Oil prices have dropped by more than 50% since July. I’m buying a Hummer.

I was in Singapore two weeks ago and saw them preparing for their inner-city Grand Prix. My cab driver, while not an official Grand Prix driver, did his best to simulate one on the early morning city streets. Now The Big Picture has a collection of snazzy images from the racetrack.

Evidence that gas prices have gotten out of hand: two shot in bicycle drive by.

The mistake attorneys and judges say is the most common among those who choose to represent themselves in traffic court? Admitting guilt.

Beep beep beep beep beep beeeep beeeep beeeep beeeeeep beeeeeep beeeeeeep beeeeeeeeeep.

I test drove the 2008 Mazda 3 and liked it, but have not yet purchased a car due to several disappointments with dishonest car salesman. Anyway, Mazda has been slow in releasing their 2009 line, so I’ve kept my eyes open for information about any updates. Here’s an image purporting to be the design of the new model:

Image via the Motor Report and Vince Burlapp Car Page.

Click to big-ify

What kind of car was actually parked there? Not a Ferrari.

Forget all my previous discussions of potential car purchases, I’m buying a Tuk Tuk!

These are on in DC all the time; I don’t think Eastern Motors services the higher end of the market.

Jerry Seinfeld on dramatic, roll-over car crashes:

The comedian took the crash in snide.

“Because I know there are kids out there, I want to make sure they all know that driving without braking is not something I recommend, unless you have professional clown training or a comedy background, as I do.”

One LATimes reporter has had his 1989 Toyota Camry stolen, and returned, three times. After its most recent return, he opened the trunk to find “[b]oxes of highlighter pens and ink cartridges, and a DVD copy of ‘Bruce Almighty,’ the cinematic equivalent of a 1989 Camry.”

jbg wants to buy the CatBus:

I HAVE A 1995 MO’ VAN THAT GOT TRANSFORMED INTO THIS CATBUS. I BROUGHT IT TO A SHOPS AND I WAS LIKE HEY, CAN YOU TURN THIS INTO A CATBUS? SO THEY DID. THEN THAT DAY I DROVE IT HOME. THE CAT BUS ONLY HAS 50K, WHICH ARE ALL HIGHWAY MILES AS I DROVE IT TO WORK 2 DAYS A WEEK AND THAT WAS IT. IT’S IN REALLY GOOD SHAPE AND ALL THE FUR IS STILL ALL THERE. THE STEERING WHEEL HAS A CAT ON IT. IM ONLY ASKING 2900 FOR THE CATBUS BECAUSE ITS REALLY FURRY AND SOMETIMES PEOPLE GET SICK ON IT.

But it’s the picture that’s really going to sell this car:

Here’s another view.

Continuing on my recent cars kick, here’s a piece about an undercover reporter who works for three months in a car dealership: Confessions of a Car Salesman.

Yesterday I attempted to look at three cars: the Subaru Impreza, the Nissan Sentra and the Volkswagen Jetta.  The Impreza visit/test drive went fine, but the Nissan and Volkswagen dealers were part of a single, awful complex and were inable to ever actually show us a car.

First I walked into the Nissan showroom and was poking around at cars for a while.  Eventually I, and a friend, got inside the Sentra they had on display.  I poked around at it from the inside, hit the buttons and pretended I was driving.  I may have even made some VROOM VROOM noises.  We were in there for a fairly long time.   During that time people, who I can only assume were Nissan staff, ate lunch and watched me.  Nobody ever came out to ask if I needed help.  Ultimately I just walked back out of the showroom without taking a test drive.  Whoops, bad salesmanning.

Next door I walked into the Volkswagen showroom and was quickly approached by a salesman who claimed it was his first day.  At first I laughed, because I’d be warned online about the “it’s my first week” angle that car salesmen might use to get your guard down.  But then it appeared, sadly, that he wasn’t joking.  He took us out to the lot and didn’t seem to know anything about cars.  Like, literally, anything.   When asked the difference between two different models, he indicated that one had a 2.5 after its name while the other merely had a 2.0 after it’s name.  What does that number indicate, we wondered.  There was no answer forthcoming.  When it became clear that he knew literally nothing about the cars, I asked if we could just go on a test drive.  He said sure, wandered away, and then didn’t come back for twenty minutes.  We left before he got back.

I think he wasn’t actually a car salesman, just another customer who saw us looking for help and decided it would be funny to pretend for a few minutes.  If that was the case, it was pretty funny.  If not, it was really, really sad.  It’s hard to imagine how they sell any cars.

Anybody know anything about the Subaru Impreza?  It seemed ok.

In the near future, I’m going to need to buy a car.

Today I sat in, and rejected, the Honda Fit and the Toyota Yaris (too small). I test drove the Honda Civic and the Honda Accord, the Toyota Corolla and the Toyota Camry, and two variants of the Mazda 3. I met two out of three managers, one of whom offered me a deal that was only good for 24 hours (act fast!). I gave all of them fake phone numbers, but stupidly gave one of them a real address (what was I thinking?).

In terms of a general sitting-in-a-car-and-driving-it-around-for-a-few-blocks, I liked the Mazda 3 the best. It was the best looking, and best feeling of the lot. Anyone have any opinions on Mazdas, or really cars in general? I’m an advice taking machine right now.

I’m soon to be in the market for a new car and was interested in signing up for Consumer Reports in order to do a little research. When I attempted to sign up online I was unimpressed by their ironically un-consumer-friendly online subscription models — they’re all auto-renew:

Mandatory auto renew is a crock and certainly does not aid me as a consumer, it just gives me a chance to forget that I’ve signed up for a product that I definitely only want for one time period. I just find it ironic that Consumer Reports would take such an anti-consumer friendly position considering their general pro-consumer stance.  This is a slimy, pro-business anti-consumer move and they should be shamed for it.

I guess I’ll just get the car issue off the newsstand, ebay, or preferably from my local library.

I have to give this driver credit for being bold:

Seriously, Kee (Key) Me? The amazing part is that nobody had yet keyed the car. I was tempted to do it on general principle.