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New Volvo 7700 Hybrid Bus Unveiled In Germany

| суббота, 3 октября 2009 г.

Volvo’s new hybrid version of the 7700 bus was unveiled in Germany at the IAA Bus and Truck Show. While it’s not as exciting as, say, the new Volvo S40, it’s something. It’s eco-exciting… eco-citing. Lame?

Well, whatever, I think it’s interesting. This new version of Volvo’s 7700 bus will be 30% more fuel-efficient than non-hybrid models. It has a smaller 5.0L diesel engine compared to a regular 9.0L diesel Volvo 7700, but it’s built on the same platform. It’ll save on fuel costs, be able to fit more passengers, and have less emissions and vehicle noise compared to normal diesel buses.
Check out the unveiling:

Volvo website



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Full Scale Cars Built Entirely Out Of LEGOs, With Photo Gallery Goodness

| среда, 30 сентября 2009 г.

In addition to filling RideLust’s daily “cool stuff” requirement, the pair of 2004 Volvo XC90’s built by LEGOLAND® California also take care of our obligatory Volvo-love too.

Full gallery after the jump

Press Release [via SeriousWheels.com]: Volvo Cars of North America, LLC (VCNA) and LEGOLAND® California are joining forces to promote driving safety and family values. As part of the recently announced partnership agreement between the subsidiaries of the two Scandinavian icons, a replica of Volvo’s award-winning SUV, the Volvo XC90, was constructed of LEGO’s famous modeling bricks.

The Volvo XC90 made of LEGO bricks was built by LEGO Master Model Builders, members of an elite team of talented artists who design, create and maintain the thousands of LEGO brick models at LEGOLAND® California. Constructed at the U.S. headquarters for LEGO Systems, Inc. in Enfield, Conn., the Master Builders began production of the Volvo XC90 in January 2004. Noted as one of the top-three most gratifying projects of its kind for the Master Builders, the intricate stages of assembly were captured with time-lapse photography.

As the recognized leader of safety in the automotive industry, Volvo is the “Official Car” of LEGOLAND® California and will work with the theme park to bring messages of driving safety to the park’s 1.3 million annual visitors. The Volvo XC90 made of LEGO bricks, although not drivable, will stand at the park entrance as a symbol of the two companies’ commitment to safety and family.

“The partnership is a perfect fit with our ‘Drive - for Life’ initiative that focuses on affecting driver behavior and safety,” said Vic Doolan, president and CEO of VCNA. “We will be working with LEGOLAND to develop innovative safety awareness activities.”

Recently, LEGOLAND®’s popular Driving School (ages 6 to 13) and its Jr. Driving School (ages 3 to 5) were reintroduced to carry Volvo’s name and reputation for safety. These popular park attractions offer children the opportunity to drive electric-powered vehicles made to look like LEGO bricks within the controlled environment of the drive course. The rules of the road are emphasized, as well as good safety habits such as buckling up seatbelts.

“By encouraging safety as a learned behavior at an early age, we all benefit - it’s never too early to learn about the rules of the road,” said Doolan.

“We specialize in family education and entertainment,” said John Jakobsen, president and GM of LEGOLAND® California. “Our partnership with Volvo brings the type of quality and reputation that our visitors expect from their experience in the park. We could almost consider our driving programs a public service, in addition to fun and adventure,” he said.

VCNA, part of the Volvo Car Corporation of Gothenburg, Sweden, provides marketing, sales, parts, service, technology and training support to Volvo automobile retailers in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

In addition to the award-winning XC90, the Volvo automobile line is comprised of: the 2004.5 all-new S40 sedan; the sporty S60 sedan – including the award-winning performance sedan – S60 R, and its performance wagon counterpart – the V70 R; the flagship S80 luxury sedan; versatile V70 wagon and rugged XC70 (Cross Country); the C70 convertible; and, the compact S40 and V40 models.

LEGOLAND California is a 128-acre theme park geared specifically towards youngsters ages two through 12. With more than 50 family rides, “hands-on” attractions and shows, LEGOLAND California provides education, adventure and fun in this first park of its kind in the United States.

In addition to LEGOLAND California, there are three other LEGOLAND parks in the world - LEGOLAND Billund in Denmark; LEGOLAND Windsor, outside of London; and LEGOLAND Deutschland in Germany.



