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OMG, the Cute New Fiat 500 is Here! Finally! Direct From Toluca Mexico, Just $16K – Is It Cute Enough For You?

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011

It’s new, it’s you.

It’s the updated version of those old-school Fiat 500 cars you see about town.

Hecho en Mexico, it’s your 2012 Fiat 500:

Click to expand

(Weren’t the boys from Chrysler using a Porsche Cayenne Turbo minivan film car to film these new Fiats in action on the Embarcadero not too many days ago? Yes, that’s my understanding.)

Anyway, here’s The Review.

All the deets:

United States:

The Fiat 500 had its US production debut at the 2010 Chicago Auto Show, and has been slated for a December 2010 production start: the production start date is December 13 as of now.

Fiat started the first North American preorders for the limited Prima Edizione version on July 10, 2010. As part of the annual convention of club Fiat Lancia Unlimited, Fiat North America head, Laura Soave, opened up the order books to these long time enthusiasts.

The North American version built in Toluca, Mexico, has same the trim levels as European 500: Pop, Lounge and Sport. The American version has some exterior differences compared to European version: a more rounded centre grille and a plastic lip that wraps onto the bottom of the spoiler and a reflector on the wheel arch edge, mostly to meet safety regulations. The American Sport version has a 1.4 litre Multiair engine, which is manufactured at Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance in Dundee, Michigan, United States. The cabriolet version 500C comes for sale a bit later in Spring 2011. The 500 Abarth is also confirmed for North American markets.The US 500 version was rated at 38 mpg_-US (6.2 L/100 km; 46 mpg_-imp) highway by United States

And Lush wrote a song for this car back in the day. All right, shake, baby, shake:

Shake, baby, shake
You know I can fit you in my arms
Brake, baby, brake
Taking me in with all your charms

I’ve never been inside you but you’re so alluring
They call you “little mouse” by name in Rome and Turin
Looking now at your famous shape
They don’t make them like you anymore

Shake, baby, shake
You know I can fit you in my arms
Brake, baby, brake
Taking me in with all your charms

When things are looking good there’s always complications
I can’t be with you so I’m at the railway station
Let’s run away and be so alive
Escape the drudgery of this nine to five

Shake, baby, shake
You know I can fit you in my arms
Brake, baby, brake
Taking me in with all your charms

Shake, baby, shake
You know I worship from afar
Brake, baby, brake
How I wish you were my car

Shake, baby, shake
You know I can fit you in my arms
Brake, baby, brake
Taking me in with all your charms

Shake, baby, shake
Shake, baby, shake
Shake, baby, shake
Shake, baby, shake
I will

Tags: 2011, 2012, bay area, california, chrysler, cute, fiat, fiat 500, italian, made, mexico, mini cooper, Prima Edizione, San Francisco, smart for-two, toluca
Posted in cars | No Comments »

Sorry, Mercedes-Benz and BMW Owners: Your Cars are, Once Again, at the Bottom of the Quality Rankings

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

Remember when them German cars were screwed together better?

This car on Haight Street does:

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But your MB or BMW? Not so much.

Do these brands stand for luxury? Sure. But do they stand for quality these days? No.

Oh well.

(At least these German brands rank slightly above above rock-bottom Government Motors and Chrysler (nee Daimler Chrysler))

Check the website of that Famous Newspaper for the News of the Day.

Web site

1. Honda
2. Subaru
3. Toyota
4. Volvo
5. Ford
6. Hyundai
7. Mazda
8. Nissan
9. Volkswagen
10. Mercedes-Benz
11. BMW
12. General Motors
13. Chrysler

Tags: $28, 1955, 1956, 2010, 2011, 2012, 300 bmw, 900, bay area, bmw, bola de futebol de fenemê, bubble car, california, carplanet, carplanet.com, chrysler, coffin car, Consumer Reports, ford, general motors, gm, haight, Honda, huevito, Hyundai, Isetta, italy, list, little egg, lower haight, magazine, mazda, mercedes benz, microcar, nissan, post-WWII, quality, rollende Ei, rolling egg, San Francisco, Sargwagen, steiner, Steve, subaru, toyota, urkel, volkswagen, volvo, VW, yellow, yogurt pot
Posted in cars | No Comments »

What’s Wrong With This 15-Passenger Van? You’ll Found Out the Next Time You’re On Jury Duty, Maybe

Tuesday, February 15th, 2011

Well, actually, we don’t get too many 15-passenger van rollover cases litigated in San Francisco County and/or the Bay Area ’cause we don’t have that many 15-passenger vans. That’s not how we roll.

But church groups in the Midwest, they be driving these things all over and they get into lots of rollover accidents. So much so, that the govmint has issued safety guidelines and there are “15-passenger van lawyers” just to handle these kinds of cases.

Anyway, just look at this thing parked near Golden Gate Park. The maker wanted to add a row of seats in the back but did a half-assed job. Instead of making the wheelbase longer, the manufacturer simply tacked on a Sir Mix-a-Lot butt.

See?

Click to expand

There’s your problem right there.

I mean, there could be other issues too, but if you wanted to make a rollover machine, this is how you’d do it.

Just saying.

