Alternate Route

Nov 25, 2007 - Hatchback Comeback

Some automakers may want to avoid the terminology and call them sportbacks or liftbacks, but it appears that the hatchback is making a comeback.

Now I know a lot of folks get a certain image in their head when they hear "hatchback". Those of us who actually owned a 1973 Chevy Vega have certain impressions permanently engraved on our brains. So if you're picturing a yellow Pinto, it's understandable.

But there are a lot of hatchbacks now that a lot of people think are very attractive, functional, and dare I say it, cool.

According to a study by CNW Marketing Research in Bandon, Ore., cars with traditional trunks are still the most popular body type among new car buyers, but hatches are generating significant interest. In the “near luxury” category of CNW’s report, just over 20 percent of new car buyers said they preferred a hatchback to a sedan or station wagon.

I bought my Nissan Versa because of my experience with Nissan vehicles and the fact that it was about time someone came out with a decent vehicle at an entry level price. Whether it was a hatchback or designated as a B-segment or sub-compact was irrelevant to me. Although I have to say that once i saw the sedan version of the Versa, I actually prefer the styling and functionality of the hatchback model.

And if you visit the http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.ee9a948">Hatchbacks Message Board</a>">Hatchbacks message board here on Edmunds, you'll find a lot of interest in, and discussion about, this growing segment of the automotive landscape.

Not your Dad's Vega
Hatchbacks almost the new cool
Style and sportiness

Read more on the new generation of hatchbacks at MSNBC.com 

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Oct 11, 2007 - Do You Like Your Dealer?

The Alternate Route is on the road this morning... sort of.

My Nissan Versa had to go in for its 15,000 mile service and as my dealer has wireless access, I've moved my "office" to their waiting room for the morning.

I've blogged before about how I feel about the importance of preventive maintenance, but this morning I want to rave about the sales and service at Leitzinger Imports.

I've been buying vehicles from them and having them serviced there since 1980, so I have a long track record to go by when I tell you that they're top notch. I've actually dealt with the same salesman for all this time, so it's never an unpleasant experience. When the time comes for a new vehicle, they're fair with me and I'm fair with them. Smiles all around.

If you've ever wanted to rant or rave about your dealership experience, just stop into the Dealer Rating & Review section at Edmunds.com, find your dealer, and have your say!

Customer service
All about geting it right
Do they make the grade?

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Sep 22, 2007 - Boon or Bane?

According to one famous comedian, somewhere in the world there is the worst doctor and someone is waiting to see him. And as Forbes.com pointed out recently, there are also the least efficient hybrids out there in showrooms.

The story points out that "the average gas mileage of hybrid models available in the U.S. is 33 miles per gallon (combined city and highway). But Chevy's newest Silverado hybrid truck gets only 16 mpg. The newest Lexus LS 600h L hybrid sedan clocks in at 21 mpg, the 2007 Saturn Vue hybrid at 26 mpg."

Interesting that other than my 4x4 pickup, every vehicle I've owned in the last 27 years has gotten at least that 33mpg combined average that the current hybrids are averaging. It's also interesting that mileage performance seems to have gone down over the years, but that's another blog for another day.

A J.D. Power study cited in the article found that "buyers expected hybrids to gain 18.5 mpg over similar non-hybrid vehicles." As much as hybrid enthusiasts want to ignore the "hybrid premium", the decision to purchase a hybrid for many doesn't come down to whether or not someone wants to  "go green", but how much of their green it's going to cost.

Many hybrid owners do squeeze astronomical mileage numbers out of their hybrids using hypermiling techniques, but setting those aside, and ignoring those people who drive like maniacs and complain that their hyrbid doesn't perform as advertised, you can sift through the real world mileage discussions on the CarSpace forums and find folks who are simply driving their vehicles to get a feel for the kind of mileage performance you might get in your average daily driving.

