John,

I couldn’t agree more with you on the styling of the Acura grills – ugly and cartoonish. I own a 2004 TL and purchased it because it looked sporty and sharp along with the benefit of Acura quality. The new TL is a better car performance-wise, but I won’t trade mine in until they get rid of that goofy grill. I just hope the Acura designers who brought us that design didn’t see the report on the headlight eyelashes!

Great show!

Mark B.
Waukesha, WI

If you go to Wikipedia or any search engine and type in Junkers Jumo 205 you will find stories and pictures of a World War II German aircraft engine, that was diesel, had two crankshafts, and opposing pistons that met in the center of the engine for mutual combustion. Now the designing engineer you interviewed on your program who has designed an opposed piston engine seems to imply that it was an entirely new concept, but one look at the Jumo 205 would suggest otherwise.

Waldy

Hello John,

For the moment let's ignore electric and hydrogen fueled vehicles even though that's where I believe the market will eventually go.

If E15 is approved E10 will likely disappear from most markets very quickly. I for one am very concerned that increasing the ethanol content in available gasoline from 10 to 15% is a bad thing for three reasons.

1. Economics: E10 has only increased cost of vehicle fuel for everyone I know. Most of what I read about ethanol production in the US strongly suggests that adding ethanol to gasoline does not reduce dependence on foreign oil imports, and may actually increase net energy consumption. Diverting sugar producing crops from food to energy production also increases food prices. Until such time as there is an inexpensive means of producing cellulosic ethanol the US gasoline market should be limited to the current E10 blends. When we can produce cellulosic ethanol inexpensively the E85 or even E100 would be great. We should jump right there and skip E10 altogether. By then most cars produced for the US market will likely be flex fuel capable anyway.

2. Compatibility with today's non flex fuel vehicles: As an engineer I worked with water solvent blends for almost 30 years, and to prevent corrosion we had to be picky about our choices of materials. Those we used were not inexpensive. Just because cars in today's US market tolerate E10 well does not mean they will hold up when using E15. I trust the makers of non flex fuel vehicles to use the least expensive materials compatible with E10. It does not follow that those fuel systems designed for E10 when exposed to E15 will hold up. It also does not follow that a fuel injection system designed for E10 will be able to run E15. The fuel flow capacity may be too low to manage the lower energy by volume E15 without reducing engine power, engine control software may need to be rewritten, and E15's effect on the effectiveness or durability of emission control systems designed for E10 is still unknown.

3. Compatibility with small gas engines: I'm not in the small engine repair business, but I have had to replace or repair at least half a dozen small engine carburetors in lawn and garden equipment due to either corrosion from water dessicated by from humid air by the ethanol is gasoline, or due to ethanol causing failures in rubber diaphragms, gaskets, and other rubber parts. These are failures of a kind I never saw before the inclusion of ethanol in gasoline. Small engine manufacturers and groups such as the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI) think that the move to E15 is rushed. Testing E15 in existing small engine designs so far have demonstrated issues with engine durability, air/fuel stoichiometry, and increased emissions of nitrous oxides.

I think a far better choice would be to, through government incentives, increase the percentage of vehicles that are flex fuel capable, including motorcycles, off road vehicles, and the larger lawn and garden equipment that it would be feasible to add fuel injection to. By the time economical cellulosic ethanol comes on the market there will be a large base of vehicles compatible with E85 or even E100. Leave E10 (or even E0) on the market at a premium for small carburated engines, classic cars, and boats. The price premium should be enough to move new lawn and garden equipment to E85 or E100 capable designs once the old equipment is retired.

I don't expect the government will listen to me, but I'm gratified that you do.

Steve Naugler
Forcibly retired and available mechanical engineer

Hi John McElroy,

I saw this on Ford news website, great news... just not for Americans in this county. We get the 40 MPG gas Focus, Europe gets the 74 MPG diesel Stop/Start model. Given the choice, I think lots of Americans would chose the 74 MPG car over the 40 MPG. Is there some way to convince them of this?

Thanks,

Dave Arnoldsen
Las Vegas, NV

Hi John,

It was a pleasure meeting you at the filming of Autoline After Hours last week. I can’t imagine the mental and physical stamina it must take to be “on” for almost 3 hours of interviewing. I don’t know how you do it. In the spirit of DIY presentations on the web, I put together a little slideshow of my trip to Detroit to see Autoline, the Dream Cruise, the GM Proving Grounds, the Chrysler museum, Greenfield Village and the Ford Rouge factory tour. I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks,
Phil in Burlington

Wow! It is about time. I wish they would offer a manual transmission too. I really enjoyed the original G20.

Bradley

I enjoyed your Woodward show very much and always watch Daily and your Thursday night show and used to watch on speed TV. A hint for improvement to your show the next time you do the Woodward drive, tell the guys to move out of the way so we can see all of the road and cars (they block 2/3 of the all ready small screen). I can listen to their relentless jabber off screen (most of it had nothing to do with what I was watching). Woodward is to see the cars, not these guys back to the camera and most of what they are talking about is gone by the time they start their talk anyway, just use a fixed camera and leave these guys on the bench, they are not adding much to your fine show, they are good interviewers not on site reporters.

