Friday, July 24, 2009

Beach Houses – When it Comes to Location, Oceanside is the Only Side



Beach houses are certainly within the realm of zooty. Let’s face it, very, very few of us mere mortals will ever get to own a beach house – and not as many as should get the chance to stay at one. But for those of us that worship the sun and sand, saving up for a beach vacation, and spending time with family and friends, makes what we do day to day worthwhile.

Now, I will posit, not all beach houses are made equal. There are the fantastic beach houses that grace the covers, and fill the pages, of magazines like Southern Living http://www.southernliving.com/. To be sure, those homes are fantastic – but the odds of staying at one, much less owning one, are, if you’re anything like we are, slightly less than being struck by a meteorite while discovering King Solomon’s mines. Then, there are the “regular” beach houses, the kind that regular folks, saving regularly, regularly rent and stay at for spring breaks or summer vacations, like the homes on Edisto Island, in South Carolina http://www.goedisto.com/. Edisto Island’s a sleepy place, stuck firmly in the 1960s, and most of the folks who go there, stay there, work there or play there, decidedly want it to stay that way.

It seems, however, that prior to the collapse of the housing market, there was a major spike in housing starts on what formerly had been the less desirable beach locations – not beachfront/oceanfront properties, but the second row, third row, and “beachwalk” properties. Seems folks decided that if an oceanfront lot might set them back a million or so, it was just as easy to buy a street or two away, and build a mini-mansion on that lot instead with the money saved.

However, the first three laws of real estate, even in these troubled times, remain “location, location, location”. Thus, no matter how zooty one’s second or third row 5,000 square foot beach mansion might be, if you’re looking across the street, and around, under, or over that 1950s vintage bungalow just to get a peek of the ocean beyond, know that the family happily spending time in that run down old shack by the sea is still, well, by the sea…and you’re not. In the world of beach houses, there truly are the haves and the have nots: Those who have their little spot of sunshine with nothing between them and the ocean but a couple of faded deck chairs will always trump those who may have an elevator and a couple of upper level decks, but can’t feel the salt-spray as it whistles through the sea oats.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

In A World Full of Zooty Things, French Hydrofoil Trimaran Takes the Cake



When I started this column – and that’s what it really is, I suppose – the thought of writing about, reviewing, or otherwise discussing zooty things was foremost. And what could be zootier, I might suggest, than a French trimaran, sailing on hydrofoils at about the same velocity you speed down the local expressway?

The sport of ultra-yachting is for the uber-rich, no doubt. Cup racing is typically not for the purse, but for pride in the winning of the cup itself, the bragging rights, the special table at the club reserved for champions. Frankly, at this level of extravagance, nothing is too good for the participants and the patricians.

At an even higher level in this very limited field are the dedicated hull boats, the playboys of a playboy world. Among those are the unlimited-class catamarans and trimarans – and, in an even more rarified atmosphere, the hydrofoils. These are the true speed demons of the sailing world, reaching unparalleled speeds ripping across ocean swells.

Within this stratosphere, one particular craft is, for those involved in the sport, the most well-known of the bunch, a particular French beauty, the l'Hydroptere, http://www.hydroptere.com/_en/. It is truly a magnificent purpose-built boat of monumental numbers in every respect, from total sail area, to length, to beam, to what is in, or out, of the water at speed. And speed it does. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_w3k5PuJOA&feature=related It holds the “unofficial” speed record for a wind-powered sailboat at over 61 knots, or approximately 71 mph. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRuLpZoTIoQ&feature=related This is a truly staggering number if one thinks about it for a moment: recall that this boat is gargantuan by any measure, but that it is powered by nothing other than wind, and wind alone. That monumental structure, that full crew, the huge array of electronics and oceanics, and it still flies along at expressway speeds powered by just the wind. Al Gore only wishes he had the ability to harness this kind of power.

Sadly, although this phenomenal craft among phenomenal craft showcases all that can be currently wrung out of the wind, sailboat-wise, what it can do on water does not easily translate to land-based disciplines. While the ocean may offer limitless options for mega-yachts, the same can not be said for terra firma and the vehicles that ply our roads and rails. While we can hope that some of the technology might find its way into and onto our roads and rails, we won’t, anytime soon, see ultra-sleek land yachts whisking across the Great Plains.

