Road Tripping

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BlogHer and Ford are giving away a free trip to the BlogHer conference (where all those buttons to the left for parties are gonna be at!).

If you would like a chance to win, all you have to do is click this link and tell them your favorite car to take a road trip in.




Will it be the Fusion Hybrid, small and sporty (my personal choice)?

Will it be the Escape Hybrid, small but big?

Or will it be the Flex (the car I will one day marry)?

Go tell them all about it and then come back and tell me.

American Dream

What is your definition of the "American Dream"?

I saw a lottery winner on tv the other day and he said "Now I can start living the American Dream."

Is the American Dream just to have a lot of money? Is it to have a big house and lots of cars and not working and just having things? Is Paris Hilton living the American Dream?

I grew up in a Middle Class home (single parent of 5), we had a house, a car, we never "wanted" for anything (except for non-necessaties just to keep up with the Fritz's). But I really think my mom had the American Dream. She was a hard working woman, who made her own way in the world, she saved her well earned money and invested in her future. She owned her own home, she raised her family (quite well, I might add), sent all of her children to parochial school and when she was ready, she was able to retire on her terms. After retirement she did quite a bit of travel both domestic and abroad.

The American Dream is what I think of when I think about what is going on with the Auto Industry right now. There are hundreds of thousands of folks trying to live the American Dream in Michigan, but for circumstances beyond their control, it may all come to an end.

I don't think of the Auto Industry going to the Government for a loan right now as a Bailout. It is a loan. It is not the first time it has happened.

From ProRublica:

In 1979 Chrysler suffered a loss of $1.1 billion. That year the corporation requested aid from the government. In 1980 the Chrysler Loan Guarantee Act was passed, which provided $1.5 billion in loans to rescue Chrysler from insolvency. In addition, the government's aid was to be matched by U.S. and foreign banks.

By 1983, seven years earlier than the scheduled deadline, Chrysler had paid back its loan with the aid of the guarantees from the U.S. government. The corporation bought back the 14.4 million stock warrants. A security entitling the holder to buy a proportionate amount of stock at some specified future date at a specified price, usually one higher than current market. This "warrant" is then traded as a security, the price of which reflects the value of the underlying stock. Warrants are usually issued as a "sweetener" bundled with another class of security to enhance the marketability of the latter. Warrants are like call options, but with much longer time spans -- sometimes years. (Washington Post) given to the government in exchange for the loan guarantee. Because Chrysler's finances had improved and its stock had bounced back -- it reported $1.7 billion in profits for the second quarter of 1984 -- the government netted a profit of more than $660 million from its bailout investment.

Can anyone reading this say they have never needed a loan? A bailout if you will? Did you take out a loan to go to college? To buy your car? Your house? Shit happens and sometimes you need someone to come by and give you a hand.

Am I biased because my roots are in Detroit and in the Auto Industry. Possibly. Am I treating this completely differently than I thought of the Wall Street Bailout (or Rescue)? Yes I am. As far as I know at right this moment, the Big 3 have not sent their highly paid executives on a multi-million dollar retreat recently. Do I think the Wall Street Bailout could have been handled differently? Oh boy do I ever! I think instead of giving a hand out to the banks to loan out even more money, I think the Government should have made one payment on each of the outstanding loans. That would have helped Main Street and got Wall Street a little lift as well. Grassroots. That's where things begin, you have to start from the bottom and let things grow, not start from the top and let shit roll down hill.

Back to the Big 3. There are many reasons given why people are leery of buying American cars. Taj refuses, he thinks they are completely unreliable and will not last half as long as a Foreign made car. @GoDOTchris watched her Honda Civic reach 200,000 miles this week. That is quite a feat. But it happen in Ford's and Chevy's as well. When are we going to stop looking elsewhere, for the cheaper or better? And start finding a way to make cheaper and better here? This is not the first time an American industry has been threatened.

