Greg In The Desert

Volkswagon is showing off the vehicle it will be using as part of it’s sponsorship of the Dakar Rally in South America and it’s a truck.

I like the look of the Amarok (which translates into Wolf in Inuit), it kind of looks like a smoothed out Honda Ridgeline.

Wikipedia has the specs.

The Amarok range will consist of single cab and double cab, combined with either rear-wheel drive or 4motion four-wheel drive, and powered by Turbocharged Direct Injection (TDI) diesel engines.

I would like to see the Amarok come to America. But it probably wont due to the chicken tax which is a 1963 tax that imposes a 25% tax on potato starch, dextrin, brandy, and light trucks.

Volkswagon Amarok site (flash and pretty pointless).

Another snow storm has come through today and it’s coming down good. I had to drive in it this morning and are reminded why I bought four wheel drive. Of course, four wheel drive does give more control, it does not have keep you from stopping. Even with the four wheel drive I was slipping and sliding around.

I’m staying home for the rest of the day.

[Update 12/29/06 10:07 PM] I can’t believe it, its still snowing! Its been snowing non stop all day, I’ve got about 6 inches of the white stuff on my driveway. A freind called an said he was stuck in Las Vegas when his plane was diverted, earliest he will be here will be sunday.

[Update 12/30/06 12:18 AM] Apparently this is the most snow thats fallen at once in the Albuquerque area. It’s still snowing and has been since yesterday morning. Were looking at another 12-18 hours.

I swear once get a house and a place to actually build it, project Maverick will be powered by MacOS X. Unfortunately it looks like these guys beat me to it.

The team has developed it’s Tiger-powered customized Touareg car (dubbed “Dora”) using Mac OS X technologies for the entire development and race management for the attempt. Power Mac G5’s running OS X inside the car control electronic pistons and belts to control the steering wheel, brake and gas pedals, and gear shifter.

I’ve pretty much got my desgin concepts down, I’ve even put together some prototype software. Including the light in the hood that moves back and forth, it will be a CPU activity monitor.

My 4×4 Ford Ranger reached a milestone today when it reached a 100,000 miles. I’m happy to say I’m the original owner, purchasing it new in 1996 (it’s a 1997 model) with something like 27 miles on it.

It’s been a good truck, disproving to me that american cars can be well built. It’s not without out it’s share of problems. For the last few years I’ve had a terrible vibration in the vehicle. I’ve taken it to Don Chalmers Ford who diagnosed it with need tires and shocks. I agree that tires can cause some bad issues with it but they weren’t the problems I was having. I could tell it was a front end problem especially since there was sever cupping in the front tires. I finally took it to Bob Turners who correctly diagnosed with needing front new springs. They weren’t even able to properly align it, it’s strange that Don Chalmers didn’t figure that out, even though they charged me $90 for a vibration analysis.

I’ve not heard of spring going bad, but since they have replaced them the tires wear properly and it rides a thousand percent better. Perhaps more people need them and don’t realize it.

I’m experiencing a breaking problem and I suspect the front right (and maybe left) rotors are warped and need replaced. It will be the first time that any such work as been done on this vehicle. Meanwhile my coworkers are telling me how their brand new Nissan need rotors right after they bought it. Other than that there’s been a few minor things, some emissions related thing need replaced a few months ago and some and a few issues with a electronic 4 wheel drive switch.

The engine runs as strong as it did the day I bought it. It doesn’t leak anything or burn anything it’s not suppose to. And the gas mileage is about 15 mpg, not great but near what it did when I got it (and not bad for a 4×4). Thanks Dad for showing me how to take proper care of a vehicle. With luck, I will have it for another 100,000 miles!

General Motors isn’t going to offer “Quadrasteer” on it’s trucks anymore. It’s disappointing because it was an actual innovation for pickups, but it was expensive.

An industry analyst who tracks suppliers and technology says the Quadrasteer system was excellent technology that worked well. But it faced several hurdles:

>>> Quadrasteer was priced too high. When it debuted in 2002, it was part of a $4,495 option package, which was too much money for one option for many buyers.

>>> Even when GM lowered Quadrasteer’s price to $2,000, it still didn’t sell because dealers failed to communicate to potential buyers the capability of the system, according to the analyst.

>>>Because GM wrangled an exclusive out of Delphi, the supplier was not able to market the system to other automakers. Had Delphi been able to sell Quadrasteer to more than one automaker, the component costs would have come down as Delphi realized savings from the economies of scale that come with higher production.