I spotted a NEW (insert make/model) today!

ateixeira

Here in MD the system actually loses money, to add insult to injury.

The other day I saw a Volvo short-stop at a red light cam intersection, then get rear ended pretty hard by the person behind.

I wonder if they made the yellows shorter, because the person behind had fully committed to making that light.

Edit to add link:

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Maryland-Speed-Cameras-Losing-Money--No-- problem---90952324.html

"are not generating enough fines to cover the cost of the operation"

:lemon:

ateixeira

Not too many of these around, but I saw a black one today, thought of fushigi. Are they giving it proper marketing support? Mitsu bounced back a little recently, but they're still invisible.

How's your Outlander GT? Still got it? You're a "keeper" right? Not a CCB member.

Also saw a dark blue Elantra sedan. Made me wonder when the 5 door i30 will be released.

lemko

...icy green metallic Ford Focus near the SW corner of Knorr and Bingham Streets in NE Philly. It still had the window stickers.

fushigi

I actually see a decent number of Outlander Sports around here. I think Mitsu just seems to do well in the Chicago area as there's no shortage of Endeavors & Galants on the road as well. Not many new Eclipses but plenty of Lancers.

My '10 GT turns 2 next month. By then I might just pass 20K miles. I definitely keep my cars a while; to do otherwise would be financially silly. Of course, top make them palatable to keep a long time I do tend to only buy high trim lines, but still, spending an extra $2-3K up front gives me a car I'll enjoy for 8-10 years so it's worthwhile to me.

Sales-wise Mitsu's been on a roll. Measured in percentage points they're consistently up 40-70% each month compared to the prior year. But coming from sales of under 6K/month that means they're steadily doing 8500-9K+ now. Invisible, as you say, when compared to the big guys.

Since their growth rate is outpacing industry average growth, technically they're taking market share from others. The big question is what happens when Galant/Endeavor/Eclipse are no longer offered. Will the i EV be a success? As the cheapest EV in the US it should be, but you never know.

Operating-wise, all I've done is 3 oil changes & 2 tire rotations. The OEM air filter was finally getting dirty so I just replaced it with a K&N (which I use to be cheap, not for purported power/MPG benefits). Lifetime so far I'm getting 21.2MPG, which I think is reasonable for the vehicle and the way I sometimes drive (I did grow up walking distance from the Indy 500 after all). There have been zero recalls. Reliability has basically been perfect.

Speaking of the Elantra, in September my wife sold her '01 and bought a '12 Limited. Sky blue with Tech package. She's still on her 2nd tank of gas. How many other compacts offer heated rear seats?

tifighter

Returned from another trip to Zurich, and noticed a few cars. Sure, all the latest euro machinery is there too, but the Swiss market is noticeably different than Germany in that the Asian manufacturers appear to be better represented there. The Mazda2 was a very common sight , as was the Suzuki SX4 (and Fiat-badged equivalent). Subarus were not uncommon. Lots of Mazda5's too. I spoke to a friend there, who has a VW and a Mazda; when I asked him which one he liked better, he chose the Mazda. "More comfortable, easier to drive, doesn't feel as heavy to drive. And more reliable." Not too many Hondas. For the euro side, the Scirocco and X1 are super common, as is the ubiquitous black S-class. Lots of new Bentleys near the Bahnhofstrasse, as would be expected...

andys120

I saw an Outlander Sport today, it was sort of a neon blue and looked better than photos would suggest.

fintail

Easily the most Subarus I have seen in Europe are in Switzerland. As they are snow cars, I guess it makes sense.

Germans will mostly only give Asians a chance for very cheap and small...that 43K Grandeur Hyunkia tried to con people into buying couldn't have sold more than to dealers themselves.

Geneva is a great place for spotting financial criminal expat high end cars.

fintail

None of them really appeal to me, to be honest. As you say, not cheap, most of them have some kind of tactile quality issues of some kind, and to me, many of them have the image of either a 20-something living at home and working a menial job to pay for it, or a jerky trust funder fratboy.

FT-86, will it ever exist?

I saw another new Versa trunkback today, this one driven by a very stereotypical fellow going about 50 in a 65 and talking on the phone.

fintail

There should be en masse suits against both camera "companies" and public sector officials for crashes resulting from yellow light timing. Cripple these so-called people, make them wish they were never born. There are multiple instances of yellows being manipulated for profit. Should be a mandatory 25 year gulag sentence for those who do it.

The so-called (aka lies) private companies who profit from this are allowed to take far too much of the pie.

fushigi

Yellows are supposed to be active for 1 second per 10MPH of speed limit. So 3.5 seconds for a 35MPH speed limit and so on. But as far as I know it's a guideline & not legislated.

As for red light cameras, I still don't see how they're constitutional. The accuser & sole witness is a machine; you have no ability to face them in court. The operator (not a LEO, BTW) reviewing the photos is no witness since they're reviewing the pics after the fact.

As for cameras, I've many times though about adding front/rear/left/right cameras in my car that simply record what's going on outside. Record to SD cards & automatically overwrite when full. If there's something interesting I can just pull the card & copy the files off. On an average day it'd be fodder for YouTube to show how bad some drivers are and in the event of an accident it'd be evidence showing what transpired.

andys120

As for red light cameras, I still don't see how they're constitutional. The accuser & sole witness is a machine; you have no ability to face them in court. The operator (not a LEO, BTW) reviewing the photos is no witness since they're reviewing the pics after the fact.

When I appeared in court for a camera-generated red light ticket in Boston the magistrate asked how many were there for that reason. About a half dozen of us were and she dismissed our charges on the spot for that very reason but I suppose anyone who simply mailed in their fine was stuck with the lost money and license points.

robr2

When I appeared in court for a camera-generated red light ticket in Boston...

