Steve Parker Motoring / The Car Nut

ROBBY GORDON - RACING'S NEW AJ FOYT OF SMART, POWERHOUSE MARKETING

Robby Gordon.

He may have even topped himself this time. If you haven’t heard the latest from Robby’s So Cal garages, sit down with an adult beverage and enjoy some bench-racing.

How popular is Gordon outside of racing? This story broke originally on the TV show and website TMZ (www.TMZ.com), a celebrity haunt which has a slightly different take on the world of gossip. They seem to actually like celebs. You’ve probably checked it out or seen the show. If not, you should. I find it a lot of fun and certainly different from the usual boring waterfall of hate being spewed-out in droves in the usual print and web venues.

And a point or two (mostly concerning “all-natural” which the kids might do better skipping over until they reach junior high); Extenze, if you’ve not heard, is, according to the company, “a herbal nutritional supplement claiming to promote natural male enhancement", and y’all know what that means. Well, at least should, now, by your age. So, friends and fans, here’s how it goes in racing in 2011. And, anyway, it’s a fun story with which to start the New Year, right? There’s plenty of time for the new Indy chassis and engines, the new Busch Series race car and God-knows-what-else we’ll be discussing a month from now.

 Gordon off-road in his Hummer, hand-built for the Dakar Rally

The legendary (and for good reason) A.J. Foyt is considered one of the greatest, if not outright greatest racer of them all. Apart from his competitive and strategic abilities and strength of mind and body (which seem preternatural, and thanks to Anne Rice for that word), there’s also that Foyt has won more races in more different venues than any other driver, excepting perhaps Mario Andretti. Last time we checked, at least.

One more Indy tid-bit about Gordon; Robby ran out of fuel with two laps to go in the 1999 Indy 500, a race he had been leading. Kenny Brack was the defending IRL series champion and took that win. In that race, Gordon managed, by quite literally the lack of a cup of fuel or so, to lose the Indy 500 driving for his original IndyCar owner – A.J. Foyt.

And here’s where talk of Gordon’s “greatness” comes into serious play: Foyt has not only competed in, and often won, at road racing (LeMans 24 Hours of LeMans, Trans-Am and more), the Indianapolis 500, the Dakar Rally, the Baja 1000, FIA Rallying and all forms of NASCAR, both off- and on-track. Email me if I’ve left any out. He’s currently, this very day, in the Dakar race, where, as in recent years, he’s piloting a hand-prepared $175,000 Hummer look-alike. Even the Pope has personally appealed to the promoters to ban this event. This year “the Dakar” (whose venue has been changed in recent years away from running between the Eiffel Tower and the city of Dakar, Senegal) is being held in South America; maybe it’s to throw-off the Pope a bit while he peruses the morning sports pages in the Roman dailies.

Gordon has even been spoken highly (and loudly) of when it comes to Formula 1 race teams on their continual search for new drivers. He’d be the only American currently in the F1 mix.

But the genius of someone like Foyt, and there are damn few, is that he knows exactly where and when to turn it on and off. And why…and how.

It was 1979 when there was a bit of a dispute after NASCAR’s Daytona 500 that year, a race which just had, for the very first time, been shown live on one of America’s then-three national networks (this one was on CBS – they’d apparently drawn the short straw, but it’s paid-off in, literally, billions for everyone involved in racing who stuck with it, as the behemoth of NASCAR Inc., was created). Robby working his souvenir stand at one of the many venues where he competes; the fans have always liked him, but sometimes once they have to get passed and understand both his off-track antics and the seriousness and quality of his racing

NASCAR really got going as a nationally-recognized sport with that fistfight in February, 1979. And of course, it was one of those fights where, thankfully, no one was hurt.

LET'S GET ROLLING, TOGETHER, RIGHT INTO 2011!

 BACK TO WORK, EVERYONE!

Time-off is always cool, and the entire auto industry worldwide pretty much shuts down for the final two weeks of the year, but now it's time to play catch-up and get up to speed ... again!
  (Yes, new photo)

There's SO MUCH going on, from the average gallon of unleaded gas once again over $3 and still rising, to ...the 2011 models ...hitting the streets! All exciting and interesting and ALL impacting our lives on a daily basis!

So please check back here often (and my other outlets, too --- Huffington Post, SteveParkerMotoring.com, Santa Monica Daily Press newspaper and our DRIVING CRAZY group right here on Facebook --- and even more!).

That's all for now ... I'll hit the keyboard and you, my dear friends, all you need do is read...read AND send us your comments, stories, opinions, queries ... ! This is OUR website, as are all my outlets ...

So, again, Thanks so much --- and Happy New Year --- from Steve!

EPA RATINGS FINALLY OUT FOR LEAF, VOLT - WHICH ONE WILL YOU BUY?

As USA Today might say, "Okay, America, time to make up our minds!"

No more wondering, guessing, dreaming or conjecturing (someone ask Ms. Palin if that's a word); we now officially know enough about these Cars of the Future to say we love or hate them.

What cars?

What else. Those generally ugly, small and uncomfortable new-fuel, high-mileage vehicles which are the Second Coming to some, the End of the Auto World As We Know It to others.

Every major and most minor carmakers now offer gas-electric hybrid models, whether conventional or the new plug-ins. And "pure EVs" are not only coming, they're here, at least in the guise of the Nissan Leaf and the soon-to-come Ford Focus and Mitsubishi i. These are exciting times for the industry, those of us who cover it and the billions worldwide who follow it and buy the product. After all, technology which has been promised, in one way shape or form or another, for the past 50 years, is now for-sale in showrooms and ready-to-drive.
Chevy Volt at one of its first media introductions in 2009 at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles; Steve Parker photo

Yet a fundamental question still arises: is this trip really necessary? Is the re-working of the world's entire auto industry the best thing to do when gasoline-only and gas-electric hybrids are achieving impressive mileage figures for a fraction of the cost of the development of EVs? Given the long-term tepid outlook for the world economy, is the near-future the right time to force those costs down consumers' throats? Should these efforts be shut down until there's more cash flowing worldwide?

And beyond current technologies, companies from Honda to Exxon are still heavily hyping more exotic fuels and systems including hydrogen. While Nissan and other EV and plug-in hybrid makers are ambitiously working with utilities and municipalities to develop the infrastructure necessary to keep their new cars charged, filled and moving down the road anywhere in the world, the costs of an even more-advanced infrastructure for something like hydrogen fuel could dwarf what's necessary for EVs.

Toyota introduced the world's first mass-produced gas-electric hybrid car, the Prius, in Japan in 1997 and worldwide in 2001. Almost instantly and predictably, several camps of fans and haters developed. These range from "hypermilers," whose mission in life is to squeeze out every available inch of mileage from whatever fuel is powering their conveyance, to nay-sayers who claim gasoline and hybrids are achieving such high mileage figures that the investment and hype in EVs is unnecessary.

Now Prius competitors are here in large numbers, and pure EVs threaten to wrest the technology (and interest) crown from Toyota. Toyota's hegemony in the field was over the moment the doors to the Los Angeles Auto Show opened two weeks ago and the official EPA figures for the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf were announced.

Both these cars, one a true pure electric, the other an extended-range hybrid, will be on sale in various parts of the nation within the next few months. Mitsubishi i-MiEV full electric (reviewed here recently) will begin sales here in late 2011 and will be called the "i".

VARIED THOUGHTS - JIMMIE JOHNSON SHOULD RETIRE TODAY!

We have a big stage in this country, but the fame it offers is short-lived.

A friend of mine, well-known for his collection of classic automobiles, won so many Best of Show titles at major Concours d’Elegance events that he was asked to remove his cars from competition and enter them in an “exhibition only” class.

And when it comes to winning – again and again -- just how genuinely excited can any rock group be while on-stage playing their 50-year old hits for the 1000^th time? 

This peculiar “Here today, gone tomorrow” American phenomenon is nowhere more powerful than in the world of sports.

Now, winning a fifth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title championship, is it time for Jimmie Johnson to leave NASCAR? 
 
Absolutely. And he can’t do it soon enough. He should announce it at the NASCAR Awards Banquet this week in Las Vegas. 

We Americans love our winners, but we soon come to hate anyone who hangs around too long, who overstays their welcome. 

We’ve even placed a limit on how many times anyone can occupy the job demanding the best skills, most popularity and practiced, highly-specialized experience in this country and, arguably, the world: President of the United States. 

Two times and you’re out, no matter how loved and popular the incumbent might be. The fact that this particular term limit was added to the Constitution fairly recently (within many of our lifetimes) shows that “out with the old, in with the new” remains more than a catch phrase; indeed it has become a staple of American life.

(And another fact -- that political term limits don’t allow the public to vote for whoever they feel might be the best candidate, which some argue makes for a somewhat less-than-free nation -- is rightful fodder for another posting altogether).

Johnson is about to get swept-up in America’s own “What have you done for me lately?” mentality.

It’s already a reason why, for all his amazing accomplishments, including the one this past Sunday, he is rarely mentioned as deserving to be a member of that rarefied group: the world’s greatest race car drivers.
 
Yep, boys, that there's nothing other than a Tucker all set-up for NASCAR racin' back in the far-away '50s!

Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Dan Gurney, Roger Penske and Carroll Shelby, Americans all, are considered among the world’s greatest drivers (and racing engineers) because they have excelled in more than one major form of motorsport.

Compared to those listed above, are Johnson’s five NASCAR titles enough for the price of his admission to best-ever club?

Apparently not. For all JJ’s success, even NASCAR’s TV announcers, who never met a driver they didn’t love, while occasionally calling NASCAR drivers as a whole “the world’s best race car drivers,” have yet to call Johnson, as far as we’ve heard, the leader of that (somewhat generic-sounding) pack.

GM's A WINNER TODAY, BUT DANGERS STILL LURK!

As TV's Craig Ferguson often says, "It's a great day for America, everybody!"

And, it was quite a day for General Motors.

The company raised more than $18 billion in the larget and most-successful Initial Public Stock Offering in history, has now paid-back the federal government more than 1/2 of the $50 billion in bail-out funds it received after going into bankruptcy some 17 months ago and the Chevrolet Volt extended-range hybrid sedan was named Motor Trend Magazine's 2011 Car of the Year.

And in the meantime, analysts estimate GM, in the course of all these accomplishments, has managed to save about 1.4 million American jobs. Naturally, and rightly so, President Obama and the White House have come out looking pretty good, too.

I got into the auto journalism business in the early 1970s, during the first days of the "Asian invasion," which set the U.S. auto industry on a 30-year course which resulted in its near-demise. The first oil shortages of the '70s allowed lower-priced, higher-mileage cars, mostly Japanese, to challenge the then-Big Three, a challenge which some say those companies have still yet to fully answer.

And due to my history following the worldwide auto industry, I can see where GM could fairly easily fall into many of the same bad habits which resulted in their first, recent bankruptcy. They need to be careful and e-mail this column to every employee in the company.

While today is surely a time to celebrate GM, it's also critical to take a quick look at the 11 ways GM could find itself in the same BK boat which nearly destroyed forever the American auto business as we'd known it for 100 years.

1- Arrogance
The good ol' boy network which built itself inside and around GM (and Ford and Chrysler) was the result of too many top executives of those companies coming from the same cultural backgrounds (and often same families), going to the same schools and sharing the same Wall Street and boardroom values. If the current and near-future crop of Big Three execs allow the same old arrogrance which dominated the industry  for decades to crop up again, GM, especially, will be putting its neck on the line.

2- Focus on quantify, not quality
GM sales are not great, but are starting to grow and look solid. Certainly the possibility exists for GM to not become as dominant as it once was, but to be an important powerhouse in the American and world economy. But through the '50s, '60s and '70s, GM's biggest problem was building enough cars for their dealers to sell (and dealing with an ongoing threat from Washington to label the company a "monopoly" and break it up). Akio Toyoda, head of the Japanese giant, now the biggest car company inthe world, recently testified in front of Congress that his company concentrating on growth and not ongoing quality set the stage for Toyota's worldwide safety and quality problems. It happened to GM before and could easily happen again. Stay lean and mean, GM.

3- Complacency
Failure to grow and thrive is an enemy of almost every grand undertaking. Sitting back on its laurels (GM can boast about the Volt for years to come without necessarily moving forward) is a real danger to GM. The company needs to make sure the people who worked on Volt and similar projects the past decade remain and grow into real positions of power within GM. Bean-counters in the executive suite are important (I guess), but forward-thinking engineers and stylists, among other futurists, are key to the company's survival and growth.

4- A quarterly focus only
The record-setting $18 billion IPO has created new standards for every industry worldwide. But it also reminds us that while public ownership is the very spirit of American industry, it can also set the stage for a corporate focus on the next quarter, forcing the company to hit the accelerator and then the brakes wuthut regard to anything beyond the next three month's of the company's growth. We've seen all too clearly what dangers lie for a giant corporation when the next quarter becomes all-powerful.

