Consumer Reports isn't giving all-electric cars and climate change a lot of attention

-
Image
Honda will be the next automaker to market an all-electric car as Toyota continues to sit on the sidelines. -- HACKENSACK, N.J. By VICTOR E. SASSON EDITOR Consumer Reports seems to have a blind spot for all-electric cars. The magazine's annual Auto Issue, just out, picks the 10 best new cars for 2017, but all of them use gasoline. For a full report, see: Consumer Reports smells (of gasoline)
Post a Comment

Satirist Bill Maher: Ads show Volkswagen is 'the first name in clouds of poison gas'

-
Satirist Bill Maher devoted a segment of his Friday night HBO show to the scandal involving 11 million Volkswagen and Audi cars produced in 2009-15 with "clean-diesel" engines rigged to hide that they pollute far more than the law allows.

A Volkswagen Beetle with the TDI "clean-diesel" engine.


By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Comedian Bill Maher invoked Germany's Nazi past and the Holocaust in reviewing what he said were old Volkswagen print ads.

The first ad identified "Volkswagen [as] the first name in clouds of poison gas." 

That's an apparent reference to the Zyklon B gas the Nazis used to kill millions of Jews, Gypsies and other undesirable during World War II.

Another said, "We call it the Rabbit because we can't stop screwing you."

See the segment from "Real Time with Bill Maher" by clicking on the following link:

Skit on Volkswagen diesel scandal


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Warning to Tesla owners: Don't follow N.Y. Times guide to autonomous driving

-
Image
On Route 80 west in northern New Jersey on Saturday, I briefly engaged the autonomous-driving features of my Tesla Model S, allowing pedal-free and hands-free driving. But a recent New York Times article erred on how the system works. By VICTOR E. SASSON EDITOR New York Times reporter Aaron M. Kessler made two big errors in reporting on high-speed autonomous driving in the Tesla Model S, and one of them could land owners off the road. In an Oct. 15 article in the paper's Wheels newsletter, Kessler said a software update gave owners Autopilot, "a semi-autonomous feature that allows hands-free, pedal-free driving on the highway under certain conditions." But the business-automotive writer made no mention of Autosteer, the other shoe that has to drop for the car to "drive us, rather than the other way around," as Kessler put it. I had the same incomplete understanding on Oct. 16, when I first tried Autopilot on Route 80 west, near my home in northern New Jersey. I ...
Read more

Do auto writers really think EV buyers would choose a Bolt over Tesla's Model 3?

-
Image
The Chevrolet Spark EV, above, and the Bolt EV Concept, below, bear a family resemblance. The Spark is available only in California and Oregon. The Bolt is scheduled to be produced as a 2017 model with a battery that will give it a range of more than 200 miles, General Motors says. The Chevrolet Bolt EV Concept. Compare the forthcoming Tesla Model 3 to the Chevy Bolt Concept. This photo is from Auto Express. By VICTOR E. SASSON EDITOR If you treat an auto writer to an espresso and pastry before a splashy press conference, he or she will write almost anything. That must be the explanation for all of those stories out of the Detroit Auto Show, setting up a confrontation between all-electric cars from Chevrolet and Tesla. Yes. Chevy is the GM division that gave us defective ignition switches, the Nova or "no va" (Spanish for "doesn't go") and the Corvair's dangerous swing-axle rear suspension. Tesla, the upstart maker of all-electric luxury cars, is working on ...
Read more

If you think a Tesla is 'expensive,' check out bloated MSRPs of luxury competitors

-
Image
The MSRP of the all-electric Tesla Model S ranges from $69,900 to $104,500. Some competing luxury models from major automakers cost far more. By VICTOR E. SASSON EDITOR Consumer Reports gave the Tesla Model S its highest rating -- 99 out of 100 -- and a survey showed a higher percentage of owners say they would buy the all-electric luxury car again. But writers and blogger never fail to point out a Tesla Model S is "expensive." The MSRP of a Model S ranges from $69,900 for the 60, which has a range of 208 miles on a full charge, to $104,500 for the P85D, an all-wheel-drive performance model that may be the fastest production car in the world. Is 208 miles enough? How many of you can drive that far without stopping to go to the bathroom? Lexus and Mercedes Compare that to the $120,440 Lexus is asking for its LS 600h L, a gas-electric hybrid with a long wheelbase and roomier back seat. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class luxury sedans range from $94,400 for a V-8 powered S550 to an astro...
Read more