in electric car to showrooms by the end of 2010. The Volt runs on an electric motor and has a small engine to recharge its batteries.

That’s what happened in the late 70s, and we got the Chevy Citation dreck-o-rama.

The Cobalt will never be a Civic, but it was a modest improvement over the abysmal Cavalier. The Focus started out as a real competitor, but a decade’s worth of reskins don’t take away the fact that it’s a 10-year old car, and can’t compete with a brand-new Corolla. Chrysler - which, having recently been owned by Daimler-Benz, should have known better - introduced the Caliber, which is an attractive small hatch on the outside but sports an interior with plastic so cheap and rough that it could probably cut your skin.

Meanwhile, Honda never stopped improving its Civics, even while developing CUVs like the CR-V and proper SUVs like the Pilot. With a flick of the switch, it can turn a plant from Pilots to Civics.

Likewise, while Toyota developed Sequoias and Land Cruisers, it improved upon its vanilla Corolla and Camry, and sells that green icon - the Prius.

Prices are at $4/gallon right now. Domestics are again proving that they’re slow to get the message, and are going to be a few years behind their competitors. Saturn is the lone exception, offering sporty, efficient, and attractive small cars. (Of course, the Aura is an Opel Vectra in disguise, and the Astra is a rebadged Opel, as well. Thanks, Rüsselsheim. Let’s hope they get it this time.

According to Autoblog, Honda is selling a crazy amount of Civics lately because they get great gas mileage. By contrast, the hulking Ridgeline and new Pilot aren’t expected to sell quite as well.

Later this year, Honda is expected to add another 2,000 jobs as it begins to build Civics in Indiana, as well. That plant will be Honda’s seventh in North America. Honda has sold 34,163 units of the Civic in North America through April of this year, which is 8.2% more Civics sold on average per day than in 2007. For comparison’s sake, Toyota has sold 32,435 Corollas, Ford has sold 23,850 Foci and Chevy has sold 18,636 Cobalts so far this year.

By contrast, domestic automakers are pretty much caught off-guard by the sudden demand for fuel efficiency over body-on-rail behemoths.

In the article, Autoblog said that the switch from building Ridgeline/Civics would be “effortless”. The first commenter called bullshit,

Effortlessly? Do you work for Honda PR?

No, I’m quite sure there will be quite a bit of money and effort going into this

The responses pretty uniformly reply, yes effortlessly:

By pressing a switch the programs for the robots change, the track system gets narrower, the arms get closer and production changes from a Pilot to a Civic. Ive seen it done.

10 years ago a flex plant was one where two vehicles off of the same platform were built simultaneously, like a Camry or Avalon or Silverado and Tahoe. Now you can get completely unrelated in every possible way vehicles made on the same line.

and

About 10 years ago they began redesigning all of their assembly lines to be able to assemble any model that is currently in production, so that they can do exactly what the article discusses.

There are still logistics involved, but nothing like the wholesale re-configuration that would be required in a traditional older style plant.

and

So much for “Buy American”. Ford and GM are firing American workers, while Honda gives them jobs back. “Support America, buy Japanese” should be the new slogan.

You get the idea. There’s also an interesting discussion about legacy costs for US manufacturers versus merit pay employed by Japanese non-union shops.

With the price of fuel creeping upward on an almost Zimbabwe-like daily basis, people are slowly starting to alter their routines. Driving less, taking the bus, unloading the SUV, etc.

I’m ok for now, but I am eagerly awaiting the release of the new 50-state legal clean diesel engines. Battery maintenance, safety, lack of stop-and-go traffic, and unsatisfying mileage figures make hybrids a poor fit for me. A diesel, on the other hand, provides mileage that bests overall that of a Toyota Prius, looks and behaves like a regular car, and enables me to fill the tank once every two weeks rather than once every week.

I’m currently very interested in replacing my 2.0T gas engine VW Passat with the 2009 Jetta SportWagen TDI, which is coming out in August or September. The estimated highway EPA mileage on that car is rumored to be 60 MPG highway. That means I could double my miles-per-tank from about 400 to about 800. That’s a huge difference, and one that makes economic sense even with diesel being more expensive than gas. I’ll take mine in red with the massive panoramic sunroof and a 6-speed manual transmission, please.

The problem is that Volkswagen’s reliability can be hit-or-miss. Some I’ve owned have had few problems, others have been downright lemons.

Enter Honda/Acura. The New York Times just got through test driving a Euro-spec Honda Accord (sold in the US as an Acura TSX) which sports a 4-cylinder 2.2 liter diesel which makes 140 HP, but an incredible 250 lb-ft of torque. So, it’s not slow. Better still, in real-world testing, that Honda engine returned 34 MPG in the city and 53 MPG on the highway. Oh, and it’s Honda reliable.

