Rippin' It!

If you haven’t read my rant over the Mopar 10 you can or I can summarize it like this:  Mopar took a basic Challenger R/T, added a hood scoop, CAI and a lot of logo’s and graphics and then had the balls to call it a “hardcore” performance vehicle.  Essentially it’s a Challenger R/T with some Pep Boys crap stuck on it.

Ford, on the other hand, also decided to make a special version of their venerable “five 0″ Mustang harking back to the late 60′s.  The new version, called a “Boss 302″ aptly enough because the 5.0 is a 302, is more in line with what Mopar should have done.  So what did Ford do?

Well they actually added some performance to the car for starters.

The new Boss 302 has a more aggressive air intake system matching a “more aggressive” camshaft.  The exhaust has been changed and includes quieting disks that “can be easily removed”, which is Ford’s way of saying… we had to put them on there but made it easy for you to take off and throw away.

The clutch has been upgraded for better bite and the suspension has been modified by adding stiffer springs, the front brakes have been enlarged (14″ vented Brembo’s) .  Overall the Boss 302 achieves over a g on the skid pad thanks to the suspension horsepower.

So, lets compare what Ford did to what Dodge did:

1. Ford added more horsepower (upped to 440 hp) – Dodge added some decals.
2. Ford added significantly upgraded brakes – Dodge added some decals.
3. Ford added significant upgrades to the suspension – Dodge added a sway bar.
4. Ford upgraded the clutch – Dodge…. uh… added some decals.
5. Ford revised the traction control and stability control – Dodge… added some decals.

Although Ford didn’t call their 440 hp Boss 302 a “hardcore performance car” like Dodge did the Mopar 10, there is no question which one is going to win a stoplight war.

Ford’s press release doesn’t even mention decals.

Forbes.com recently published their list of the 10 most beautiful cars in the world and the Dodge Challenger made the list.  That part isn’t surprising until you look at the company the Challenger is in and the price ranges being considered.  So how did the list break down?

1. The Alfa Romeo Spider, $301,000.
2. Astin Martin Rapide, $197,000.
3. Bentley Mulsanne, $285,000.
4. Dodge Challenger SRT, $43,000.
5. Ferrari 458 Italia, $240,000.
6. Jaguar XJ, $113,000.
7. Maserati Quattroporte, $120,000.
8. Mercedes SLS AMG, $183,000.
9. Porsche Boxster Spider, $61,200.
10. Rolls Royce Ghost, $245,000.

So what’d they say about the Challenger?

Another throwback on our list is the $43,680 Dodge Challenger SRT8. It costs much less than, say, the $301,000 Alfa Romeo 8C Spider, and its V8 HEMI engine and brawny attitude (angled center console, pistol-grip shifter, dual round headlamps, flared hood) don’t scream refinement. But that’s not what muscle-car lovers want anyway, Caudill says.

“What’s so cool about that car is that if you want a retro muscle car, you don’t need to buy a 1964-and-a-half Mustang when you can buy a 2011 Dodge Challenger and get that same home-grown American feel,” he says. “It’s real American muscle with a retro throwback, big old motor in there.”

Of course, much like the XJ, the Challenger isn’t as flashy as a Ferrari or an Alfa Romeo. But it does hold a legitimate place in the chronicles of design. After all, beauty depends on the eye of the beholder.

Pretty amazing the $40,000 Challenger is included in the same listing as $200,000 supercars. With the exception of the Porsche all of Challengers company were $100K plus cars.

Kudo’s to Dodge, they did the retro right.

http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/07/most-beautiful-cars-lifestyle-vehicles-autos.html

I’ll have to admit though… if I had a spare couple of hundred grand I’d probably see if I could get the Astin Martin in Hemi Orange.

Frankly I am surprised that even today some people continue to setup wireless networks sans any kind of security.  Even WEP, although not very secure, has been around for years now.  Years ago I was in a computer security class and we used a non-intrusive, non-recording, laptop to identify open wireless networks.  Back then there were a lot of open networks.  Over the years though many have been secured and now a scan usually results in more networks but the majority have some kind of security in place.

This is not true, however, of our nations “top” security people.  PC World is reporting Google is in some hot water for “drive by spying” on some members of Congress.  Seems Google, as well as a watchdog firm, set out to determine if members of Congress had open networks at home.  Turns out they did.