Thanks,

Truman Lewis in OKC
Retired GM worker

Hello John,

Please ask Moray to detail his classic cars. And especially the Fiat 124 Spider that came from Italy in boxes, also the 4.2-litre E-Type, Lincoln Continental, step-down Hudson, mid-'60s Pontiac and who knows what else. Has he found an early Riviera? The man is a true-believer enthusiast.

And give him my best. The bastard never replies to e-mails.

Peter (Robinson)
Sydney, Australia

Mr McElroy,

I would just like to thank you for holding the AAH Show at the Woodward Dream Cruise and allowing us fans to check out the offerings. I had a blast, and as usual there was so much to see! I also got to talk with Jim Hall and he as big a hoot in person as he is on TV! Keep up the good work and I'll keep on watching!

Regards,

John Kujawa
aka JKujo

John was surprised to find manual windows in the Versa he was reviewing, but I don't get what the big deal is, most of the time either the heat or a/c unit are on, and with today's electronic tolling the only time you really open your window is to order drive-thru, and considering most of that food is no good for you anyway, the extra cost, weight and future repair cost of these power windows, make them kind of wasteful.

Pedro Fernandez

John,

In the 58 Toyota cases under review, partial braking was noted in 14 cases; pedal entrapment was involved in one; and in one case, the brakes and accelerator were both applied. From The Detroit News.

Representatives of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told members of Congress that brakes weren't applied in 35 of the 58 cases they reviewed -- suggesting motorists hit the accelerator when they intended to apply the brake pedal.

So for the other 23 cases, 14 had partial braking deployment (not sure if that was brake not pressed all the way or pulsating braking) one case where both pedals were pushed (indicating either a mechanical or electronic malfunction, and one case of pedal entrapment. So by that count of 16, what happened in the other 7 cases?

The Detroit Free Press is reporting that the early findings are that the causes were either pedal entrapment or mechanical failure of the pedal assembly. The pedal assembly would not return top zero giving the black box a accelerator pedal deployment signal. Depending on where it gets stuck at, this could be a big issue. Government agencies have stated that they could not find fault with Toyota's electrics. This is a true, but somewhat misleading statement. Unlike Honda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi who all use the same Denso component system, Toyota is the only manufacture that did not use a redundant feed brake cut off system. Why? So the electronics may be fine, but the design and implementation still left drivers in potential peril.

While 60% of the time driver error may have been the root cause you can not dismiss the 24% of incidents that point to failed design. To the other 60% "driver error" failures I'll leave you with my own non GM related issue. I have a domestic 01 model with a sticky gas pedal. So far a quick stab at the gas frees the issue. The name plate dealer that I bought it from tells me the unit is functioning as designed. Maybe. It would seem plausible to me that in some of those 35 cases the owner may have been attempting the same on board quick remedy. Thus the black box would record "driver error.” It is still way too early to just dismiss the case as "driver error.”

I think Toyota has fixed the issue though via the remedies already in place and the proposed remapping of accelerator programming on future models.

Dave Sprowl

I don't get it. Retail = great profit, good resale, great customer relations. Fleet = poor profit, poor resale, negative customer perception.

Simple math: If dealers state they can sell two times more than 75% of all sales for a company, they have sold 150% Why sell fleet?

Why again is GM, Ford & Chrysler not stocking dealers but they are okay with stocking rental car companies?

Peace,
Dsuupr

John McElroy,

Your readers/listeners/viewers may get a kick out of this Dodge advertising campaign running in Belgium. The campaign invited couples to "make a new baby in the back seat of a Dodge Journey minivan.” The first couple to do so would win the car.

Gene Dickirson
Plymouth, MI

Mac,

Went to Mid-Ohio on Saturday, been a while since I went there. Gorgeous track, beautiful weather, friendly people from ALL over the US and best of all TERRIFIC racing. In SCCA World Challenge GT, three makes (Porsche, Volvo and Corvette) are so evenly matched it comes down to who's the best driver, who gets the breaks in traffic or sometimes who has lady luck as a co-driver. This is what racing was meant to be. Can't wait until more makes come in next year with new rules. In ALMS GT again three makes had the opportunity to win -Ferrari, Corvette and BMW. All within a whisper of each other all waiting for the other to stumble to take the spot. GREAT racing there. It makes me feel really GOOD to see that SCCA and ALMS got the formula right for great racing. Observation from 1st WC race -- Mike Skeen rookie winner-drives WAY better than his 24 years of age. Shows skill, patience and ability. VERY IMPRESSIVE!!!!! Logo on hat for sale at concession stand Too Dumb For Opera, Too Smart For NASCAR. LOL! Truth hurts doesn't it Mr. France.

Later,
Youngblood

John,

Your guest last week, Amy Marentic, answered a viewer's question, but, not really.

The question was, would there be an Explorer Sport 2 door? At the end of her answer, she said there would not be an Explorer Sport Trac. The Sport Trac is a 4 door.

Was wondering if she was confused by the question or is it the case of not commenting on future product?

TPag

re Friday August 6 2010, you mentioned Japan yen 85 vs 1 US dollar....how about South Korea? Is it cheaper for South Korea to import cars into the USA? Or for South Korea to build cars in the USA? Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,
Al from St. Clair Shores, MI

Hi John:

Forgive me, your Aug 5 evening guests not well informed about the 50 mpg issue. How about 65 MPG?

