Ask Carlos (about cars and other random stuff)

2006-04-03T00:24:00.000-04:00

For one of my MBA classes, I had to pick and discuss an article relating to globalization and/or the world economy. So, I picked on entitled "Down and out in Bloomfield Hills". It was actually on the cover of the Wall St. Journal this week. Here is what I wrote. Keep in mind that I had to put a bit of a "pro globalization" spin on it, which makes it a little harsher towards the working men and women of the UAW that are probably going to be royally screwed:

Discussion of “Down and Out in Bloomfield Hills” and “Delphi’s Deep Cuts Heighten Detroit’s Crisis”, WSJ April 1,2006

This article is a poignant discussion of the issues facing the Detroit area in light of ongoing downsizing at Ford and General Motors. The Detroit area has been going through some very difficult changes over the past few years as profits at Ford and GM have dried up. One could easily argue that the Detroit area would be better off without foreign competition. First let’s take a look at what happened to the Detroit automakers.
The US auto industry, with the exception of the Volkswagen Beetle, was primarily a domestic industry until the mid 1970’s. At that time, Detroit was making gas guzzling vehicles that were of poor build quality. Japanese companies such as Toyota, Datsun (now Nissan), and Honda showed up with fuel efficient high quality vehicles. Since then, Detroit has watched its market share erode.
Fast forward to the present. Truck and SUV sales, the last bastion of strength for Ford and GM, are drying up in light of high fuel costs, and the companies were not prepared with compelling fuel-efficient alternatives. As a result, profits are in a tailspin. Since the Detroit economy is heavily based on the automotive industry, from executives in Bloomfield Hills to factory workers in Taylor, everyone is hurting. People who don’t even work in automotive are having financial troubles, especially in service industries such as personal care and in restaurants. Michigan has lost 21,000 jobs since November alone. Delphi Corporation, a Tier 1 automotive supplier, has filed for bankruptcy, and in attempting to renegotiate union contracts, the resulting strikes could also bring its biggest customer, General Motors, into bankruptcy.
The pain felt in Michigan could have been avoided had the Japanese automakers never come to the US. Michigan’s economy would clearly be better off had everything remained status quo. Ford and GM would not be closing plants and reducing office staffs. Million dollar homes in Bloomfield Hills would not be on the market for over a year, and my house in Dearborn would not be going down in value. The foreclosure rate in the Detroit area is higher than any major metro area in the country.
Fortunately for US consumers, we do live in a global economy. Had the Detroit automakers continued in an isolated economy, they would have continued to make vehicles of questionable quality and low value to the consumer. The onslaught of Japanese competition drove improvements in quality across the board, and the price of vehicles relative to inflation, has actually gone down in recent years. As other international companies, such as Hyundai, enter the market, US consumers will benefit even more.
The people losing out in the globalization of the US automotive market are the unionized workers in the US. These are people who, with little education, have jobs that pay them $27/hour. Having grown up in Livonia, which houses many UAW employees, I know that these are people that tend to spend all of their money and save very little. They went to work at age 20 and were paid handsomely for rather simple tasks. They counted on GM or Ford to always be there for their pension and medical benefits.
As Detroit struggles, southern states, where the international car companies have built plants, are reaping the benefits of economic growth. Indeed, Toyota just built a plant near San Antonio, TX, while Ford and GM have announced closure of over 10 plants in the next few years. In China, automotive suppliers are now setting up shop to supply car companies globally. Workers in China will now benefit from higher wages and steady jobs, unfortunately, at the expense of workers at US companies like Delphi.
The current situation in Detroit is a great example of how Globalization and the World Economy will cause some short-term pain in certain regions, but will overall benefit the world. Ford and General Motors will either cease to exist as we know them, or they will emerge as stronger competitors. Consumers in the US have benefited from foreign competition, and workers in other regions of the world are benefiting from newfound jobs.

2006-03-29T23:19:00.000-05:00

Ok, so this is how its going to work.

If you want to ask a car question, simply send an email to: carlos.sundat@gmail.com

I'll be better about posting on here if I get more emails there.

My car news:

Sold the Protege for $400.
Registered the SVX for a cool $80. Swiftly proceded to grenade the transmission. Well, it goes forward, but just not backwards anymore. Hopefully it is something simple, we'll see.
Started driving the Miata again and installed some new speakers. Love that car.
Test drove a Mazda 3. I want one pretty badly, but buying a new car is such a bad idea right now for me.

That's about it.

