This last weekend my wife, daughter and I spend some time in Richmond (BC). Richmond, and really most of neighboring Vancouver, are full of rich folk. Here I am driving along in my 2008 Mazda 5 surrounded by vehicles like new BMW 7 series, Mercedes and Austin Martins with the occasional Lamborghini and Ferrari thrown in. Thank god there is also the odd mid-80’s Nissan Sentra, and Hyundai Pony’s around to keep me from the bottom of the food chain.

People have money – they buy nice cars, I get it – I’d do the same, but what get’s me is the parents that buy their kids half million dollar cars as their first vehicle. What’s up with that??

For those who are unfamiliar with BC law etc, The graduated licensing system in BC requires student drivers to have a red “L” on the back of their car (it’s a little 5 x 7 inch magnet), and new drivers, in their first 2 years have to display a green “N” on the back.

On this trip I saw many green N’s on BMW’s and other fancy cars, but there were two that really caught my attention. One was on a new Audi R8 – cost, about $160,000. The other was on a new Lamborghini Murcielago, cost about $450,000. Are you kidding me? Really? What on earth has a 17 year old done to deserve his parents buying him a $450,000 car! New drivers should have to drive cheap little beaters till they learn how to properly drive – I seriously doubt that any 17 year old can truly handle a 631 horsepower V-12. But I could be wrong.

Perhaps I am just jealous. When I first got my license I was stuck driving my dads 85 Ford Bronco II. For a 16 year old it was great to have access to a car, but still, it’s no Lamborghini.

I have had some nice cars since. My Mazda 5 may be a mini-van, but it’s practical for my family, and still kinda fun to drive… Fun to drive? A mini-van? Did I just say that? Man I must be getting old. I miss my 07 GTI, and old 72 Datsun 240z.

What is this world coming to?

If you think its time to trade in that old beater of a truck for a good ‘ol fancy new one, now’s the time if you live in Missouri!

Over at Max Motors, President Mark Muller is offering a free AK-47 with the purchase of a truck!

Now I am not convinced that this latest promotion is to try and sell more trucks – at least not directly. I am positive that it is simply to draw national and international attention to his business, and website, and as a result, well, he sells more trucks.

On his home page he has links to Fox, CNN, CNBC and other videos where he was interviewed about this promotion, and in some ways it is a genius way to get some serious link bait for his website. (It’s too bad he didn’t take the time to create decent looking site – looks like something I might have created way back in high school.)

I think if I had a car dealership I would offer a free bazooka with every purchase. That would be way cool.

Here is one interview that I will refrain from offering my opinion on – “Mama always said, if you don’t have anything nice to say…”

I guess with this, I am actually helping his efforts… oh well, its still interesting, and, I guess he still does deserve a little credit for creativity.

Here is my personal opinion and review of the 2008 Mazda 5 GT

About a year ago we had a baby, and we realized very quickly that our 2007 2 door VW GTI, the car I loved so much, was just not going to cut it – so, we said goodbye to the fast little car, and hello to mini-van ownership.

But we didn’t want just any mini-van, we wanted a mini-mini-van, one that seems more like a care, and less like a van, one with a manual transmission. That’s when we discovered the 2008 Mazda 5.

We knew right away that it was the perfect car for us. The convenience of a mini-van with the size and agility of a car – it is built on the Mazda 3 platform after all. We find that most people don’t even realize it’s a van, and have heard the comment several times, “It has sliding doors?” “Sure does, and a third row of seats!” Many people see it and assume it’s a Toyota Matrix and are very surprised to see the sliding doors and third row.

This car is really perfect for us, lots of cargo room, its sporty, fun to drive, and it looks good.

Car Trouble
Since we got our 5, we have had only one small problem with it (see update below), a problem that was covered 100% under warranty. The gas cap. I went to buy gas before a trip one day, and for the life of me couldn’t get the gas cap off. The dealer broke it into several pieces trying to get it off, commented on how strange it was, and replaced it at no charge. Since then, no problems. (I have also heard of several other cases where people have had the same bizarre problem. You can read some of these stories over at Mazda Forums.

UPDATE: October 16, 2010
While we still love this car, and it suits our needs very well, since writing this post, there have been a few other warranty issues, some small, some significant. Here they are:

• rear wiper arm
• rear right shock
• rear left shock
• power steering pump
• leak detection pump
• Power window issues (just needed adjustment, not actually broken)
• dead headlight (surprisingly covered under warranty)

UPDATE: January 23, 2012
I had a nice long time without any issues. Then the same headlight died again. Not a big deal, $10 and 10 minutes later it was fixed. Still weird how I lost two lights on the same side while the other still shines on.

Also, the right rear shock went AGAIN. Mazda would not cover it. No warranty on replacement shocks I guess? Anyways, I have vented bit time about this issue here “Why Courtenay Mazda Has Lost My Business“

Likes
I like a number of things about this car.

