CouchSurfing - The world is smaller than you think!

Are you ready to get your travel on?? Check out Couchsurfing.com. This is one of the coolest websites of which I'm a member. Basically, it's a networking site for all you frugal travellers that love to meat new people in new places. You go on couch surfing, and you can find other people that have a spare couch, floor, room, bed, or otherwise virtually anywhere around the world. So, say you are travelling to New York and want to stay somewhere. Well, go to couchsurfing.com, do a search, and find someone with a spare couch. Then, you get to crash at their place and get to know some locals in the whole process. I've already hosted a few different people and have had a positive experience. So, check it out:

CouchSurfing - The world is smaller than you think!

State of the Union Address 2006, the Best Yet!!

This is perhaps the best parody on Bush yet!! As the good man says himself, "For those of you who say we don't need the patriot act, I say, I have to question your patronism". Or, better yet, Bush lets us know that he "won't put all his eggs in one biscuit."

OK, these are just a couple teasers, so do yourself a favor and click on the link to view the video for yourself. I don't want to spoil it for you.

Come on, click the link.

Why? "Because our children must be literized".



WARNING: Do not watch this video with food, fluid, or anything else in your mouth, unless you want to shower your computer screen with masticated food.

The REDNECK ROLLERCOASTER is Hilarious!!

I can't explain it, but you need to watch this. I couldn't help but laugh like a litte kid. I wish I had this when was a kid. Then again, if I had it, I probably wouldn't be alive today to write this.







Click here: REDNECK ROLLERCOASTER

Those Russkies

This guy is the Russian Jackie Chan!!! Fo, real!



Click this link to watch the vid: RUSSIAN CLIMBING

Watch out, it's a TREEEEEEEE!!!

This is funny. But, kinda reminds me of my crazy escapades, including the time I rolled my old Subaru Legacy Wagon in the beautiful National Forests of Colorado. Watch, and laugh: Truck Crash - Google Video

CAR DESTRUCTION - PT CRUISER

Want to see a crazy nut!? This guy is outta control. For one reason or another, he's pissed off at the world. So much so, that he runs over to a car at a stop light and starts destroying it. Pretty out of control. Check it out: YouTube - CAR DESTRUCTION - PT CRUISER

BuriedCar.com

Wanna get a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere Coupe, virtually brand new, never seen the light of day since 1957? If so, go to BuriedCar.com to learn more. Tulsa Oklahoma buried a car back in 1957 in a Time Capsule, along with other memorabilia, pictures, etc. But, one thing they buried with the car is a 5 gallons of gas. Now, this car was buried in a concrete time capsule. It will be unearthed in 2007. So, it's been officially marinating in the fumes of gas for 48 years, and will continue for two more before being released. As much as I'd like the car, could the paint, let alone everything else on the car, have held up to those fumes???




As a note, the reason they buried fuel was in case the internal combustion engine was no longer existant in 2007, the day to exhume the car.

Win the Boston Marathon in Spira Shoes, get $1 Million

Spira Footwear, a company in Texas, is offering $1 million to the person that can win the upcoming Boston Marathon in their shoes. Why? Well, first, because they are a small company and this is a great marketing gimmick to garner eyeballs to their website, technology, and product offering. But, another reason is to persuade the sanctioning Track & Field Governing Body to relinquish an "antiquated" rule stating that springs in shoes are not allowed in competition. Spira Footwear was launched by two brothers about 5 years ago. Their technology consists of literally a metal spring in the heel and forefoot. No, these aren't those funky Z-Coils you may have seen. These springs are a lot lower profile. It's pretty cool technology. And, in independent tests, their shoes have produced impressive results. The results were so good that they claim that, at times, the springs may return over 90% of energy.

Compared to a few years ago, their product design has come a long way. Their original design was for a walking shoe, and it was horrendously ugly. Granted, most walking shoes are very geezer like. I hope this company does well, as I'm in the process, myself, of developing a footwear technology. And, on that note, look for an upcoming blog that will track my progress through the patent, sourcing, production, and marketing of the technology.

Your Luxury Airline has arrived - ENTER "Eos Airlines"

Talk about uber-luxury! It doesn't get much better than this. Approximately 48 total passengers on one Boeing 747. That's not too many people, for those of you who have never flown the Jumbo Jet. In fact, that's virtually no one on a plane this size. I'm very interested to see how EOS Airlines does. They already have 3 Jets in service and only one route of service. London (Stansted) to New York (JFK). And they already have three Jets in service!! Considering they Launched in mid-October, this either signifies that their concept works, or they are very, very well funded (well, they are probably well funded regardless. After all, they are in a capital intensive industry). The airline industry, as you well know, is fraught with, sorry for the pun, turbulence. With the bankruptcies of Delta, United, etc, I think it has become obvious that the airline industry is evolving. Southwest and, arguably, JetBlue have shown that the low-cost route can be successful, assuming good management and execution. And, with the proliferance of the Travelocity's and Orbitz's of the internet, most consumers have shown that low-cost works. But low-cost isn't the only place to compete.

Yet, no one has focused on the higher-end-only segment. Sure, Virgin has reclining seats, Singapore Airlines too; however, as far as I know, next to fractional jet ownership, EOS is the only airline to be so exclusively high-end. And, for a price of $2,500 from New York to London, only the high-end will fly this airline. So, for 4x more money than a standard coach fare, you can fly to London, sleep on the way there, and eat world-class cuisine before you land.

Let's look at the numbers real quick. Given a flight from JFK to London is roughly 8 hours, EOS is realizing $15,000 in Revenue/hour, or $120,000 for the whole flight (assuming all the seats sell). Compare that to a standard 747, with 212 passengers. Let's assume the average sales price for the flight on a standard 747 is $500 for the same route. That's only $106,000 in revenue for the same flight. Assuming both flights are full of passengers, EOS stands to make 13% higher Revenues on the same flight that any major carrier makes. All this, with less cost for baggage handling, cabin cleaning, etc. In the ultra-competitive landscape of the airline industry, 13% explains why EOS appears to be so well funded. It's a no brainer for investors.

You know, disruptive technology, and/or innovation arguably drives and creates new industries. It's funny how the large carriers failed to innovate. Instead, they responded to innovations that start-ups proved to be successful. Hence, Delta's Song, United's Ted, etc. But, the big boys, with these offshoot "low-cost" carriers, are only responding to, and replicating, what Southwest had been doing for years. Yet, they failed to trump other start-ups in other aspects. Such as EOS Airlines and the Uber-luxury market.

I don't know, but this EOS stuff smells like Disruption.
Eos Airlines - Home Page

Custom Streaming Radio - Discover New Music

I stumbled upon Pandora, part of the Music Genome Project. (That's marketing speak) But, this system is absolutely incredible. Type in any artist or song, and it will produce a custom radio station with other artists, many of which you may not know. Click play, and start enjoying the endless stream of new artists. In my opinion, it's pretty impressive how extensive their database of music appears to be. Best of all, the music stream is FREE!!

One cool feature is you can pause the streaming music, and, when you come back and hit PLAY, it picks up right where you stopped. Basically, it's streaming radio, only better, much better. Even streaming radio seems to have some kind of playlist. Not on Pandora, each time, you get a new, original playlist.

From their 'About Us' Section:

For almost six years now, we have been hard at work on the Music Genome Project.
It's the most comprehensive analysis of music ever undertaken. Together our team
of thirty musician-analysts have been listening to music, one song at a time,
studying and collecting literally hundreds of musical details on every song. It
takes 20-30 minutes per song to capture all of the little details that give each
recording its magical sound - melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, vocals,
lyrics ... and more - close to 400 attributes! We continue this work every day
to keep up with the incredible flow of great new music coming from studios,
stadiums and garages around the country.
We've now created an interface to
make this available to music lovers so they could use this musical
'connective-tissue' to discover new music based on songs or artists they already
know.

Discover Music - Pandora and listen to streaming music for FREE

ourTunes - Maximize your iTunes Aural Experience

Check out ourTunes, a slick hack for iTunes that allows you to access music in iTunes folders on anyone's computer, assuming their computer is on the same network as you. *read* College Campuses, Large Corporations, etc.

Basically, if your network consists of home, you'll only get other computers within your home. So, in this scenario, not too exciting. However, get plugged to a network with many computers, like most at work, school, etc, and you now have wonderful access to everyone else's music, assuming they, too, have ourTunes.

The hack was created/programmed by a bunch of college students with an opensource mentality. So, customer support is virtually nill, updates are being constantly created to fix bugs, and there's probably not much of a guarantee on the performance.

But, then again, we all seemed to get over the issues wtih other open source, file-sharing, peer-to-peer programs.

Click here to visit the ourTunes site, along with downloads.

Blog Use and Reading at Work

Adage.com has a great article regarding the use and reading of Blogs at work. Basically, we're all a bunch of technogy, internet, information junkies. Right? The article states that, on average, 3.5 hours are spent reading blogs each week while people are at work. Yeah, we're all junkies that need our fix. At least we're not taking a smoking break!!

However, I really liked this last part of the article:

"Technorati, a blog search engine, now tracks 19.6 million blogs, a number that has doubled about every five months for the past three years. If that growth were to continue, all 6.7 billion people on the planet will have a blog by April 2009. Imagine the work that won’t get done then."

Yeah, imagine the unproductiving then?? You know, is there a way to leverage the power of online content to further motivate employees to work harder, more effective, and more efficient? For example, could managers allow a company-wide 20 minute daily break where everyone hits up their favorite blogs, then they are required to do a quick write-up of what they read and how they can use that to improve the company? This way, employees get their cake, and management gets to eat it.

Ford is "dramatically recommitted" to Hybrids

In an article posted yesterday on AdAge.com, there is an article regarding Ford's shift in Advertising strategy to announce that, drum roll please. . ."FORD SHIFTING STRATEGY TO EMPHASIZE HYBRIDS, SAFETY".

Really, are you now doing that. That's wonderful Ford. Thanks for not focusing on safety before, as noted by the recent $4 million a South Carolina jury has ordered Ford to pay in a Rollover Suit. Why should Ford pay for a woman who was killed when her Ford Explorer Rolled Over? Well, as the article states, because:

"As far back as 1989, Ford Motor Company knew that this Explorer had rollover
problems," Ed Bell, the Hayward family's lawyer, told jurors in Charleston,
S.C.
"Ford knew of potentially fatal defects during the development and
manufacture
of this vehicle and chose not to remedy them."

Now, this lawsuit represents one of hundreds if not thousands of lawsuits against Ford right now. In fact, as I write this, I recall an accident I saw last summer, wherein a Ford Explorer, going no more than 35 mph rolled over after hitting a car. Now, I'll be the first to admit that even cars in the proper circumstances could easily roll when going 35 mph if conditions are right. However, what was bothersome to me was the roof and how the A-pillars collapsed, rather than supporting the roof. Please see this picture I took at the scene.

Now, the real kicker is the other car that was involved in the accident. It was barely damaged. The Exploder side-swiped the car and rolled in response. Look at the minimal damage on the other car.

But, I digress.

The point is Ford has failed to prove that Safety ever was an incredibly, sincere, pervasive-in-their-culture concern. Look, we're talking about deliberate disregard by Ford executives when given information that the best-selling SUV in the US (the Ford Exploder, errr, Explorer) has poor engineering in the roof-structure and could be prone to rollover.

Now, I'm not necessarily saying that Ford doesn't make good cars, or that the Exploder isn't a good vehicle for some people's needs. However, I am saying that the U.S. carmakers continue to flop where it really matters.

I fear that Ford, with this "innovation" campaign strategy may be getting suckered into the same PR garbage GM has been pumping out the last 5-6 years.

Now, to quote the article from AdAge:

The campaign’s “Innovation” theme reiterates the Ford heir’s recent speech on
the topic. “Innovation will be the compass that guides this company going
forward,” Mr. Ford says in both the 60- and 30-second spots. He adds that Ford
has “dramatically recommitted” to hybrids, technology and safety.

Now, let's analyze the statement, "Ford has "dramatically recommitted" to hybrids, technology, and safety". I'm sorry, but the word recommitted draws up a bunch of quizzicall looks without any answers. Ok, mr Bill Ford, so what you really meant to say was, "we really kind of just dragged our feet along for a while. You know, we didn't care too much about safety, the environment, or safety, but you know, we all make mistakes. But, one day, I, yes, me Mr. Bill Ford had this great idea. Let's become innovative, recommit to developing hybrids (since Toyota and Honda have been kicking our butt with hybrids since their introduction in 2000)."

So it has taken Ford a while to respond to the competition. Granted, they do have some hybrids in their lineup, such as the Hybrid and Mariner. But, come on, who's kidding who? Why do you have to recommit? Surely you've been developing all this technology from the beginning. Right?

I'm not stating that Ford isn't developing their Safety, Technology, and Hybrids. However, why do you have to remind us about this through a PR/Advertising campaign. Why don't you spend your limited funds (given their most recent $1+ billion quarterly loss) on more valuable things such as new product, that will entice buyers.

Most customers these days are tired of the hyped up crap of automotive companies. What matters most to the customer is what they can buy on the lot, today, tomorrow, or in a couple months. We don't want to be told about some Revolutionary Strategy Shift in your company that you're going to start offering products that adress the issues I care about. Give me product and prove it, not some commercial stating such. And until then, I'll drive my import car; because, though it may not be as efficient as a hybrid, it is safer, more reliable, and at least equals all the "technology" any domestic vehicle offers in its class.

All I have to say is: Wow Ford, I can't wait to see what all this dramatically recommitted strategy is going to produce next. Yay!!

China Business and Censorship - Free Information for All!!

Well, we have all experienced, have been influenced by, or have lost jobs to China. The country is a veritable powerhouse that refuses to sit down. I visited China earlier this year and was taken back by the incredible entrepreneurship I witnessed (though, "eagerness to make a quick buck" may be more appropriate). Now, I think, in the future, the Chinese will wisen up and begin to more effectively communicate and deal with Western Civilization. But, right now, the Chinese are eager to "buy low, sell high", regardless of what brand may be on the product, regardless of who the buyer of the product is. In other words, as long as they are selling the Nikes for more than cost, they could care less who the buyer is, even if it isn't Nike. The counterfeit industry is enormous, and is continuing to grow.

But, China isn't the only culprit, recently, Spyder Ski Company intercepted counterfeit product coming from Russia. My conclusion on China is this:

China is full of eager factories and people ready to produce goods. However, these people lack the formal business management education in the West. Hence, they are trying to play in a formal business environment without the proper skills or knowledge of how this environment functions. BUT, as soon as they get the proper knowledge and education, WATCH OUT, because they could clean our clocks.

See, the Chinese see America as their opportunity to make it big. It's as if they have this idea that, "Just if I could get an American to import my product, I'll become rich". And, the basis of their thoughts are from other manufacturers they've seen becoming overnight millionaires from some American contract.

Where they fail to see the point is the true competitive landscape of America. In addition, they don't understand competitive advantages. What I mean is: Unless the Chinese supplier has a competitive advantage compared to other factories in China, then they don't have any advantage in the U.S.

They argue that a competitor Factory XYZ is selling thousands of Widget A. Therefore, if you, American, buy thousands of Widget A from me, then you can sell them in America just like Factory XYZ's customer. They don't understand that if Factory XYZ's customer is buying product from them in volume, then that customer already has the distribution channels set up in the States. They have the connections, the brand, the distribution, the marketing. So, I'm on a level playing field as soon as I import the Widgets. So, unless the factory in China has a competitive advantage to Factory XYZ, and therefore sells to me at a lower cost, I have no advantage in the States.

I know, I know, this sounds incredibly rudimentary and basic. You know what, it is!! There is nothing novel with what I just explained. Yet, for the Chinese, that logic just doesn't register. They just don't get it. At least not yet. But, as they become more educated, it will register. Boy will it register!!

But, alas, their government once again attempts to censor their information. But, there is hope for them. They can achieve their knowledge, albeit rather dangerously. As Marketing Vox blog reports, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders has released a new handbook for the "Cyber-Dissidents". This handbook offers information on how to get around China's "clever mix of investment, technology, and diplomacy" censorship efforts.

I sure hope this made sense, because it is late, and I'm tired.

John Koten at Cleveland Ohio

John Koten - Editor in Chief of Inc and Fast Company addressed business owners in Cleveland Ohio. You can find the podcast HERE

Following are some of my notes from listening to this podcast:

Only two things that kill a business

· Ego
· Fear

Their opposites are:

· Excellence
· Humility

Entrepreneurship views the world marketplace as a blank canvas rather then a fully developed picture.

Entrepreneurship is both Concept and Execution

Entrepreneurs are sometimes:
· Impolite
· Frustrating to deal with
· Talk more than they listen

Entrepreneurs see the world as they want it, they don’t like the word ‘no’, they don’t like authority when it is forced on them.

If a business owner’s business hankerings do not make his/her spouse nervous, he/she is not an entrepreneur.

Cultures have come here to help us develop our entrepreneurial and capitalistic model. Only America has a cross-cultural model of entrepreneurship.

There is a triangle with the creative class on one side, the entrepreneurship class on the other side, and small-business on the bottom.

In Vietnam & China, there is a unique coop mentality where they avoid conflict, and they’re in each other’s business. They don’t need to keep their property separate. The U.S. allows us to own property, capitalize on that property, and keep that property as our own. In China, they think property belongs to the world. They don’t see a need for protecting individual property. If the property, technology, etc exists, then anyone should be able to use. Things in the world belong to everyone. This is a major problem, and how we solve that problem will affect how successfully we work with China.

Massive government regulation in the US undermines the American entrepreneurial capitalistic model by unwittingly encouraging giant businesses which then become bureaucratic like Microsoft, with a lot of money, but hasn’t created anything overly innovative for a long time. We’ve done this because of our fear that if we turn the power over to large, massive, powerful organizations, then they will hurt people. And we feel it’s up to the government to stop these organizations from abusing their power. As a result, these regulations are onerous for small entrepreneurial organizations and only huge corporations have the resources and lawyers to comply with such regulations. An example, Sarbanes-Oxley has created enormous red tape for small businesses to comply with. As such, many small businesses are spending millions just to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley.

We don’t have the model or the metrics to understand why one entrepreneurial model works and another fails. Academia still hasn’t truly identified how to assess any given entrepreneurial model. There really is no defined science to analyze entrepreneurial ventures to determine which ones will be successful and which ones won’t.


Click HEREto listen to the podcast.

Grocery Stores

As if the margins aren't slim enough, grocery stores, and Discounters like Target and Wal-Mart, insist on having upwards of 50 checkout registers at the front of the store for decoration . When was the last time you had to wait in an incredibly long line at a grocery store, yet 85% of the cash registers remained unused? It happens to me 99% of the time I go to the store. It happened to me less than 3 days ago. It is ridiculous if you ask me. It is an epidemic shared by all the grocery stores.

I can only think of a few reasons they put so many cash registers in such stores:

1. To give customers the perception that they get a lot of business, so they need a lot of registers.

2. Because all their competition does, and we need to look like everyone else (great differentiation strategy, eh?).

3. For the once in a year sale-a-thon when they actually schedule a sufficient number of employees to man most of the registers.

4. Because Corporate feels like it.

5. Because they got a volume discount on buying more registers.

Seriously, Corporate, do you really think any of us (your customers) are really suckered into your ways? Whatever happened with efficient floor planning. Folks, having a long line of customers behind the few registers that are open is nowhere near efficient. And it pisses me off that I have to go into a store, such as Albertsons, and then stand around waiting to pay for the milk that is freezing in my hand because my purchases are so nominal that I only used a basket. Even the so-called Express Lanes aren't much of an express anymore.

If these stores, including the whore, would realize the level of untapped customer satisfaction capacity they have, and then unlock that capacity, they could leapfrog their competition in customer satisfaction and retention. After all, when margins in the grocery business are a paltry 3.4% anything to increase customer retention is valuable. Welcome to differentiation, a simple strategy many businesses fantasize and profess but few effectively execute on.

It's not that differentiation doesn't exist between competitors. Seriously, we live in the land of differentiation, variety, and choices. But, many companies fail to effectively and properly educate their customers about what their Unique Value Proposition is. As a result, customers simply don't "get it" about the truly superior products. Because management fails to effectively communicate their Unique Value.

I am talking about an opportunity so simple, so inexpensive, so obvious, that when a company has the opportunity to effectively differentiate themselves, for essentially minimal cost, any decent, worth his/her salt, executive should jump on that train.

OK, now let's walk through my point step-by-step:

1. Executive management issues a decree that all grocery stores will increase the number of open registers during the 8 busiest hours of each business day. (In my experience, this means approximately 3-5 more registers will be open)

2. This decision will increase the daily payroll by a nominal $200-400. Which makes a monthly increase of $6,000-10,000. At gross margins of 26% in the industry, same store sales would need to increase approximately $24,000-40,000 to cover the increase cost of the additional registers. (and this is assuming a generous $8.50/hour wage).

3. Customers come to the store, and check out is quick, easy, and painless. They don't have to stand in line behind the fat lady that can't find her credit-card and is breathing restlessly because she just finished loading her eighteen 2-liter bottles of Diet Coke on the checkout belt. However, it is highly unlikely the customer will notice this increased speed through checkout immediately.

4. The customer now goes to a competitor who has not implemented this change, and they now are stuck behind the fat lady with the eighteen bottles of Diet Coke. They now recall how fast checkout was at the your store.

5. The next time around, the customer is willing to spend extra time driving back to your store, because they didn't have to stand around forever to check out.

6. Wammo!! You now have a loyal customer who will evangelize, on your behalf, about the wonderful, quick, customer-centric checkout experience they had at your store.

It's funny how a loyal customer will spend twice as much time travelling to the store they like, as opposed to the store that is most convenient. Arguably, the more customer focused the store is, the more convenient it is, regardless of travel distance.

Let's analyze my above, step-by-step direction. The true cost to the Executive is The Company. After all, they are competing in a commodity market. The Company is at stake! All they have to do is hire a few more employees to check people out. For crying out loud, how much does it cost to train someone to run a scanner, swipe a credit card, and get a signature?

Nada, Zilch!!!

What does it cost Corporate to then educate the market about their new strategy?

Nada, Zilch!!!

What's the return on investment?

A ton of more loyal business, boosting same-store sales, and having more satisfied customers.

Grocery stores are constantly trying to fudge their margins higher by mixing in a TV here, or sandals there. But, if they'd just focus on their core competency of providing food, maybe they could do something with that!!

To you Grocery Execs, I've got a little secret: The only reason we go to the grocery store is because we have to. Because we need to eat (well, here in America, our ever growing waistline suggests we want to eat, also). Because we can't buy food that will tie us over for the next year. Hence you Execs find yourselves in a commodity business.

So, how can you boost your business. You can't diversify the product offering. Every store has all the same brands, products, foods, etc. But you can diversify on the customer experience. And, if you aren't convinced about how important the customer experience really is, why not head over to learn about Starbucks' rabid insistence and focus on their customers' experiences.

Folks, we live in the 2000s, not the 50s. Let's get with the efficiency program that actually increases customer interaction and satisfaction with the company. People are busy today but still need to go to the grocery store (unless, of course, you are Paris Hilton, then you just go to the nearest fast food).

. . . .Drive through grocery shopping, now that's a concept. (that didn't work)

Inventor Makes fuel out of Rubbish, and Cats??

So, an inventor, patent-holder, in Germany claims he has created some form of refinement process wherein he can take ordinary trash, including rubber, paper, textiles, plastic, etc. to make biodiesel at 1/5 the current cost of a liter in Europe. His firm, Alphatek GmBH, owns the patents to the technology.

Obviously anyone would love to see this technology, should it be legitimate, be scaled up to a large scale to reduce our fuel costs everywhere. However, I have one small problem with the technology, it is only diesel fuel, as far as I can tell. I'm not quite ready to get rid of the "Premium Sipping Ride" (i.e. my Outback, see previous post).

The CNN Article: Inventor denies dead cat fuel story - Sep 15, 2005

My Deal Blog

Folks, I've started another blog that posts daily deals. These deals combine various coupon codes, sales, and other promotions to get you killer discounts on the items you love best. You should check it out:

Critical Mass Deals Blog

As time goes on, I will continue to tweak and modify the blog to become more comprehensive and easier to search. But, as we all know, you have to start somewhere. Right?

2005 Subaru Outback 2.5XT 5-spd Manual Review

Fresh off the lot.

I am a self-admitted car nut, more specifically, a self-admitted Subaru addict. There are only a couple things I'm addicted to and SUBARU is one of them. Despite my persuasion, I will attempt to give a somewhat objective review on the rocket I've been driving for the last year.

Given that the end of August marked my one-year relationship with my car, I thought I'd celebrate with a review.

I purchased the Subaru Outback 2.5XT at Doug Smith Autoplex in American Fork, UT. The overall experience at the dealership was positive. However, there were a few hiccups as I waited, ever so patiently, for my $500 deposit to make interest for the dealership. . .err, I mean, for my car to arrive 2 months after promised.

The car finally arrived, and I was able to commence the gruelling 1,000 mile break-in period. (I actually tried my hardest to log 1,500 miles before really romping on the engine, as I figured it could only help)

Having come from my previous machine-beast of a car (a 1995 Subaru Legacy), I was fairly content to deal with the break-in period. Not to mention that even under no or light boost, the new XT thoroughly destroyed the Legacy in all aspects of performance. (Note in the pictures thorough scuffing on the drivers side body panels. Well, as an aside, I decided to try my mad-tyte skills at rally driving. In other words, I tried to further enhance my already well developed drifting skills. Despite my best attempts, I successfully rolled the car onto its side on a very moderate bend in the gravel road in a National Forest road. I ended up using a Suburban to pull the car back onto all fours, as my cousin and I were unable to roll it back over, despite our brute upper body muscular structure. Despite rolling it onto its side, the Legacy performed like a champ right after and gave an additional 30,000 no headache miles. The car was eventually traded in earlier this year with over 165,000 miles on it.)


In quick measure I broke in the new Outback and began to put it through its paces. When I used to have a job, I would commute through a mountain pass that allowed me to really put the Outback through its paces. Where the Legacy puttered out in 4th gear at 6,000 rpm, the Outback tore up, without even downshifting from 5th gear. This car was amazing!! It would pull on a 4-5% grade at 120 mph, no problem. The turbo really shines in the altitude with this car. The vehicle seems to have gobs of power throughout most of the power curve, and when driving within reason of the speed limit. The engine runs extremely smooth and quietly. At a stand still, the engine is so quiet that, if you listen carefully, you can hear the nicely tuned grumble of the dual-exhaust tips in the rear.

The overall fit and finish of the vehicle is very impressive. Subaru did an excellent job at stepping up the interior aesthetics of the dash design. The dash feels like one coherent whole, as opposed to the choppy feel of the previous generation. One drawback, however, is the integration of the audio system. This integration prevents simple aftermarket upgrades. In addition, the stereo system does not have mp3 capability, or digital input capability (such as plugging in an iPod). The stock stereo system has more-than-acceptable sound, and the 6 disc in dash feature is a plus for long road trips.

Earlier this year, I went down to Moab for a week of decompression. During this trip I slept in the rear part of the car. With the rear seats folded down, there was sufficient room for my 5' 10" frame to cuddle up with my sleeping bag. Given the miles of off-road trails and roads in Moab, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try out my 8.7 inches of ground clearance. The car handled nicely off-road, but the tires are definitely designed for the road.

I'm sure the automatic would be a little nicer for starting out on steep terrain. But, with my manual 5 speed combined with the gearing, I had to rev the engine to get the car moving uphill after a stop. This revving resulted in a pungent stench coming from the engine (this smell seems to be exclusively shared with all Subarus for at least the last decade). The gearing could probably be changed to help with offroad performance; but, then you'd have to say good-bye to the turbo performance that makes this car so fun to drive. However, the AWD (All Wheel Drive) works flawlessly and transparently. Perhaps the best AWD on the market, definitely the best AWD in this price range.

Many will say that this car wasn't made for offroading anyways. Well, you may be right, but why then did Subaru tempt me with 8.7 inches of ground clearance? I may never know, but I like the combination of the turbo and the ground clearance, so I'm not complaining. If I didn't I would have purchased the Legacy GT.

I love this car in crappy weather. The 4 stage heated seats are wonderful for the cold women in my life, and the heated windshield and wipers work perfectly. The rubber floormats do a great job keeping the carpet clean and keeping any fluids contained within the mat. They don't look the best, but they work wonders.

Given my active outdoor lifestyle, this car is a perfect blend of sport, off-road prowess, power, and pure driving enjoyment. The ride inside is quiet and solid. I've added Yakima Destination Hardware to the roof to transport all my toys. Nothing beats two or three bikes on top of a Subaru, and a bunch of camping gear in the cargo area. All you crunchies out there know exactly what I mean. OK, maybe a Volkswagen Westfalia beats it, but that's about it.

Overall, I absolutely love this car. It is a blast to drive and most people appreciate it, especially after they ride around in it and experience it. I'm pretty anti-SUV in most instances -- Who really needs to get 14 mpg to buy groceries, go to work, and take the kids to soccer? With the Outback, I get better ground clearance than many SUVs, better gas mileage than most, and performance that competes with the Porsche Cayenne.

I'm definitely not complaining. (OK, I am complaining about the premium gas and I would like a little better gas mileage)

A beautiful sight, 4 Subarus in a row. (Spotted at REI, duh!!)

Vehicle:

Subaru 2.5XT 5 spd AWD
2.5 Liter Turbocharged
250 HP, 250 ft-lbs Torque

Cloth interior, Auto-Dimming Mirror w/ compass & Homelink, rear cargo nets, rubber floor mats

Current Miles 18,356 miles and counting

Mileage
EPA 19/25 city/hwy
Actual 20/22.6 city/hwy

Warranty Issues:
-Driver's Side door pull rubber texturing flaked off (fixed under warranty)
-Slight engine hesitation under moving acceleration(hesitation appears to have disappeared, maybe I've just gotten used to it)

Gas Prices

Here is probably the closest thing we will get to being able to buy fuel online: Gas Buddy

But, the real kicker comes from the following telephone number: 732-829-1249

This guy is outta control. But, thanks to him, you will always know where the cheapest gas is located.

Thanks to The Jewish Blogmeister for the information.