The past few days were pretty fun. One of the great parts of my job is that I get to evaluate pre-production vehicles from time to time. We took a fleet of cars down to the Cincinnati area and put them through their paces. There are some really nice roads, I had no idea how hilly it is down there. It was 65 degrees on Thursday, and we were able to drive with the top down. Of course, we woke up on Friday and it was 30 degrees. Now its 5 degrees in Michigan...I hope this is winter's last stand.

There are a lot of Honda's in Ohio. I wonder if that is because they build most Accords and Civics in Marysville. Honda and Toyota are trying to paint themselves as American companies, and its hard to argue when you figure how many Americans work for them. Still, the majority of these company's profits flow into the Japanese economy.

We hung out with a girl who works for Toyota in Northern Kentucky. They make Camrys down there, and she drives an Audi A6 (which makes her incredibly hot). I wonder how many Toyota workers drive competitor vehicles. It is definately a no-no to drive a non-American car if you work for an American car company.

I'm selling my 1991 Protege for $600. I am having a hard time deciding if it is worth that much. Most people would say a running / driving car is worth at least $500. I paid $700 for my first car, and it was a bucket of rust. This little Mazda doesn't look too bad, and other than a slightly weak clutch, it should last a long time.

I'll be replacing the Mazda with a 1992 Subaru SVX. They are one of the oddest automotive creations in the last 20 years. AWD with a flat-6 engine, and goofy side glass (see picture). I'm paying $300 because it needs some work, and I'm hoping to enter it in the $2006 Grassroots Motorsports Challenge. With the addition of nitrous, I'm hoping for 13 second 1/4 mile times. It has 180,000 miles on it, so it might just explode. We'll see.