The Best Car Blog (this one) is now the best iTunes Car Podcast (or Vodcast if you prefer)

Apparently, everyone and their mother has been obsessively watching Alex's CARmageddon and my first mini car movie Top Gear thing - L.A. MPG OutSmarted. YouTube has clearly had a hard time handling all these billions of foaming audiences. That must be why they say only like three people have watched the 2 videos I've posted so far. But, not to worry, if YouTube's not your cup of car awesome, you can now see this latest episode, featuring street interviews about the Smart ForTwo in Los Angeles - on iTunes! Eat that other car blog guys! Alex's Carmageddon is now an iTune that you can get by clicking on that button there - it launches iTunes and you can subscribe to get the latest videos in high quality on your iPod or iPhone or iPod Touch or whatever else you got for Hanakuh. And, obviously, it's totally free (some people I know though podcasts cost money - those people are dumbasses)

Or, I guess, if you're boring, you can still watch it here as a uTube. You can also subscribe with your Creative Zen MP3 player (i'd make fun, but I used to have one) OR pretty much any other way you want. Check out AlexsCARmageddon.com for all your options. 

Shit, Really? 22MPG Chevy Tahoe is L.A. Green Car of the Year

There were electric vehicles (EVs), there were hydrogen cars, even a hybrid Nissan Altima. But who takes home the green gold? An eight-cylinder truck that gets 22 MPG on the highway! Don't get us wrong. We like the Chevrolet Tahoe a lot! But green car it ain't. If you're going over 33mph - you're using all 5.3 liters of V8 the big-ass Chevy's got to offer. GM clearly bought themselves a meaningless award that kinda mocks the whole gas price nightmare L.A. is actually in.

VW GTI Convertible (I mean, Cabrio) - Make it, Make it, Make it!

Notice, we haven't even mentioned Frankfurt because that stuff only effects super rich people looking for a 1million euro Lamborghini etc. At Basic Transportation - we're pretty much about basic transportation. Which means, when a cool spin on a groovy hatchback comes along - we're gonna flag it up!

Remember the 80s GTI Cabrio, that somehow was all 'fun in the sun' without any of the girliness? Like the Miata, the Vdub was just too fast and fun to be a chick car. And so, we're taking a stand right now. If VW makes a GTI Cabrio again, it'll be too awesome to be for girls! (they already got the Beatle and the EOS.

Build it!

This Week in Gas Price History: California's paying less, Texas paying more, but we're all screwed

To be precise, we're screwed at a rate of 20 cents since last year, about buck since this week 2004. So, really, the long-term outlook for being able to guzzle as much gas as we want is probably on the decline. So, again, I gotta ask - how much is too much - remember this poll? Vote now!

Opinion Polls & Market Research

What the Hell? The Fiat 500 is a small car I actually like.

OK, so, at heart, I'm a redneck, and as such, I like big, comfortable and cheap cars/trucks with V8 engines, hooked up to the rear wheels. Small cars are for people that can't afford those and girls, right? And, yeah, the Mini is a great car...for girls. Even the Scion Xb is pretty cool...and yet it's for girls and high schoolers. But, there's hope for my gas guzzling ways (maybe). The Fiat 500 coming out in our fifty-first state, Europe makes me think twice. The interior is so convincingly old fashioned like. The safety rating is so good (top score from the EU folks). And the ridiculously amazing gas mileage of the Fiat 500 (56mpg) is just mind boggling. Yes, it's over 10 seconds 0-60 and yes, that sucks from a standing stop at a freeway onramp - but damn!

At the end of the day, my car might easily be a Chevy Silverado Extended cab...yeah...with leather. Although a Mustang GT Convertible also whispers my name at night. But if the Fiat 500 comes to to the States (and there's a tiny chance it will), I might think about it for my Hollywood, green car cred.

Official Media Images of the Fiat 500

Back in Cali: How much is too much for gas? Big Car vs. Small Car

Back in the Valley, 818, 106 degrees, lots of shiny new sheetmetal to gawk at from inside my unwashed-in-four-years Mustang drop-top. And I have to ask. How much is too much for gas? What will it take for you to get out of the sweet, sweet, Hummer and into something like....the new Mitsubishi Concept cX concept, premiering at Frankfurt next month.

It's a neat-enough, little car, I guess. And you know the gas mileage will be four times that of the H2 Humvee I so want. But when the Hummer H2 convertible arrives next year, how will you resist? I want to know if the good 'ol US of A will ever become Euro-like and drive tiny, personality-free hatchbacks that get like 50 miles to the gallon. Now's your chance to tell me and the world!!

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Pickup Spot: Expensive gas, now James Inhofe and Korea - are Trucks screwed?

First, a bit of poli-sci background. James Inhofe was, until just after the mid-terms, chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Because he doesn't beleive in global warming, American drivers have cheerfully been left alone when it came to cutting down on ice cap-melting V8s. And that was pretty good...for us, not the ice caps. Screw those.

Now, James, who compared Al Gore's whale hugging, tree kissing, flick to Hitler's Mein Kompf, is gone. And a democrat is taking his place. Good for the environment, bad for big, fat, fun trucks. Are trucks in trouble? Will we still be able to highlight the quality with which we f*ck using the immense size of our truck? We'll see.

In the meantime, here's the latest in truckdom:

We've been looking forward to the H3T - based on the concept GM showed off like three years ago, before the H3 was even out (left). Now, it looks like we're getting closer to production. And the pictures just posted on AutoBlog (below) made our mouths fill with vomit, as dreams of our new Hummer H3T pickup fizzled away. Might as well just get a Ranger.



Jeep, meanwhile, also gave up its concept truck ambitions and settled for a bit of welding to chop down the Wrangler into a Wrangler with a pickup bed. Again, the concept - cool. The actual truck we'll be seeing soon? Well, you have to really like the front end of Wranglers (as I do) to give a crap. We've got high hopes for the extended cab. There's no room for stuff behind the seats in this one Plus, let's home a real-Jeep-style soft top is coming too. The convertible Dakotas are getting pretty old, we need a convertible truck! (SSR is not a truck)

Finally, check out what the Koreans are threatening us with now. No, it's not a brilliant white light being the last thing we all see before being vaporised. That's a different Korea. South Korea just plan to nuke America's truck industry. As opposed to Jeep and Hummer, this is the real demilitirized zone right here:

Instead of playing soldier, the concept sketches from Kia and Hyundai look like Titan-style pickups where you sit on leather watching big screens not playing G.I.Joe in a truck based on another truck based on a civilian version of an army truck.