Auto Trends

Throughout history there have been a lot of poor vehicles make it to production, such as the Ford Pinto (gas tank explosion upon rear impact), the Chevrolet Corvair (poorly built in general, but mostly known for its flipping over), and the Buick Rendezvous (only received a 3 star crash rating in 2007).

As dangerous as these cars may be, the real danger behind a vehicle is not always laid out by poorly thought out fuel bladder, improper stability, or low impact resistant body support beams, but rather its reputation, appeal, price, and raw power.

There are only a handful of such vehicles in America and they could be none other than the Chevrolet Corvette, Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, and the Ford Mustang…

The year 1984, sparked the first interest of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) to track the most dangerous vehicles on the road, and low and behold, the classic blue collar American muscle car (okay, it maybe pushing it to call the Corvette a blue collar sports car) was shown to double a drivers chance of death, just by that particular choice in vehicle.

From the years 1984 through 1988, these four American muscle cars were rated by the IIHS:

• Corvettes: 4.7 deaths per ten thousand
• Mustangs: 4.3 deaths per ten thousand
• Camaros: 4.3 deaths per ten thousand
• Firebirds: 3.2 deaths per ten thousand

(The average vehicle only racked up 1.9 deaths per ten thousand)

From 1995 to 1998 (deaths were changed per million), three out of the previous four muscle cars were once again rated quite high for deaths on the national average:

• Camaros: 308 deaths per million
• Firebirds: 267 deaths per million
• Mustangs: 138 deaths per million

(Average vehicle deaths per million was only 89)

Since these figures, the Mustang’s horsepower has once again risen to 300 for the GT and 500 for the Shelby GT-500. Numbers the Mustang certainly hadn’t seen in awhile. The Camaro, which disappeared in 2000, is on its way back for 2009 and will be benching no less than 250 ponies with its V-6, on up to 425 with its big V-8.

Traction control, which has been introduced since the old days, will help keep these rear wheel drive vehicles somewhat under better control, in general we have the makings for a new line of affordable, youth appealing, high horsepower, high speed vehicles, with a reputation best described by the iconic song, “I can’t drive 55,” by Sammy Hagar.

If you or a loved one is planning on buying one of these iconic legendary American muscle cars, remember:

1. Don’t let other drivers influence or ‘egg’ you on
2. Never drag race on the street (save it for the track)
3. Don’t strap a JATO jet rocket to your muscle car to make it go even faster
4. Never jump out of your hot rod while it is still in motion
5. …and always remember, there is no better way to gain the attention of a certain special young lady/lad, than by staying alive long enough for her/him to even notice you!

Looking for any (not-so-last-minute) Christmas gift for yourself this year, well if your budget is in the $65,000 to $70,000 price range, then the 2009 Audi TTS surfacing on showroom floors this November is looking to be a good potential specimen.

Well, we say potential specimen, but really with the recent sports car heavy hitters coming out (Chevrolet Camaro, Dodge Challenger), the TT had little choice but to up the ante, and you cant bet your 2008 Mustang GT they have. The current TT is already heckled at about every stoplight in some towns around the US.

Why is it heckled so bad?

Well, somewhere between 200 to 250 horsepower will get you a cheap donut and a stale cup of coffee in a world of Danishes and mocha latte’s. The current 2008 Audi TT is tired. It has been around for nearly 10 years now, and car years are very similar to dog years to the consumer.

We need a fresh face to the world. Well, it’s not so much that face that is tired. You either like the appearance of the Audi TT or you don’t. It’s the engine that needs an upgrade. Going back to its 185 horsepower 1.8T on up to its current 200 horsepower 2.0T, it just has never caught the attention of the true enthusiast.