• Sliding doors
• Third row of seats
• Vehicle size
• Vehicle styling, Including Rims
• Available storage
• Great gas mileage
• Manual transmission
• Driveability (fun to drive & sporty, albeit a little underpowered)

Dislikes
There are a number of small things that bug me a little – none are enough to stop be from recommending the car however.

• Drivers seat should slide back a bit further
• Rear vent blows outside air only
• No heated mirror option on GT model
• No heated seats without leather option
• Stereo is way under-powered, and sounds average at best
• Stereo does not support MP3′s!
• Engine could use a little more power & torque. Currently it has about 157 HP, should probably be 200.
• Blind spot on right of car – passengers head, side pillar, and the head rest, block a quite a bit of the view.
• Buttons for rear defrost, rear vent, AMB, are in a bad location, should be up above the stereo instead of down by the shifter

Summary
All in all I would definitely recommend this car to anyone looking for a great family vehicle. If, however, you plan on having 3 or more kids, look elsewhere. For 2 kids this van would be great, but if you need to use the third row of seats often, you will lose a large portion of your cargo room. The third row is also fine for little kids, but for adults it is extremely tight. We found a good investment to be roof racks and a car top box. We ordered the racks aftermarket from Thule, found it to be cheaper than Mazda. The box came from Lordco, paid about $300. Ideal for big trips.

Okay, here is a list of some of my predictions for 91 years from now. Keep in mind I have no education relating to any of this stuff, I am just making it up off the seat of my pants.

Electricity
Forget Solar, Wind Power, and all those. We are going to be powered by the reaction caused by collision of atoms in the air and cosmic rays from space. All our appliances etc, will not need to be plugged in, they will just feed off the energy present around them. We wont be “off the grid” because there simply will be no grid. The grid will be a thing of the past.

Computers
Computers as we know them will cease to exist. Everything will be controlled with a simple and microscopic implant that will allow the unused portion of our brains to be our permanent computers. Our brains will do everything that modern computers today do – that and a 1000x more.

Exercise
Life will get a little boring, as everyone with the money to buy there computer implant, will have a health program installed. When you think that you are putting on a little too much weight, you will just run your “body-defrag” and the computer in your brain will remove the excess weight, tone your muscles, and keep you trim and healthy. There will be no more obesity.

This program is a welcome change too, considering the lack of exercise we will face with the advancements in transportation.

Transportation
Star Trekkies rejoice. Teleportation will be here, and there will be no more need for mass transit, cars, planes, or any of that junk. Heck, even now, we have built the technology to teleport information between two separate atoms. Just imagine where this will take us in 100 years from now. The impossible just may not be impossible.

Food
You’re going to miss that steak dinner. Global warming will cause mass chaos in the food chain and we will survive off of proteins grown in the lab, fake meat laced with all kinds of chemicals mimicking vitamins and other essential nutrients.

Sun Burns
You know those bad sunburns you get in the summer these days? They will be a thing of the past. We humans will evolve to make us immune to sunburns by causing our body’s to emit their own version of sun block.

That’s it for my predictions today. I will write a part 2 later when I am feeling creative again. I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on these crazy ideas, and would also love to hear your far-out predictions. Leave them in a comment to this post, or contact me!

Okay, so I am sick and tired of seeing people park where they are not supposed to park. Parking in yellow zones doesn’t bug me so much, but parking in designated spots that are entitled for someone else sure does.

There is a reason that we have parking designated for specific purposes and when these parking rights are abused it just isn’t right. Why can’t we live in a society where people know how to drive – and park.

Loading Zones
If you do not have the right to park in one of those, then DON’T. I used to drive a big delivery truck for a living in downtown Victoria. There was nothing I hated more then some bozo parked in my delivery zone, it made my job a pain in the ass sometimes.

Disabled Parking
If you are not disabled, then get the heck out of these spots. Disabled spots are not only meant to help people due to their location, but also their size. Try getting a wheelchair in and out of a car when you are parked in a normal-width spot. There is a reason these spots are reserved.

Parking for Parent with Child
I used to think of these spots as a joke, until my daughter was born. Now I realize that they are actually very helpful. In this case, its largely about being close to the store. If its pouring rain and I have to run out to Wal-Mart for something, the last thing I want to do is park at the back of the log and get my newborn soaking wet – oh what fun that is. I don’t care if I get wet, but I also don’t scream when I am uncomfortable.

Please also note, that just because you have your 17 year old kid with you, that does not give you the right to park in these spots – see that picture of a baby buggy on the sign? If you kid is too old for a stroller, park elsewhere.

Senior Spots
Are you 65 or older? No? Keep out of these spaces. I find it annoying when I go to the grocery store and there are 10 empty senior spots between the closest everyone-space and the front door, but you know what, show some respect. Old people are slow, and if they have to park at the back of the lot they just may never make it home.

Fire Lanes and Police Spots
This seems like a no brainer. If I am in the store and fire breaks out or the place is robbed, I don’t want to burn up or get shot cause of some idiot who figures “well, I’ll just be a sec”. Keep out of these areas.

