My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on August 16, 2007

A new all electric motorcycle/scooter vehicle is available from Vectrix U.S.A. if you have a spare $11,000. It is the Tesla of electric scooters, but unfortunately only has a 40 to 60 mile range. (battery improvements perhaps?) Actually I do like the sexy looking scooter; it looks well designed and thoughtfully integrates many of the features that put it at the top of its class. The Vectrix is built on an aluminum frame to keep the weight down, puts the battery as low as they can get it, streamlines the cowling as well as most other exterior components and even uses a special ‘reverse’ to regenerate (charge) the battery when slowing down. (the scooter can actually back up)

The Maxi-Scooter, as they call it, can travel speeds up to 62 mph and carry two people. Its so quiet that according to Jeff Morrill, Vectrix’s marketing director, they have purposely engineered in a ‘hum’ so people hear it coming.

Check out the video below by Podtech.net.

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Posted By RichC on August 15, 2007

As previously mentioned, 20 university teams using innovation, technology and creative design ideas will be competing to build energy efficient model homes in U.S. Department of Energy’s 2007 Solar Decathlon. Graduate and undergraduate students are working to build the most usable and energy-efficient solar-powered homes. They will be finishing up their models next month and shipping them to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. for final touches; they will be on display this fall in a sort of solar village. The entries will be judged in 10 contests to determine an overall number one design and all will be powered by only the energy from the sun.

Although I’m from Cincinnati, and UC has an entry, I’m pulling for the team from Santa Clara University where my daughter’s close friend Nora is assisting on their entry. She sent me a few photos and mentioned one unique feature, a ‘secret’ (well that may be a stretch) Nana wall; it sounds like something all of us with south facing walls/windows could use in our homes. Below are two of the many photos she sent showing their project nearing completion. Thanks for the update Nora.

Also, here’s a link to a California ABC affiliates article and video on the SCU project.

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Posted By RichC on August 14, 2007

A couple weeks ago a train derailed in Hamilton Ohio and dumped some grain near downtown. While driving in that direction the other day I snapped a couple Palm Treo 700p photos (click photos for larger versions) and decided to archive them here. I was surprised to see that there hasn’t been any clean up to date and that the three railroad cars still sit overturned along side the railroad tracks. (I’m sure the rodents are happy?)

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Posted By RichC on August 13, 2007

While visiting the service department at the VWFairfield dealership, I had a chance to see my first 2008 VW R32 … a hot little limited production Volkswagen I mentioned a few months ago. As my son would say … Sweet!

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Posted By RichC on August 12, 2007

At the premium end of the new diesel vehicle spectrum is the 2007 Mercedes Benz GL320 CDI (MB Stock photos) … and with MSRP starting at $54,000 or a nicely equipped (as driven) vehicle of $65,000, the new U.S. built Mercedes is not for everybody. My first impression is that the GL320 CDI has Mercedes Benz pedigree to live up to, so the bar has been set pretty high for a newish plant in Alabama. The vehicle’s significant heft and size is enough to fill most garages and empty most wallets, but also from a quick walk around realized that the GL-class is sizable enough to replace the love/hate relationship many Americans have with the minivan.
The 6-cylinder diesel powered GL320 CDI offers an impressive blend of luxury, hauling and towing capacity, all-wheel/all-weather safety and decent economy. EPA fuel efficiency numbers are an impressive 20 city and 25 highway. (I’ve heard reports of 30 mpg highway)

LG LG

This big SUV has the same basic engine that is used in several vehicles including the recently posted Jeep Grand Cherokee CRD. The cast-iron V-6 is a 24 valve 2,987cc turbocharged diesel that produces 215hp at 4000rpm and torque of 398 lb-ft down as low as 1600 rpms. With full tank of fuel, 26.4 gallons of ULSD, the family plus gear hauler can travel well over 600 miles on a tank of fuel. If need be, it can also pull a trailer up to 7500 pounds … and do it in impressive luxury.

LG LG
All photos all taken with Palm Treo 700p Cellphone PDA

I had a chance to have a few of the creature comforts shown to me; first because it was a 90+ degree day the salesman pushed the remote to open all the windows and sunroof. The rear hatch was opened and the one of the things I noticed was the amount of space behind the 3rd row seat … nice. The hatch can be closed with a push of a button and we moved around front for a quick look under the hood.

