The CarGurus Blog

I recall since Driver Education in High School that accidents involving a train at Railroad Crossings have been a problem since roads and highways have crossed railroad tracks. So when I came across this news snippet from ‘World Highways‘ with a heading of “A 9.1% drop in highway-rail crossing incidents for the first half of 2005 on US railways is identified by a study. ”

I read this and was relieved to an extent. However, there seems to be no cause for the improvement which would be the most interesting and useful information to find out. This way we could apply those techniques and strategies in a more impactful way, to reduce further these unnecessary accidents like those shown in ‘Red Asphalt‘, a movie shown in some Drivers schools and training programs..

John (CarGuru Sr)

I am partial to Porsche’s. I’ve tried to talk myself into loving other cars as much, but it is no use. The Doctor designed a great icon and engineering masterpiece.

When I came across this article today in ‘Business Week‘, I had to see what it was all about. After all, buying an old partner seems a no brainier. In the 70’s if you went to Europe the old 914 model had a very distinct ‘Volkswagen-Porsche‘ brand attached to the body in at least one place. So reading this about Porsche buying VW sounds great, at least for VW to prevent a ‘hostile takeover‘.

What about the shareholders of Porsche? Well, we’ll see what the voting stock says, which is all controlled by a particular family and Porsche itself. Truly ‘Old World’. Who’s to say that this isn’t the way to make sure that the Company has the best chance of making money? Porsche has definitely done that.

John (CarGuru Sr)

Years ago I discovered that my love of cars would drive me to own many cars. I found this challenging, as budget has been a concern most of the time, which is why one of the reasons the original ‘buying-carguide‘ was created. Also, this article by Suze Orman is a really great one. She outlines what I’ve been doing for years in her article “A Car Guide for the Young, Fabulous and Broke“. Read it and the ‘buying-carguide’ from CarGurus and you’ll be on your way to better deals with your car ownership experience.

The ‘buying-carguide’ happened one rainy afternoon while trying to get as much info as possible without leaving the house. So I sat down and starting writing down all the answers to all the questions I know to ask and voila!

After years of owning many cars, currently over 35 vehicles now, this is the only way to approach

John (CarGuru Sr)

One city, Los Angeles has a large problem that drivers and residents will face sooner or later. “Los Angeles air is filthy. Each day, some 1,650 tons a day of pollution that causes ozone are emitted, as well as 293 tons per day of particulate matter and 60 tons of sulfur oxides, which form particles downwind. ”

That’s some heavy numbers for such a big beautiful city to handle. That quote came from the local newspaper tabloid LA Weekly. It’s an interesting source of editorials and what’s happening and where to go in this city of cars.

We had cleaner air here in the early 80’s. Some of the solutions that were used are outlined in this LA Weekly article, great detail for a free paper.

1984 Olympics Traffic Controls: When Los Angeles hosted the 1984 Olympics, city and AQMD officials kept smog down for athletes by increasing carpools, keeping trucks off the road at rush hour and providing more public transit.

John (CarGuru Sr)

This article, “OPEC Sees Oil Volatility for the Future” from the AP sounds as though there is an honest concern to get more oil for us, consumers. After reading this and thinking about what was said and by who to whom., I can only conclude that we are dreaming that this type of request is realistic.

After all, how much oil is left on the planet? How much can the OPEC mafia members truly pump and what can we, the Oil consuming masses do to conserve? Do we really have Liberal values as so many assert that we do when it comes to self-control and being planet friendly? I would like to think so, but after contemplating what I’ve written before about the Energy Issues of the 1970’s, I have little confidence in humankind’s honest altruism.

John (CarGuru Sr)

I found this fundamental document that the EIA from the US Government has published. Essentially, it covers well the area of retail pricing of gasoline along with why California pays more for theirs.

However, wasn’t the Alaska Pipeline that was built for the Citizens of the United States supposed to reduce our dependence on foreign oil? Obviously, the Politicians and “Big Oil” have ignored and not addressed this long enough so that the average American has forgotten all about it. The Trans Alaskan Pipeline was hot news and offered what was promised by our government to bring us the freedom from foreign and Arab oil. I haven’t forgotten the years of hype and printed words in contracts.

So I want to know where the - - - - is the reduced oil and the oil terminals on the West Coast to land and distribute this? No answers, huh? Well, I have only begun to dig. I believe it is for a greater good to find out and get the answers so we can create a solution to our problem.

We were promised that the Alaska Pipeline would help us become energy independent. So, are we? No, pure and simple. Is this a partisan issue? No. We have members of all parties that sold out or found something else more important. Have you?

John (CarGurus Sr)

So far, I’ve pointed at some of the problems facing our automotive society and culture that we’ve created. I found a great subpage at Yahoo that lists the most efficient by category. Check out “Most fuel-efficient vehicles by category“.

Also, keep a watchful eye and if you find any good sites please list them at SiteInclusion.com

John ( CarGurus Sr )

Well here we go again… “The OPEC meeting is expected to focus on the price levels over the past two months, likely increase of at least 500,000 bpd in the official production ceiling of more than 28 million barrels, quotas of the members, supply and demand and prices in the first quarter of 2006.” Sound familiar? Probably only if you were around and remember the Oil Issues of the 1970’s. I remember, boy do I…

I was going to college and supporting myself and little CarGuru_Jr, with a Pillow Furniture business that a friend of mine and I started with $50.00 each in December of 1971. By October 1973 we had built our business to a respectable position. However, the OPEC tight-lipped mafia-like monopolies had their famous meeting and the next thing we knew was our cost for polyurethane foam went up almost 100% overnight. Pretty greateful for a bunch of thugs that relied on our engineers, technology and money to even find out that they even had oil…

Bottom line is that until we discover and create the next energy source for our cars and trucks we are going to be hearing a lot of variations of these themes for sometime to come.

John (CarGuru Sr)

When it comes to casualties from Katrina, the human toll can be measured in lives and the effect energy prices will have throughout the region and the nation.
How will Katrina’s impact affect our travel and driving? One can only imagine.

John (CarGuru Sr)

When I think of fast cars I usually consider that danger is the invisible driver, considering the world’s fastest car, the Saleen S7 Twin Turbo is priced at above $500,000 and attains speeds in excess of 240 mph. On the other side of the coin is the safest set of cars… of course, speed is less the focus.

John (CarGuru Sr)