American idiots
At least 100,000 people turned out in DC to
protest the war, a war that's now scaring even those who really hated Saddam,
like the Saudis. The counterprotest, which even organizers expected
to draw only 20,000, instead
drew a mere 400 according to news reports. Methinks I hear a lame duck squawking. Now if John Kerry only had Cindy Sheehan's guts, and was willing to ask the chickenhawks in the White House, not to mention wannabe chickenhawks like Clinton and Lieberman, "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
In case you're wondering why we should bring our troops home from Bush's folly now, the Iraq war is over.
Iran won.
As for Clinton, she's rapidly overtaking Lieberman as the
Democrat most likely to pander to the far right. Heck, it may not even be a race any more.
At times, the
New York Times, like all of us at times, makes mistakes, sometimes from the left, sometimes from the right, sometimes from the heart, sometimes from the pocketbook, as with its decision to start charging cash for its op-ed columnists and thus reducing the intellectual currency that the paper receives from their unfettered description. But even with the paper's inexplicable and unforgivable defense of
Iraq war pusher Judith Miller, who was allowed to publish front page stories for the paper of record seemingly ghostwritten by Cheney/Bush and because of whom said paper is now indelibly stained with blood, every now and then one is forced to recognize why the Times is still the newspaper of record, and still, unlike Hillary Clinton, has not placed its conscience in Bill Frist's blind trust. Big ups to the Times for two stories,
one Saturday and
one Sunday, leading to the best videos on the web. Watch them - to the end - and if you're Jeb Bush (or Barbara) weep:
www.theblacklantern.com (I ain't saying Bush is a gold digger...)
smashface.com/vlog (Summer has come and passed/the innocent can never last...)
Then wake me up when Bush's term ends.
2005 Volkswagen new Jetta 2.5 sedan: Japanese personality, German heart
Volkswagen has a huge problem with the 2005 new Jetta 2.5. Fortunately, it isn’t the 2005 new Jetta 2.5 that’s the problem.
Not the car, I mean. The problem is the name. Notice it’s not the “new 2005 Jetta,” but the “2005 new Jetta,” meant to distinguish this all-new sedan from the previous Jetta, which is still available new at some dealers and just called the “2005 Jetta,” not the “2005 old Jetta,” as VW should call it to be consistent. I’m just going to call it the 2005 Jetta 2.5, but be sure to ask for the “2005 new Jetta” when you go to the dealers. You don’t want to get stuck with an old new “2005 Jetta” when you test-drive VW’s mass-market leader.
Confused? You should be. It would have been so much easier for VW to call this the 2006 Jetta. But you know those crazy Germans – anything to confuse the Americans. On the other hand, they make good cars, and the 2005 new Jetta 2.5 – the fifth-generation Jetta - is another in a line of sedans that should find favor here in the States.
As a point of interest, the 2005 new Jetta 2.5 (sorry, just can’t stop myself from doing that – it’s so silly, I feel like I’m in a Monty Python skit) is actually made in Mexico, with 34% of the parts coming from Germany, 20% from Mexico, 8% from the US, and the engine from Japan. This is a brave new world we live in.
The Jetta itself is the European sedan engineered for American tastes, not surprising considering VW’s American sales depend heavily on the Jetta. The Jetta used to be cool, great ads, great car, a very Euro driving experience at an affordable price. The new Jetta seeks to recapture the cool that had been fading from its getting-long-in-the-tooth predecessor. After 25 years and more than 2.2 million vehicles sold in North America, Volkswagen has sent the new Jetta sallying forth into the marketplace under the flag of “All grown up. Sort of.”
This implies a new level of maturity and comfort in the Jetta without any loss of its fun-to-drive characteristics. The question is can Volkswagen pull it off.
The new Jetta replaces the old one’s 2.0-liter, 115-horsepower power plant with a 2.5-liter 150-horsepower inline 5-cylinder topping out with 170 lb.-ft. of torque at a relatively low 3,750 rpm. The 4-speed automatic is gone, replaced by a 6-speed automatic with Tiptronic (5-speed manual is a listed option). It’s listed as a compact, seating 5 with 16 cu. ft. of cargo volume. EPA mileage is 22 city/30 highway, and it runs on regular. Top speed is an electronically limited 130 mph, and VW estimates 0-60 in 9.1 seconds. It feels faster.
That’s one of those things about VW’s: They always feel faster than the numbers and handle better than the price. The new Jetta is no exception. It may be made with parts from all over the world, but it still handles largely like a Volkswagen, sending the message: Drivers wanted.