Rep. Jane Harman, D-CA, who heads the intelligence subcommittee for the House Homeland Security committee was discovered to have an open unsecured wireless network at home.  Seriously?  So we have a House committee leader on homeland security that doesn’t even realize she has a gaping personal security issue?

Maybe we should have some 12 year old stop by Harman’s house to click the WPA button on the wireless device for her.  While he’s there he could probably sign up as a consultant to the Homeland Security committee since, apparently, the honorable Representative doesn’t have the first clue about security.

In a typical Congressional sleight-of-hand Google is now catching heat for collecting some data from these open networks.  Seems to me the real story here is that the networks were open in the first place.    I guess the head of Homeland Security having an open unsecured network might explain the Talliban Carpet Cleaning van always parked down the street from Harmon’s house.

Links:

• PC-World – Google Accused of Security Breach
• Wired- Consumer Group Sniffs Congress
• Computer World – Google downplays claim it may have sniffed Congresswoman.

If you pay any attention to the cars you meet on the road you have probably come to the conclusion the Ford Mustang has to be the top selling single model line of cars, at least when it comes to 2-door sport coupes.  Up until last year Ford had relatively little competition on the 2-door American market in large part because Chevrolet didn’t make one and Dodge hasn’t yet learned how to market and sell theirs.

That has all changed now.

July 3, 2007, the release of Transformers, would become a pinnacle day for Chevrolet.  It was Megan Fox who asked Shia, why’s your transforming Camaro a POS?  With that the crappy yellow Camaro turned into an attention getting new Camaro.  It was quite an introduction.

The “Bumblebee” (wasn’t the Bee thing a Dodge thing?) captured the imagination of many.  It was something different from the everyday squared off Camry-Corolla-Malibu-Taurus every other car on the road.

It took Chevrolet long enough to realize Ford had knocked one out of the park with the release of the newly designed 2005 Mustang or what I fondly called the first real ‘retro’ style.

But once they caught on… boy did they catch on!

Among the American 2-door sport coupes (Challenger, Mustang and Camaro) the Chevrolet Camaro is now emerging as the dominate species, at least as far as sales are concerned.   Although sales numbers are hard to compare because Ford brought out the retro ‘Stang in 2005.  Dodge was slow to learn and waited until 2008 to bring out the retro Challenger.  Chevrolet was the slowest to ‘retro’ market with its April ’09 (first public sales) release of the Camaro.

Market share (M/S) numbers, on the other hand, are easy to compare and they are interesting.  Of the 178,000 unit sales since April ’09 the Camaro has now grabbed a 46% market share.  That’s substantial since its competing against two well established lines.  Well one, since Dodge dealers still think they can sell a Challenger for MSRP + $5,000 “market adjustment”.   Here’s the month-to-month numbers for the three and one thing is clear… like it, hate it or be somewhere in between, Bumblebee is walking all over Ford and Dodge.

“This auction is a legally binding contract to buy this vehicle. All vehicles are sold as-is unless otherwise specified. I have done my best to accurately describe this vehicle. It is up to the buyer to come see and further inspect the car before the end of the auction.”

That’s the disclaimer appearing on an E-bay auction for a 2009 Challenger SRT.  So, if you mistakenly bid $65,000 do you think the dealer would hold you to your bid?  I think they probably would.  So what happens when the dealer makes a mistake and doesn’t put a reserve price on an auction?

Congratulations, You Are The Winner!

We are all about to find out.

One of the members of the popular Challenger Talk Forum has won an auction for the SRT for the winning price of $29,100.00.  Clicking the image at left you’ll see “Winning Bid” and the amount.

Of course now the dealer doesn’t want to stand behind his own disclaimer that “This auction is a legally binding contract to buy this vehicle”.

Now the story has began taking on a life of its own in one of the most visited threads to exist on the Challenger forum with over 150 postings and 20,000 views.

So what’s my opinion? With the disclaimer the dealer put on the auction they clearly intend to act as if this is a “legally binding” contract if the hammer would have fell in their favor. Now, since it hasn’t, they want to poo-poo the whole deal as simply a mistake that should be forgotten.

Not so fast, say a lot of posters, a concept to which I agree.

On the website lawinfo.com there is a similar, but reversed, situation. In this case the bidder decided he didn’t want the car and now wants to back out of the deal. So what was the response from the seller?

