New Riley ELF….???

Today, BMW which one stage owned Rover group and screwed up own Triumph and Riley brands.

It has been over a decade since Mini was re-made by BMW and there is always some demand of up-graded Mini….equal New Riley Elf.

So, I played with Photoshop here.

This is based on Mini Countryman which is station wagon of Mini. I removed quarter glass to make it 3 box style.

Well….I noticed how bulky the new mini is……it does not look as clean as original mini.
Originally, Mini was designed by Brithsh….but not anymore. Britain and German had been fighting since the history began and their cultures are  quite different.

I don’t think German understand British beauty…..Look at New Bentley or RR !!

Anyway…go back to Riley Elf.

Original Elf was Mini + extended boot space. But this one is……Mini Countryman – Luggage space….this means this car is not as practical as Countryman.

If I think this way, maybe there is no reason to make it.

Or, in North America, 3 box sedans are more popular…..so, they could make for North American market….

Another problem is how many people remember “Riley”? This way, I will have to say negative things.

It is good to have big brother of Mini….but Ryley brand is a bit too old…so as Triumph.

Today, BMW is making many variation of Mini. This means they need something  upgraded version and I am quite curious how they are going to do.

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Riley Elf…Big brother of Mini

Mini was an epoch-making compact car which arrived to market in 1959.

The East-West engine layout and FWD became the world standard over 20 years later.

BMC was a company Austin group and Nuffield group joined together in 1952. Due to the merger, BMC carried Austin, Vanden-Plas, Morris, MG, Wolseley and Riley.

Basic brand Austin and Morris sold Mini and more upper grade Wolseley and Riley sold one with extended trunk called Riley Elf and Wolseley Hornet.

Due to the brand management, they were not only longer trunk like VW Golf and Jetta.

They had more luxurious interior and also had hydrolatic suspensions which was unique design of BMC.

Although Mini was made until year 2000, this big brother retired 1969, which  was also the last season of Riley.

A year before,BMC merged with Leyland group and they ended up with managing 15 brands in a company.

Even before the merger, most of the brands were struggling to survive and the merger which was led by Government did not improve their situation.

That was how, Mini missed a chance to update.I would say 1969 when Elf retired was about time those cars were supposed to be withdrawn.

It has been already over 40 years and today, it is very hard to see one of those even in New Zealand which is almost like museum of old British cars.

After the WW2, there were famous compact cars like VW Beetle, Citroen 2CV or Mini…..there is something in common.
All of them failed to go through model change and ended up with such a long life span.
Now, those cars look charming…..but at least in 70s,  those just looked aged…….

Today, BMW which is ex-owner of Rover-group still have right of Riley brand  although the company was sold to China.

It has been over a decade since New Mini was produced by BMW. Perhaps, they could make Riley Elf based on New Mini with extended rear…

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2013 Dodge Dart….American made Alfa Romeo

Dodge Dart was first introduced as a compact car  in 1960.
In 1960, there were some major change in American Automobile industry. First of all, tail fins were smaller than previous year. And also Big 3 started selling compact cars such as Ford Falcon, Chevrolet Corvair and Dodge Dart…..

Dart was discontinued  in 1976 and was replace by crappy Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare which totally ruined reputation of Chrysler.

It has been 36 years and new Dodge Dart arrived to market in 2012 as 2013 year model.
First of all….it does not look particularly anything…..Believe it or not….the platform is carried from Alfa Romeo Giulietta!!

Fiat helped Chrysler when they went bankrupt because they wanted to come back to American market again.

Then, they started selling Fiat 500 and rumor said Alfa Romeo was coming back to America too……Now what we have is this thing which is the first Alfa Romeo since they left North America in 1996.

I was wondering why they did not use Alfa Romeo brand?

When Mitsubishi started selling in North America, they were sold as Chrysler and that was how they failed to build up their own brand image and sales network.

Same thing could happen to Alfa Romeo too.

Today, average American people are not interested in cars. They just buy when they think are reasonable.

I don’t think lots of American people even don’t know this car is Alfa Romeo based.

Then, the service cost would be more expensive than average Americans or Japanese…..that is the end!!

They should have sold as “Alfa Romeo” from beginning if they are really thinking of coming back to the market.

Italian cars have never been good quality and if they come outside of Europe, the maintenance cost is the big problem. In that case, they should give up to sell as “basic cars”. They should sell as “Premium European Sporty Sedan”….actually that is the only way to sell outside or Europe.

Or….they just used Alfa Romeo platform to make up one compact car by easy way.
Also they are testing in American market now with this car…..

I don’t know what is the true story….maybe all true….

At least this car does not look particularly anything at this stage.
I am looking forward to see Alfa Romeo cars with their own brand in North America again not with Chrysler name.

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Cadillac Sixteen….Last real Cadillac design

Cadillac Sixteen was a concept car which was introduced in 2003.

It had  V16 engine which had been absent since 1940.

Particularly, I don’t think it is beautiful design….but there are quite a few good design composition in this design.

First of all….the line of C-Pillar and shape of rear door glass ( also a part of C-pillar) is amazing.

I don’t like the extremely long front end…..but the overall design is quite well done.

I would say it is the last Cadillac which had good traditional Cadillac design.

Then, what we got in the market is……CTS, STS, DTD…..and latest XTS.
They were showing the future design of Cadillac by Sixteen….but what we got after Sixteen were just crappy Lego toy like design which completely destroyed the traditional culture of Cadillac and trying to be tasteless cultureless Lexus or something.

They have good designers….but they can’t do good job. That is the major problem on Cadillac.

Cadillac has always been Prestige cars and nothing else. It is impossible to be sporty car or BMW 3 series. Before they try lots of unsuccessful new projects, they should make best prestige cars instead.

What GM is doing is exactly same as Harley Davidson trying to make 250cc spot bike.

This is my Photoshop project which I modified Cadillac Sixteen to make more realistic.

I’d like this kind of Cadillac rather than XTS which lools like Prius or something.

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ICBC sucks…We need better car insurance in BC, Canada

How normal car insurance works.

In British Colombia, Canada, we have only one car insurance company which is handled by Government called ICBC.

Due to the monopoly, their quality of service is extremely bad.

First of all, our rate is 3 times more than Tokyo.

Second, even if we hate them, we have to use because there is no other choice.

Car insurance in BC, Canada

When I had an accident, I could not drive anymore….so, I asked to cancel the remain of the insurance. But they did not let me.

Giving wrong information and keeping someone’s money is Thieving.

I complained about it….but they had investigation by themselves and they say “There was no problem and not going to refund”.

Thieves are running car insurance in BC, Canada.

BC has quite big population for car industry. But to drive, we have to deal with those thieves.
Nobody is honest, nobody cares…..driving environment in BC is just nightmare.

We need better Car insurance which is not run by thieves.

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Chevrolet Caprice….C pillar destroyed whole design

New Chevrolet Caprice which came out in 1990 was shocking to every American people.
Almost everything was carried over from the long going previous model which came out in 1977 apart from its completely new weird body style.

A year later, Mercury Grand Marquis came out with more traditional looking and all the customer was taken away by Ford and Caprice was mainly used as Police or Taxi.

It has been over 20 years since this thing came out and it is quite hard to find one of those today.

I saw one on a street and what do I think now? Still ugly is ugly…..It was called “Beached whale” old days.

A year later, Big brother Buick Roadmaster was added to the line and was looking much better than Caprice.

What is the difference?

From the distinctive curvy A-pillar, it is obvious this is sharing the same platform.

Well…..it has bigger grill….. let’s look at the rear…….

It is looking much more respectable….isn’t it?

I can see the biggest difference is the shape of C-Pillar.
Let’s try some experiment…..I matched up Buick Roadmster’s C-Pillar onto Chevy Caprice by Adobe Photoshop.

Look at this…….isn’t it amazing? Those 2 are looking totally different design….but just using Roadmaster’s C-Pillar really changed the Caprice’s sloppy design. Nobody would call it “Beached whale” anymore!!

This is not bad at all. Later on, they modified line of rear fender and quarter glass, but it still did not improve a lot. This was how they should have done much earlier.

This is the one I modified around the tail lamp. It also changed the image quite a bit.
This series was not  popular partly because even 20 years ago, full-size cars were out of style. But, still the biggest problem was Caprice’s style.

Then, they produced Buick, Olds, Pontiac and Cadillac later on…..but obiously we could tell those were Caprice with tons of make up.

In case of Ford, Lincoln Towncar first came out, then Mercury and Ford came out later. It was better way to do and also they were better looking.

That was how GM lost in this market and withdrew in 1996. Then after that, Ford dominated this market…..but they did not do anything new and just kept aging and kept loosing customers and finally, all the Full-size Ford was seized in 2011.

This generation of Caprice was ugly….it was just because of the C-Pillar. This is good case study to say how important the shape of C-pillar is.

By the way this Caprice had Station Wagon as well and was looking way better. It was also because of the shape of C-Pillar.

Honda CBX250RS….Ladies don’t like girly design.

CBX250RS….downgraded cheap girly design was hated by ladies who were supposed to be the main customers.

I got to tell Car designers “Girls don’t like Girly design!!”

Honda CBX250RS was a 250cc single cylinder sport bike introduced in 1983.

Honda CB250RS….it was slim & light….but it was quite sporty looking too.

The previous model CB250RS was a really nice bike. It only had 25PS which was lower than Honda CB250Twin…but it was nearly 50kg lighter. Combination of light slim body and responsive single cylinder created quite sporty feeling and that was how it was loved from experienced rider to lady riders.

Also the design was downsized CB900F which was one of the most popular sport bike at that time.

Then, 3 years later, the updated CBX200RS came out with stronger chassis and 5PS extra with DOHC head.

But somehow….it was not popular at all.
It came with starter motors and it spoiled the character of the previous model.

CB250RS was kick-start only with light weight body….it was purely sporty charactor…but just adding extra starter motor spoiled it.

Secondly  the vibration. When they developed previous model, they were not particularly interested in “Taste of single cylinder”.

It was only because the engine was carried over from off-road bike and also was the only engine a part from heavy & aged CB250Twin engine.
But lots of people liked the engine.

So, what Honda did was….increased vibration on purposely. This was not as nice as previous model.

Then, the biggest problem was…..they misunderstood the customers.
Previous model were quite popular with girls….that was true…..then they did girly or cheap design for this model.

This is the important point.

Girls who take motorcycle license and spend big money for motorcycle don’t like girly design.

So, this model was not popular with girls and of course was hated by experienced riders too.

Recently, Toyota launched Toyota Crown with Pink color…..they did the exactly the same mistake.

Young people who spend big money for Crown won’t buy cheap crappy looking pink car.

When Japanese designers try to attract girls, they always do cheap crappy design instead of chick sophisticated design.

What’s the problem you guys?

Car Design…Dodge Challenger

Dodge Challenger was known as a muscle car which was launched in 1970 and it came back to the market after the long absence since 1974.

Lets check at this modern muscle car today.
I would say it is not that bad….at least way better than Mustang or Camaro…..but this one still has the same problem with those other competitor.

First of all, why do they have to make Door Glass so small?
All the window is mounted very high and glass area is small…..that makes me feel really cramped although it has enough space.

You got to know I am only 5.8 feet tall and 130lb……and still feeling cramped. What about average American people?

That is how I did some modification by Adobe Photoshop.

As I told before all the window is located very high that is because of the extremely thick body.

Also because of the low roof…..those 2 are making glass area extremely small.
So, I sliced the body to reduce the height, then  lifted up entire roof to keep the space utility and also increase the glass area.

Also the angle of front windscreen has been lifted up slightly.

Maybe the original one looks more massive…or more powerful……but I just could not stand the high and small glass area.

Some reason,all the Americans are like that these days.

Also I reduced some gap between tire and wheel arch.

American muscle cars used to be roughly made….but those day, petrol was dirt cheap and at least they had reasonable space.

But today, the situation is totally different. They can’t do that kind of rough design anymore. It is good to bring back the legacy…..but at least they should keep the basics of car design.

I am not telling to make like 4 door sedan. I am just telling just small thing can make big difference and it will create extra value. That’s all!

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2014 Chevrolet Impala

<< Go Back to HomeAmerican cars are ugly……honestly, past 10 years, they have been horrible.

But when I first saw the 2014 Chevrolet Impala…..at least it does not look too bad.

Current Impala is the last of GM W-platform and after that, they are completely shifting to GM Epsilon platform which was originally developed by poorly named Opel.

But….look at the style! Recently, I was really fed up with crazy new Toyota design or other GMs. But at least, this is quite normal.

From the shape of leaning rear windshield, the head clearance won’t be very big….but it is not too bad.

Being normal is a good thing.Current model did not have anything we could call “design”. Compare to it , the new one is quite well-done.

This was designed after the bankrupcy. It means they had no more Pontiac !! Such a  great news!!

Pontiac and Chevrolet were always in the similar kind of market and it also meant to be Chevrolet had to be more basic or boring look compare to Pontiac.

But now, they don’t have to worry about it. Chevrolet is the only brand in that class in GM. I am sure that changed design of Chevrolet.

A few years ago, when they announced the withdrawal of Pontiac, I thought it was going to be a good idea and was going to be a good chance for Chevrolet.

Maybe it was right.

Now, Cadillac XTS, Buick LaCloss and this Impala are using GM-Epsilon platform….or so as smaller Buick Regal or Chevrolet Malibu.

Now, those are the biggest American Sedan and also Impala is the only Chevy comes with V6 engine!!

Time has changed and Chevy used to be cars for young people….but now, most of Impalas are for Yellow cabs or even smaller Malibus are for senior people.

Old days, Cadillac came out with coolest design and later on, Chevy came out with similar design with previous Caddy….that was the market strategy.

But now, nobody respects Caddy and now….even Impala is looking better than Caddy XTS.

More expensive Cadillac XTS looks worse……

ICBC is scam, we don’t want ICBC anymore

In British Colombia, Canada, we have only 1 car insurance company ICBC, which is a part of Government department.

When we say government department, you will think so so price and so so service….but it is not true.

Due to the 40 years monopoly, people only knows ICBC and taking it as granted…..but it is an absolutely horrible place to deal with.

In normal country, when you had accident,  you talk to your insurance company and your insurance company deal with the other insurance company.

But, in BC, Canada, there is only one insurance company….which means your insurance company and other driver’s insurance company are the same.

So….what happen is…..they discuss what is the best way to make biggest profit or least pay.

The they will make you guilty although you are not.

To make you guilty, what they do is….they make you tell lie with funny questions.

They don’t care who is layer or who is right….all they care is money.
They don’t care how much you lie. Bring fake witnesses.! As long as you get a witness,you will always win the case.

They don’t assess or anything.

Sometimes, they make you repair your car as soon as possible to terminate the evidence.

Such a crappy servece…..but it is super expensive too.

To me, 25 years experience and no past record still pay $1800 a year which is including full discount even for $500 car !!

It is more than double even compare to Tokyo.

I can’t drive here in Vancouver anymore. They are just horrible and it is too dangerous to.
Traffic in Vancouver is just in chaos due to the miss-leading of ICBC.

They are thief, they are lier…..but still they are the only choice.

Some says they are quite good…..but it was because you are lucky. But remember how much you paid in the past!

Sometimes they are extremely generous it is because they are so slack. They don’t do proper assessment and you have to pay for that.

In human’s history, monopoly has never been good. Remember Soviet Union.

When I involved into accident and lost vehicle, they did not let me cancel remain of the insurance just because they did not want to refund.

Again, ICBC is thief.  We have to do something!!

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