NSX - Japanese Supercar

The Honda NSX (Acura in the US) seemingly came out of nowhere and shook-up the establishment in 1990. Ayrton Senna, honed it to perfection and being Japanese, it brought reliability to the Supercar world. 

The NSX is still a sexy looking car after 20 years, sure its name even sounds like SEX...NSX. Honda have a new one released, but currently only for GT racing. Rumors about a production ready model are beginning to surface and with the world wide fan base of the NSX, it should be a no-brainer.

I suppose there are a ton of arguments for and against the NSX being a Supercar, but as far as I'm concerned, anything that looks like this, sure is. Never mind being mid-engined, rear wheel drive, light weight, built by a world champion F1 team...etc...

I saw this NSX the other day when I was having lunch at Happy Gillis. I walked over to it and was a little surprised to see how dirty it was. Usually when you see a car of this caliber it practically blinds you from fresh-wax-shinyness. The wife's friends has a NSX and his looks like it should be in an auto concourse every time I see it, but not this NSX, it might as well have been a Honda Civic daily driver.

Then, the second surprising thing happened when we saw the owner get in and drive away. We supposed it belonged to some young fella with more money than sense and I looked around the restaurant and saw some likely suspects. But when two old guys about my grandfather's age got in and took off, I was blown away. You know what they say about books and their covers. I hope I'm driving a car like an NSX when I'm their age.

As Bono would say "It's a beautiful day"

Finally a beautiful day in KC, after the sudden snow storm at the weekend trailing on the end of the longest winter in living memory. Brought the M3 in for a quick wash and drove around all day with the top down. I love topless weather.

On the way home along SW BLVD I cam across this beauty of an old Mercedes. I love the color, especially since turquoise is the official color of 2010 (I learned that from the genius wife graphic designer). 

I didn't want to get too personal and take photos of the interior, but I can tell you that it was immaculate.

And here's the perfect song for driving on a day like this.

Set Adrift on Memory Bliss

Remember that song by PM Dawn sometime about 1991? Well, it's got nothing to do with the motorsport that is Drifting. I'm not going to bore you with a repeat of the history of the sport, you can go to wikipedia for that yourself.

I'm just gonna say it looks like fun, everyone's doing it and I haven't a clue how they score the winners. Oh, and if you haven't seen the Japanese movie Initial D, you need to, especially if you like drifting and tofu.

Here's a little 101 on drifting if you want to give it a go yourself.

The Fiesta is Back

Most people will think the Fiesta is a new car to the US market when they see the new Ford on the road later this year. It was sold here from 1978-1980 as a 1.6L with several trim levels. It was then replaced by the Escort, which sucked balls. Ford have had a few demo models driving about the country for the last year and it's certainly creating interest.

Here's some photographic evidence that the original Fiestas are still here and still on the road. After living in the US for 10 years this is the only Fiesta I've ever seen.

The new Fiesta is a pretty sexy looking car and to meet US market needs there will be a sedan offered too. This option I'm not too excited about, all I'm gonna say is Yaris sedan...gross. All right, while I'm on my sedan rant, who the hell made the decision to NOT launch the new Focus hatchback in the US? Who? I want to know.

 

Photos sourced from 1 2 3

A Fiesta like this will have Ken Block behind the wheel in WRC action this year. Now if we can only get one that looked like this on the road.

Ford are heading in the right direction in offering a small car of this quality to a market that right now have the option of a Mini Cooper or a Mini Cooper S or wait for it a Mini Cooper Clubman (S)!

This 600BHP version will not be available at your local Ford Dearlership

Life after the Autobahn

 

The dream every BMW has coming off the line in Bavaria is one where the engines are always well oiled, they will sip only premium fuel, and their owner is something of a car enthusiast. They will cruise down the Autobahn at an electronically controlled 155mph, and enjoy weekend jaunts in the country side where they will blare their naturally aspirated straight six all the way to the red line. A very respectable life for a very respectable car. 