There is dramatic new technology coming, including from firm Bob Lutz serves as director, your listeners should understand. I will gladly explain or you may want to ask Bob Lutz to explain the dramatic "critical fuel" advance......gasoline engine efficiency equal or better than diesel at lower cost.. See attached; written before Lutz signed on. Note 65 MPG with 2.2L 3200 lb car

Combined with the OPOC engine (your earlier show), well over 50 mpg can be had. It's a matter of industry willingness to get moving, which your guest on the 5th called for.

Also, have difficulty getting good reception of your show from recording.

Bob Brooks, member SAE
Waukegan, IL

John,

After watching today's show, I wanted to pass along a tip. The MythBusters did a show on vehicle aerodynamics. They figured out the same conclusion that the guys at GM did about the tailgate up or down.

David B. Fishburn

John,

I have been eyeing the 2011 Kia Sportage with the turbo and AWD for some time. I currently have a 2001 Audi Allroad (V6 TT AWD) with 46,000 miles and a Toyota Highlander (V6 AWD ) 116,000 miles. I am thinking of replacing or "upgrading" from the Highlander, simply because it has limited safety equipment, rudimentary skid control and only driver and passenger front airbags.

What is interesting to me is that I find myself looking at the Sportage at the same time as I assess the Audi Q7 & Q5, the BMW X5 & X3, the Mercedes M & GL class, and the Ford Flex Ecoboost AWD. The Sportage is well styled and engineered, powerful, can be luxuriously appointed, and has a fantastic warranty, not to mention a great price. If only it had a heated steering wheel option. Then it would almost be a "shoe in."

Great Show,
Tim Beaumont

John,

Is Peter texting during the show? Admittedly, I come from a different background, as I am a Caucasian Anglo-Saxon immigrant, from Canada, now a US citizen, but I would not let my kid do that. I was raised to take my hat off indoors, opens doors for ladies, and not to chew gum at work or school. Texting and answering the cell, while attending to others, seem to fall into the same category for me. Tell me it isn't so ...

Another Great Show,
Tim Beaumont

What is the range of the Chevrolet Volt with passengers and on hills? What about cold climate range?

Jerry Hightower

John,

The Ford Model T obviously changed the American landscape as shown in your The Car of the Century clip, but my question is, what impact did it have on the rest of the world. Did it transform Europe as much as it did the U.S.? Or was there a car over there that transformed how Europe and the rest of the world used transportation?

Thanks for your insight,

Chris

John,

Have you ever seen or heard about this re-refined engine oil?

Jim S

Do you think Suzuki and Mitsubishi will survive the U.S. auto market?

With such low sales numbers, how can they afford to pay the bills?

RN
Orange County, Calif. .

Murray Feldman’s comments on dealers, or rather the poor way in which many still treat customers, is right on target.

In today’s day and age anyone can find out, almost to the penny, what a dealer has paid for their cars and what a specific model, with options, may be selling for in the region, so better customer service is one of the only factors they can compete on – and yet they drop the ball.

One of my own experiences typifies what Murray was saying. While it was some time ago, I was ready (money in bank, financing secured) to by a Chevy IROC (Yes I said Chevy, not Chevrolet Mr. Whitacre). The only thing the salesman, who was the sales manager, had to do was let me test drive one, negotiate on price, and the sale was there. When I asked for the test drive, I got a grimace, a sigh, and then finally a begrudging “O.K.” Noticing that he was semi-irritated that he had to do HIS JOB, I said that, “I didn’t need to take a long drive.” His response, without even looking at me was “yah! I know,” sarcastically indicating that he wasn’t going to spend much time on me. I contemplated leaving right then. However, I took the drive, got back to the dealership, and even attempted to negotiate, but when he wouldn’t separate the value of my trade-in from what I was getting off on the car itself, I had enough and walked. Within two weeks, I purchased my new IROC from a dealer who treated me well.

I was even tempted to drive back to the bad dealer rep, show him the car, and explain to him what a D*** he was – but then I figured he may get mad and throw one of his multitude of gold chains or rings at me.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Mark Braeger
Waukesha, WI

While the discussion today was interesting and informative, I think that the panel’s outmoded attitude on vehicle size, that large is better and electric will never be as good or replace big gasoline engines is not productive. This attitude should either be replaced with newer, more current thinking or at least supplemented for a more diverse opinion supporting the direction that this country needs to go in, in order to be accepted in the world economy.

Glenn

I found the program criteria interesting, yet I find that while the Big Three (not any more) car producers General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have been struggling with a recession as well as the production of vehicles that the consumer wants and asks for not the manufacturer.

During the program I heard information concerning electric, hybrid vehicles, yet I don't hear of the current vehicles using diesel, one of which is the MiniD. This vehicle is advertised to obtain 65 miles per gallon of diesel fuel, yet no one speaks of the vehicle and BMW only says we may bring it to the North American market.

What is the problem here. Today I saw the Alfa Romeo vehicle which is a gorgeous vehicle, the Fiat 500 and electric vehicles, no MiniD.

Now Ford is introducing a Fiesta which will have a 40 mile per gallon range and no disrespect but the MiniD is 65 miles per gallon.

I ask this question, do we really want an answer to the current problem, or are we just venting.

