Posted by Peter on
February 14, 2010
Tangential Treatise #3: The 2011 Audi A1 Has Nothing On The 1999 Audi A2
Twelve years is a long time for people, but for cars it’s a coon’s age. In other words, it’s about two car-lifetimes. Just for some perspective, 12 years ago, there was no Google, no Facebook, YouTube, iPod, nor iPhone. The .com bubble had peaked but most people didn’t know it yet and many were buying basement-fulls of Spam and mobile generators in preparation of the impending Y2K crisis. In the automotive world, 12 years ago, “hybrid” wasn’t in our vocabulary, the Diablo was littering magazine covers, the Ferrari 360 Modena was just peeking its nose out of the Maranellan womb, the McLaren F1 had stopped production despite building only a third of the 300 projected cars, and Audi released a premium compact car built largely of aluminum. Now of all those cars I just mentioned, I want to focus on that last one. This aluminum-framed and bodied car was designed by Luc Donckerwolke and it was called the A2, slotting beneath the A3 in the Audi range. Which Luc Donckerwolke? Ah, that would be the Belgian one who also picked up a pen and paper for Lamborghini. The Luc I’m talking about designed the aforementioned Diablo, the Murcielago, and the Gallardo. So while the A2 might seem like a plain-Jane runabout or even a dilution of four-ringed brand equity, in reality, it was anything but. Unfortunately, the market couldn’t get past the steep price tag directly resulting from all that innovative (and expensive) aluminum. As a result, sales were weak. Which is odd because even at, say, CDN$35,000, the Audi A2 was a tenth the cost of Donckerwolke’s other works of art – and that made it a bargain.
Now, 12 years after launching the Audi A2, the company that lit the unintended acceleration torch that Toyota now carries is launching another premium compact for the European market: the Audi A1. The A1 could make it to our frosty shores if there were enough interest, but really, you don’t want one. If you can wait until 2014, I think I can convince you that what you really want is a then-to-be-15-year-old Audi A2. What makes me so bullish and sanguine? It’s all in the details.
Posted by Peter on
February 3, 2010
Tangential Treatise #2: The Bentley Continental Finally Makes Sense, Marks The End Of An Era
I recently attended the 2010 Edmonton Motor Show where I saw the usual wares from the usual manufacturers. None of this was terribly exciting. The Canadian auto show circuit is now withering away, signalling the renewed cyclical scapegoatism that the motor car periodically enjoys. It will be years before the internal combustion engine is de-villified (again) and we are reminded (again) that electricity is merely a means of energy transmission, not itself a means of propulsion. George Santayana is attributed with the following quote: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. This is perhaps a dilution of his original, but the meaning is retained. We usually take the quote in reference to international conflicts of armament, but this is too narrow. It was not by accident, by royal decree, nor divine intervention that the internal combustion engine gained popular acceptance in the latter part of the 19th century while the electric horseless carriage floundered. Nor will electric vehicles replace gasoline-engined ones in my lifetime. But I digress, because gasoline-fueled machines are alive and well. For now.
Posted by Peter on
January 19, 2010
Tangential Treatise #1: Why The Lexus LFA Needs 50 More Horsepower
The Lexus LFA isn’t getting the respect it deserves. “It costs too much”, they unimaginatively opine. “The shifts are too abrasive”, they continue. Was anyone this harsh on the ultra-expensive hypercars of the early part of the past decade? The Porsche Carrera GT, the Mercedes McLaren SLR, and the Ferrari Enzo have all occupied a similar stratum in motor car society; yet they all received near universal praise, despite their monumental costs. They were also all European offerings. So why isn’t the Lexus LFA, the first Japanese car in decades to even attempt the crown, being mentioned in the company its engineering justly deserves?
Posted by Peter on
January 9, 2010
Tangential Treatise #0: Why You Should Care (And Worry) About The 2010 Mercedes GP Formula 1 Team
It would be too easy to assume that Ross Brawn, despite the driver in the seat, is a sufficiently brilliant strategist to conjure up Formula 1 victories from nothing more than willpower. Mr. Brawn is that special. To say nothing of his newest driver, one fourty-one year old Michael Schumacher, the umpteen-time World Champion. Reuniting those previously-Maranellan forces alone should be enough to convince you that Mercedes GP should be taken very seriously. But to assume that those two alone will win the Championship would be to miss something much bigger.
Posted by Peter on
August 27, 2009
Playing Chicken with a Praguian Tram in a Weismann GT MF4
What I’m sure started out as an innocent enough evening in Prague, Czech Republic soon turned into a night that would become legen-… wait for it… and I hope you’re not lactose intolerant because the second half of that word is DAIRY! (Due credit to Barney from HIMYM).
The ill-logic of tempting the grim reaper’s bony finger with a 10 tonne vehicle on one-way tracks is irrefutable. And yet, the driver of a pedestrian-stopping, jaw-dropping Weismann GT MF4 could not resist that temptation. Or so it would appear. Here’s my take on how this completely perverse event came to be: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Peter on
July 12, 2009
The Only Car You’ll Ever Need, On Mars: The Porsche 911 GT3
We all have dream garages full of Ferraris, Zondas, and Spada Cadatroncas, but what if you could only have one car in your life. What would you choose? Before you answer, I’m going to answer for you, because, quite simply, you were about to choose the wrong car. Let me tell you about the only car you will need for the rest of your life. On Mars.
