The oil-mafia plans increase in fuel-prices

The oil-mafia, OPEC, are having a meeting in Vienna on the 24th of October, discussing the "critical decline" in oil price (oh no, it's only increased by 45% over the last 1,5 years - from 50 to 70 dollars!!!), and how to cut production to stabilize the price at 90-100 dollars/barrel, the presumed sweet-spot where the demand will remain high, and we will still have to pay through our nose for the petrol.

This is just another brilliant example of why this kind of cartel should be illegal, like it is in every other business on this planet. It's also a reminder that although the prices are down to 70 dollars/barrel, half of what they were at their peak only months ago, the problems with price and supply will remain, and we should focus all our energy (literally) on finding replacements for oil. We simply can't be held hostage by corrupt, instable regimes, dictators, dirty oil companies and such any more.

So, car-manufacturers, where are those damn biogas-cars? Ethanol-cars? Electric cars? Hydrogen? Air?

UK goes Big Brother

The UK is getting ready to subject all car drivers in the country to a surveillance of proportions that would make George Orwell shit in his pants: Cameras will track each and every car on all primary roads in the UK - 24/7. It's basically a nightmare you can't escape, and it's all in the name of money. Personal integrity is, apparently, not worth a thing.

The commission estimated that new SPECS3 cameras could monitor every driver on 31,136 miles of principal rural and urban roads at a cost of £443,687,656 (US $769,693,415). While the initial investment appears substantial, the commission noted that "enforcing the 70 MPH limit using SPECS would pay for itself within around two years."

The original SPECS cameras were found to be quite successful. Between 2000 and 2005, a single camera in Nottinghamshire generated 76,000 tickets worth £4.2 million (US $7.2 million). London's entire SPECS network generated as many citations in just three weeks. London camera officials did admit, however, that 5600 tickets were sent to motorists who were completely innocent.

There you go. If you're a motorist and want to continue being one without being subjected to these kinds of horrific assaults on your personal integrity, get off this bizarre island. Now.

A Porsche for the future

Porsche tuner RUF have presented a concept car based on the 997. This is not your ordinary tuned Porshce though, but a battery powered, zero emission one! The 0-100 acceleration of 7 seconds is ok, the top-speed of 225 km/h is decent but not impressive, however the range of 250-300 kilometers is promising indeed.

Let's hope this is a glimpse of what the future holds for sports cars: Politically correct, environmentally friendly, yet fun and good looking.

Lexus IS 250C - where's the H?

Yes, the new Lexus IS 250 convertible is a nice looking car. But what on earth happened to Lexus' ambitions as a hybrid car manufacturer? In this day and age you would expect a company that already has hybrid-versions of most of their cars (unfortunately not the IS-series) would equip any new models with the same technology.

Instead, the IS 250C is powered by a 2,5 liter V6 petrol engine producing 208 hp. We can only hope that Lexus will come to their senses and offer an IS 250Ch at one point, with more power and less fuel-consumtion.

Volkswagen BlueTDI - too little too late

Volkswagen will be displaying a new Passat Variant BlueTDI on the Paris exhibit next week. The engine is a commonrail diesel 2-liter, with 143 hp. This car will have a fuel consumption of 5,5 l/100 km (CO2: 144g/km). The numbers for the sedan version is 5,2 l/100 km (CO2: 139g/km).

Am I the only one not at all impressed by these numbers? BMW 520d, which has been available for a while now, gives you more power (177 hp) and lower fuel consumption (5,1 l/100km) and CO2-emissions (136g/km).

The small SUV segment - Will Volvo make it?

