Brainwagon Radio: World Wind, and Pick My Next Car

May 11, 2005 | Brainwagon Radio | By: Mark VandeWettering

Where your host records a brief blurb about World Wind, and then asks his thoughtful, knowledgeable audience which car he should purchase to replace his aging, gas-guzzling SUV. I’m interested in hybrids, notably the Toyota Prius, the Civic, and more conventional cars like the Toyota Matrix, VW Jetta or Passat, Mazda 3, and maybe even the Scion xA to replace my son’s car which seems to be spending too much time in the shop these days.

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Comments

Comment from Richard Ozer
Time 5/11/2005 at 6:18 pm

I have a nice Saturn for sale 🙂

RO

Comment from Bruce Barr
Time 5/13/2005 at 11:10 pm

Hi Mark,

Enjoy the show. I am a fellow Axim x50v owner and have taken to recording several ‘segments’ with is as I travel to/from work as well as when I am on the road at customer sites. I plan on editing these into podcasts of my own with the planned title of MrGadgets Technological Odyssey. (I drive a Honda Odyssey ’05, cute, huh?) This brings me to the subject of transportation. My Honda has a nifty feature: while coasting three of the six cylinders shutdown, improving fuel usage. As for the hybrids, I sat in one of the Civics, but getting in and out and the space inside kept me from even test-driving. I suppose it is worth mentioning that there is a Ford SUV hybrid coming up or maybe even available? I am not as tall as you, but mass about the same and bending/folding into a mid-sixe rental car while on the road is a pain. On that note, a former boss was not as hefty as the two of us, but was almost as tall as you and used to be quite happy driving a Geo Metro Convertable. The rag-top was perfect, as it gave him just enough extra head-room.

As to the choice for your Son, the Honda Element has a similar “youth appeal” and has the added benefit of the ability to “hose out” the interior after a day at the beach… The Sion is the most boxy car I have seen in years, and those tires! The last time I say rubber that small on a auto was back in the late ’60s when, as a teen-ager, I lived across the street from a car dealer. He had mostly retired, but had some new models from Suzuki that literally had motorcycle engines.

Back on the hybrid topic, how much highway driving in the commute? You might want to check here: http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/05/10/0117207&from=rss. he government testing proceedure leads to an in-accuratly high estimation of city mileage for hybrids.

I have a cable on order off ebay to hook-up a headset into the Axim. Did you ever order a cable from Dell? Mine is coming all the way from Hong Kong, although that was not evident when I bid. I will let you know the results.

I will be out your way week after next, in Sacramento w) day trips to the bay area in the planning stages.

Look forward to hearing more from you Axim in the future!

Cheers,

BB
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