If as a nation, we changed to electric powered vehicles, please advise me where the power will come from and secondly at what price? I have seen new contracts for electricity costs and it is not what you are paying today, therefore don't be lulled into a thought of having a cheap fill up on electricity.

I realize that the new electric era creates new jobs that are currently missing, yet is it sustainable in the near future? I hear the auto companies say, "yes", yet it was the auto companies that have not kept pace with the changing economic reality which left them in a bankrupt situation. During the recession I heard the auto industry interested in the diesel market, then sharply turn away from it toward the electric market. Was the major reason for the shift, new development of new industry for the North American Marketplace?

Food for thought.

Thanks,
David Fairfield

On reviewing the EcoMotor engine – does anyone remember the Commer (“Knocker”) TS3, diesel two stroke engine, very much in the same vein but of course 50 years previous?

What do they say, there's nothing new in engineering!

Ian Mackenzie Sharp

Hi John,

What I find most amazing about Mr. Gordon's mileage is how much he drives the car. 2,800,000 miles in 44 years! That works out to be 63,636 miles per year or 174 mile per day, every day! That is some serious seat time behind the wheel. I wonder if he has had to replace the seat.

Frank T.

John,

Sounds like you need to invite Jay Leno on AAH - ideally in person - he's got the money and time to red-eye it back to the West Coast.

Thanks,
Derek V.
Plainfield, IL

John,

Even though I was anticipating last nights show, I never really thought about offering the following train of thought until today. I understand EcoMotors seems to have a focus on building a truck motor but in AAH it was very obvious the biggest obstacle is getting this into the manufacturers production line in front of or in place of "existing engine programs.” I get that, but I wonder why not explore putting the engine out there as an aftermarket replacement? Naturally, your two main issues would be engine mounting and aligning the transmission/crank shaft.

I would love to know if that's possible. I've e-mailed EcoMotors and have received a reply to my interest in throwing one in my 1979 Porsche 924 - I'd love to know if I could line one up in the front of that car. I've got a friend whose 2005 Chevy Cavalier just dropped the motor and needs a new one in an otherwise solid, clean car. With as big as the used car market is, especially down the line with the working poor - cars could more easily be preserved/life prolonged. Maybe not so much with the modern car with all the electrical connections not able to tie in directly - or maybe it can.

In any respect, I think there is huge potential for this motor but I wouldn't narrow my initial scope to new production - offer the motor in a crate, dropped shipped to my house and let me put it whatever I want – my 924 or my neighbors kit car or anything else.

Anyway, I wish I had this though for you to ask last night, but any feedback, response, future discussion on the idea would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Derek V.
Plainfield, IL

Hey John,

Peter De Lorenzo is a nice guy, but your best shows feature David Welch and Jim Hall. Keep up the good work. Really enjoy the show.

Mark Patterson

John,

I'm currently listening to the 'After Hours' podcast. I have some support for your comment on the Toyota pedal design.

For my job, I have been assigned a base model Corolla with factory floor mats. The only after-market modification to the vehicle is a fire extinguisher mounted on the floor in front of the passenger seat as required by local law here in Qatar. When I am wearing regular shoes, I typically have no issues with the pedal locations. But I work on a major construction project, and when I have my steel-toed Doc Marten safety boots on, like when you have your XC ski boots, it's a much different story. I have to concentrate a lot more on where my foot is, and have, on a couple of occasions, accidentally hit both pedals together. I noticed this before all of the hullabaloo about unintended acceleration in the media.

I know that this isn't anything you don't already know, just more ammo for your argument. While I would much prefer something more like my Chevy back home in Michigan, I'm totally on board with your analysis of this situation, and its potentially negative impact on the industry as a whole. Fair's fair. It's a poor design, but it's not defective.

Josh

Hi John,

There is a lot of excitement about the Eco-Motors engine and its dynamic configuration. Like many things, this is a modern rendition of the opposed piston engines first made nearly a century ago. At one time, some of them had very good power for their physical size. Some large opposed piston Diesel engines are still operating today, but otherwise have faded away in favor of more conventional designs.

The Eco-Motors configuration is unique with one crank shaft for 2 axial cylinders and 4 pistons. You touched on one of the development challenges of these engines, it requires some form of ignition in the center of the cylinder. Saab showed a center of the cylinder ignition, with a protrusion in the piston acting as one electrode of the spark gap. Interesting, but it may not be applicable here. Development of a unique ignition system could complicate and delay the whole process. Otherwise a spark plug in the cylinder wall may have to suffice.

Another concern with opposed piston engines is the intake and exhaust port timing is not readily adjustable, as is increasingly common with automotive engine valves. Speaking of ports, many proposed engine configurations have thermal issues, will this be the case for the Eco-Motors engine?

It will be interesting to see how the Eco-Motor engine progresses, and the solutions to the technical issues.

Regards,

Ken Newton

John,

I wish I had wealth of Bill Gates to show my enthusiasm for this engine configuration. Peter's enthusiasm and confidence is awesome - you can tell just how excited he is about the technology he is developing - its contagious.

I wanted to add another crazy thought to my previous message. How wild would it be to have an all wheel drive passenger car configuration with two modules electronically synchronized with one mounted (east to west) to the rear axle of a car and the other (north to south) in between the front wheels.

