Whew! For a second there I thought Bernie Ecclestone was in trouble.

In conjunction with the launch of its diesel engines in the U.S., Audi has created a Facebook Causes page to benefit the Nature Conservancy. For every person that joins the cause, Audi has committed to donating a dollar to the Tensas River basin project where the Nature Conservancy is conducting a carbon offset program. The Tensas project involves reforestation of private lands and restoring natural habitats that have been shrinking due to human activity. Audi has committed to donating up to $25,000 to the program. The project will buy land, plant trees and then monitor the carbon effects of all the work. The Tensas River Basin is in the lower Mississippi valley. Just head over to www.causes.com/natureconservancy to trigger another donation. [Source: Audi ] Continue reading Audi launches Facebook causes page to benefit Nature Conservancy Filed under: Audi , Carbon Offset Audi launches Facebook causes page to benefit Nature Conservancy originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments

Here’s a storyline I have heard before. The Big Three are narrowing the gap on quality. J.D. Power and Associates have just released their annual Initial Quality Study, which measures problem per 100 cars in the first 90 days of ownership. Detroit’s carmakers reduced problems by 10%. Their foreign foes reduced problems by just 8%. When measuring problems per 100 cars sold, no one will notice the difference. And here’s the frustrating part. Ford, General Motors and Chrysler have been improving quality for years. But they rarely beat Honda or Toyota in a brand-wide measure. And they don’t beat them in model-by-model comparisons often enough. Every year, they inch closer. But that doesn’t send the loyal Toyota Camry or Honda Accord owner to a Chevrolet dealer. The top 10 went like this. Lexus was number one with just 84 problems per 100 vehicles and Porsche was No. 2 with 90 problems per 100. Cadillac was third with 91 problems. From there it went: Hyundai: 95 Honda: 99 Mercedes-Benz: 101 Toyota: 101 Ford: 102 Chevrolet: 103 Suzuki: 103 Infiniti: 106 Mercury: 106 The industry average was 108 problems per 100 cars. Every brand not mentioned above did worse. That means all of the new Chrysler’s brands are below average. GM, for its part, did quite well. Cadillac was third among 37 brands. Chevrolet ranked ninth, but was close enough to Ford and Toyota that difference is just about meaningless. Mini finished last. The problem for Detroit is that those overall numbers don’t mean so much. If car buyers compare models, they would find that 10 of Toyota’s cars rank in the top their in their segment, more than any carmaker. Ford had three models getting awards in their vehicle segments while GM had two and Chrysler had one, the slow-selling PT Cruiser. That’s the difference in quality that consumers will see. They will shop for a mid-sized luxury car, for example, and see that the Lexus IS was best-in-class for quality. The Infiniti G-series and Cadillac CTS tied for second, but the Lexus won. To win buyers, that Cadillac needs to leap frog the Lexus. And the American carmakers need to start recording wins, not narrow defeats.

Filed under: Time Warp , Misc. Auto Shows 2009 Greenwich Concours d’Elegance, Day 1 - Click above for a high-res gallery The web is all about immediacy, and by that token, you should have seen these Greenwich Concours d’Elegance photos right after the event happened. Your humble correspondent, however, was juggling the Concours with his own family vacation preparations, and couldn’t deliver in a timely fashion. However, like Dick Nixon , I’m now tanned, rested and ready, so follow the jump for several themed photo galleries and the annual rundown on what you missed if you weren’t able to make the stop in Greenwich, All photos Copyright (C)2008 Alex Núñez / Weblogs, Inc. Continue reading 2009 Greenwich Concours d’Elegance 2009 Greenwich Concours d’Elegance originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments

Filed under: Spy Photos , Sedans/Saloons , Sports/GTs , Aston Martin A Car magazine reader has photographed the Aston Martin Rapide looking like it could have come off a dealer lot. The snapper also peeped the inside, which he said has a full-length console a la the Mercedes CLS to create four distinct seating positions. Aston has, however, said that those rear seats are for “children or two adults on shorter journeys.” The slinky black number also sports a serious set of pipes out back that we expect to put out a beautiful soundtrack. And thank goodness the car has a hatch like the Vantage, which means — in a first for current Aston Martins — it could have a proper trunk. Like the kind you can actually put things in. [Source: Car ] Spy Shots: This is your Aston Martin Rapide originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read  |  Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk82/chevyrox_2008/politicalcandidatemodel600.jpg lol the most interesting presentation on the government ever

I didn’t realize your truck looked like this, from your descriptions I thought it looked more shitty. :p I like it, nice looking, blue is definitely my color of choice.

New or used, and my would have to be a used E46 gen. BMW M3. http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail.jsp;?tracktype=usedcc&searchType=78&pageNumber=0&numResultsPerPage=50&largeNumResultsPerPage=0&sortorder=ascending&sortfield=MILES+ascending%2cPRICE+descending&certifiedOnly=false&criteria=K-%7cE-%7cM-_5_%7cB-25000%7cD-_47_%7cN-N%7cR-10000%7cI-1%2c7%7cP-MILES+ascending%2cPRICE+descending%7cQ-ascending%7cZ-73170&aff=national&paId=314253230&recnum=45&leadExists=true

link

Just in time for the Fourth of July (A little Early) what are the American cars that really show how great America is? (Please, no Japanese rebadges, this thread is for showing our freedom!)