And that’s, frankly, too bad. What a joy it would be to rip across, say, eastern Kansas, the breeze to your back, the wind in your sails, cutting an eastward tack. For now, however, most of us mere mortals will have to allow others exploits to serve as our entry into the sport – and, for most, that’s not a bad thing.

Monday, July 20, 2009

The Rebirth of the Common Man's Aviation - Cessna 162 Skycatcher


Well, the title might be a little off the mark, but that's how Cessna rolled this program out a little more than two years ago. Cessna http://www.cessna.com/ determined, after demonstrating a static model of a smaller sport and private aircraft at the 2006 Oshkosh, Wisconsin EAA AirVenture annual airshow, that there was and would be a viable business model for a new aircraft, the Cessna 162 Skycatcher. Just a year after that show, the first prototype was put into the air. The first production aircraft flew in May, 2008, and by the end of 2008, Cessna had orders for more than 800 aircraft.


Cessna's announced intention was to bring back the sport to sport flying by making a new aircraft available for under $100,000 - and it came close, eventually setting the price at $109,500, and recently moving that to $111,500. The program has not been without some controversy, however.


Based on a lack of production facility space in the United States, Cessna determined to partner with a Chinese-government controlled entity, Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, to produce the new 162. Cessna announced that by doing so, it was saving over $70,000 per aircraft, and that, combined with the lack of domestic production capacity, is what made the business case. There have been some skeptical to this methodology.


The aircraft itself represents a pleasant and practical entry into the world of sport aviation. It is constructed mostly of aluminum, with a fiberglass cowling, powered by an air cooled Continental 100 hp engine. Its cruising maximum is 118 knots, and it has a 470 nautical mile range.


So - the jury's still out, so to speak, on the affordable everyman's flyer - let's hope, for the industry's sake, that the 162 Skycatcher represents the right step, in the right direction, at the right time.


Thursday, July 16, 2009

Chevrolet Malibu - A Surprisingly Taut Teuton



I noted a few posts back the recent opportunity I had to drive a 2009 Malibu 2LT www.chevrolet.com/malibu - in a way, Chevy's analog to Ford's Fusion www.fordvehicles.com/cars/fusion recently reviewed, equipped with a standard 2.4 liter inline four with variable valve timing mated to a six-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters on the steering wheel. It wasn't long ago that one found six-speed paddle-shifting manumatics only on GT cars or exotics - to find them in a ubiquitous daily driver was a real treat. As was this car.

A drive through the rolling mountains of Virginia, the Carolinas and northern Georgia gave this sedan a fairly strenuous workout, but it never broke a sweat. The trip computer gave a wide array of constant, snapshot, or progressive feedback, and although this 1,500 mile plus trip included both urban and expressway routes, the car returned a surprising 33.1 mpg (3.1 gal per 100 miles) despite vigorous driving. The power remained constant and quiet, never wheezing or protesting, and the cruise control smoothly handled the sloping contours of I-77, I-95 and I-75.




Inside, fit and finish were top-notch, displaying an aura (not unlike its Epsilon-platform sister, the Saturn Aura http://www.saturn.com/) not commonly experienced in prior Malibu models. Svelte surfaces mated to satin finishes, well-matched colors from dashboard to console, right down to those oh-so-comfortable heated seats whose bolstering was just right for a long ride for a quick trip south and north again. The cabin was spacious and cozy at the same time - almost coddling - and the trunk is simpy huge. And the hush: This car is simply, purely, elegantly quiet.

