Cheers and Jeers for 2010

[bobo]

I normally post “Cheers and Jeers,” my end-of-year wrap-up post late on New Year’s Eve or early New Year’s Day. This year, I found myself in the hospital for most of the past week as my first child was born at the end of the year in circumstances that were later and more difficult than expected, and hence this post had to wait a week until mom and baby daughter were resting well at home, and they are doing fine now. So on with the festivities, and I hope everybody has been having a Happy New Year so far.

Twenty ten was a year that continued to be filled with doom and gloom, with occasional peeks of sunshine to be smothered with dark gray clouds again as the jobless recovery to the Great Recession persisted. BP fouled the Gulf of Mexico. The Iraq war ended on paper, and the war in Afghanistan became the longest war in U.S. history with rapidly losing public support. The November elections brought out loony Tea Party activists, and President Obama added “shellacking” into the political lexicon. The feel good story of the year was the 33 Chilean miners rescued after being trapped for 69 days. The iPad was the gadget to have. Notable loses included Gary Coleman, Leslie Nielsen, George Steinbrenner, Lena Horn, and Elizabeth Edwards.

In the automotive world, the news during the beginning of the year was all about the mass of Toyota recalls that started the previous year with allegedly sticking gas pedals. Ford was on a roll with booming sales and acclaim, while Chrysler held on and showed signs of life with new parent Fiat. GM found itself in a much stronger position the year after it filed for bankruptcy. Toyota shut down the NUMMI plant in Fremont, California, and sold it to Tesla, of which Toyota bought a share. Pontiac was officially placed in the history books. Hyundai became the darling of the industry, with the Sonata becoming the new family sedan benchmark. Overall, automobile sales enjoyed a healthy bump over the previous year’s dismal record.

Here on the forums, having a high school diploma meant something, and $19 Walmart DVD players permeated the economic discussions. Forum members continued to experience automotive bumps and bruises in the affliction known as the “C&G Curse.” Cheers and Gears wouldn’t be Cheers and Gears without a few forum glitches and blackouts, and thankfully those have been cured.

And now, time for the Ninth Annual Edition of Cheers and Jeers:

Cheers to GM for finally bringing the Most Significant Automobile Introduction with the cutting-edge Volt to market without too many hitches. GM put its brawn and staked its reputation on it, and so far, so good. Honorable Mention to Nissan for introducing the all-electric Leaf, which is the perfect commuter car for many multiple-vehicle households.

Cheers to Chrysler under Fiat for being Most Improved with an unexpected and significant reworking of its lineup, an incredible turn of events given its neglect under Daimler, and it being on the brink of being shut down. The interiors have been vastly improved. The new Charger and Grand Cherokee are very desirable, and even the Compass is being salvaged. Now if only the current Sebring/200 would go away for good, though the upgrades have helped somewhat.

Jeers to GM for the Worst Marketing Move, banishing “Chevy” from advertising briefly in June to provide a consistent international branding until better sensibilities kicked in. For years the trend in branding was to shorten and simplify, especially in this age of texting, with Federal Express becoming FedEx, Kentucky Fried Chicken became KFC, and Coca-Cola better known as Coke, and yet the marketing gurus inexplicably preferred the stiff “Chevrolet” in the advertising over the beloved “Chevy.” Then in October, “Chevy Runs Deep” was unveiled to mixed reviews.

Cheers to dwightlooi for Best Technical Post on the rotary engine. He makes the dimbulb layman understand the basics and intricacies in mechanical systems. This is just one of many great posts.

Rotaries are a bad idea... bad for emissions and bad for economy. Let me explain:-

(1) Internal Combustion engines compress and ignite fuel & air. The heat produced causes the gaseous charge to become highly pressurized. This is allowed to expand against a piston, or in the case of a rotary, a rotor to do mechanical work. In a piston engine, the compression and combustion happens in the same location. In a Rotary it doesn't. This is bad for emissions and economy because the engine is always compressing the charge in a "cold" vessel such as it would experience before an regular engine has warmed up. The portion of the heat form the previous combustion cycle, which is normally captured and transferred to the next charge via the cylinder walls, is instead lost only through the cooling system.

