2011 Chevrolet Cruze RS package

I saw this car this morning and had to share.  We've had many Chevy Cruzes come through the doors but this one is sporting the new RS package and just looks a lot...well, cooler.  I really like the add ground effects with the fog lamps up front, overall it add a more aggressive stance to Chevy's compact sedan.

The RS package includes the addition of rocker moldings and unique front and rear fascias, an uplevel instrument cluster, front fog lamps and a rear spoiler.  As you can see from the pic on the right this particular Cruze also got the 17" Alloy wheels, the sunroof, and special metallic black granite paint.  It looks black inside but the metallic flakes really stand out in the sunlight.

RS badging, I originally thought the dealership had just taken RS badging from a Camaro and stuck it on the doors of the Cruze but apparently it was done at the factory.

Quick shot of the back end.

This is the rest of the window sticker, the car includes some nice features, remote start, 4 cyl Turbo, unfortunately it has the automatic transmission, I was hoping it would have a 6 speed manual and really make the car fun to drive.  At least the transmission has the option to control it with a manual setting, I don't know, it just isn't the same as having a clutch if you ask me.

The selling price on this one is $22,484.  Not a bad price for the styling, handling and value that you get.  Oh and did I mention that this Cruze gets up to 38 mpg on the highway?

Rumble in the Rockies - Ford vs. Chevy

I love rivalries.  They're fun in so many different ways.  Who doesn't love cheering for their favorite as each rival team pushes to come out on top in the big game?  So I started thinking about some of the big rivals that we have seen over the years...

• Boise State Broncos vs. University of Idaho Vandals
• Apple vs. Microsoft
• Led Zeppelin vs. The Beatles
• Coca Cola vs. Pepsi
• Darth Vader vs. Luke Skywalker
• Nike vs. Adidas
• Playstation vs. Xbox

Some are bigger than others of course, some are more important than others...

Ford F-Series vs. Chevrolet Silverado.  This one is huge, it seems that these two companies have battled for decades over who has the strongest truck, I don"t think there is a longer running rivalry anywhere in the auto industry. 

 

I stumbled onto a couple videos on Youtube.com that were created to showcase the performance of the 2011 Chevrolet Silverado HD 6.6 Duramax Diesel compared to the 2011 Ford Powerstroke 6.7 Super Duty.

They offered a real world challenge to Ford, they would have each truck tow a 19,000 lb trailer up a steep 7% grade in the Colorado Rockies.  Ford declined the challenge.

The tests were run by the editors from PickupTrucks.com and DieselPowermag.com to ensure that they were done fairly.  You have to watch the video to really appreciate what they found. 

Watch the Uphill Challenge
Watch the Downhill Challenge

Long live Chevrolet!

The Volt is coming, the Volt is coming, which is your favorite Hybrid?

I found some great information on the new Chevy Volt and wanted to share it.  Most of these "tidbits" came from a video that Translogic put out where they dug into a lot of the specifics of the operation of this new vehicle and put the car to the test as well at the General Motors Milford Proving Ground.  If you would like to see the full video, you can watch it here.  Also, their website is located at http://www.translogic.aolautos.com/

So here are some interesting facts about the Volt from this video.

• Charging will happen right from a standard household outlet in about 10 to 12 hours.  Customers can opt for a 240 volt charging station that will do it in about 4 hours.  It even has a mobile app for the iphone to allow you to schedule when you want the car charged and a whole bunch of other things like remote start from anywhere, sweet!
• The Volt has 4 different vehicle modes for different types of driving, Eco, Normal, Sport, and Mountain modes to optimize fuel economy.  During the video they were able to get about 100 mpg for the entire drive time and about 27 mpg while the gas powered generator was running.
• The Volt ran a 0-60 time of 8.53 seconds which is pretty impressive for an electric vehicle.
• They spoke quite a bit about the balance of the Volt, even though this isn't a sports car it has a sporty feel to it and is a lot of fun to drive. 

These are going to start hitting showroom floors this year but depending on where you live (like me in Idaho) you and I probably won't see one for quite some time.  Maybe next year if we are lucky.  If you get a chance though, take it.  This is going to turn out to be a pretty amazing car.

gt

I think that Kia has pretty much got this figured out

You have to admit, Kia has come a long way from the tin can crap of a car that they have been known to offer here in America.    Check out these beauties...

A Pride GTX, ooooooh!

The Kia Sephia, a classic

 You could pretty much count on a car that would dent if you leaned against it.  Or if you looked at it wrong.  :)  It had a hamster under the hood, it was cheap to buy and when it died, it wasn't really worth getting fixed, it was just time to throw it away.



Fast forward to today and you have an entirely different animal.  I read an article a while back that spoke about some of the goals that Kia has as a company.  The first one is to produce vehicles that are in the top 3 of all auto manufacturers for initial quality in the next 3 years, the second goal is to be perceived by the general public as being in the top 5 of all auto manufacturers within 5 years.  Lofty goals to say the least but it looks like they are doing it.  Kia is building some really nice, high quality cars at a price point much lower than their competition and they have the advertising to back it up. 

I have to say... I love the advertising.  Kia came out with their commercial for the Kia Soul, a boxy little ride with some pretty serious attitude, and I was hooked.  Have you seen the Soul commercials?  They are awesome!!!  Here are a couple links to see them on Youtube if you haven't already...

Kia Soul commercial
 This is a great video and pretty much started the whole hamster craze.

Kia Soul - The Black Sheep
This one is my favorite, my 2 year old has walked around saying "do-dah-dippity" for the past 5 months.




They keep coming out with video after video and it is amazing how Kia's image is changing.  All of a sudden, this is a cool car and lot's of people that wouldn't have considered one before, are considering one now.

Kia Sportage video from Australia
I found this one today, pretty funny video from down under.




Kia seems to have everything figured out, I may not run out right now and buy a Kia but if I was in the market, I would certainly consider one.

The 2011 Chevy Camaro SS? Sure, I would love to have one.

I have always had a level of excitement when I think of what it would be like to own a true muscle car.  If you have been reading my blog you have seen that this just isn't the kind of car that I have had the pleasure to own.  I think it would be really cool though, something like an early 60's Camaro, or a Pontiac GTO.  I love to see an old Chevelle that has been lovingly restored.  Especially the convertibles, awesome.

When Chevy re-introduced the Camaro in 2010 I was in love, this is a really cool car.  The styling is amazing, the front end and grill has this aggressive look, and all that power under the hood, quite honestly, does something for me.  The convertible isn't out yet but the SS model is, and oh what a car it is.  The Camaro that I drove can be seen here if you want to check it out. 

A beautiful Victory Red with the black leather interior, yes, I agree, this would have been better with the 6 speed manual transmission but I have to tell you, the automatic is no slouch.  The engine produces 400hp with the automatic and 410 lb.-ft. of torque with a 0 to 60 time of 4.7 seconds!  You get a little more horsepower and torque with the manual (426/420) but I was still impressed.  The exhaust system I am sure is tuned for performance and it sounds pretty cool but I bet that it could produce a more throaty roar with a little bit of help.  It does include a tapshift feature so you have the shift control right on the steering wheel for shifting up and down, way cool.

Driving this car is so smooth, it handles exactly the way you think it should.  Hit the gas and it throws your back into the seat, corner hard and it feels completely in control, even really fun.  The SS comes with an FE3 Performance tuned suspension, what an amazing system, sharp and responsive handling no matter what you throw at it. I would love to take this car on a road trip for sure.

Back to reality, (and work.)  I am 6'5" tall (not the best fit), I have 5 kids (they won't fit), and a conservative wife that I love dearly (probably not going to pay anything over $8,000 for a sports car), I can dream though, right?  Hey, my birthday is coming up, maybe I'll get lucky! :)

Defective dollar store water baloons and the ambush at the Tilby home

Hmmmm, ok, I have a story that I want to tell but I did promise that as I write for this blog I would always try to have something automotive included, I'm not sure how I am going to do that this time but I will do my best. 

I took my 7 year old daughter out for a date last week, we DROVE my 95 GMC Sierra and had a great time.  Our date ended up at the dollar store where she had a great time looking for something that she could blow a couple of dollars on.  With two "turtles that grow 600% in size when you put them in water" (not entirely true advertising we came to find out) we headed to the front of the store to make the purchase.  While standing in line I noticed some packages of 100 water balloons for sale (only $1 ea.) and tossed 2 of them them on the conveyor belt.

Image via Wikipedia

When we got home I just set them on my dresser and figured we would pull them out sometime and have a water balloon fight.  My wife took my oldest daughter last night to buy clothes for school so I stayed home with the rest of our kids.  After dinner I had the bright idea to get out the water balloons.  I pulled the cooler out of the garage, I put the plastic filler spout that came with the balloons on the hose, turned it on and started the long tedious process of filling the cooler with water balloons around 7pm.  I had forgotten how long this takes.  My daughter was having a lot of fun helping me and we were just cranking through them, she would get the balloon on the spout and then hand it to me to tie the balloon.

It took an hour and a half to get through the first 100, my cooler was about 3/4 full.  I couldn't believe that none of the balloons were breaking, these seemed to be pretty good balloons. Our thoughts began to turn from a regular water balloon fight to a full on ambush for my wife and daughter when they got home.  With our minds set on an ambush the conversation turned to how funny it would be to soak them when they weren't expecting it.  My 11 year old son caught wind of this and of course he was "all in."  The next hour was spent filling the other 100 balloons and creating our plan of attack.  We would lock the door from the garage into the house and let them pull into the garage with all of the water balloons hidden outside.  Once they couldn't get into the house and came outside we would let them have it... a foolproof plan. :) 

Anticipation continued to grow as it got later and later, we were filling balloons and getting more excited for the all out war that was sure to come out of this.  The sun was going down and they didn't pull into the driveway until 9:30pm.  The temperature had cooled off a lot from when we started and I began to have second thoughts about soaking my wife, I quickly brushed the doubts aside.  They drove into the garage, turned off the van, and we were ready.  My oldest daughter came out first, it was kind of dark.  My 11 year old son, 7 year old daughter, 4 year old daughter and 2 year old son grabbed handfuls of water balloons and went to work. 

My wife and I were coming out of the garage right when the first barrage of balloons hit my daughter, funny thing though, they didn't break, they bounced right off of her and hit the ground, rolling down the driveway.  My kids were already back at the cooler and buckets reloading for round 2, this time they aimed for my wife and again, maybe one broke but when they hit, they hurt and I think my wife might have had tears in her eyes, she showed me the red marks on her back later.

Tracy, my wife has never backed down from a water fight and last night proved to be no different, she ran in the house, grabbed two 48 ounce cups of water and the fight was on.  30 minutes later, broken balloons all over the house, lawn, inside the entry ways because somebody likes to hide behind the front door instead of keeping it outside, and everybody was soaked.  And yes, the hose was involved. 

All things considered, we had a lot of fun but I think that I will spend a little more next time and get balloons that will actually break when they are supposed to.

GT

My Bus

I started and ran a small t-shirt company around 2001 - 2002 called ZigZag Tees and I got the bright idea that it would be cool to have an old VW as a company vehicle.  Of course there would be the added benefit of being able to play with it as well, what a fun toy!

Somehow, I convinced my wife that this was a good idea and the search began.  I found a picture of a 1967 split window bus on the buletin board of the local VW repair shop, called the owner and found that he had sold the bus but the engine had blown up on the way to deliver it to the new owner.  That deal fell through and he had the bus towed to a local mechanic where it was still sitting. 

The bus looked great but had no motor, I fell in love.  A deal was struck for $2,000 and I towed it home.  After a newly rebuilt 1600 dual port motor was dropped in, (this makes it all sound so easy, I had to install it myself and that is really never as easy as you think it is going to be), I got to drive it for the first time.

These pictures were taken after I had done a lot of work on the bus, new rear bumper, new roof rack, new transmission, lowered and new interior.










We had so many fun times in this bus.








I eventually got tired of fixing the bus and put it up for sale.  After putting about $10,000 into it, I sold it for $8,000.  Nice investment huh?

#'s 6, 7 and 8 ~ Not extremely noteworthy, can't even remember what years they were.

I had a few years of blah when discussing my vehicle ownership.  We had a 92 Honda Civic, it was a green 4 door, nothing special.  We had a Mazda Millenia that we made the mistake of leasing...used...I still don't know why we did that.  I even drove an old 80's something blue Toyota wagon that I had picked up for something like $300.  It was cheap, it ran, I needed transportation and all I was doing was driving the thing back and forth to work anyway. 

See I have the ability to think of a vehicle strictly as transportation if that is all that it is.  Just a way to get from point "A" to point "B."  The bus wasn't that, the bug wasn't that, heck, even the Ford F100 wasn't that.  All of them had personality and I like personality. 

Back to the wagon, let me see if I can find a pic...

Like this one but in much worse shape with all of the paint in a nice oxidized, faded blue.  It spewed oil from day one and I knew it probably wouldn't last long, I was on my way home one day after work from downtown Boise to Middleton where our home was at the time.  I made it to the Nampa-Caldwell Blvd and started losing power, there was a strong smell of antifreeze in the cabin and by the time I reached Midland I started seeing smoke.  Not good.  It died really close to a junk yard and I pushed it the rest of the way, emptied it and left it.  :)

gt

#5 A 1969 Ford F100 - I was taught some lessons with this one

Isn't it amazing how hind sight let's you see all of your mistakes?  I am leaning toward having everyone assigned a crystal ball so we can vividly see the end from the beginning not have to learn evrything the hard way.

Lesson #1 The best looking vehicle isn't always the most mechanically sound.
The 69 Ford that I had actually ran pretty well, except for that one time when it wouldn't idle for nothing.  If you drove it and kept it revved up, it worked great, but as soon as I took my foot off of the gas, dead.  I learned all about points and how they can wear out and have to be replaced and how they won't allow a vehicle to idle properly if they are in bad shape.

Lesson #2 Parent's in Law are very forgiving people
After I bought this Ford the automatic transmission died and I didn't have the money to pay someone to fix it for me.  What the heck, I knew a little something about mechanical work and procedures right?  After all, I did successfully rebuild a VW motor on our kitchen table, totally qualifies me to tackle this.  So I needed to find a transmission, after shopping around it became painfully obvious that this wasn't going to be cheap.  I found a junk yard in Emmett that would sell me a used transmission to install and they would even guarantee that it would work.  So I was like...Cool, what could go wrong?  Yes, what could go wrong?  My In-laws graciously volunteered the use of their garage for the transplant and I went to work.  I got the first tranny (foreshadowing) and after much trial and error, sweat, greasy hands and arms, and some bloody knuckles mixed in, I was done.  I filled it with transmission fluid, and with much anticipation I put it in gear...nothing.  Good thing it had a warranty, I pulled it out again (this was like a 3 hour process for my unskilled hands) and took it back.  They gave me another one, I installed it (another 3 or 4 hours) filled it with tranny fluid, got in to start it and Tracy noticed a puddle forming on the floor.  Not good.  This one leaked like a sieve.  3rd times a charm, I was already into this so far, I wasn't going to back out now.  Back to the junk yard, another transmission and another install (I was getting pretty good at it by now).  This one finally took.  Hallelujah!

Lesson #3 Basset Hounds love to chase Fire Trucks
Baxter liked to hang out with me while I was working on the truck.  I was under the truck this one day and he just took off, flew down the driveway and high-tailed it down the street fast, and I do mean fast, especially for a Basset.  I climbed out to see Baxter keeping up with a Fire Truck howling and biting at the wheels, ears flapping in the wind.  Hillarious.

The 1959 VW Ragtop Bug - (and my kitchen table rebuild experience)

This happened right after my wife and I got married in May of 1994.  I found this 59 ragtop on a dealership lot in Boise and couldn't stand it, I had to have it.  The brick building in the background was our first apartment, actually a 4-plex in a not-so-nice part of town.  Let's just say that people did their fair share of partying and inviting the cops to come say "Hi" around there. 

That cutie in the background is my lovely wife Tracy watering the weeds. :) and check out that Basset Hound, his name was Baxter, we got him from the pound when he was five and he lived with us til he was 14.  The vet said that Baxter was the oldest dog at that clinic, he pretty much headed up the geriatric ward for them.

