I don’t care about Toyota.  I haven’t for years. I’ve observed their place in the market and even expressed some degree of interest in a very small handful of their offerings over the last decade, but I’ve never really thought much of them one way or another. That may become a somewhat difficult assertion to defend after the next thousand words or so, but take my word for it.

See, many car enthusiasts care a great deal about Toyota. They’re the ones who take every opportunity to tell you how awful their cars are, how dreadfully overrated they are, and how lifeless and soulless and dishwasher-like they are. They tell you how cheap and how poorly-engineered they are. You want a Prius? This guy tells you to get a used Jetta TDI. Your mom wants a nice, reliable Camry? Tell her to get a Volvo! You like the old MR2s? Wise up and get a 944. You want a MkIV Supra turbo? Supercharge an old F-Body for 1/3 of the price.

It’s the same thing, you know, just without all that Japanese suck.

Continue reading Lord Byron — The Good Ship Toyota

The 2009 E3 Expo kicked off today, and along with it the announcement that Audi will be collaborating with Microsoft and Turn 10 with Forza Motorsport III.  Reading through the press release, there aren’t a whole lot of details about the game itself but it does state that Turn 10 has worked with Audi engineers on the development of the 2010 Audi R8 5.2 FSI model that will be featured in the game.  Audi is celebrating this collaboration by hosting the AXF-24 Audi-Forza Challenge which will be held at the Audi Forum in New York City while the 24 Hours of Le Mans is being run in France.   

The only bit of information probably worth caring about in this press release is that Forza Motorsport III will be available this October and will feature 400 manufacturers!    

Check out more information on Forza III and the newly released demo video @ http://forzamotorsport.net/en-us/game/default.htm (Which features music from one of my favorite groups, Pendulum)

Box art and worthless press release after the jump.

[View with PicLens]

 

Continue reading 2009 E3 Expo: Audi Joins Forces with XBox 360 in Forza Motorsport 3

Yes, we’re back for another week of SSL Radio. Supposedly, the automakers are heading back to Congress this week to beg for their lives, but we’ll have to wait and see if anything actually comes out of it. Aside from that, there’s not that much going on, so we’ll have to see what we can dig up to send your way in glorious podcast format.

On 12/1, we start off by reviewing the stuff that we missed over the vacation (it wasn’t that much), and the news from Monday (which was even less).

 

 SSL Radio 12/01/08 [6:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

And we enter the week of the American holiday of Thanksgiving, which means diddly-squat will be happening this week in automotive news. Enjoy your day off, everyone, we’ll be here, desperately combing for anything to talk about.

For 11/24, due to reasons beyond my control (read: college), the actual podcast will be going up tomorrow. However, as for right now, we have the text of what you’ll be hearing me say later on tomorrow, anyway! It’s situated right below the jump.

11/25 is the first victim to fall prey to the ravages of the Thanksgiving vacation, as we talk about rumors surrounding a new range-topping VW Scirocco and the mass exodus from the upcoming 2009 North American International Auto Show. It’s only 2:36 people, you can’t even boil an egg in that amount of time.

 

 SSL Radio 11/25/08 [2:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Continue reading Speed:Sport:Life Radio: Turkey Week Edition

Yes, it’s time for the LA Auto Show! I’ll be there, bringing you coverage of all the cars that we actually give a crap about. Also, as this is the first week of our new daily podcasting schedule, the format of this post might change a bit from day to day as we figure out what the Hell we’re doing. And please remember to, as always, Share and Enjoy™.

First, the podcast for 11/18, wherein we kill time before the LA show opens by talking about the VW Touareg V6 TDI, go over Ford’s sale of part of their stake in Mazda, find one great deal on two awful cars, and rediscover just what makes Bernie Ecclestone so damn evil.

For 11/19, we wonder why ABC News is wasting our time complaining about the fact that corporate CEOs are acting like coporate CEOs, and cover the few interesting debuts from the LA Auto Show that we haven’t done previously, which only leaves the Nissan Cube and 370Z and the 2010 Ford Mustang.

11/20 has come and gone, and brought with it news of Porsche finally committing that final sin, and economic crises and the stupid Congressional pissing matches that cause them.

And finally, the podcast for 11/21 contains news of the pricing for the 2010 Ford Fusion refresh, the debut of the US-spec Smart Fortwo Brabus, and final proof of why we’re so awesome.

 

 SSL Radio 11/18/08 [5:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 SSL Radio 11/19/08 [4:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 SSL Radio 11/20/08 [3:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 SSL Radio 11/21/08 [5:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Hello, and welcome to the first of our new daily editions of SSL Radio. We figured it’d be a good idea to make this first edition a special one, and so we present to you an extra-long podcast, all about the current crisis the US automotive industry (GM, mostly) finds itself in. We break down the current debate over the potential new bailout for Detroit, discuss how the Big Three are doing at the moment and if they’re likely to live to see a bailout, and finally, I do Chris Matthews from MSNBC a solid and present my own answer to the question that he and many others have been asking for the last few days: What the Hell happened to the Big Three? If you have any questions, comments or hate mail about this podcast or the new format, my email address is kasey@speedsportlife.com. And as always, Share and Enjoy™.

 

 SSL Radio 11/17/08 [14:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I apologize for my voice, the fact that half of southern California is on fire and the other half is coated in ash (just in time for the LA Auto Show) has played havoc with my voice today. This week, we have cool leftovers from SEMA, a confusing new Ferrari, some nice diesel news, and all the coverage you could want for the slow collapse of the American automotive industry.

On another note, we will be attempting to move the podcast to a nightly schedule instead of a weekly schedule. Now, that might sound like more work for me, but it should really allow us to get more content to you, the listeners, and more on time, as less news per day means we can cover more esoteric stuff and not have to pound out four or five pages of text for a single podcast. We’ll just have to wait and see how it goes this week, so wish us luck.

 

 SSL Radio 11/16/08 [12:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Imagine I said something devastatingly witty here, something that caused women to desire me and men to envy my rhetorical skills, at least until I put up a real summary of this episode. Until then, Share and Enjoy™.

Edit: Alright, it’s amazing what actually sleeping will do for one’s disposition. Anyway, here’s what you can expect from this week’s podcast (no promises, though). Audi drops the basic stats for the upcoming TT-S, a bit of rumblings and rumors from Ford, Rolls-Royce muses about a cleaner, greener Phantom, and the British are planning to break the sound barrier yet again. We’re unfortunately forced to talk about the GM-Chrysler merger rumors, the auto industry continues its death spiral, the FIA compounds its mistake, and we get to add a new marque to the “featured on” list in this week’s Useless Automotive Tchotchke.

 

 SSL Radio 11/06/08 [14:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We’re taking our progress back towards being on schedule one day at a time here at SSL Radio, literally. And on this day, we come bringing news! General Motors announces the pricing for the Cadillac CTS-V and the Chevrolet Camaro, and shows just how great of a bargain they both are, Mini debuts an exciting new green car, Mitsubishi debuts an exciting new scarlet red car, GM and Chrysler consider combining their problems into one enormous morass of fail, Emanuele Pirro retires from racing, Formula 1 prepares to become even more boring, and the most precious little engine you’ll ever see in this week’s Useless Automotive Tchotchke. We have the video below the jump, and as always, Share and Enjoy™.

 

 SSL Radio 10/23/08 [13:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Goddamn, does it ever feel good to be back. In a emotional sense, I mean, as you’re about to hear, I’m still not at 100%, so please excuse me if I sound like I’ve been gargling tungsten carbide blasting media. Anyway, in this week’s make-up edition of SSL Radio, we cover the remaining debuts at the Paris Motor Show (yes, we’re that far behind), Toyota debuted their new iQ city car for the UK and rumors on it coming to the US, the US sales figures for the month of September are here to ruin your day, more lame fanboy BS, the situation for Formula 1 in the United States gets even bleaker, and a special federal bailout edition of Useless Automotive Tchotchke. Again, I can’t say how much I love being back (literally, my voice is now shot from recording this), and please, Share and Enjoy™.

 

 SSL Radio 10/17/08 [15:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download