Ian took this picture in San Antonio. I guess this is why most Texans put lift kits on their trucks. I’m not sure how to safely remove a vehicle from a spot like this. Maybe you could stick ramps behind the front wheels and try to back up, or lift the rear somehow and push it forward. Maybe a helicopter with a harness could airlift it to safety.
The parking lot isn’t exactly a smart design either.
Car guys are wasteful cheapskates — I cheerfully drove a Lincoln Navigator when gas was $4, but spent hours figuring out how to make free calls to save $600 a year.
Here’s how I did it:
First, let’s talk about the carrier.
When I was an annoying teenager, I worked at one of Virgin Mobile’s call centers. At the time, ten cents a minute was considered a steal among prepaid phone services. I remember talking to some pretty shady customers. I’m pretty sure everyone with a Virgin phone back then was a drug dealer.
I once activated a phone for one of the guys from BBMak, Christian Something. You probably don’t remember who they were because, like Advil, they had a one-year shelf life.
As of February 2011, Virgin offers three pricing plans:
International calling plans are competitive, but you can save even more by installing Skype.
There are no overage fees. Once you run out of minutes, you simply buy another “bucket” by paying $25, $40, or $60. Obviously, if you consistently make more than 300 minutes a month of calls, it makes more sense to spend $40 for 1200 minutes than $50 for 600.
You don’t get 4G or LTE, but you do get access to Sprint’s solidly reliable (except in western Florida apparently) 3G voice/data network.
Virgin allows you to port your existing phone number. After buying the phone, I went home, turned it on, and called Virgin. A friendly guy named “Richard” from India took my information and transferred my service over within 2 hours. If you activate in the store or do it online, its a hassle to have your default Virgin number replaced with your ported number.
Part of the low monthly fee and lack of a contract means that phone prices are unsubsidized and selection is limited. There’s a wildly overpriced Blackberry Curve for $199, a Samsung Intercept with Android 2.1 and a keyboard for $199, this new LG Optimus for $149, and a some perfectly competent feature phones for $49-$99.
I found the $199 Samsung Intercept to be a bit laggy despite having an 800MHz processor (compared to the LG Optimus’s 600MHz).
Plan comparison:
Sprint: $74/mo for 450 minutes, unlimited mobile to mobile, free nights and weekends, roadside assistance, unlimited text and data, AFTER 15% education discount and including tax.
Virgin: $25/mo for 300 minutes, unlimited text and data, including tax (if paid online).
Annual savings: $588
A big negative I discovered was that Virgin doesn’t support call forwarding, so visual voicemail services like YouMail will not work.
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Now, let’s talk about the phone, the LG Optimus V.
Despite coming with only a 600MHz processor, no more than what was in my Blackberry Tour, the Optimus never feels laggy or overburdened. I can whisk through web sites while listening to Pandora or MP3s without any problems. Part of the reason behind the smooth multitasking is Android 2.2.
Compared to the Samsung Intercept, the LG Optimus is more polished, has higher build quality, and manages to be lighter and thinner. Battery life is reasonable for normal all-day use (which means mostly standby while occasionally checking messages, viewing web pages, watching a couple videos, and making 30 minutes of calls).
Unlike the Intercept, the Optimus comes with hardware shortcut buttons at the bottom, while the intercept uses touch buttons that seem a bit less responsive.
Unfortunately, especially for those of us who love to drive convertibles in the winter, its harder to use with gloves on compared to the button-based Blackberry. I guess most people don’t care about that, but I do.
In the box are manuals, a 2GB microSD card, USB cable, USB wall charger, and activation instructions.
It comes with some default Virgin apps like “Where”, which allows you to look up weather, gas prices, and restaurants based on your current location.
The Google Navigation app is impressive with satellite views, live traffic, and options for alternate routes.
Pandora and NPR stream perfectly in the car.
Dolphin Mini seems to be the quickest browser available, but the phone will begin to lag if you have more than four tabs open. If you want to watch Flash-based video that’s not on Youtube (obviously I’m referring to porn) then you can use a browser called Skyfire.
The camera lacks a flash, which I’ll miss when I go on night bike rides or take pictures indoors.
Calls are crystal clear with a loud (sometimes obnoxiously loud) speaker on the back.
