Rush Limbaugh Knows Nothing About Cars, Has Opinion Anyway

If there’s one thing that drives me mad it’s when people who know nothing about a topic try to form an opinion on it anyway and then try to convince others that their opinion is right. This accurately describes Rush Limbaugh’s entire life.

If you don’t know who Limbaugh is, consider yourself lucky. If you are curious, well, let’s just say that he is an extreme right winged so-called political pundit who, for some reason, has his own radio show. As you can see by his picture, it’s obvious why no one wants to give him a  TV show.

Oh, and he’s also severely addicted to various pills. Nice.

On his radio show Limbaugh likes to talk about current events, of which he clearly does not follow or understand. Racist Rush, as I like to call him, decided to have a go at another topic that he is clearly ignorant about: Cars.

Specifically, Limbaugh decided to lay into the upcoming Chevrolet Volt. Limbaugh claimed that the Volt is stupid because it costs too much. I will admit, the $41,000 US starting price is about five grand more than anticipated, but since Rush’s hates the environment and will find any excuse in the book to slam efficient technology, he almost purposely failed to mention that the Volt can also be leased for a very reasonable $350/month.

He then declares that since there are government incentives on cars like the Volt of up to $7,500 off ($10,000 off in Ontario), there clearly must be no demand for cars like these.  Because it’s not like America was hit hard by the recession thanks to fools like your beloved George W. Bush and people need stimulus in order to buy new cars again, right Rush? Besides, as Autoblog pointed out, there were tax write -offs for Hummers and other huge gas guzzling SUV’s just a few years ago. How come you didn’t speak up against that then, eh Rush?

And to top it all off, and to showcase just how ignorant he is, Rush then decided to misinform all his listeners by proclaiming that the Volt is only capable of 40 miles (65 kms) then it runs out of juice. A little research goes a long way and if Limbaugh had the inclination or the wit to do so, he would’ve found out that the Volt can go an additional 300 miles on a regular gas engine when the electric motor runs out of power.

Now, I’ve been a bit critical of the Volt myself in the past, but I know cars. They are one of my few topics of expertise. And with that said, despite my minor criticisms, I still like the Volt. And I want it to succeed. I’m very eager to try one out for myself, mostly because I understand how it works and it’s intriguing. I would never claim to hate something without first understanding it. But that’s how Rush rolls and he is exactly what is wrong with society today.

You don’t like the Volt, Rush? Just pop a few more of those pills and the Volt won’t seem so bad, will it?

[Detroit Free Press]

Chevrolet Volt Uses… Premium Gas?

GM, GM, GM. What were you thinking?

Why would you go and develop a car that is supposedly going to be your saviour as well as an industry game changer for fuel efficiency and the environment and then go and make it require premium gas?

That’s like encouraging people to practice safe sex, yet charging them a premium to use condoms.

And the things is, I don’t even understand why the Volt would require premium gas. Why would a tiny 80 horsepower engine need a high octane output? I will concede, however, that’s it might be possible to get added efficiency by using higher octane for the Volt’s generator. And if it is, and it’s also the reason why premium gas is required, then you need to explain that to the public, GM. Because right now it looks kind of foolish offering no explanation for people to spend more money for your supposed halo car.

However, it’s not like you’ll be going through loads and loads of premium since GM claims you can go up to 65 kilometres on the electric motor alone before using a single drop of premium. It’s still a bit of a disappointment nonetheless.

[The Truth About Cars]

FAIL: You Aren’t John McClane

Alright, Die Hard 4 (also known as Live Free, Die Hard) is one of my guilty pleasures. Well, all the Die Hards are. And come to think about it, I don’t even feel guilty about liking them, John McClane is one of the most hilariously awesome movie characters ever created.

If you’ve ever seen the fourth installment of Die Hard, you likely remember when a very frustrated McClane uses a police car to “kill” a pesky helicopter chasing them through the streets with a machine gun. How does he do this? Well he drives the police cruiser to a high speed, jumps out at the last second and the police car catapults itself off the toll booth into the helicopter. It’s so stupid that I love it.