From Wiz Bang Blue:

The American television industry ran into similar problems as well with better and stronger and more innovative foreign competition from Japan, where American brands like Magnavox, Emerson, General Electric, RCA, Quasar and Zenith all failed. While RCA was purchased by an European company, Zenith continued as the final holdout in the American television industry until they owed so much money to a South Korean bank to finance their losses in business that they were taken over by the bank and became a South Korean brand, and no American television brands exist today.

Is that where we want to head with the Auto Industry? What is left in America that we manufacture? Are Levi's the sole holdout?

What do I think should happen with the Auto Industry, well, I don't know for certain. I know that whatever happens, there needs to be something that forces them into the 21 century here in the US. There are many more Hybrid and alternative fuel cars made by the Big 3 that are sold overseas. They need to bring them here. If there is a loan made, there need to be terms and concessions from both the Industry and the Unions.

When you have a family member in trouble, do you not rush to their aid? I do and I know my family does. And when you broaden your perspective aren't all Americans family?

Tell me what is your idea of the American Dream?

Added Wednesday after posting:
Before you get your panties in a bunch over the Ford CEO travelling to Washington in the company jet, chill your jets. On page 46 of the Ford 2008 Proxy Statement (from the shareholders meeting) it clearly states:

Perquisites and Other Benefits (page 46)

We provided certain perquisites and other benefits to senior management in 2007, the most significant of which are summarized below. The Committee periodically reviews our policies on officer perquisites.

Company Aircraft: During 2007, Mr. Mulally was required to use our aircraft for all business and personal air travel for security reasons. The family and guests of Mr. Mulally were allowed to accompany him on our aircraft. In addition, in order to ease the burden of Mr. Mulally moving to Southeast Michigan and away from his family in Seattle, Washington, the Compensation Committee clarified that his arrangement covers travel by his wife, children, and guests on Company aircraft for personal reasons without him at Company expense, at his request. Except for the Executive Chairman, no other executive is permitted to use our aircraft for personal reasons. In addition, for retention purposes the Company pays the costs, including first class commercial airfare, for personal travel for Mr. Fields to and from his home in Florida. The Company continues to provide tax relief as a result of the imputed income associated with Mr. Fields’ arrangement. We believe the cost to the Company in providing this relief is significantly outweighed by the security and retention benefits we receive.
The incremental cost for personal use of Company aircraft, including our valuation methodology for such use, isincluded in column (i) of the Summary Compensation Table on p. 50 and footnote 5 on pp. 51-52.

In Sync

When I reviewed the Ford cars earlier this year I didn't do justice to the Sync in all of the vehicles. this old school video takes New Media to a new height and gives an awesome representation of the Sync.

Best Laid Plans...........

Initially in this post I was going to compare and contrast the two Hybrid cars I drove over the last couple of months. The GM Malibu to and from BlogHer and the Ford Escape I used this past weekend.




To be fair it wouldn't be a true comparison as one is a mid-sized sedan and one is a CUV. The handling is different the ride is different the spatial environment is totally different. And most of all because of the vehicle types the mpg's are going to be different.



So I set out to just form my opinion on the Escape and give you the down low on that for a ride to and from Oakland Ca. an approximate 750 miles. Best laid plans............ (more on that later).




The car is delivered and was beautiful, I have never liked the color green much but this was a pretty “kiwi green” according to the person dropping it off (wonder if he liked the fresh baked cookies I gave him?). I didn't want my initial drive to be at 4am so I took Kiwi for a spin up to Burbank. I took the side streets there and the freeway back to try and gauge any difference in the handling and ride of the Hybrid. I was very impressed with both. Of course on such a short drive I couldn't properly average out the mpg.