Oh, and here's a cool link from the past...its from when I raced my 1988 Audi at the $2004 Grassroots Challenge: http://moonpatrol.org/~craig/audi.htm

2006-03-10T07:26:00.000-05:00

Question from the greater Boston area:

If I'm accelerating hard in 4th or 5th to get up to speed on the highway and
I see the tach rev up to 3500, 4000 with no associated power... and I have
to ease of the accelerator to get the feel of power back...

When should I replace the clutch?

Well Terry, it depends on how much you mind being stranded on the side of the road. As long as you have some sort of roadside assistance (AAA or likewise), I'd just keep driving it until it won't go anymore. Chances are you don't have much time left though, and your clutch is most likely to fail at an inopportune time on a cold morning.

There is a possibility that it is slipping because oil is leaking onto the pressure plate / driven disc. Have you noticed any oil leaks?

2006-02-25T11:28:00.000-05:00

hey folks!

Last night I was the designated driver for my buddy Scott's bachelor party. I got to drive around in his 5-speed Lexus IS 300. It was much more fun to drive than I had anticipated. With 70,000 miles on the clock, it felt very tight. I got into my LS afterwards, and I admit it felt a bit sloppy. Totally different markets for the two cars, but it made me wish that Lincoln had a BMW 3-series or IS 300 competitor.
I leave for Switzerland today. Whenever I go to a foreign country, I spend way too much time looking at the cars. Its amazing the stuff that Europe gets that we don't...like the 45 mpg diesel Focus, the Mondeo, etc.
I now own an SVX. I've recruited my buddies Keith and Jake to run it in the $2006 Grassroots Motorsports Challenge with me. The car _will_ have nitrous, unless we discover some serious problems in the next month.
My Protege is still for sale. I even bled the brakes and adjusted the neutral start switch, which increased the value by approximately $5!

2006-02-18T11:01:00.000-05:00

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.

2006-02-08T22:15:00.000-05:00

I just went for a ride in a 2002 BMW M5. The car is amazing...so much power, so smooth. Too bad a used one still runs $50K! My friends who work for The General brought it by. The car was a benchmarking vehicle for the Cadillac CTS-V. It still had the Nürburgring stickers on it.

Speaking of GM...they lost $8 Billion dollars last year. Its amazing to think that only 30 years ago the federal government wanted to break them up due to anti-trust laws. I really don't feel that sorry for GM as a company, but I do feel sorry for the 300,000 people that work there. Its amazing how some poor management decisions are killing a once great company. Let's delve into GM's product line.

Saturn. What in the world...they had such an opportunity with Saturn. Anyone would buy a Saturn just because of the sales/service experience. Then the Ion came out. What a fugly piece of junk. Everything about the car is cheap, the only person I know that likes hers came out of a 1986 Cavalier. Now GM is closing the Spring Hill, TN plant that makes Saturns. They spent $1 billion to open that plant, and it is one of their nicest facilities. The biggest reason they are closing it is because there is a separate union contract so they can easily lay of the workers. Sad.

Chevrolet. Who buys Chevy's? As far as I can tell, only rednecks and rental car agencies buy Chevy's. I take that back...the Corvette is an amazing piece of machinery. I will admit, the Cobalt is a nice small car, but since Chevy's "brand equity" for cars (not trucks) is just about zero, they have to put huge discounts on the Cobalt. If that car was badged as a Honda, it would sell like hotcakes.

Buick. Did you even know that was part of GM? The last Buick I drove was as a rental when I went to Boston a few years ago. It was AWFUL. It made the Taurus look exciting. What a waste of raw materials. Please send Buick the way of Oldsmobile soon.

I should mention Cadillac as the crown jewel of GM. Their lineup is outstanding, and it is clear that Lincoln is envious of what Caddy has done. Lincoln has decided to emulate Caddy's new badging system, as evidenced in the Zephyr to MKZ name switch. I, for one, really liked the Zephyr name. And if the Escalade didn't have enough bling for you, the new Navigator might just do it.

I yearnfully looked at my Miata tonight. It sits peacefully in my garage...thanking me for not subjecting it to another Michigan winter. In its 11 years on earth, I believe this is the first time it hasn't been subjected to the salt slurry found on Michigan's roads. I think I'll put it back on the road after spring break. Then I can sell my '91 Protege...for cheap. Know anyone that wants a $400 car that runs/drives well?

I've been thinking about dumping the LS and picking up a Protege5. I would love to have all 4-cylinder vehicles in my fleet, as I drive a lot. The LS sucks down premium at a rate of ~ 24 mpg...I'd save ~$80/month if I got a car that used regular at a rate of 30 mpg.