I'm tellin' ya John (as I did them) I've got a 1979 Porsche 924 (already getting 30 mpg on its stock inline 4) that I'd love to experiment with to prove aftermarket applications for the motor. Let the public buy factory direct crate motors from EcoMotors (I'm sold) while they work the OEMs to get them in to production lines. :-)

Have a good weekend.

Thanks,
Derek V.
Plainfield, IL

John,

Awesome, fantastic, jaw dropping show last night. I don't know how you do it but you keep raising the bar every episode. Could only wonder what Peter's insight into EcoMotors might have been. I really believe their product will be a game changer. If I could only invest now before the IPO . Keep up the great work-----Sam Adams for everyone.

Danny Youngblood
Cleveland, Ohio

John,

I still find the admittedly very low volume background music distracting and intrusive as it continues throughout the show. Maybe it could fade away and come back at the end? Just some friendly advice for my most frequent online stop...

Regards,
Tim Beaumont

Hi John,

I didn't know who else in the Motor City to turn to with this question. Are there any SUVs that offer a rear, double, side by side cargo door anymore?

I'm short and find the traditional doors hard to reach to close!! Really! Since the early nineties I've had a Montero, Yukon, Yukon XL and now a suburban and have loved them all. Once when I had to borrow I believe it was a Ford Explorer, I had to jump up to reach the top of the door to close it.

Part of it is also having large Airedales (I do rescue) and it's easier to open one door, slowly to keep the dogs from jumping out. (picture a door the width of the car opening and three large dogs sliding out as it goes up!)

I would appreciate any info you might have. I'd also like to know if there are people at the car companies that listen to consumers suggestions and ideas on such things.

Thanks in advance,
Patty Eisenbraun

Hi John,

I want to super congratulate you for the super correct way you pronounced the Dacia name. I live in Romania, the country where Dacia is produced, and I can tell you that not many non-Romanian speakers can pronounce its name so well as you did. By the way: great success for its new product, the Duster!

Best wishes,

Cristian DICIANU

This looks like it’s coming up again. I am sure you probably read this, but here is a link to a leak of an NHTSA study of sudden acceleration in Toyotas.

There are a couple of interesting points beside the obvious one that they have found at least some examples of driver error.

1) It says that Government engineers picked the cars and read the data. My understanding was that Toyota and Honda data were unreadable by outsiders. Has Toyota given the feds some kind of Rosetta Stone for this data?

2) Who designed this system? It says that the samples were limited because all the data from the black boxes is lost when the box loses power. What kind of Mickey Mouse system is this? In the world of Bubble Memory and long-life batteries, this is just NUTS.

3) I will be interested to see if there is a lot of Driver Error in whatever sample they are able to get. If there is, that does not, in my opinion necessarily absolve Toyota. It could be that the design and placement of the pedals is a problem. Even before these incidents were publicized, the reports of acceleration problems with Toyotas were higher than one would expect, no matter what the cause. I suspect that there is something about the placement of seats and pedals in Toyotas that confuses people. Didn’t Audi change its basic design philosophy on Pedals after the 60 Minutes incidents?

4) I would also be interested to know how many of these cars were rentals.

Finally, for the Autoextremist himself, Manual Transmissions are NOT the answer to “Driver error.” My lovely wife was driving our S2000 on a very nice evening last week. Coming up to a stop light at about 30 mph, she hit the Brake and the Accelerator instead of the clutch and the brake.

First I need to report that the Brakes of an S2000 will win the battle against the engine with the accelerator pinned to the floor. The car stopped firm and fast. Second, she swore up and down that she hit the right pedals, until she looked at where her feet were!

Luckily, no one was behind us, and we were not going fast enough to flat spot the tires. By the way, we have been married for 30 years and I taught her how to drive a manual before we got married. She usually drives an Acura RSX-Type s.

It can happen to anyone.

Keep up the good work.

Ed

John,

You were right all along. And I knew it too!

Why are we such bad drivers in America?

Well… I've got a whole theory on that actually. I think it's rooted in our excessive lifestyles (not that I'm a minimalist by any means). But if you compare our roads (and even some highways) to those in most European nations we've got so much room for error - literally, due to the shear width of our roads and driving lanes. But on European roads the margin for error is much smaller - you HAVE to be a good driver over there just to keep your car out of the body shop. Difficult circumstances breed excellence. It's kind of like the saying "If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere."

Take Care!

Michael J. Brown

It is my opinion that the PT Cruiser is the perfect car to be all battery powered with a small engine for recharging the batteries of course.

Richard Eaton

Regarding the news story of a couple weeks ago whereby GM asked its employees not to use the [endearing] term "Chevy" in any correspondence, claiming it was never an "official" title...I have to laugh...Today, I pulled my 1994 GM "official factory" shop manual off the shelf for my Astro van, and on the cover is a the Chevrolet bow-tie, and inside the bow-tie are the words "Chevy Trucks" This is a GM "factory" service manual, not an aftermarket one.....Chevy not an "official" name, eh? LOL!

Rob Grosse
Saskatoon, SK, Canada

Dear John and team:

While you were a week off you offered us the 5 Car of the Century videos. Thanks for doing so. Really very interesting and entertaining, since they were all very well done, with a lot of original footage. Must have been a lot of work to prepare these 5 broadcasts.

Welcome back next week!

