CLANGING BELL
By Russ Heaps

(March 29, 2012) Let's talk tires.

Snore…Snore…Snore…

No, really.

I spent yesterday and today with Bridgestone in Las Vegas checking out a couple of new tires they are releasing this spring.

CLANGING BELL
By Russ Heaps

(March 16, 2012) Media day for the Atlanta Auto Show was Wednesday. Actually, it's more like media morning because the show officially opened at noon that day. But the morning was packed with press conferences with a handful of manufacturers.

If you follow this blog at all, you probably are well aware that I'm not keen on media day(s) at auto shows. It's a lot of walking around listening to carmaker PR and marketing types talk about cars that either I've already heard about or will hear about ad nauseum in the coming months.

CLANGING BELL
By Russ Heaps

(March 6, 2012) Often I write here about experiences that are new to me. More often than not, they aren't anything extraordinary for lots of people; they are simply uncharted waters for me: things like frying chicken or seeing a 3-D movie.

This week I did something that isn't entirely new: I was pulled over for exceeding the speed limit. By how much, you might ask. I have no clue.

CLANGING BELL
By Russ Heaps

(February 22, 2012) On the first day of Econ 101, Dr. Schultz, my econ professor at good ole W.U., told us bleary-eyed, hung-over college students that the most basic tenet of economics is guns or butter. That is, a country can only buy more guns if it buys less butter and vice versa. Of course, that was before someone figured out that you can have all you want of both if you just borrow a few trillion from China.

CLANGING BELL
By Russ Heaps

(January 19, 2012) Officially, there are about nine weeks of winter left. I'm not totally sick of the cold, but only because this winter has been mild by normal standards — at least the standards set during the past four years in Greenville (S.C.)

My heating bill for December was only about 70 percent of what it was last year. I'm okay with that.

CLANGING BELL
By Russ Heaps

(January 8, 2012) I had a 2012 Jeep Wrangler to drive last week. It was waiting at the Atlanta airport when I flew back from New Mexico after Christmas. I loved it.

I've wanted a Wrangler since I was old enough to drive, and just have never bought one. I heard all the stories that almost no one ever purchased a second Wrangler after living with the first. They were noisy, uncomfortable, they had all the suspension properties of a roller skate, removing or reinstalling the soft top was a stroke-inducing experience and they were underpowered.

CLANGING BELL
By Russ Heaps

(November 19, 2011) Volvo is busy readying a hybrid version of its sleek V60 wagon.

So what? you might ask. There are lots of hybrids out there, right? Yes, there are, but the 2012 V60 will be one of the few charging its battery array with a plug-in system. The really big news, however, is the electric motor won't be teamed with a gasoline engine, but rather a diesel.