When the time came for a test drive, there was no comparison to the 40+K Jeep Grand Cherokee CRD that I drove last week. The GL started with a hush … and if you didn’t know it was a diesel, it was difficult to detect. Several of the unique feature on the GL were quickly apparent. From the tiny R-N-D stalk which engages the transmission. The GL also has a one-button off-road program which allows driver to simultaneously engage programming recalibrations of the traction system, ABS, engine management, and automatic transmission. According the Mercedes, “Downhill Speed Regulation (DSR) Driver-activated DSR automatically modulates the throttle, brakes, and ABS to maintain a preset crawl speed when descending hills. Speed is preprogrammed at 4 mph but may be adjusted between 3 mph and 10 mph via the multifunction steering wheel. DSR can be used when the gear selector is in Drive or Reverse. Driver can override DSR by pressing the accelerator or switching DSR off via its console-mounted switch.” On my test drive I didn’t test the adjustable ride height, or any of the off-road capabilities. One of the items that bothered me was that “Hill-start assist.” It prevents unwanted vehicle rollback for hills starts, but is noticeable on about every stop when trying to accelerate.

As for power, the 3.0 liter diesel is very capable. I never noticed a lack of power and felt this diesel was excellently mated to this vehicle. The GL was very smooth and handled like a much smaller vehicle. It was solid, quiet and very smooth. I was able to pilot the seventeen feet of vehicle precisely around corners and in to parking spots as easy as my small Jetta, and was even helped by both backup and forward ‘non-beeping’ sensors. All in all, if I were buying my next vehicle, could justify the extra dollars and didn’t have a image problem in front of my customers… I’d buy the GL320 CDI and replace both my VW TDI and Honda Pilot.

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Posted By RichC on August 10, 2007

After skating around on the wet pavement yesterday, I called a local Goodyear tire store where I’ve purchase several sets of tires over the years and worked a deal for 8 tires. My daughter heads back to Med school and the last thing I want is for her to slipping around in NE Ohio this winter. I had planned on purchasing the Dunlop Sport A2’s as they were a good combination of handling, economy and decent wear … but ended up with Dunlop Sport A60 for my Volkwagen Jetta TDI and
Enterprise (by Kelly Tires) with road hazard for my daughter’s TDI. My daughter’s 2001 Jetta has about 85,000 miles and has 15″ stock aluminum wheels requiring a P195/65R15 tire which is somewhat cheaper than my larger wheels. A couple years ago I purchased a nice set of 16″ wheels and ‘Z’ rated Kumho tires from Jon Hamilton of RallyVW at a discount, so ended up shopping for 205/55R16.

Dunlop Sport A60 trend — click for larger

I’ll post the invoices from a local West Chester Ohio Goodyear tire center for comparison to others shopping for VW tires. Fair price good service. Link to my $424.85 Invoice for Dunlop 205/55R16.

Enterprise P195/65R15 — click for larger

Link to the invoice for my daughter’s tires which total $386.33 Invoice which includes Road Hazard coverage.

Category: Volkswagen | 6 Comments »
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Posted By RichC on August 9, 2007

It has been hot in Ohio these past few days … even for August. The temperatures are in the 90s, but it sure has felt hotter with the high humidity. If you are living in the midwest, this tidbit isn’t a major news flash. With these hot and humid conditions can come some pretty intense storms and while driving through them today it felt as if I were driving on ice! It was hard to capture the intensity in a still photos, but trust me it was raining hard. (there was serious wind, lightning and thunder too)

The real problem are my tires, they are in serious need of replacement. I was planning to hold off until this autumn but seeing that I was hydroplaning down I-71 today, I think I’ll replace them sooner. I’ve made a couple of phone calls to check on prices locally for an all-weather 205/55R16 that will fit my Volkswagen Jetta TDI, but couldn’t find a ‘quality’ tire priced right. If I opt to go back to my standard 15 inch stock aluminum wheels I can save a about $100 to $200 on a set of four … Hmm?

Click on any above photos for larger images

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Posted By RichC on August 8, 2007

The space shuttle Endeavour lifts off this late afternoon at 6:36PM (Aug 8th) with a crew of 7 for mission STS-118 to continue work on the International Space Station. It’s was a clean launch with good visibility for those on the ground and from my television vantage point, a perfect launch.
The lead flight director Matt Abbott said that “The mission has lots of angles. There’s a little bit of assembly; there’s some resupply; there’s some repairs. And there are some high-visibility education and public affairs events. It’s a little bit of everything.” Abbott’s mention of “high-visibility education” is reference teacher Barbara Morgan who is part of the crew. The Teacher in Space Project suffered a tragedy during the 1986 Columbia accident. I wish the crew a safe flight and successful mission.

I’m also posting a price update for the Mt. Gilead Sunoco renewable fuel station (map) … topped off with B20 for $2.93 this morning.

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Posted By RichC on August 7, 2007

The Good: DL.TV is on TiVo (through TiVoCast)
The Bad: Patrick Norton is leaving.
I’m by no means a ‘geek,’ but as the Holiday Inn Express commercial says, I did watch an episode of DL.TV last night.
🙂
For those who might have followed the online video trend, you might recognized the Ziff Davis backed DL.TV as a early adopter of distributing their Tech TV programming over the Internet. DL.TV is one of the more professionally produced and consistently published tech oriented programs; its at the top of my list of online vidcasts, or video podcasts.