With my best regards,

Wim van Acker

John,

I've watched and listened to your shows since 1999 and like them. Except when you have David Welch on your show, I've heard him several times put down the UAW about the greed of the UAW!

Last week on ”Autoline After Hours" I heard David put down the union where his dad used to work at the beer factory, about how they struck for cola and how greedy they were. Please tell David it was probably those good paying wages from his dads union job that sent him to collage at 17.

David Welch just seems like a spoiled brat that forgot about the blue collar family he came from. I know you have a lot of blue collar workers that listen to your show, and when you have David on, this UAW worker won't be listening to it.

Dave W

John,

You made a comment in this week's Autoline Detroit episode ”B-Driven" about the American market getting the latest and greatest cars after the rest of the world. I would take issue with this comment. While you make many good examples in the Ford Fiesta and Chevy Cruze (the Ford Mondeo and Opel Insignia/Buick Regal would be better examples), it's important to keep things in context. Americans still drive pick-up trucks with automatic transmissions. The cars you name are small cars. Further, the design requirements for Europe and even China (who sells mainly to very affluent customers who make-up a large population in China) are more stringent.

The U.S. market does have the latest and greatest in terms of Muscle cars, SUVs and pick-ups. But Europeans don't like the Mustang or the F-150. The RX 350 was designed specifically for North America. The Chevy Volt is specifically developed in Detroit for the North American market first. Europe and China (to a lesser extent) have tightly-packed cities that aren't really spread out the way American cities, not to mention our sprawling rural areas. The European auto makers are really pushing the competition for those cars and the Detroit 3 (2 really) have adjusted to compete with their best products. The cars they get first reflect that.

When Americans start desiring smartly designed small cars, I think that will change.

Doug
Chicago, IL

I was on vacation for a while, so this a little behind the times as I am still playing catch up. But, it is in response to your “Branding Bland” episode a couple of weeks ago. I was just curious about the structure of GM. It appears to me that there is way too much cross pollination between the brands and not enough separation. For instance, this is what I would love to see happen at GM:

Chevrolet
This is the brand for the typical middle class American. With two exceptions, no car will cost more than $30K for its top of the line model. The two exceptions are the V8 Camaro and the Corvette. The V6 Camaro is already well under $30K.

Buick
This is for people that want a car that is a little more luxurious but does not want to refinance their house to buy a Mercedes. These cars would be in the $30K to $50K range.

Cadillac
This starts getting into the luxury segment, with the $50K vehicle being the “entry” car. The sky is the limit as far as the top end goes. If Cadillac wants to sell a $125K+ car, then go for it. Who is to say no?

GMC
This is where all of the trucks, SUVs, CUVs and minivans end up. The Silverado name can stay, but make it a lesser truck than the Sierra. Give the customer a reason to pay extra for the Sierra instead of paying for the name. Also, they can eliminate all of the duplicate SUVs and CUVs that they currently have in their lineups.

The first 3 brands only need to have around 4 cars each (again, with the Corvette and Camaro exceptions). GMC may end up with a lot of vehicles due to the nature of the restructure. Will this hurt certain dealers and help others? Absolutely. But, that does not mean that those hurt dealers are not allowed to expand to include the GMC brand (or Buick, etc). I think that if they were to restructure GM in such a way, then the individual brands now have a goal to aim for and can concentrate on making their set of vehicles the best in the world again. Without such a thing, I think GM is doomed to be mediocre at best.

William Barrett
Tulsa, OK

I enjoy watching Autoline Daily and Autoline Detroit. But I'm perplexed as to why you don't increase to a larger video other than 320X240. I used to watch the show on the SpeedTV on DirecTV, but it's not programed on SpeedTV any longer? I love hearing and learning the automotive news plus the features on the website. It would be nice to stream a larger Flash Video for say full screen at times. Sometimes I save some files for watching on my PC screen or on my networked Sony 46" HDTV for the weekly Autoline Detroit shows I have interest in. So until if ever again it's brought back on TV or SpeedTV, I like the show since finding it on DirecTV.

Carroll Gant Jr.

Hi John,

I saw your report on Ford’s new “Curve Control” on the upcoming Explorer. It got me thinking about the car I recently purchased - my first with stability control and traction control. Another make I looked at also had trailer sway control. I believe all of these systems work by applying individual brakes as they see fit according to their programming. The increasing use of these systems which take control away from the driver and give it to a computer make me a little nervous – I particularly wonder how well they all “talk to each other.” I wonder if it’s not possible for these systems to come under the same criticism that electronic drive by wire systems have recently like the Toyota Prius cruise control/gas pedal - whether justified or not - in the event of a few well publicized accidents.

Thanks,
Phil in Burlington

Hi John,

First, let me say that I have always been a big fan of your show. I have worked for GM's Windsor Transmission Plant for 30 years and am just recently retired (not by choice!) On July 27th our plant will make its final automatic transmission, which brings a very sad end to General Motors long and historic presences in the City of Windsor. Not only did I work for GM but, I am also a huge General Motors history buff.

The thing that I have always enjoyed about your show is how diversified it is. You always seem to find some new avenue of the automotive world to cover, from advertising (I love this aspect of the auto business) to design, to research...to where we've been, and where we are going. I found your episode with Dr. Alan Taub so fascinating, and I always find the passion that Jim Dollinger brings to the set quite...exhilarating. I have always wanted to contact you and tell you how much I enjoy your show and how insightful I find it, but I never have, until now. Your episode "Hollywood Drivin" (Part 1, Part 2) was just another example of how your show thinks outside the box and covers another aspect of our automotive world, and the reason for my email.