In Michigan economic news, Toyota won't be opening a plant here anytime soon thanks to the UAW. Did you know that Michigan has the worst unemployment rate in the country now? Maybe that's why my house has only gone up 1% in value in 3.5 years...

Trivia question: what was the largest displacement AMC engine ever made?

2006-01-21T14:29:00.000-05:00

So, the whole point of this is to provide a forum for giving car advice. I'm not sure how that's going to work, but for now it's fun to rant and rave a bit about cars.

Today I gave some advice about a 1994 Honda Civic. T's friend was going to call Car Talk, and my she told her that I'd do a better job. Thanks for the vote of confidence, T! Anyway, Laurie is having a problem where her car just dies while driving. If she holds the key in place, the car will keep running. It needs a new ignition switch, and the car parts place wanted $250 for the part! In 30 seconds, I found her a new keyswitch for $80 on eBay. Hopefully she can find some shady mechanic to put it in for $100 or so.

By the way, I love eBay. Some knucklehead has bid up a Mercury Marauder brochure I have on there to $12. Pure profit, baby...I got it for free at the auto show a few years back. Its amazing what people will buy.

I'm in desparate need of a truck today...I have to pick up a free stove, oven, and dishwasher in Ann Arbor. I can't justify buying a truck, but it would be nice to have something with cargo abilities. I'm thinking a Mazda3 hatchback might be the perfect car for me, but they are impossible to find used for a good deal. A new car payment goes against my "less is more" philosophy when it comes to stuff.

In Detroit economic news, Ford laid off almost every contract engineer yesterday. A friend of mine was walked out after working there for 8 years. He has to figure out how to feed his wife and kids now. Scary. When I got into this business 6 years ago, I never would have thought it could come to this. Next week, a big round of layoffs is supposed to happen. More people I know will lose their jobs.

Message to all: please buy American cars so the metro Detroit area doesn't turn into a gigantic Flint.

2006-01-16T13:08:00.000-05:00

So, I managed to forget my login name, and I've been generally busy. So, for the 2 people that might actually be watching this, sorry...

This week marks the Detroit Auto Show, otherwise known as the North American International Auto Show. It is Detroit's time to shine, though, apparently most visitors from other countries are afraid to leave their hotel rooms.

Everyone is talking about the Camaro concept. Personally, I don't like the front end. Something isn't right about it. It is just a concept car, and I imagine the production version will look better (just like the progression of the 2005 Mustang from concept to production).

The Ford Edge is a really nice blend of car and SUV. Its Ford's latest entry in the crossover utility market. Everyone says its based on the Mazda 6, but it actually has a unique MacPherson Strut front suspension. I think the thing is going to sell very well.

The Japanese companies and GM showed off their new B-car competitors. Those are cars like the Honda Fit, Nissan Versa, Toyota Yaris, and Chevy Aveo. Talk about right time for small cars. It goes to show that if you have flexible manufacturing and intelligent marketing people, you can quickly enter a market. You have to believe that the Japanese companies were forecasting an eventual uptick in US gas prices, and these cars are part of their strategy. I think GM just got lucky. Once again, Ford is playing catchup. It goes like the old adage: Ford is a fast follower.

I wish Ford would actually produce the small Bronco that was shown at the 2004 auto show. Instead, 4x4 afficionados are salivating at the 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser. I freaking love this truck...it is such a great execution of styling vs. functionality, and at $21K, it is priced right. My buddy Kris is definately going to buy one.

I am not a huge fan of the Camry. It is kind of like the McCar if you ask me. People are saying the new version is more stylish, but my God is that front end ugly. The interior really goes upmarket, which makes me wonder what they are going to charge for it. An ex-girlfriend's mom bought a ~ 2003 Camry XLE 4-cylinder for $26,000. And the damned thing didn't even have leather, aluminum wheels, or a V6. At that price you can get a loaded Ford Fusion, which I think is a much better value proposition.

I'm cleaning up my basement right now, and I found auto show brochures going back to 1994. One of the most interesting ones (to me) was for the 1996 Taurus. At the time, Ford outsold all other midsize cars (including Camry, Accord). They introduced the 1996 Taurus and called it revolutionary. Too bad it was freaking hideous. In my mind, the '96 Taurus marked the beginning of the end of Ford as a "car" company, and it began the start of Ford as a "truck and SUV" company. It was such an utter failure that Ford seened to give up on making good cars until very recently.

In other car news...I had the pleasure of driving my Lincoln in an ice storm last weekend. No matter how good my traction control and snow tires are, RWD is a bit scary on glare ice. At one point I was going 10 mph up a hill and started going sideways. There was a van sliding BACKWARDS down the hill. Scary. I made it to class about 1 hour late. AWD would have been nice, but if I only need it once or twice a year, it isn't worth the tradeoff in fuel economy.