5- NIH
"Not Invented Here" has been a too-dominant philosophy in the auto industry worldwide for as long as the business has been in existence. Too often, only ideas and inventions developed "in-house" are acceptable to a corporate board, and NIH almost guarantees those are the only ones which are developed into future products. NIH forces a company to ignore the vast majority of developments and inventions and concepts from competitors and others around the world, forcing an arrogant (there's that word again) and often wasteful viewpoint throughout a company. Again, GM,  has done this before and can easily find itself in this same dangerous predicament again.

WINTERIZE THAT CAR OR TRUCK ... AND THIS TIME, DO IT RIGHT!

As cars and trucks have gotten to the advanced stage they are in today, the idea of "winterizing" your bad ride has taken on new meaning. These days, for instance, getting ready for the new and potentially harsh season involves the driver and his or her driving skills as much as it does readying the car and its systems.

Here are some ways to help guarantee your driving safety this winter. As I write this, sitting in Southern California on November 11, with the temperature arund 75 degrees earlier today, let it be known we have the utmost sympathy for those of you around the country and world who really need these tips!

Right...

First, and perhaps the changes in cars and trucks that best illustrates how different winterizing is from the days of your father's Oldsmobile (your father's what?), is the concept of a "tune-up."

In cruising the Web while doing a bit of research for this post, several reputable sites featured "Get a tune-up" when offering their opinion on winterizing your car or truck, but there's really no such thing as a traditional tune-up anymore. Other than checking the spark plugs and spark plug wires, there's not a lot for the owner (or technician) to do when readying for a new season of driving in the form of a tune-up.

In fact, most cars and trucks built since the mid-1990s perform their own tune-ups hundreds or even thousands of times a minute. But those spark plugs and plug wires do deserve an inspection and replacement if warranted. So do it.

Second, check all the vehicle belts, hoses and fluids. Remember that belts and hoses in particular are hard to check, mostly because rubber rots from the inside out and if a belt or hose is getting ready to blow, it's hard to tell from the part's appearance. But you definitely don't want a fan belt tearing off on the coldest day of the year, so just figure it's a great idea to replace belts and hoses about every 60,000 miles, regardless of how they appear.

Problems with fluids (from washer fluid, which should be mixed with 1/3 anti-freeze for the winter months, to checking the power steering and brake fluid and other sundry liquids) can put you on the side of the road as sure as a busted belt or hose. Note which fluids need topping-off or replacing and make CERTAIN you replace or add to them with the vehicle-maker's recommended liquids. This is not an area in which to get creative.

Go through the HVAC system (heating, vent and air conditioning), turning all the system components on and off and checking that the properly heated air is coming out of the right vents at the right levels. You will probably want some help from a technician in making repairs to the system, and this is one of those cases where it's worth it to shell out the dough to get everything working right before the first blizzard of the season hits.

Also make sure the electric heaters embedded in the windshield or rear glass (aka "backlite") are working properly.

Five obvious items on the winterizing checklist which you may forget about are: four tires and a spare. Whether you use snow tires or not during the cold months of the year, having a good, discernible and useful tread on the tires you do use is crucial this time of the year.

Same goes for your windshield wipers. They're generally inexpensive enough that merely checking them is worth your time and trouble, but replacing them is safer and more cost-effective. Not a place to skimp.

Air and water leaking into your ride? Keep the inside high and dry. Now's a good time to replace any old and rotted rubber molding allowing that bad stuff into the car. An upholstery shop can help you get the right molding and slip it into position for minimum cost, time and trouble. And what a pleasant difference your efforts can make!

Run through the electrical system as much as you're able, but critical to a safe winter of motoring is a battery that's in tip-top shape. Again, here's an area when skimping makes no sense at all.

And learn how to drive what for you may be some of the new-fangled items on cars and trucks, especially Anti-Lock Brake Systems and All-Wheel Drive. Now is the time to learn how these systems feel in the real world, not after the first three inches of snow are on the ground!

Have a good winter and most of all, a safe one!

 Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

 

DEADLY SCHOOL BUS CRASH IN LOS ANGELES; WHY NO SEAT BELTS?

Many of you have kids riding school buses and a crash Monday n Los Angeles involving a fatality (a man walking in a crosswalk) raised many of the important issues facing communities with the big yellow buses and how to keep them safe as possible.

Here's how the LOS ANGELES TIMES reported the sad event which injured many students and the bus driver:

(Start LA Times) Criminal homicide charges are being weighed in connection with a hit-and-run accident that killed one person and injured nearly two dozen students aboard a school bus in Boyle Heights on Monday, authorities said.

The driver of a black BMW ran a red light, knocked down a pedestrian and broadsided a school bus that was returning students to Roosevelt High School, according to Miguel Luevano, a California Highway Patrol spokesman.

The BMW’s driver and a passenger jumped out of the car and ran, but both were quickly apprehended by a construction worker who had seen the crash, Luevano said. (A third suspect tried to get medical treatment at a local hospital later that evening and was turned over to police).
 This horrific crash occured Monday, October 25th, 2010, in the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles; a pedestrian was killed, the bus driver was hospitalized and more than 20 high school kids, passengers on the bus, were also taken to local area hospitals for obvious injuries, including a broken bone, and as a precaution

Authorities said they are investigating whether drunk driving might be involved in the 3:22 p.m. collision at 1st and Soto streets. The BMW driver and passenger are juveniles.

Marco Valdez, 17, a passenger on the bus, told The Times the bus had been coming from the East Los Angeles Skills Center when the car hit a pedestrian and then swerved into the bus. The bus overturned and slid onto a Metrolink platform.

Authorities said 21 people -- all but one students -- were taken to hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries. The bus driver was hospitalized in serious condition. (End LA TIMES)

The bus driver was initially reported in serious condition; on KTTV/11 FOX News that night, his fiancé' reported she had seem him and he was in good condition, and showed photos of him she had just taken and he appeared in reasonably fine fettle.

TOYOTA AND HONDA CAUGHT IN SIMILAR EMBARRASSING POSITIONS; WHY AND HOW?

This past week, as the sun came out after several rain-plagued days, the areas around my Southern California neighborhood were filled again with the usual suspects. They were the runners from all over the city (I'm near one of those "domestic canyons") including walkers, joggers and their pets, all planning to revel in the welcome early-morning warmth - and poop on my lawn - but soon we were all knocked back into the realities of daily life.

Knocked back by, of all things, Honda and Toyota.

Why, we So Cal-types love Honda and Toyota! It's in the handbook and the contract you sign when you head west across the 405 Freeway! How could this happen - yet again?

New vehicle sales in California, both import and domestic, are not booming yet, but have been on a solidly upward trend in the midst of this "recovery."

That dancing should have been found, especially, at the national headquarters of both Toyota and American Honda, barely a quarter-mile away from each other. Easy walking distance.

  
2005's Toyota Highlander; many will visit their birth dealerships over the next month or so

As you read this, it may be the weekend: so for those of you near the 110 and 405 Freeways, start the eggs, play with the kids, take Fido and Fluffy for a stroll... and warm-up the engines.

Specifically, the engine in the Honda and/or Toyota minivan/crossover you've been driving faithfully since you bought it between 2004 and 2007 (depending on the model). Why? Because you're going back to your dealer.

You see, there's been another, uh, recall.

Pack the little ones, too, because you're probably going to stop at some fast food place. Heck, the dealer might even have fast food in his store! You know how eager they are to please these days!

But, yes, you've guessed it. Some of the people who engineer our massively complicated cars and trucks seem to have blown it... again.

Both Toyota and Honda consider their respective situations serious enough that they are instituting "voluntary recalls," which are basically what a smart car company does right before the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration decides to do it for you.

And here are the recall totals (announced so far): about 1.5 million worldwide for Toyota (728,544 in the US). Honda? They're saying about a half-million total Odyssey minivans and Acura RL sedans will get caught-up in the excitement.

There are a bunch of other vehicles from these two which might be involved as well. Here's the Miami Herald list (as of October 21) of the affected cars sold by Toyota (including Lexus) and Honda and Acura in the U.S. (the number of cars on either list might shrink or grow).

What might happen this time out for two of the world's top auto companies? We got a preview earlier this year, as their piles of cash and their public image both greatly shrank. And their customers? Your brakes could fail; and who knows what else after that.

The All-American Soap Box derby is held late Spring every year all over the country and is one of the few great – and completely active –relics of the days of automotive lore still running accurately. Take part in it – build a car and race it! -- with your favorite young person! Not making any comparisons to Soap Box cars and those cars mentioned in this post, but it's a good time to promote this great event!

From the Department of Irony: last recall time, on the Toyotas, the cars would not stop accelerating. Now, the accelerator works fine, but the braking could be seriously, even dangerously, degraded.

So why all the hubbub for something which seems (and is, in reality) a list of very simple symptoms, fast diagnosis and fix? Any 17-year-old high school auto shop student should have been able to spot this one coming down the road (even smell it coming -- no joking).

Brian Lyons, Toyota's Director of Safety and Quality Communications, told me that both the Toyota and Honda problem, as similar as they seem, could be related to the same parts coming from the same supplier. This weekend is only the most recent of 16 recalls for Toyota garnering worldwide attention.

And while nothing has been officially announced, don't be surprised if a company called "Advics" in Aichi Prefecture (state), Japan, becomes water cooler talk over the next few weeks (then just magically goes away); they might supply both Honda and Toyota with the same offending parts.

2011 GMC SIERRA 2500HD CARRIES EVEN MORE SWAGGER THAN BEFORE

The biggest rivalry in the world is not between the Yankees and the Red Sox nor the Dodgers and the Giants, but between Ford and General Motors (with Dodge thrown-in to add a little spice to the mix; I was going to write "spicy meat balls" but only media savvy folks of a certain age would understand the reference to Fiat/Chrysler ... get it now?).

And nowhere is that mad dog, go-for-broke enmity more powerful in the auto business than between the full-size pickups built by all three of those companies. In markets which are traditionally friendly towards Asian imports (Southern California, Florida, Texas and etc.) one might see a few more Toyota/Nissan Tundras and Titans on the street, but a lot of them seem too pretty to be heading back and forth from a work site; more likely Nordstrom's.

American workers and business owners like, nee love, their American trucks. That's all there is to it. And when companies have been developing their products for around a century-or-so, buyers can't be blamed for opting for experience rather than what might seem the flash-in-the-pan "pretty boy" import.
Silverado brings a friend to the party

GMC's Sierra 2500HD 4WD Regular Cab SLE pickup for 2011 is not all-new this time out (as are some pickups from some main competitors), but sometimes, for customers, experience and high-refinement can make for a sort-of "ultimate" expression in sheetmetal, mechanicals and capabilities just before a new model hits the streets.

Also, GMC has done updates are in some important 2500 areas: A completely new fully boxed frame for added rigidity and strength and new suspension components for a more comfortable ride.

And the big news for work truck buyers: 2011 GMC Sierra 2500HD can haul over 3,700 pounds of payload and tow up to 13,000 pounds, standard (16,500 pounds with a fifth-wheel connection).

This new Sierra can be had with either a Vortec 6.0 Liter gasoline engine (which you oldtimers ... like me ... will remember used to be expressed as "389 cubic inches" as it was in the original Pontiac GTO) manufacturing 360 horsepower and 280 foot pounds of torque or a Duramax 6.6 Liter V8 diesel. That oil-burner churns out 397 horses and ... get this ... a massive 765 pounds of torque, quite literally enough to tear pavement off the street when hitting one of those tar-based expansion joints. And when not even trying! Honest!

That heavy-duty engine and six-speed automatic transmission (and it's a real transmission, also marketed as HD, or heavy-duty, and not one of those CVT jobs, thankfully) play well together and the 3.73 ratio in the rear axle allows full use of engine power, no matter which powerplant.

LOS ANGELES SAYS: "IT'S OFFICIAL - RED LIGHT CAMERAS DON'T WORK!"

Ever wonder why, with all those "red light cameras" installed across the nation, no city involved in using them has reported any big decrease in accidents at the affected intersections or even any significant income gain? In fact, in Los Angeles yesterday, it was revealed, after a city-wide audit, that the 32 red light cameras installed throughout Los Angeles have actually cost the taxpayers some $2.6 million just the past two years.

You'd think that with the tickets in the LA program costing around $500 a pop, there'd be at least a little spiff for some city program...like for the city's desperate school system or the libraries which Mayor Antonio Villaragosa has shut down.

Incidentally, San Diego has also decided to take action against the installers and maintainers of their red light camera system, having experienced some of the same problems Los Angeles has just revealed.

In one fell swoop, Los Angeles found out yesterday that almost 1/2 of all red light tickets go unpaid with the driver not needing to fear any reprisals, that the placement of LA's red light cameras was purely decided on a political, not a safety, basis and that the city gets only about $150 from the $500 tickets (those that are paid) with the rest going to the state and the majority going to the company which installed and maintains the red light camera systems.

According to Rich Connell in yesterday's Los Angeles Times: "Some 45% of Los Angeles' red-light camera tickets are currently unpaid, partly because holds are not placed on driver's licenses and vehicle registrations for unsettled photo enforcement infractions, Los Angeles officials said Wednesday.