Here’s a quick demo of the phone in action:
Fast Tube by Casper
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You’re probably wondering how I got unlimited minutes while only paying for the $25 300-minute plan. Here’s how:
In the settings for Sipdroid, you can set different audio codecs. I disabled the ones lower than 64kbit since I usually make calls at home over Wifi. You can call over 3G just fine, but it sounds, as my friend describes it, “robotic” from the compression.
Now, when you make a phone call, it will ask you whether to use Sipdroid to dial out.
There’s a video call feature but I’ve never tried it. I talked to a friend last night for half an hour and his voice was crystal clear. The call never dropped and I verified that it was not counted against the minutes in my calling plan.
There are some limitations to using Sipdroid:
Google Voice comes with visual voicemail, which is nice.
So, there you go. You can have your cake and eat it too. Take that $588 you save each year and spend it on snarky bumper stickers.
I still miss my Blackberry though.
Note: After setting up Sipdroid on your phone, you need to browse to pbxes.org, log in, and fill out your personal information or else they will delete your account after a couple weeks.
Note 2: Free PBXes accounts get 2000 minutes (not really unlimited) but there are no overage fees.
Note 3: To clear your user data and start over if you’ve made an error, on your phone go to Settings > Applications > Sipdroid > Clear Data. This will force Sipdroid to open the setup wizard again.
Note 4: This phone as well as some other phones from HTC have trouble automatically reconnecting to 3G data after you go out of range from a wifi signal. So, for example, if you’re at home on wifi and leave the house with your phone, it won’t always reconnect to 3G data, though you will continue to receive calls and text messages. The workaround for now is to install a wifi on/off widget and remember to manually turn off wifi. Some have worked around the problem by turning airplane mode on and off or turning the phone on and off. I do not know the technical reason why this happens.
Note 5: THERE IS NO ROAMING. Its not an issue unless you’re on remote interstates in the western region, so if you’re a frequent highway traveler, get a backup for emergencies, like a $20 Tracfone.
http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101129/OEM01/311299980
Contrary to popular opinion, especially among fellow Saab enthusiasts, General Motors did not abruptly take over and ruin Saab. Indeed, Saab’s brand DNA and corporate identity were muddied under GM’s flawed stewardship, but the division hardly had a reason to live by the end of its peak in the late 1980s.
While GM received legitimate blame for diluting the brand with Opel platforms, taking engineering shortcuts, and using cheaper materials, GM deserves credit for introducing Saab to modern manufacturing efficiencies and changing the way Saab did business.
After more than a decade of producing the iconic 900, Saab had few plans to replace it. Designs were sketched but nothing was remotely ready for production. It is possible that Saab would have reskinned the car to update its styling and pushed it along through 1996, before US safety and emissions standards were due to dramatically increase, and then… what? Pixie dust falls from the sky, we climb into a time machine, and relive the glory of Reagan years?
The Swedish automaker was on autopilot, enjoying the moment and living in its past, falling asleep behind the wheel, ready to crash into a concrete divider. It was, hauntingly, a glimpse at what was also happening at GM.
The 13-year run of the 1997-2009 Saab 9-5 spanned four US presidential terms and serves as evidence of Saab’s willingness to allow products to wither on the vine, damaging the brand’s reputation for engineering and technological sophistication. Even in today’s advertising, Saab recalls the 1980s, focusing on its refinement of the turbo (I was in diapers back then, and I’m almost 30) as its greatest technological achievement.
Fast Tube by Casper
When the 9-5 arrived in 1997 (1998 in the US) to replace the aging 9000, we were listening to Soundgarden on Sony Discmans and gasoline was less than a dollar a gallon. Most upper middle class families drove Eddie Bauer Edition Ford Explorers, lived in culs de sacs lined with McMansions, and were wealthy beyond belief thanks to their shares of AOL and Netscape quadrupling in value.
By 2009, when the 9-5 was finally replaced, the iPod was in its seventh generation and a gallon of regular unleaded spiked to $3.90. The false prosperity of the 90s came crashing down as the dot-com and real estate bubbles burst like damaged saline implants, revealing a flat-chested mess of fraud and greed.
In that same period of time, the Acura TL had already gone through four generations.
You could certainly blame the 9-5’s neglect on GM. By 2000, Saab was a wholly owned GM subsidiary, nearly as homegrown as Saturn and Chevrolet. With GM losing market share at every division and failing to earn a profit since 2004, Saab was last in line for new platforms and refinements — after Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac, Saturn, Hummer, and GMC.
