The Autopian staff is pretty damn hard on cars. We ride them hard and don’t just put them away wet, but in pieces and filled with rotting shower spaghetti and a smattering of hopes and dreams. If we’re getting rid of a car, it’s usually because it’s been screwed up beyond recognition.
Such was the case with Jason’s Scion xB. It wasn’t in great shape when he moved it from North Carolina to Detroit, but it was in even worse shape when I got into it last summer. The poor ride was misfiring, the transmission was making every conceivable noise, and oh yeah, every possible warning light was illuminated. It held highway speed, but only just barely.
Anyway, the guys had me park the Test Car at the house of one seriously important person in Michigan, where I thought I’d never see the car again. Well, I was wrong, because reader Buzz has given the xB a new life as a sweet rally car! From Lewin’s piece about U-Haul’s new car hauler:
If your race car is a 2006 Scion xB, the current Auto Transport trailer is pretty much perfect. I’m a huge fan of the integrated tire tie downs up front, and you don’t need any extra length for spare wheels because you can fit them in the back of the xB. I even like the big hole in the center of the trailer because it gives you the opportunity to look underneath your car – it’s always good to check out the underside to see if that last jump may have broken anything.
This new toy hauler seems nice for people who would prefer to race something else. Why they’d want to do that, I’m not sure. It just recently started flashing a check engine light at me, right after I hooned it for a little video project some friends are working on (starts around the 5min mark):
I’m pretty sure I replaced one spark plug and ignition coil when I got it, but I believe it is running on 3 cylinders right now so I should really replace all 4. It will happen at some point this winter, I want it to be ready for another season of hX.
This morning, we learned that Jason pronounces the name of the Gorillaz Geep with a hard ‘G’, and this opened up a can of worms. Here’s No Kids, Just Bikes:
I sent your pronunciation to my friend that incorrectly pronounces gif and he replied that the U in SCUBA stands for ‘underwater’. So I guess now I will pronounce that ‘scubba’.
Uh oh, here comes Ian McClure!
You’re allowed to pronounce GIF with a hard G, as long as you also pronounce JPG as “Jay-Fegg”, because the “P” stands for “Photographic”.
(edit) Also, PNG as “pin-guh” instead of “ping”. Seriously, insisting acronoyms be pronounced according to the words they stand for is a dumb argument.
Also, contributor Mark Tucker has an important message for the films that put static cars on trailers:
Memo to Hollywood: If you’re going to use one of these things on a car with a column shift, put the goddamn lever down into Drive. I’m so sick and tired of seeing the shift lever poking over the top of the dash in the Park position when the car is “moving.”
Have a great evening, everyone!
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