The disclosure came as City Controller Wendy Greuel issued an audit finding the photo enforcement program bypassed some of the city's most dangerous intersections and is costing the city more than $1 million a year to operate, despite fines and fees that can exceed $500.

LAPD officials said they learned during the audit that the state Department of Motor Vehicles has not been forcing payment of delinquent red-light camera fines during license and registration renewals. Other types of unpaid citations typically must be paid before renewals are granted, noted Police Chief Charlie Beck, who appeared with Greuel at a news conference under a downtown red-light camera.

It was not immediately clear why red-light camera tickets would be treated differently, although one LAPD official noted motorists do not sign promises to appear in court when photo citations are issued. A DMV spokesman said he had to check into the matter.

MITSUBISHI'S OUTLANDER CROSSOVER MORE SERIOUS, CAPABLE THAN EXPECTED

It's cool when a car-maker consistently rides the big ones, surfing the next wave upon wave of technology while still trying to keep some of their corporate heritage in the mix.

It takes planning and super engineering skills. Those of you who read me regularly (and thanks, by the way!) might know I feel there are three true engineering companies mixed-in among the Asian car-makers. Those would be Honda, Mazda ... and Mitsubishi.

And Mitsubishi has done it again with their Outlander crossover, appearing first in Japan in 2001 and now in its second-generation of manufacture.

For over a week we lived, worked and drove (and moved!) in the Outlander SE and it acquitted itself more than professionally. It even demonstrated, as we've found more and more with Mitsu cars and crossovers, a quotient of fun which the company obviously works hard to develop and include in their vehicles.

Outlander SE looks great, has one of the best interiors Mitsu has ever brought to these shores and weighs-in at just a tick over 3,500 pounds (3,600 with the available third row of seats).

"Adding lightness" to our Outlander were a lot of high-tech, lightweight parts and the kind of attention to detail you'll find only from an engineering company which also happens to make cars and trucks.

Those parts include large ones (like the entire roof panel) and small bits and pieces, like the magnesium paddle shifters for its six-speed CVT. And aluminum makes up most of the entire engine, a 2.4 liter I4 double overhead camshaft affair producing 168 horses and 167 foot pounds of torque.

And we're not talking McLaren-level attention to weight loss, but we're also talking about a test car which cost well under $30,000 with most optional equipment included in the bottom-line price, and EPA estimates of between 21 and 25 mpg.

I never came close to that kind of mileage, and the reason was typical for this segment: Our Outlander was desperately under-powered. Using the shift paddles or the gate shifter for maximum launch (and even keeping up with long uphills at freeway speeds) was more than just exciting and fun; too often, it was a necessity.

Now, a bit more of a lesson on "why to get the bigger engine."

XLS and GT Outlander models get a 3 liter single overhead cam unit making a much more respectable 230 horsepower and 215 pounds of torquie-ness. And those models weigh only about 200 pounds more than our SE tester and ES base model, so a shopper has to seriously consider stepping-up to the V6 at buying time. Getting the big engine and best AWD system when it's time to buy will have those units almost always pay for themselves when it comes to trade-in time.

Speaking of real off-roading, one of the best Outlander features is a locking four-wheel drive system which gets the same amount of torque and horsepower to all four wheels. This gives the vehicle (and driver and family) the best chance of making it through the deepest, sloppiest stuff on earth and headed towards the freeway and home.

McLAREN'S ALL-NEW 2012 MP4-12C INTRO'D IN BEVERLY HILLS DEALERSHIP

In keeping with the City of Beverly Hills' month-long celebration of "9-02-10," the iconic date of the iconic zip code (how many times can we use "iconic" in this piece?), the city, McLaren Automotive of the UK and an existing exotic car dealership smack in the middle of BH on Wilshire Boulevard (within 1/2-mile of where President Obama is said, by local idiots, to enjoy blocking traffic in his So Cal visits), the all-new 2012 McLaren MP4-12C was introduced to the media during a luncheon where John Dory Sole was served (appropriately enough for the Brits out there). I've been living in Bev Hills the past two years so I am permitted (and apparently qualified) to give my opinion on the car, the dealer and the lunch.

So here goes.

After over one million miles of prototype testing, the first new road car from McLaren since 1993 is ready for you. And the first place you can buy one, at about $250K a pop, is in mid-2011 at the Auto Gallery store on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills (still sounds quite apropos even when you know the punchline, no?).

All-new, $250K and near-600 horsepower...McLaren's newest road car (Steve Parker photo)

The all-new-from-the-ground-up 2012 model, the McLaren MP4-12C, offers 592 horsepower from a new twin-turbo 3.8L 90 degree V8 engine, a nearly-instantaneous paddle shifting system for the seven-speed transmission, a deployable air brake such as you'd find on a fighter jet, brakes which would rival those found on that same jet, looks to kill, single-hinge clam shell doors, full carbon fiber construction and an emphasis on comfort, efficiency and, naturally, outrageous performance.

How demanding and exacting is McLaren? As a shop dedicated to race cars for the past 50 years, all they're interested in is saving weight (or "adding lightness") and pushing the envelope, no matter the system or component. Every part on the car, the company says, has been engineered entirely by McLaren, with no outside firms involved.

In fact, in their literature about the 12C, the company make the case that shifting actually is not near-instantaneous, but flat-out instantaneous, a physical, mechanical and technical impossibility. But they're happy to make the argument, using their new "pre-cog" technology as a guide to understanding their claim.

It was always a question among analysts of how far McLaren's target qualities for a race car could be translated into a street car, but 1993's road-going McLaren F1 model was quickly accepted by zillionaires worldwide as the ultimate supercar. And by more than a few people who actually knew about cars, too.

MP4-12C's carbon fiber "tub" (Steve Parker photo)

You may remember it: 240.1 miles per hour, fastest street car ever, carbon fiber build (McLaren hasn't built a metal-based car since 1983) and it had three seats, with the driver sitting slightly below and in-between the two "rear passengers" to give the pilot the feel of driving a single-seat race car. George Harrison bought one of the first ones, and what more can you say? Performance meets class, efficiency and elegance head-on.

WHO'S REALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR OFF-ROAD RACE CRASH WHICH KILLED EIGHT?

The horrific racing accident which took place this past weekend in the desert of Southern California now ranks among the top 10 racing disasters of all time.

Eight people were killed when a fully-outfitted off-road race truck took a jump at, more or less, 60mph, then, for some reason, lost control. The driver was not injured but he knew some of the people he and his truck killed.

My first thought when hearing of the crash was, "Well, this was only a matter of time. Now it's actually happened."

First a few facts: The race was run on Federal land controlled by the Bureau of Land Management. It was sanctioned and approved by all the necessary parties. The promoter, an outfit called Mojave Desert Racing (MDR) is, understandably, circling the wagons and getting ready for fines and lawsuits which will almost certainly put them out of business. Unless they have a $100 million insurance policy to cover themselves.
Authorities investigate the scene of the crash which killed eight spectators

ROAD TEST: 2011 MITSUBISHI i-MiEV PURE ELECTRIC CAR; AN EV FOR REAL DRIVERS?

"It's not easy bein' green..."

Thus sangeth (singeth?) Kermit the Frog several decades back, and as it turns out, he was not kidding. Especially when it comes to cars.

Car companies worldwide should have paid heed to those simple words many years ago.

Both Nissan and General Motors will be selling, in the US, green cars towards the end of this year.

But Mitsubishi is also bringing out their own version of a green car. i-MiEV (Mitsubishi innovative electric vehicle, pronounced "eye-meev") has been for sale for about two years in Japan and some 20,000 units have left showroom floors at a cost of around $23,000 US dollars.

People who stopped me as I was getting into or out of the car during the week I had it had a natural inquisitiveness, but very few noticed the car was a Japan-only model, with the steering and gauges and controls (and driver!) on the right hand side.

My i-MiEV could be charged by 110 or 220 household current or by using a quick charging station, not yet available in the US market (though it sounds similar to the quick charging station which Leaf buyers will usually have installed in their garages).

i-MiEV weighs-in at 2,376 pounds, and charging times vary from 12 hours for 110 volts to 6 hours using the 220 volt plug-in option and using the quick charge system which will charge i-MiEV to 80% capacity in just 25 minutes.

The Lithium ion (Lion) battery pack powers a 64 horsepower/113 pound feet of torque Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor and it's all expected to have a range of 80 to 100 miles as fast as 80 mph. Not much at all, really, especially for a family's primary car.

Both Japanese EVs are "pure electric" with relatively low and slow outputs. Both i-MiEV and Leaf will be marketed as a second or third (or fourth, etc) car and it's price (around $25,000 US) won't sting the wallet too much.

Only Volt is aimed at being a family's primary car with it's (claimed) 600-mile range and more spacious interior than the Japanese competition.

Leaf claims a 100-mile range and i-MiEV ... Well, poor little i-MiEV needs a lot of changes before it will sell here.

Like Nissan's Leaf, i-MiEV is a "pure EV" which uses no gasoline or fuel other than electricity to go a wandering. Incidentally, in spite of Mitsu's suggested pronunciation, there seems to be a dozen - or more - ways to pronounce i-MiEV, so just take your best shot at it.

GM's Volt sets apart from other "pure green" vehicles because it has a small gasoline engine on board. That engine keeps the lithium ion battery pack charged. All a driver need worry about is the amount of fuel - gasoline - remains in the gas tank.

DOES NHTSA WORK WITH TOYOTA OR AS AN ARM OF THE GIANT COMPANY?

Last week we asked, based on conclusions drawn by a Wall Street Journal auto industry reporter, if Toyota had been right along with their contention that "driver error," and not electronic gremlins, was the main culprit behind thousands of owner claims of "unintended acceleration." Not to mention the hundreds of injuries and even several deaths which are claimed to be the result of known problems in Toyota-built vehicles, cars and trucks both.

Readers responded with their own thoughts on what could now be called "the Toyota scandal". It appears that, among this blog's readers, at least, the majority of people responding felt there was something wrong with these Toyotas and that owners were possibly being left out in the cold with Toyota's claims of driver error.
Toyota's 1967 2000GT was campaigned by Dan Gurney's All-American Eagles race team, based in Santa Ana, CA, on road race courses throughout the US; the cars never did very well but did help establish Toyota as a potential road racing power --- which they did indeed become

A report in Tuesday's Automotive News, the world's daily publication of record for the auto industry, would seem to bolster the company's claims ... especially so, considering Toyota says their source for this information is from NHTSA, the US' agency of record when it comes to automotive safety.

Here's what Automotive News said:

"Brakes weren't applied by drivers of Toyota vehicles in at least 35 of 58 crashes blamed on unintended acceleration, U.S. auto-safety regulators said after studying data recorders.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also saw no evidence of electronics-related causes for the accidents in reviewing the vehicle recorders, known as black boxes, the agency said today in a report to lawmakers.

The preliminary findings bolster Toyota's contentions that there's no evidence of flaws in electronic controls on its vehicles and that motorists in some cases confused the accelerator and brake pedals.

Toyota, the world's largest automaker, has recalled more than 8 million vehicles worldwide in the past year for defects such as pedals that stuck or snagged on floor mats.

INDYCAR, F1 AND NASCAR -- CHEATING AND BAD CALLS

On July 25^th, motor racing fans worldwide got two separate doses of being treated like know-nothing idiots by the captain of the Ferrari Formula 1 team and the man who essentially runs IndyCar.

 

It’s no secret that there are plenty of behind-the-scenes dealings in all forms of racing, from the under-10 set starting out in go-karts to NASCAR, IndyCar, F1 and every other major racing series in the world.

 

And of course flat-out cheating has been part of racing since the first two cars met on some dirt road.

 

“If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t racin’” is heard in the NASCAR garages, usually being said by someone who knows a thing or to about getting away with trickery in that sport.

 Four-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson's team has been accused of cheating

 

In NASCAR, in particular, there’s something known generically as “the call.” What that meant, whether delivered by phone or in person, was that NASCAR wouldn’t be looking too closely at that team’s race cars when they went through NASCAR pre- and post-race inspections. This was reportedly one of the ways NASCAR has been able to have so many dramatic finishes where, as in “professional” wrestling, sometimes the fan favorite wins and sometimes the most-hated driver is victorious.

 

While “the call” or some form of it certainly exists in other motorsports, all series see a lot of stunts means to affect the outcome of the race. For instance, drivers have been known to, under orders from their crew chief or owner, stop their cars on the track or even crash them, in order to bring out a yellow flag which bunches up the competitors, allowing a front-running teammate in better to have a better shot at a win.

 

And throwing all sorts of stuff out of windows or cockpits (usually balled-up duct tape) in order to bring out the yellow flag is also a well-known trick meant to affect the race’s end.

 

And we won’t even cover the hundreds of cheating tricks used on engines, wings, suspensions and every other part of a race car which can be fiddled with, adjusted, lightened or moved for extra performance. “Add lightness” is the creed of the racing crew chief.

 

“It ain’t cheatin’ if you don’t get caught” is another oft-heard garage-area refrain.

 

As far back as 1934 (and no doubt even before), race winners were being “chosen” by someone outside the car rather than decided by actual on-track competition.

 

Daimler (whose cars now know as Mercedes-Benz) introduced their phenomenal “Silver Arrows” open-wheel race cars that year.

One of the very few extant Daimler W125 Silver Arrows
 

Why the Silver Arrow sobriquet? Legend has it that the race cars  were slightly overweight, so team manager Alfred Neubauer ordered the team to strip all the paint off the cars. After that exercise, the cars met the weight limit and of course they were the color of their sheet metal; hence, the Silver Arrows.  

THIS WEEKEND'S AUTOMOTIVE RADIO SHOWS!

Join us Saturday at 11am Pacific /2pm Eastern for THE CAR NUT SHOW and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern for WORLD RACING ROUNDUP on www.TalkRadioOne.com! It's just us and it's all LIVE!

Steve Parker's The Car Nut Show
Saturday starting at 11am Pacific

What we'll be covering: General Motors announced the price of their VOLT extended-range hybrid EV which goes on-sale in just a few months...A Wall Street Journal reporter writes about and broadcasts apparently false claims about Toyota...Toyota announces another huge recall of a half million cars in the US. And the completely all-new 2011 Ford Explorer! Is it now still a truck or just another crossover? We'll talk about all that and more! Please join in! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410.
All-new 2011 Ford Explorer goes on-sale near the end of this year

Steve Parker's World Racing Roundup
Sunday starting at 5pm

This weekend is packed full of motorsports action worldwide and we'll cover it all! Formula 1 is in Hungary and IndyCar gets ready for its appearance next weekend at Mid-Ohio. But the big topic is how F1 and IndyCar both treated fans like fools as both series manipulated who won their races last week. It's NASCAR Sprint Cup and the Camping World Trucks at Pocono this weekend and the NASCAR Nationwide Series goes to Iowa. Plus race results from around the world and your phone calls! Join us! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410. Join in!
The Ferrari F1 team caused a lot of commotion last week ... we'll tell you why

Podcasts of the shows are available one-hour-or-so after the live programs' conclusion. That's this Saturday at 11am Pacific and 2pm Eastern and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com!

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORTER MISLEADS READERS, NPR AND US!

Seems we may have been taken in. But we're in good company, including the Wall Street Journal and National Public Radio.

On July 15th, we ran a blog post entitled "Has Toyota Been Right All Along?" reporting that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), after downloading data from "black boxes" taken from Toyota-made vehicles whose owners complained about unintended acceleration (UA), said they found a high incidence of driver error and no other recorded problems which caused the UA.

This meant, in plain English, that drivers were stepping on their gas pedals when they meant to hit the brakes. And it was our own government's automotive safety agency saying so.

We based our post on a Wall Street Journal article and an interview the author, WSJ reporter Mike Ramsey, did on National Public Radio.

The facts, though, according to NHTSA, are different from what this reporter had written.

The WSJ reporter cited his information as coming from people within NHTSA who had knowledge of these facts. NHTSA vociferously objected to that possible conjecture, saying Ramsey presented his information as coming from NHTSA, which NHTSA denied.

Another NPR reporter who tried to track down Ramsey's sources before he went on-the-air with NPR wasn't able to make contact with them.

WSJ reporter Ramsey, in the end, was relying on anonymous sources which NPR wasn't able to verify.

Here's the full story from NPR's own website: http://www.npr.org/blogs/ombudsman/2010/07/27/128805775/two-ways?ft=1&f=17370252

NPR and the WSJ are usually reliable sources. We apologize for any misunderstanding.

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

GM SETS VOLT PRICE AT $41K; TOYOTA DELAYS U.S.-BUILT PRIUS

There was big electric vehicle and hybrid news Tuesday, as General Motors stuck by their guns but Toyota seems to be acknowledging that they expect sales of all their cars, including Prius, to slow for quite some time.

First, GM has announced the their "extended range hybrid EV" low emission/high mileage Chevrolet Volt will sell for $41,000 when it is introduced later this year --- and that's just the base price.

We can be certain that in the great car dealer tradition, there will be a good amount of options available for the car (dealers make a lot of money on those extras and car-makers like to keep their dealers happy).

That $41K tab is in somewhat stark contrast to Nissan's recent announcement that their Leaf EV will cost under-$33,000. That's an amount which, with federal, state and local incentives, might see its true base price drop to as low as near $25,500 after those credits are applied (the incentive amount all depends what state and municipality you're living in).
Former GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz introduces the first version of the Volt to be presented to the public at the Detroit Auto Show

So a base Volt, even given a buyer being able to take advantage of the full $7,500 federal incentive, and let's say $1,500 from the state and, perhaps, county or even city, will still tip the money scales at a price very near $32,000. And that's near the base price of Leaf before any incentives are applied.

But GM, apart from Volt's high technology, edgy styling and oh-my-gosh interior, will be depending on one main thing to draw buyers to Volt from less-expensive "pure electrics" (like Leaf and Mitsubishi's i-MiEV), and it's called "range anxiety".

It's a new term in the auto world, but it means just what it says: people driving cars which use any fuel other than gasoline worry about how far they can go without running out of that fuel.
Volt's gee-whiz interior, gauges and controls should impress buyers

Here's where Volt starts to sound like a great idea: While Nissan predicts a 100-mile range per charge-up for Leaf, GM says their car will have a range of around 600 miles per gasoline tankful, that gasoline powering an engine which keeps Volt's battery charged.

Volt will also have the ability to charge its battery by plugging into an electric outlet, so it appears an owner would have a tough time running out of range in Volt.

Most car-makers plan on their initial EVs being second or third commuter-type cars. And because the average American's round-trip work commute is said to be 40 miles or under, a 100-mile range should allay any range anxiety.

But Volt, at its price, size and features, is clearly being aimed at buyers as a primary family car. That $32K which an incentivized base-level Volt may actually cost, is right smack dab in the middle of the biggest part of the marketplace, where Taurus and Camry and Accord are located.

GM first called Volt an "extended-range hybrid" because Volt has a small on-board gasoline engine which is used to keep Volt's battery charged.

Because there is no direct connection between the gasoline engine and the electric drivetrain, GM decided they could legitimately call Volt an electric vehicle. It seems they've gotten their way even though in many minds the issue is still somewhat confused. GM has seen the media pick up on the EV claim (probably because "extended-range hybrid" is long and hard to explain in articles), making their EV claim, so far, successful.

Volt, which, with its small gasoline engine and electric motor and drivetrain, seems more-or-less an interim vehicle until GM comes up with their own pure EV and we'd love to see that product.

Now that we know more about Volt's price, it makes it easier to see where GM is aiming this new car and gives the competition some fodder when it comes to the cost of ownership.

PRIUS WON'T BE BUILT IN US

In addition to GM's pricing announcement for Volt, Toyota said on Tuesday that plans for building the Prius in the US, the car's biggest market, have been delayed.

Delayed for possibly as long as (get this) six years!

MAJOR CHANGES FOR FORD'S ALL-NEW 2011 EXPLORER

The truck which challenged millions of drivers to sit way up high, go off-road and inspired an entire generation of too-big vehicles in too many hands, is back in an all-new iteration.

Yes, there's an all-new Ford Explorer for 2011. First introduced in 1990, Ford has sold a total of more than 6,000,000 Explorers and that, as they say, ain't nothin' to sneeze at. The 2011 Explorer goes on-sale next winter.

It's the sixth generation of America's by-far favorite SUV, with new looks, new engines, a four-wheel drive "terrain management system" and other new features which should attract public attention. And Ford is touting Explorer's fuel economy as a major selling point, claiming the new 2011 Explorer has "best-in-class fuel economy" among all similarly-sized SUVs sold in America.

New engines replace the familiar 4.6L V8 and 4.0L V6 which have been available for several seasons now.
Ford's 2011 Explorer goes on-sale in winter of next year; Ford is purposely taking a long time to tell the story of their important new entry into the class because there are a lot of major structural, engine and drive changes

The new base 3.5 liter V6 Explorer produces 290 horsepower (and 255 ft. lb. of torque) and will sell for $28,190 (about $40 less than a comparable 2010 model) with the high-zoot XLT trim model starting at $31,190 and the snazziest Limited version hitting the showrooms at $37,190.

Ford says expect to be able to tow 5,000 pounds with the V6 engine. That's more than almost every towing measurement for the 2010 Explorer. One V8 package for the 2010 model allows towing of 7,115 pounds, but those days seem to be over for Explorer. Why? Because though Ford touts the 2011 Explorer as a true SUV, it's really a crossover; more on that later.

No actual EPA figures on mileage as yet, but for the V6 Ford says Explorer will "deliver an anticipated improvement in fuel economy of more than 20 percent versus the current Explorer," which averages 16mpg city/highway with the 2010 4.0L V6 Explorer, which would put the 2011's mileage around the 19mpg mark.

No prices as yet announced for an all-new-for-Explorer turbocharged 2.0 liter inline four-cylinder Ecoboost engine, but most think it will be even more expensive than the base V6 version, given the technologies and development costs involved. Horsepower for the I4 is "projected" by Ford to be around 237 with 250 ft. lb. of torque. No word yet on towing ability for the I4.

Ford does say mpg delivered by the new I4 is "Estimated ... (to) improve by more than 30 percent (current V6 Explorer), putting the fuel efficiency ... in line with sedans such as the 2010 Toyota Camry V6." Camry's mpg figure 22.5mpg.

All Explorers will come with a new six-speed automatic transmission, separate ones having been developed for the V6 and I4.

THIS WEEKEND'S RADIO SHOWS!

Join us Saturday at 11am Pacific /2pm Eastern for THE CAR NUT SHOW and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern for WORLD RACING ROUNDUP on www.TalkRadioOne.com! It's just us and it's all LIVE!

Steve Parker's The Car Nut Show
Saturday starting at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern

Steve is one of the first journalists to have driven the Nissan Leaf EV and he’ll have a full report. Plus – Has Toyota actually been right about driver error being the cause of the rash of unintended acceleration incidents which resulted in close to 50 deaths? And the all-new Ford Explorer. We’ll talk about all that and more! Please join in! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410.

2011 Nissan Leaf EV 

Steve Parker's World Racing Roundup
Sunday starting at 5pm PAcific/8pm Eastern

It’s NASCAR in Indianapolis this weekend, with the trucks, the Nationwide and Sprint Cup cars  all competing in that Midwestern city. The Brickyard 400 Sprint Cup race at Indy is arguably the second-biggest NASCAR event of the year. Plenty also from IndyCar, F1, NHRA drag racing and all the rest. Plus race results from around the world and your phone calls! Join us! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410. Join in!

Podcasts of the shows are available one-hour-or-so after the live programs' conclusion. That's this Saturday at 11am Pacific and 2pm Eastern and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com!

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

LEAF TAKES WING --- EXCLUSIVE FIRST DRIVE OF NISSAN'S 2011 LEAF EV

We have driven the future, and you can, too, sometime after the beginning of the new year.

We took some short road test drives recently and one of the cars we flogged was Nissan's 2011 Leaf EV.

And while Toyota's Prius gas/electric hybrid has been the Official State Car of Santa Monica for some years now, Leaf is definitely worthy of taking a shot at the title and could well prove successful in its efforts. In fact, the latest Leaf press preview was hosted at the Sheraton Miramar Hotel, smack in the center of the beach town. The challenge to Toyota has been made, and it might get ugly.

Turns out all the excitement isn't so much about the car's performance, technology, styling or even interior design. It's the car itself; the fact that it comes to life at a time so many other EVs, hybrids, extended-range hybrids and alternative fuel vehicles are hitting the marketplace. Customers will have a lot of info, maybe too much, to sort through when making their next vehicle choice.

It's bound to be shunned by some of the "holier than thou" who think cars should be banned entirely. But Leaf will be embraced by others, especially the so-called "hyper-milers," who spend their days coming up with ways to suck even more energy out of every last atom in their batteries.

Leaf is, without doubt, a history-making car. In terms of performance Leaf is about what we expected but it's still, by default, a revolutionary and historic vehicle, the first EV to be mass-produced by a major car company in the "modern era" (post-WWII) and sold worldwide.

Weighing in at a hefty 3,500 pounds (the battery pack alone is 600), Leaf will begin its U.S. sales sometime around the end of this year.

Nissan, along with Japanese battery-maker NEC, has formed a new corporation specifically to make Leaf's batteries in Japan. For model year 2013, Nissan has plans to officially open its own dedicated battery-making facility in Tennessee for cars built in the U.S.

Using laminated Lithium Ion batteries (Li-Ons for short), these batteries have been highly-developed by Nissan engineers to keep Leaf going for 100 miles after a charge, with a top speed of about 94 miles per hour.

Now sit down, listen and learn something. Sorry, just wanted to see if you were still paying attention.

Has Toyota been right all along?

Were we all wrong about Toyota?

