New Chrysler

Fiat's deal with Chrysler has closed. A collective sigh goes out amongst those of us nervously watching the auto industry for signs of change, improvement, and, possibly, life. The image below illustrates the significance of this specific change.


Chrysler source

I'm not typically this pessimistic, although I am cynical. I don't wish ill on any Chrysler people, however, I just can't shake the notion that this purchase means very little. The culprit of Chrysler's demise over the last few decades has been infusions of cash and 'new collaborations' when the company gets too close to the edge. The motivation to make meaningful change never happened and Chrysler never changed course. It just kicked the can down the road.


JD Power source

If you squint at the chart, you'll see that Fiat, who is saving Chrysler, is dead last on JD Power's 2009 Satisfaction Survey. Chrysler is second to last. I'm stuck wondering, again, how many times we'll see money poured into a company or initiative because it's easier than redefining the goal, the logistics, and the product. I hope that somehow Fiat and Chrysler take the next 18 months of downtime and create a new line of cars for a new audience that really wants to buy them. Cheaper versions of the current unenthusiastic products aren't going to cut it.

Spring in Atlanta

This is what I love about the seasons here; it's just colorful.

My most useful camera

I've long appreciated my iPhone's camera. Although the resolution is lower than other camera phones and it has no flash, it just takes better pictures. As friends and colleagues have slowly made the switch to iPhones—including the resistant, anti-Apple ones—I've taken an informal poll on the photo quality. It's unanimous, this thing takes the best photos.

The reason is quite simple: the preview screen is so large and clear that feedback is instantaneous. If the photo isn't just right, I just tilt the phone and fix it.

I impressed my wife the other day after she inadvertently threw the dog's tennis ball into the rain gutter. Enlisted to retrieve it, I discovered that my lawn chair (the handiest excuse for a ladder) was too short to do more than reach my hands above the gutter. I whipped out the iPhone, pointed it in both directions and snapped this picture.


(yep, it's that clear)

I moved the chair to the appropriate rivet and heroically retrieved the ball. So while my other cameras take outstanding pictures of stuff (kids, lighthouses), my iPhone is the one I use to get things done.

Rose Pedal Climb

I really can't believe that a half-dozen hacks sitting around a table last July turned into the event pulled together on April 18th. (No offense intended at the other hacks involved.) Over 230 riders came to an inaugural event. I'm still completely floored at the amount of support, volunteers, and enthusiasm that showed up on a perfect Saturday morning.



There are a lot of things we could control and several that we have no influence on. The weather is a big one and it was perfect. So although we didn't do anything to bring on the great weather, I expect people to be talking for months (if not years) about how perfect, beautiful, and comfortable the ride was. So, so cool.

I spent about 3 hours driving the course and taking pictures. I'll be posting a set on the Rose Pedal site by early May '09. Also, if anyone wants some awesome Rose Pedal gear (jersey and/or bib shorts), let me know. We're placing an order on May 1.



The MINI got into the action, too.

DC Madness

I spent most of last week in DC for a conference for Down syndrome leadership. As with most assemblies involving hundreds of people, most got along, some dissented, and a few ideological bombs were tossed. No offense to organizers or attendees who may stumble on this note; the highlight was Sunday morning, 6am, as I stood on the mall alone with the MCS.



55 minutes of no-traffic, all-green lights, light snow, empty city driving can feel like Midtown Madness. A lot like it, in fact, right down to the red-with-white-top MCS that my son and I always drive.

'08 MCS swap

So I've got an arrangement with my MINI dealer wherein every several months or so we trade cars just for fun. They let me drive a new MINI for a day and I give them my Chili Red Cooper S. The last time we did this, they lent me a Tan '08 Cooper. This time I got a metallic Black Cooper S with bonnet stripes. They replaced my MAP sensor just for fun.



I actually like these one-day swaps for the opportunity to try out a car on more than a fixed loop within spitting distance of the dealer. It's not about unwinding the thing on the freeway or straightening a curvy mountain road. I enjoy the subtle nuances of starting the engine after a cold night and seeing how long it takes to warm up. How does it handle under the 90% driving style that doesn't resemble a test drive? How's that turbo lag when I'm stuck in stop-and-go traffic in town? With what name will my 6-year-old christen it?*

Without rehashing the interior changes from my last evaluation, I tallied a few notes about the differences in pre-'07 vs. post '07 S models (to wit, Supercharger vs. Turbo).

THE BAD
The turbo lag is there. Start softly and it audibly winds up, start a little more aggressively and it jerks on. It kicks in at lower speeds than the turbos of yesteryear, but every time I had to get moving from a standstill I could feel it.

The fuel gauge still drives me nuts. Why, oh why did they use a digital display that is less accurate than the analog? As the candy corns disappear, there is no correlation to how much fuel is left in the tank. For this I had to look at the computer display which shows the remaining distance on the fuel in the tank. They should have stuck with the remaining distance display and dropped the candy-corn gauge altogether.

The aforementioned computer display is really ugly. I really didn't like looking at it. It's not polished; it's not anti-aliased; it's not symmetrical. It doesn't look MINI. It's certainly no deal breaker, but I can't shake the feeling that the designers at MINI didn't design it. More likely, some VP got a really good deal on a bunch of them from a guy he knows.


THE GOOD
It's quick: noticeably faster than my supercharged example. It feels faster (torquier) and is just plain quicker. Passing speeds are excellent as the turbo spools and then jumps, even at freeway speeds. It's really, really fun to drive at 30 or 60 miles-per-hour and then accelerate 20 mph faster.

It likes to go fast. At 75 mph, it seemed really eager to jump up another 5 or 10. The supercharged version isn't sluggish at these speeds, but the turbo was clearly communicating that it wanted to go faster. I found myself driving at average faster speeds with the same amount of feedback; it just feels lighter.

The Sport mode works. I'm guessing it either keeps the turbo running or dials it in sooner. When I drove with Sport mode on, the response was quicker and it felt much more like the go-kart I expected. It's noisier this way, but I didn't press the Sport button in order to take a nap.

The gas mileage is better than the supercharged version. I observed an average of 29.7 over 85 miles with all sorts of driving. I'm not going to expound that last statement, suffice it to say that I expect 29.7 would be the worst mileage I'd have if this were my daily-driver.

The steering feels tighter. This could be due to the newness, but I doubt it. My MCS feels plenty tight; the '08 felt just a little stiffer.


THE VERDICT
It's an excellent car. I do love the MINI. After spending a day with this one, though, I still wish they'd kept the simplicity and arrangement of the prior version. I can't imagine an S lasting as long if I had to run it in Sport mode all the time, which is the only time this car felt superior to mine.

*She named this one "Olivia."

Lights

A brand-spankin' new A4 passed me on the freeway today during the frigid, morning commute. As it moved up from behind, all I could focus on was the band of lil' dipper-style lights. My first impression in the flesh is favorable; this sedan looked really good in motion.