We've got some really interesting small SUV's coming this fall, all competing within the same "premium" segment: Audi Q5, Mercedes GLK and Volvo XC60. I've already expressed my frustration with the Volvo and its hopelessly outdated engines. This frustration isn't getting any better after looking up some numbers:

Audi Q5 2.0 TDI (170 hp/350 Nm) - Fuel consumption: 6,7 l/100km CO2: 175 g/km
BMW X3 2.0d(177 hp/350 Nm) - Fuel consumption: 6,5 l/100km CO2: 172 g/km
Mercedes GLK 220 (170 hp/400 Nm) - Fuel consumption: 6,9 l/100km CO2: n/a
Volvo XC60 D5 (185 hp/400 Nm) - Fuel consumption: 7,5 l/100km CO2: 199 g/km

All these cars are equipped with four wheel drive, and have comparable engine specs and prices, although the Volvo is a bit on the slow side when it comes to acceleration, and a bit expensive (comparable to the Merc and BMW, and more expensive than the Audi). And if you want an XC60 with fuel consumtion on par with the other competitors, you'll have to wait until the spring, and buy a 2,4D with 163 hp and front wheel drive only (consumption: 6,5 l/100km). Now, who will buy that, instead of a proper four wheel drive from Audi, BMW or Mercedes? And why on earth didn't Volvo keep the brilliant ethanol-enigine from the prototype, that could have given it an advantage amongst its competitors? I don't know. I just don't know.

Way to go, Hummer!

Old news, maybe, but the 2009 Hummer H2 will be available with a flexfuel (E85) engine, and the plan is to have all Hummer models biofuel-capable by 2010. As opposed to Ford, Hummer gets it (bleeding red numbers for quite a while might have been an eye-opener). We still want to drive large 4-wheel-drive cars, but we want to do so in an environmentally friendly fashion, and without handing our hard earned money over to the oil cartel OPEC.

One question remains, though... Seeing as the conventional H2 guzzles over 2 liters of fuel/100 km, what kind of numbers can we expect when driven on ethanol? Will the car break the 3 liter barrier? If so, it had better come with a 200 liter fuel tank, so I don't have to stop by the gas station on my way to and from work every day.

Ford Kuga - what a big mistake

Well, not the car itself. It actually looks decent, and hopefully drives decent as well. The big mistake is the new engine option available from early 2009: The 2.5 liter, 5-cylinder old fart that's available in several Volvos and Fords. Looking at the numbers , no one will be impressed:

Combined fuel economy: 9,9 l/100 km (10,3 l/100 km with automatic transmission)
Top speed: 208 km/h.

The sad part is that the engine itself is actually available as a flex-fuel (E85 and gasoline), that can be found in the Volvo V70, for instance. Why Ford didn't just go for that one is a mystery to me. Have they failed to see the massive demand for clean and cheap fuel? Oil is not the future.

No one buys new cars - and here's why

Apparently the new car sales in Germany have dropped by 10,4% in August compared to August last year. The situation is more or less the same in the rest of Europe, and the US. The car manufacturers seem to be blaming the world economy, but the answer is probably more simple than that:

After the oil price surge this spring, and promises from the infamous oil cartel to keep the prices on a ridiculously high level of over $100 a barrel by reducing production when necessary, what people want is as much independence from the oil as possible. In other words, we're all sitting and waiting for all the interesting new car models that are just being postponed over and over again: The electric vehicles, the plug-in hybrids, the cars that run on alternative fuels. As an example, Volkswagen appear to have postponed their Golf plug-in hybrid until 2012. That will definitly cut into the Golf sales up until then.

So, in short: Give us the cars we want, and we'll buy them. Keep postponing them, and we'll keep postponing our car purchases.

China looks to Norway

In an effort to decrease the demand for large, gas-guzzling cars, China turns to Norway for a solution: Tax them to death. This, of course (and in good communist spirit), won't mean much to the ever growing community of Chinese millionaires, but will effectively stop the general population from buying larger cars with more power.

The worst blow to the head will be delivered to the cars with an engine size of above 4,0 liters, where the tax doubles, from 20 percent to 40 percent. On more modestly motorized cars, with an engine size of 2,0-4,0 liters, the tax will "only" increase from 15 percent to 25 percent. In other words, much like the Norwegian model, all cars will be more expensive.