News came this week that the "black boxes" in Toyota and Lexus cars and trucks, which constantly monitor and record every usage aspect of throttle and brake position, vehicle speed, engine temp and much, much more, are showing overwhelmingly that the vehicles involved in "unintended acceleration" accidents were wrecked because drivers were stepping on the gas pedal, not the brake.

Accidents attributed to unintended acceleration have been blamed on sticky throttle pedals, floor mats which held the throttle open, problems with the drive-by-wire system and more. The problems resulted in a recall of Toyota/Lexus cars and trucks which worldwide amounted to more than 8 million vehicles, easily the largest recall in automotive history.

The company says they have reviewed about 2,000 black boxes of affected vehicles since March.

But it's not just Toyota which is reporting these results, which may appear favorable to the company. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) analysis of Toyota data recorders found cases in which throttles were open and brakes hadn't been deployed.

In an interview on NPR Wednesday, a WSJ reporter said that NHTSA has found that "100 per cent" of the Toyota black boxes seen by the agency so far have shown driver error was the cause of every accident. It's not known exactly how many black boxes NHTSA has examined.

This reports will stir up some very interesting conjecture focusing mostly on the politics of this massive recall, which has forever changed the way Japanese industry will handle bad news coming from their own companies. And we also need to talk about one of world's biggest problems --- how some of us just stink as drivers.
Toyota's Camry, the best-selling car in America; will the company retain its "best selling" title?

First, the politics. Toyota chieftain Akio Toyoda being grilled in front of a congressional committee was nothing short of a nation-changer for the people of Japan. CEOs simply don't do that ... in Japan. Well, at least they didn't do that in the past.

They bow silently when there's a problem (but only if they get caught) and everything having to do with whatever the problem is becomes the past; in the publics' view, the head of the company has taken responsibility and it's time to move on.

And of course we'd expect this kind of report pointing to driver error coming from Toyota but the reports that NHTSA has come up with similar findings creates trouble, particularly for NHTSA and the congressional committee involved.

And if Toyota is cleared, what does NHTSA, and for that matter, congress, do? They can't simply apologize and kiss it goodbye. And more than that, NHTSA can't be seen by the American people as soft and simply acquiescing to Toyota; not after the agency finally got some gumption and opened serious investigations into the problem.

THIS WEEKEND'S AUTO RADIO SHOWS!

Join us Saturday at 11am Pacific /2pm Eastern for THE CAR NUT SHOW and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern for WORLD RACING ROUNDUP on www.TalkRadioOne.com! It's just us and it's all LIVE!

Steve Parker's The Car Nut Show
Saturday starting at 5pm Pacific

Well, how did you and your family enjoy the first Classic Car Appreciation Day? Did you miss it? Too bad, because it was yesterday! To go over what happened around the nation and continues to happen this weekend we'll speak with Ethan Landesman from the Specialty Equipment Market Association, SEMA, which made the whole thing happen. Plus ... new Toyotas for 2012 revealed, the last PT Cruiser - ever - and Mitsubishis galore! We'll talk about all that and more! Please join in! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410.
Workers surround the final production PT Cruiser coming off the assembly line

Steve Parker's World Racing Roundup
Sunday starting at 5pm

JC Agajanian, Jr., scion of the racing Agajanian family (they've won the Indy 500 - twice!) is scheduled to join us and we'll talk IndyCars, NASCAR and the upcoming Legends of Ascot event commemorating the many years of Ascot Park Raceway in Los Angeles (the Agajanians ran the place for decades). Plus race results from around the world and your phone calls! Join us! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410. Join in!
JC Agajanian Jr., (l) with the family's second Indy 500 winner, Parnelli Jones

Podcasts of the shows are available one-hour-or-so after the live programs' conclusion. That's this Saturday at 11am Pacific and 2pm Eastern and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com!

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

MITSUBISHI MOTORS - JUST WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE, ANYWAY?

If Rodney Dangerfield had been a car, he might have been a Mitsubishi.

But the irony is, while the company's vehicles may not get as much respect as those from other Asian-based manufacturers, their products are solid and dependable and often more fun than the competition.

In spite of their relatively small size, Mitsubishi Motors also regularly produces a tour de force which grabs the imagination of the public, like their i-MiEV electric car already testing in America and slated for sale next year.

Mitsubishi is one of the world's largest companies, with interests in major industries including nuclear power plants, banking, chemicals and home building to electronics of all sorts and of course the automotive world.
2008 version of the Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car which goes on-sale in the US next year

They're the sixth-largest Japanese car-maker yet even with a worldwide presence Mitsubishi Motors sometimes seems to try and humble themselves in the face of their competitors. I think they've never really developed that "killer" spirit you find in Toyota, Nissan, Honda, etc., at least in this country.

I recently spent time in one of the company's Outlander crossovers and their sporty Lancer Sportback Ralliart five-door hatchback. Apart from some differences from the competition in styling and interior touches, a quirkiness for which Mitsubishi is known (and appreciated), either car can more than hold its own against anything comparable from domestic or import car-makers.

The Lancer was outfitted with full-time all-wheel drive with front and rear limited slip systems to keep the wheels delivering power and not wasting it, and a 2.0L turbocharged engine with a twin-clutch transmission operated via steering wheel paddle shifters. That's about as hip as you can get these days for a car under $30,000.

Throw in halogen headlamps, front and rear stabilizer bars, anti-lock brakes (naturally) and a passel of other performance and appearance features (like the front-mounted intercooler for the turbo and an aluminum hood with a heat-extracting vent) and you've found one of the best bargains in the "boy racer" class. Truth be told, the five-door hatch configuration makes Lancer right for a family car, too.

In a word, the Lancer I drove for a week was: tight.

Two engines are available with the Sportback: the base unit is a 2.4L I4 which makes 168 horses and the engine we drove was the 2.0L turbocharged powerplant which produces 237 horses, plenty of go-power for this under-3,000 pound slot car.
Mitsu's 2010 Lancer Sportback Ralliart, similar to our test car

WEEKEND AUTO RADIO SHOWS!

Join us Saturday at 11am Pacific /2pm Eastern for THE CAR NUT SHOW and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern for WORLD RACING ROUNDUP on www.TalkRadioOne.com! It's just us and it's all LIVE!

Steve Parker's The Car Nut Show
Saturday starting at 5pm Pacific

Is bigger better? Alfred DiMora is an American engineer/entrepreneur who is behind the $2 million Natalia sedan powered by an all-new V16 engine … and he’s got a line of street motorcycles on-sale now which are turning heads across the country. And he’s our guest on THE CAR NUT this week! He’s one of the most interesting people we’ll ever have on the show! Plus another huge Toyota/Lexus recall, Ford seems to be flying high and Tesla makes $226 million --- in one day. We’ll talk about all that and more! Please join in! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410.

Steve Parker's World Racing Roundup
Sunday starting at 5pm

It’s Daytona-time … again …  for the NASCAR ladies and gentlemen. We’ll go over the particulars of last night’s big mid-season race. Does F1 driver Sebastien Vettel have the goods to seriously challenge Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton for the rest of the season? And the IndyCar folks are at legendary Watkins Glen for their best road race of the season. Join us! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410. Join in!

Podcasts of the shows are available one-hour-or-so after the live programs' conclusion. That's this Saturday at 11am Pacific and 2pm Eastern and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com!

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

 

WHY FORD IS SO SUCCESSFUL!

During the past year, General Motors went bankrupt, Chrysler found itself owned by Italy’s Fiat and yet Ford seems to be hitting home runs, knocking them out of the park with regularity.

 

In fact, all of Detroit fared alright in the recent J.D. Power Initial Quality Study (IQS), the benchmark for quality in the auto industry. It measures “problems per 100 cars” as reported by owners who have had the cars for 90 days.

 

New 2009 vehicles sold by Chrysler, Ford and GM’s domestic brands have improved in initial quality by an average of 10 percent, compared with 2008, surpassing the 8-percent rate of improvement by the industry overall.

 

Imports still garnered the most segment awards from Power, but the IQS shows that the quality gap is still closing between domestics and imports, and things are moving in the right direction for Detroit.

All-new Ford Taurus
  

This is pretty remarkable considering the miserable, nightmarish condition of the industry the past two years. For quality to continuously improve speaks volumes about parts suppliers, assembly line workers, the factories where they toil and the stylists, engineers and designers who have all come up with some of the best cars and trucks the marketplace has ever seen.

 

Ford won three of the IQS segment awards, the Mercury brand one. Ford’s unique Edge tied for first place with Chevy Trailblazer and Toyota 4Runner in the Midsize Multi-Activity Vehicle segment.

 

In the Midsize Sporty category, Ford’s 2009 Mustang got the highest marks and in large pickups, the ubiquitous Ford F-150 took home the top honors for the Dearborn, MI-based car maker.

 

While Ford did best among the domestics in the 2009 IQS, another announcement they made this past week also spoke to the company’s recent success. That news was Ford will pay about $3.8 billion in cash to a union health-care fund, a sign the automaker is confident that CEO Alan Mulally's focus on the namesake brand will produce profits.

 

Ford sales rose 13% in June of this year over June, 2009. There are signs, though, that consumer confidence may be getting shaky again and the industry overall might be in line for another recession-based loss of sales and profits.

 

But in the meantime Ford is flying relatively high, and it’s not just all about the product.

 
Ford 2011 Fiesta 

In late 1989, Ford paid nearly $2.5 billion to acquire Jaguar, then a long-suffering car maker whose future looked none too bright. Legendary poor quality had dogged Jaguar for decades, and they didn’t have the money or the technology to make a fresh start with all-new models.

 

TESLA RAISES $226 MILLION IN ONE-DAY STOCK OFFERING

It looks the little EV maker who could has done it again.

Just a few weeks after announcing an infusion of $50 million from Toyota, and a deal with Toyota to re-open the New United Motor Manufacturing plant where Teslas will be built, the company, headquartered in San Carlos, CA, today became the first U.S. carmaker to launch a public stock offering in 54 years. The stock surged almost 41 percent in its first day of trading even as broader markets were plummeting.

Tesla finished the day with a gain of $6.89, to $23.89 a share. Tesla, the electric car company that counts Daimler and Toyota among its shareholders, raised $226 million selling shares Monday above its forecast price range.

The maker of the $109,000 electric Roadster bought by Brad Pitt and George Clooney started trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker TSLA.
A Tesla dealership in trendy West Los Angeles, CA

The company will go through a fair chunk of 2011 without any products for sale, thanks to tooling changes at a supplier. Production will resume only in 2012 when the mass-market Model S comes online.

Tesla founder Elon Musk, a creator of PayPal, was in New York today and said his company could be profitable if it continued to make pricey sports cars, but is instead forgoing income to build a car aimed at mass-market commuters.

"A lot of people were puzzled about why we were going public without profits," Musk, dressed in jeans and an unbuttoned shirt, told reporters outside the Nasdaq building in Times Square, near several Tesla Roadsters.
Tesla founder Elon Musk with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger; the small car company has deep ties to big money as well as influential politicians

"The reason we are not profitable today is because we are in the midst of expanding with the Model S," Musk added.

Model S is a luxury electric sedan it plans to launch in 2012 and to sell starting from $57,400.

The IPO was the first by an American car company since Ford Motor Company in 1956. Until that time, Ford was owned exclusively by members of the Ford family.

General Motors is planning their own IPO to get the company back in public hands and out of the White House. The company has put a big push on new models for overseas markets in advance of the stock offering, expected at the end of this summer.

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

Big auto weekend means big, live call-in auto and racing radio shows

Steve Parker's The Car Nut Show
Saturday starting at 5pm Pacific on www.TalkRadioOne.com

You know all about SEMA, the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers'' Association, don't you? The group which lobbies for car owners and performance enthusiasts in the halls of every state capitol and Congress? Well, maybe you don't! And you should! In either event, tune-in and call-in to our interview with Ethan Landesman. Plus, three California Highway Patrol motorcycle officers were involved in serious wrecks in Southern California in the past three days; one proved to be fatal. One other officer was critically injured; no official word yet on the third's condition. Tune-in to hear our guest expert! We'll talk about all that and more! Please join in! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410.
New assault rifle mount for BMW bikes ridden by the California Highway Patrol

Steve Parker's World Racing Roundup
Sunday starting at 5pm on www.TalkRadioOne.com

Long-time NHRA Funny Car drag racing champion Ron Capps joins us on-the-air for an exclusive talk with WORLD RACING ROUND-UP listeners! Don't miss this one! Also, results from all the major racing series in the USA and worldwide, from NASCAR to IndyCar, from F1 to the 78th Grand Prix of Endurance, aka the 24 Hours of LeMans, the world's greatest sports car race, held about 75 miles outside Paris (that'd be in France). Join us! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410. Join in!
Podcasts of the shows are available one-hour-or-so after the live programs' conclusion.
Ron Capps works at his office

That's this Saturday at 11am Pacific and 2pm Eastern and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com!

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

WEEKEND RADIO AUTO SHOW LINE-UPS

Join us Saturday at 11am Pacific /2pm Eastern for THE CAR NUT SHOW and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern for WORLD RACING ROUNDUP on www.TalkRadioOne.com! It's just us and it's all LIVE!

Steve Parker's The Car Nut Show
Saturday starting at 5pm Pacific

This week: Another great American car brand has been killed, and this time it's not GM doing the slaughter. Tesla is selling battery car credits to Honda to cut Tesla's losses. Just what does that mean? And BMW has released details of their new X3 crossover. We'll talk about all that and more! Please join in! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410.
Mercury is dead

Steve Parker's World Racing Roundup
Sunday starting at 5pm

Racing hits its mid-season stride as the jockeying for position in the win categories gets serious and meaningful. Next huge event: 24 Hours of LeMans, the world's greatest endurance race. Dario Franchitti picks up a cool $2.75 million winner's check for his Indy 500 win and is Michael Schumacher worth the $10 million he's getting from Mercedes for one season of Formula 1 driving? Join us! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410. Join in!
Two-time Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti

Podcasts of the shows are available one-hour-or-so after the live programs' conclusion. That's this Saturday at 11am Pacific and 2pm Eastern and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com!

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST - MERCURY KILLED

It's official: another U.S. car brand has been killed.

Going the way of Saturn, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Hummer and Saab (so far), this time it's Mercury, part of the Lincoln-Mercury Division of Ford Motor Company. Some of the above have been sold-off, but still killed in the U.S. , though.

This past week, with Ford flying high and dealers relatively happy with their products, Alan Mulally and other top Ford execs figured it was a good time to kill the Mercury division and pay-off their dealers. Most all Mercury stores are also Lincoln dealers, so no one will be missing any meals.
From musclecar days comes this 1968 Mercury 428 Cyclone; at one time Mercury was big into NASCAR

Someone tell me what a 'Mercury" is, what are its values, its reputation? In other words, what does the name Mercury mean to the car-buying public?

I contend it's been a long, long time since Mercury had its own solid, well-defined image. But was it an upscale Ford or a downscale Lincoln? No one seemed to know since Mercury was founded in 1935 by Edsel Ford and came to market in 1939. After WWII, when sales of all cars were booming, Mercury was incorporated into a single division with Lincoln, and then the customer confusion really began.

Bad-boy Mercury's were all the rage throughout the 1940s and '50s with their customized gangster look and appeal and an overall sinister-appearing exterior. Mercury gained its own acceptance into the world of custom cars through the work of customizers and body-builders throughout the country who saw special potential in the cars. A "lead sled" Mercury owned by Bob Hirohata (the Hirohata Mercury) is one of the best-known and still-extant custom cars of any kind.
A Bad Boy 1949 Mercury

Though some of the facts about the Hirohata Merc may have been lost to history (as often happens with custom cars), the Mercury was built by Sam Barris, brother of the well-known George Barris, who to this day calls himself, "The King of the Kustomizers."

So Mercury had a shot to differentiate itself from boring Fords and expensive Lincolns, but the division never capitalized on the vast numbers of young people, potential future customers, who liked the Mercs they saw at car shows and in movies and TV shows. But the window closed in the mid-'50s and since that time no one really knew what a Mercury was.

INDY 500! COCA-COLA 600! RACING WEEKEND, TOYOTA RECALLS DOMINATE WEEKEND RADIO!

Very special guests this weekend on www.TalkRadioOne.com! Join us Saturday at 11am Pacific /2pm Eastern for THE CAR NUT SHOW and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern for WORLD RACING ROUNDUP on www.TalkRadioOne.com! It's just us and it's all LIVE!

Steve Parker's The Car Nut Show
Saturday starting at 5pm Pacific

It's an all-LA Times weekend for www.TalkRadioOne.com listeners! Special guest: Ken Bensinger, staff writer for the LA Times, who, months ago, broke the original story on Toyota's unintended acceleration and other problems throughout the Toyota and Lexus line. Ken joins us for an exclusive one-on-one with YOU and all Car Nut Show listeners! Please join in! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410.
Lexus ES300 sedans from 2002 to 2006 are the latest problem childs from Toyota

Steve Parker's World Racing Roundup
Sunday starting at 5pm

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! World's best-known race - The Indianapolis 500 at 10am (PST) on ABC! Sprint Cup Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, NASCAR's home town, starting at noon (PST). The day before, Saturday, the Nationwide Series at Charlotte, the Tech-Net Auto Service 300 starting at 11am PST on ABC! Very special guest Jim Peltz, motorsports writer for the Los Angeles Times, joins us LIVE from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway! Join us! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410. Join in!
Podcasts of the shows are available one-hour-or-so after the live programs' conclusion. That's this Saturday at 11am Pacific and 2pm Eastern and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com!
Mario Andretti wins the 1969 Indy 500 and gets the kiss-heard-round-the-world from STP's Andy Granatelli

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

• Motorsports
• ABC

FORMULA 1 RETURNS FOR US GRAND PRIX IN 2012!

Purpose-built track in Austin, TX will host from 2012 through 2021; as we predicted, with Tony George out of the way of F1 and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, an agreement is finally signed.

Courtesy FORMULA1.COM:

Formula One World Championship Limited and Formula One Administration Limited (together, the F1 Commercial Rights Holder) and Full Throttle Productions, LP, promoter of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix™, announce that a historic agreement has been reached for Austin, Texas to serve as the host city of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix™ for years 2012 through 2021.
Ferrari at speed at 2009's Japan Grand Prix

"We are extremely honoured and proud to reach an agreement with the F1 Commercial Rights Holder. We have been diligently working together for several years to bring this great event to Austin, the State of Texas and back to the United States. All parties involved have a great amount of trust and confidence in each other and are committed to establishing the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix™ in Austin, Texas as a prestigious global event," stated Tavo Hellmund, Managing Partner of Full Throttle Productions, LP.

Bernie Ecclestone, President and CEO of the Formula One Group stated: "For the first time in the history of Formula One in the United States, a world-class facility will be purpose-built to host the event. It was thirty years ago that the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix™ was last held on a purpose-built permanent road course circuit in Watkins Glen, NY (1961-1980), which enjoyed great success. Since then, Formula One has been hosted by Long Beach, Las Vegas, Detroit, Dallas and Phoenix all on temporary street circuits. Indianapolis joined the ranks of host cities in 2000 when they added a road course inside the famed oval. Lewis Hamilton won the last Formula 1 United States Grand Prix™ in 2007, signalling the end to eight years at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This however, will be the first time a facility is constructed from the ground up specifically for Formula One in the US."

From JamesAllenOnF1.com:

"There is a major push to bring the USA under the F1 umbrella. The failure of the USF1 team was an embarrassment, but now it seems that there are efforts to resurrect the idea of an American team and You Tube founder Chad Hurley is still linked with this.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has a better idea, he believes. He said in an interview today that he dreams of a third Ferrari in the stars and stripes colors."

Comments?

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

Breaking - Toyota stops sales of 2009, 2010 Lexus LS

In another potential PR nightmare for Toyota, the company has announced that a steering problem has halted sales of their 2009 and 2010 luxury flagships, the LS 460 and the gas/electric hybrid LS 600h.

On Friday, Toyota recalled 11,500 of the cars, including nearly 4,000 in the US. Today, Lexus stopped selling both models.

Toyota, through their Lexus luxury channel, say they have no solution to the problem, an admitted electronics problem that can cause steering wheels to fall out of alignment for a few seconds at a time.

Owners of the two models have been told to park their cars until the company develops a fix, which Toyota says should happen sometime in late June.

According to the Los Angeles Times, which broke the initial unintended acceleration story, owners of the cars -- which have a starting price of about $65,000 for the LS 460 and $108,000 for the hybrid LS 600h -- will be receiving official notice of the recall in the mail next month.
Lexus' LS 400h hybrid sedan starts at $108,000.

The sales stoppage and recall cover cars equipped with the company's variable gear ratio steering system that's an option on the LS 460 and standard on the LS 600h.

Sales stoppages over safety concerns are rare in the auto industry, but in January Toyota ordered dealers to stop selling eight of its best-selling models after reports of unintended acceleration. That sales halt, called because the company had no remedy for the problem, lasted about two weeks.

The Lexus sales stoppage is expected to last longer. Toyota does not have a solution to the Lexus problem, which can cause the steering wheel to get stuck in a turned orientation even though the car is going straight. The steering wheel, however, can still be used to steer the car.

How should Toyota handle this one? They have absolutely blown it so far with their alleged cover-up of the unintended acceleration (UA) problems. The company eventually stopped sales of eight models and recalled some six million cars worldwide for what Toyota said was a sticky throttle cable. Many still insist that the UA trouble stems from an electronics glitch in the company's "drive by wire" system, and several US government agencies and contracted firms are involved in finding an electronics problem.

Now, with an admitted so-far-unfixable steering dilemma which is purely electronic, we say there will, and should, be more pressure on Toyota to stop worrying about their image and focus on finding and fixing these problems.

Are we right? Is Toyota spending more time ducking the truth and not working on unintended acceleration and other problems?

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

THREE CAR STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW (AND COMMENT ON)!

Tesla to Downey, CA - Drop dead!

If you're driving through Downey, CA, I wouldn't recommend driving a Tesla. A dream of Downey leaders to re-open an old Apollo spacecraft facility in their city, just south of Los Angeles, where Tesla told the city they wanted to build the cars, has fallen through.

And many in Downey are pissed.

Tesla buys cars from Lotus and ships them to the US where they are retro-fitted with electric motors and batteries for their all-electric sporty car. They have another, larger car planned for next year.
Tesla EV Roadster

Downey was once at the center, like much of Southern California, of American aerospace manufacturing. The city boomed from the '50s through the early '90s when the country's space program lost much of its funding and seemed to lose its own dreams for the future.

So when Tesla and Downey made the announcement recently, after nearly a year of negotiation, that an old space capsule plant would be re-opened for Tesla to build their EVs, a lot of people thought it a good idea. More than 1,000 Downey-area people could be hired in an area which has been hard-hit by the recession.

Downey and Tesla were to sign their agreement last Friday, May 21st, and city leaders were looking forward to the ceremony as an early Christmas - and a sure way to guarantee their re-elections.

Last Wednesday, the civic leaders of Downey were in Sacramento, lobbying for and getting much of the approval and money they needed to lure Tesla to town, retrofit the facility, make changes to historic buildings (space is history in So Cal) and went home happy.

So on Thursday, about 24 hours before the Downey city council was to vote on the final agreement with Tesla, an AP reporter called a councilperson and asked what he thought of a press conference held earlier that day in Sacramento with Tesla officials and Gov. Schwarzenegger.

"What press conference? I thought we were making the announcement together here in Downey, not at Tesla headquarters," thought one councilperson who appeared on the KPRW Santa Monica daily news show "Which Way LA?" hosted by veteran award-winning So Cal newsman Warren Olney. Tesla's Chairman, Product Architect and CEO Elon Musk appeared on the show as well. Both were cordial to each other and the councilperson admitted that from a business standpoint, Toyota had made Tesla the proverbial offer they couldn't refuse.

Tesla had made a stunning announcement - just six weeks after Toyota president Akio Toyoda placed a call to Musk, Tesla announced that Toyota was going to infuse some $50 million into the EV-maker. Teslas are going to be built at a car plant in Fremont, CA (just south of San Francisco), which was shared by Toyota and GM, a plant recently closed down, putting some 5,000 mostly-union workers out of work. The plant, called New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) was a joint venture between the two auto giants, with Toyota running the plant, making Tacoma trucks and Corollas and GM building Pontiac Vibes there, too.

The plant is a monstrous 5.5 million square feet and fully-equipped with automotive assembly lines. Toyota gets some good press from their investment and plant re-opening (1,000 people may be hired initially) and will learn more about EV technology and maybe share some of their knowledge with Tesla. Elon Musk, is now on the big map as far as mass-produced EVs are concerned and so is California. Toyota might come up with a challenger for the soon-to-be-on-sale Nissan Leaf EV.

The only loser here is Downey and the people there who thought they might be getting new gigs in the green economy. Was it bad faith negotiating on Tesla's part? Or just business? What do you think? When will the first lawsuit from Downey be filed? Things were a lot simpler when Downey was mostly known as the home of Karen and Richard Carpenter.

Los Angeles Times - Toyota does it again

In yesterday's Sunday edition, the lead story on the LA Times' front page was yet another expose' by writer Ken Bensinger about Toyota failing to notify the public about a serious problem. Bensinger has broken much of the big news about the Toyota scandal and we predict a Pulitzer for him and the paper this year.

ROAD TEST - 2010 MAZDA MX-5 MIATA

Believe it or not, there is still a fairly low-priced two-seater with an open top, engine in front and rear wheel drive, a near perfect 50/50 weight distribution and a stick shift transmission.

Mazda's MX-5 Miata is the best-selling sports car in history and more people race their little darlings at autocross and other amateur and professional events than any other car.

And everyone loves a two-seater. It's the best way to avoid driving the relatives around when they visit and you never have to help your friends when they move.