However, as the above photos show this is not always the case. From lord of the Autobahn to pizza delivery boy and then this poor 733i being used as an actual trash receptacle.

Like an old nag put out to pasture, rather than face this cruel fate they should have been sent to the glue factory.

Watch this video to see how old BMWs should end their lives, pretty cool video

M3 Not Going Anywhere Fast

When you buy a BMW M3 convertible, you imagine cruising at speed along your favorite back road in July or August. You love the way the semi-slick tires slide the car's arse out at even a dab of the loud peddle. Then you remember you live in Kansas City and it's been sh*tty since Thanksgiving and you can't even get your car out of the drive way.

 

 

 

So, you have to borrow your wife's front wheel drive Mini and leave the sad Bavarian frozen like a block of ice, in the hope that next week the sun will come out...cue orphan Annie singing.

Subarus are the New Volvos

 

Yes, this Subaru is actually stuck in place, look at all the tow bar scrapes on the ground

Right, I've had this theory for quite a while now, with no way to prove it...until I spent almost three weeks in Portland, Oregon.

See, there is a certain type of person, and for the past decade or more they've been inclined to drive older Volvo sedans and Wagons (especially the wagons, and especially the 200 series).

These people see themselves as outdoorsy, even if that is only driving to the mall, they dress up in L.L. Bean and North Face gear. The men like their hair unkempt and a little bit of facial hair, depending on their occupation. The women are similar with longer unkempt hair and less facial hair. They always look like they are either going for or returning from a hike. And the Volvo wagon is the car they use to drive to the hypothetical trail head.

They aren't what you would call "car people," they don't get a stiffy when Porsche announce the latest update to a 911 GT3 RS, but for some mysterious reason they are deeply loyal to their Volvos. And this is precisely the reason a lot of them are wandering over to the used Subaru market.

Their old Volvos were built in Sweden by Volvo, but then the Big Yankee American Uncle from Detroit bought them and decided to show the boys at Volvo how to make Swedish meatballs. When you've been flipping cheeseburgers for near a hundred years it doesn't really qualify you for the meatball game. Ford didn't think they would care, but these non-car people noticed. They no longer saw Volvos, but Ford Taurus' and Contours in drag where their boxy beauties used to be.

The bourgeois among this "class" can afford new Subarus and Subaru's PR and marketing team have done a great job telling them about all-wheel drive and the go anywhere attitude of their Outback wagon, ready to take on the malls and parking lots at a moments notice. But most of this class of people will be looking at older Subarus, no where near as old as their beloved Volvos. But as the Volvos get long in the tooth, scarcer and start to feel like very old cars, they look around the used car market, specifically they look for big dependable wagons and they see, glaring at them obviously, the Subaru Impreza and Legacy Outback wagons. And like some kind of Jungian car theory shift, they've all jumped ship, whether they're in the Midwest or the Pacific Northwest. Just like they all know to wear fleece jackets 365 days of the year: they all know Subaru is the new Volvo.

So, walking around Portland, in the rain, which is like saying, walking on earth breathing air, I got to see these people in their natural state. Some of them were holding on to their decaying Volvos, their babies duct taped into their car seats, others had made the move over to the Japanese Volvo, giving their off spring a better chance of survival in the more modern car with all wheel drive and airbags.

Cruising along the streets on foot I came across a used Mecca of Volvos. They had about twenty or thirty wagons and sedans, I'd say the had the whole 200 range covered from 1974 to 1993 when production ended. Some of them looking like they'd just arrived from 1985. Confirming the supply and demand theory I never listened to in my economic lectures.

So there is still hope for the Scandinavian loyalists, but eventually they'll have to face reality and move to Subaru, unless they are willing to choke down the Ford-parts-bin-Frankenstein that Volvos became post 1999.

Same people, two different cars and never the twain shall meet, whatever that means.