One Man’s Reviews
A friend of mine and automotive appraiser, Dave Kinney, is recreating the Texarkana -> Atlanta run in a vintage 1979 Trans Am. His trek starts later today, and he’ll be journaling his travels over at the Cars That Matter site. Should be a great time, and great stories to come. Keep an eye for the updates as the story progresses.
1979 Firebird Trans AM — our trusty steed for the Smokey and the Bandit Run –at Cars That Matter —
Smokey and the Bandit Run! –at Cars That Matter —
I was recently asked to review the Import Tuner Ride of the Month Contest for May 2007.
Entering is a pretty straightforward process, and seems like a great way for readers to show off their ride, as well as brag to their friends when it gets chosen and featured on the importtuner.com website.
You must submit your photo by May 22, 2007 to be eligible for voting which starts the same day and goes through the end of the month. They’ll choose three entries and feature them in an online article as well as send each winner an importtuner.com t-shirt.
All you have to do is enter your contact information (don’t forget your T-shirt size), information about your vehicle, and finally, upload some photos (up to four). When uploading a photo, it spawns a small pop-up with a file upload window. I had a little trouble getting that window to fully resolve, but after 4 tries, it did (for some reason, the second photo window always opened first click).
When I was told what my car would be this week, my response was “a Nissan What?” I’ll be honest. I hadn’t heard of the Versa, and when asked by my friends what I was driving, they responded the same. It’s a quiet, unassuming car that asks for very little attention. It’s easily overlooked in parking lots, and pretty much forgettable in appearance.
However, I wish I could say the same about it’s driving. I think I’ll remember this car for long after, as a benchmark to judge miserable, long-term driving by. Many have touted it’s low-price and perceived offering of extras; tilt-steering, A/C, CD stereo, and… um. I guess that’s it (I had the base model at $14,105). And around town, this car was great. I can easily see the target market, young, first time buyers, skipping around town on their short commutes loving this car. It’s new, it’s theirs, and it isn’t enslaving them to poverty.
–Nasty Alert! In the following section, I let out a little steam over this car, and address one of the biggest gripes I’ve ever had with a test drive. Please forgive me for being a bit harsh.–
