Porsche Panamera

Here's the new Porsche Panamera, Porsche's recent foray into a sedan to compete with BMW. This car's due to arrive in 2007. 


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Porsche Boxster S vs. BMW Z4 M Roadster

Here's a video on a topic close to my heart. From Top Gear...

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Dallas to Get Third Car Race Track

It's been reported in the Dallas Morning News that Dallas will be getting it's third car racing facility later this year. Named Racers Ranch, the facility will be 40 minutes east of Dallas. I can't wait!!!

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Porsche GT3 - Ferrari F40 - Lotus Elise

Enjoy a little track time ride from a video I found!

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Stitches and Crutches

Volvo saves another one.

Their astouning reputation for occupant safety allowed a friend of my sister-in-law to leave the hospital with only stitches and crutches after this incident. Other used cars have great safety ratings as well, but Volvo proudly reins from the top of the mountain.

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Water Powered Car

Perhaps further progress on the quest to reduce our dependence on oil. I wonder how fast his test car goes?

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Porsche Powered VW Bus

I've heard of a few of these around. Put a Porsche 911 engine into a VW bus. Sleeper.... A good Porsche mechanic can make the swap without too much difficulty. Be prepared to pay several thousand for the 911 engine alone, though.

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More Thoughts on the Oil Crisis

Here's another perspective on the "oil crisis". Ben Stein, economist, lawyer and actor offers an article on the topic this month.

Me, I'll keep gasing up the race car multiple times on weekends. That's probably worse than owning a big SUV (which I don't), but it only happens a handful of times a year. A small price to pay for my little vice and love of used cars.

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A Compact Car For Women

A funny short video I found.

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Is the Better Car More Important???

Found on the web. Better car; you decide....

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80 MPH in Texas

Well, not in this video I found...

Texas is proposing an increase to the speed limit in west Texas to 80 MPH. Do you think the used cars in the US can handle a meager 80 MPH with all the vehicle improvements? I'd love to see the roads in Texas used more like those in Germany, such as in the video above. With nice cars like the Subaru Impreza and Mitsubishi Lancer Evo depicted in the video above, and my favorites the BMW and Porsche, it's too bad we can't enjoy more legal spirited driving here in the US. Too bad most people aren't ready for it, even though the cars and many of the roads are much more capable.

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Number 1

Don't be fooled, people. Not everything gets reported to Carfax. It's a good place to start, but that's all. That's why I trust this man, Bo. He's the guy I send to look at used cars and used trucks we want to buy. He can spot paint work at 100 yards. Seriously.

He's saved my butt hundreds of times over the years. We'll hear of an available car, run a Carfax which comes up clean, and the car looks good to me from a distance. Then as we approach the car, Bo points out some paintwork or defect that part of the time I can't even see when I'm right up on the car. He's been doing this for over 20 years and he has the eye. To me, Bo is number 1.

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How Much to Spend on Wheels???

Should you spend half of the price of a car on wheels??? The practical answer is 'no', but for the majority, it's 'yes'. This BMW 740i was delivered with 19 inch Alpina wheels. The car looked nice to start, but is really stunning with the wheels. I'm sure you agree. The wheels were a third of the price of the car. Alpina is a BMW tuner in Germany, and their wheels are available in the US.

If it makes you happy, makes your used car unique and you can afford it, go for it.

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400 HP isn't Enuf in the Rain?!?!?!

I'm not sure I believe it (want to try it, though!!!), but Satch Carlson at the Roundel magazine claims Steve Dinan has extolled that 400 HP is NOT enough horsepower for a Dinan BMW M5 in the rain on the track.

For those of you who don't know, Steve Dinan is a "tuner", based in the San Francisco area. He's known for making our favorite car go faster and handle better. He also works-over Mini's, too, btw. If your BMW isn't fast enough, Dinan products can improve horsepower and not void your BMW warranty. You can add their products to most any used BMW I find for you.

If you're in the Dallas area, Autoscope can do the upgrades for you. I once owned a Hartge tuned BMW 535i years ago and it was a blast!!!

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BMW Sadness???

Wait, that's not a BMW....

Nobody has enough garage space. For me, it's the 'company' used cars that usually get garage space first (except big trucks which are just too big for garages, IMHO), followed by my higher value (read: under $20k) cars that get the luxury of covered parking.

It occurred to me today as I was moving cars around at home for covered parking, that my 74 Porsche 914-6 conversion weekend car (above - no A/C, and I live in Texas!!!) was more valuable than my 98 M3 daily driver. So, in goes the Porsche and to the elements sits the M3.

The M3 is a hoot to drive. It's white, so it's a sleeper to the local authorities. But, because the new 06 BMW 3 series is out, two generations newer than mine, my values have plummented in the last year. On the bright side, at about $10k, it makes it much easier for middle income earners to buy one. The car is extremely reliable. I just had the 90k service performed on mine. The car came with an extended warranty, and other than routine maintenance items, I believe all I've paid extra for was the alternator maintenance.

The follow-on note of sadness was that the 'convertible' season for us in Dallas is too short. In May, I'm already opting for a/c vs. top down motoring....

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Is There Really an Oil Crisis?

I was listening to conservative talk radio this morning. An oil expert said that we had 1.28 TRILLION barrels of known oil in the world, more than ever reported before.

Some say we should not harm the environment and only get oil from places currently with oil wells. No spoiling Alaskan waters or forests. If we can't use what we currently have access to, we don't deserve it.

Then we have to deal with corn lobbyists who have the government convinced that ETHANOL is the savior. Never mind that ethanol is 25-40% less efficient than gas.

Phil Stuart and his site randomuselessinfo has tracked his gas prices and decreed that, with inflation adjustments, gas is cheaper than in the 80s (though not the 90s...a rare bargain for us). If you take into consideration fuel economy in used cars and used trucks, I suspect that we're much better off than we were in the 80s.


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Car Exchange

Now, here's an idea that's come across my desk today. It's a temporary car exchange. Not everybody gets to be like me where he drives an Audi today, an F250 yesterday and a Porsche on Sunday. And, even *I* have cars I haven't driven and I'd like to drive. :-)

A bunch of people get together in a given area, such as Dallas, and the system matches people up based upon their car driving desires. Here's the website: squadrapiloti. Sounds like fun to me!!!

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RUF Porsche

If you haven't already heard, RUF has a dealership here in the US, and it's right here in Dallas! You won't see many of these cars around town; I believe this car has moved to Connecticut. It's a RUF RGT.

http://www.rufautocentre.com is a place to do routine maintenance, get go-fast RUF parts put on your existing Porsche, or the place to buy a factory RUF vehicle.

I'm not getting anything for this plug. These guys are fun to run with at the local Texas tracks, and they're very knowledgeable.

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