car talk n more

Car Talk

I went to the Cleveland Auto show and once again was disappointed by the American showing. Fewer and fewer models while the foreign cars are having bigger displays and more options of cars. Ford did have the best and seemed to offer the most of the domestic autos.

America now has one minivan, the Dodge. That's it. What is the small business suppose to do, a full size van is to large for a lot of companies. So we may be forced to buy a foreign vehicle.

Interesting tidbit. The Volkswagen van the Routan is actually the Dodge Caravan with WW badges and trim.

I was also saddened to see an iconic image of pop culture America, Superman, applied to a model of Kia. The special edition Kia was all laid out with decals and was drawing a large crowd of young people around it.

What is Cadillac thinking? Thay are clueless with their design. Cadillac now has a sportwagon? What a joke. They have totally ruined their image.

Buick is another company to me that has lost their way and doesn't have much to offer.

As I was sitting waiting for someone a gentleman came up and sat next to me. We struck up a conversation about the auto show. He said the best American cars were coming from Ford even though he hates to admit this because he works at the Chevy plant but his personal favorite is Toyota. Confusing to say the least.

I wrote this before I went to the auto show.

America gets the cutesy Ford Transport from its European division which was delayed a few years while they cleaned up the emissions to meet US air standards. But what did the Japanese send here? The HUGE Nissan NV.

America is shrinking the size of its cars and the amount of different vehicles while the foreign cars are growing larger and quickly filling the gaps left behind of niche vehicles America no longer produces. I first saw the NV in the Philippines and said if this ever comes to the US lookout. It will hasten the demise of the American auto manufacturer.

Onto other topics

I was watching CCTV the Chinese network and two Chinese analysts were going back and forth about China's economy. One analyst was saying China shouldn't worry America needs its cheap labor and will continue to buy from China. The other analyst kept insisting China should worry as America is re-industrializing. Finally the moderator stepped in and said we will have to leave it there.

Go Home

An Israeli was asked his thoughts about Obamas visit to Israel. He said If he thinks he is going to come here and dictate to us security and make peace with the Palestinians – STAY HOME.

Raise here and there and everywhere Check your land line bill if you still have one. Mine was raised $1.25 per month. My auto insurance jumped $75 for bare bones coverage and I have excellent credit and driving record. It may not seem like a lot but that is another 8 bucks per month gone and couple that with all the other nickle and dime increases it amounts to substantial increase in expenditures per month that you can't do without. I will some how argue and fight the insurance increase.

That's all,

Carey Masci