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Neffs, OH Car Consumer Discussions

Re: Effects of Rising Gasoline Prices [andre1969]

by euphonium on Sat May 24 10:19:15 PDT 2008

Our first brand new car was a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere 2 Dr Hardtop, 301 V8, TorqueFlite pushbutton tranny. It was a gorgeous metallic Marine Blue & rode like a dream with the torsion bar suspension. There was only one chrome strip on the sides running the length of the car from front fender to tail light. I never got quite used to the fin on the Right rear. In a glance, I would mistake it for another car coming too close to us. We bought it 18 Mar 58 from Harris-Neff Motors, Crockett, CA for $2,400.00 the day I was discharged from active Army duty in Oakland. It was a great car for awhile.

Re: artgpo [ateixeira]

by maryh3 on Tue Feb 26 09:53:07 PST 2008

They pitted the Tundra with the optional 5.7 liter V-8 against the Chevy with the standard 5.3 liter engine, producing 66 hp less than the Tundra. They could have used the 6.0 liter optional Vortec V-9 MAX which is more closely comparable to the optional Toyota engine, but they chose not to. They also pitted a Tundra with a 4.30 axle ratio against the Silverado with a 3.73 ratio, then gave the Tundra praise for having better acceleration. But the Silverado offers a 4.10 axle ratio as a no charge customer selection. Not only that, but they predicted that Toyota’s Tundra would have an above average frequency of repair rating. The Silverado? Too new to classify. The Toyota won the test. Surprise. It’s sorta like a boxing match were one of the competitors has his hands tied. In response to criticism of the “comparison” test, Consumer Reports has posted an explanation on its blog. It’s complete doublespeak, but you can judge for yourself: click here. Consumer Reports explanation boils down to saying that they selected trucks that used the powertrains most frequently purchased by consumers. Then, why do they call it a comparison test? As John Neff, who broke this story at Autoblog, notes, “Comparison tests, at least to us, are not about comparing what people buy, they’re about advising what people should buy based on an equal comparison.” An equal comparison is not what Consumer Reports has done. Moreover, instead of admitting they used a flawed design for their testing, they’ve elected to defend their choices on the basis of a criterion utterly irrelevant to the purpose of the test. The test wasn’t biased merely in the vehicles selected. Giving the Tundra a predicted above average reliability rating while saying that the Silverado is to new to rate is plan ludicrous. The Tundra, as Neff points out, is an all new vehicle produced at a brand new plant. The engine Consumer Reports selected for its test is the one that breaks camshafts, seemingly at random. The Silverado is a new chassis and body, but the drivetrain in the truck is one that has been on the market for some time. And it is the Silverado that’s too new to rate? It’s the truck with the 20 engines, so far, that have had to be replaced because their camshafts broke shortly after delivery that gets the “above average” rating for reliability? Yup. That’s the way Consumer Reports did it. http://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-news/consumer-reports-never-to-be-truted-ar4156- 9.html

Interesting take on GM's hybrid status vs. Toyota

by 62vetteefp on Mon Sep 24 09:42:12 PDT 2007

Lets face it, GMs Volt is just the EV1 concept, which did not meet real customer needs in a real world with real cost, and added an engine to keep the battery charged long enough to finish the real persons daily needs. You will not get stuck with a dead battery miles from home. Heck GM could have added the engine to the EV1 but there goes the cost even higher. Anyway: By John Neff Sept. 21, 2007 Earlier this month, Toyota Executive Veep Kazuo Okamoto made news when he defended his company's pursuit of further developing its parallel hybrid system called the Hybrid Synergy Drive. He was specifically calling out GM's development of the first mass market series hybrid, the Chevy Volt. On Toyota's own Open Road Blog, Irv Miller, Group Vice President of Corporate Communications, came to the defense of his boss soon after. It was an editorial we missed at the time, but reading it this morning was an eye opener. Miller makes a case for Toyota's support of parallel hybrids by saying that at this point the Volt is vaporware, while you can buy a Prius today. He notes that Volt engineers are only able to get about 10 miles of pure electric range from current lithium-ion batteries, far short of the 40 miles promised by GM. He also goes after the set up of a series hybrid, saying, "So – and we love this part - a series hybrid hauls around a gas engine that isn't available to directly propel the car." There are no doubt engineers in this audience who will read Toyota's response and rip it to shreds, much like commenters have already done on the original post. We'll merely respond to two points, since we're not engineers. Toyota calling a series hybrid vaporware because there isn't one on the market today is bunk. We assume the Hybrid Synergy Drive was at one time in development, too. While there's certainly a chance the Volt may never happen (10% according to Bob Lutz), the fact that GM is already using the Volt in advertising and has been completely transparent with the car's development tells us that it will do whatever it takes to bring this car to market. To actually question the efficiency of a series hybrid versus Toyota's parallel system also comes across a bit like sour grapes. While one can argue how clean a car really is that relies on the national grid for electricity, our measuring stick for the success of a green vehicle is how little gas it uses. Sure, it's simplistic, but it not only addresses the general greenness of a vehicle from the perspective of a consumer, but also how much money it will save its owner at the pump, as well how much it will reduce this nation's consumption of oil in general. Point blank, a series hybrid's gas engine (if it employs one) is really a generator, and it's optimized to run at a constant speed with a constant load. However much gas a series hybrid does use, its generator will use it much more efficiently than the engine in a parallel hybrid that has to be powerful enough to drive the wheels. Aside from taking issue with Toyota's defense, we also read a lot of fear between the lines, a state in which we rarely ever see Toyota. Its reputation as environmental and technology leader is under attack from all sides, and GM of all companies is leading the charge. At the moment, no one doubts the dominance of the Prius and its capabilities, but before too long the green car market will change dramatically. Not only are we promised plug-ins, lithium-ion battery packs and a series hybrid, but new clean diesel engines will be along shortly and likely achieve similar if not better fuel economy in the U.S. than most parallel hybrids. That's because we like to travel on the highways of America more than in its cities where parallel-friendly stop and go driving is standard. Diesels are more efficient at cruising speed, more so in comparable applications than any gas/electric parallel hybrid on the market today. Frankly, we can't wait to see how all this goes down in the next few years, as surely the green conscience consumer will be the ultimate winner.

