Confession #42: If others' first impressions are anything to go on, some things are still worth the wait

2013 Subaru BRZ (AutoViva photo)

I swear, I'm not turning into some hyper-critic of automotive journalists. I may have just railed on Consumer Reports and their apparent lack of any understanding of impulse buying in their reviews, but I will largely save media criticism for my other blog.

This isn't so much criticism as an observation. Perhaps the most drawn-out coverage among auto journalists in recent memory is the Toyota-Subaru sports coupe collaboration, just now bearing fruit as the Subaru BRZ, Scion FR-S and its Toyota-branded equivalent. A lot of acronyms, but really one rear-wheel drive, compact sports coupe with a boxer four-pot and aimed at sports car purists who value great handling characteristics over modern electronic driver intervention and a heavily boosted engine. What's more, this speaks to the core of an auto journalist's heart. These are cars that just aren't as common on auto show stands, things with four cylinders, three pedals and a price that begins with a 2. I'm starting to picture hoards of drivers slobbering like Labradors at the press launch. 

Confession #35: Whose Car of the Year is it, anyway?

I remember the holiday season for some notable things. Among them are consuming far too much food that your pants no longer fit, broken Christmas presents littering your living room floor and car commercials that are sillier than normal. Lexus has become synonymous for its “December to Remember” sales event advertisements that prominently showcase a car wrapped in a bow in the driveway as the surprised couple moves in slow motion towards their new RX-GS-IS-or whatever. Corny, I know.

Confession #31: Nostalgia sometimes trumps good judgement

1987 Renault GTA

If the Internet has done anything (other than make normal people think they won’t miss local newspapers if they were to disappear) then it’s made the ability to buy something in a matter of seconds way too easy. The other day, my roommate was looking at buying 5 lbs. of pens online for $18. I didn’t know you could buy pens the same way one would buy flour.

I’m stuck with a similar affliction, but at least my bank balance has been kept intact. So far, that is. I’ve already admitted my tendency to shop for cars on eBay, AutoTrader.com, etc. that only an eccentric would long for – cars that no sane person would buy. Alfa Romeos from the 1980s and ‘90s, anything French (there was a really good-looking 1987 Renault GTA coupe – basically a “hot-ish” Renault Alliance – going for cheap the other day), some offbeat German models, you name it.

Confession #14: Small is in, whether we like it or not

OK, I have some sympathy for product planners who have some pretty cumbersome schedules.

Just when gas prices reached around $4.50 per gallon in the summer of 2008 – months before the economy crashed and burned – people were scrambling to sell their SUVs and V8s that took two credit card swipes at the pumps to fill. The same people took huge losses on trade-in values too when they swapped them in for things like the VW Jetta, Mini, Smart, Ford Focus, and especially the Honda Civic, which became the best-selling car in the US for a few months that year.

Fuel prices have precipitously fallen since then and are still mostly in the low-to-mid $3 range. But a wave of small cars automakers, hurried into production when they thought gas prices were going to keep escalating, have arrived.

Ford launched the Fiesta over the summer after a year of social media fanfare and teasing customers with the European version of the car.

Granted, Ford watered the now-Mexican-built Fiesta hatchback and introduced an ungainly looking four-door to the mix, but reviews have been fairly positive. What’s more, the company packed it with toys like a dual-clutch transmission (like the one VW has been putting in their cars) and the SYNC voice-control-Bluetooth software.

Chevy is doing something similar with the Civic-Corolla slayer Cruze. No longer is the General going cheap with small cars. Most versions come with a six-speed automatic and turbo 4-cylinder that gets around 40 MPG. Critics are raving about the interior quality, some, like The New York Times’ James Cobb, say it could be best-in-class. And remember, that class includes the former interior beauty queen Jetta.