Urbane Gorilla!

Auto Parts Retailers Outperform

I was watching GT (Goodyear Tire) move up and thinking how gurus were saying that without auto sales, their market would dry up. In the back of my mind was the niggling little thought "If people aren't buying new cars they'll need to replace the tires on their old clunkers.."

jegan ;-)

Google and Apple Defy Declining Customer-Satisfaction Trends

Sorry... I have to disagree.... I rented a mid-compact GM ""something"" in Hawaii... It seats five and had room for luggage... It really was a plasticky poorly made vehicle and suffered pretty bad gas mileage for the week we drove it. Compare that to the Fiat diesel we rented in Italy. No comparison... The Fiat wins hands down... Nor did it spew clouds of black smoke or clank like you have a bad case of rod-knock like American diesels seem to do. In fact it was real peppy and smooth.

Then look at engine life expectancy. I was looking at buying a used Mustang, but settled on a used BMW. Why? For the same price I found that the life expectancy of the Mustang engine (based on anecdotal info...) was a little over 100K miles, whereas the BMW would run to 250K miles....And the mileage was better.

I suggest you read the article in Wired where Jay Leno explains what is wrong with American manufacturers.... In essence he notes that American manufacturers penalize buyers for buying a cheap car. As he notes, there is no reason why a cheap car can't also be a quality investment. And, I agree.

jegan ;-)