Cars! Cars! Cars!

Neil Triumphs Caliber

The Detroit News reports: The Dodge Caliber: New and unimproved. Talk about poopin' on! Dan Neil throws a pie at the Dodge Caliber:

The Neon bolted from a cold-dead stop to 60 mph in a wig-twisting six seconds; the Caliber R/T leaves the line, stops off for lunch and a high colonic, checks its e-mail, then finally arrives at 60 mph in a stupendously boring 10-plus seconds, which means it can be dusted by your average UPS truck.

Mr. Neil likes the look of the Caliber (so do we), but feels it's not ready. He says:

The Caliber is new. All that remains is for it to be improved.

He sounds pretty much like what we wrote after the 2006 NY Auto Show:

New for this show was the Dodge Caliber, a small wagon. It felt pretty cheap to us, but at $15k, maybe we were setting our expectations too high. The seats didn't feel very comfortable, either. Our main concern was that the subcompacts from the big three Japanese makers felt better put together.

Anyway, the Caliber needs some massaging. Hell, so do we. Oh, Alison! Time for the daily Cars! Cars! Cars! rubdown. Oh, stop the retching already.

Challenger A-Comin'?

We've written about the upcoming Pony Car wars. We think we're over it before it even started. And now we're greeted with the very interesting news that Dodge just may have its act together enough to announce the Challenger today and, get this, maybe have it ready for a 2007/2008. Jalopnik reports: Da-GUM! Chrysler To Announce Challenger At Pepsi 400; Could Be A 2007/2008 Model! We'd be shocked (not in the good, sexy way*) if the Challenger was a 2007 model. If it was, however, it changes the whole dynamic of the Pony Car Wars. Why? Because we think most people will still be interested in them in 2007, but if the car(s) wait until 2009... yawn. The Detroit News reports: Muscle car is reborn.

"It's a pure retro car," said Csaba Csere, editor in chief of Car and Driver magazine**. "It's a dead ringer for the original 1970 Challenger."

Chrysler plans to build the Dodge Challenger off the same basic chassis as its rear-drive Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger. Both of those vehicles are built in Brampton, Ontario.

What's also interesting to us is that Ford is now challenged (ha!) to make the Mustang even more retro. What can they do? Maybe an AM radio?*** So if the Dodge Challenger is indeed announced to go into production**** it's going to put a lot of pressure on GM to announce the Chevy Camaro is good to go.

General Motors Corp. is widely expected to resurrect the Chevrolet Camaro -- which went out of production in 2002 -- in the next few years.

A striking concept version of the Camaro arguably drew even more attention and praise than the Challenger at the Detroit auto show this year.

Anyway, the timing of these very un-fuel efficient dealies is pretty danged interesting to us. Why? The Detroit News reports: $3 gas arrives in time for 4th. It's not like gas is going to get cheaper.

*Jesus! This is what she wears to pump gas? What does she wear to cook? Please make us a chicken pot pie, please make us a chicken pot pie, please make us a chicken pot pie.
**What's a magazine?
***What's a radio?
****Katsuaki Watanabe: They're reviving muscle cars when the planet is getting hotter, gasoline is over $3/gallon, and we're all trying to make cars look contemporary?
Takeo Fukui: Jesus, did you see Mena?
Mater: Da gum!

Diesels Rise

We are so easily confused. We've read that Detroit claims the price of gasoline won't affect consumers until the price goes much higher. Why then does Autoblog report: Volkswagen diesel sales rising with gas prices. VW diesels were on Consumer Reports list as one of the most unreliable cars out there (not just the engine mind you, the whole vehicle). So, it's funny to see that consumers will go for questionable cars (we love VW, but they are abusive to owner's hearts) rather than pay big dollars for gasoline (and more reliable cars). For the record, diesel fuel isn't any cheaper, it's just that you go further per gallon.