Ford, Toyota Co-Developing RWD HEV Powertrain

The new CAFE standards are proving to be a real matchmaker.  Ford and Toyota have jointly announced a co-development program to develop a RWD hybrid powertrain.   Ford,of course, is one of the top sellers of light trucks (F150) and body on frame SUVs (Expedition, Navigator).  Toyota is not a major player in trucks, but does sell Tundra and a variety of BOF SUVs such as the Sequoia and 4Runner.  By working together, the two...

Pre-Cruise: Ferndale Police Cars

Some of the police cars in Fernda...

Pe-Cruise: Ferndale Choppers

I saw this lovely orange chopper in Ferndale.And this bicycle was neat, t...

Pre-Cruise: Public Safety Fun On Woodward

One of my favorite places to go at Dreamcruise time is the area in Ferndale near city hall, where many interesting police, fire, and EMT vehicles are displayed....

More Pre-Cruise Photos

Some stuff I saw in and around Ferndale tod...

Woodward Pre-Cruise: The Focus ST

I took off of work early today and went to Fashionable Ferndale to see if I could find Ford's Focus ST which they were going to show off. Hidden in plain view behind a trailer, and freshly detailed, here it is in its golden glory.A few observations. I tried to see if I could tell if it has the new REVO knuckle or not, so I took a few undercarriage photos. I'm still not sure, because there wasn't...

California Clean Cars Confusion

In California, an umbrella organization called the California Clean Cars Initiative is advocating ever tougher standards.  It is a coalition of various organizations, including respectable ones such as American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association, and others which are more pollitlcally radical such as The Center for Auto Safety (trial lawyers) and Union of Concerned Scientists.   And, as usual, Consumers Union joins with the...

Yaris Fail

I have not seen the new Toyota Yaris in person yet.  Maybe I'll cross paths with one on Woodward this weekend.  Anyway, looking at the photos and early impressions from other reviewers, I think I can sum it up by quoting Toyota's Yaris tagline.  "Yaris.   It's A Car."Or, to quote the ever snarky Car And Driver, "Yep, it's a car. There's not much else to say." In other words, Toyota is making no effort to build an interesting small...

Goodyear's AMT Project

Goodyear is working on an R&D project to design and demonstrate truck tires which maintain their own pressure with some sort of internal pump and valve system. Goodyear's Air Maintenance Technology (AMT) will enable tires to remain inflated at the optimum pressure without the need for any external pumps or electronics.  All components of the AMT system, including the miniaturized pump, will be fully contained within the tire.This is an interesting...

The Steer Safe: Are The Joking?

There is a hilariously bad invention up on Kickstarter called Steer Safe which is supposed to help people "safely" use their smartphone while driving, by hanging it from the top of the wheel on a cradle.Why is this so bad that it is funny? Well, for one thing, it isn't even remotely "safe". It blocks the drivers view of the vehicles instruments. It encourages fiddling with a touch screen while driving....

Review: id America Gasket iPhone Case

id America, a maker of iPhone cases and covers, sent me their Gasket iPhone case to review.The case is made of brushed aluminum, and is designed to look like an engine block, with cut0uts reminiscent of cylinder bores and cooling passages. In addition to the aluminum shell, the case comes with two clear protectors, for the back and for the front screen. The aluminum shell has a suede inner lining...

CAFE: Rise Of The Turbo

One way that automakers will meet the new CAFE standards will be to downsize engines and add turbocharging, as a relatively inexpensive and proven way to get variable displacement. And with direct injection and EGR, the ignition charge can be kept cool, allowing the engine to run highly efficiently on regular octane rating gasoline. This won't be entirely popular, because even today's low mass, twinned turbos do have some power lag, and they do...

Engineers: CAFE Won't Be Easy

Wards has published a survey of 1,100 automotive engineers (I am sure I was one respondent) which highlights the trade-offs required to meet the new high CAFE standards. The best part of the article is some of the comments left in the open ended comment box: In all, survey respondents left 100 pages worth of comments. "Consumers don't understand what this will cost, and environmental groups don't care," is a typical comment. "Aerodynamic blobs on...

The Mighty Have Fallen

Wow.Consumer Reports, formerly certified fanboys of Honda, have utterly dogged the 2012 Civic.  It isn't recommended.   Too boring, too plasticky.  Honda had better be careful.. if they stray too far from their zippy heritage, they are going to get eaten by the very aggressive new up and comers such as Elantra and Focus....