Steve Parker Motoring / The Car Nut

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.