(2) Piston engines uses cylindrical sealing rings -- usually two compression and one oil scrapper rings. These track a contiguous surface on the cylinder walls that is exposed to oiling and they work very well -- both in terms of obtaining a good seal and staying lubricated. In a rotary (a DKM rotary more specifically), the rotor has to be sealed along the apex and on the sides. If you look a Mazda rotor you'll notice metallic linear apex and side seals with gaps in between, along with a circular oil seal usually made from a rubberized material. The Apex seals also never ever contact crank case lubricants. As a consequence, rotaries are always slightly "leaky" compared to a piston engine in good condition. They also rely on injecting oil along with fuel into the intake air charge to keep the perimeter of the torchoid lubricated. Again, bad for emissions, wear and to a (much) lesser extent efficiency.

(3) Lastly, a lot of the advancement in emissions control and powerband flattening in recent years rely on variable valve timing (and in certain cases lift) technologies. The Rotary, like a 2-stroke engine, by and large cannot capitalized on these technologies. Yet, again, bad for economy and efficiency.

The DKM rotary is good for one thing and one thing only -- power density. You get more power out of it than a piston engine of comparable weight and (more significantly) size. However, if it is power density you are after, a micro gas turbine beats a rotary hands down.

Cheers to Dodgefan for Best Concept for an uncharacteristically good-looking minivan, a Dodge Caravan.

Honorable Mention to Gnitro for an Aveo (Sonic) Crossover called the Edgewood:

Cheers to caddycruiser for being the Best Automotive Consumer and the car fan we can live through vicariously. Who wouldn’t want a brand new vehicle every few months, from various GM family sedans to the awesome Pontiac G8 to burly Avalanche to practical and zoomy CX-9? Let’s keep those factories and dealers busy! Honorable Mention to black-knight for making us appreciative that most of us don’t have a run of clunkers like he has had after his friend wrecked his Firebird.

Cheers once again to the always cheerful Oracle of Delphi as the Best Industry Poster. He doesn’t post as much as he used to, but each post usually contains tantalizing bits and pieces to surprise and delight. Or to set one in place.

Cheers to Dodgefan for the Best Post on his take on the commercial showing the Acura TSX wagon drifting:

Cheers to the Best Ugly Vehicle: the Nissan Juke. A small, cheap, and fun-to-drive crossover with a face only a mother could love. Nissan deserves some credit for taking chances.

Jeers to the Worst Ugly Vehicle: the Acura ZDX. It has a nice interior, but the exterior is an assault to the eyes, and it’s expensive, thirsty, and with limited utility.

Jeers to the Worst Post by a supposed fan of the Premium American Motorcar division:

I would take a foreign made brand over any day over these poorly made pos american cars. They are built buy lazy unionized workers who could care less if the part they put in is right. At least the Asisns have good work ethics and you people would find any reason to bad mouth these cars. At least Toyota didn't neeed the government to come in and bail them out.

Cheers to Avant1963 for the Best Political Post:

Honestly, debating with Libertarians is like debating with ultra-religious - they both live in these fantasy worlds where god (money) and heaven (the free-market) will make everything good at the end, no matter how many people get killed, lives destroyed, or common sense ignored.

It must be wonderful to live in a world where money always equals morality, where given enough time, the market will correct itself without regulation. If a Chinese company uses lead in their paint, we'll find out after hundreds of children are poisoned and stop buying it instead of regulating the you can't use lead paint. See, the market corrected itself and only a few hundred kids had to die.

Please don't respond to this post, because much like I don't go on religious sites and try to debate the un-debatable, I am blocking out the Politics forum here because every topic is about the Libertarian Utopia written by people who are so far disconnected from reality it is just like debating the bible to a fundamentalist.

I just needed to type this, get it off my chest and say that you are really f@#ked up. Going back to the real world now.

Cheers to Dodgefan for Best Automotive Graphic:

Cheers to GMTruckGuy74 for being the Biggest GM Fan for earning the title "GMC Fan of the Week."

Cheers once again to the Moderator of Merit, Ninety Eight Regency, for his continued faithful posting of the news on the site and keeping it all tidy.

Cheers to GM’s Toughest Critics on Cheers and Gears who want GM to succeed by going beyond the ordinary and everyday and having us to be blown away. Honorable Mentions include that evergreen smartass, Satty, long-suffering Delta Force79, who keeps yearning to be mentioned in "Cheers and Jeers," and regfootball, for his reviews of practically every family vehicle available. And kudos to Charger4U’s Word Association, which still has not crashed the board despite reaching nearly 25,000 posts.

I hope everybody has a healthy, fulfilling Happy New Year!

[Intrepidation]

I would like to thank Acura for the opportunity. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have had such good joke material to work with.

I'd also like to thank Toyota for sucking so much.

And Cheers to bobo for keeping up this great tradition!

[CSpec]

Cheers to bobo and Mrs. bobo for the birth of their daughter!

[Camino LS6]

A big echo of the above posts to you, bobo!

This stuff is heart and soul around here.

Congratulations and thanks.

[Delta Force79]

Cheers to everyone here at C&G

Bobo I'm honored to be mentioned, although this past year my already limited amount of active posts has dropped even more, so this was a a nice surprise. Cheers

[Lamar]

I must make my presence felt more so as to make the list next year!

[Drew Dowdell]

Damn, the Dear Leader didn't win any.

Congrats on the new baby Bobo!

[ocnblu]

I've been off my game pretty badly. Congratulations to The Bobos!

[GMTruckGuy74]

Thanks for posting this bobo, it is always a pleasure to read and is much anticpated by us older posters!

I too have benefitted from the addition of a new family member in 2010, my daughter Sierra Skye (born July 14). May good health bless your entire family in 2011.

Thank you for including me once again in your annual Cheers and Jeers. I was not expecting any mention since there are so many wonderful posters on here, but I am quite proud of that recognition (yes, I am a dork!) and I just LOVE seeing that picture pop up from time to time

To ALL C&G posters - have a wonderful, healthy, prosperous and car-driven new year "2011". My goal (resolution) this year is to make at least one automotive-related experience happen per month (car show, cruise night, museum visit, auto sport event attendance, ect). So far I've made it for January - took the boys to the Sun Center Arena in Trenton last weekend for the Advanced Auto Monster Jam show, and plan to go to the AACA museum soon too as a bonus for working way too much in November & December Now I just have to figure out what other things I can do in March & December (two other "winter months" that car shows/cruise nights don't exist).

[balthazar]

^ good stuff, WMJ!

Part of the problem is the 24-hr news cycle and the technology-laced reduction of the Attention Span, which is why labels resonate so well with most; they can catch a label and dismiss an entire POV and go back to streaming S&TC and stop critical thinking.

I have tried to have conversations with others (here & elsewhere), but as soon as the labels are thrown down, they stop listening/thinking.

I was really liking the idea put forth to mix up the seating in Congress and toss all that 'across the aisle' BS out the window. Minor thing, but it can't hurt. To hell with Congressional tradition. Clique politics doesn't work.

[Blake Noble]

C'mon. My wave of POS daily drivers didn't make for a good enough show?

S'all good. I'll take the honorable mention title.

[!!!TED!!!]

It wouldn't be C&G without this!

Congrats BOBO on your new family member!

CHEERS to all the C&G members and staff that still make this an excellent forum!!!!

[frogger]

Considering I have a high school diploma, this is a good list

[Oracle of Delphi]

Thanks again BOBO, you can always find me on twitter if you miss me a whole lot ...