These new taxes will take effect from the 1st of September this year.

Don't move to Switzerland

If you have the faintest interest in cars, that is. According to Asphalte.ch, the youth section of the swiss Green Party has proposed a law banning all passenger cars fitting into the follwing:

- has a kerb weight of more than 2.2 tons (4820 lbs)

- or emits more than 250g of CO2 per km

- or has a front facia "dangerous for pedestrians"

Diesel cars without particle filter would be forbidden as well. Non-compliant cars registered before the measure goes into law would be governed at a 100 km/h (62 mph) speed limit.

In other words, most fun cars will be banned in Switzerland if this law proposal gets voted through. Something tells me it won't, but you never know.

Click this link to download an Excel spreadsheet showing all car models that would be banned.

Infiniti G35 Hybrid

The Infiniti G35 is a great car, and the news that Nissan plans a hybrid version of it is good news indeed. Lithium-ion batteries and everything, I read excitedly, thinking this car could maybe be some kind of plugin-hybrid that could travel at least small distances on battery power alone. Unfortunately, Nissan's press release states the following:

The dynamic characteristics of the clutches are as follows: Idle-stop: The battery is used to power the motor to save on fuel.
Regular driving: The engine is used to power the motor as well as regenerate the battery.
Acceleration: Both the engine and battery (power assist) is used to power the motor to achieve smooth acceleration. Deceleration: Energy from braking is conserved and re-routed back to regenerate the battery.

In other words, the G35 Hybrid will be just another Toyota Hybrid or Lexus GS450h, with slightly better fuel economy as opposed to a regular petrol car, but that's it. Why does Nissan aim so low with a car that's not supposed to be on sale until 2010? If this is all I want I could just go ahead and buy myself a BMW 330d, with start/stop technology and regeneration of battery while braking.

Saab 9-4X interior pic

By now we've all seen the spaceship-cockpit design of the 9-4X prototype, but as usual these fancy-schmancy interiors are usually quite a bit more boring when the production model finally hits the streets.

Auto Motor & Sport in Sweden have captured a picture of the 9-4X interior of a test car, and while it doesn't look quite as fancy as in the prototype, it's not really that far off. The only thing I'm waiting for now is an interesting engine to go with that. The 300 hp biopower (ethanol) engine of the prototype was nice.

The new Golf VI

The next generation Golf is here, and...surprise surprise, it looks exactly like the old one. At least no one can accuse Volkswagen of being too radical in their design. On the inside, though, there are certain changes, as VW take downsizing to a new level. The new Golf will likely be equipped with a tiny 1,6 liter TSI-engine that will produce 200 hp! That's pretty impressive, taking into account that the current Golf 1,6 produces only 100. There will also be a 2-liter engine available producing 240 hp, and this will probably be found in the GTI.

On the more boring side, expect 1,0 or 1,2 liter turbocharged engines producing around 75 hp.

And of course, we'll still have to play the waiting game when it comes to the most interesting model: The plugin hybrid. Whether we'll see this car in our lifetime or not is anybody's guess.

Spain goes electric

According to Automotive News Europe, Spain recently presented a plan to have one million electrical vehicles in traffic by 2014. This decision is probably based on protests and riots following the soaring fuel prices this year, and includes detailed plans on how to achieve such a goal.

Personally I don't think the government even needs to intervene here. If the car manufacturers finally give us what we want, nice looking and functional plugin hybrids with decent range on battery power only, I'm convinced they will take marked shares like crazy.

Motivation

A piece of rock music history here, probably meant as a motivation video for Mercedes employees in the US.

More muscle in BMW X5 and X6?

According to the German "Auto Motor und Sport" magazine, BMW are planning M-version of the X5 and X6, apparently to hit the streets by the end of 2009. The question is if these kind of cars won't be more or less dead by then, killed by soaring fuel prices and politics.