Stay safe…

Tags: 12-passenger, 15-passenger, accident, attorny, chrysler, dodge, ford, gm, gmc, lawyer, ram, roll over, rollover, shysters, super shuttle, van
Posted in airports, cars, health | No Comments »

Colma, CA is a Land of Fog and Cemeteries and Shut-Down Car Dealerships

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

Here’s Colma (nee Lawndale until 1941), CA, the West’s #1 necropolis. Why does it have its own BART station and musical? No one knows.

But what it does have includes car dealerships (both kinds – the dead and the living dead), fog, and, of course, cemeteries. Truly, it is the Land of Wind and Ghosts.

A look down Serramonte Boulevard.

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Not too long ago, Tom Hanks got his giant black Lexus from a dealership on this street, but all the Lexuseses are gone now. Will they return? No one knows.

See you there, on the next dreaded sunny day.

Tags: auto, bankrupt, car, cemetery, chrysler, City, closed, colma, county, dealerships, fog, ghosts, Mayor, mr sparkle, musical, nissan, San Mateo, serramonte, tom hanks, wind
Posted in streets | 3 Comments »

Forget About the Chrysler Bankruptcy, Get Your Imperial Out and Drive, Drive, Drive

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

I’m thinking this is a 1965 (Chrysler) Imperial Crown – check it out as it makes an appearance on the 101 freeway. Now you’d probably prefer to drive a 1960 model or even a Chrysler 300 letter series, but this white whale will do in a pinch.

Crank up the oldies on the AM radio and change the station whenever they start talking about having to bail out Detroit. No matter, this aging rig will certainly get you more friends than Sinatra.

Click to expand:

Sic transit gloria Chrysler

Tags: 101, 1065, 2 door, 5rss039, bankruptcy, california, chrysler, convertible, Corporation, county, crown, freeway, Imperial, More Friends Than Sinatra, More tail Than Sinatra, motors, San Francisco, San Mateo, white, white whale
Posted in cars | Comments Off

San Francisco’s 59th Annual Juneteenth Celebration a Huge Success

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

San Francisco’s 59th Annual Juneteenth Celebration went off without a hitch. See what it looked like here on SFGate.

Juneteenth Parade
June 20, 2009
Location: start @ Hamilton Park on Post Street

Juneteenth Festival Celebration
June 20-21, 2009
Location: Civic Center Plaza

Click to expand:

Confetti everywhere during the parade in front of City Hall:

If that San Francisco District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi in there?

Yes it is, with his Bianchi Milano cafe racer bicycle

Here’s Chris Jackson of the San Francisco Community College Board

And Public Defender Jeff Adachi

1964 300K Letter Series Chrysler. That thing got a Hemi? Sadly no, how about a Wedge instead?

All Corvettes are Red, except those that aren’t

Barack Obama was there, sort of.

As was the Census Bureau

And the kids from UCSF Division of Clinical Pharmacology were looking for healthy smokers, something like this: Pharmacogenetics of Nicotine Metabolism in African-Americans. Make $300 by joining the study, why don’t you?

And if meat is murder, then Civic Center was the site of a massacre this weekend

See you next year!

Tags: 19th, 2009, 20th, 21st, 300, 300k, 5, 59th, annual, celebration, census bureau, chris jackson, chrysler, City Hall, civic center, community college board, corvettes, district, equine, fair, faire, Festival, fillmore, horses, jeff adachi, june, juneteenth, parade, ponies, pony, poo, post, public defender, ross mirkarimi, San Francisco, san franicsco, steiner, street, trailers, ucsf
Posted in events, Uncategorized | Comments Off

The Official Business of the SFPD: Powered by a HEMI

Wednesday, November 12th, 2008

In these days hybrid buses, cars and everything else, it’s interesting to see the OFFICIAL BUSINESS of a City and County vehicle, such as this SFPD Dodge Charger R/T in a plain wrapper, being powered by such a non-hybriddy engine like a 5.7 litre V-8 HEMI.

So, this explains the MY NEXT POLICE CAR IS GOING TO HAVE A HEMI bumper stickers seen around town. What’s left a mystery is why these engines are called Hemi’s anyway.

Click to expand:

“Hemi” stands for hemispherical combustion chamber, but the term as used these days is “little more than a copyrighted word that bears little meaning, descriptively, for the engines designated as such.” Or, in other words, “that thing got a Hemi? No, not really.”

On the other hand, your 1975 Toyota Corolla just might have an actual hemi, if not the boss HEMI logo on the side.

Choose wisely

Tags: charger, chrysler, department, dodge, hemi, hemispherical, mopar, official business, police, rt, San Francisco, SFPD
Posted in cars | Comments Off

Per the SFPD: “My Next Police Car is Going to Have a Hemi”

Monday, October 27th, 2008

This genuine San Francisco Police Department Ford Crown Victoria prowler sports a bumper sticker that states:

“MY NEXT POLICE CAR IS GONNA TO HAVE A HEMI“

This is a reference to the hemispherical combustion chambers of the 5.7 litre engine of the Dodge Charger Police Interceptor. So, did the S.F.P.D. place an order for Daimler-Chrysler squad cars?

Click to expand: