Sunday, July 29, 2018

TOP TEN SELLING CARS 1st HALF 2018

'MERICA!
According to our friends at Motor Trend magazine, here are the top 10 selling cars of the first half of 2018 here in the US. The full article is here: MOTOR TREND

I'm sure that SUVs and trucks sell more total vehicles, so this list is just looking at cars, which believe it or not, still exist and will get your from point A to point B. Let's take it two at a time and see which country and which brand hits this list the most. Me, I'm rooting for FIAT or Mazda to support the NMS autocross cars. 

10 Chevy Malibu 76,417
9   Chevy Cruze  77,691

Hey, good old Chevrolet has two cars in the top ten, can any other maker match that?

8   Ford Fusion  86,978
7   Hyundai Elantra  99,728

Hmmm, OK, one foreign maker and Ford so far makes it USA 3 and South Korea 1.
What country will win this competition?

6  Nissan Sentra  115,676
5  Nissan Altima  123,792

Dang, Nissan jumps up and ties Chevy with two cars so far, and puts Japan on the board, but still trailing the USA with USA 3 cars, Japan 2 cars, and South Korea 1 car. I had a Sentra long ago and it was good for being your basic small car. 

4  Honda Accord  138,290
3  Toyota Corolla  161,462

Well well well, two more Japanese cars, with one each from Honda and Toyota. Looks like the top two selling cars will determine what country has the most in the top ten, as well as which brand takes honors for landing the most in the top selling list. 

2  Honda Civic  176,242
1  Toyota Camry  178,795

Once again the Toyota Camry leads the way, but now with a narrow margin over the Honda Civic. We kind of make fun of our Camry for being a non-sports car, but it is still running strong over 100,000 miles, and that's with the smaller 4 cylinder engine. 

Totals brand wise show a big old four way tie, with Chevy, Nissan, Honda, and Toyota all having two cars in the top ten! Hats off to the Japanese brands for cleaning up by nation, 6 of the top 10, USA 3, and South Korea 1. Maybe the USA could do better if we looked at the top ten selling pickups!

Friday, July 27, 2018

The Coneavore Returns



NMS is proud to announce (and shamelessly plug)  that the fine folks at BLIPSHIFT are offering Brian's great t-shirt design the CONEAVORE for a limited time, like the next 3 days only. Here's the link to Brian's design, which we think looks best on a t-shirt that you wear, so check it out and order one today!

CONEAVORE

If you don't know what a Coneavore is, well, it's a car that eats cones. As in a certain NMS Miata that hits a lot of cones on an autocross course. If I have to explain it any more than that it won't be as funny, so I'll just mention that this year's version has a BLUE Miata, so you can also think of the shirt as a Cookie Monster version.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Besides making you a member of the cool autocross kid's club, each Coneavore t-shirt sold by Blipshift also benefits NMS' favorite starving artist and t-shirt designer extraordinaire Brian Nixon. They make great Christmas presents. And Birthday presents. And "hey today is a lunar eclipse on the other side of the Earth" presents!

Thursday, July 19, 2018

NMS FIAT Abarth Returns to the Track!



Previous HPDE Session in 2017 at Carolina Motorsports Park: Photo Courtesy OG Racing


The NMS FIAT will return to track action in August when we head to Pocono raceway for a full day of High Performance Driver Education, or HPDE. While the word "education" might sound funny, that's what this session is all about. Sponsored by the fine folks at NASA in the Northeast region, we'll be driving several sessions all day with an instructor in the passenger seat, and be working to improve our driving technique. This is not a race or competition in any way, other than we'll be trying to be a better driver at the end of the day than we were when we woke up in the morning. 

What kind of car can drive on a track at an HPDE? Well, pretty much anything that has four wheels and is in good mechanical condition. Since it's not racing and there shouldn't be any contact or off-track excursions, drivers still have to wear a helmet, but they don't need all the roll bars and other safety gear (need a roll bar if you're in a convertible though.) Here's a quick look at what cars have signed up so far: 


Douglas BondHonda Civic163HPDE1
Paul DulaffChevy Corvette9HPDE1
Eugene GutmanAlfa Romeo Giulia27HPDE1
Ryan HoranHonda Civic189HPDE1
Chad JonesBMW Z412HPDE1
Jose MaderoFiat 50071HPDE1
Robert MyersDodge Challenger87HPDE1
Robert A. NixonFiat 500 Abarth77HPDE1
Robert PalyaHonda Civic140HPDE1
Ishaan ShahJaguar XE18HPDE1
Adam TorreySubaru WRX STi21HPDE1

OK, the Corvette, Dodge Challenger, Jaguar XE, and Subaru are going to be fast cars, but along with the Abarth we'll be seeing a Honda Civic, FIAT 500, so it's not all about speed. While we won't be racing, in our beginner HPDE 1 sessions we are only allowed to pass other cars under certain conditions. This  makes things as safe as can be. Those conditions are that you can only pass on the straights, and only when the car in front sees you gaining on them and sticks their hand out to give you a "point by". This way both drivers are communicating and know what is going to happen. Being predictable is important, and if you've ever driven anywhere for more than about 1 minute in the US you've learned this by watching the other crazy drivers!

If you want to learn more, or see what other cars will be driving in the HPDE 2, 3, and 4 sessions, here's the link: https://nasaproracing.com/events/2862/entry_list?direction=asc&sort=name

Monday, July 16, 2018

NMS Announces More Lemons Goodness!

FRIDAY NIGHT BLOCK PARTY!
Brian down at NMS-South has driven in two 24 Hours of Lemons races so far, and coming up in September he's going to do it again in the 72 Coronet with Team Coronautski. CORONAUTSKI ON FACEBOOK At the same event to be held at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw SC, NMS-North is going to get in on the action for the first time with a new team driving a Nissan Altima.


THE ALTIMA IN A PREVIOUS RACING LIFE

Who will win the NMS Battle for Lemony Supremacy? Will both cars even start on race day? Will the temperatures exceed one bazillion degrees inside the race cars? We'll be covering the race from the inside and report from SC later in September. For now, there's a bunch of racing gear to buy and car stuff to get in working order for both teams.  


HONEST, A BUNCH OF CARS WILL BE HERE!

You can learn all about the many 24 Hours of Lemons Races at their home page: LEMONS

A cool feature of this race is the Friday night parade and block party, where all the race cars that run will try to drive to downtown Camden, park in one blocked off street, and then you can meet all the teams and laugh at their cars, have a drink, listen to a band, and hang out. This is the only Lemons race in the country with this Friday night fun, so we highly recommend it!
BRIAN AT CMP LEMONS 2017

The racing action will be on track at CMP Saturday September 15th from 10AM to 6:30PM, and then again on Sunday from 9-11AM and Noon-4PM. 


NEW ZAMP RACE SUIT! MIGHT NEED SHOES!

Here's the full LEMONS SCHEDULE:

Like the butterflies to Capistrano, or more likely the buzzards returning to Hinckley Ohio...or the Groundhog to Punxatawney PA, the NMS drivers will be returning to Carolina Motorsports Park in September for another 24 Hours of Lemons Race! Here's a look at the three day schedule of crappy cars and driving on track: 

Thursday, 13 September 2018
5pm: Gates open for early arrivals.  
Friday, 14 September 2018
9am-4pm: Pre-race track testing hosted by CMP.
Noon-4:30pm: Mandatory Tech Inspection (All cars MUST be inspected on Friday)
6pm-9pm: Downtown Camden BS Judging / Block Party / Lemons car show 
Saturday, 15 September 2018
7am: Gates open
9am: Mandatory drivers' meeting
10am-6:30pm: Race Session I
Sunday, 16 September 2018
9am-11am: Race Session II
11am-Noon: CMP quiet time. No race motors.
Noon-4pm: Race Session III
4:30pm: Awards Ceremony
7pm: Gates close

Saturday, July 14, 2018

What is the Cheapest Car Sold in the US?

NISSAN VERSA

So, what is cheapest car sold in the USA? The right answer is: The free one someone gave you! However, in the interests of finding a reason to do some Googling on the ol' Internet, we checked out the cheapest list prices we could find on line for brand new shiny cars. 

These are the prices listed on line for their respective manufacturers, so since we found this information on the Internet, it must be true! While your mileage will always vary, these prices may not include destination charges, so you can add about a thousand bucks to the prices seen here. Oh, and if you've ever tried to actually FIND one of these rock-bottom-no-option cars on an actual dealer's lot, odds are you won't find them. Dealers tend to load a lot of options on the cars they sell, but still, it's possible that these cars AT THESE PRICES may actually exist.

Also, many of these cars have rebates and money off, so you can go lower than what's listed here, in addition to good old car-buying haggling. You should never pay the sticker price for a car, so go ahead and offer those dealers less, you've got nothing to lose and plenty of money to save by wheeling and dealing when you buy new. 