Average Prius owners, for example, seem to be reporting combined driving mileage numbers of 48-50mpg.  Price on the base 2007 Prius is $22,175. Price on my base 2007 Versa that I purchased in February was $13,675, and I'm getting 33mpg in combined driving. That puts me right in the range of that 18.5 mpg difference that buyers expect hybrids to get over similar non-hybrid vehicles.

The Prius and Versa would seem to be vehicles of a similar class with regard to form and function. If my past driving habits continue, I'll be driving it about 10,000 miles per year and using roughly 303 gallons of gasoline. Had I purchased a Prius and was getting 50mpg, I could expect to use only 200 gallons over the course of a year, saving me 103 gallons of gas annually. Using $4/gallon gas prices to give me even more incentive to choose a hybrid, that's $412 per year still in my pocket. Price difference between the cars is $8500. You know the math. That's over 20 years to break even. And even the most loyal hybrid advocate doesn't expect that the hybrid battery pack won't have to be replaced in that length of time. Normal maintenance and wear and tear is going to be the same for both, so that's a wash.

So other than to feel good about myself or tell people how much smarter I am than they are, where's my incentive to buy?

Premium hybrid
It will cost me more? No thanks
Hybrid premium

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Sep 19, 2007 - Get Smart?

As noted on StraightLine, Smart USA Distributor LLC, announced the pricing of the all-new smart fortwo models that will be sold in the United States beginning in the first quarter of 2008.

The base model will be priced at $11,950, a "passion" trim level that starts at $13,590 and adds a standard panoramic sunroof, alloy wheels, air-conditioning with climate control, a three-spoke leather sport steering wheel, paddle shifter and a CD player, and a cabriolet version that has an automatic adjustable soft top and a premium six-CD sound system and starts at $16,590.

While many people are passionate about the smart, I can't help but look at the smart and compare it to my 2007 Nissan Versa. I paid $13,675 for my 6 speed Versa, I don't have a sunroof or alloy wheels, but I do have A/C, CD player, and side curtain airbags. Plus I can comfortably fit four adult sized adults with their week’s worth of vacation luggage. I can fit a fifth body with three in the back seat.  I've had a double bass inside the Versa with three people and nothing sticking out through windows. I moved my daughter into her dorm room, taking all her stuff in one trip. With the smart getting an average of 40mpg, it has an edge there as I'm only averaging about 33 mpg combined with my Versa.

Like Maxwell Smart's portable cone of silence, it seems the smart may be good at what it does, but doesn't seem all that practical. The limitations on space in the smart would seem to limit its appeal to those who always have to be in on the latest fad and what certainly will be a passionate group of smart enthusiasts. 

I can tell you with confidence that the first smart I see on the roads here will be adorned with the name of some local business, restaurant, or sports bar. It happened that way with the PT Cruiser, new MINI, new Beetle, Honda Element, Hummer, and almost every other vehicle that has had a unique look in the last 10 years or so. And I think that the pretentious "hey look at me" aspect alone can keep vehicles like that from becoming as common as Camrys.

Can it meet my needs?
So sorry about that chief
Clever, not so smart

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Sep 11, 2007 - Nitrogen: A Noble Gas?

As you can see, there are days when you just have to get your car off the ground and this was one of those days as the Altima was due for a tire rotation. My buddies up at Tire Town have taught me well and I religiously rotate my tires every 6000 miles, no longer than that, and it really seems to have worked as I'm usually getting in the neighborhood of 45,000 miles out of a set of tires.

We put a lot of miles on our vehicles. The 2001 Altima currently has 135,000 miles on it so preventive maintenance is something I believe in.

This year there's a new addition to the equipment in the garage and they have installed a system for filling tires with nitrogen. It's a clever machine in that it filters the air to collect the nitrogen it uses, so there are no compressed gas cylinders to be delivered or tanks to have filled up. Nitrogen makes up about 78.1% of the atmoshphere by volume, so there's plenty of it to go around. One of the reasons they installed the system was because of the consumer interest that was generated by the claims being made about using nitrogen in your tires.

According to the Get Nitrogen Institute:
"Nitrogen in tires is becoming a popular replacement for standard air. Nitrogen is all around us... the air we breathe is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and the rest is small amounts of other gasses. When it comes to tire inflation, nitrogen has many advantages over oxygen. With nitrogen tire inflation, improvements can be noted in a vehicle's handling, fuel efficiency and tire life through better tire pressure retention, improved fuel economy and cooler running tire temperatures"

Now the first thing I note in that quote is "nitrogen has many advantages over oxygen". That is no doubt true, but the nitrogen is being used in place of air, not oxygen. But semantics aside, we decided to conduct a long term test of nitrogen inflation using my vehicles since I take care of them, track mileage on a regular basis, and tend to notice when things might be changing on me. We started with my Versa at the first tire rotation at 6000 miles. We also filled up my mountain bike tires. And the Altima was done on this tire rotation. Here are my observations, point by point.

Handling - I can honestly say there's no difference that I can see or feel. Maybe I'm not sensitive enough to notice.

Fuel efficiency - The mileage I'm getting on my Versa over the last 7000 miles is the same as I was getting at the 6000 mile mark. 

Tire life - We're not really far enough along to judge this quite yet. And the Versa is still on the factory Continentals so I can't pin the wear rate down until I get the tires on that I usually run.

Cooler running tire temperatures - Only anecdotal, but on a long highway trip on a very hot day, I tried feeling the tires to check, and they did feel less hot, but that was just an impression, not a measurement.

Better tire pressure retention - This one I'm going to agree with. The bicycle has retained its tire pressure far better than it ever has using regular air. It's very obvious that this is the case. I think this is the key to the handling, fuel efficiency, and tire life claims. Nitrogen molecules have a larger effective diameter than oxygen molecules and diffuse through porous materials (like tire rubber) more slowly. Therefore the tires lose pressure at a slower rate, so those folks who don't pay attention to things and normally wind up letting their tires run at too low a pressure, see less of a reduction in mileage and tire life, and properly inflated tires will handle better than under-inflated ones. Less of a loss is a gain... sort of. I'm not seeing a gain, but then again, I pay attention to what's going on with my vehicles.

I've also heard that because nitrogen retains less moisture and the oxygen has been eliminated, there's less corrosion and oxidation going on inside the tire over time, which could be a long term savings on fleet vehicle maintenance for example.

Overall, I don't think nitrogen is the panacea that some seem to think it is, but I certainly don't see any negatives to it either. All those little gains spread across the entire driving population might add up to a chunk of change and maybe a couple of fewer accidents caused by tire issues over time. Not a bad thing, and it keeps the economy chugging along as well!

Tires running low?
Inert diatomic gas
might be the ticket

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Aug 24, 2007 - Move In Day

There are big days and not so big days in people's lives and today is one of those big ones as my daughter moves in for her freshman year at Penn State!

She's very excited, as can be expected, and having lived here in Happy Valley for over 30 years, I'm gearing up myself for the 7 mile ride into chaos.

Roughly 40,000 students and their families and friends will be descending on us over the next day or so to get settled in for the academic year.

As you can imagine, this creates some interesting situations, traffic and otherwise as cultures and driving styles smash together. (Hopefully not too many times in a literal sense!) Downtown State College is built around two one-way streets, so over the week I'll be prepared to encounter at least two or three folks travelling down those streets in the wrong direction as they try to get their bearings. But that's all the grace time they get as the first home football game is just a week away and 100,000 more fans and their vehicles will be added to the mix.

My favorite move in moment though always happens at the grocery store. This happens every year just like the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano. I'll find myself in line at the grocery store behind a group of guys who are doing their shopping for their first apartment. They'll have two shopping carts filled, at a minimum, as they think they've figured out how to minimize trips to the grocery store. They're basking in the glow of being so much smarter than their mothers who would go to the store at least once a week. And there's always a ringleader, the one who came up with this fool proof plan, and he surveys the pile of supplies and says...

Do you think we have enough milk to last the semester or should we get a few more?

I never have the heart to save them from themselves. Besides, why should I deprive myself of an annual belly laugh? Some things you just have to live through to learn from your mistakes.

As you can see, we've managed to fit all of my daughter's gear into the Versa to make one trip, and there's even room for the two of us! I continue to be impressed with this car's carrying capacity. So we're off into the insanity. Our baby is going away to college. Wish us luck!

On your own at last
You're sure that you know it all
Learning never stops

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Aug 23, 2007 - Shuffle up and drive!

Louis Leaky, the Kenyan archaeologist and naturalist, spent many years digging in Olduvai Gorge, probing the evolution and nature of man. If a poker table had been his field of study, he may have reached some interesting and amusing conclusions about the nature of the beast. His studies may have included a survey of poker players and whether their mode of transportation reveals anything about their habits and tendencies.

Two species of poker player can be found roaming the green felt. First, there is the loose player.

When asked to think of a loose player,  most people think of  someone like Madonna. They might be right, but that’s not the kind of loose I’m thinking of. Loose players take big risks while chasing big rewards. They play many hands and don’t like to fold. Loose players may also be categorized as passive or aggressive.

Loose-passive players think of the odds more like guidelines than rules. They think any two cards can win, and that they are likely to be holding them. They will stay in the game right to the end, waiting for that big hand to hit. They almost never raise, and tend to bleed money slowly until it’s all gone.
Loose-aggressive players are the daredevils at the table. They like to take chances and push others around. They tend to win smaller pots and eventually lose the big one that takes them down.

Tight players on the other hand, don’t take a lot of chances. They see unacceptable risk and avoid it, preferring to pick their spots to get ahead.  
 
Tight-passive players are born safety freaks. Even with a monster hand they will likely call a bet rather than raise. They do not bluff.
Tight-aggressive players believe in standing their ground when the time is right. They will fold and live to fight another day when the odds are against them. If the opportunity presents itself, they will suddenly seem more aggressive.

At last night’s game, we did a little two-part automotive survey. Each player was asked what their current every day driver is, and what their every day driver would be if they won the World Series of Poker and could afford whatever they wanted. Do you think our vehicle choices match our playing tendencies?

Loose-Passive (any two cards can win)
Drives an F-250, would buy a Mercedes-Benz CLK Coupe

Loose-Aggressive (daredevils)
Drives an Acura RL, would continue to drive an Acura RL

Tight-Passive (safety first)
Drives a PT Cruiser, would drive a PT Cruiser convertible
Drives a Nissan Versa, would drive a Nissan Altima Coupe
Drives an F-250, would drive a better equipped F-250
Drives a Subaru Impreza, would drive a Ford Excursion
Drives a Pontiac Grand Am, would drive a Lexus GX 470

Tight-Aggressive (fight on the ground of their choosing)
Drives a Ford Explorer, would drive a 4-door Jeep Wrangler
Dives an F-250, would drive a Lexus LS 460

Poker player’s rides
Insights into their psyche?
Made hand, or a bluff?

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Aug 21, 2007 - Stick-to-itivity

I'm not sure if I'm steady or just plain stubborn, but we haven't had a vehicle with anything but manual transmission vehicles in our household since 1979. That works out to nine vehicles with a combined total of just over 1.5 million miles traveled, and at the moment I have no intention of going back any time soon.

My wife feels that she's "more in control" of the vehicle, especially during the winter months in snowy or icy conditions, and I can't disagree with her on that. My 18 year old daughter tells everyone that she really hates automatics, and I'm convinced that she's a much better driver at this point than I was at the same age because she learned on a stick. In Pennsylvania, an under-18 permit holder has to log at least 50 hours behind the wheel over the course of 6 months before they can take their road test. During her 6 months Colleen logged over 2000 miles and impressed the heck out of me the day a traffic light suddenly changed on her and she made a full-blown emergency stop, downshifting during the stop, without stalling the engine. I was duly impressed. The fact that she didn't just have to step on the gas to go, and was forced to pay attention and actually drive the car saved us a lot of worry when she'd take the car out. It's harder to be distracted when the car isn't doing so much for you.

While some might complain that driving a manual is "work", I've never found it to be a chore. Driving in city situations, or stop and go traffic, I don't even think about it. Apparently I'm the "automatic" part of the transmission. There may be some doubt in some people's minds about the future of manual transmissions, but I'm thinking that there are always going to be options for those of us who enjoy and appreciate the manual driving experience.

Our 2007 Nissan Versa is our first 6-speed, and we love every third-pedal-pumping mile of it! Long live the manual!

Running through the gears
Keeping my left foot employed
Sure beats a slushbox

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Aug 19, 2007 - Glory Days

Time flies when you're having fun!

The guitar player with the really cool mirrored sunglasses on the left is yours truly, back in the day! The vocalist is Andy, our band was named Scotch, and this was taken during an outdoor concert called Movin' On held on the lawn of the HUB at Penn State. The photo dates back to the spring of 1977, and while it's fun to remember those rock and roll days, there is an automotive twist to this story.

Saturday morning we headed to The Student Bookstore so my daughter could pick up her books for fall semester at Penn State before the crush of students arrives next Friday. While we were downtown, I happened to wander into the Music Mart and was looking at all the goodies, when I came across a small Fender guitar amp at a decent price. Behind me in the photo you'll notice a rather large (and loud) amplifier with a speaker cabinet containing 4 - 12" speakers. That baby rocked, and still does, but over the years it became less of a joy to haul around due to its size.

Well, the Fender amp was very tempting, and after reminiscing about things musical for a while, the proprietor said that he could sell my amp on consignment. So I bought the Fender and drove home. Did a little cleanup on my old amp, then took the cargo cover out of my Versa and the speaker cabinet stood right inside the cargo area no problem. Drove back downtown, parked in front of the music store and dropped off the amp. After we left the store and were getting into the Versa, the owner followed us outside to say goodbye. He looked at the Versa, scratched his head and said, "You got that cabinet inside THAT?"

I keep telling people how much room the Versa has inside. Some of them are starting to believe me.

Ah, those were the days
Rockin' N Rollin' for real
Not Guitar Hero

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Aug 14, 2007 - Pay now or pay for it later

With each passing year as something else on my body snaps, crackles, or pops in the morning, I'm reminded of the importance of preventive maintenance and having a dealer service department you can trust, and independent techs that you can turn to for a second opinion.

I'll deal with my terrific dealer in a future entry, but today I'd like to brag about my friends at Tire Town in State College, PA. Tire Town has been around since 1964 and has saved me time, money, and headaches on more than one occassion.  Gary and J.R. Vratarich run the business which was started by their father John. If you ever find yourself in need of tires while visiting Happy Valley, these are the guys to see. Honestly, it's like a pit stop. No appointment needed. Just stop in, tell them what you need (and that I sent you...heh), and you'll be on your way ASAP.

The two desperados in the photo are Harold and Ernie. Harold is one of the guys you'll run into behind the counter and has a very keen eye for things that aren't quite right. I had stopped in just to visit yesterday and noticed that Harold had gone out to someone else's vehicle, but was now looking closely at the tires on my Nissan Versa (which were due for rotation) and spotted some slightly unusual wear patterns that I'm now going to keep an eye on. Nice catch Harold!

On the right is Ernie. I consider him to be my personal mechanic at Tire Town. He's the one who understands symptoms I describe, and the sounds I make when trying to convey what's going on with my car. Ernie's also a poker player, and I will get him into my weekly game one of these days.

They've even included my oldest daughter in one of their TV ads. (She's the one reminding you to eat your veggies)

Auto Haiku Corner

Just pay for it now
Avoid procrastination
Trouble free miles come

Join me tonight  for our weekly Mazda Club Chat (You don't have to ZOOM ZOOM to attend)

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