The article (linked at the bottom) criticized the Opel-based 900 that arrived under GM’s management in 1993. It was an admirable effort as a convertible, especially the muscular, fighter jet-inspired Viggen, but the build quality and mechanical longevity were arguably not on the level of the 78-93 900 “classic”, which made Saab internationally popular a quarter century before. The classic 900 is to this day the iconic Saab, the same way a ’57 Bel Air is the iconic Chevrolet.
Additionally, Saab management tolerated an 18% employee absentee rate. Calling in sick to go frolicking in the fjords was the norm.
Saab History created a chart detailing Saab’s sales volume since 1947, and the GM era beginning in 1990 at least sustained previous sales levels, though heavy incentives and financing discounts were often necessary to move metal.
In the late 1980s, GM was feeling the pressure of global competition, and acquisitions and new brands (Saturn) and partnerships (Geo) were intended to increase access to global markets and improve manufacturing processes. The General was primarily interested in Saab’s legendary engineering talent, but without skilled management in manufacturing, sales, and marketing, Saab had no viable way of sustaining its autonomy. Unfortunately, GM appeared to replace sound engineering with clever marketing, rather than complementing it.
So, for all of the blame GM legitimately deserves for screwing the pooch, it may have been better than nothing.
Additional details are in this article: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101129/OEM01/311299980
Fast Tube by Casper
Its a bit premature to call Saab independent. Sure, the company is now its own business entity under the ownership of Spyker and other shareholders. And yes, the cloud of being GM’s most-neglected division is gone. Indeed, it has the freedom to do what it wants without worrying about stepping on the toes of Cadillac, Saturn, or Chevrolet.
But no, Saab is not independent. Leaving mom and dad behind at the age of 64 (Saab auto division founded 1947, owned by GM from 1990-2010) is hardly a declaration of autonomy.
The new 9-5 sedan and wagon are built on GM’s Epsilon II global architecture, shared with the Buick Lacrosse and the upcoming Cadillac XTS. The new 9-4x crossover is built on GM’s Theta platform, shared with the Cadillac SRX, GMC Terrain, and Chevy Equinox. The 9-3 has been an Epsilon car since 2003.
With Saab’s Triumph-derived Ecopower turbo-4 relegated to the history books (except for a Chinese manufacturer that bought the rights), the company has relied on General Motors for its engines. GM’s 2.8L Turbo V6 and 2.0L Turbo Ecotec have powered Saab’s lineup for years. Saabs are equipped with GM sound systems too, and in the 9-3 you’ll see the familiar GM factory radio.
Because of all this shared technology, Saab is now GM’s largest single customer. Every one of the 80,000 or so Saabs sold over the past year sends a bag of change back to Detroit.
Saab’s next largest partnership is with BMW, providing Saab with BMW’s four-cylinder engine for use in the next generation 9-3 and the new 9-2. The companies are negotiating a sharing agreement of Mini’s front-wheel drive platform for use in a future Saab.
Saab’s questionable future will depend heavily on its ability to leverage partnerships to compensate for a lack of scale.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) – Spyker Cars NV, the Dutch luxury sports car maker which last year took over Sweden’s Saab, said Thursday it has agreed to sell its sports car business to Russian banker Vladimir Antonov, a former stakeholder. Spyker says the sale will allow it to exclusively focus on Saab and reduce debt.
To clarify, Spyker Cars, which now owns Saab, is selling its Spyker division so it can focus on running Saab. So Spyker is now, more or less, made entirely of Saab. With $44 million changing hands, Spyker is now in the hands of CPP, the British coachbuilder that had been assembling Spyker’s supercars for years. Spyker sells about 50 cars annually for about a quarter million dollars each.
Saab sales have doubled since rebounding from the carpocalypse of 2009-2010, and Spyker is eager to pay its debts. Its an unusual situation for a small manufacturer of specialty cars to acquire a larger global brand like Saab, but Spyker came in at the last minute with support from Sweden, the EU, and some Russian oil tycoons, raising enough money to buy Saab from GM for only $74 million (plus $320 million in Spyker shares).
Without Spyker, Saab would have ceased to remain in business, relegated to the automotive dustbin like Oldsmobile, Plymouth, Saturn, Hummer, Mercury, and Pontiac. Some would say, justifiably, that Saab had already died years ago.
