American Writers' Personalities as Modern Cars

“What would you be if you were a car?” My father and I came up with this idea a few weeks ago.

While I have a hard time fitting myself into stereotypes, I think it would be fun to place the “personality” of today’s cars and associate them with famous American writers of the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

Flannery O’Connor—2015 Chevrolet SS

            One of the great American writers of Southern “grotesque,” O’Connor was known for writing stories that could be sometimes quite frightening, or appear to be timid at first and then shock the hell out of you. For a literary example, read “Good Country People.” The Chevy SS appears to be something like that—kind of average-looking sedan until you press the ignition button and drive the car onto a busy highway. Watch the smoke from the rear wheels appear into a cloud, then a mushroom cloud, and feel your heart speed until a stop while the fear of an overpowered sedan overtakes you.

Mark Twain—Bentley Flying Spur or 2015 Cadillac CTS

            Twain was not poor by any means, and it is understood that he enjoyed the wealth that he built from his traveling lectures. I had a hard time picking either a luxurious Bentley sedan or Cadillac’s newest car, the CTS. I suppose it could vary depending on how patriotic Twain was feeling, but with his money he would enjoy fine motoring in some sort of luxury.

T.S. Eliot—2002-05 Jaguar X-type

            Eliot and his poetic colleague, Ezra Pound, were born in America but hated living here. Eliot eventually took up British citizenship, which is why he is associated here with the Ford-made Jaguar X-type. Sold only for a few years in the States, the car was probably much less popular than his poetry about 100 years earlier.

F. Scott Fitzgerald—the President’s Cadillac limousine (unknown year)

            Scott Fitzgerald may ring a bell in many Americans who at least received a B in their high school English class. That’s because he is famously associated with the Jazz age, his tremendous if short-lived wealth, and his extraordinary income from his literature, such as “The Great Gatsby.” I figured why not pick the President’s very own limousine.

Tennessee Williams—1966 Shelby Cobra 427

            Although this is meant to associate authors with modern cars, I could not think of a car that was more associated with excess and drama than the king of American cars itself, the Shelby Cobra. Equipped with a mean 425 horsepower engine, the car could rocket to high acceleration numbers faster than anything else with plenty of noise, drama, and boys staring at it as it drove by. Williams was a purveyor of stories but also of drama, with his “A Streetcar Named Desire” hitting audiences in the 1950s. His critics complained of excess drama and sex in the play, as well as other literature he composed.

Leaving the place called 'weak and boring'

            Today’s cars need more performance-oriented models. There, I said it.

            I have said this before, but even Toyota’s chief executive said it. Where is the Supra that Motor Trend put on its cover last spring? It made it to the March 2014 and called it “The Next Supra,” with a question mark after it.

            Honda continues to offer a non-updated, 4-cylinder powered Civic Si for the older Honda performance crowd, which has good performance. But it offers 60 less horsepower than the turbo Subaru WRX. Why is this?

            Although this will sound like an opinion, what if Honda put some money aside to save their older, performance image. The newer CR-Z, the little hatchback that looks like a toy car, has similar power to the new Honda Fit, and less than the Civic, or Accord, or, well…a Hyundai Elantra for that matter. That is sad. So my idea to fix things, at least with Honda, is to offer some sort of fast badge on their cars.

            How so? I have blogged and video’s about it before, but the Accord V-6 has more speed than many cars. Why not offer a mildly faster Civic? Ditch the hubcap wheels, remove the rear seats, increase the wheel/tire size, and have Honda throw some money into creating something new. How about a new, radical interior? How about cool interior lighting? Or closer gearing, or even gearing at all? The Civic is no longer the fun young person's car, and almost feels too grown-up for its own good. 

300 - 100 = Chrysler's next big thing.

April 3, 2015

            Hello, world. It is now the first week of April as I write this, and I must say that I miss keeping thus blog. Until I write for a business blog someday, this is temporarily quite satisfying—sort of like the effect that French fries have on most American diets, haha. Filling for a while, but good.

             I have seen a lot of Chryslers lately, and today I bring forth an editorial. Alas, I am not an editor of any publication, however I feel the duty to bring about an important point to Chrysler and their new for 2015 200, the re-designed version of a very broken automobile.

            Now that Dodge has essentially severed its ties with regular cars, as the struggling Avenger sedan was set out to pasture after ’14, Fiat-Chrysler Association has now let Chrysler build regular, if a bit “upscale,” sedans that Dodge used to make. Thus, the continuing big-car 300, the forthcoming Town & Country van, and the 200: the car that I am writing about.

            Except of course for the old-school Dodge Viper, I am not a big fan of many American cars, generally speaking. Yes, Mustangs are cool, but they’re not something many would drive every day. Chrysler has added some very interesting looking design to the new 200, even to me.

            New wheels, a brand new non-Chrysler looking interior that looks like it came over from another country. Yes, like an import, perhaps comparable to an Infiniti or an Acura.

            Next is something a bit more technical: all new, standard 9-speed automatic transmissions with the both the base and the optional engines. Although probably not feeling very sporty, this would hypothetically increase fuel mileage to very competitive standards and probably making for quicker launch as well. In terms of what makes cars go, this alone has more gears than any other gas-powered car in America with the exception of one other Chrysler product.

            To me, that is pretty impressive that the makers of the car would shoot for such high standards. Why? The old 200 (and the equally bad Sebring that preceded it) was kind of one of those automotive jokes. It goes something like this: in terms of transportation, one can walk, ride the bike, or drive a 200. Even the Chevy Cruze was more appealing than the old 200. The styling, the ride, more or less everything about it was either pretty bad (the looks) or downright awful (the outgoing car’s harsh transmission).

            Although much of this is just my thoughts through blogging prompts, I really hope that Chrysler can fine-tune anything that may go wrong or that is currently wrong with the car. I say this because I have driven the old Dodge Avenger/Chrysler 200, and they were just horrible.

            Now, they have created something that no one was really expecting.

            Now, if only the results will come in for how the car’s quality will turn out…

The Creation, History and Development of the Hummer

Willys Overland Motors/Jeep

U.S. Army asked for a brand new vehicle in 1979, and AM General answered with a few prototype Humvees in the 1980s. Production began in 1985 for the military. Source: Full Throttle Hummer

Hummer engines and transmissions

Until the 1990s, Hummers were only powered by a 6.2 NA diesel V-8, the famed and larger 6.5 turbodiesel V-8 did not appear until around 1995.

-Power: 130 horsepower, 230 lb ft torque (6.2-liter). Weak Detroit diesel engine. Edmunds also suggests that some 1995-97 H1s were saddled with gasoline-fed 350-cubic inch 5.7-liter V-8 engines, borrowed from GM trucks. The smallest engine ever to be put into an H1, power for the gas V-8 was similar to other models but torque was not, rated at 190 hp, yet only 332 lb-ft for these models. It faded away after 1997 because of its low torque output and lack of diesel-supplied torque, which was a soldier-like 430 pound-feet for 6.5 TD H1s. That is usually a good enough figure, but almost all H1s were taxed with excessive weight, and the 5.7-liter was scrapped from H1s after 1997.

H1 later received the famous 6.5-liter turbodiesel V-8 that would eventually rated for 195 hp and 430 pound feet of torque (edmunds.com)

Largest engine ever put in was 6.6-liter Chevrolet Silverado Duramax turbodiesel V-8 that was rated at a Hummer high of 300 hp and 520 lb-ft of torque. Also received Silverado’s Allison 1000 5-speed automatic. Dubbed H1 Alpha, only saw 1 year of production (2006). It was part of new Alpha line of Hummer trucks.

Additional engines for Hummer lineup: H2 received gas only engines, producing 316 from Silverado 2500’s 6.0-liter Vortec V-8. Later bumped slightly to 325, it still was underpowered for a large truck. H2s also were connected to a 4-speed automatic, same as many GM vehicles.

H2 was discontinued after around 2007, and H3 was launched.

H3 engines included 2006 Hummer H3: 3.5-liter inline 5-cylinder GM modular engine. Bumped to 3.7 liters for 2007. 225 horsepower for 2006, bumped to 242 for 2007 until discontinuation in 2010. Alpha V-8s: 5.3-liter GM Vortec pushrod 16-valve V-8. 300 horsepower, 320 pound feet. Also a major engine from the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra light duty trucks, in addition to the Chevrolet Tahoe./GMC Yukon engines.

The Hummer brand really has developed into a legacy, and will likely never be forgotten. The truck brand’s state of being forgotten is not likely to occur because of its unforgettable, tough-guy image.

The luxury car that will help launch Cadillac it's own life: CTS

Three letters that mean it all for Cadillac

By Zachary Filtz for "The Blog of that Filtz Guy"

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Cadillac has for a number of years made some very good decisions (cylinder shutoff) and some very bad decisions (the mediocre, small and plain Catera of the 1990s), and now they have upgraded the recipe for what could be their most important car ever: the midsize almost large luxury rear-and all-wheel-drive CTS sedan.

Subjectively, this is truly Mr. Mojo Risin himself, of course without the rock and roll and drugs: the CTS appears to have the wow-ness factor that Jim Morrison, the ill-fated singer of the 1960s group "The Doors" once possessed. Oh, and I am not the first to compare the Caddy to Morrison: Car and Driver already did.