Miata was designed by a team in the company's Irvine, CA offices. Tom Matano, Mark Jordan, Bob Hall, Wu Huang Chin and Koichi Hayashi were in-charge down the 405, engineering and styling the entire car before it went to Hiroshima, Japan for final tune-ups. Matano, in fact, helped start the Miata Club of America and turned it by far into the biggest enthusiast group for a single model in the country, perhaps the world.

The 2010 Miata we tested is the 21st birthday edition of the car, now only in its third generation. Why stick with the same basic model for so many years? Because from Car #1, there was little to fix or change (other than having to drop the engine to change the oil filter...but that's been fixed).

Out of the chute, the car looked and ran great, didn't leak from its convertible top (almost a wonder in 1989), is now available with a power folding hardtop (which may make it the perfect sports car) and base prices between $23,000 and $29K.

We can report that Miata remains true to the goals of the Mazda's original designers: build a fun, responsive roadster in the tradition of cars including MG, Triumph, but build it so it won't break.

MX-5 is fun, smart, low to the ground, modestly powered, nicely priced and handles like its on rails. It's the closest thing to a go-kart for the street. Or a skateboard.

Still, Miata is sometimes derisively called a "secretary's car," which refers to the car's somewhat anemic 2.0 liter 16-valve DOHC 167-horsepower four-cylinder powerplant (the auto tranny puts 150 horses to the ground; 140 pound feet of torque makes for a satisfying launch at the Stop Light Grand Prix).

Truth be told, the heaviest Miata sold, with an automatic transmission, weighs-in at a feathery 2542 pounds with a 52% front/48% rear weight distribution. This makes the 167 horse engine feel a lot more powerful than it really is and helps tremendously in handling, steering and stopping (when using engine torque to slow with the stick).

WEEKEND AUTO RADIO SHOW LINE-UPS!

Join us Saturday at 11am Pacific /2pm Eastern for THE CAR NUT SHOW and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern for WORLD RACING ROUNDUP on www.TalkRadioOne.com! It's just us and it's all LIVE!

Steve Parker's The Car Nut Show
Saturday starting at 5pm Pacific

Big story this week: Toyota is investing $50 million in ...Tesla!?!? GM and Chrysler paying back loans, GM and Ford turning profits. And our special guest has the greatest job in the world: Leslie Kendall, curator of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, on the museum and its special summer shows and programs coming up! Please join in! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410.
Tesla

Steve Parker's World Racing Roundup
Sunday starting at 5pm

Indy preview! Special guest Jim Peltz, motorsports writer and Dodger beat reporter and for the Los Angeles Times, joins us just in time for an Indy preview and a look at the seasons in NASCAR and F1! NHRA drag racing: has the 1000' track fatally injured the sport? Plus we'll talk European road racing...if we have the chance! Join us! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410. Join in!
Agajanian Special in 1963 was driven by Parnelli Jones to victory

Podcasts of the shows are available one-hour-or-so after the live programs' conclusion. That's this Saturday at 11am Pacific and 2pm Eastern and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com!

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

WEEKEND AUTOMOTIVE & AUTO RACING RADIO SHOWS!

STEVE PARKER'S THE CAR NUT SHOW
Saturday, 2/27, LIVE @ 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com

Ford's 2010 Taurus breaks new ground with a car considered revolutionary when it hit the market for the first time in 1985 as a 1986 model.

Ford's all-new 2010 Taurus and Fusion hybrid... Steve's driven them both extensively and he'll talk about them on today's show! Like low-production number cars built by small companies for high-performance? A new California law would allow more of them on the highway. And the United States Senate has declared July 9, 2010 as "Collector Car Appreciation Day." So, uh, what's up with that? Plus your calls --- 213-291-9410!

STEVE PARKER'S WORLD RACING ROUNDUP
Sunday, 2/28, LIVE @ 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com

Steve's special guest: Motorsports journalist and ex-IndyCar driver Kurt Hansen. He knows whereof he speaketh ... Plus: Gearing-up for the Indy 500, the Monaco Grand Prix, F1's signature event, and all of NASCAR is at Dover! Plenty more so you be sure to join in at 213-291-9410!
Defending World Driving Champion Jenson Button takes a lap in a BAR Honda a few years ago at Monaco. This week marks the 60th anniversary of the very first round of the FIA Formula One World Championship, which was held at Silverstone (UK) on May 13, 1950. The British Grand Prix, which also had the title of 'Grand Prix d'Europe' bestowed upon it that year, was the first event in a seven-race season, which also featured rounds in Monaco, Switzerland, Belgium, France and Italy, plus the Indianapolis 500.

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

ROAD TEST - ALL NEW 2010 FORD TAURUS

Ford's on a roll, no doubt about it. They're making profits, Motor Trend named their entire Fusion line-up 2010 Car of the Year, Mustang continues as a legend which still sells and the Taurus is back - to stay.

All-wheel drive, a near-400 horsepower version and an unexpectedly plush and high-tech interior are all part of the all-new sixth generation Ford Taurus for 2010. Taurus is one of Ford's best-selling cars ever with over 7.5 million of them leaving showrooms since its introduction in 1985 as an '86 model. Incidentally, Motor Trend's Car of the Year in 1986 was that all-new first-generation Taurus.

After a week in a 2010 Taurus SEL, we can see why Ford is successful. Taurus is a great example of the company's no pretensions style, making honest cars and trucks in which most Americans, from 16 to 60, can feel right at home. Inside and out, a "just right" combination of US, Asian and European styling, engineering, comfort, handling and performance make this latest (and best) Taurus a true World Car (though in truth it's too large for some major markets).

Here's something you don't read every day: the 2010 Ford Taurus is fun. At least with the paddle shifters which can run you up and down through all six gears in fairly rapid succession. It's not Ferrari-shift fast but for a classic American road car the system is more than acceptable and adds some unexpected but welcome panache for the driver who wants to think he's in something better and sportier than, er, a Taurus.

The suspension is that familiar combination of trade-offs which results in potholes becoming terrorists, though brake dive has been nicely engineered out of the equation. Overall handling isn't as crisp and clean as we'd like, but we'd also like to drive an $80,000 BMW. For a mid-size, mid-price car in the most crowded part of the market, Taurus offers just enough sporty weekday handling to satisfy someone whose weekend car might be a MX5 or Corvette.

Our SEL model offered 19" wheels as an option. Stopping your car today will be four-wheel anti-lock disc brakes. While there's a traction control system for the front wheels, we were able to easily beat it with the car either in "drive" or using the paddle shifters. We got more torque steer and tire squeal than we expected - and we hate surprises. But once you get used to it and get it under control, it can make for a fun exhibition at the Stop Light Grand Prix because the Taurus can beat just about anything off the line for the first 150 feet with judicious shifting and a heavy foot.

Taurus exhibited about as much "push," or understeer, as a Honda Accord, which says a lot about the car's engineering. Like Accord, Taurus feels quite neutral through corners, rarely exhibiting any of that "Why won't the front wheels turn?" tendency of front-drivers when hitting a curve a bit too fast. The AWD models will inherently feel very neutral while cornering.

The original Taurus carried a lot of influence from Ford's overseas units. Taurus designer Jack Telnack, who would go on to become global Vice President of Design for the company, served as chief designer for Ford in Australia (1966) and Europe (starting in 1974).

Taurus was a wild, radical car for its time. Rounded, with what Telnack called a "jelly bean" or "flying potato" shape, the car had more in common, appearance-wise, with Euro sedans like the Audi 5000 and Ford's own Tempo than anything from the US or Japan. It looked slick and it was; its wind-cheating design made for a very quiet interior and also helped with fuel economy. Taurus was different; it was hip.

And it came not only as a family sedan and a station wagon, but also, starting in 1989, in a high-performance version called Taurus SHO (Super High Output) with a V6 engine built by Yamaha.

Don Petersen, who headed Ford from 1985, made use of Jackie Stewart, the F1 champion who was a Ford consultant (and still is) and encouraged all the company's top executives to enroll in a racing school to learn the potential of fun and excitement with cars.

In the mid-'80s there was a real question as to whether Ford's US unit would remain viable, that the Euro and Oz markets would be the ones to concentrate on. But the Taurus, Telnack, Petersen and and the Wee Scott (Stewart) literally saved the company's US operations.

I'M BA-A-CK!!! AND FRENCH CLASSICS...

One-off 1937 Delahaye 145 which was broken into parts and pieces and buried to hide it from Nazis; read on and find out where you can see it now!

Recently I had a pretty serious flare-up of my Crohn's Disease, a chronic illness I've had most of my life and which I don't recommend to anyone - but it was serious enough to put me into Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles for two weeks (and, ahem, just for the record, I was not the biggest celebrity there during my stay).
It was of course very hard to stay timely with my posts so it was decided I should take some time off, do some R&R, focus on my health and get back into it as soon as I could.
Well, thanks to all the folks at the hospital, friends and family, Nancy, the love of my life, and a new drug called Remicade ... I'm ba-a-ck!
Plenty of the hottest and most-important-to-you news, road tests, analyses and your questions answered, as always. In the next few days I plan to be hitting on all 12 (or 16 if I were a Bugatti Veyron) and joining back in the Car Conversation with all of you.
Thrilled to be back, thrilled you waited ... and we'll make it up to you!
Here's something special right off the bat, a sort-of "welcome back" gift: a car collector friend of mine has opened his own private museum in Southern California focusing on his collection, probably the world's best, of fantastically-styled pre- and post-War French cars. The LA Times ran a piece on it today and here it is - read it and drool! http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/topofthetimes/topstories/la-me-automuseum-20100508,0,7306782.story

Be sure to visit our new auto and auto racing enthusiast group on Facebook, Driving Crazy!

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

OUR WEEKEND AUTO, AUTO RACING RADIO SHOWS

Join us Saturday at 11am Pacific /2pm Eastern for THE CAR NUT SHOW and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern for WORLD RACING ROUNDUP on www.TalkRadioOne.com! It's just us and it's all LIVE!

Steve Parker's The Car Nut Show
Saturday starting at 5pm Pacific

So many recalls and seems like more and more Toyota problems that it's becoming like 'the problem of the week' for some car companies. Sales are still headed upward but is it just a function of all the incentives the car makers are giving away at the dealerships? One problem is that new models are being overlooked in the political atmosphere surrounding the crisis and there's plenty of good stuff out there! And you bikers will be happy to hear that we're going to talk motorcycles...with Maria Sanchez, journalist, TV host and confirmed HOG rider. The call-in number is: 213-291-9410.

Steve Parker's World Racing Roundup
Sunday starting at 5pm
Long Beach Grand Prix weekend - second-largest sporting event in the US (second only to the Indy 500). NASCAR is in Texas, F1 in Shanghai, China and the world of professional drag racing moves to Las Vegas. Lots of action! Speaking of NHRA, legendary racing observer, PR and marketing person and one of the first women ever in the pits at NHRA, Judy Stropus joins us as a very special guest! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410. Join in!

Podcasts of the shows are available one-hour-or-so after the live programs' conclusion. That's this Saturday at 11am Pacific and 2pm Eastern and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com!

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

ROAD TEST - 2010 NISSAN CUBE ... AND ITS MOUSE FUR HEADLINER

Boxcars.

Kia's Soul, Scion's xB and Nissan's Cube. What else could you call them but Boxcars?

And you either love them or hate them - at first sight.

These have become important cars to Gen X and Millenials. Soul, the newest entry, and its hamster commercials were recently judged the most effective TV spots in the car industry; xB is larger and some say better-looking than when it first appeared in 2004 as one of the first two Scions (xA was the other) and has gone through two major renovations. It's also received lots of bolt-on and add-on pieces which let the owner try to make as much of a distinctive statement as you can with a mass-market car.

The under-30 generation appreciates form following function, and nerdy, geeky styling with lots of windows to let people see in and the ability to carry almost all your band's equipment was an immediate hit. These cars are the little league versions of the Range Rovers their mommies drive.

Cube remains most dedicated to the original concept of these vehicles: a box which you can fill up with stuff and get it all from one place to another with the least amount of hassle. And do it all with some style, a lot of fun and boomin' audio.

Since its May, 2009 U.S. introduction, Cube has been built at Oppama, Japan, one of the biggest automotive manufacturing complexes in the world.

With its chopped-top appearance, Cube still keeps true to the integrity of the box shape. If the top were made of softer material, it would be a legitimate Carson Top; probably not something Nissan designers had in mind when developing Cube.

Definitely different for America, cars and trucks with this shape are almost standard issue throughout Asia, where the roads demand narrow and tall cars and delivery vans. Car designers and stylists must be ingenious in how they move people and their cargo from Point A to B with the least amount of hassle (and fuel).

All three of these boxes feature front-wheel drive and four-cylinder engines with a decided leaning towards the not-very-fast-nor-powerful side of the equation. You can make them look Boy Racer, but they're never going to drive Boy Racer.

OUR WEEKEND AUTO, MOTOR RACING RADIO SHOWS!

