Cool Cheap Cars

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 07:41:00 +0000

Ok, so sue me, I bit off more than I could chew. None of the lazy bastards that said they wanted to contribute to CCC did so and, yes, CCC is a car blog looking for contributors - googleable enough? For now, I'm keeping up Basic Transportation - the car, truck and, slowly, electric vehicle blog. No worries, there's plenty of cool cheap cars on there too! And it's the most-updated blog in the Alex Shapiro media empire. Check it out!

noreply@blogger.com (mikemerlin) — Wed, 09 May 2007 17:28:00 +0000

Hi, you'll have to forgive me for this, its my first time, so please be gentle, actually I love cars and having owned about 30 over the years, I couldn't resist bringing this one to your attention, its called a G wizz and I guess its affordable at around £8000, if you're not on the dole or seriously into cars, that is and to make it even more desirable I have just heard on the news that it's a death trap, or more likely due to its top speed of 10mph, a not so serious injury trap, perhaps a light bruise trap.

Anyway it's apparently the most popular electric vehicle on English roads and it's exempt from road tax, which is not on, as it takes up as much room as half a normal car, at least and guess what, you can get it with air con, personally I would'nt be seen dead in it, but even that's hardly possible, apart from having a heart attack.

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 10:23:00 +0000

Really, really disgusting new Scion.

Lots of people didn't much like the Scion xB when it came out. Based on the Japanese Black Box, it just wasn't how L.A. people (where the first Scions were releases) looked at cars. L.A. folks want big trucks, or at least convertibles. Your car is who you are - and not a lot of people saw themselves as a slow refrigerator box. But the xB was cool enough to win over a lot of fans. With its impossibly massive interior (seriously, it's like an old Chevy Astro van in there) - and its low, low, low price - it was actually an OK way to go, car-wise.

But almost a decade later, Scion felt the pressure to do something new to the xB - so they made it ugly and more Toyota-like. Behold, the above picture of the uglified crap mobile that is replacing the beloved all box. It's rounder, its front end vaguely resembles Toyota vans and it's coming at you soon for $15,650. Look for the new Scion xB in Second Life too, it's even uglier.

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 10:06:00 +0000

Wanna contribute? Cause we need you to.

I'm just one person, damn it! I can't possibly keep up two blogs, a print columns, regular features and an actual day job. SO, if you like your cars cool or cheap (better yet, if you like both) let me know and maybe you can help out on CCC! After all, the design is just too cool to delete the blog. Even though I never get around to posting and you're the only one who's read this. Just post a comment if you want a piece of this.

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 15:12:00 +0000

You Holden?
Yes, puns galore, as the chance for a rear-wheel-drive, sporty pontiac looms. And this time, it's got four doors, for all your kangaroos and boomerangs. There was a time when fast and RWR was the only way America made cars. Sure, there was the Tornado and the Riviera and the Eldarado to challange the status quo - but, generally, sweet understearing pleasure was yours to have.

The Holden Commadore, set to become a Pontiac next year, looks promising. Though, to be fair, it also looks like an older 3-series BMW. In other words, it's the accoutant's performance sedan and won't get young hip folks like you (you blog reader, you.)

So, rather than buy a worthless Australian car, why not check out this gorgeous AMC Javelin on eBay. Yeah, it's up to 30K right now - which isn't cheap, but this thing's definately cool, car-wise. It's got a system. It's got rims. It's sex on wheels is what it is - and you'll sell it for 30K when you're over it.

The crappy Commadore, above, won't be worth a god damn thing when you want to throw it away. Worst case scenario, it'll come back.

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 15:56:00 +0000

Not Cool, Not Cheap Still Cars.

So, you whine, CCC hasn't posted a damn thing in weeks. Is the blog dead? Should I not bother to subscribe? Why should I care, you ask yourself.

Perhaps that's the point. There aren't exactly 365 cool, cheap cars to post about everyday. You'll even notice that this cool cheap car here, the VeeDub - is about 50 years old, and, when you pimp it out like this - there's nothing cheap about it. Plus, it's from the 2005 SEMA show, so not really fresh news either.