Well there is my little rant for the day. This rant was inspired by the owner of a smart car parked in the parent with child parking at Wal-Mart – with, that’s right, no child. Grr.

Every now and then I check out Wired.com, and my latest find was this new concept VW Microbus. At an incredibly steep price of $130,000 I doubt many will be sold, but I cant deny how much I love the look of it. Very cool and modern, yet retro at the same time.

When it comes to these retro re-do’s, I like some, hate others. For instance the PT Cruiser and Chevy HHR I find insanely ugly, yet I like the new Beetle and Camero.

Looking to get your hands on a new BMW Mini-E? At the L.A. Auto Show, BMW unveiled the new all-electric Mini, and in preparation for mass production, they are looking for 500 lucky people to test drive the car for a year.

There are several restrictions: To be involved in their “year long research project” you must have: $850/month to cover the lease and live in either New York, New Jersey, or Southern California.

You will need to have a secure garage, and be willing to surrender the car and all the charging equipment immediately at the end of the lease – also if you don’t have a spotless driving record, don’t bother applying.

Keep in mind you will be required to fill in surveys, maintain a detailed log, and the car will be equipped with a GPS for BMW to keep a close eye on you.

If you are interested in applying to become a part of the project, you have until Dec 10 (that’s about 7 more sleeps). Visit the Mini-E website for more details.

Not long ago gas was $1.50 a liter, and $150 a barrel. Pretty simple math, a liter of gas at a cost of 1% that of a barrel of oil.

Today, The cost of oil is about $50 a barrel, but the cost per liter is $0.88 – 1.76%. Why is there not a clean ratio here? Seems, that while the price per barrel has dropped substantially, our price per liter has not dropped at the same pace. How can they say they are not gouging – should gas not be around $0.50 a liter today? I would really like to see a very detailed report outlining how gas prices are set – this just aint right.

Also, they say that as the cost per barrel drops, our pump prices will drop, but it takes a few months to see the effect, HOWEVER, when the cost per barrel rises, the pump prises rise over night – why dont they also take a few months to impact us customers?

I just wish that I could park my car and simply not consume fuel – but, as the gas companies know, they simply have us over a barrel.

For quite sometime I have wondered about the difference a higher octane gasoline really makes on a cars performance. Not too long ago we owned a 2007 VW GTI which required a min of 91 Octane fuel. I was always annoyed at having to spend the extra money at the pumps, especially with prices where they are, (mind you they have dropped substantially over the past month or so).

I was always under the impression that a higher octane fuel produced more power and better mileage – according to the December 2008 issue of Road and Track, I assumed wrong.

In the Tech Correspondence section near the back of the magazine, they go into more technical detail on the difference between octane levels, combustion chamber dynamics, etc, but the gist of things is as follows:

A higher performance vehicle that requires higher octane fuel is designed specifically for it. Using a lower then specified octane level will reduce power and mileage. The same is not true however for the opposite. If you put a high octane fuel into a vehicle that requires “regular”, you will not see an increase in power or mileage.

An excerpt from Tom Wilson of Road and Track (Page 151, December 2008):

“…an engine optimized to run on regular fuel is lacking the static compression ratio or other fundamental mechanical characteristics to make use of higher-octane fuel. Burning higher-octane gasoline and advancing the ignition timing (in modern engines) won’t make any more power.”

He doesn’t note if higher octane fuel will make a difference in older vehicles, but if you have a fairly new car, just fill your tank with what is required as listed in your owners manual and you’ll be just fine.

In the late 90’s GM stock was nearing the $100 mark. Since then it has slowly been falling – now, it sits right around $3, closing today at $3.01. It reached $2.75 just the other day – the lowest it has been since 1946.

The stock market is seeing major drops all over the place right now, so it is no surprise that GM is also down, but to see a low that has not been reached for more than 60 years is down right scary.

GM is in trouble – big trouble. It looks like they may be filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy, or possibly seeking a government bail out, but regardless, their troubles don’t end at GM, if GM folds, this will have a HUGE ripple effect that will impact…  well… millions and millions.

According to a report at CNN Money, GM spends roughly $31 Billion each year on parts from more than 2100 suppliers. When you cut that cash flow, not only do you put literally thousands of businesses in the pinch, this has the effect of mass layoffs all over the US from the effected companies.

Don’t forget about all the dealerships. Apparently there are more than 14,000 struggling GM dealerships in the US. If GM has major cutbacks, or even folds, this will impact employees at all these locations. All of this will impact thousands upon thousands of people who may see layoffs or other scaled back employment, these people then spend less money (cause they have less) and everywhere their money would normally go is then impacted. The ripple effect is huge.

I’m no expert when it comes to this stuff, but I have to say, it doesn’t look too good to me – and this is only 1 of the “big 3” who are in trouble. Ford and Chrysler aren’t any better off.

Good thing I live in Canada – we are immune to this stuff… right? At least I drive an import.