At 4am the next morning, Adam, his friend Luis and I ventured out to the open road. The back back was spacious enough for our three bags and a cooler and we even experimented with putting half of the back seat down for easy access. Since Luis was the king of the back seat area the configuration was totally up to him. I asked him many times during the trip if he had enough leg room and such and he always replied yes. Since he is such a polite kid (what's up with teenagers these days?) I climbed back there myself to see if he was telling me the truth. He was. While I don't know that I would want to have someone else back there with me for a “road trip” it was fairly comfortable.



We made great time and mileage. Although I could have probably made it into the city before running low on gas, I didn't want to take the chance and filled up while we had breakfast. We ate at the Apricot Inn (or something like that), almost everything on the menu had apricots in or on it. The décor was fabulous tons and tons of old lunch boxes on the walls and matching thermos' in plexiglass dividers between booths.



The boys concert (Matches and Wombats were the two bands they most wanted to see) ended in the early evening so we opted to run up to San Francisco to hit a great record store Rasputins. Guess what running up to SF consists of? Yep that Damn Bridge again, ugh. Of course I did it and I didn't even cry this time. But coming back was on the lower level and very very freaky. Shopping for cheap cd's, hole in the wall pizza and a scare where I thought I was pick pocketed (Adam put my money in a different spot of my wallet) and some Cold Stone ice cream set us on the road again.



Luis and I wanted to find the “crookedest” street in SF. We were certain it was Lombard but the Sync took us only to parts that were straight. We drove around a lot. And all of it was at under 30 mph so for almost an hours worth of driving around on the hills of SF we used less than 1 gallon of gas. It was great. BTW we never did find that crooked street.



A nice relaxing night and some internet issues in the morning got us ready for a very yummy breakfast at the Marriott. Noon was check out time and also the opening time for the record stores in Berkeley so off we went. What a beautiful town. Walking up and down College and Telegraph where there were sidewalk sales and fun people watching. The boys shopped at Rasputins and Amoeba and then we were on the road again.



About an hour into our drive we are doing about 70 on the 580 just past Livermore CA and we start hearing a repetitive clicking noise. At first I thought it was Adams cell phone vibrating against the center console, but it was too loud and lasted too long, so I pulled over into a turn out.



Picture this if you will. Brown rolling hills, windmills and dead donkeys. Yes, that is all there was around us other than cars whizzing by at 70 mph. The boys get out and look to see if something is stuck in the tire but see nothing, so thinking whatever it was is now gone we get back in and start off again. Oooops nope, there's that noise again, pull over again. Thank goodness for turn outs.

I make a phone call to the Ford Reps from Page One and depending on who's side of the story you hear (and since this is my side that is the one you will hear), I calmly explained our predicament and requested assistance. (of course some of that calm may have included loud voices and mild hysterics but eh, there was a dead donkey nearby!) Long story short (too late for that) and the wonderful AAA guy Mike from Reed & Son Towing found us a Ford dealership to drop off poor Kiwi and deposited us at a Denny's to wait for a replacement car.

The replacement car was being arranged by Stuart from Page One who faced the brunt of my calmness throughout this entire ordeal and did a fabulous job of listening, empathizing and solving my problem. Awesome customer service.

The boys and I had a leisurely dinner and dessert at Dennys (which Page One picked up the tab for, thank you again) and 4 hours after the first noise was heard we were on the road again in our new 09 Mercury Mariner Hybrid.

The Mariner and the Escape are identical twins. Although the boys liked the comfort of the supple leather seats in the Escape as compared to the cloth seats of the Mariner.

Again on the ride home, good time and good mileage was had by all and we made it home just after midnight.

For the entire trip we averaged 27 mpg. Not a great number, but again a Hybrid is not meant for highway driving, so when you take into account that the cars are CUV's that mileage is pretty good.

As far as comfort and drivablility, I have one major complaint for both cars. I could not see out of the rearview mirror unless there was no one sitting there and I removed the headrests from the back seat. Thankfully the side mirrors were large and awesome, because that is all I used.

The navigation system (other than Lombard street, but to be fair, I didn't have an exact address) was great and the bluetooth ability was very handy in the SYNC. Although in neither car could we get the voice activation to work and the owner's manual said to see the SYNC manual which we didn't have.

What conclucions have I come to driving these three cars?
A. Hybrids are great for city drivers, not so much for highway
B. I am ready to move out of the “mommy” cars and into a sedan.
C. Whatever car I get next will definitely have satellite radio!

I have to give proper shout outs to Dan Smith of PCGCampbell, Stuart (I'm sorry I don't know your last name) from Page One Automotive and Jason Camp of Ford.

BTW the noise? Was due to some packaging material still on the drive train that started hitting against the heating vent with each revolution. Something completely harmless and insignificant. Thank goodness!

Should You Buy a Hybrid?

When I attended a media event at Ford last month, I learned about Partial Zero Emissions Vehicles (PZEV). According to Ford a 2008 PZEV produces 73% less smog-forming emissions than the average new car.

To qualify as a PZEV a car must meet three criteria:
*The vehicle must meet extremely low tailpipe emissions standards (AKA Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle).
*It must meet a zero-evaporative-emissions standard.
*It must be warranted to meet these emissions standards for 15 years or 150,000 miles.

Although Ford as a parent company is the current leader in PZEVs, more and more manufacturers are producing them each year.

Why am I talking about PZEVs when this article was supposed to be about Hybrids? Because if you are not going to drive under 30mph for more than 75% of your driving needs than a Hybrid really is not serving it's purpose for you. And if you will not be served by a Hybrid then how can you still do your part for the environment by not contributing to the acrid air problems? By buying a PZEV! Note not all Hybrids are PZEV, please make sure you ask before you buy!

Some more interesting facts about PZEV (as taken from a Ford pamphlet):
*A vehicle with a PZEV rating emits about two pounds of hydrocarbons during 100,000 miles of driving – the equivalent of spilling a pint of gasoline.
*A PZEV-rated vehicle would have to be driven more than 2,100 miles to equal the emissions produced by a 5.4 horsepower lawn mower in one hour of use!
*BBQing one hamburger produces the same smog-forming emissions as driving a PZEV car for 3 hours or 180 miles!

When I heard these facts I was amazed that it was for the first time. Why is this information not out in the open? Why is there so much hype about Hybrids (which effectly only properly serve less than half of the people that own them) and nothing about PZEV? I am here to try to rectify that.

Back to Hybrids. Hybrids are a great idea, again if you travel at under 30mph for more than 75% of your driving time. Another bonehead move made by the California government was to give Prius owners a sticker that allowed them to drive in the HOV lanes. Which totally defeats the purpose of a Hybrid. Those drivers would get better mileage driving in the stop and go traffic of LA than they do zooming past everyone at 70 mph.

I have 3 sisters all talking about buying Hybrids. For one I would definitely not recommend it. While her daily commute to and from work is (I believe) approx 10 miles, she then drives almost 200 miles to her home every weekend. For that weekend ride, the Hybrid would suck up in gas what she saved during the week. And with the cost of a Hybrid at about $3000 more than it's counterpart it would take more than the estimated time to get her payback.

According to Consumer Reports October 2008 issue, some Hybrid cars are still eligible for Federal Tax Credits. “The incentives fade out once an automaker produces 60,000 Hybrids, 9including ALL of it's brands”. Toyota (including Lexus) is done. Honda incentives will expire Dec. 31, 2008. With Ford now producing the Escape, and Fusion hybrids along with the Mercury brands of Mariner and Milan, it too will be done soon. These tax credits can range from $500 to $2,500. You can get more information on them from http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/taxcenter.shtml

Make note of your driving habits before you make a commitment to your next car. In the economy we are in right now, does it make sense for you to spend more to not necessarily reap the benefits of that purchase? If a Hybrid fits into your lifestyle than rock on with your bad self!

If not, then would you please make sure your next car is a PZEV?

*This article is cross-posted at BlogHer and Blissfully Domestic

The Beginning

The event for Ford was down in Irvine (past Disneyland), so I asked around for how long I would need to give my self to get there. Since Maggie has been gone it is necessary for me to rely on Google maps and such to get me places (damn I miss her, but that is another post). The Google map said it should take me about 55 minutes, I asked Kathy if I should leave (to arrive by 9:30 a half hour before “call time”) at 8ish and she said to leave closer to 7:30 to give my self enough time. I left at 7:30 and was there before 8:30 so now I was an hour and a half early. No worries, we Van Houten women go no where without a book.

Once we get past the niceities of introducing all the Ford and the PR people we get down to informing us.

Hal Dewsnap (forgive me if the name is incorrect) – Sales Manager for California ( a native Detroiter I believe), informed of the drop in units being built due to the drop in sales. This year so far there is a 5 million drop in units and the year is only half through. Even though people are supposedly forgoing their bigger cars for smaller gas friendly cars it really is not boosting sales of vehicles. The economy is so down trodden that people can't afford even a new used car to make the switch. He also informed us that the Los Angeles County Lifeguards are now all driving Ford Escape Hybrids that have been specially built for them. They were having problems with the cars they were driving sometimes spinning in the sand. When their contract was up, THEY contacted Ford about customizing the Hybrid for their Lifeguards. While speaking about this I recalled (and someone later mentioned) an article in Westways (AAA) magazine that talked about the new Lifeguard vehicles. What the Hal didn't mention but Westways did, is that Ford donated those vehicles. Hal also spoke effectively (to me anyways) about something called PZEV, again that's another post, because it is what generated the most attention form me and I think is totally underated in our quest for going green.

Tom Hodges – I don't know his title, but I know he was in charge of the Sync (approx. $400 option). Sync is a collaboration with MicroSoft (so it will probably crash more than once) that includes, your entertainment system, your hands free (now mandatory in CA) phone system and soon to be your GPS and infotainment system. The first thing I notice about the hands free system is that while it has features like On-Star (from GM), like automatic accident assistance and emergency help response, it uses your bluetooth phone. That could be good or bad. Good in that, you don't have to purchase separate minutes as you do with On-Star and you can connect up to 12 different Bluetooth phones to this system (albeit only one at a time can actually be recognized). But bad in a sense that what if you are in an accident and unable to respond? Your wonderful Sync will respond for you but only if you remembered to bring your phone with you that day or it isn't out of battery or didn't go flying or get damaged in the accident. Just something for Ford to think about. Something else the Sync does is run a Vehicle Health Report (again using your phone though, so you have to use your minutes), which will be used to collaborate information from your car, your dealer (as if anyone actually uses dealers for maintanence anymore) and then transmitted to your computer. You can then access all of that information on the Sync My Ride web site. There is no fee for the health report other than your cell plan minutes. All in all I was very impressed with the Sync, but have a hard time believing that something that is in association with Microsoft is going to be good all the time and you won't need to “update or upgrade” it every couple of months or so.

Freeman (?) - Lead Designer. I have no idea if that is his last name or first name or his moniker. While all the other Ford heads were in suits and ties he was in jeans and a sport coat. There was no mistaking he was the “artsy” end of the drawing board. He admitted right at the start of his presentation that he and his staff were “abstract thinkers”. I like that. He referred to his team as being “cultural engineers”, which I took to mean they weren't designing cars to be just people movers but as a part of the culture of our world. Which was a part of their thinking when designing the Flex (did I mention how much I liked this car?). The best quote from his presentation struck a chord with me “Driving a Ford is like wearing a white cotton t-shirt and a pair of worn blue jeans”. I have always felt that jeans and a white shirt were the sexiest outfit a man could wear, so no wonder I am so attracted to the Flex.

At this point we went outside and got a “walk around” each of the cars we were focusing (pun totally intended) on that day. After that it was time for lunch (uh no thanks) and then time to drive.