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Camera-Equipped HUMMER Records Man Vandalizing Vehicle/Signing His Own Death Warrant

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In Dallas, Texas, Bea Arthur [sorry, The Golden Girls was on TV at my gym this morning] has been recorded on video tape wreaking tree-hugging havoc on a burgundy HUMMER. According to the Dallas Morning News, surveillance footage captured by HUMMER’s security system recorded an unidentified man keying a large “X” into the side of a HUMMER left in the Carroll Senior High School parking lot. Detective Keith Fulgium, who is investigating the case, said that vandalism is not an isolated incident by any means. As a matter of fact, Fulgium’s department has been flooded with reports from HUMMER owners complaining of similar X’s keyed into their cars.

Thanks to the footage captured by the HUMMER, police now have a better working identity with which to actively pursue the man, and a BOLO [Be On The Lookout, come on, stay current on your COPS episodes people] has been issued for a white male in his 50 to 60’s driving a gold Honda or BMW. If anyone has any information regarding the whereabouts of the suspect, they are urged to file the serial number off the firearm and assemble a convincing alibi before phoning the department tip line to direct them where to find the body. I mean this is Texas, there are rules…



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GM, Ford Fight To Keep Government Bailouts, Say Detroit Is Not Wall Street

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Earlier this month, mortgage lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which collectively own or guarantee roughly $5 trillion in mortgages, were seized by the U.S. government to prevent an even more catastrophic housing industry collapse. Last week, when global investment firm Lehman Brothers began to go belly up, the federal government wasn’t nearly as charitable and on Monday, Lehman Brothers headed into bankruptcy. Watching the events unfold from Detroit, GM, Ford, and Chrysler have begun to get nervous.

With the failure of Lehman Brothers, some auto industry analysts fear the government has drawn a line on federal intervention, just when the Detroit 3 need it most. Getting proactive, teams of lobbyists and executives representing the biggest auto manufacturers have begun to flood Washington, hoping to remind them that Detroit is not Wall Street. “[It's] a very separable issue,” said Ford. Still, lawmakers are approaching the loan requests with caution, and the foot dragging is yielding to frustration. According to Auto News, GM CEO Rick Wagoner was quoted explaining to the press, “The financial markets have worsened so much since the energy security act was passed last year, that providing the loans would seem to be the appropriate and fair thing to do right now.”

Other accounts report that auto makers are cautiously optimistic that they’ll receive the bailouts they need, and as of right now, no one is planning on shutting their doors. Said Wagoner, “I can’t really say at this point that I’ve seen specific ramifications from yesterday’s actions [referring to the Lehman Brothers failure], but we have to watch that closely.”



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2009 Honda Civic Hybrid Gets A Facelift, Still Requires Beergoggles To Be Hot

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As a part of the mid-cycle upgrade Honda is performing on its 2009 model line-up, the forgettable Honda Civic Hybrid will be getting some upper-class editions. Offered in basic budget trim levels before, the face-lifted 2009 Civic Hybrid will the option of leather seats and leather-wrapped steering wheel. Still priced below the Prius, the premium ‘09 Civic Hybrids will now feature Bluetooth HandsFreeLink mobile, and the entertainment system will gain a USB/iPod interface adapter. The biggest change, however, is the Honda Civic’s exterior revision.

While we realize that Honda is still smarting over their initial epic failure with the Honda Insight and we hate to kick someone when they’re down [no really, we don't like to do it], we have to say we’re rapidly losing patience with Honda’s lack of innovative exterior design. The Civic is an old favorite, so people humor it, but we seriously can’t remember the last time we saw or heard anything about a Honda Civic and thought, “Damn, that’s pretty cool.” In fact, Honda is becoming a lot like that weird kid everybody knew in high school who was always on the fringe of the cool crowd, just barely avoiding alienation as a loser. You know the kid, he played 5th string on the football team and was always the first one to get stupid-drunk at a party…he was humored, but never really respected. Well congratulations Honda, by continuing to be just another unremarkable sedan, you are rapidly becoming the kid who still hits on high school girls a full five years after he graduated.



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Today’s Life Lesson Courtesy of Columbus, Ohio: Don’t Bring An Egg to A Gun Fight

| понедельник, 28 сентября 2009 г.