car/truck of the year.

by 62vetteefp on Sun Jan 07 11:13:15 PST 2007

DETROIT -- The Saturn Aura has been named the 2007 North American Car of the Year by a panel of automotive journalists. That 49-member panel also named the Chevrolet Silverado as the 2007 North American Truck of the Year. The winners of the annual competition were named today at the start of press preview days for the North American International Auto Show. The Aura emerged on top from a field of 11 candidates for the car award. Jurors gave the Aura a total of 205 points out of a maximum possible 490 points in the round of voting to pick the winning vehicle. For the truck award, the Silverado was given 243 points out of the maximum possible 490 points. The finalists were culled from a pool of 15 candidate trucks. The process to choose the winning car and truck was changed for the 2007 award. This year, jurors cast a first round of ballots -- distributing 25 points among the candidates in the car and truck categories with no more than 10 points given to a single vehicle -- to narrow the lists down to three finalists. A second vote had to be held for the truck category when it was discovered, after the finalists had been announced, that the Jeep Wrangler had been left off the initial ballot. But the Wrangler did not get enough points in the revote to be added to the finalists in the category. Jurors then cast a second ballot to choose a winner from among the finalists in each category. In each category, jurors had 10 points that they could give to a single vehicle, or divide among the finalists. This is the 14th year the awards have been handed out. Last year, American Honda Motor Co. swept the awards with the Honda Civic and Honda Ridgeline. The jury includes Automotive News Executive Editor Edward Lapham and Senior Writer Dale Jewett. Also on the jury are AutoWeek Editor Dutch Mandel and Road Test Editor Natalie Neff. Automotive News and AutoWeek are published by Crain Communications Inc.

335 Xi - 2007

by circlew on Sat Nov 18 09:15:32 PST 2006

I look forard to the 335 version of this AWD 3 series. This could be one of the best cars around next year in AWD circles. BMW 335xi sedan on sale in March Posted Nov 15th 2006 3:57PM by John Neff Filed under: Car Buying, Sedans/Saloons, Safety, BMW BMW's twin-turbo, 3.0-liter inline-six is turning out to be as exciting an engine as the automaker's lauded 5.0-liter V10. Though its horsepower rating is down a couple hundie compared to the V10, the experience of dropping the hammer on a perfectly balanced inline-six that's sucking in more air than a Dyson upright is awesome (or so we've heard). The engine debuted in the 3-Series Coupe, followed by an appearance in the 3-Series Sedan, and finally we've learned when it will be taking up residence in the all-wheel drive 3-Series Sedan. The vehicle, known as the 335xi, will be available in March of 2007 according to this page on BMW's Military sales website. With 300 horsepower, all-wheel drive and BMW handling, the 335xi promises to be everything to everyone.

Autoweek's article

by califjohn on Sat Dec 20 10:52:59 PST 2003

by Natalie Neff was the first review I have seen on the V6 Pepper. It appears tho' that the 6 speed stick will not reach the US yet and the tiptronic version will be what they are sending us. She does compare the V6 Pepper to the T-reg V8 but mainly IMHO for the standard equipment offered and not so much for the performance of the two. She concludes the V8 T-reg seems to offer more features for about $2K less. I found the article on the www.autoweek.com website through the "search" block by entering "2004 Porsche Cayenne V6".