Join us Saturday at 11am Pacific /2pm Eastern for THE CAR NUT SHOW and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern for WORLD RACING ROUNDUP on www.TalkRadioOne.com! It's just us and it's all LIVE!

Steve Parker's The Car Nut Show
Saturday starting at 5pm Pacific
Warren G. Harding was the first President to ride in and drive a car. Here he is shown in a 1921 Packard Twin Six...a true classic

The Beverly Hills Concours d'Elegance! One of the great classic and collectible car shows in the US happens tomorrow at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. And I'm walking there! We'll be talking live on today's show with one of the top officials of the event, go over the cars and the celebrities involved and generally make you jealous if you don't live in Southern California. Plus Toyota is fined $16.4 million by the US government and GM might make a profit this year! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410.

Steve Parker's World Racing Roundup
Sunday starting at 5pm
John Force, perennial NHRA Funny Car champion

NASCAR, F1, IndyCar and NHRA drag racing all happen this weekend and next and we'll have all the results and prognostications. Plus --- Off Road Racing! We'll have one of the country's off road racing experts - Charlene Bower --- and get up-to-date info on the race Dr. Hunter S. Thompson covered in his classic Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the Mint 400 (Johnny Depp played Thompson in the film version; Benicio del Toro his 'attorney'). It's gonna be a fun one so come by and hang! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410. Join in!

Podcasts of the shows are available one-hour-or-so after the live programs' conclusion. That's this Saturday at 11am Pacific and 2pm Eastern and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com!

Join our new motoring and racing group on Facebook: Driving Crazy http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=111576232186343&ref=ts

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

ROAD TEST - 2010 BUICK LACROSSE

Let's kick-off our road test series with the 2010 Buick LaCrosse, an all-new car which is one of the prime examples of how far American-made car quality and attention to detail has come. And I see nothing wrong with sometimes rooting for the home team, especially when it's well-deserved.

Buick has had growing sales (comparing month-by-month to the past year) for six straight months and in March sales were up an impressive 76%.

And collaboration between designers in the United States and China, in partnership with the GM's Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC) as well as chassis and body engineers in Europe, has resulted in the first General Motors vehicle to be created on three continents.

Buick's 2010 LaCrosse is a perfect competitor for the Lexus ES 350 and Chrysler 300 (which is pretty long in the tooth), thanks to its looks, a choice of three direct-injected engines, optional Haldex all-wheel drive (on CXL) and a healthy mix of standard and optional interior gadgets, including in-dash nav, rear entertainment system and a rearview camera.

Another thing LaCrosse has over the Lexus is its styling. Buick says the car's styling, a continuation of what started with their Enclave cross-over, is "seductive and uninterrupted". That may be so to some eyes, but I find LaCrosse's appearance to be aggressive and powerful, not quite intimidating but certainly muscular for a pretty big four-door sedan. The Chrysler 300? We've seen it for a long while now; nothing really new. And Lexus makes a point of not changing styling on an annual basis; they know their buyers don't like a lot of change in existing models.

Two design cues harkening back to Buick back in the day is the large grille with vertical louvers. In years past people would say about Buick's signature big grille that, "I don't know whether to drive it or shave with it."

The distinctive Buick portholes are back, too Now they're found next to the engine compartment on the inside top of the fenders.

You have three engine choices: for the first time in a decade, Buick offers a four-cylinder engine standard on the CX. It's a direct injected Ecotec 2.4L which pumps out 182 horsepower. The CX has a new 3.0L V-6 powerplant which make 255 horsepower. The high-zoot CXL comes with a 3.6L V-6 liter providing 280 horses. All engines are direct injection, which increases power and mileage and can decrease pollutants. Six speed automatics come on all three cars and they have a center console stick with a now-taken-for-granted tap-to-change-gear feature found on so many cars and trucks (no paddle shifters, though).

For 2010, only the 3L CXL model will have AWD available; in 2011, the CXS standard with the 3.6 V-6 will have the option. That'll do away with any nasty understeer (more later).

Buick will stop offering the 3L V-6 in North American LaCrosses at the end of the 2010 model year, leaving just the four-cylinder and the 3.6 liter V-6. The reason for killing the 3L engine is that the 2011 model will now be able to offer all-wheel drive paired with the direct-injection 3.6-liter
LaCrosse 2011 models start production on June 14th of this year and will be available about six to eight weeks after that. If it were me and I had the kick I'd wait a few months for the CXS AWD.

Inside, it's Buick-level plush and quiet, and that says a lot. It has one of the best dashboards, switchgear, gauges and driver positioning in the industry. It's all very easy to use and quite instinctive. Most people will feel right at home in the driver's seat in just a few minutes. Precise detail and fit and finish inside (and out) shows GM is paying attention to details which the old GM would have let slide. "Ship it and let the dealer fix it" was the long-time GM mantra and thankfully those days are gone.

WEEKEND AUTO AND RACING RADIO!

 Join us Saturday at 11am Pacific /2pm Eastern for THE CAR NUT SHOW and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern for WORLD RACING ROUNDUP on www.TalkRadioOne.com!! It's just us and it's all LIVE!

Steve Parker's The Car Nut Show
LIVE Saturday starting at 11am Pacific

Again...
 

I saw two Toyota Prius (Pr-i?) in an accident Friday on Olympic Boulevard in Santa Monica. So many possible jokes that I won't make any here...but I will on the show! The White House lowered the pay of all top executives at GM and Chrysler because WE own those companies now. And just how safe is ANY car or truck? Plus our popular "One Minute Road Tests;" this weekend, the Nissan Cube. And we've started something new on Facebook you'll want to check out -- our new group called DRIVING CRAZY! Be sure to join in the conversation: The call-in number is: 213-291-9410.

 
Steve Parker's World Racing Roundup
LIVE Sunday starting at 5pm Pacific

The head of FOX Sports planning 3-D coverage of motor racing! NASCAR continues to streak through its natural habitat, the nation's southeast (Martinsville, VA ½-mile bullring this weekend). Formula 1 and IndyCar are both in action and both on street courses: F1 in Australia and IndyCar in St. Petersburg, Florida (not Russia). There was a horrific crash between two veteran NASCAR drivers last week at Bristol; should the 'other' NASCAR pro series bring their safety level up to that of Sprint Cup? Driver deaths are rare these days, but it wasn't always that way. The call-in number is: 213-291-9410. Join in!

Podcasts of the shows are available one hour after the live shows' conclusions. That's this weekend, Saturday at 11am Pacific /2pm Eastern and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern all LIVE on www.TalkRadioOne.com!

FOX SPORTS CHIEF - AUTO RACING IN 3-D?

In today's LA TIMES, FOX Sports chief David Hill says 3-D will be "tremendously beneficial to auto sports"; he also runs SPEED which carries some NASCAR series. This year FOX is carrying baseball's All-Star game in 3-D. What do you think?

 

David Hill has run FOX Sports for 18 years; Hill also runs the Fuel cable channel and 19 regional sports channels, among other entities. 

 

NEW AUTO GROUP ON FACEBOOK!

We've formed a new Facebook group --- Driving Crazy ---- and invite everyone to visit and perhaps join. All you need do is type DRIVING CRAZY into the SEARCH box at the top of any Facebook page and you'll be directed to the group. And if you're not a Faceboook member, isn't it about time you find out what all the hubbub is about? It's easy...even for me...and free, too.

We have high hopes for this...and as far as we can tell, it is the only car/truck/motorcycle or motor racing enthusiast group on Facebook.

Thanks for your interest!

Steve

 

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

• Facebook

TUNE IN LIVE! TOYOTA SAGA DRAGS ON; McLAREN FERRARI-FIGHTER A BARGAIN $229,000!

STEVE PARKER'S THE CAR NUT SHOW
Saturday, 2/27, LIVE @ 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com

Toyota is finding out it's not the crime, but the cover-up, which screws you. They should have studied Richard Nixon's presidency. That car-maker's saga drags on but car sales are up across the board, at least compared to last year. F1 legend McLaren unveils a supercar to rival Ferrari -a bargain at just $229,000! China's Geely says their purchase of Volvo from Ford may not go through after all and the JD Power 2010 reliability ratings are out with some surprises. And how could we do a motoring show without discussing Uber Idiot Jesse James? Plus your calls --- 213-291-9410!

STEVE PARKER'S WORLD RACING ROUNDUP
Sunday, 2/28, LIVE @ 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com

F1 and IndyCar got their seasons underway last weekend and we'll provide standings and analysis; you're invited to call-in with your take, too! Already underway NASCAR starts their short but often thrilling two-race short-track season, with Sprint Cup and Nationwide cars on the ½-mile bullring in Bristol, TN. Next week all three NASCAR pro series pick up the chase at the circuit's only other ½-mile fighting pit in Martinsville, VA. Coming up also - F1 in Australia and IndyCar on the street circuit of St. Petersburg, FL. Join in at 213-291-9410!

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

• Australia
• Cars
• Richard Nixon

POSEUR JESSE JAMES - OFFICIALLY A BIG DUMB HORNY IDIOT

"UPDATE - The woman who reportedly had an affair with Sandra Bullock's husband Jesse James has another bombshell to drop -- a full scale Nazi photo shoot. TMZ has obtained the shocking photos of Michelle McGee, which were taken almost a year ago. www.TMZ.com"

Just ask Snoop, Dr. Dre or even me, for that matter --- you can take the boy outta Long Beach but you can't take Long Beach outta the boy. One of that town's fine sons has proven that adage once again.

Jesse James, poseur biker, ersatz "tough guy," reality show celebrity and motorcycle-building's supposed bad boy, has admitted cheating on his wife, Academy Award-winning actress Sandra Bullock. Reportedly she's moved out of their home and James now finds himself apologizing to Bullock and their kids through the media (James has three children from two previous wives, none with Bullock).

James tells People Magazine "I deserve everything bad that is coming my way" and he exhibited "poor judgment." Can't wait to see that divorce settlement...

Who's the lucky girl? InTouch Weekly today announced an "exclusive" interview with the alleged mistress, Michelle "Bombshell" McGee, who calls herself "the hottest busty tattoo and fetish model" around. The "tattoo model" can be seen on a website called SoCalGlamourGirls.com, where fans of McGee can view her pictures or even speak to her live on a webcam. Can't wait for the Tiger-like chorus line of female fame-seekers claiming Jesse's tired manhood as their own to hit the media.

What an idiot, what a maroon, what a John Edwards in a t-shirt and without the blow-dry. James' wife is on top of the world for her part in the film "The Blind Side," won Best Actress honors at both the Golden Globes and Oscars this year and has a near-guaranteed future of larger and larger paychecks and, most especially, respect.

Yet apparently James considered this the perfect time to betray her.

I've always liked Bullock, 46, as a comic actress. Her movies make a lot of money, which no doubt contributed to her victories this year in the Globes and Academy Awards. The industry respects anyone who brings in the big dough, and Bullock has always done that. Bullock is highly-educated, urbane and talented. Born in a Virginia suburb of Washington, DC, to a German opera singer and a voice teacher, she grew up on the road with her parents and younger sister.

James, 40, is something else entirely. He's a So Cal boy with a background as a bodyguard for heavy-metal  music groups including Danzig, Slayer and Soundgarden. In 1992 James opened a motorcycle custom shop in his mom's house and it thrived. James' designs and ideas were edgy and became popular.

The custom company grew quickly and James now owns several racing-oriented and vehicle customization companies, and a hamburger stand near his Long Beach shop (where James and Bullock breakfasted the morning after the Oscars). His branded products (shirts, hats, etc, the usual) are sold worldwide.

DID W's NHTSA IGNORE TOYOTA PROBLEMS? ON-AIR THIS WEEKEND!

Saturday March 13 LIVE at 11am Pacific / 2pm Eastern
www.TalkRadioOne.com
Steve Parker's The Car Nut Show

Not only has Toyota become the butt of millions of jokes while buyers avoid their sales lots, but local news seems obsessed with reporting on any Toyota involved in any accident. Is this fair? The Orange County (CA) District Attorney has filed suit against Toyota for knowingly endangering the public with defective products. Where will it all end? Does Toyota stand a chance of ever recovering their market share and, most especially, their reputation? And Congress is taking a hard luck at the Bush Administration's version of NHTSA ... like Wall Street and the SEC, did W's NHTSA look the other way as evidence against Toyota mounted? This plus the latest on Hummer, Saab, Ford and all the rest, plus your calls at 213-291-9410. Join in the conversation!

Sunday March 14 LIVE at 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern
www.TalkRadioOne.com
Steve Parker's World Racing Roundup

NASCAR has been underway for what seems like months now, but this is a truly big racing weekend ... IndyCar and Formula 1 both launch their 2010 seasons, F1 in Bahrain and the US open-wheelers on a new street course in Sao Paulo, Brazil. F1 still rakes in billions, while IndyCar continues their losing association with Versus cable, a 10-year deal which guarantees continued low viewership for the series (four races, including the Indy 500, will be on ABC-TV this year). Plenty to talk about so you join in, too! 213-291-9410.

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno