On a recent trip up to Algonquin Park for a future story with MSN Autos Canada, we shoved the three-plus-dog easily, had all the baby support gear we could fit in the trunk, and didn’t hesitate to put the big Hyundai in places you wouldn’t expect. It handled the 15-km gravel loop with panache, and never complained once in 800-odd kilometres we put on it that day. It even returned fuel mileage a tad under 10L/100 km, which is pretty good for something with that amount of potential performance underhood.

The Genesis is Hyundai pulling the same move Lexus did with the original LS 400: build a fantastic product, under-price it compared to competitors, win over the non-believers, improve product year after year… then world domination. Easy peasy. Kudos to the Koreans, because this is one hot car.

Now that I’m dragging a two-month old around, that’s changed completely. You really start to notice the sharply raked C-pillars when  you whack your noggin on them when installing the infant-seat base. And the cabin length becomes acutely important to the passenger who can’t fit up front because of the ‘halo’ handle pushes their seat too far forward.

I’ve learned a lot in a very short amount of time as a parent – including don’t remove the dirty diaper until a clean one is ready to replace it – but the theory of efficient packaging and how some automakers totally ignore it are at the forefront of my daily driving life. I can understand why larger vehicles are heavily favoured by families, but I’m certainly not ready to concede that a minivan is my destiny.

So in all future encounters and posts about vehicles I’ve been driving, I’ll make a conscious decision to include all the parent-friendly information I can, even if some of you won’t find it near the top of your priority list.

The stop signs in my Toronto ‘hood are generally treated as suggestions, and even then sometimes ignored completely. Speeders hop up on the sidewalk to take shortcuts around the speedhumps. As a result, there have been a few police officers doing stop-sign duty in our area for a couple weeks, and we now gawk from the front porch and lay bets with the neighbours about how long one returning cop will stay stationary before  he lights up another jackass. Our record is still about 45 seconds, and that’s at the high end!

Anyway, we had a perfect example of just how ridiculous people drive about a week ago. My wife and I live near the bottom of a one-way street, and happened to spot morons pulling illegal U-turns and driving back down the wrong way five separate times in one evening. Five! Surely their time must be more precious than ours because driving up and back around the proper way takes a whole other minute, maybe.

The one who took the cake was the guy who decided to put his hazards on first before pulling his five-point turn. As if that helps. As if someone coming the right way up the street isn’t going to say, “Hey jackass! You’re going… Oh, wait! He has his hazards on. Never mind!” Having your hazards on doesn’t make you invincible, or mean you’re exempt from the law. Try that when you’re doing 151 km/h on Hwy 401 and see what the Ontario Provincial Police say. “Oh, we’re sorry sir. Continue on your way… didn’t notice you had your hazards on!”

Just gets my back up…

Anyone else seen some despicable driving recently?

Photo Credit: similarlee at sxc.hu

However, seems like everything’s gone to hell in a handbasket. Chrysler filed for bankruptcy protection, GM’s on the ropes and shedding brands when it can, Ford got more than 1,400 miles (yes miles!) out of a 2010 Fusion Hybrid, and Ferrari’s threatening to leave F1 in the wake of some proposed spending rules for 2010, and the ex-Honda, Brawn F1 team and Jenson Button dominating the 2009 Championship.

Is this some dream? ‘Fraid not.

Anyway… One of the cooler things I’ve done recently is get involved with the Honda Insight Into Canada tour, taking part in two of the trip’s plentiful legs. While the main story will appear next week in the Metro: Drive section across Canada (and presumably its website too), I thought I’d post a couple of my photos to keep you interested… After the story’s published, I’ll put together a more full look at the trip and my impressions of the Insight itself.

For now, enjoy the shots, and let me know what you’ve been up to lately!

Pontiac's last great automobile, the G8.

General Motors finally appears to be getting its act together, but survival will mean over half of Canadians working for the company will be out of work by next year, from 10,300 in 2008 to 4,400 in 2014. Similarly, GM will shutter nearly half of its 705 dealerships by the end of this year in an effort to bring its product offerings and sales network into line.

Also, Pontiac will join the other dead GM brands like Oldsmobile, Geo and Asuna in 2010, while waiting on word of whether they’ll be accompanied by Hummer, Saab, Saturn and Opel. So long to exciting and relevant products like the G8 sedan, however depending on how negotiations proceed with Toyota, the Vibe may stay on another year.

This is the sort of thing that you theorize should happen over beers with your buddies. To see GM on this course now is perhaps a little frightening.

However, both the U.S. and Canadian federal governments have passed laws ensuring the validity of the new-car warranties from any auto company that goes bankrupt. So if you own – or are thinking of buying – a new GM, and the company goes under or enters a restructuring period, you won’t have to worry about your warranty being null and void.

Also, since virtually every Pontiac is a clone of something else in the GM stable, any current models would be happily serviced at another GM dealer, much like Oldsmobiles are today.

Expect GM to move forward with Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac, with GMC still providing rebadged Chevrolet trucks.

Photo Credit: General Motors