March Goes Out Like a Lion
A winter storm watch is in effect for Nova Scotia during Monday and Tuesday. 15-25 centimeters of snow is scheduled to be dumped in my region; God knows I am sick of this shitty weather. I'll be working from home on Monday as it would be crazy to commute in this shit. I'm thinking of doing some revival test drives, but letting the readers (5 of them) choose the car I test drive. I'm pretty well open to any type of vehicle, but please remember because I am in a small community, I can't test drive Porsche or Land Rover. Both are unavailable because the dealers demand a deposit of $2,500 in order to test drive anything.
I had the Subaru's oil changed a few weeks ago at Canadian tire. They did an acceptable job, but now I realize I have to change my damn windshield wipers (which I'll pickup tomorrow). Canadian Tire was nice in that I told them I generally change my own oil, they said I could bring my old oil to them and they'd accept it for free. Wow, that's pretty damn nice of them.
I watched an interesting video the other night about the Nissan GT-R and how the president of Nissan/Renault (Goshen), basically was responsible for reviving the brand and bringing it back to it's premier marquee image. They showed how they designed the car from scratch. The only thing the president of Nissan demanded was round rear tail lights. He wanted to be absolutely sure that they kept the Skyline lineage in the car's overall design theme.
One very interesting tidbit about the GT-R: They basically built the car to be a Porsche 911 Turbo killer. When they designed the new GT-R, Nissan had a few Porsche 911 Turbo's so they could test the road handling and compare it directly against the $140,000 competitor car. It's no accident that the GT-R costs half as much as the Porsche; but what Nissan was trying to do was give buyers a performance bargain.
Nissan has also released the newly re-designed and improved 370Z series. They took the roofline of the GT-R and applied the same design spec to it. I'm not a big fan of the 350Z, I think it looks too poser-ish. For the same money I'd more than likely buy a BMW M5 (used) or a Porsche Cayman S. I drove the Porsche Cayman S last year and it was the fastest car I ever drove, period. The poor salesman didn't close the deal and tried hard to secure a desposit using my credit card - but I declined it.
If you're thinking about buying a new car this year, it's never been a better time to buy than now. The reason is dealers are desperate to unload inventory that's been sitting in huge storage lots building up dust and insurance costs. I'll list off what cars I think are seriously worth buying and cars that you should avoid.
GOOD ECONOMICAL CARS:
* Honda Fit, Honda Civic, Honda Accord
* Toyota Yaris, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Matrix
* Hyundai Elantra, Hyundai Sonata
* Subaru Impreza
* Pontiac Vibe
* Mitsubishi Lancer
* Ford Fusion
AVOID THESE CRAPPY VEHICLES:
* Hyundai Accent, Hyundai Santa Fe, Hyundai Tiberon
* KIA Rio, KIA Rio5, KIA Amanti
* Suzuki Forenza, Suzuki SX4
* Mitsubishi Gallant, Mitsubishi
* Any low-end Chrysler cars, trucks, and minivans
TOO NEW BUT INTERESTING:
* KIA Soul
* Hyundai Genesis
* Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution MR
* Subaru Impreza WRX (265 bhp)
* Scion (Coming to Canada in 2010)
More to come!
I had the Subaru's oil changed a few weeks ago at Canadian tire. They did an acceptable job, but now I realize I have to change my damn windshield wipers (which I'll pickup tomorrow). Canadian Tire was nice in that I told them I generally change my own oil, they said I could bring my old oil to them and they'd accept it for free. Wow, that's pretty damn nice of them.
I watched an interesting video the other night about the Nissan GT-R and how the president of Nissan/Renault (Goshen), basically was responsible for reviving the brand and bringing it back to it's premier marquee image. They showed how they designed the car from scratch. The only thing the president of Nissan demanded was round rear tail lights. He wanted to be absolutely sure that they kept the Skyline lineage in the car's overall design theme.
One very interesting tidbit about the GT-R: They basically built the car to be a Porsche 911 Turbo killer. When they designed the new GT-R, Nissan had a few Porsche 911 Turbo's so they could test the road handling and compare it directly against the $140,000 competitor car. It's no accident that the GT-R costs half as much as the Porsche; but what Nissan was trying to do was give buyers a performance bargain.
Nissan has also released the newly re-designed and improved 370Z series. They took the roofline of the GT-R and applied the same design spec to it. I'm not a big fan of the 350Z, I think it looks too poser-ish. For the same money I'd more than likely buy a BMW M5 (used) or a Porsche Cayman S. I drove the Porsche Cayman S last year and it was the fastest car I ever drove, period. The poor salesman didn't close the deal and tried hard to secure a desposit using my credit card - but I declined it.
If you're thinking about buying a new car this year, it's never been a better time to buy than now. The reason is dealers are desperate to unload inventory that's been sitting in huge storage lots building up dust and insurance costs. I'll list off what cars I think are seriously worth buying and cars that you should avoid.
GOOD ECONOMICAL CARS:
* Honda Fit, Honda Civic, Honda Accord
* Toyota Yaris, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Matrix
* Hyundai Elantra, Hyundai Sonata
* Subaru Impreza
* Pontiac Vibe
* Mitsubishi Lancer
* Ford Fusion
AVOID THESE CRAPPY VEHICLES:
* Hyundai Accent, Hyundai Santa Fe, Hyundai Tiberon
* KIA Rio, KIA Rio5, KIA Amanti
* Suzuki Forenza, Suzuki SX4
* Mitsubishi Gallant, Mitsubishi
* Any low-end Chrysler cars, trucks, and minivans
TOO NEW BUT INTERESTING:
* KIA Soul
* Hyundai Genesis
* Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution MR
* Subaru Impreza WRX (265 bhp)
* Scion (Coming to Canada in 2010)
More to come!
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