If I could I would love to give you a couple of my favorite "car films." I think one of the best car movies ever made was 1964's "The Lively Set" with James Darren, Doug McClure, and the “Chrysler Turbine Car.” Another great film which came out a year earlier in 1963, was "Palm Springs Weekend" with Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens and Robert Conrad. These two films by today’s standards may seem “innocent” but they illustrate and capture the youthful exuberance of the early 1960’s, and how important a role the automobile played in our society. To any “car nut” I would highly recommend going to You Tube and watching the trailer for either of these movies, they are priceless! In “Palm Springs Weekend” there are several fantastic scenes where Robert Conrad (the spoiled rich kid!) drives his 1962 T-Bird like a madman thru the deserts of California. His T-Bird Roadster is fitted with the Lee Iacocca approved tonneau cover, which to this day is my favorite Ford.

The thing that I love about “The Lively Set” is the story line itself. Here you have “Casey Owens” played by James Darren freshly returning from of his military hitch going to the University of California and working in his father’s service garage. But Casey is too good to waste his time in the stuffy halls of an institute of higher learning and strikes out on his own to make the next best idea to ever hit the road, “The Turbine Car.” This is what made this part of history so wonderful, a little less then twenty years earlier we won the war, and the 50’s taught us that we can do whatever we set our hearts out to do. We honestly believed that we were the best in the world and we can do whatever we want, or make whatever we want, heck, the president even told us that we are going to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade! If you don’t have them, these two movies would make a great addition to your DVD library.

In closing, I would like to THANK YOU for your honest and undaunting support for GM, thru these past few years. It sickened me to watch the national media slam, bad mouth and ridicule GM, but all the while you were always there in our corner supporting us. I would love to hear from you and maybe I could share a little bit of the history of GM in Windsor.

THANK YOU….
Kelly O’Neil

John and Autoline..

I was able to take a test drive of the new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee at Belmont Park in New York. My initial impressions were both good and kind of scary! The interior was amazing with comfortable seats that felt like they came out of a Mercedes ML. The interior materials felt very high quality and had fewer hard plastics. The Switchgear was simple and easy to use and the car had a decent ride. They compared it to the Honda Pilot, Chevy Equinox and strangely the Lexus RX350 and had those vehicles there at the event to drive. The Chevy's ride was not as good and it felt kind of cheaply made with a bad interior, the Honda's motor had torque steer even though it had AWD but had better handling than the Jeep....then the Lexus was pretty much the bench mark, it was not as good looking as the Jeep but felt faster, handled Waaay better and had MUCH better brakes.

Now the scary....The Brakes were kind of spongy and not very strong around the auto-cross track. They were small 2 piston front and 1 piston rear calipers for a 4750 pound SUV and were really tired where the other cars had better fade resistance. They really should have put larger brakes on the truck or at least larger calipers...I know the Jeep Engineer that designed the Wrangler's brakes with a 1 piston caliper and a 12.6 inch rotor that have way better feel even with my 35 inch "off-road designed" good year wrangler MT/R tires. The handling also had a lot more under-steer then the competitors and even more so then my Wrangler. This proves that they can make solid front and rear axles handle and it is not the design but how much hear they put into it when they are engineering the systems! Also they took it up a little hill that had little to no off-road visibility and it was hard figuring out where the tires were on the truck making it utterly impossible for rock crawling without a spotter. I understand most Jeep customers for the Grand Cherokee won't take it off road, but if it's going to be "trail-rated" it should have better capability to see where you are going, not just the ability to go there!!!

Bottom line...good truck not great truck for the money!

I can't wait until the new Ford Explorer is out....

Don from New Jersey

Really liked this guest very informative did not hold back on any questions.

Wondering would like to see Jerry Flint as a guest on your show.

James Thompson

Is there any history as to why GM's and BMW's headquarters are similar in architecture design? Each has 4 cylinders grouped together, so from a helicopter they look very similar. Just an observation from the canned footage used on Autoline Daily.

Thanks!
Bradley

Dear John McElroy,

I read your brief comment about ethanol production at autoblog.com. My comment to you is the viability of ethanol when one considers the 5 gallons of water needed to produce a gallon of ethanol. Yes, I've worked in natural resource fields and have watched and listened to all the pundits/organizations extol or deride ethanol.

In Illinois 4 or 5 years ago, a local farm community was approached by a big corn to ethanol giant with a proposal to turn their rotated crop fields into full-time corn/ethanol production. The community was far-sighted; they went into all the facts, pro and con about the situation and discovered the one thing to make their minds up. That was the total use of local aquifers/groundwater to process and successfully operate the facility.

It was estimated based on the all best and most recent data, that the aquifer would be used up, or at least unable to support long-term viability to their community. Oh, the plant would be profitable for the short-term, but not long enough to keep the community and area whole as it has for generations. By the way, the groundwater use 'facts' as provided by the initial proposal, neglected to be completely out-front with the data. They now are living their lives as they have, and successfully. There are great needs for 'new' energy 'paradigms', but, the facts play out that the corn-agri-conglomerates are the ones who want this to happen and are using that power to see it happen.