Anyway, apparently Yasmina Villasna tried to pull off something similar in her Chevy Impala. The only problem was there was no helicopter chasing her. Wait, that wasn’t the only problem. The other BIG problem was that she was allegedly drunk behind the wheel. Not cool. She wasn’t hurt and was arrested for DUI.

FAIL.

[Unfair Park]

Mustang Beats Camaro In Sales For May

Ford is again doing quite well in sales thanks to some credible product offerings, one of which is the all new Mustang.

Even though the Camaro has a loyal following in pop culture, that hasn’t swayed people in the muscle car market. In the States last month the Stang sold 10, 225 units while Chevy was able to move 8,931 Camaros. I won’t even bother mentioning how Dodge did with the Challenger. Let’s just say it isn’t posing much of a challenge. Heh.

Ford has been winning many of the unavoidable comparison tests between the two pony cars, but Chevy hopes new revamped engines for 2011 will help it gain some ground.

Which would you choose?

[Autoblog Photo Credit: EGM Cartech]

FAIL: Safety Car Causes Crash

Ah, irony.

Check out the video above where Chevy’s new Cruze gets ‘safety car’ honours for this race, yet hilariously enough, doesn’t drive so safely. In fact it actually causes an accident. If I were the BMW driver, I would be furious.

Let this be a lesson to all you oblivious drivers: Always check your blind spot and never pull into a lane in front of a car that’s going way faster than you are.

[FAIL Blog]

GM Not Above Blatant Publicity Stunts, Uses New Born

Okay, we’re all in agreement that the Chevy Cobalt sucks badly, right? Even GM themselves think it’s horrible. So if you are one of the thousands of suckers that ended up buying one, you’re probably getting what you deserve. However, if you are a Cobalt owner and you are preggers, then perhaps there is one pro to owning own. Free diapers.

According to the Detroit Free Press, Cobalt owner Amanda McBride of Michigan was quite preggers and was out for a drive when her baby decided it was time to leave her womb and there would be no stopping it. McBride had her husband with her, but he was not able to drive her to the hospital because he was on medication which did not allow him to operate a motor vehicle safely. So McBride gave birth to her baby right in the driver’s seat. Apparently it “just slid out”. Gross.

Anyway even though GM themselves hate the Cobalt, that won’t stop them for somehow taking credit for McBride’s easy birth. Since it happened so easily and it was in one of their cars, GM decided it could gain some free press by offering McBride  a year’s supply of baby diapers, a stroller, a baby seat and an unspecified amount of baby toys.

So basically, if you own a GM and you are quite pregnant, make sure you give birth in your car because it will actually be worth your while. And if GM doesn’t give you free diapers, you can call them out on their blatant publicity stunt and ensure they stay in the media for all the wrong reasons.

This isn’t the first time GM has used people and situations to gain press. Remember that stupid MLB Silverado that GM made to take advantage of their own charity work?

[Detroit Free Press]

Karl Strake For President (of GM)

He has already publically said what we all were thinking about the Cobalt and now Karl Strake, the vice president for global engineering of GM has stated publicly what we all are thinking about the Corvette.

The Corvette has quite a loyal following and anyone who tries to criticize it or make fun of it will get quite the lashing. In fact, it appears some within GM are quite sensitive when it comes to Corvette criticisms. Not Strake though. He tells it like it is.

Strake said of the Corvette interior “I want to be at Audi quality. Audi is the benchmark for interiors. I’ve driven the Corvette Grand Sport and I like it a lot, but the interior is not convincing.”

Bang on. Since I’ve never driven a Corvette, I can’t comment on how it drives, but I’ve definitely sat in one and the interior is pretty sub-par for a vehicle of its price.

If Strake gets his way with these GM products, GM will be the ones setting the benchmarks.

Now tell us what you really think of the Aveo, Strake.

[Auto North]

Told Ya: Lupe Fiasco Jumps Aboard Camaro Infatuation

I really should be some sort of marketing guru because I predicted that the new Chevrolet Camaro will be the new Cadillac Escalade among rappers. And you know it’s true if Lupe Fiasco is doing it. Lupe tends to not care so much about materialism or fame, in fact he has gone on record as saying he never wants to be famous (even though he kinda is already). Thing is, he still has a love for all things traditionally popular, he just doesn’t let it all cloud his judgment.

The traditionally anti-traditional rapper posted this pic of him and a Camaroo SS on his blog and I must admit, I was a little taken aback by Lupe’s choice of ride, despite all the hoopla surrounding the Camaro in the hip hop world. I expected him to be in some sort of Japanese rocket like a Nissan GT-R. Lupe claims he’s “American mentally with Japanese tendencies” so I guess this is just his inner American coming out. I suppose there’s nothing wrong with that.

But what makes it even more forgivable than that is he is using the Camaro for a charity run called ‘Run to the sun’ where he and Caleb Garrett will drive from Chicago to Los Angles in order to raise money for homeless shelters.

Oh, and Lupe already named his Camaro. It’s called ‘Skull Leader Zero’. I kinda thought that was a stupid name at first, but for some reason it’s growing on me. I totally admire him for keeping the Camaro stock and resisting the temptation to put ridiculously massive rims on it like some people.

[Lupe Fiasco]

Finally! GM Executive Admits the Chevy Cobalt Is “Horrible”

Karl Strake vice president of global engineering deserves a raise. In fact, make him in charge of any decision making when it comes to new models because he has stated what I and many like me have known for a long long time: The Chevy Cobalt sucks and always has.

While in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Strake took the press on a tour of the new Chevy Cruze which is going to be the replacement for the Cobalt. In fact there was a Cobalt on hand that Strake had the opportunity to drive and he held nothing back when asked how it compared:

“Look at this car, it’s horrible” Strake said of the Cobalt. ” How did it get through so many people?”

I was wondering the same thing, I don’t know how it got passed by everyone at GM but what’s even more astonishing than that is the amount of people that actually bought a Cobalt. I mean, they’re everywhere. My theory is that the Cobalt is substantially better than the Cavalier was so by comparison, people thought they were buying a good car. But that’s a bit like saying Bill O’Reilly isn’t as offensive as Rush Limbaugh, so Bill O’Reilly must be a good commentator. And he really isn’t.

Strake had nothing but good things to say about the Cruze though, so it’s probably a legit car. Let’s just hope that it’s not the same situation where we all think it’s a good car because it’s better than a Cobalt, but years down the road we realize that isn’t true.

Chevrolet Volt MPV5 Revealed in Beijing

Toyota reportedly has plans to make a minivan version of the Pruis, so naturally, Chevrolet wants to try something similar with the Volt. When the Prius first debuted, it pretty much had the hybrid segment all to itself for a long time, so Chevy wants to make sure Toyota doesn’t have that advantage again.

The only problem is the Volt MPV isn’t likely to be built because apparently Voltec technology isn’t suitable for any vehicle that is bigger or even smaller than the Volt.

Alan Taub, Vice President of research and development explains “with battery technology as it currently stands, extended-range vehicles that are larger than the Volt – luxury saloons, trucks and SUVs – aren’t really possible; they would simply be too heavy to be efficient. For those types of cars, fuel cells and biofuels are the future“.

This doesn`t necessarily perclude the idea of a Volt minivan, SUV or even a pickup truck becoming a reality some day though, we would just need to wait a while before they come to fruition. GM would have to develop new technology that would be able to handle bigger and smaller vehicles.

Check out more pics of the Volt MPV5 after the jump.

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The Chevy Volt’s Real World Efficiency Will Be…

About eight months ago, GM claimed they had a huge announcement. They were pretty secretive about what it would be. The only hint they gave us was the number 230.

It turned out that 230 meant the Volt’s mileage rating, i.e the Volt supposedly gets 230 mpg. Got an eyebrow raised due to scepticism? Don’t blame ya. 230 mpg is a marketing ploy that didn’t work. While GM technically isn’t lying about 230 mpg, it’s not based on real world driving. It’s just “expected to achieve city fuel economy of at least 230 miles per gallon, based on development testing using a draft EPA federal fuel economy methodology for labeling for plug-in electric vehicles.”

Right.

Well, now the next logical thing to do is give information that is actually relevant to consumers, GM. After a long time of making us wait with lots of speculation, GM announced that the Volt’s real world efficiency will be 50 mpg (4.7 L/100 kms).

Obviously this rating is for the gas engine only when those 60 kms that the electric motor will give you run out.

Not too bad, but we honestly expected a bit better considering the hype surrounding this car. In any event, can’t wait to experience the Volt for ourselves!

FAIL: Chevy Silverado MLB Edition

The thing is, this could have been a WIN for GM, but since GM is GM, they had to go and ruin it and thus, they end up with a FAIL.

You see, GM is apparently the official sponsor for the MLB All-Star game this year. In addition, they have been very involved in sponsoring youth baseball leagues to help youngsters achieve their dream of making it to the majors. That deserves a WIN, right?

Well the problem is, GM went and did what you see in the pic above to a Chevy Silverado in order to brag about it. Bragging about how you help others isn’t very humble, it’s just douchy. And to make sure we know just how douchy it is, they went and douched up a Silverado for us all to make fun of.

We’re betting not even the most hardcore baseball fan would want to be seen in this thing. Subtlety is apparently something GM hasn’t learned yet and for that you get a FAIL, GM.

LeBron James Loves to Ball… In Every Sense of the Word

LeBron James is undoubtedly one of the best players in basketball now. As a result, he makes millions of dollars. So not only does he ball on the court, but he also balls at da mall. Sorry. We mean he balls at the mall.

Anyway a true baller can’t have just any ride so Lebron’s ride of choice in Orlando this weekend was a Chevy Camaro SS with massive white rims and a custom sound system.

A lot of the video above is just screaming girls surrounding the man himself which, admittedly we don’t really care about, so we fast forwarded to the best part of the vid, when he gets into his Camaro and drives off blasting Snoop’s “I Wanna Rock”.

See it around the 2:28 mark.

Is it us or is the Camaro quickly becoming a replacement to the Escalade for rappers, rock stars and professional athletes?

Volkswagen Golf Best Selling Car in Canada for February

Watch out Honda, zee Germans are coming!

The Civic has been the best selling car in Canada for over a decade – they even have a television commerical boasting about the Civic’s longstanding success.

But that commerical may turn out to be a bit embarrassing now that VW’s Golf took top selling honours for the month of February for the first time ever.

Apparently we have all but forgotten about high gas prices because the Dodge Ram, Chevy Silverado and Ford F-150 were also among the top sellers last month.

Oh Hi: 2012 Ford Police Interceptor

Get used to that face, because you will now have to be on the lookout for Tauruses hiding behind bends and bushes waiting to nab you with their radar gun.

As expected, the Taurus will take over patrolling duties from the Crown Victoria, which can now fully enjoy its retirement. Ford officially stopped selling Crown Vic’s to the public, but continued on producing them for various police forces across the continent.

There are no specific details out yet, but there’s a good chance that a tuned version of the Taurus SHO could make its way under the hood. Ecoboost technology would likely be included as well.

Dodge has been producing interceptor versions of the Charger for a while now, and GM hopes to get a piece of the pie when it introduces a Chevrolet Caprice interceptor in the very near future. The Caprice will essentially be a Pontiac G8 badged as a Chevy, and there are no plans to sell it to the public.

Who knew there was such stiff competition to be the unofficial supplier to the police? To all the police officers that frequent Car Driven, what would be your interceptor of choice? Charger, Caprice or Taurus?

A few more pics after the jump.

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