2006-01-02T00:39:00.000-05:00

2006-01-02T00:32:00.000-05:00

From J-cars to Hyundai

Happy New Year everybody! Time to do something different.

I've always admired Tom and Ray Magliozzi. They are the Car Talk guys, aka "Click and Clack" on NPR. Their combination of wit, humor, and good advice has won the hearts of millions of listeners (and readers).

Many moons ago, my friend Jason and I conspired to be the next Car Talk guys. I mean, these guys are getting old, they don't always know what they are talking about, and let's face it, they are from Boston. Detroit has had its fair share of blows over the last 30 years, but shouldn't car advice come from the Motor City? A lot of people might disagree, since everyone here drives American cars. I'll be the first to admit that our local car population does not represent that of most major cities, but that doesn't stop me from respecting Japanese, German, and even Korean cars.

Ahh, Korean cars.

Allow me back up a bit. I grew up in Livonia, MI, and my formative years were in the 80's. That was a tough time in the American auto industry, and it was a tough time in Detroit. My father did not work for the Big 3, but many of my friend's parents did work at Ford or General Motors. We never knew any Chyrsler people, since they all lived on the East Side.

"Rick", who's real name will not be used, grew up in a staunch blue collar GM family. Growing up, they had cars like an Oldsmobile Toronado, and a few Chevy Astro's. "Rick's" first car was a 1984 Pontaic J2000, aka Sunbird. We nicknamed it "J", since it came off the J-body platform. Anyway, Rick's father was a welder at GM, and he would not let any Japanese cars to park on their driveway. Rick even refused to ride in one. This was their stance for many many years.

Fast forward to 2001. Rick is going to medical school, and he needs a cheap car. GM doesn't produce a $10,000 car, so he buys a 2001 Hyundai Accent. Now I personally don't have a problem with this, but its kind of funny in light of his former stance on Japanese cars.

For many years, Rick's dad was in the UAW-Delphi (former unit of GM) jobs bank. This is because Delphi sent his job to Mexico, and the UAW contract allowed Rick's dad to get paid 95% to not work. Not a bad deal, eh? Well, after about ~5 years, they finally found a job for him in Flint. So, all of a sudden he had to commute from Livonia to Flint. He was leasing an F-150 that guzzled gas. Instead of buying a new GM or Ford product, he goes out and buys a fuel efficient Hyundai Sonata. It was a nice car for a cheap price, and Rick had good luck with his Accent. Never mind that it was built in Korea!

After driving the Sonata for 6 months, Rick's dad had the chance to go from Delphi back into GM. He felt guilty about the Hyundai and he sold it, and picked up a nice Buick Lucerne.

Rick's Hyundai Accent isn't doing so well. It has 80,000 miles, and the Check Engine light is on. It has a bad Oxygen Sensor. I know this because I hooked my Palm Pilot V up to the car using an Auterra adaptor. I looked under the hood of the car, and I was surprised how rusty it was. I guess they don't have very good corrosion standards in Korea.

So, yeah...the point of this is for me to ramble about cars and field questions about cars. I have a broad automotive knowledge from working in the industry for 7+ years, and I've been an amateur mechanic for 14 years. I've owned over 30 cars. Back in college I used to buy cars, fix them, drive them, then sell them. Below is the list of cars I have owned if anyone was wondering...it now spans 5 decades!

Feel free to ask me any questions like.

1985 Buick Skyhawk
1984 Ford Tempo
1986 Nissan Sentra
1982 Volkswagen Rabbit
1968 Volkswagen Beetle
1971 Volkswagen Beetle
1982 Buick Regal
1982 Mercury Capri
1991 Pontiac Grand Am
1985 Volkswagen GTI
1979 Ford Bronco
1974 Volkswagen Beetle
1982 Volkswagen Rabbit
1990 Subaru Loyale
1982 Ford Escort
1988 Toyota Tercel
1990 Ford Probe GT
1998 Ford Contour SVT
1986 Subaru GL
1994 Ford Crown Victoria
1990 Lincoln Town Car
2001 Ford Mustang Bullitt
1993 Ford Bronco
2003 Ford Mustang Mach 1
1996 Ford Explorer
1986 Audi 4000
1988 Mercury Grand Marquis
1995 Mazda Miata (currently own)
1979 Mazda RX7
1988 Ford Mustang GT
1997 Chevy Blazer
2001 Lincoln LS (currently own)
1991 Mazda Protégé (currently own)