Those miles included a bumper-to-bumper crawl through Manhattan, the worst possible conditions for fuel efficiency.

But for people who enjoy driving, the diesel delivers over the hybrid in a big way:

The Accord covered the zero-to-60 run in just under 9 seconds in my testing, which doesn’t sound spectacular on paper. But its passing power from 30, 50 or even 70 miles an hour was terrific, as the Honda easily shot past slower cars.

And as more hybrid owners are discovering, their cars deliver little or no mileage gain on the highway. That’s because battery packs and electric motors add several hundred pounds, and the system also contributes negligible energy at freeway speeds.

Also unlike hybrids, which require drivers to go easy on the gas pedal, watch the speed limit and coast when possible to improve the mileage, the diesel Honda delivered brilliant economy with no special effort. Even spirited driving didn’t dent the mileage much. The Accord delivered 50 m.p.g. even during a 75-m.p.h. cruise and 40 m.p.g. when I flogged it like a Nascar yahoo.

All that with less CO2 emissions than a car, and with negligible NOx emissions through state of the art particulate filters, ammonia systems, and ultra low sulfur diesel.

Once these diesels come out, carmakers can pretty much stop the excuses and whining about increased CAFE standards.

The name that Bruce Andriatch has coined for the traffic jams at many local Tim Hortons’ drive-thrus. The only reason why I ever go to Tim’s is the sour cream donuts - glazed or unglazed, and that’s very, very rarely. The coffee there tastes like cigarette butts to me, and they don’t give you a sleeve or double-cup it, so the cigarette butts burn your fingers, to boot.

The NFTA recently transformed a lot of its buses to diesel/electric hybrids. So did Toronto’s TTC. But in Toronto, they discovered this:

Toronto’s new and expensive hybrid buses are saving less than half the amount of diesel fuel the transit agency - and the governments that paid for them - claimed.

The Toronto Transit Commission and the federal, provincial and city governments said as recently as March that the new hybrid diesel-electric buses - which cost $734,000, compared with $500,000 for a conventional bus - were using 20 to 30 per cent less fuel.

But the TTC’s current fuel-savings estimate, incorporated in its 2008 budget after tests on the new fleet last summer, is just 10 per cent - although officials expect that number to improve.

Since hybrids only make sense in stop-and-go, heavy traffic*, I’d wager that the fuel savings in the Buffalo-Niagara region is even lower still.

The NFTA says:

Metro estimates a 25% to 30% reduction in fuel based on the efficiencies of the hybrid drivetrain.

If Toronto is getting 10 - 20% savings, I’d bet that we’re getting 5 - 10%. If that.

*The hallmarks of hybrid engines are engine start/stop, occasional electric propulsion, and brake regeneration. For that to make sense, you need to be stopping and braking a lot. Hybrid vehicles make zero sense in zero traffic WNY.

That’s Gasbuddy.com’s 5-year track comparing Buffalo’s gas prices (blue) to the US average (red). When we left Buffalo last Saturday, gas prices were around $3.40. They were about the same in Florida, and stayed about the same all week; we paid a low of $3.37 and a high of $3.50. So imagine my shock when the Tops gas down the street was at $3.65 yesterday. What kind of bullshit is this?

And what kind of bullshit is the fact that our gas prices used to pretty closely track the national average, but especially since Katrina (the big 2005 spike), we’ve been about 20 cents higher.

So, gas prices and the economy in general have me pretty well spooked, but the problem is that there’s nothing really worth getting to replace the Passat Wagon and help out with mileage. Diesels aren’t here yet, the Smart forTwo gets real-world mileage that isn’t any better than a normal-looking Nissan Versa or Toyota Yaris, and they can’t import the diesel Smart - which gets 70 MPG - due to emissions problems. I’m interested in the Jetta Sportwagen because I like wagons’ versatility, and this one will come with a panoramic sunroof and a 50 - 60 MPG TDI engine.

The problem is, diesel prices are even worse. Is it a better deal to get 700 miles’ worth of range from a 15 gallon tank of $4.20/gallon diesel versus 400 miles’ worth of range from a 19 gallon tank of $3.65/gallon unleaded? Diesel: 9 cents/mile. Gasser: 17 cents/mile. A very big difference.

What, if anything, have you done to deal with ridiculous gas prices?

Shh. I’m not really blogging this week. Or next. That’s why I keep popping up here, particularly at God-forsaken hours of the day.

A friend of mine complained to me yesterday about the dearth of car posts lately, so I thought I’d change that today, briefly.

1. Here’s a spy shot of the 2010 Ford Taurus. Currently, the Taurus is simply a re-badged, re-skinned version of what used to be called the Ford Five Hundred. It’s a gargantuan car that looks like a blown-up-last-generation VW Passat. Ford appears to be going in a derivative direction, and this grainy cellphone shot appears to show a blend of last-generation Camry and Saturn Aura / Chevy Malibu design details:

2. The New Honda Pilot has been spotted. I’m a former Pilot owner and dropped the SUV when gas prices hit the outrageous level of $1.85 per gallon.

Ah, those were the days.

In any event, the new version is more Acura-y, more modern and luxurious than the former version. I don’t get the grille at. all. It reminds me of what Zastava did to the old Yugoslav workhorse, the 101, aka “Stojadin”, back in the 80s. I’ll show you:

Old Stojadin:

New Stojadin, badged as the “Zastava Skala”

With that shown, here’s the next Pilot:

Apart from the massive headlights, I kind of like it.

3. I’ve seen a few of the the new Mercedes C-Class around town lately, and I think it’s a strikingly beautiful car. Amazingly, you can get one for about $32,000 - much less than most SUVs or well-equipped minivans. Much less than a BMW 3-series, and about the same as a Saab 9-3. The huge Mercedes emblem embedded into the grille looks sporty and modern. The headlights have LED eyebrows. In person, it turns heads, for sure. I realize it’s somewhat of a wanna-be, poseur car and that a “real” Mercedes costs closer to $50k, but I appreciate that Mercedes has a long history, a good reputation, and it’s made its baby Benz quite gorgeous looking. Problem for me is that it’s rear-wheel drive, although AWD is available, but only with an automatic transmission. You can get a 6-speed manual with the 2WD version. Just saying, I like this:

Courtesy Autoblog.

The nose that I’m referring to at the very end is that of the brand-new Nissan Murano. Look at this front end and just try not to throw up in your mouth a little:

We’ll have more from the Auto Show later this week.

I wasn’t able to make the time to go to NAIAS this year, so I’ll rely primarily on the work of others. Frankly, Detroit has been eclipsed in recent years by the Chicago Auto Show, which follows close on its heels, is located in a bigger city, and has a better facility. You think Buffalo’s Convention Center is a mish-mash of about seven different inter-related problems ranging from fugly design, small space, intrusion on the street grid, etc.? COBO Hall is a disgrace, given the fact that the major US automakers continue to be based in the neighborhood, and Detroit is supposed to be their big show.

Last year, the theme in Detroit was crossovers. Vehicles that are now on the road, such as the Mazda CX-7 and CX-9, the Hyundai Veracruz and redesigned Santa Fe, a redesigned Mitsubishi Outlander, GM’s Outlook/Enclave/Acadia, and others.

This year, we were meant to believe that the theme was “green”. That doesn’t necessarily explain why the redesigned 2009 Ford F-150 was named most “significant” introduction.

Toyota unveiled what can best be described as a Camry wagon - the Venza. I’m a big fan of wagons/sportwagons/hatchbacks, and this one is sort of cool-looking, but that front end…

BMW unveiled the 1-series convertible, coming to the U.S. market. While the Volvo C70 is stunning-looking and grown-up, and the VW Eos is a good value, available for under $30k, the 1-series starts out at $34k, but is decently equipped (read: you get a CD player) at close to $40k. This is for poseurs; people who don’t know much about cars, except that they want to be seen in a Bimmer.

Also from BMW is the 335d. On the outside, it’s a regular 3-series sedan. On the inside, it’s packing a 3.0L inline six-cylinder clean diesel engine that makes 265-hp, and 425-lb.ft. of torque. Translation? It’s a fast em effer, and will get about 34 MPG on the highway.

Honda unveiled a “prototype” of the next-gen Honda Pilot. Overdue for a redesign, this concept is just about production-ready, but I can’t imagine those eyeballs will make it into showrooms.

Honda also released its i-DTEC clean diesel engine, which will be released first, according to rumor, in the Acura TSX (which is little more than a rebadge of the European-market Honda Accord). Pair clean diesel power and fuel economy with Japanese quality, and more than a few people will be sold.

Ford introduced the Verve, which incorporates its newer, more European-influenced “Kinetic” design language.

Subaru introduced its new Forester. *Ugh*.

Volkswagen introduced something called the Passat CC. It’s like a Passat, only it isn’t. It’s like a Mercedes CLS, but its home is in Wolfsburg, not Stuttgart. What it will have on offer is something called a TSI engine. Already in use in Europe, the engine gives you more power with a smaller engine, resulting in improved gas mileage. The trick is, it uses a supercharger for low-end boost, as well as a turbocharger for higher-end power. It goes faster than the standard 2.0L turbocharged direct-inject engine, has more torque, and gets better mileage. Bizarro world, indeed.

Chrysler, no longer encumbered (or assisted, depending on your POV) by Daimler, unveiled some concepts:

The Jeep Renegade looks Muppet-like:

The Dodge ZEO looks like an angry momma eagle:

The Chrysler ecoVoyager is supposedly quite frugal with fuel, but looks somewhat derivative…

How about a fuel cell-driven Cadillac concept that looks pretty damn cool?

Finally, how about the Fisker Karma - a luxury hybrid sports car. You can have one for about $80,000, and it will do 0-60 in just under 6 seconds with its 4 cylinder engine mated to an electric motor…

There are two different modes available to drivers; the first, dubbed “Stealth Drive” is a pure electric mode which should allow the Karma to run off the lithium ion battery pack for 50 miles before the engine kicks into boost the juice. The second, a sports mode, integrates the four-banger for peak performance and, according to Fisker, makes the Karma sound like a combination of a jet fighter and an F1 car. The batteries themselves are placed smack dab in the middle of the vehicle, which lowers the car’s center of gravity and improves weight distribution.

Apart from the Dodge Ram, that’s about all I saw that was particularly interesting. The Mini Clubman S was released, but that’s not “new” in any strict sense. I don’t get all worked up over Corvettes, so I’ve ignored the ZR-1.

But I will leave you with this. The Audi R8 concept.

With anti-peek technology. That’s pretty badass.

At the tail end of the thread in reply to Geek’s post outlining the unfair and deceptive business practices of Joe Cecconi Chrysler Jeep in the Town of Niagara, this comment appears:

While we haven’t met or done business, I’d be happy to supply you (no charge) with a spare key and program it for your vehicle. Yes they have a chip inside and are expensive but you shouldn’t have to be going through this. Contact our Chrysler Service Director, Steve Heary at 667-1700.

There is no catch in this , I’d just like to work hard to earn you as a customer. As a 4 time recipient of the Better Business Bureau Torch award for ethics , we strive very hard to do whatever it takes in the community to help owners no matter where they purchased.

Please mention to Steve that I referred you to him.

Kindest Regards-
Brad Coon
Director of Parts and Service
West Herr Automotive Group

Good show, West Herr!

Way back when, in the long long ago, I wrote a brief but memorable post. Here it is:

I said I was mulling a post about it, and figured instead that I’d solicit your comments about a theory that I have.

All too often, people in Buffalo mistake “would be nice” for “must be done“.

Example:

1. It would be nice if Pano kept the Atwater House around and incorporated it into his expansion plans; vs.
2. Pano must keep the Atwater House around and incorporate it into his expansion plans.

Geek adds to my earlier Tielman post. He puts a re-routing of a 2-mile stretch of the I-190 in the “would be nice” category. I don’t even know if it approaches the “good idea” slot yet, which is a condition precedent to reaching “would be vs. must be”.

Also, some in comments here make the point that Tielman is thoughtful, and well-respected, and has done a lot of positive work for the community. That’s all well and good, but when he answers a few questions that no one asked - re-routing the 190, a lift bridge across the Niagara River, and preserving an abbreviated, useless Skyway - he’s not above being criticized.

One of the canards going around is that all of this would be a net positive for the economy. Why, if we re-routed, thousands of people would flock to Riverside to snap up dirt-cheap homes with a view of the sunset over the water Canada.

Probably the thousands of suddenly inconvenienced Tonawandans and Kenmorians whose backyards have been turned into a trucking corridor.

In comments, Geek makes the point that multi-lane waterfront roadways have not hampered growth and progress in Chicago and Toronto. Denizen makes a similar point. Consider:

The presence or non-presence of a roadway along the waterfront is not an inhibitor to local economic development. There, I said it. The economy is an inhibitor to waterfront development.

Instead of playing with the waterfront with blocks and Matchbox cars,

If we focused instead on fixing our local economy, lowering our collective tax burden, incenting companies to build here, and creating jobs, there would be an impetus to design and implement such projects. Tielman’s plan is “cart before the horse” as they say…

Until we get to the point where Buffalo and Western New York are again economically viable business locations, projects like this will simply be fodder for blogs and public radio.

Are we really going to keep blaming limited-access roads for the decline of neighborhoods throughout Buffalo, or are we going to get serious about the real, root causes? Because I’ve seen communities thrive in spite of highways and freeways and expressways and turnpikes and parkways all over the world. Has Storrow Drive ruined property values on Back Bay’s Beacon Street? Are the Montreal neighborhoods around the Decarie bereft of life? Of course not.

These are British ads for Volkswagen’s Bluemotion Polo. It’s a diesel. It gets 62 miles per US gallon.

We have a long way to go.

I always come back to the Ford Focus as being emblematic of what’s wrong with Ford USA. The domestic Focus is on its third re-design in its almost decadelong lifespan, and it looks like something my kid threw up. They got rid of the less offensive-looking wagon and hatchback versions, to bo