Not Even a Smart Car Can Save Us Now

No disrespect to this man above, but he is obviously a midget to actually be able to fit into one of these.

The DaimlerChrysler owned Smart car is coming to America, but we already know this.

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/05/08/beefed-up-cafe-standards-35-mpg-by-2020-approved-by-senate-p/

With the recently announced dramatic increase in Average Fuel Economy across your vehicle lineup, automakers the world over are in trouble. Maybe a car like the Prius makes no money for Toyota(loses money is more like it) but it will definately balance out their plethora of SUV's, not to mention their all new full size Tacoma.

Chrysler, having just been sold to Cerberus, is in the worst shape of the Big 3. I wonder how the release and sale of the smart car, which is said to cost around $10-15k and get around 40-50 mpg, will be affected? They have Plenty of the trucks and SUV's, and even their Sedans like the 300 and the Chargers are not the best on fuel economy, even in V6 trim. The only saving grace for them, along with GM and BMW, is the two-mode hybrid.

The Escalade has been spotted apparently using the in development system. It needs to get into the SUV's fast, along with cars. GM and the other American automakers need to get their 6 speed automatic transmissions out too. It is going to be an uphill battle for all the automakers, but it is do or die.

The way cars are built and released could change dramatically, and alot of the performance cars we take for granted now may really change forever. Hybrid systems could be implemented on cars just to get a higher fuel economy to better the CAFE. But not only will it cost more for the automakers, it will cost more for the consumer. Grim days right now, but hopefully their is light at the end of the tunnel.

Saab 9-3 Facelift

First there was spy shots, then photos showed up without camo on the car in the wild, and now Saab has officially released pictures of the redesign. Well, as everyone else has said, it takes styling cues from the Aero-X concept. It is nice to see some love finally given to SOMETHING at Saab, and no interior pictures yet means that there should be a pretty nice interior update hiding.

Hopefully they did something very big inside, because this car and this brand needs all the help it can get. The powertrain and engine options have always been pretty good from Saab, here's hoping they can make this one a "hit."

Meanwhile, Barrack Obama thinks we build too many gas guzzling SUV's, but drives a Chrysler 300C... An evil american gas powered V8 non-hybrid ruining the earth Chrysler. I for one am shocked, SHOCKED, a politician would not practice what he preached.

Audi R8 Video

If you have read anything MB or I have written about cars, you most certainly have seen us(mostly me) gush over the Audi R8.

Please take a moment to enjoy this video, and see this car get tossed around a track. It is a touch over 6minutes 30 seconds, but well worth it.

http://jalopnik.com/cars/video/audi+o+phile-tiff-needell-hangs-the-r8s-ass-out-256831.php

Sounds incredible, looks awesome, is awesome.

Thanks to Jalopnik for letting my unknowningly link their video.

XBOX 360 Elite

Well I am 3 days late, but here is my Elite. Let me preface this post by saying, I would never have bought it if my Premium hadn't gotten the "red ring of death" at the beginning of April.

It was a long month, filled with very little Guitar Hero, and that is sad. But a black XBOX, to go along with my black PS3, and black Samsung LCD, is a nice proposition. And the black controller looks nice, matte plastic all around.

Now again, my TV is sadly only 720p/1080i, but from my seating position and the size of it, it really makes no difference. Graphics difference between the component cables and the HDMI out are little, if any to my eyes. I would assume someone who really had a good eye could find something, but for the casual observer, there is no way to tell.

The main draw for some is the 120 GB hard drive, upgraded from the 20 GB, topping the PS3's 60 GB. If you download alot of Arcade games, Movies, Demo's, etc... Then you can use it. For the run of the mill consumer they will not need this.
Overall, for the price of $479.99, unless you really like the color black, have another HDMI input to use(like myself), or have to have the best and newest, then I don't recommend it.

Say what you will about the price of the PS3, when the 20GB was still around, it included a Blu Ray drive, HDMI out, and was $499, the Elite does not have an integrated HD-DVD drive, it is nothing more than an HDMI add-on, that doesn't improve graphics, and a bigger hard drive.

But I sure am enjoying Guitar Hero II again, with the 10 new songs for the 360... Possum Kingdom by the Toadies is an oldie but a goodie.. and here was my first try with it on Expert.

Not bad, time to practice.

Right now the Spurs are up 5 on the Nuggets, trying to finish them out. Spurs are trying to keep atleast one really boring team in the playoffs. Don't miss the Suns finish out their series with the Lakers in the late game either.

NBA Playoffs-Part 2

Well, the Pistons Bulls and Cavs have closed their respective series with Sweeps, we sit patiently(or not) on the edge of our seats waiting for the rest of the first round to unfold.

It looks like the Spurs have control of the Nuggets and will close this series, The Rockets and Jazz series is looking to fall Houston's way with them heading home for game six where they will most certainly close the Jazz hopes of going to the 2nd round, and Phoenix is not going to lose to the Lakers, no they will squash Kobe's hopes of closing this series.

Right now I am listening to the crowd chant Let's Go Raptors VC SUCKS!, and it is pretty annoying. The game is down the wire, and the Nets are still in it. They (nets) have a 3-1 series lead, and if they do not finish Toronto up on the roa(which they didn't), they most certainly will go back home to New Jersey, or New York, or wherever the hell they want to be from, and close the series. They were in it until the end, but couldn't close.

The next game is the big one. Warriors go to Dallas, up 3 games to 1. Dirk already said its over, so lets hope what he has said will come to be. So far in the game Dallas has alot of energy and are up 8, but can this close this game out with time? It will be tough to close the Mavs if they are playing with this much energy and the fans are into it. Perhaps it will take a trip back to the Heartland for the Warriors to close the Mavs.

This post was brought to you by TNT original series' The Closer, and Heartland.