I think pretty much every guy goes through a car phase growing up. I used to be able to identify almost every car on the road with just a quick glance. I could rattle off the manufacturer, make, year and lots of other useless data… especially for the “muscle cars”:1 of the 60s and early 70s. Of course, I loved car chase movies too.

One of the classic movies of this genre is “Vanishing Point”:2. I don’t really remember what the plot was all about (which just gets in the way of the car chases anyway), but I do remember that the car was fast, looked cool and could burn lots of rubber. Pretty much what any adolescent kid wanted from a car.

Well, it looks like _that_ car is coming back. After a long hiatus, the Challenger will be back in 2007 (at least that’s what the WSJ is thinking). The “Challenger concept car”:3, along with the “Camaro concept car”:4, are the big hits from this year’s Detroit Auto Show. Hopefully, these cars will help get Detroit out of its current funk.

…and, of course, it’s got a Hemi.

[4(Autoblog on the Camaro concept car)]http://www.autoblog.com/2006/01/09/debut-of-the-chevrolet-camaro-concept/

[3(Autoblog on the Challenger concept car release)]http://www.autoblog.com/2006/01/08/dodge-challenger-official-photos-and-release/

[2(IMDB on Vanishing Point)]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067927/

[1(Wikipedia on muscle cars)]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_car

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, I’m sure that you’ve heard that the Big Three in Detroit are facing some huge financial problems. Things like high labor costs, incredible pension obligations and other monetary issues leave both GM and Ford on the brink of declaring bankruptcy. Surprisingly, Chrysler is doing the best of the three.

But the bigger problem with Detroit in my opinion is with their products. They’re just… well, bland… and that’s being kind. A statistic that illustrates this issue is the “days to turn” number. Days to turn is the average number of days that a car sits on the lot of a dealer before being sold. Although is not perfect, it’s a pretty good proxy for what is “hot.”

table{text-align:center}.
| *Vehicle* | *Days to Turn* |
|<. Toyota Prius| 7|
|<. Mercedes-Benz G-Class|9|
|<. Scion tC |11|
|<. Lexus GS Sedan |15|
|<. Audi A8/S8|15|
|<. Toyota Avalon |16|
|<. Lexus GX 470 |16|
|<. Toyota Tacoma|16|
|<. Honda Odyssey|17|
|<. Infiniti M35/M45 |17|

I obtained this chart from the “May 2005″:1 issue of J.D. Power’s PinPoint publication. It’s noted in the original PinPoint chart that both the Mercedes-Benz G-Class and Audi A8/S8 data came from a small sample size which may have affected the results.

I had seen more recent data than May 2005 in the WSJ, but I couldn’t find the article through the WSJ’s search feature. But the point is the same, since in the more recent chart, no Detroit-made cars made the list.

[1(Link to original PinPoint publication)]http://www.powerinfonet.com/news/documents/PINPoint%2005232005.pdf

OMG, what is the dealio with Yahoo! sometimes? For example, they launch a new, cool service like “Yahoo! Go”:2, and you can’t even find it by “searching on Yahoo!”:1. Jeeeezzzz.

[2(Yahoo! Go homepage)]http://go.connect.yahoo.com/go

[1(Searching on Yahoo! Go on Yahoo!)]http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv1-msgr&p=yahoo%20go

I must say that it’s kind of nice going back to a mobile like the “Nokia 8390″:1. It’s a lot like the iPod or the Tivo — devices that do a limited number of things really, really well.

The Nokia 8390 is paragon of simplicity. It doesn’t have a lot of fancy features. No complicated menuing system. No color display. No proprietary connectors. No fancy OS. No Bluetooth. Just voice and text in an intuitive and easy-to-learn way. In a word… elegance.

That’s not to say that I’m not a big fan on some of the newer mobiles coming out these days. Or the new services like Yahoo! Go. In fact, I’ll probably pick up a fancy new mobile in the near future, and with “SIM cards”:3 it’s easy to swap phones for match your modality. But for now, I’m happy with simple.

Zoinger says, “KISS”:2.

[4(Yahoo! Go homepage)]http://go.connect.yahoo.com/go

[3(Wikipedia on SIM cards)]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sim_card

[2(Wikipedia on KISS)]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle

[1(Nokia 8390 homepage)]http://www.nokiausa.com/phones/8390