Obviously preferring the Charles-Bronson-à-la-Death-Wish method of exacting justice, an unidentified Ohio resident is responsible for fatally shooting a teenage prankster. According to police, 16-year-old Garret Burton was shot in the head around 3am Sunday morning while he and a companion were in the backyard of a home. Earlier that evening, Burton and fellow pranksters had been egging cars in the local neighborhood. Not the first dumbass kid to mess with the wrong property owner, in December of 2006, 14-year-old Danny Crawford met a similar fate after he and a group of boys threw an egg at a car. The best part? No suspects have been charged in either shooting. Apparently, Columbus, Ohio has a zero-tolerance policy for the product of poor and/or absentee parenting. I [temporarily abandoning the royal "we"] say, hell yeah.

[News Source: The News-Messenger.com]



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Prius Owners Aware of Elitist Image, Shrug Nonchalantly And Instruct Young, Supple Cabana Boy To Fetch More Grapes

| суббота, 26 сентября 2009 г.

According to a story run by FOX news, Prius owners are aware of their own pretentious, self-absorbed stereotype and are basking in the exclusivity. Ingeniously creating a way to worship not only themselves but also each other, Prius owners inspired the creation of Priuschat.com, a self-described online “support group”. The website provides several resources for Prius owners, including multiple tips for bagging out your Prius. One suggestion advised [which we quote verbatim], “Impress your friends by keeping your car clean with these WeatherTech Toyota Prius Extreme-Duty Floor Liners & Cargo Liner Mat.” In addition to hot-rod modification tips, priuschat.com also features - as the name would imply - a chat forum largely dedicated to allowing Prius owners to commiserate on the hardships of living amongst the wastrel dregs of society. As one poster on priuschat.com lamented, “I think that we Prius owners need a dating/whatever program, to hook us up with other Prius owners.” Vivid memories of repeatedly being shoved in lockers probably terrorized him, because the poster was quick to classify the comment as a joke, but did add that he does have a sincere “…inability to look at people with gas-burning cars as attractive.”

We are so stunned by the blatant arrogance, we can’t even think of a decent pedophelia-related retort.

[Source: Fox News]



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Tracking Your CO2 Emissions: Mother Earth Is Watching You

| понедельник, 7 сентября 2009 г.

Meet “Green Wheels”,  a program that calculates the carbon dioxide emissions of individual vehicles. Tracking via satellite, Green Wheels compiles a driver’s CO2 emissions profile based on information recorded on speed, acceleration, braking, and steering.

Driver’s are then given a grade from A to G [mimicking the grading scale used in UK schools] evaluating the level of CO2 emissions their particular driving style produces. The program, still in its prelimary testing phase, was developed by the UK insurance company, More Th>n ["More Than"].

Keith Maxwell, one of the project suits for Green Wheels, said that although the program doesn’t offer a premium break for participants now, in the future it might. Rumors are also circulating that Green Wheels technology might also soon be used by United States insurance companies as well. According to Maxwell, “If someone is not accelerating, braking, and cornering hard, that tells us he is a better risk…there’s a demand for a product which allows people to learn about fuel efficiency, and benefit for us is that we can learn about driver behavior.”

[Source: Automotive News]



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ATTN SUV Owners: Rumble w/ Hybrid Drivers, Parking Lot, 4pm

| суббота, 5 сентября 2009 г.

According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, if you do not currently own (or are at least seriously contemplating owning) a Toyota Prius, you are probably unworthy of drawing oxygen into your lungs. And if you own a Chevrolet Avalanche? Well, you just go ahead and start tightening that noose – we’ll stand by and kick the chair out from under you when you’re ready.

Singling out the Chevy Avalanche Fan Club of North America’s South Florida chapter, the article interviewed several of the chapter’s charter members while maintaining a distinct air of disdain. In addition to obnoxious editorializing the article also cities statistics that are technically inaccurate. Among the discrepancies;  a reported EPA estimate of 12mpg as opposed to the listed 14mpg, and an average curb weight of over 7,000 lbs – roughly 1,500lbs more than the Avalanche’s actual 5,500lbs.  Though obviously not a gross manipulation of the data, the inconsistencies coupled with the article’s sanctimonious undertones appear to communicate a growing belief that SUV owners are guilty of negligence of criminal proportions.  Congratulations on adhering to the journalists’ creed of accuracy and fairness, Sun Sentinel – take a bow.



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