You’ve got the 3.2 liter V-6, but with its 236 ft-lbs of torque, it just doesn’t have enough grunt to give it any real sports appeal. This is where the 2009 Audi TTS fits in…

Even back in the days of the old 1.8T there were after market turbos that could boost the K02 Turbo’s 225 horsepower on up to 300-plus. Audi has taken these higher boosting turbocharged designs and created their own version and attached it to their 2.0, giving it a solid, reliable 272 horsepower and 258 ft-lbs torque.

The entire 2.0 has been slightly redesigned to work with the new turbo. It has an all new block, cylinder heads, pistons, and connecting rods. All this will be attached to the familiar face of the paddle shifting S tronic dual clutch transmission, offering sports appeal, quick shifts, ease of driving, and good fuel economy.

What do all these numbers really mean to the average consumer?

Somewhere between 4.9 and 5.2 seconds 0-60 by most reviewers accounts. With all this newfound power it is easy to see why the new Audi TTS is being compared loosely with the Porsche Cayman S. With this said, many reviewers are being rather hard on the TTS’s turbo lag and electronic suspension when comparing it to the highly refined Cayman S.

You have to keep in mind that you are dealing with a rather small engine (2.0 liter) as compared to the Cayman’s 3.2 liter V-6. There is going to be some turbo lag before the little 4-cylinder can reach its peak horsepower.

While this has not proven to be the most easy to drive configuration in history, such as in the Porsche 930 turbo, which had tremendous turbo lag, the Audi TTS is certainly a capable drivers car, which means in the right hands, it will run with the best of them.

Much of its fussy tendencies due to the small liter configuration and lag will be compounded by a high tech suspension that offers a complex system of stability control, magnetic dampening shocks, stiff springs, and anti-roll bars.

Audi is trying to overcompensate for Audi’s weak points with all this new technology, but the worry here is creating a car that will have no real driver because it will be too controlled for the enthusiast driver, yet too fussy for the inexperienced newcomer.

But we’re being a bit too nit-picky about the new 2009 Audi TTS because either way you look at it, it is worlds above the original prototype. Nothing is perfect, but for $60,000-plus of your hard earned dollars, it better be close… and it is!

First we heard talk about car lenders attaching monitors to our vehicles so they would not only know where the car is at all times, but they could turn off its functionality if you forgot to pay your bill. Now we hear of a Good Drivers Pilot Program being introduced in Alabama, Oregon and Minnesota by Progressive Insurance, with plans for a nationwide launch in 2009, that will offer new rates to its customers by how their driving is monitored.

These monitoring devices presented by Progressive will report to their home base when you drive, referring to what time and how long, as well as the specifics of how you drive. These specifics will include how hard you accelerate at a stoplight, how often you have to brake in stop and go traffic, and the amount of time you spend driving at higher speeds (55 and above), as opposed to low (35 and below).

So far they are not intending to include a tracking device to monitor your location at any given time, so all this information will be collected and averaged as a whole with other drivers in your area. If your average at the end of the month comes in below average for low speeds, calm acceleration, and moderate braking, then you could see as much as 60 percent off your regular premiums.

If you have a particularly stressful month on the road where you exhibit road rage on several occasions, you could be looking at a rate boost by as much as 9 percent your norm. They give you a 10 percent reduction right off the bat for signing up for the program, which is their way of enticing us all into this web.

They will tell you that their program will make the roads safer, as well as saving fuel by giving drivers the extra nudge to be on their best behavior. While this may indeed be the case, we hesitate to promote anything that begins to monitor us a nation.

We have all seen those future films where you can’t even go into your own bathroom without a camera recording the entire occurrence. Neighborhood watch programs that monitor everything that you do, and the minute you disobey one rule, you are fined.

Are you ready to live with Uncle Sam watching your every move. The feeling of someone breathing down your neck as you leave the parking lot of your favorite grocery store, just waiting for you to make that one mistake? Before you know it, they will have health monitoring systems to tell us when we are too old or in need of a check-up before we can be authorized to start our own vehicle.

Oops, looks like they have already beat us to that idea… we’re telling you folks, this could spell trouble for some of the freedoms we now take for granted!