In short, profits are fine, selfish motivation at the expense of others is not. What good is land to grow crops if you use all the groundwater faster than it can be replenished?

The planet is smaller and smaller; these are difficult questions that we have to be more and more aware of as we make choices into the future.

By the way, I like your work.........regards,,,,,,Malcolm.

If China's manufacturers go on a large automation push I wonder how long it will take those tens of millions of displaced workers to react? Maybe the strikes at Honda are a precursor. An increase in automation in the country with the most people may help the bottom line but it does little for the population.

Chuck Genrich

In my estimation your show's coverage is far and away superior to anything else I find on the web or TV.

John's stuff is better written, more fascinating and more diverse. Even your contributors and anchor-subs are comfortable and informed. I tolerate those press-releaser shows too, but they seem lazy by comparison.

Just wanted to give you encouragement.

Tom Krug

Just heard today something about car companies can only give a government tax break to the first 60k cars they build. True?

John Sahr

John,

I can't help but wonder how basic a car can be made. Do we really need all the bells and whistles? I just saw your micro navigation segment. Are we that stupid that we can't figure out where to go once we get there? Do we really need all these computers, or is it a fundraiser for several years down the road when your dealer says the computer is bad, that $4,000 for a $200 computer. I know, I have been advised the stalling and shifting problems were bad computers. $7,000 worth of computers later the Dodge Sprinter still stalls and shifts poorly.

Give me a VW bug with a turbo diesel and you have a buyer.

Mike in Naples, FL

Good morning,

First off, what are your overall thoughts on the success or issues with the Scion brand? And rumors are that the Toyota/Subaru rear-wheel drive sports car will be a Scion. Does that make sense to bring in a mid-20K sports car when the brand has worked hard to keep all the cars under 20k? Would it work better as a Toyota?

Keep up the great work - I look forward to the podcast every morning!

Kevin

John;

I love your show and listen weekly. I learn ideas pertinent to my business, well before other parties know the same information. I have been in the automotive remarketing section of the business for 20 years. I run an independent auto auction in Chicago.

Do you have any interest in this part of the business for your show? I have major contacts at Chase, Santander Financial, major banks, credit unions and sub prime lenders. This could be interesting for the viewers.

Best Regards;

Fred Uhter
Lease Manager
Tri-State Auto Auction
www.tsaachicago.com

Love to listen to After Hours. Have not found a way to get it live on my iPhone. Is there one?

Anyway, a couple of things from last week:

HONDA AND ACURA

I have some specific recollection of the thinking behind Acura. At least what the dealers were told at the time.

American Honda did not think that Americans would buy three upscale Hondas in the same stores where Civics were sold. The cars were what became the Integra (later RSX), Legend (Later RL) and the Vigor (later TL). So Acura was created to handle those three upscale products. The distinction going forward was supposed to be cars with V6 engines, 5-cylinder engines and DOHC 4s.

The problem was that as time went on, Honda’s competitors forced V6 engines and DOHC 4s into the Honda line. So the differentiation became fuzzy. It was destined to be fuzzy, because all Acuras were sold as Hondas in the rest of the world, so there was little innate “Acura-ness” about them. This has never really been solved. And it won’t be until Acura is world-wide.

That and the Stupid move to replace names with letter designations have doomed it.

HONDA’S PRODUCTS

Often I hear that Honda has lost it’s Mojo. And as the owner of an RSX and S2000 (both of which are wonderful and neither of which is available anymore) I have to agree to a certain extent. And new products have been underwhelming. Including the Insight and the Crosstour.

But I would point out that Most of the Honda line is excellent, if not exciting. Civic and Fit are both doing really well in the market and are really innovative cars. I will be interested to see the next gen Civic. Odyssey is great. Pilot works well. And the CRV sells well.

Acura does well with the TSX and TL and MDX. The TL and MDX show how well Honda can differentiate the Honda and Acura versions of essentially identically vehicles. Though the Acura versions are ugly.

That’s a really strong (if somewhat dull) core.

The new stuff is pretty weak. We’ll have to see what the next gen stuff looks like. They have to stray from the safe zone.

OPEL->Buick

I am 55ish. And I have noticed that several of my younger associates are actually buying Buicks. In our 40-person firm, there are three of them now, all acquired this year. A new Regal and two new Lacrosses. They have an appeal.

As to the idea of just bringing Opels in as Buicks, I don’t see what the problem is. Buick has no identity. So what if they take on Opel’s identity? Opels are designed to compete with Audi, VW, et al. Maybe Buick should be American Opel going forward.

Ed Joras

Why doesn't Honda just make the CR-Z a 3 cyl. diesel? I like the looks a lot, it reminds me of my CRX.

Les

I just watched the show with Manley from Jeep as the guest. It was disappointing to say the least. Why? No one asked about diesels in the future for Jeep. Although very quickly near the end he did mention "crd diesels" but with no direction or elaboration what model(s) might get a diesel option. Just on one dedicated Jeep JK forum with over 10k registered members all wonder when we will get a diesel....excellent low end torque and great on-road mileage. Not one of the panel today asked the "diesel" question. Lame gentlemen, very lame, and a disappointment.

G.A. Branigan