Something's not quite right

Nissan 370Z, originally uploaded by MikeCCrutchfield.

Overall, I like the look of the new 370Z, but something about the front is just off. Most people would probably say the headlights, but I don't mind the headlights. I will admit they are an acquired taste, but that isn't what bothers me about the front. The front grill opening is what I don't like. It's like a robotic smile with dimples or something. It is just odd looking to me.



It looks like they tried to keep the overall rectangular shape of the opening but still give it some not-so-boxish lines, but it made it look really weird.


Wait..just found a picture that illustrates why I think it is weird. It reminds me of this:

So, Nissan now has a bulldog as their lower-level sports car.

LS7

Ok, so I lied, we hadn't see this one. This is the Camaro LS7. I also like the paint scheme on the SS in the background (the Silver one with the racing stripes)

Phili Auto Show

We went to the Philadelphia Auto Show yesterday, and while it was an OK auto show, we were spoiled by overseas auto shows. Paris, Geneva, and Frankfurt all spanned 5+ buildings and took 4+ hours to see. The Phili Auto Show (including about 20 minute break) took about an hour and 1/2. Granted, we skipped over some brands (Lincoln, Honda, Toyota, Jeep, Hummer) but we weren't at all interested in them. The only "new to us" vehicle we saw was the Nissan 370Z. Everything else, we had either seen at on the of the auto shows, or seen in person on the streets.

The pictures will be up on my flickr page very shortly, and I am sure we will still go to the Baltimore auto show when it comes to town, but it just isn't the same. On a side note, the VW booth people were actually knowledgable! I asked them if there was any word on the MkVI golf chassis for the US and they said "They are working on it, but they have already stopped producing the MkV, so they should be here later this year." Kudos!

Carsrst off, they

First off, here are the new parts in Kl0pfer (The Rabbit). The Dash cubby and the OEM Six-Disc changer.




They ordered the tool for the Jetta and it should be there tomorrow. Hopefully I will get the Jetta tomorrow or Monday...but time will tell.

Jetta Update

Forgot that I wanted to post an update on the status of the Jetta.

Got a call from the mechanic last night. He said that they received the docs from All Data that they needed to know how to put the flywheel seal back in the transmission (all 45 PAGES OF IT) but then they found out that they need a special tool to install it. T10135 I think was the tool number. Without that tool, they can't finish the car, and non of the local VW dealerships had ever had to change that seal so they didn't have the tool. The only place I could find it online (with a bit of help from TDIClub) was in Washington State. Hopefully the shop was able to order the tool.

This was all caused by my flywheel spinning itself apart. Apparently it can happen when the flywheel isn't replaced with the clutch because of something with the dual-mass flywheel. I won't have that problem anymore (once I FINALLY have the car back) because I am going with a single mass flywheel, but the rabbit is getting a ton of miles on it while this is going on. It is already over 22,000.

Greasemonkey

Well, I downloaded Greasemonkey, and started looking around on UserScripts.org. Not only did I find some good gmail scripts, I found a cool emoticon script for blogger.

Anyway, we installed a 6-disc OEM stereo in the rabbit this evening and the dash tray. I will take pics tomorrow, but it is the same stereo and dash tray that are in my Jetta.

Scattered thought

This post is going to have lots of smaller discreet thoughts that I didn't feel like making full posts about.

1) It is really a shame that the Ravens couldn't pull out a win against the Steelers last night. 3 Losses in one season to the same team is depressing. At least they had an amazing season with a Rookie QB and rookie head coach. There's always next season when Flacko is a little more seasoned. Hopefully we can keep Ray around too. Best of luck to McGahee on his recovery.

2) We finally installed the ceiling fan in the office. It looks really nice and I need to shoot some photos of it. Still have to take photos of the garage door opener installed as well.

3) We are still without the TDI. It has been in the shop over a week, first waiting for the new clutch, now because the shop doesn't have the info they need for 05.5-06 TDI's and the CD they need hasn't arrived yet. I can't wait to have the TDI back though, because it is supposed to be our daily commute car for a reason, actually 40+ reasons..lol

4) The Rabbit won't bother us for an oil change every 5,000 miles anymore. It is now set to 10,000 miles like it should be (and that is according to the manual even). I am also working on doing the hatch-pop mod outlined on GolfMKV.com. I just need to get a bigger spring so it will work.

5) The house behind us has a complete foundation. It certainly isn't a rancher though (the footprint is too small). My guess is it is either the Hathaway or the Savoy: Coventry Farms

That's all for this evening I suppose. I will have a full write-up of my experience with Windows 7 in probably around a week or two. So far, I am very impressed. It seems to run MUCH quicker than Vista. But, like I said, more on that another time.