www.hybridlane.net

Motor Trend Car of the Year is……the Ford Fusion.  The Ford Fusion beat out 22 other competitors to win the award of best car.  The redesigned Toyota Prius, BMW 7-Series, and the Chevrolet Camaro were some of the competitors.  Motor Trend said that they chose the Ford Fusion as the best because of its good performance, comfort, and fuel efficiency.  Ford was praised for offering several versions of the Ford Fusion, such as the hybrid and sporty V-6 versions.   Motor Trend has extensive road tests that are completed before determining the car of the year. What a great honor for Ford and the Fusion. 

So I posted a newsclip about a driver that put their $1.8 million Bugatti Veyron into a pond, because they were supposedly attacked by a pelican (by the way there was no evidence that a pelican was at all involved!)  Now I have another story about a fancy car and a dumb driver.  Let me set the stage: A Ferrari California  was being driven by Luca Montezemolo at the Ferrari World Finals in Valencia, Spain.  Some drivers were doing like a victory lap waving to fans cheering when all of a sudden, Montezemolo decided (for whatever reason) to make a sharp right hand turn into the gravel trap that is used to catch slow cars that are spinning out of control at high speeds.  Anyways, the Ferrari got stuck and kept spinning its wheels looking quite ridiculous. See for yourself on youtube.com. Really quite funny.

I found an article by Larry Printz of The Virginian-Pilot that gives the name and some description of 8 cars that will be disappearing in 2010 to “Rust in Peace.”  Some of these vehicles have been around a long time, so it’ll be hard for some to say goodbye, whereas others life have been short-lived.

Bentley Arnage 1966-2009

Chrysler Aspen 2007-2009 - this SUV never took off. This was Chrysler’s first SUV and last.

Honda S2000 2002-2009 - a great sports car that was the “victim of corporate neglect.” Personally, I never even heard of this vehicle.

Hyundai Entourage 2007-2009 - This minivan is gone as the Entourage, but it will be in Kia’s showrooms as the Kia Sedona. Therefore, we won’t really have to miss the Entourage, just its name.

Mercury Sable 1986-2009 - With the new Ford Taurus 2010, there is no room for the Sable.  Sad but true.

Pontiac G8 2008-2009 - This was considered the poor man’s BMW.  This car will live on as a Chevy Camaro.

Saturn Sky 2007-2009 - Yet again, never heard of this car.  Another sports car that can’t make it.

Toyota Solara 1999-2009 - People don’t necessarily want spice in their vehicles, and the Solara was alittle spicy, therefore leaving us.

It’s sad to say that me personally will not miss any of these vehicles, but I’m sure there are some of you out there that will and for that I’m sorry.

I found another article on AOL autos that gives in their opinion the best deals for buying a new car this month.  If you are interested, read the full article and see why they pick each vehicle. I thought I would just give you a list of the cars in each category and then you can read further if need be.

Compact Cars -   Mazda3 (Editor’s Pick,) Toyota Corolla, Ford Focus, Chevy Cobalt

Midsize Crossovers - Mazda CX-7, Hyundai Santa Fe, Ford Edge, Chevy Equinox

Midsize Cars - Mazda6, Chevy Malibu, VW Passat, Mitsubishi Galant

Fullsize Cars - Chevy Impala, Ford Taurus, Cadillac CTS, Kia Amanti

Pickups - GMC Canyon, Toyota Tundra, Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado

Lots of Mazdas, and several vehicles that were on the top 10 searched vehicles. Interesting.

So, I guess you can take this information for what it’s worth, but I found the top 10 searched vehicles on AOL autos, and thought I would share them with you.  I know this information is just 1 site and you can probably find a completely different top 10 on another site (well maybe not an entirely different top 10,)  but I still think it’s interesting to see what vehicles people like and are interested in at least interested enough to search them.  So here they are (in no particular order:)

Ford Taurus                                             Honda Accord

Chevy Camaro                                         Honda Civic

Chevy Equinox                                        Toyota Corolla

Kia Soul                                                   Toyota Camry

Smart Car                                                Dodge Challenger

I’m not surprised with several of these searches, but a few (Dodge Challenger?) are interesting choices for me. 

Do you own a dirty vehicle?  One that has low gas mileage and gives off high tailpipe and greenhouse gas emissions?  Well with all the talk about green vehicles and high gas mileage, we still have many vehicles on the lots with problems, I guess you could say.  Chrysler is the worst automaker for dirty vehicles with 6 (Jeep Commander, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Dodge Durango, Chrysler Aspen, Dodge Ram 1500, and Dodge Dakota) last year and 5 this year.  Just another problem for Chrysler. They can’t seem to do anything right these days.

Here are the top 5 dirtiest vehicles driven in the U.S. these days: (I wouldn’t be too proud to be on this list or driving one of these vehicles for that matter!)

Jeep Grand Cherokee

BMW M5

BMW M6 (Sedan and Convertible)

Chevrolet Trailblazer

Mercedes-Benz CL600

Tough go for these vehicles. Maybe they will figure out what is wrong and correct it sooner rather than later, though the Cherokee has been on the top of this list for quite some time.  Oops.

An annual survey was done by Consumer Reports shows that the Asian automakers (Japanese and Korean) are the top for reliability in vehicles. They took 8 out of the top 10 spots. That’s pretty impressive.  An interesting fact is that several Ford models are consistently scoring higher than Honda and Toyota.  The Consumer Reports stated that “Ford is now making some vehicles that have world-class reliability due to the fact that the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan have been at the top of their class for a couple of years now.  That means that the Fusion and Milan are considered more reliable than the Accord and Camry, which are known for trust and reliability. 

Good news for Ford…..not such good news for Chrysler.  Chrysler had only one model that was recommended by Consumer Reports for their reliability and they came in last out of the 33 brands that are sold in the U.S. Not so good, Chrysler.  For GM, 21 of 48 models scored average or better for reliability. Not so good for GM either. 

The survey also found that higher-priced cars are not necessarily more reliable and that less-expensive small cars and midsize family sedans were the most reliable.  Also, the Honda Insight hybrid was found in the survey to be the most reliable vehicle and the Volkswagen Touareg was the least reliable. 

The number 1 brand for reliability….drum roll please…..Scion by Toyota.  This is the second year in a row for them to get this honor as the top brand!  Good for them, but somewhat surprising for me. I guess because the Scions don’t appeal to me, I would never consider even looking into them and checking out the details of these vehicles. Maybe I’m dumb and I should be!

The sad reality in the auto industry these days is that people aren’t brand loyal anymore, according to Bill Vlasic of the New York Times News Service.  Back in the 1980s, dealers didn’t have to do much at all to get customers to trade in their Ford for a Ford or their Toyota for a Toyota.  About 4 out of every 5 Americans were repeat buyers in the 1980s.  And furthermore, the “allegiance often continued through generations of families.”  Well, not anymore. Partly because the consumers have become more fickle in their tastes and also because of everything that has gone on in Detroit, there is no brand loyalty anymore.  Sad but true.  Only about 20%  of consumers this year have stayed with the same brand when they purchased new vehicles, according to a study done by the Oregon-based firm CNW Marketing Research. 

Just five years ago, Chevrolet and Ford were the top 2 brands in the U.S. market each with more than 16% of the market share.  Chrysler had 3 brands, Dodge, Chrysler, and Jeep, in the top 10.  Not anymore.  Toyota sits atop these days with 14% of the market share.  Then Ford, Chevrolet, Honda, and Nissan.  Chrysler is no longer in the top 10 and has been replaced by Hyundai and Kia.

The reality is that people trust many brands and improvements in the vehicles have made people willing to give up their brands to try something new and exciting for now…until the next vehicle comes out with new technology and exciting features to try out.  Oh well, maybe someday we will be more loyal again. In the meantime on the flip side, it keep the automotive companies thinking and trying to be more innovative in their new models.  Right?

So I was looking at some different websites looking for a topic to write about and I came across topspeed.com, which had a category called Strange Cars.  I thought I’d give you some information on a few of the strangest cars in my opinion.

http://www.topspeed.com

This is the NMG2 made by Myers Motors.  So, this strange car has three wheels and three headlights, in case you missed it.  It is an all-electric vehicle, so props to them for that, with top speed of 75 mph and a 60-mile range.  The NMG2 runs on lithium-ion batteries and Myers Motors is hinting that possibly there will be a new model coming out that will have a 100-mile range.  This car will be available to buy at the end of 2010 and cost alittle under $30,000.  Not bad, but still quite strange looking.

   www.metro.co.uk

The Ferrari Citroen hybrid is a bizarre looking car for sure, but the dynamics behind it are even crazier.  This car is a Citroen 2CV that was put on top of a Ferrari F355.  What a waste of a Ferrari!  It has a V8 engine, but still. Ugly!

www.topspeed.com

Alright, you would think that this is a joke and doesn’t belong in my strange cars blog, but I had to include it. You can’t get much stranger than this? 

I just read this interesting and different automotive article that I thought I would share with you guys.  Did you know that what you drive may let us know what kind of person you are?  I’m not sure that I totally buy this story, but it’s fun nonetheless!  So, forbesautos.com wrote an article what it means if you own a certain car. I thought I’d give you a brief synopsis of each car.  This information was found from a survey done by the San Diego-based market research company called Strategic Vision during a New Vehicle Experience Survey.  So, here’s some info. See if it fits you and what you drive.

Bentley- wealth - bank accounts of at least $5 million in investable assets. Yes, Bentley screams wealth but in a softer way than its competitors, they say.

Buick - old folks - 2/3 of the owners are over 55 and have an average household income of $75,000. The richer, older folks.

Chevrolet - Chevy owners have reputation of being behind in times.  13% of Chevy owners have never used the web, and 35% have a college education or higher.       

Ford- same as Chevy.  12% have never used internet and 45% have a college education or higher.  Ford introduced the Ford Sync to try to draw in younger owners.

Honda- usually pragmatic and well educated - 70% having college education or higher.  Honda owners are more tech-savvy with only 3% not using the internet. Honda owners buy for trust and dependability they find in car.

Lexus - wealthy and well educated with highest rating of 71% college education or higher.  Most Lexus owners are settled down.

Mini Cooper - sophisticated and wealthy with average income around $125,000.  Owners of Mini Cooper fall into four categories - “brand enthusiasts, design aficionados, social butterflies, and gas misers.” 

Scion - median age is 37, lots of first-time buyers. 

Toyota-  family brand. 1 in 4 Toyotas belong to someone with children under 18.  Median age is 55, 70% are married.  60% have college educations. 

Rolls-Royce - extreme wealth that share a “passion for life” according to a Rolls-Royce spokesperson.  Base price of these cars are $435,000…chunk change.

So, there you have it. Is it right???