Full Article: http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/market_news/article.jsp?content=D9LJ4CD81
An American car built in Canada could cost more than $10,000 more up north than it does in the United States. While there have always been differences in US and Canadian car prices and selection (they get the Nissan XTrail and Acura EL, for example, which we don’t), much of the blame is placed on an anti-theft law from 2007 that prevents many new cars purchased in the US from being registered in Canada.
Technical differences include differences in bumper, security, and headlight standards. Here’s a list of modifications required to register a 2011 Ford Mustang GT in Canada:
– Immobilizer – Already installed when you order the Security System option
– Child Tether Anchors – Already factory installed on all Mustangs
– Recall Letter – Aquired from my U.S. Dealer on U.S. Ford letterhead. accepted by RIV.
– DRL’s – this is the tricky one….
The Daytime Running Lamp (DRL’s) Modules in the US sourced Fords are already in the vehicles, they just don’t turn them on.
My US dealer was happy to activate them, but was unable.
Reason, US Ford Dealer computers need a “password” from Transport Canada to activate the DRL module via the computers in their service departments. This “password” is not provided until Form 1 is filled out at the border.
That’s why we can only get them activated at a Canadian Ford Dealer as their computers can somehow access Transport Canada servers to retrieve the necessary password.
– Sales Tax – This issue goes out the window as there is no sales tax in Montana, and no sales tax in Alberta.
– GST – paid at the border.
– Driving Home
Total Savings: Over $8,000
Government officials are accused of using the law to manipulate the market to boost the profits of auto makers, creating unnecessary barriers to importation. Of course, using the word “import” is technically inaccurate as several cars sold in the US are actually built in Canada including top sellers like the Camaro, Chrysler 300, and GMC Sierra.
The Canadian auto market is essentially caged, driving up prices by artificially limiting the size of the market.
Here’s an example of a new Cadillac CTS coupe in Canada compared to pricing in the United States:
The Canadian price for the EXACT same CTS is $13,727 higher, a difference of more than 18%. Even before figuring in taxes, the difference in MSRP exceeds $10,000.
This Ford Explorer is sold in Canada for $7,164 or 15.55% more than in the US.
According to a commenter, Canadian authorities allow manufacturers to specify which vehicles can or cannot be certified for Canadian use.
“I spoke to woman at Transport Canada once I found out my Form 2 was not coming and my 08 Toyota Tundra is now inadmissible. TC told me the manufacturers give them a list of their vehicles they will not allow. Way to go Government let them police themselves!!
TC could not tell me why it is on the list and that the manufacturers do not need to give them a reason to place it on the list!! Wow!”
Even if you import a car, saving thousands of dollars, you’re faced with several restrictions:
–Canadians are ineligible for special financing deals. Some cars have to be purchased outright or with Canadian lines of credit.
–Most US dealers will not sell new vehicles to Canadians.
–A “recall letter” from the manufacturer is required from the manufacturer, which can come with huge fees.
–The warranty may not be honored by the manufacturer.
The situation has improved over the last three years:
Details on how to import a car from Canada:
http://www.riv.ca/ImportingAVehicle.aspx
This is yet another example of corporations using big, intrusive government to screw over consumers.
Dagmar loves dogs, sports cars, and motorcycles. Therefore, I love Dagmar. A Canadian friend, Ralph, introduced me to her (as a fan, not personally) five or six years ago.
She’s a familiar face to Atlanta, as WGCL’s beloved weather anchor from 2008 to 2010, but most of Dagmar Midcap’s fans are Canadian, familiar with her work on regional news and BCTV’s Driving Television (DTV).
Fast Tube by Casper
DTV is distinctly unremarkable and occasionally terrible, serving automotive infotainment slop to Canadian audiences. At the time, most of the North American continent hadn’t been introduced to high-production, heavily opinionated motoring programs like BBC’s Top Gear. All we had was MotorWeek on PBS with Pat Goss and John Davis. Since the late 90s, Davis’s reviews have been more like video brochures than usable critiques.
Fast Tube by Casper
Imagine DTV as MotorWeek with younger hosts and more motorcycles. Dagmar’s polished presentation and cheerful good looks (the only reason I or anyone watched that show) made up for the program’s lack of depth and compelling content, and when she left DTV in 2007, ratings plummeted. I wasn’t sure what happened to her until I saw her on a billboard on I-75 in Atlanta.
Fast Tube by Casper
You may have also seen her on Stargate SG1, Dark Angel, and Smallville.
So, to summarize, she’s a weather girl who loves cars and motorcycles.
And she’s ridiculously adorable.
Did I mention she loves dogs? Nissan’s Mr K. told us that “Dogs love trucks.” Apparently, so do redheads, though she has mixed feelings about the 2010 Nissan Titan.
Here’s her review of the Nissan Titan. The tailgate fell off during her review.
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Sadly, Dagmar left CBS Atlanta after her boyfriend took his own life.
“The last time she saw him, she said, he had arrived at her home, flowers and an apple pie from Whole Foods in hand. He apologized to her for his negativity and promised they’d always be together. “I thought he was making a breakthrough,” she said. “I didn’t understand what he was really saying.”
Midcap found out about his death July 2009, during the 4 p.m. newscast in her news director’s office. She collapsed in shock. She stayed off air for 11 days.
Coming back, she said, was incredibly difficult. But she put on a happy face and viewers hardly noticed until six months later. “I had one bad night. I wasn’t as perky. I was on the verge of tears on the air,” she said.
Colleagues, though, noticed her withdrawn behavior off air. She’d sometimes cry at her desk, she said.”
GM Inside News says a North American diesel-powered Chevy Cruze may be a real possibility.
Problems:
34mpg
Diesel costs more than regular unleaded in the United States
$29k after converting AU currency to USD
Positives:
A mountain of torque.
Unless Chevrolet offers the car with a lower price and better fuel economy (giving it the CruzeEco and/or eAssist BAS hybrid treatment), its unlikely to see any success over here.
See: Road test of Diesel Cruze
See: Original Article
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Libyan-turmoil-hits-stocks-as-apf-1471605558.html?x=0&.v=13
With deep rifts opening up in Moammar Gadhafi’s regime, air force pilots defecting and a bloody crackdown in the capital of Tripoli, investors are fretting over how the crisis will end and what the impact on the North African country’s oil production will be.
Libya is the world’s 18th largest oil producer, pumping out around 1.8 million barrels a day, or a little under 2 percent of global daily output. The OPEC country also sits atop the biggest oil reserves in the whole of Africa.
Expect regular unleaded gas prices to exceed $3.40/gallon soon and exceed $3.75 in the summer. World instability has a knack for sending globally-sourced energy costs through the roof.
Every year, a couple dozen of us Cadillac owners and enthusiasts get together in Chicago for the auto show and a metric ton of food. And every year, I seem to take anything but a Cadillac to a Cadillac meet. My 2001 Seville was going in for wheel bearings and a power steering pump but the shop I was planning on taking it to went out of business.
Since it was just myself and my brother, I decided to take the Saab 900.
Every year, I leave on Friday and wait for my brother to head to St Louis from Columbia. Every year, he’s an hour or two late. Last year I missed the big Friday night dinner. This year we arrived JUST in time thanks to me keeping the Saab moving at 75-80mph, dropping my fuel economy down to 20mpg (its a three-speed auto).
Danielle made us great looking t-shirts. Huge thanks! Also a big thanks to Sal for keeping the forum running and letting it consume his free time.
We had dinner at Wildfire in Schaumburg. Great food, fantastic service. Thanks to Todd for choosing the place and making reservations. Marvin brought his XLR-V and graciously allowed us to drive it!
Booked the Hyatt in Schaumburg for $55 a night including tax. The layout was annoying. Rooms were spread out among corridors that branched off twice from the center, almost like a swastika shape. While there was an elevator, an annoying amount of walking was necessary. The hotel bar closed way too early and the neighborhood was sleepy. On the plus side, there was an Ikea next door for me to indulge in.
We had dinner after the auto show at Leona’s in Oak Brook. Our server was fantastic, with a strong Irish accent. I enjoyed a provolone Italian beef.
JD’s dad took us to Lisle to see the tree planted by the boy scouts in memory of JD. JD crashed his car last year in a fatal accident at only 20 years old.
Those of us who stayed until noon on Sunday went to Portillos for hot dogs and italian beef. A nice gut-busting conclusion to a great meet.
After Portillos I headed over to Ikea with my brother where I bought five pillows, Lingonberry juice, and meatballs.