We had owned the VW for a couple of months and one day Tracy and I decided to take a drive.  We made it out to Ten Mile in Meridian and the engine seized up like Volkswagens love to do.  ....I was really happy about that.... We didn't have very much money so I made the decision to rebuild the motor myself.  I got to know the guys at Bow Wow auto parts really well.  I pulled the motor, I took everything off of it, bought all of the parts and since I didn't have a garage, I put it back together on the KITCHEN TABLE.  My wife was rather supportive, considering.  I installed the motor, started it, and it had a hard time idling, I drove it around the block, and it seized again.  That was a rather low point in my life, I was really unhappy about it this time.

I pulled the motor again, took everything off of it, took the engine case to Bow Wow to see if they could help me figure out what happened.  They blew some compressed air through the oil lines and sure enough, a piece of emory cloth that someone had put in one of the openings during the last rebuild had been sucked in and eventually plugged the line.

I rebuilt it, put it back in, drove it for about 3 more months and was constantly worried that it was going to blow up again.  We had some fun times in this bug, great drives, good memories but unfortunately I sold it.  I wish I still had it, I ran into the guy that bought it from me some time later and he hadn't had a bit of trouble with the engine I had built, figures.

My 3rd car - 1981 Honda Prelude

So I came home from Portugal the end of October, 1993.  I had nothing to drive, no money, and since I hadn't seen my family or friends in 2 years I was pretty excited to spend some time with them.  My older brother was living in Utah at the time and came up to see me as well, he had mentioned to a girl that he worked with why he was coming to Idaho, she happened to be coming up to visit family at the same time so they swapped numbers.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

I met my future wife on Halloween night, we went trick or treating with my younger brothers and sisters and had a great time.





I got a job, made a little bit of money and started searching.  I found this silver 81 Prelude, it was in pretty good shape, I picked it up for $800 and was back in business.  This car served me pretty well, I dated my future wife in this car.

Image by Baileyusa115 via Flickr

This body style but in silver.







Tracy was still living in Utah, her family was still living up here in Boise.  We long distance dated until Christmas when I asked her to move back to Boise so we could spend more time together.  One of the many trips down to Utah ended up being a little longer than planned, the clutch went on the last day before I was supposed to be back for work.  It was a Saturday, late in the day, so we couldn't find anyone to fix it til the next week.  On one hand, I knew I needed to be back to work but on the other hand I couldn't think of anyplace I would rather be stuck.  $600 for the repair and it was fixed by Tuesday.  It did allow us to spend more time with each other playing around Salt Lake which was really fun.

One last thing, when I sold it, I was able to sell it for $2,000 so even with the repair it turned out well.  And it made it possible for me to find another Volkswagen, this time, a 1959 Ragtop Bug.  This one has a few stories.

Vehicle #2 - 1971 VW Passenger Bus

I must have been pretty close to 17, graduating from Boise High School and ready for change.  The Fiesta had died the previous year and I basically had used my mountain bike as the sole mode transportation through my senior year.  This made dating a little bit of a challenge, as most girls don't like to ride on the handlebars at this age...for obvious reasons.  I did have the use of my mother's brown Ford Pinto station wagon but for some reason, girl's didn't like to be seen in that either, picky, picky.  As a result, not a lot of dating went on my senior year.

Image via Wikipedia

This was the color but like I mentioned, it was the wagon version with a bubble window at the rear quarter, a real looker I assure you!




I started watching the classifieds and came across this 1971 VW Bus close to the north end in Boise off of 27th by main street.  An older gentleman had owned it for many years and it was in beautiful shape.  This bus had the bench in the front with no walk through, a sliding door on the passenger side and a full length middle seat, it could seat 9 and did, many times.  We struck a deal and if I remember right, I think the guy had to let me give him a deposit and then pay it off over the next month, anyway, I was so excited once I finally got it home.  I took everything out of the pockets storage areas, cleaned the entire bus really well and I loved it.  I have a lot of great memories in that bus, my girlfriend at the time made some paisley curtains for the windows, I found a 3/4 length wood slat rack to go on top that had suction cup feet, it stayed up there for the rest of the time I owned it.  I also put a big "The Wonder Stuff" logo on the back window to personalize it a bit, it had the 1600cc dual port motor and I took that thing all over the place. 

This was the right body style but it was a cream color on the bottom and white on top




This one time my brother-in-law and I were up in the foothills above Boise late at night, we had climbed up 8th street and taken a right on Ridge Rd. I had my mountain bike in the back so when we got to the downhill section on Rocky Canyon Rd. we took turns driving the bus behind the other one of us on the bike.  No moon that night and it was really dark so you had to rely on the lights from the bus to see what was coming up.  We were flying down that hill and when you took a turn you couldn't see anything until the lights from the bus took the corner and caught up, luckily neither of us took a spill, really fun though.

I made the mistake of parking my bus in the driveway behind my mom's Pinto on a cold frosty morning one day and had the feeling that I should move it but unfortunately chose to ignore that feeling.  Windows frosty and my mom in a hurry, she backed right into it.  The driver's door and wheel well was all smashed in and I said some things to my mother when I was upset that I really shouldn't have.  Luckily some good came from it, I learned how to do body work (poorly) and my brother-in-law helped me paint it.  The entire bus.

Camping, road trips, cycling excursions, personality, slow and quite unreliable.  I ended up selling this one to help pay for a mission that I served in Portugal from 1991 to 1993 and sometimes I really do miss it. 

So I was out of the country and saw some pretty cool VWs over there, when I got back I bought an 81 Honda Prelude, more on that next time.

How to start a Blog...hmmm, let's go with...My first car

So I am going to start a blog.  You know, the idea of writing on a regular basis for people that I don't know and may never know kind of appeals to me.  I do have some interesting things to say and share...I think, and I happen to be directly involved in an industry that will provide a never ending supply of topics.  The automotive industry, love it or hate it and taking into account all of it's many faults, we all buy cars.  Even if some of us can't buy one right now for whatever reason, we will all still eventually buy one...let's see, how many cars have I purchased over my lifetime?  I am sitting here trying to remember through each one, it's difficult though, I am taking today off from work and my body is telling me that I should still be sleeping, let's see...

Image via Wikipedia

1st was the 1978 Ford Fiesta, mine was white, my parents basically gave me this car, it wasn't pretty and during it's time under my stewardship it became even less pretty.  I remember that it had bad rear shocks so driving down the road was a bit of an experience, at night the headlights would bounce up and down so my friends could tell that it was me coming even at night.  The brakes were in questionable condition and I had to pump them to stop, I'm wondering now why my parents ever let me drive this car.  The ignition switch had broken long before so it started with a screwdriver and the gear shift lever had broken right at the base so there was a little 1 inch stub that poked out from the floor of the car.  Naturally, we put a ratchet extension on that stub and away I went.  I rear ended a big truck in downtown Boise one time when I couldn't pump fast enough and the beautification process started.

After we pushed the radiator out of the engine and pushed the hood back down I attached a well worn, heavily played with He-Man action figure with duck tape as a hood ornament.  He was loose at the waist so when the car turned...He-Man did too, we had many hours of fun driving around town watching He-Man and letting him guide our way.  Man, was I ever pathetic.  Ok, a little story...we used to get quite a bit of snow here in the Treasure Valley and the fine folks at Boise State University would shovel driving paths through the parking lot in front of the BSU Broncos stadium so what you ended up with was a grid of streets with huge blocks of snowy goodness, we would muster all of the awesome raw power that my Fiesta could produce down the shoveled off road and then veer into the snowy square and hit the emergency brake, release the emergency brake and floor it!  Now that was fun, sometimes you could get a really good spin and skid out onto the next "road" and squeal the tires up to speed for the next round.  Ha, that was a blast.  I had a little more to say about my first car than I thought I would and I think I have found how I am going to start my blog.  Check back soon, I will dig into the seriously unused portion of my brain that houses the memories of my second ride and retrieve a 1971 Volkswagen Bus, this one sparked a love affair with VW that I still have a soft spot for.

GT