Speaking of elegance, some might say the exterior seems a little bland, a little too Impala-like www.chevrolet.com/impala in presentation. However, one cannot size up the body of this sedan without realizing that it's simply handsome. Not sporty, not overbearing, not overdone - just handsome. Handling, too, is top notch for what used to be a bland and forgettable people mover. Kudos go to the GM www.gm.com designers and brass who realized just how good a platform they had in the Epsilon, which originally entered service in the German Opel Vectra and Signum, the Swedish Saab 9-3, and the European Cadillac BLS, as well as the Pontiac G6, Fiat Croma, and Saturn Aura, as well as the Chevrolet Malibu. The Epsilon II platform is destined to underpin a number of future GM products. Overall, the 2009 Chevrolet Malibu 2LT left me with a great impression - if the new GM is smart and capable of producing such a pleasing product, there's no reason it won't be here for the long haul. And that, as Martha Stewart http://www.marthastewart.com/ seems fond of saying, is a good thing.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

The Re-Emergence of Shared Transit

As much as, I like automobiles - and, mind you, I do - even a hard-line autophile like me has to take notice of what can only be described as a modern resurgence of interest in shared transit. And I say this intentionally, avoiding the common moniker of "mass transit", as it doesn't really do justice to what's been occurring, not only just the last few years, but over the last several decades, in our large metropolitan areas as well as our suburban, and even rural, locales.


Shared transit - and let's stick with overland travel for now - really began to hit its initial stride with coach travel (stagecoaches in the United States, analog transportation in other countries and places) - within the last two centuries. Prior to that, most traveling folks either hoofed it, traveling on foot, or found a way to ride a horse or other beast of burden. As the mechanized age began to displace the coach lines and beasts of burden - trains, in particular - the rise of shared transportation gave new horizons to everyone who could manage to pay the fare. Trains begat urban and interurban lines, including trolleys, then electric trolleys, subways and elevated trains across the globe. As the Nineteenth Century turned into the Twentieth, the automobile arrived, in fits and jerks, then in full force. By the midde of the century, contemporary mass transit was rapidly being replaced by individual transport - the rise of the automobile, by the fifties, had effectively sounded the apparent death knell for passenger rail lines, trolleys, interurban lines and the like. While city bus lines hung on in many areas - having displaced the electric interurban lines quite literally, the lines and rails being ripped out or abandoned - riders tended to be only those poor folks who couldn't afford the new individuality of automobiles and the embrace of suburban living.

Fast-forward through the dismal 1960s and the pain of war and civil unrest, and we ran right into the Oil Embargo of the early 1970s, striking the first blow at the heart of the sanctity of personal automobile travel. Gas rationing lines, spiking prices, and inefficient automobiles led to a decades-long mercurial makeover of the automobile, and the whole idea of shared transit. Year after year cities propped up their aging mass transportation systems - subways, trains, els, buses - with subsidies, while the occasional vanguard shouted out the need to develop infrastructure and a true directive toward shared transportation. While the 1980s saw us stumble along at the beginning of that decade, by the end of the eighties SUV sales were starting to roar, and by the end of the next decade, SUVs ruled the roads, with truck and SUV sales outsripping automobile sales across the country, and around the globe.


The events of the new millenia changed all that. Terrorist attacks brought escalating energy prices and shook the financial markets, destabilizing the entire transportation structure. Hybrid automobiles entered the fray, slowly, cautiously nibbilng away at wide public acceptance while SUVs became the social pariahs of the transportation scene. As the financial model caved in 2006, and as the recession became apparent in 2007, markets continued to shift, and the long-muted voices of shared transit began to be heard again. The complete reshuffling of all that is and was automobile production, worldwide, portends a seismic shift in priorities.


In the last two decades, shared transportation systems have cropped up all over, in varying forms, and to varying degrees of success. Los Angeles has methodically made over the sprawling city's transportation system at phenomenal expense, while Phoenix has, after decades of resistance, embraced an effective shared transporation system including light rail - http://www.valleymetro.org/metro_light_rail. Cities and states that long ago wrote off light rail and interurban lines have begun to resurrect long-dormant plans - in Ohio, for example, causing a re-examination of the often-mentioned but never built light rail lines envisioned on the Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati corridor.

In other places, other shared transit ideas are coming to fruition. Shared automobiles, rented by the hour as needed - like http://www.zipcar.com/, have taken hold, not only in Europe, but in the United States, on both coasts, as effective means by which to avoid automobile ownership and all of the attendant costs while still having means to access. In Paris, a shared bicycle system, Velib http://www.velib.paris.fr/ allows shared use of a bevy of bicycles, cutting down on the number of bicycles used and parked by riders while allowing the increased availablility of a ride for all.


Future shared transport systems are growing, too - from mass bicycle renatal programs to individual pods that can attach to others to more efficiently move - and even automated automobiles http://www.mazda.com/, with the clear intent to enhance efficiency while offering safe alternatives in shared travel.




Now, as a boy, I may have fallen for a little red Corvette http://www.corvette.com/ - and, my, that 1968 red Stingray looked awfully good to my 6-year-old eyes - but now I find that, as we peer with greater, daily concern, frustration and intensity at the sign in front of the filling station, shared transportation truly is on the rise. Again.

The new CARS program, some links and advice...

So, Congress moved quickly - for once - and passed a pared-down version of a bill Ohio Representative Betty Sutton introduced in the House just a few months back, modeled after similar programs in Germany and other European Union countries, initially called "Cash for Clunkers", but recently and kindly renamed by NHSTA http://www.nhsta.gov/ with the simpler acronym, CARS; read all about it here http://www.cars.gov/.









In brief, if your ride qualifies - and do read the fine print - then you may qualify for a credit, issued directly to the dealer as a part of any sale or lease of a qualifying new car - of between $3,500 - $4,500, depending on the car you bring in, and the car you buy or lease.





Your old ride will not be "traded", per say, but rather credited as turned in, and it will be, as they say, "taken out of service." The program requires that the drive line for the turned-in car be removed and destroyed, including the engine and transmission, and that although the rest can be harvested for transplant, the VIN and the viscera of the once-proud vehicle will be no more.



The program was introduced by way of the bill in Congress to be funded for a year - and that was pared down to just a few months worth of funding in the final analysis. If the program goes well - and a similar program in Germany was very well received - look for Congress to add more funds and extend the program.









Dealers are already queueing up for the program, which is to officially start July 24, 2009. I've spoken to a few who indicate that they are already writing contingent contracts for putative purchasers postulating that they'll probably pursue the plenty. In addition, the manufacturers are already in the game, posting ads that reference the program and the cars they have that will qualify, and even advertizing the potential discount applicable.



So, do your part, prime the well of commerce, and see about getting a new car with your freshly-minted-and-printed federally supported greenbacks. Heck, it's one way to get your little piece of the bailout....

Monday, July 13, 2009

Ford's Pleasing Fusion



I managed to take a 2010 Ford Fusion http://bp2.forddirect.fordvehicles.com/2010-Ford-Fusion#page=/Style/ for a spin today, and found it, to my surprise, rather pleasing. I drove the SE I4, equipped with a 6-speed automatic transmission mated to a four cyliner powerplant.


Nice, tight ride, well-controlled, not underpowered, but not overpowering either. Better interior surfaces than the prior model, better integration overall. There's less brand identity in this Fusion, and the friendly Ford rep touted the connection to Volvo and the prevalence of the multiple safety systems. I can't say I was thrilled with the blocky bulkiness of some of the interior spaces and spots - like the high center mounted bin on top of the dashboard - but it all seems to have function, if not form.

It was not quite as quiet as I anticipated, especially after the rep pointed out the silicone seals and the presence of sound-deadening inserts throughout. I could clearly hear the perky powerplant working out with the smooth transmission to get us down the road - not growly and snarling, however, just buzzing away doing its work. I'll give you my impressions in the next post to Chevrolet's highly competitive Malibu 2LT, which has a similar I4/six-speed setup, but gave a very different flavor to the driving experience.

So, Ford, bravo to the updated Fusion - even without the added zoot and high profile the much-more-expensive Fusion hybrid provides, this Fusion proved that Ford, indeed, may have a better idea.

The response has been overwhelming.....


...to my little blog on Blogger. Ran across this item today, in one of my favorite auto rags: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20090713/CARNEWS/907139998 - seems Honda is truly jumping big-time into the hybrid soup, with both a sporty coupe resurrecting the CRX as the CR-Z, and trolling the bottom of the market with a hybrid Fit.


















So, what's this blog all about, anyway? With a rather odd title like "zzoottland", one might rightly ponder that question. I indend to blog here about all things zooty - like automobiles, motorcycles, boats, aircraft, and other such fun stuff, and maybe more.



For today's blog, I'll be talking about the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro - the direct site is http://www.chevrolet.com/camaro/ - and it is quite the looker. I've been a Camaro fan since my sister came home from looking at cars - she bought a Volkswagen Beetle then, back in 1967 - http://www.vw.com/ - but she also brought home a 45 single of Paul Revere and the Raiders - http://www.paulrevereraiders.com/ - with "Camaro" on the A side, and "SS 396" on the B side.



I still have that 45. Let me know if you want to hear it. I'll put it up.



My first - and only - Camaro was a lime green 1967 hardtop coupe with the biggest wheels and tires one could imagine, right down to the red-striped sidewalls. However, as I was only six at the time, this was an original Hotwheels Camaro, the only one I could have operated at that tender age - see http://www.hotwheels.com/. I loved that Camaro - in fact, I still have that Camaro.



After that, the Camaro and I simply touched base from time to time - it headed into its second generation just as I was completing gradeschool and heading into junior high level. As the lean and painful mid-70's hammered away at all things zooty, like muscle cars and pony cars, things changed. The original pony car, the Ford Mustang - http://www.fordvehicles.com/cars/mustang/ - had just transitioned to the Mustang II, and was now not much more than a Ford Pinto on occasional steroids. The Dodge Challenger was challenged, to say the least, and its sister, the Plymouth 'Cuda, was likewise on the wane. However, the Camaro soldiered on through the 70's, along with its near-twin, the Pontiac Firebird, with increasingly wheezy powerplants, right through into the later part of the decade, earning a full-on soft urethane front and rear cap along the way, until, in the early 80's, the Camaro was reborn in Generation Three.
The 1982 Camaro was new from top to bottom, with an ad program touting powerplants ranging from a low-powered four-cylinder 2.5 liter engine - a first for Camaro - all of the way up to a "Cross Fire Fuel Injected Z-28", with commercials chanting "Ca-ca-camaro, sh-sh-sh-shadow", sales shot up, heralding a new age for the venerable ponycar. My girlfriend at the time - later to become my fiance, my spouse, the mother of my children and the center of my existence (she paid me to put in that last line) - bought such a car just as she completed college and entered her profession and - you guessed it - we still have it in the garage, a loverly 1982 Camaro SC in 16L argent livery with the 2.8 carburated V-6 cranking out a stellar 105 hp.

As we all know, the Camaro was recreated again in 1992 as a 1993 model, after a decade of the Generation Three iteration, Generation Four introduced a smooth and silky body that morphed over time into something, well, less smooth and silky, and looking a little lumpy around the gills and face, Chevrolet buried it in 2002.

However, with the 2010 Generation Five model, Chevrolet - despite the wrecked economy and the difficult state of General Motors - http://www.gm.com/ - re-awakewned the venerable nameplate after nearly a decade of hibernation as a brand spankin' new pony car. This time around, it has the look of the first generation with all the technology of a new generation. This V-6 is putting out 304 hp - three times as much as the 1982 under cover in the garage - and it means business. Its hulking mass is, to be sure, nearly a half-ton more than the 1982 Ca-ca-camaro, but there's a lot of safety, high-zoot and other hoopla whizbang in the new package. And, it's safer. And, it gets better mileage. And, well, it's better.

On a quick 1,500 mile trip through Virginia, the Carolinas and North Georgia - mostly mountain routes, driving a Chevrolet Malibu 2LT www.chevrolet.com/Malibu (I'll talk about that in another post) - I happened to spend a fun little stretch with a 2010 Camaro SS on I-95. From every angle, nice, nice, nice to the eyes and ears. Chevrolet - nice job. Can't wait to put one alongside the 1982 sitting in the garage - it needs a new friend to share some old memories.

And that Hotwheels Camaro - and that 45??? Well, they'd look and sound just fine in the 2010 - and they'd feel right at place.