The automotive media had a field day this week with an internal memo that had been sent to Chevrolet employees in Detroit.  The contents of the message stressed that the word ‘Chevy’ was no longer to be used in any official communications regarding the brand, as it was causing too much confusion and diluting the Chevrolet image.

Naturally, the idea that a corporation could put the Chevy genie back in the bottle after 50 years of advertising and car culture had made the word as American as apple pie seemed ridiculous – and precisely the type of move that an out-of-touch corporate giant would blunder into.  While this particular mis-step certainly made it look like few things had changed at General Motors since the recent bankruptcy reorganization, the opposite is in fact true.  GM has come a long way in terms of redefining its image, re-staking its claim on the North American market and shoring up its financial performance over the past 10 months.

So much press was generated from the leaked internal memo that GM was forced to issue its own statement claiming that the wording had not been properly thought through, and that of course it would not discourage the public at large from continuing to use the word Chevy in the discussion of its products.  With regards to ‘wording,’ the most amusing part of the memo was the example given of Coke employing a similar singular corporate brand focus, ignoring the fact that the proper name for the manufacturer of the carbonated beverage is Coca-Cola, and that it has maintained dual brand identities for decades.

Regardless of the GM’s clarified position, internally Chevrolet will henceforth be referred to exclusively as ‘Chevrolet’– at least until the brand selects yet another advertising agency to take over its account, as GM has had little success in maintaining a long-term relationship with its Chevrolet campaign designers of late.  If the company continues to make moves like this, then perhaps it won’t need any external PR at all – as Oscar Wilde once said, the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.

I recently came across an article published on the USA Today website reporting that motorists in the United States might soon see far stricter enforcement of speed limits than they have been used to in the past.  The driving force behind this pending clampdown isn’t related to safety or a perceived need to reduce national fuel consumption by keeping cruising speeds low – no, it’s actually tied in to the still tepid economy.

It seems that there are several states and municipalities that have taken it upon themselves to reduce or completely eliminate what USA Today calls the ‘5-10-mph cushion’ – that is to say the acceptable amount by which motorists can currently exceed the speed limit before attracting police attention.

Anyone who has ever traveled anywhere with speed limits in the 60 to 65-mph range is undoubtedly familiar with the phenomenon of cars moving past a speed trap at a rate of 70-mph without so much as a second look from the officer on duty.  This tolerance of low-level speeding is often called ‘flow of traffic,’ and as long as drivers do not weave or perform otherwise dangerous maneuvers most law enforcement agencies have been content to let them get away with this type of minor infraction.  In fact, 42 states have been noted as adopting this relaxed attitude towards speeding.

Unfortunately for those who enjoy personal rapid transit, it would seem that the crackdown on casual speeding has already begun in earnest across the country.  Motorists in areas as diverse as Missouri, Massachusetts and Wisconsin have reported an increase in ticketing that would appear to be directly related to the need to fill government coffers.  Several studies have also shown that declines in municipal or state revenues are often followed by an increase in ticketed offenses the following year.

What can drivers do about the coming surge in speed limit enforcement?  Other than drive more slowly, not much.  Anyone who spends much time out on the highway or even on the smaller roads around their home will most likely need to be that much more careful over the coming year in terms of keeping their speed within the boundaries of the law.

There are so many different seals of approval, safety awards and marks of industry excellence floating around the automotive world that it can be difficult for the average driver to sort through the accolades and determine which ones are the most meaningful to them.  This post is the first in a series that tackles the major vehicle awards and ratings and explains them in plain language so that you can decide which ones – if any – will impact your vehicle buying decisions.

As a freelance automotive writer, you can be sure that I am often called upon to write about the safety benefits of a particular vehicle.  How a car, truck or crossover performs in a crash is a very important characteristic for new vehicle shoppers, especially those with young families or children.  One of the most respected and difficult to achieve safety ratings is given out by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).  This non-profit group has been in existence since 1959, and since 2005 it has given out a Top Safety Pick award for the vehicles it judges to be the safest on the market.