10. First up, we thought of probably the smallest car, the Smart. You'd think this automobile would be inexpensive, but when we Googled it, it appears that they only make electric ones now, so from what we could see, the cheapest one starts at $23,900. Hey, that's not exactly cheap chicken feed, but then again, the Smart is made by Mercedes Benz, a brand NOT known for their cheap cars!  SMART

9. Let's stick with small cars, and go to one of the biggest brands in the world, Toyota. Their lowest cost auto is the  Yaris, and it easily lowers the bar compared to the Smart, all the way down to $15,635. OK, now we're getting somewhere. Given that the average price paid for new vehicles in the US is now several thousand over $30,000, this gets us into the fun trivia range of "for the price of a fully loaded Camry you could buy TWO YARIS cars!" See, isn't this fun!   TOYOTA YARIS

8. Here's our first US branded car, the Chevy Sonic, starting at $15,295. Probably the best feature of this car is that it shares a name with a well known drive-in chain that has happy hour discounts on soft drinks every day. What could be cooler than driving your Chevy Sonic down to your Sonic Drive-In and having a chocolate malt? NOTHING is the word you're looking for, although we have been known to drive our FIAT to Sonic, it just doesn't sound as cool. Try the Tater Tots while you're there.   Chevy Sonic

FIAT AT SONIC!

7. Next, how about NMS-North's favorite (meaning affordable) Italian brand, FIAT. Their basic 500 model is less than the Yaris cost, coming in at $14,995. Plus, the 2018 FIAT 500 this year will have all cars with a turbo, so instead of only about 100 horsepower you can now actually accelerate onto the interstate in a time measured in seconds instead of by sun-dial.   FIAT 500

6. Ford has made big news with their announcement that they plan to stop selling most of their cars, like the Fiesta, Focus, and Fusion. The cheapest of the lot is the Ford Fiesta, now going for $14,205. Hey, that's even cheaper than the FIAT with turbo, so what's the attraction with the Fiesta you ask! Well, one answer would be THREE big cylinders! How about that for POWER POWER POWER! Seriously, the Ford Fiesta is a nice little car, the NMS family has had a couple of them, although to be honest we don't own them now. If you're going the Fiesta route, we'd recommend you look for a used Fiesta ST with the sporty Recaro seats, and that you go auto crossing with it like we did. You'll love it!  FORD FIESTA

5. OK, here come the Korean cars, starting with the KIA Rio at a microscopic price of $13,900, cracking under the $14K barrier. I kinda sorta remember getting an Accent as a rental car once, and it seems I remember that it did NOT  have cruise control and still had roll up windows. Pretty much unheard of cost-saving for a car in the 21st Century, but when your car is this low priced you're going to find some cool features are not included. Hey, some people don't like cruise control, or so I've heard.   KIA RIO

4. Also from a Korean maker, the Hyundai Accent  comes in at $13,495, so we're well on our way to finding out if there is such a thing as a new car priced under $13,000. That sounds crazy, because we're now getting down to cars that might be a third the cost of many fairly common cars.   HYUNDAI ACCENT

3. Mitsubishi goes one better than the Hyundai, as in one hundred dollars cheaper, so their Mirage lists for $13,395. If you're shopping in this price range, every hundred bucks counts, so our hat is off to the Mitsubishi folks, who we sometimes forget are still selling cars. Nothing against them, we just haven't gotten around to owning one yet.   MITSUBISHI MIRAGE

2. Higher up the price list we heard from Ford and FIAT Chrysler, so here comes the other member of what used to be the USA's Big Three, Chevrolet and their entry level car the Spark, which will set you back $13,050. For a smaller car, the Spark has been getting good reviews, and Chevy plans to keep making cars like the Spark, the Camaro, and the Corvette for a long time. The Spark is SO close to getting into the $12,000 range that you'd think they could just knock off fifty bucks and get some great publicity, but oh well, their web page says 13,050.   CHEVY SPARK

1. So, who haven't we heard from yet, and who has the cheapest car sold in the USA? From what we could tell the winner is Nissan with their Versa $12,310. Somewhere we had a Versa as a rental, and it was a fine little car, so we'd say that if cost is your number one priority, go for the Versa. We're a long ways from the days of the crappy little cars like the Yugo and just about anything made in the 1970s, so why spend big when you can get a reasonable car in this price range?   NISSAN VERSA

Remember, these were all NEW car prices, and of course there are tons of cheaper used cars out there, like the NMS BMW that Brian wrote about last week, or the Mustang we bought for $250 at an auction!