But that is OK, because this could be the car to help Caddy get off its feet. As of now, Cadillac still is owned and operated by the General Motors corporation, and has been since the early 1900s. My point is, Cadillac has expressed interest in becoming much more independent of its mommy and daddy--that is, some rumors have suggested that it will become its own entity. Thus could mean no more big-cruiser XTS, as that it is based off an already existing GM car. 

Loaded with tech that I do not even fully understand yet, it has very low gears in the upper realm of the first-for-Cadillac 8-speed automatic. A 3.6-liter V-6 appears to remain optional, while the new turbo 4-cylinder is standard. 

If Cadillac has engineered this car to be as good as other critics who have actually driven the car to be, then Caddy will have no problem running its own field, and hopefully, more luxury cars that are as handsome as this is.

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What Batman would drive: the forthcoming, one of a kind...

What Batman would drive

Friday, December, 19, 2014

            I think I have found the car that Batman would drive. It is the twin turbo, full-hybrid all-new Honda NSX, or what will probably be sold as Acura NSX here. It has enough gadgets and possibly enough thrust and acceleration. If you think about it, you can just hear him saying it: “Alfred, fetch me the NSX. I’ll need the power and fuel economy it has.”

            Talk about fuel economy: it appears to offer up to 30 miles per gallon, possibly even more. A lot of the car’s vitals are quiet and mum at the moment, as Honda has only said they will build it, and a few notes about its engine.

            The last NSX was sold here and in other markets and basically launched the Acura brand in America. Although it never caught on with developing a sports car reputation, as bigger pedigrees such as Ferrari still holds to that. The NSX was sold here from 1990 until the mid-2000s, and did as much with a small V-6 and a manual that Dodge Vipers and the like couldn’t match of the 1990s.

            Will the hybrid, and most likely very expensive, all-new NSX make it here, or fall flat on its face in the tough market of record-setting Porsches and champs like new McLaren car? Only time will tell, and who knows? Maybe the new Batman movie set for 2016 will feature Bruce Wayne in a sleek new Acura NSX. 

A Honda Avalon? Honda hasn't thought it, but I have...

Honda could make more money selling an Avalon

By Zachary Filtz

Thursday, December 11, 2014

            Since 1996, Toyota has been selling a somewhat-low-volume car known as the Avalon. Sitting between the Lexus brand of cars and above the Camry midsize car, the Avalon has been an underrated statement of comfort at a reasonable cost. Think of it as a luxury car, but without the insurance premium, and with no prestige emblem.

            Toyota has been selling this large car since then, and last year they redesigned it to appeal to a new breed of customers—aging baby boomers.  

            Honda, meanwhile, has offered the Civic and midsize Accord since the 1970s. In 2010, the Accord Crosstour was the first Accord to grow into the full-size segment, but only because of its extended room from its hatchback. Honda has offered no such competitor to the big Avalon, but surprisingly—there are no plans to sell a big Honda here, or anywhere in North America.

            I question this practice. What is Honda giving up to not sell as many vehicle models as Toyota does? Some of this may be my opinion and only my opinion, but my question is this. Honda could make nearly a half million more dollars per year if they could steal some of the Avalon’s customers, and maybe even more. That is before developing costs and the salaries for the more car people they would have to hire.

            I think of it this way. Honda could stretch out the Accord sedan. Not the coupe, but I am talking about just the sedan. Keep the Honda formula intact, with high reliability, efficient engines, favored by Consumer Reports®, and up-to-date technology.

            In fact, Honda already slowly sells this idea in America as an Acura. It is the large RLX sedan. Sort of like an answer to the middle-luxury Mercedes E-class or a BMW 5, it was launched last year for the Acura brand.

            My idea is this: spruce up the marketing campaign for the car, give it a bit of an edge in terms of design and ditch the heavily carryover Accord interface-system thing, as the blue glow is obviously from a fully-loaded Accord. Change the look of the car. It still essentially appeals to people in their 50s and 60s—bring this down into the 40s or so. Honda could even offer a more creative engine setup, such as turbo engines, like all the rest of the competition now offers.

            The problem I am trying to get is the RLX does not offer a large amount of comfort or driving personality. It is basically a big, roomier Accord sold as a different car. If Honda could consider this selling presentation in a different fashion, they could develop a car to sit between the Accord and the Honda-owned Acura brand. But they choose not to do this, and before costs, they lose around $600,000 per year at the very least for not offering such a car.

            So, my message to Honda is: stop fussing about the Acura brand, and perhaps get the marketing folks to come up with something better—such as “only the best,” or something that implies it is a special car. Otherwise, Avalons will continue to sell, and Acura will continue to be a treat for used car dealers in semi-ritzy neighborhoods, because that is essentially what they are now.

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