AN EBAY AUCTION IS A LEGALLY BINDING CONTRACT. WE ARE OFFERING OUR ITEMS AND THE BIDDER IS UNEQUIVOCALLY ACCEPTING THE MIRRORED TERMS OF OUR OFFER BY BIDDING…

THIS IS A BILATERAL CONTRACT THE CONSIDERATION IS A PROMISE TO BUY BY THE OFFEREE AND A FORBEARANCE TO SELL THE ITEM TO ANYONE BUT THE OFFEREE BY THE OFFEROR. ANYONE BREACHING THEIR CONTRACT WITH US (FOR ANY EXCUSE AND WE’VE HEARD THEM ALL) WILL BE SUED FOR LIQUIDATED DAMAGES OF $1000.00 OR 10% …

So clearly the car sellers will have no compunction about suing you if you mistakenly overbid a car or some circumstance changes and you want out of the deal.

If this dealer honestly believes they are under no obligation to sell the car under the contract price then all future Ebay auctions should include the disclaimer, “this auction is meaningless” rather than “this auction is a legally binding contract”.

My opinion, the dealer is the one that included the threatening “binding contract” language and should have to stand behind it.

You can follow the on-going dispute on the Challenger Talk forum by clicking here.

Monroney "Window" Sticker

When you ventured to the lot to look at your next car chances are you read the Monroney sticker, or as it is commonly called, “the window sticker”.  Why is the sticker there?  Does it have to be there?

The window development started in 1955 when Oklahoma Senator Mike Monroney was named as the head of a committee investigating practices of car manufacturers and the amounts charged to dealer franchises for things such as shipping.

The same committee looked into practices of the franchisee’s and how they treated customers with regards to costs.  Then, in 1958, Monroney sponsored the Automobile Disclosure Act of 1958 and the “Monroney Sticker” was born.

The Act required that the sticker be placed on a side window or windshield of every new car offered for sale.  The sticker can only be removed by the consumer, kind of like those mattress tags.

The Act required the sticker to contain the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP), engine and transmission information, standard equipment and warranty information.  Over the years the Act has been changed to include the requirement of fuel mileage and crash test safety.

So can a car dealership remove the sticker before the sale of the car?  No, they cannot, something that seems to escape David Stanley Dodge in, ironically enough, Oklahoma City.

Title 15 Chapter 28 Sec 1233 (c) says:

Any person who willfully removes, alters, or renders illegible any label affixed to a new automobile pursuant to section 1232 of this title, or any endorsement thereon, prior to the time that such automobile is delivered to the actual custody and possession of the ultimate purchaser of such new automobile, except where the manufacturer relabels the automobile in the event the same is rerouted, repurchased, or reacquired by the manufacturer of such automobile, shall be fined not more than $1,000, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both. Such removal, alteration, or rendering illegible with respect to each automobile shall constitute a separate offense.

More reading is available including the following:
Cornell Law Site: 15 USC 28 1233
NY Times: The Senator Behind the Window Sticker

February (2010) sales figures were just released so naturally I looked at the Challenger, Camaro and Mustang to see how the pony cars were fairing for the big three.

And the winner is…Chevrolet, pretty much going away.

Chevrolet clearly has a hit on its hands with the Camaro having outpaced even the Ford Mustang in sales over the last 8 months.  Based on sales reports since April, 2009 the Camaro sales have outpaced Mustang sales by some 6,000 units.

Currently Camaro sales have been reported at 73,051 units although this Camaro blog is reporting the 100,000th Camaro VIN has been assigned to a 2SS Inferno Orange Camaro now rolling down the assembly line.

So how does this relate to the Challenger?

Well sales wise the Mustang and Camaro are both kicking the crap out of the Challenger… at least on the sales floor.

In the first seven months of production Camaro sales topped the total sales for all the Gen III Challengers.   Likewise the Mustang was just under 9 months there were more Mustangs sold than Gen III Challengers.  It now appears the Chevrolet Camaro is going to replace the Ford Mustang as the “every other car you meet” car.

Since the Challenger sales began being reported (May, 2008) the reported sales have been 47,132 units compared to the Mustangs 132,827 (a 3:1 ratio) and the Camaro’s 73,051 (1.5:1 ratio) units.   Over the last 10 months the average unit sales has been:  Challengers @ 1,866; Mustangs @ 5,894; and Camaro’s @7,244.

Kudo’s to Chevrolet for not only making the Camaro but for promoting and selling them with success.  If they beat out the Mustang in overall annual sales, and it looks like they will, they have certainly done something few would have thought possible.

For me, I’m glad I’m driving something a little more unique.