The DL.TV crew offers computer and technology content in a variety of online formats, which include the higher quality H.264 version for computers (as well as WMV), MP4 for Video iPods and simple much smaller MP3 audio version for listening only. One new format is one that is distributed by TiVoCast, and is the easiest to receive and watch. Of course it requires a TiVo subscription and their DVR box, as well as connection to high speed Internet … but once up and running, it a piece of cake to select “season pass” and have each episode downloaded automatically. Click play and you’re watching DL.TV on the big screen.

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Posted By RichC on August 6, 2007

Let’s see, how does a best selling summer paperback start … “It was a humid August afternoon, one of those days when even the suede leather trim on the luxury SUV sticks to your back …” or something like that.
😉
Its been sweltry in southwestern Ohio these past few days and it certainly was not the most appropriate day to be looking at cars … I even felt sorry for the salesman having to leave his air conditioned showroom to come out and meet potential customers. Nevertheless, my son and I drove up and down the new and used car mile looking at cars for his friend heading off to college. (so he says, but suspect he just likes looking at cars?) We happened to stop at a ‘smallish’ Jeep dealership and notice they had a new 2007 Grand Cherokee 3.0L diesel on the lot … a rarity; the general manager was the only one working and indicated that he had ordered it for a regular client who decided on a diesel pickup truck instead.

The Mercedes 6 cylinder diesel is in my opinion the perfect engine for this “trail rated” Jeep 4 x 4 SUV, and may be the first of many new diesels to start showing up in North America. It is an excellent way to improve efficiency while maintaining power and an excellent option for SUVs or CUVs. Diesels are far more efficient in producing power than their gasoline counterpart and better suited the interstate highways in the U.S. than the current gas/electric hybrid trend — in my opinion, and an Edmond’s article.

Most of us living in North America appreciate, a ‘bigger’ family vehicle that can safely travel “over the river and through the woods,” whether it be to “grandmother’s house” or just through a nasty winter storm or two. Jeep’s generally come to mind for these challenging tasks and were building utility vehicles before the masses began to crave the SUV. The rest of the automotive industry has jumped into this American trend and so it is no surprise that Jeep is once again out front with a diesel in ‘a North American’ SUV. (they started putting a diesel in the Liberty CRD a few years ago, but recently discontinued)

Intro above aside, my first impression was not all that favorable. I gathered myself back together after noticing the $3700 diesel option on the rather high $43,645 MSRP sticker price — a sticker significantly higher than many other domestic and imported SUVs. As I did the walk around waiting for the salesman to suggest a test drive, I also noticed the rusty brakes and lack of a recent cleaning. (small dealership) I thought it odd to have a CRD sitting on the lot for a long time, but indeed its been sitting there since spring. The sales manager confessed that the Grand Cherokee was ordered for a regular client who decided on a diesel truck. He also noted that this higher priced Limited diesel model was ‘difficult for them’ to sell? (Hmm … for those interested, perhaps this particular vehicle would sell significantly below MSRP?)

Lg. Lg. Lg.

We opened the doors and the rear liftgate to let out the heat and he ‘attempted’ to start the long sitting diesel. No go … as air must have seeped it way into the fuel lines. After a minute or so of cranking it finally started, but not before sending a code to the computer that triggered a check engine light and some kind of ‘lightening’ bolt signal? Nevertheless my son and I were off on a test drive.
A couple observations in coming from a Honda Pilot were that the interior volume of the 5-passenger Grand Cherokee was much less and I missed the extra room storage between the front seats. This was probably due to the true off-road nature of the ‘trail rated’ Jeep verses the crossover build of the Honda. Unfortunately some of this ‘overbuilt’ Jeep SUV also found it way into the fuel economy numbers and my wish for an efficient diesel in an American SUV were dashed: the Jeep’s numbers were only couple mile per gallon better than my 8 passenger ‘gasoline powered’ Pilot. The EPA sticker on the Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.0L CRD read 20 city / 24 highway. (still much better than its V-8 gasoline powered counterpart)

As for comfort and performance, the CRD was excellent. It had plenty of power, was very … I’ll repeat … very quiet and was enjoyable to drive. Lock to lock steering and tight radius turning was excellent. (here’s a link to my poor quality cellphone video demonstrating the 0 – 60 mph 10 seconds time and 0 -80 mph 14 seconds time) The Limited edition had a great Boston Acoustics sound system, backup sensors, a class 3 hitch, leather two tone power seats and a substantial number of electronic assist items like hands-free phones, compass, etc.
All in all, the Jeep Grand Cherokee CRD might be a exactly what some folks need to get up their driveway this winter and the mileage is definitely better than Jeep’s gasoline version. Call me spoiled, but having the extra room and the 8 passenger capacity of the Honda Pilot, as well as lower price, is a bit more fitting for our families daily needs in the flatlands of Ohio. (now when Honda offers their diesel, I’m definitely interested! – link)

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