Only 27 automobiles made the cut and received Top Safety Pick recognition for 2010.  Taking a look at how strenuous the criteria are for this award makes it easy to understand why so few vehicles manage to satisfy the requirements set forth by the IIHS.  Any car, truck or SUV hoping to achieve this particular safety rating must be judged as offering ‘Good’ protection in front, rear and side impacts.  They must also offer electronic stability control as at least an optional feature.  2010 was a particularly grueling year for IIHS hopefuls as the organization introduced a new rollover crash rating wherein vehicles had to offer roof strength that is twice that mandated by federal regulations when it comes to crush testing.

What is the bottom line for safety-conscious new car shoppers?  IIHS Top Safety Pick recognition is the real deal when it comes to separating reasonably safe cars from very safe cars.  The real-world testing performed in order for a vehicle to meet IIHS standards is extremely harsh and a good indicator of how an automobile will perform in a serious crash.  Subaru led the pack this year with five vehicles out of the 27 on the list, and Volkswagen and Volvo each contributed four.  You can see a complete list of the IIHS’s 2010 Top Safety Picks list here:  http://www.iihs.org/news/rss/pr111809.html.

Spring is supposed to be a happy time.  Not only does the snow melt – at least in my part of the world – but the warm temperatures and clear roads mean that enthusiasts start to bring their cars out of hibernation.  One week ago I made a special trip to the top secret location where my Mazda Miata rode out the snowy months in blissful slumber, intent on breaking it out from under its car cover.  I was understandably excited – after all, it had been three months since I had last driven the car.  While I enjoy my BMW, I have become quite antsy with just a four-door sedan to drive, and I was definitely craving some nimble, top down action.

When I arrived at the storage facility, I was dismayed to see that the garage was not nearly as dry as I had been promised.  In fact, the entire front slab of the garage was soaked through.  Undaunted, I removed the car cover, installed the battery and began to remove the collection of mothballs that I had sprinkled throughout the trunk, passenger compartment and underhood area.  I then put the key in the ignition and committed the act that has haunted me for the past 10 days – I put the clutch in, turned the ignition over, and then without thinking let the clutch out.

The car surged forward.  For a second, I had no idea what to do.  It was almost as though all of my driving experience left me for just that moment, sitting there in the cold, uncovered aluminum seat frame.  I had no instinct to stab at the brake pedal, kick the clutch in or knock the car out of gear.  Instead, I froze, and as a result the car lurched into some stationary object resting in front of it and stalled.

How could I have been so stupid?  It turns out that habit is what did me in.  I never leave my cars in gear – I always use the emergency brake when parking.  However, leaving the e-brake engaged on my Miata for three months in an environment of questionable dampness would have possibly cause my rear brakes to seize up with corrosion.  As a result, I instead left the car in gear.  Since the shifter is so stubby, there was no glaring visual reminder that the vehicle in fact had first gear engaged, and I never bothered to check.

I quickly sprung up out of my seat and ran to the front of the car, somehow eager to inspect the damage I had undoubtedly done to the front clip.  There, on the upper right lip was the unmistakable scrape mark of steel against paint – three solid scratches right through to the primer, and all around a steel wool finish.  There would be no polishing this mistake into oblivion.  I looked around for the culprit and found a metal stool sitting in front of the car, which had been jammed against the countertop at the front of the garage.

Needles to say, this ruined my entire day.  To be truthful – and this is going to sound ridiculous to those who are perhaps not as infatuated with cars as I am – I still feel sick to my stomach whenever I think about what happened, or visualize the scratch in my mind.  Even writing these words has been difficult.  What makes it worse is that the entire thing was 100 percent my fault.  All of the work I spent preparing my car for storage – cleaning, waxing, covering – was undone in a second’s carelessness by my hand.  I know that this scratch will continue to dominate my Miata-related thoughts until the day I slug over to the local body shop and get a quote on a bumper repaint.  Yes, that is just how obsessive I have become about this.  I am not posting a photo of the damage because I hate immortalizing my automotive mistakes, and it will just give me something else to fixate on.  At least I can only currently look at the scratch on the car when I am actually outside and near the Miata.