If not, the M-models of the X-series cars will probably be fitted with a powered up version of the double turbo V8 that delivers 407 hp today. And last but not least, they will be the first M-models with four-wheel drive. A necessary addition to the X-family? By no means. A lot of politically incorrect fun? Absolutely.

Oh, Saab, no! Part 2

Can't say I'm really impressed with Saab these days. First the incomprehensible decision to not incorporate XWD on diesel or biopower models. Now they cutting their warranty in the US, from a brilliant 5 year/100.000 miles to not so impressive 4 years/50.000 miles, to cut costs. This is definitly not good PR for Saab, leading us to believe that the cars have poor reliability, and that Saab now wants to push as much of the repair costs as possible onto the buyer.

No Audi Q7 Hybrid

According to sources, the production of the long-awaited Audi Q7 Hybrid, shown as a concept car as early as 2005, has been put on ice. Apparently this decision is based on a "lack of interest" from the customer base. Although Audi hasn't verified this, they did verify in March that the Q7 Hybrid wouldn't be coming to the US. The problem at that time was the low value of the dollar.

Now, I'll tell Audi about "lack of interest": I'm definitly not interested in buying a conventional petrol car today that guzzles 13 l/100km, and I can't see how the Q7 sales will rise without the introduction of hybrid technology, or other technology that will make the car independent from oil (such as ethanol or bio-gas, for instance). The oil won't become cheaper, you know, and people want to be liberated from the greasy paws of the oil industry.

On the positive side, Audi will be focusing on hybrid technology for the new A4, A5 and Q5, and this will probably involve lithium-ion batteries. Do we dare hope for an Audi Q5 Plugin Hybrid, with a range of 70-80 kilometers on battery power alone?

The dog's bollocks

It's kind of childish, I know, but I have to admit I laughed out loud when I came across the "Bumper nuts". This is the birthday present for the car-owner who's got everything. Or rather, who's got almost everything.

Only in America.

Insignia - Finally a desirable Opel

With Insignia, due out in showrooms in November, Opel has finally created a car that I actually enjoy looking at. Not only that, it comes with some interesting engine options, like the 2.0 liter, 220 hp petrol engine, not to mention the same all-wheel-drive system as the Saab 9-3 XWD. Opel call it "Adaptive 4x4". The interior is nice too.

Oh yes, and the car will also be able to read and interpret road signs. Not bad. Read this article for more information and pictures.

Oh, Volvo, no!

Speaking of Swedish car manufakturers, Volvo is about to launch its new small-size SUV, the XC60, this fall. The concept, first shown at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in 2007, was particularly interesting - at least to me - because of the 3.2 liter ethanol engine.

Almost two years later the production model will arrive at car salons with the following engine options: The old, gas-guzzling T6 engine, and the even older 2.4D and D5 diesel engines. What the heck happened to that ethanol optimized engine, that is all the more interesting today, with ridiculous fuel prices and CO2 awareness rising? Who will buy the XC60 with yesterdays engine technology? They can have all the new safety gadgets they want. I don't care. Give me a Volvo XC60 3.2 Flexifuel. We all know they've got the technology.

Why I drive a big car

The following YouTube-video illustrates quite well why size matters. The Audi Q7 only has four Euro NCAP stars, while the Fiat 500 has five.

Oh, Saab, no!

According to the nice people at Trollhattansaab.net, the 2009 Saab 9-3 will finally feature the XWD all-wheel-drive system for the 2.0t motor range. Great news, you might think. What I'm struggling to understand is the fact that they ignore their most selling models, at least in Europe. There will be no XWD available for the brilliant 1,9TTiD diesel engine, which is the engine of choice for most European countries, and no XWD for the E85 (ethanol) version of the 2.0t engine, which is by far the most selling engine configuration in Saab's native Sweden.

Why, oh why, Saab, won't you give us the car we want? I'd like a fuel efficient Saab 9-3 1.9TTiD XWD, or an eco-friendly Saab 9-3 2.0t BioPower XWD, please.