Road Trip: Downtown LA by Metro

It has been nearly two decades since I have taken any public transportation in Southern California. Much of that has to do with the fact that I have spent the last decade on the East Coast, but even on visits home to Southern California, the transit options that have dominated my outtings have been cars and, on occasion, bikes. Now that I am back in the area full time, it seemed like a good time to revisit some of the transportation options that are available, but have not explored in a while. What better way than to take an evening and explore the city that I grew up around? The perfect opportunity arose when my wife arranged to catch up with a former professor and we decided that afterwards, we would hangout downtown and grab a bite to eat before heading home.

Test Drive: 2015 Chrysler 200S

Let's be honest, the last generation Chrysler 200 was just plain. Plain awful. It really had no redeeming qualities as the interior was a dreadful place to be and it was so boring to drive, I was surprised that I managed to complete that trip without ending up in a ditch somewhere after falling asleep at the wheel. Luckily, the folks at the new, post-Fiat acquisition, Chrysler saw fit to replace the soporific old 200 with a brand new sedan that not only looks fantastic inside and out, but they also built it on a brand new chassis and added some new drivetrains that should help the 200 finally be a genuine competitor in the crowded mid-size segment.

From when I first laid eyes on the car at the New York International Auto Show earlier this year, I knew that I had to find the chance to take one for a spin. During a recent trip to the DC area, I had the opportunity to pick up a relatively new (just over 2500 miles on the clock) Chrysler 200 as my ride for a weekend.

Editorial: Shouldn't Supercars and Hypercars Come With a Mandatory Training Course?

Image courtesy of Motor Authority

By now, I am sure most of you have heard about the guy who wrecked his shiny, new McLaren P1 within 24 hours of bringing it home. If you have not, I have linked the article for you after the jump.

Now that you are caught up, let me first clarify by saying that I really do not care if you have the money to afford a million dollar hypercar. If you can, good for you. But just because you have the money to own one, does it mean you are automatically qualified to drive it?

Hypercars, and even less powerful supercars, have far more horsepower than the average driver should ever be comfortable with on public streets. One stupid mistake, like the 27-year-old P1 driver made, and you could end up wrecking your extremely expensive car. To prevent these sorts of costly and potentially life threatening mistakes, supercar and hypercar manufacturers should enforce, or encourage at an absolute minimum, some kind of driver training program that must be taken before the buyer can take delivery of their new car, especially if this is the first car that the buyer has purchased from that particular brand.

New supercar and hypercar owners would greatly benefit from learning about their brand new toy. Learning the limits of what your new car is actually capable of in a controlled environment means less chance of endangering other drivers and yourself while on public roads. It also means less chance of damaging your new vehicle to the point of total loss. If a driver cannot take the course seriously, then the keys should not be turned over until a certified instructor deems the driver ready to take delivery of their new vehicle. It seems harsh, but I think having a mandatory course like this would also help weed out super and hypercar owners who do not take driving seriously in general. After all, driving is a privilege, not a right.

I guess it would just be easier if everyone had to take such a course, would it not?

News: Improving road safety through technology

Image courtesy of Extremetech.com

In the past year, we have seen announcements of research into a large number of different new technologies intended to make our roadways safer for all users. Everything from car-to-car communications, which would allow vehicles on the road to be able to talk to each other to help avoid accidents, to pedestrian safety technology, with improved capability to recognize pedestrian and cyclists to avoid crashes, to self driving cars. All of this technology is intended to help drivers avoid crashes with each other as well as other road users.

Long Term Test: 2012 Acura TSX Special Edition Wrap-up

Final update
Final mileage: 20,760

Last week, we said hello to a brand new member of our long-term fleet and this week, we say good-bye to another. The second generation of the TSX got a rough start, being one of the first members of Acura's fleet to receive the much maligned "beak" treatment, but after a few mild adjustments as part of a mid-model cycle refresh, the TSX looked a bit refreshed and less clunky, though still far from stunning. In selecting the TSX, I was looking for a balanced small mid-size sedan with good performance, excellent comfort, and lots of practicality. Plus, by requiring a manual transmission and a manageable monthly payment, it limited the pool of potential candidates and the availability of cars made that list even shorter. Over the course of our nearly 1,000 days with the car, my wife and I used it as our daily driver, but really the TSX was primarily a serious road trip car as we ended up mostly using our bicycles around town.

Long Term Test: 2014 Ford Focus Electric post #1

So the time has come to reveal the newest addition to our long-term fleet. This car is taking the place of the TSX in my personal garage and is to be the primary car for me and my wife over the next few years. While the TSX served us well during our cross-country trip, the lease on it was coming up and the cost of having to register it in California was going to be fairly high, which put us in the odd spot of deciding what would be the most cost effective thing to do: replace the car or just pay for the registration for a few brief months. In the end, we examined a fairly broad variety of cars and developed a set of criteria that had to be met. Fuel economy/environmental friendliness was made the top criteria followed by practicality, technology, and value. A set of four finalists was lined up and we ranked each car. The outcome shocked me, to say the least...

Game Review: Grid 2

F1: 2013 was a great game. It can be a bit tedious due to the realism and simulation-like quality of the game play. As I am always looking for another great racing game to play, I wanted to go back to something more arcade like; something I can just pick up and play without having to decide what tires to use or how much fuel to put in my car. Lucky for me, another Humble Bundle came out with some games that looked interesting to me. Among these games was Grid 2. I had recently played the first Grid in an arcade and found it to be fun and easy to pick up. I figured Grid 2 should be just as entertaining.

Drawing Board: Acura Integra/RSX

Image courtesy of Car Domain

A rumor out of the SEMA Show in Las Vegas says that Honda could be working on a successor to the much loved Acura Integra and RSX. During the Acura panel at SEMA, head design honcho, Dave Marek, kept bringing up the Acura Integra of the 90s. No one is completely sure what to make of this, but if Honda really is working on an Integra/RSX successor, they are going to have their work cut out for them.

When the ILX made its debut two years ago, Honda and Acura fans had thought that it was going to be the second coming of the Integra sedan: an affordable and practical Acura with an injection of sportiness and luxury. Unfortunately, the only version of the ILX that could even be remotely considered related to the Integra is the 2.4 liter equipped "performance" model. While the performance of this particular variant was decent, it only came with the six-speed manual and its overall packaging was not enough to differentiate it from a Civic Si. As sales numbers have shown, the ILX was far from a success and Acura needed to fix it. At this year's Los Angeles Auto Show, Acura introduced the all new, refreshed 2016 ILX that fixed the biggest issue with the car: the engine that everyone wanted was now actually equipped with an automatic (the TLX's eight-speed DCT technically). With all the new technology stuffed into the ILX though, it is still missing a coupe version to truly make it a successor to the Integra.