Lessons to be learned from all of this?  When storing your car, leave a Post-It note on the steering wheel listing the important things that you will have forgotten about in your excitement to get your car back on the road.  This can include things like the fact that

1 – the car is in gear, or

2 – that there is steel wool blocking the tail pipe.

In my case, the latter meant nothing more than a grey projectile erupting from my exhaust upon start-up, but the former has broken my heart.

Maybe I’ll leave the car in reverse next time.

One of the things I enjoy most about the Miata is that it doesn’t have a roof.  Well, it does have one, of sorts – it’s made of fabric and plastic – but it is almost never raised on my car, except when it has to be stored for an extended period.  I love the feeling of freedom that comes with driving an open car, even if it does mean that people in other vehicles or on the sidewalk feel that they have an open invitation to initiate conversations with me completely out of the blue.  It just comes with the convertible territory.

As someone who has been known to drive home in the rain with the top down, it might surprise you to find out that lately I have been pondering a purchase that is seemingly incompatible with my wide open lifestyle.  That’s right – I have been tempted by a hard top for my Miata.

Why a hard top?  To begin with, there’s no denying that while the Mazda Miata’s cloth roof looks dowdy, when fitted with a hard top the tiny convertible transforms quite beautifully into a sexy-looking coupe.  Past that superficial – although important – consideration, there is also the fact that a hard top would be a practical addition to my track day excursions.  I am planning to hit up both Monticello and Watkins Glen this coming season, and having a hard top on the car during a long trip would help me to pack as much stuff into the vehicle as possible, as well as better prepare me for running in the wet should conditions turn sour.  Visibility with the cloth roof up is sub-par at best when it rains, but a hard top can be had with a defroster and the wider rear glass improves sightlines considerably.

I have also come to the conclusion that a hard top might help me extend the driving season by at least a few weeks at either end.  Given that I live in a part of the world where summer is a fleeting beast almost always seen running towards or away from the observer, a roof over my head could very well goad me into driving the car right up until the snow nips at my garage – as well as protect me from March and April showers.

The final caveat concerning hard top procurement is their relative rarity.  Since the creation of the Spec Miata racing series, which requires a mandatory hard top on every car, these accessories have been harder and harder to find at a reasonable price on the open market – let alone in a color that would match my black Miata.  I have resigned myself to having to over-pay for a solid roof should I eventually cross over to the dark side.

So what is the verdict?  Do I stay true to the spirit of the car and continue my topless adventures, or should I give in to practicality and procure myself a hard top for those special situations?

The old cliché that the internet is full of scams is in some ways still accurate today.  As in any situation where you are asked to part with your money, when shopping online you should always make sure that the person you are doing with – virtual or otherwise – is on the up and up.

Purchasing big ticket items online has opened the door to scammers looking to prey on buyers who are eager to jump on what they perceive as amazing deals.  This has become common on the web when it comes to car sales, with sites like Craigslist peppered with ads for desirable vehicles at too-good-to-be-true prices.  Even eBay, which used to be fairly good at rooting out illegitimate vehicle auctions has increasingly fallen behind when it comes to removing listings which are clearly bogus.

The vast majority of the time, when something seems too good to be true, it is.  I’ve managed to keep this attitude about me during my recent online car search, which has seen me tracking down a specific and somewhat rare model over the internet for a couple of months now.  An experience that I had just last week prompted me to write this post in order to remind others of a few indicators to look for when ferreting out suspect internet ads and auctions.