There are red light cameras in Boston?? I live here and AFAIK, the legislature hasn't approved the use of them.

andys120

This was some time ago (early-mid 90s) and it sure came as a surprise to me as well. IIRC the Mass legislature eventually banned them. It's certainly one of the better things they've done down there.

lemko

...black Cadillac CTS-V coupe travelling west on Rhawn Street near Tabor Avenue on my way to work this morning in NE Philly.

ateixeira

Congrats to her, and yes bun warmers are nice! We've have a cold couple of weeks here lately.

ateixeira

New Versa sedan out in the wild.

Saw the same black Volt I see in the mornings, too.

tifighter

While waiting in the center lane of a traffic light this weekend, I had a Nissan Leaf on the left, a Maserati Quattroporte on the right and an Isuzu VehiCross behind me.

What do I win?

ateixeira

Rarest place to be in the world.

I bet that is never repeated again, anywhere.

ateixeira

Fiesta sedan
Jetta 2.5 SE

qbrozen

I saw a new Jetta yesterday ... one of the DRLs was already dead. Sign of things to come for that owner? :lemon:

fintail

Like the SNL "Adobe" commercial..."German engineering and Mexican know-how" :shades:

ateixeira

FWIW, CR ratings for the new Jetta trail the Golf by a significant margin.

Just don't get v1.0...or stick to the non-cost-cut Golf.

tifighter

Yeah, the Isuzu was the real oddball. I bet I'll see 50 more quattroportes before I see another VehiCross here in the Bay Area.

qbrozen

Just don't get v1.0...or stick to the non-cost-cut Golf.

Exactly. I mean, just when VW seemed to be digging themselves out of the reliability pit they were in, they might be throwing themselves right back in with this cutting corners... I mean costs ... business.

ateixeira

It does seem that the industry as a whole is spinning hatches as more premium now. The norm today is that the hatch costs more.

They used to cost less. Remember when the Jetta was made in Germany and they moved Golf production to Mexico? The 2002 WRX wagon was $500 less than the sedan.

Now they charge a premium for 5 doors.

kyfdx

Mazda was an early adopter of that.... with the Protege5, then the Mazda3.. The P5 and the Mazda3 hatch were the premium models in the line-up..

ateixeira

True, in fact the 5 door didn't even come with the 2.0l MZR engine. It only now got the SkyActiv 2.0l engine option, i.e. the premium small engine.

tifighter

I also forgot to mention that I saw a white 3-door Evoque in Zurich, parked on the street down from my hotel. Very sharp looking in person, though I have to wonder if its a look that will age well. I think the US gets the 5 door only.

ateixeira

Did it have "presence".

Poking fun at the commercials.

robr2

The Evoque "Coupe" is available in the US in Pure and Dynamic trims.

explorerx4

I saw a Black CTS-4 quite a bit driving east in PA.
It really seemed like it was hobby horsing quite a bit.
Kind of strange.

fintail

Saw a silver Veloster today.

anythngbutgm

I apologize I am not familiar with the term "hobby horsing", but if it's the same thing I've noticed with the (2) CTS coupes that I have seen, even over the smallest undulations on the highway, the rear never could get composed. I've seen a handful of new CTS sedans but never noticed the same nature, maybe the coupe profile adds more weight to the hine quarters and GM never made revisions to the rear suspension to accomodate for it...

texases

"hobby horsing" is when a car imitates the movement you get out of one of these:

fintail

I once rode in a Town Car airport town car thing that did that - it gave a sensation that the driver was lightly tapping the brakes at regular intervals, but he wasn't. Probably a built in seasick ride dynamic of those things.

fintail

Saw a truckload of new white wrapped Audis this morning, and stuck on the back of the truck was a new style Beetle.

ateixeira

Went to a Terps hoops game (men and ladies both won - go Terps!) and saw lots of new muscle.

Camaro SS - in orange with black
Dodge Charger, blue with black stripes
Mustang - bright orange

Don't be shy.

On the roads, another Camaro, a Fiesta sedan, and an Accent sedan.

kyfdx

What is up with their football uniforms? :surprise:

ateixeira

Just awful. That's why the football team keeps losing.

I was talking about hoops, though. :shades:

texases

For those curious:

ateixeira

I just threw up in my mouth a little...

And I went to school there. Undergrad AND grad school.

ateixeira

This morning, temp tags on both.

Not really a fan of either, to be honest.

kyfdx

I like the Countryman... tried to talk the wife into one.... that didn't really go that well..

ateixeira

Brian Cooley from CNET listed it in his 3 least favorite cars he tested this year (out of 100 or so). It actually broke down on them.

tifighter

I like Brian Cooley a lot. Put HIM on top gear USA.

lemko

From Forbes:

Worst Car Flops of 2011

qbrozen

Hmmm... how does the Aveo count when it was at the end of its life? Yet, no Saabs on the list? :confuse:

lemko

If the Aveo is the worst car on the market, then all cars are pretty darn good. My Mom has an Aveo and it seems to be holding up pretty well. As it says in the article, the Aveo will soon be replaced by the Sonic.

Saab seems to be absent from the market this year. They didn't even make an appearance at the Philadelphia Auto Show back in February.

fushigi

Yeah, and the Outlander Sport, while it doesn't sell like CR-Vs do, is one of Mitsu's best sellers. Even if they wanted it to sell more I don't think Mitsu would call that a flop.

ateixeira

Never mind the Mitsu, they listed the VW Jetta.

Hello, McFly?

Jetta Sedan

11,349 +13.7% for October
126,961 +62.8% for YTD

SportWagen (the old model)

1,709 -13.6% for October

Though it's doing OK YTD.

Merriam-Webster defines a flop (the noun) as a "complete failure".

Sure they cut costs and it's not as nice as before, but sales up 63% is a complete failure?