So that's the thing - there really aren't any cool cheap cars at the moment. The Wrangler's always alright, and I don't totally hate the four-banger Fusion, with 5-speed. But at 18K plus TLR, it's not all that cheap. The Focus is too old to matter. The Scions are for a very specific group of people, who, perhaps also like obnoxious music, baseball caps and rice. What's left, you ask? Used car heaven, another VW - for 3 grand, on our best friend - eBay. A cool car with no design, heater or pretense - the Thing. The thing is everything you wand and nothing you don't. Plus, it's got all the appeal of the Wrangler - without the newly-added power windows, which are for lamers anyway. It's basic transportation at its best.

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 19:34:00 +0000

The Cool Cheap Car we can't buy. It's not the Fiat 500 or a Citroen C2.

But, as far as cool, cheap, cars go - what are they really offering to even the most diehard blue oval fans? Not a lot is what. Besides the Mustang, which is one of the coolest, cheapest, car-iest cars of them all - Ford doesn't really treat Americans to too much of anything.

Compare the two, the U.S. version's been virtually unchanged since, what, like 1998. It's available with - an engine - 2.0, 2.3 in the nicest version. This puts out an uninspiring 166 horsepower. The UK/Euro version of the Focus - the cooler-looking one up there - puts out a ricoculous 225! That's with the help of a turbo charged 5 cylinder. The thing's also got twin exhausts. Nothing lame about that. In fact, you don't get two tips with a v6 Mustang. And - you can get a six-speed. I rest my case.

The Euro Focus also comes in a bunch of different diesels. You can see all the choices at: Euro Ford Focus Specs - though it's all in dumb ass newton metres and kilowatts.

So, think about it - at a time when Americans are looking around for any way to save on gas, even making their own biodiesel - Ford is giving you a reworked Expedition instead of treating you to Europe's favo(u)rite, practical car. Tthe here's an ST for the kids and the 5-door diesel for when you have some kids.

Write Ford a letter, the US Ford. Click Here.

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 21:17:00 +0000

Cheap and Cool enough for Clubbin(g).

Gas mileage is on everyone's mind right now. But, realistically, if you spend $23K on a Prius, it'll take years of driving (and only in the city) to make up the money compared to a cheap V8. A V8 is cheap to fix and cheap to buy it's just not cheap to run. Plus, if you care at all about 'our dependence on foreign oil' you should probably go visit another blog right now. At the end of the day, Bush and the Saudis are friends - so get a V8 - since, we'll always buy their sweet dinasaur juice.

If you're like most people, you like to go to the club and shake you ass with something pimpy parked right out front. This is because, when you walk out of the club, you want all the hot members of the opposite sex to see you get into something sexy, something that explains quickly exactly how cool you are.

You could, of course, go spend $66K plus tax, licence and registation, on an Escalade. By the way, the build-quality of the new one is absolutely appalling. Or, you can read Cool Cheap Cars and think about this.

A police chevrolet SUV will end up costing you around ten grand. Though do choose carefully. A kit to convert your chevy truck into an Escalade (remember, it already has the same engine and most other parts) will be costing you around ten grand. An Escalade conversion kit will cost you a couple more. Finally, things like rims, nice paint, airbags and a system will cost you 5 to 1o more. Depending on how loud you like to bump and how hard you want to roll. So, for $20K - spread out over a while - you get an Escalade-like club cruiser, though not as nice or new as the Dub Edition Escalade pictured here. Still, that's about the same you'll spend on a Mazda 6 or year-old Nissan Maxima. Forget about resale value but you'll have the satisfaction of looking like a drug dealer while driving a cop car.

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 18:04:00 +0000

We Celebrate the Wrangler and 'Boo' the Mini.

The problem with so many cool cheap cars is that they don't look like something a dude should drive. The new Mini is a great example. It's a fantastic car, drives great and has a clever interior. But when you imagine walking a lady friend over to your Mini, horsepower, gas mileage and handling start sounding a lot less important.

The Wrangler had that same problem. Before the current re-design, what was once a many bastion of rock climbing, dirt spitting, shit kicking military might, looked like a Britney Spears video prop (which it was, in her first video). The extra-big and round headlights and rounded hood made it too puppydog and not-enough 'what curb'. So, I think it's worth opening the first Cool Cheap Cars by saluting the Wrangler and sharing a website about a company that sticks Hemi engines in them. I've driven the sad, 2.5L version and spent the whole time looking up to the nice, 4.0L Sport or X models. A Hemi just makes those sound sad. The 2.5L can be had for under $18K and that makes it a Cool (relatively) Cheap (sorta) Car.

American Expedition Vehicles Jeep Wrangler Hemi