I had found the car I was looking for on eBay, for a price that was perhaps $2,000 to $3,000 less than the low end of the market.  Actually, the pricing was somewhat more complicated than that – the no-reserve auction had a starting bid of $200, but the item description specified a ‘buy it now’ price of $12,999.  It also specified that in order to be able to bid on this auction, buyers would have to contact the seller via an email address, outside of eBay.

This type of item description should right away set off alarm bells regarding its authenticity.  First of all, if an item doesn’t have a ‘buy it now’ option but lists a ‘buy it now’ price, the seller is most likely attempting to get you to deal with them outside of eBay’s buyer protection system.  Not only that, but requiring pre-approval to bid on an auction should only occur on high end items, not sub-$20k used cars.  In any case, all electronic communications with a buyer should be initiated through eBay, particularly something as nebulous as being approved to bid.  A quick look at the seller’s feedback didn’t tell me much, other than the fact that he or she only occasionally used the site and didn’t seem to have sold any vehicles through eBay in the past.

With my scam radar tingling, I began to take a look at a few of the other odd items involved in the auction description.  First, the vehicle was listed as being in Wisconsin, but the seller’s email address bore a .ca TLD – indicating that they were not a Wisconsin resident.  Since parts of that state are close enough to the Canadian border that someone may have moved from one side to the other in recent history, I decided to write this off to general paranoia.  However, looking closely at the vehicle’s history report, which was provided by eBay, revealed that the car was titled in Texas – not Wisconsin.  In fact, an examination of the photos of the car found in the listing showed a distinctly desert-like environment, with no grass but plenty of crushed stone landscaping and desert plant life.  Definitely not the type of background one expects to see in auction photos taken in Wisconsin in January.

By now I should have realized that once again, something too-good-to-be-true was exactly that.  I still attempted to contact the seller, both by email and through eBay to see what would happen.  I made sure to ask specific questions about the vehicle that the seller would easily have the answers to in order to ensure a more personalized response.  After three days of waiting and a second message through eBay, I got back the same poorly typed, form-style answer regarding some sob story about having too many cars and needing to sell one in order to raise money for some particular reason.  A verbatim copy of this message was sent to me four times.

At that point, I forwarded the emails I had received to eBay’s fraud department – harder to do now that it has shut down its Safe Harbor system – and forgot about the whole thing.  A few days after that, I received a message from eBay telling me that the seller’s account had been compromised, and that the auction had been fraudulent.

My search for a new car continues.  If anyone else out there is scouring the web for a great deal on a vehicle, please make sure that you stay wary and keep your wits about you.  Often times, the more appealing a deal is, the less legitimate it is likely to be.

When I was a kid, new car auto shows were a special treat that I would get to experience once every few years or so.  I grew up about an hour and a half away from Montreal, which has hosted the Montreal International Auto Show since 1969.  I can remember how long the road trips from my hometown into the big city seemed at the time, and how amazing it was to see all of these gleaming new cars and trucks arranged in the displays that littered the main exhibition floor of the Olympic Stadium.  The most exciting part for me was being allowed to sit in each of these amazing machines, flipping switches, reaching up to put my hands on the wheel and straining to be able to see over the dashboard.

As a teenager, I would caravan into Montreal with a group of friends to check out the Montreal show on a more regular basis.  I can clearly remember the year that the ceiling of the Olympic Stadium (or Big O) rained down huge chunks of concrete, crushing most of the Subaru exhibit days before it was scheduled to open.  The ensuing cancellation of the festivities completely ruined our group’s plan to show up on opening day wearing Subaru hard hats.

The show is still going strong, having moved to the undoubtedly safer grounds of the Palais des Congres, and I have been able to visit almost every year since moving to Montreal in the early 2000’s.  However, despite the enjoyment I got out of the exhibition, I had always harbored a dream to take in the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, which to me represented one of the ultimate gearhead experiences.  In 2008, a close friend and I made the 10 hour drive west and spent a day taking in all of the sights and sounds of what was most likely the last major edition of the vaunted NAIAS before the global recession took the winds out of the sails of the entire automotive industry.

