A Cool Volvo? Thanks Galpin for your Custom C30

If you were at the L.A. Autoshow - you were probably dissappointed. A lot of the same old without many debuts. Generally, a lot of plastic, already-available cars for close to $30K. It left us wanting a restored Chevy Malibu and one of those eight dollar Margaritas they were peddling in the convention center.

But, if you'd stopped by the Galpin booth next to the Garage Envy Ford GT display, you saw something you have never seen before. A customised / hot-rodded Volvo. And not just any safety-obsessed Ikea couch on wheels - but the C30.

Shocking the world with a radical use of flat paint (like the Lexus, flat black, FiveAxis concept but not). This thing was purple, had a Galpiny white racing stripe and massive, color-matched purple wheels with white walls. So, what it looked like was a lead sled from the 50s but on a cutting edge Volvo hatchback. The car appears in Galpin's 2008 calendar but it's still in the Basic Transportation official car - so we're not sure which month. A hatchback that looks fast but not 'import scene fast'? Awesome! What do you think about the fast and furious C30? Comment at will!

BMW hints new Isetta - Massive Balls or Vaporware Bullplop?

Auto Express, UK's awesome car weekly is teasing us with a possible new Isetta from BMW. Like the New Beetle, New Mini and new Fiat 500 - it's another everyman car that history loves. Of course, like the other fake retro econocars - the above drawing seems to have door handles on the side. Already not very Isetta. But the rear-engine design will be retained (in this fantasy, might never happen scenario.)

Auto Express is telling us to wait until 2010 to hear more. They also raise the interesting point of the Isetta not really fitting into Bimmers 'Ultimate Driving Machine' thing. As gas prices keep skyrocketing like bastards in the U.S. - can new, tiny cars like the Smart, Fiat 500 and this thing be the future?

Volvo gets an extra 4 1/4 mpg from the C30 with simple tweaks - why are they alone?

Fuel cells, hybrid drives and thousands of batteries. There's lots at the Frankfurt show to show off car companies as whale kissing, tree hugging, environmental freaks. Lots and lots of technology we might see in like ten years to help save the planet and help you score with hippie chicks.

For the moment, Volvo has decided to keep it real and, as Autoblog points out, simple as hell with the C30 Efficiency - a 1.6L Diesel Volvo that, by the way, already gets better gas mileage than Google's Prius Fleet (none-plug-in).

Tweaks (listed in another Autoblog post here) to the gears, undercarriage, even oil and tires and wheels and viola - 9 g/km (grams per kilometer you drive in it) less CO2 AND, AND, wait for it, AND 4.25 mpg more! That's savings you can take to the money bank and you can shit on Prius drivers, since - the new mileage I used a calculated, so I assume Basic Transportation - Car and Truck and Electric Vehicle (why not) blog brought it to you first. Click on title to see Autoblog's C30 Efficiency image gallery (not exciting, but efficient).

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

Hatchback Sales are Way Up. Uh....yay!

Here's a couple examples of hatchbacks that don't suck; The VW GTI, which exists and is great and the Dodge Hornet, which may or may not be getting made or not made in China or America, some say.

And, of course, there's the Fiat 500 which I hyped up so big a couple days ago that I don't feel the need to talk about it anymore.

Either way, according to the L.A. Times, which uses fancy 'sta-tis-tics', sales of hatchbacks were way up in July 07 while overall car sales were down. This could simply mean that the economy is crumpling a little faster than it seems and that the only cars people feel they can afford are small and cheap - The Nissan Versa is on the list of big winners...but then so is the not-at-all-cheap Mini. So it's not the crumbling economy. It must be that some people are seeing the up side of having something relatively roomy that's not too expensive and, of course, gets ridiculous gas mileage. We're talking in the 30mpg range for most of these rear-window-wipered bastards!

So maybe, slowly, the image of the 80s hatchback is slowly going away...slowly. The Dodge Omni, pictured above, is, unquestionably, the hatchback that ruined the word 'hatchback' for all cars with a hatched back the same way hitler ruined that little mustache for everyone. It was a horrendous piece of car crap but did help get Chrysler saved by Congress. It was also Motor Trend's 1978 Car of the Year - which just proves Motor Trend is bullshit. Let's root for cars like the GTI and the Mini to make hatchbacks not suck.

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

A Chinese Chevy: How can You Lose?

If You're Under 25, you must be a DJ!

'Young people. With their music and their long hair. Get a damn job, you useless bastards!' That's just about how GM executives talk, we'd assume. Executive people are about the age to have teenage kids and who's more in touch with youth than their parents!

So, in a desperate, desperate death spasm of attempted coolness, Chevy has just shown off some shiny, new, teeny, tiny concept cars at the New York Auto Show. Needless to say, with how New York feels about cars - debuting very small and very slow rides simply must be done in walking capital of the United States.

But wait! It's not that all three of these little bastards might make it to production. Instead, like any good dad, Chevrolet has provided us with choice! Even you can go to http://www.vote4chevrolet.com/ and vote for the Beat, Groove or Trax as the concept you hate least. Also notice how they all have DJing related names, for that extra bit of small car funk.

Apparently, spinning some mad, phat vinyl is what all young people do all the time. They are the same exact people that, apparently, just crave the very hell out of tiny little cars. Witness this closeup of an orange Toyota Aygo, from last year's Paris show - with the hydraulic-powered rear(that's something we can all enjoy) that comes out on to reveal two turntables and a microphone. So play that funky music! (as long as you're not very tall)

Yeah, We're Half Way There.

My man, Bob, at Cars Cars Cars says the Volvo C30 won't be out until 2008 or 9. I say, that's crap. Why would you still care in two years? When Mini wanted to make a longer Mini, for no reason at all, they just did it. And yet, shopping the ass-end of a S40 takes 3 years? By then, Focuses will fly, Scions will turn into robots and Minis will come with about twelve doors, including four as the rear hatch.

All I'm saying is, if you have a cool car, just make it already. This is the only Volvo that doesn't look lame, almost ever (I do like the 544 from the 60s). And, come to think of it, that's a cool Volvo hatchback that's already out. With less than 100 horsepower but tons of coolness, you won't beat the 544 - and, for around 5 grand, you're probably better off. The C30 looks good in the pictures, but in real life it's as pretentious and vaguely effeminate as any Volvo.

Smart monster truck. No, I mean, really, Smart.

Most folks in America haven't encountered the Smart ForTwo. Part of Daimler (Benz), Smart's been making the FourTwo since 2000 and it's surprisingly comfortable and you can park perpendicular to the curb and, of course, it gets fantastic gas mileage.

We'll get a chance to check out the practical little car thing when it comes to the States next year. In the meantime, however, superfreaks at the Smart offices (or whatever) in Greece decided to spend what little time they may have on taking the 84hp, six-cylinder, diesel engine and transmission from a Unimog uber truck and shoving it up skirt of the tiny ForTwo. The result is pure Greek comedy - minus all the insest. To give credit where it's clearly due - Greek 4x4 Rally Champion/God Stefanos Attart was the one who designed the thing.

This bad boy you find your eye drawn to is the ForFun - something that will never get built but exists as a bit of a publicity exercise - and there's nothing wrong with that. The ForFun couldn't fit the Unimog's unbelievable suspension - but it does feature individually-adjustable shock absorbers.

Check out http://www.thesmart.ca to see a couple more pictures - they've been kind not to sue me for using the above image.

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