As you can infer, handling is very good – precise, firm and on-center. The new Jetta feels less demanding than its more Teutonic predecessors, but no less capable. This is still a driver’s car, and the fun’s still there.
The passengers, though, get to share in the fun. The new Jetta is larger and more comfortable than the old. Fit and finish were very good, instruments rationally conceived and well laid out, seats comfortable and supportive. Construction quality should ensure a long, creak-free life for the new Jetta, which recorded double-digit increases in torsional and dynamic rigidity. The new Jetta balances sportiness and comfort, with a quiet cockpit added to the list of pluses.
Safety, as you know if you watch TV or read a newspaper or magazine, is a strong point of the new Jetta. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tested the Jetta early at VW’s request, and said, “The 2005 Volkswagen new Jetta earned good ratings in both frontal offset and side impact crash tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Plus the Jetta is the first vehicle to earn the top rating of good in every individual measurement category (injury measures, head protection, and structural design) of the Institute’s side impact test. This car is designated a "best pick" for side crash protection, and it's a good performer for frontal crash protection. The performance of the Jetta in these tests plus its acceptable rating for seat/head restraint design in rear impact tests make it the top-rated car overall in the inexpensive midsize class.”
“The new Jetta was the first vehicle to ace our side impact test,”
said Institute president Brian O'Neill. “It's the best performer among midsize inexpensive cars. Its structural performance was better than the second- and third-best models, the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. This new Jetta design shows what manufacturers can do to improve occupant protection in serious side impacts when cars are hit by taller and heavier SUVs and pickup trucks.”
So the Jetta provides the traditional Volkswagen virtues of German engineering and handling, is larger and more refined, and still very well priced (more on that later). What about the cool?
Who knows what leads to the birth of the cool? Who knows if VW will need cool to sell the new Jetta? It shouldn’t. This new Jetta stands alone without any need for pretensions, or pretentiousness. Which may be a good thing.
My fellow auto writer Rob Schweitzer had the Jetta before I did. He has some claim to knowledge of Volkswagen cool by virtue of both owning a Passat and having VIP seats to Coldplay at the Hartford Civic Center. His complaint about the Jetta: It’s too Japanese.
That’s good news for those who want this iteration of the Jetta to be more reliable than previous versions, but not necessarily good news for those who aspire to cool. The Jetta’s front design bears a close familial resemblance to that of the new Audi A4, but in rear, it’s less distinctive, and the lines of the new Jetta are more Japanese Zen and less angular Germanic. But, as Rob well, knows, looks aren’t everything.
Money matters as well, and the pricing of the new Jetta is outstanding. The “Value Edition” begins at $17,900, and my test car came in at $24,040. That’s after adding $3,035 for a sunroof, 16” wheels, premium sound and the 6-speed Tiptronic, 
and includes the $615 destination charge. Standard equipment included all the safety features, dual-zone climate control, in-dash 6-CD changer, cruise control, trip computer and a bunch more. In other words, this is a well-equipped sedan for the price.
With the 2005 new Jetta 2.5, Volkswagen has served notice that it intends to be a strong competitor in the compact sedan marketplace. The combination of handling, pricing and performance the new Jetta 2.5 offers will make it hard to beat.
2005 Nissan Quest SE: A journey to the new
Like Paul on the road to Damascus, I had my personal conversion on the road to Maine. It was nothing quite as momentous as that of the early Christian apostle, but I’ll tell you about it anyway.
Long road trips, unless the road is Washington to Baghdad, give you time for reappraisal. The monotony of our arterial highways almost forces our thoughts inwards, our bodies focused on the road as our minds go floating on a tidal wave, drifting into outer space. It was somewhere around New Hampshire and the 14th listen that I decided I’d changed my mind – the new Coldplay CD was worthy, not just some overly mannered wannabe rock mil
estone.
That it may still be, but, as the reviewer on CBS Sunday Morning (as good a show as there is on television) commented, on the CD X and Y, Coldplay dares to try to be great. I agree. I like that. And if they don’t always succeed, there can be honor in failure when your goals are lofty. In the immortal slogan of Britain’s elite SAS, “Who dares, wins.”
At a time when we have grown so uncomfortable with thinking great thoughts, building great things, taking great risks, at a time when the Harvard MBA mentality of segment and conquer, be satisfied with incremental change, tinker with the edges, be risk averse, permeates the national psyche so completely it’s expressed in everything from radio programming to car design, it’s nice to see someone with the balls to want to be big. It’s invigorating to see someone lay it on the line as completely as Chris Martin and Coldplay does.