2009 saw manufacturer participation in auto shows worldwide turn spotty at best.  Of the heavy hitters on the old circuit, only Frankfurt appeared to emerge unscathed, with Tokyo, Chicago and L.A. each seeing a drop in attendance from car companies unable to justify the cost of carting their new vehicles across an ocean or two to be gawked at by the public.  Smaller shows such as the one in Montreal were largely unaffected, as their exhibitions were not on the same grand scale and were therefore more easily sustainable through local efforts.  Unfortunately, the Detroit 2010 show looks to be following in the same downsized footsteps as the 2009 edition.

Despite having my own local show to turn to, it pains me that Detroit’s previous gleaming jewel in the automotive show pantheon may now have fallen by the wayside, like so many other aspects of the city’s infrastructure and economy.  How much longer can the Los Angeles show – the heir apparent to Detroit’s original glory – continue to pick up the slack before that spectacle too is scaled back and car companies restrict themselves to one or two events a year in order to show off new models in the most efficient and inexpensive way possible?

Will I eventually have to buy a plane ticket to Frankfurt in order to stay current with the cream of the automotive crop?  As much as I have enjoyed visiting Germany in the past, regular trans-Atlantic flights for the sake of ogling the latest and greatest sheet metal seems like a bit much.  It’s possible that I will one day be telling my grandchildren about the fabled industry expositions of the past in the same reverent tones that old timers currently use to describe the GM Motorama traveling exhibitions of the 50’ and 60’s.

Do any of you have any memories of automotive spectacles that you would like to share?

There are a number of different regimens that are subscribed to when it comes time to store a car for a decent length of time.  Being that my Miata is only going to be on the shelf for about 3 months, I decided to balance the hardcore with the practical, which kept me from going overboard in terms of preparing the car for its winter-long nap.  In a nutshell, here’s what I did to the car before I said goodbye:

• A thorough wash and wax.  The idea behind washing and waxing a car before it sits for a long time is that you get all the dirt and grime currently on the vehicle off of the paint, and then seal it so that any chemicals that may have been sitting on the surface of the finish don’t have time to work their evil magic.  I used Klasse wax, as I have had good experiences with it before on my BMW.  A coat of wax also helps to protect that paint from any scuffing that could come from being in contact with the car cover for long period.

• Inflated the tires above 35 psi.  I normally run between 27 and 30 psi in the tires, but to help prevent flat-spotting, I over-inflated them for the duration of the storage.

• Vacuumed out the interior.  This makes sure any food – shhh, I do eat in my car at the track – is out of the picture to avoid attracting rodents and other pests.  I also removed the seat covers and seat foam so that they would have less to munch on should they manage to break into the passenger compartment.

• Mothballs and steel wool.  The mothballs are in the interior, the trunk, and under the hood to discourage mice and squirrels from taking up residence.  The steel wool is stuck in the tailpipe to keep the same from making nests in the muffler or catalytic converter.  Some people also block off the air intake with steel wool, but honestly, I couldn’t be bothered, and have never had trouble in the past.  Also, there are a few good mousing cats at the location where the Miata is sleeping, so they should at least provide me with an extra line of defense.

• Removed the battery.  Fairly self-explanatory – with the battery out, I don’t have to worry about it slowly discharging over the course of the winter.

So that’s my winter storage checklist – no jack stands, no oiling up the cylinders, no fuel stabilizer – none of which I feel is needed for a three month period.  I would love to hear about your winter car storage rituals, methods and preferences in the comments.

The most arrogant aspect of our 20/20 rearview vision is that we act almost as though our current vehicular generation will itself somehow escape future criticism.  That’s right – we are so confident in the current state of automotive design that we rarely, if ever consider that as we have judged others, so shall we be judged.  Thus far, the 90’s and 2000’s have escaped the harsh words and jeering laughter of future generations, but our reprieve is only temporary.  There is no doubt that some of the metal plying modern roads will one day be considered as out of step as rooftops encrusted with leather and vinyl.

Let’s put ourselves in a time machine, skip ahead about 15 years and take a fresh look back at what those who can currently count out their age on their fingers might have to say about the most recent crop of automotive designs.

The Bangle Butt

Chris Bangle, who headed BMW’s design studio for a very influential period that saw significant re-imaginings of almost every BMW platform will be primarily remembered for two things.  This is one of them.  The early era of Bangle’s stylistic mandate was dominated by a somewhat lumpy and definitely ungraceful rear end design, starting with the E65 7 Series which debuted in 2002.  Eventually, the shape would spread across the entire brand, where it would be most prominently displayed on subsequent generations of the 5 Series and 6 Series.  BMW would later go on to slim down the mighty 7’s butt, but the damage had been done.  It is hard to imagine the Bangle Butt being viewed in the future as anything but the “continental kit” of high end luxury cars for the 2000’s.

Altezza Taillights

Once upon a time, there was a sedan sold in the Japanese domestic market named the Toyota Altezza.  It featured crystal clear taillight casings that exposed bright red and orange lenses inside, and it actually didn’t look bad on the car it was designed for.  However, it didn’t take long before the more sheep-like elements of the automotive aftermarket began appropriating the style and producing taillights for almost every single other vehicle on the road.  The clear plastic covers proliferated, and the audacity of the interior lenses grew to almost absurd levels, with blue and purple-colored lights eventually making it to a Honda Civic near you.  By the time the Toyota Altezza made it to North America as the Lexus IS, it was hard not to feel bad for those who drove off the lot instantly looking like they had spent a whopping $29.95 on their taillights.  The aftermarket had almost completely destroyed the exclusivity of the design, and 10, 20 or 30 years from now it’s going to look cheap for no fault of its own – and so too shall all the other automotive brands who copied it for hipster cred after the fact.

No, I’m talking about a depth of pain that is far more bittersweet, the kind of emotion that comes from a prolonged attachment to a dear old friend who has been by your side for years.  A friend you’ve spent tens of thousands – if not hundreds of thousands – of miles or kilometers with, who has shouldered every load you’ve ever entrusted to them with little or no complaint, and who has never asked for more than the occasional oil change or worn out part replacement.  A friend whose time in your life is nearly up.

I drive a 1991 E34, one of the last generation of the square, four-head light BMW’s to have left the factories in Bavaria.  I didn’t buy it brand new – that honor went to a dentist in Ontario – but I did have the chance to pick it up as second owner three years ago.  I had just had a terrible car accident the month before and was looking to get into something nice, big and safe – not too fast, but not boring to drive, either.  I found the car on Craigslist and arranged an appointment to go check it out.

Pulling up to the address I had been given, I could see that the car needed a lot of love – it had apparently struck a mailbox on the passenger side, and the fender and door needed some definite TLC.  I also gulped when I turned the key and saw that it had 353,000 kilometers on the clock.  That’s not a typo.  But it drove like a dream, and the owner had paperwork from the dealership for maintenance going all the way back to the day the car left the lot.  Plus it was Calypso Red, my absolute favorite BMW color.  I couldn’t say no, and the next day the car was mine.

It’s been 3 years now, and I’ve driven the car across Canada from Montreal to Vancouver, and then down to Seattle and back again through the northern U.S.  I’ve autocrossed the car and taken it on winter rallyes.  Sure, I’ve put a few bucks into it, mostly body work and replacing the suspension so that it would be better suited for my driving school days, but other than that it’s been an amazingly reliable vehicle.  It has over 420,000 km’s on it now, and it has never left me stranded – not once.

Which is what makes me so sad that the time has come to let go.