Just In Time Delivery Halts Nissan Production

Japan's industry pioneered just-in-time delivery as a way to improve efficiencies and control costs. Of course the problem with this is when deliveries are interrupted of even one part it can spill over into the entire production. Nissan announced that due to the volcano in Iceland deliveries of a tire pressure sensor used to monitor tire pressure and give you the warning light made in Ireland but sent to Japan production at several plants had to come to a halt.

One part made several thousand miles away that was flown into Japan has delayed production of thousands of cars for the Japan, Europe and American markets.

Ethanol On The Way Out?

Let's just say I am not the biggest fan of Global Warming or the effects to regulate industry to deal with it. This decision though by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to begin attempts to lessen the greenhouse gases is good because it has a valuable side effect -- the removal of ethanol from the nation's gasoline system.

Ethanol it turns out creates more "greenhouse gases" then regular gasoline based on some science. Ethanol is expensive to make and transport and raises the price of food across the country. There have to be better sources of organic matter for fuel and some technology has been promising.

Much more to come on this.

Mazda Ad for My Car

I don't remember seeing this ad when I bought my Protege5 in 2002. I saw a review on the internet and got a good price. Here is the ad though:

Bad Driving

Some guy cut me off today on Route 255 and I almost blew my transmission as I downshifted into second at way too high a speed. The poor Honda Accord behind me almost wrecked as well. I hate that.

The Irony of David Brooks

David Brooks has a column in the New York Times discussing the Federal Government's attempts to bailout businesses to try and keep the economy going (I think that is the goal?). He advocates letting the market make its choice and killing off the Big 2.5 of the US auto industry. Interestingly, if trends continue, his employer will be joining them. See this American Thinker article. Somewhat ironic that the market will take care of his bread-and-butter as well.

My Mazdas

I own and drive two different Mazda vehicles - a 2002 Protege5 and a 2009.5 Mazdaspeed3. The 3 replaced the Protege in Mazda's lineup and the Speed3 is really teh successor of the Protege5; although you can get Mazda3 wagons as well. The Protege5 was known as a driver's car with more than adequate power and good handling. The Mazdaspeed3 is it's big, somewhat brutish brother. The Mazdaspeed3 has twice the horsepower of the Protege5 - 263 versus 130 or so and is actually a smaller car.

The Progege5 has enough power and handling to meet most situations, the Speed3 has more than ample. The simple solution with that car is to put the foot down and just take off. The two cars are very solid and play tricks with your mind on how fast they are going. It is easy in the Speed3 to drive along and look down at the speedo and see that you are going 80+ mph it is so solid. So here is a toast to my two cars, and a nice photo as well.

2010 Mazdaspeed3

I have a 2009.5 Mazdaspeed3. This site was able to get some photos of the 2010 model undergoing testing in Germany. It looks very different as they have smoothed out the nose, this requires a hood scoop to route the air to the intercooler. I love my car, but I think this one looks better with the scoop. Most amazing is that they say that Mazda is trying to get the weight down 25%. The car already weighs very little considering.

See more at Mazda3revolution.com.

My Car(s) are a guilty pleasure.

Right now I have two cars, both Mazdas. I have a 2002 Protege5 and a 2008.5 Mazdaspeed3. I have to say it is a 2008.5 as it is Metropolitan Gray, a color you can only get since January. The Protege5 is a drivers car, tight suspension lots of bottom end torque with nice handling with fat 16" tires and can go fast when needed. It has 140 hp from a 2.0 l straight four. The Mazdaspeed3 is an evolution of the P5. It has 263 hp and 270 ft-lb of torque at 3K RPM. It has even better suspension and tires then the P5. It is the fastest production front-wheel drive car in the world.

I feel guilty driving it as I can go 20-80 in about 3 seconds. Makes it easy to merge onto the highway I use to get to work. See the map below. It is amazing to go by a car doing 65 as if it was standing still. I thought the P5 was fun, but the Speed3 is so much more.

Edmunds on Cheap Sports Car Comparisom

I just purchased a Mazdaspeed3. Here is Edmund's latest comparison of it to a WRX and the new Lancer Ralliart. Mazdaspeed3 wins going away, but based on price alone it would dominate.

My Two Mazdas

Some photos of my two Mazdas, a 2002 Protege5 and a 2008 Mazdaspeed3.

Mazdaspeed3

In full mid-life crisis mode I bought a Mazdaspeed3 on Saturday. I don't have any pictures or video yet as I have been out of town, so here is a YouTube video of a review from CarReview.com.

Driving in Alabama

I learned to drive in Massachusetts and fought the crowded roads of Northern Virginia and thought I had seen a lot of things on the road. The local Alabamians and Tennessee folk drive in their own unique style, but Sunday took the cake. I was behind a minivan in the Loews' parking lot with a "Hang Up and Drive" bumper sticker. A fine sentiment as I often think that people here believe the car won't move if they aren't talking on their cell phones (a variation on Ford Prefect's theory about humans and their mouths). Unfortunately Mr. Opinion then proceeded to run a STOP sign and almost hit somebody. It was most hilarious!!

Driving to Work

The last four minutes of my commute to Timo Maas. I had to take the camera down before the gate as I figure security wouldn't care to be filmed.

100000 Miles

70 months
16 tires
30 odd oil changes

My Protege5 turned the big 100K this morning.

Autocar.co.uk GT-R vs 911 GT3 vs M3

Video of Autocar.co.uk demonstrating massive performance of the GT-R. Even cooler they call it the R-35 Skyline.

Nissan "Skyline" GT-R

Nissan rolled out the GT-R yesterday at the Tokyo Motorshow. It will be available in the US in six months or so. Pricing in the US has not been released. The Japanese price quoted in dollars is $68K. I think the price point that Nissan is looking for is the Corvette Z-06, which I read is around $71K.

Anyway, see:

Nissan rolls out long-awaited GT-R super-coupe