Much respect.
Too bad they’re Brits. That sense of daring is what America used to stand for. It went a long way towards building this country and inspiring the world. Now America’s signature is an overgrowth of warning labels. Yes, hot coffee can burn you, and if you spill it in your lap while you drive, shouldn’t you have the decency to shut up about your stupidity rather than running out to find a lawyer and make money off it? Auto reviewers aren’t perfect and neither are doctors. Don’t like it? Sue God. So there!
By now, you’re probably driven to distraction, wondering when will the meds kick in and this idiot start writing an auto review? Don’t worry; this is all part of the plan. We’re getting to the review and then you’ll see the connection. Or not! I’m not really sure how this is working. Ever since Tom Cruise talked me off my meds I’ve been a little distracted. But where were we? Oh yeah, my ever-changing mind!
Rethinking one’s initial impressions can be a good thing. Perhaps those weren’t flowers the Iraqis greeted us with. Perhaps being married to Halle Berry isn’t all a bed of roses. Perhaps my near $40K 2005 Nissan Quest SE minivan wasn’t the godawful garish design nightmare it seemed at first glance.
I can vouch for one of those. Kinda. My 2005 Nissan Quest SE did turn heads. The first time I looked in it, my head turned like Linda Blair’s in The Exorcist. The experience is hard to explain to someone who wasn’t there. I remember being in a faded Catskills resort a couple years ago for a convention. They had a wing called Futurama, which apparently was based on the early 50s idea of a plastic-dominated future and had not been upgraded since. That was the same feeling I got on my first look at the SE.
The huge, curved dash stands out. Mine came in this textured orange leather stuff that looked like nothing so much as a chunk of a giant basketball fallen to earth. This is the essence of the Quest SE. It just looks different – all ostentatious curves and Tomorrowland feel.
It didn’t help that one of those curves was in my driver’s seat. The curve of the seat was very convex towards the passenger. It looked interesting. It felt horrible.
I’m particularly sensitive to seat comfort because I have a bad back, but I don’t think such sensitivity is required in order to understand this was one huge failure of form over function. I never did get comfortable on that seat, and would gladly switch it out in a second if I could.
You probably don’t need Karl Rove to leak it to you in order to get the feeling that my initial impression of the 2005 Nissan Quest SE wasn’t exactly positive. I was so happy. At last, I’d found a Nissan I was unhappy with. Misery thrills me so.
That didn’t last. While I’m not thrilled with the Quest, I give Nissan props for daring to dream. They took the traditional minivan and tried to do something different with it, make it more interesting. Again, if it doesn’t achieve greatness, at least it never bores you, and there is an awful lot aside from the seats and the décor to like.
Start with the exterior styling. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, and therein lies its attraction. Minivans are very efficient space users, but don’t lend themselves to much design variation. Nissan tried to do something interesting with the basic shape and succeeded. This minivan is a lot edgier than one is used to seeing.
It moves faster too. Minivans are not supposed to move at the speed of sound and the Quest is no exception, but Nissan’s 240 horsepower (with premium fuel, drops to 230 with regular gas, which is all that’s actually required), 3.5-liter V6 provides excellent power, well handled by the 5-speed automatic transmission – shifter located on the dash in another nod to futurism. The performance of this front-wheel-drive minivan fulfills the implied promise of its sporty external design. Payment comes due at the pump. EPA mileage is 18 city, 25 highway.
The long wheelbase allows for the widest sliding door in its segment, meaning easy entry and exit for passengers and cargo. Seats are easy to stow and storage is plentiful.
My Quest SE, coming in at almost $40K, came with everything. You can get one for much less, less than $24K, with the same strong engine, but I love my leather and my great navigation system and satellite radio and premium stereo and all the other stuff my SE came with. The passengers loved the SkyView glass roof panel system that essentially gives each passenger a sunroof. They adored the dual DVD entertainment system that gives each row of seats a DVD screen. Everyone appreciated the power sliding doors and liftgate.
All in all, the 2005 Nissan Quest SE may not be the kind of car you’ll wait for till kingdom come, but its memory stays with you. Its designers reached beyond the ordinary, and where, as with the seats, they fell short, you find it easy to forgive them. It’s hard to explain, but if you could see it, then you’d understand.
