Freedom Motorcycle

Archive for January, 2010

Exotic cars are high end sports cars whose performance is superior to that of its contemporaries. They are typically very expensive and powerful cars that designed with a centrally located engine. Exotic cars are always very sleek and catch the eyes of people wherever they are. The prices of these types of cars are almost always in a class of their own and are only attainable by the most elite and wealthy people in the world. Below is a list of the top ten most expensive exotic cars in the world.

1. Mercedes Benz SLR. This luxury car is a German sports car that was jointly developed by Mercedes Benz and McLaren Automotive. It is the fastest automatic transmission car in the world and is priced at nearly $450,000.

2. Porsche Carrera GT. This is a mid engined sports car and was voted the fastest car of the year in 2005. The price tag of this car is $440,000.

3. Saleem S7. If you want to call this car your own you will need to be willing to cough up a cool $430,000.

4. Maybach 62. This is a full size luxury car that was introduced in 2002. The price tag if you want to take this car home is $357,000.

5. Rolls Royce Phantom. This is a British luxury saloon automobile manufactured by Rolls Royce Motor Cars in the United Kingdom. Rolls Royce launched this luxury automobile in 2003 and it is currently priced at $320,000.

6. Maybach 57. This exotic car that was introduced to the public in 2005 at the Geneva Motor Show. This automobile has a price tag of $305,500.

7. Lamborghini Murcielago. This is an Italian sports car that was introduced to the market in 2002. It is a six speed engine two door coupe model. If you want to house this car in your garage you will have to pay a sum of $279,900.

8. Ferrari 612. The Ferrari 612 is an exotic car in the Gran Turismo class. It was introduced to the public in 2004 as a two door coupe with a six speed manual engine. Today, this car is priced at $259,855.

9. Bentley Arnage. This is a luxury car produced in England by Bentley Motors. The production of this vehicle began in 1998 and is still active today. The price of this luxury car is $250,000.

10. Aston Martin V12 Vanquish. This luxury car was first introduced in 2001 and was quickly name the flagship vehicle of Aston Martin. It became extremely popular when it was featured as the official James Bond car in Die Another Day. The price tag of this car was $234,000, but it was discontinued in 2007 to make room for a newer model.

In recent years it has been the Japanese and Korean car manufacturers that have cornered the reliability stakes of motor vehicle manufacturing and they continue to do so without any real competition from their European counterparts. In fact, not one motor vehicle hailing from the occident has made it onto the elite list of the top 10 most reliable cars on the road.

Right up until twenty years ago, motor vehicles may have been sexy and sassy but they weren’t necessarily built with the long haul in view. Manufacturers concentrated more on sleek lines and aerodynamics rather than on steadfast reliability.

But all this changed in the 1980’s with the introduction of extended vehicle warranties. For the first time, manufacturers were held responsible for teething problems and other manufacturing faults and from then on in it wasn’t so much the good looks and charisma that sold the end product but the reliability factor that eclipsed all others in importance.

Increasingly more time and technology have been earmarked to improve safety features and the knowledge that the manufacturers would have to bear the cost of repair themselves has motivated a system greatly beneficial to the motorist.

The Europeans haven’t been knocked off their lofty pedestal completely; they are still the sector leaders in motor vehicle technology and remain the prime innovators of the industry. However, if you have any intention of buying a new car, or even a used car in Cape Town, we would advise you to have a good look at the list of the safest and most reliable cars on the road today.

Below are the top 10 most reliable cars on the road according to the warranty claims against each:

1. Honda Accord – what it lacks in style and pure sex appeal it gains in resolute reliability! Only 9.9% of Hondas needed to be repaired over a two year period and with a marketing message “Isn’t it nice when things just work?”, it seems more than apt that the Japanese-produced Honda claims the respected and important title of ‘most reliable’.

2. Subaru Forester – Japan can add the silver to the gold in the reliability Olympics as this car clocks in at second place. Not the best looking of motor vehicles, it is tough and tenacious, especially on difficult and rugged off-roads. With a spacious interior and dependable handling, it is a popular choice – but keep an eye on the consumption as it does have a reputation of being a bit of a gas guzzler.

3. Mazda MX5 - Well, well, well, the Japanese are clearly dominating these games and walk away with yet another winning model. This time it is from the Mazda stable, considered one of the top most trustworthy manufacturers. This elegant and sporty car has re-invented dependability and is today considered the most reliable convertible ever produced.

4. Mitsubishi Carisma – this makes it four in a row for Japan and although car fundis won’t go to the ends of the earth for this somewhat dull offering, it is still a great investment for the family man.

5. Toyota Yaris – yet another spectacular Japanese innovation, is right up there with the safest of vehicles on the roads. It recently claimed the highest crash test rating and its rather unsightly bonnet conceals a unique Minimal Intrusion Cabin System, which disperses energy from impact through the body.

6. Honda Civic – The powerful Honda stable has two in the top ten with the Civic model. The most popular of the Honda range, the Civicboasts a sizeable interior, making it the ideal family car.

The remaining manufacturers that have made it onto the top ten are Nissan, Hyundai and Lexus, so if you are considering replacing your set of wheels with a new or used car, forget the graceful lines and outsized engines and opt for safety instead by going east, young man.

Does the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) hire extras just to make the place look busy?

They say that living to a ripe old age is a blessing. But when you do it while standing on line at the DMV, you begin to see things from an entirely different perspective. Suddenly, the expression “something to look forward to” can mean something as mundane as seeing a DMV employee get back from lunch to take care of huge line. And the emotional impact of the simple word “next” can bring tears of joy trickling down your cheeks — you’d think it was written by the poet Yusef Komunyakaa.

Probably the most frightening phrase you can hear at the DMV is, “It’s a clerical error.” This phrase can mean almost any imaginable horrible thing you can conjure up. It can mean that you’ll have to come back and waste another day. It can mean that you’ll have to retake the road test you already passed because your records have been misplaced. Or it can mean that due to a misspelling of your name, you’re now on the FBI’s most wanted list. And it’s not even proper decorum to get angry about such things. You see, it’s not really their fault — making errors is part of the system.

But things at the DMV have improved somewhat over the years. On some “lines,” instead of standing for hours, as was the case in years gone by, you now take a number, sit down on a bench and watch a large electronic board with a confusing array of numbers. Every now and then, someone yells “Bingo!”

Having spent my share of time at the DMV, I’ve found that in addition to spending about seventy percent of your time waiting on lines, you spend about ten percent looking for the right line and about fifteen percent taking directions from security personnel who couldn’t give you clear enough directions to find the ocean on a cruise ship.

My first line, on one particular occasion, was the “picture” line. That’s where everyone “fixes up” and smiles for a picture that’ll never be seen by anyone except cops. And these pictures never come out right. Anyone who actually looks like the picture on his or her driver’s license is too ill to drive.

My next line was so crowded, one guy fainted. But no one noticed it because he couldn’t fall down till six people got off.

After several hours of ruffling my forms so they wouldn’t get moldy before I reached the window, I met Cindy, who had just moved from bench six to bench seven because bench six was being radiocarbon tested by scientists to see what’s the longest anyone ever sat on it.

We found out we had a lot in common. Our licenses expired in the same month. At one point in our lives, we both received collection notices for summonses we never received. And at our last visit to the DMV, both of our faces appeared on milk containers by the time we got out.

She showed me pictures of her pets. They were the most adorable little puppies I’d ever seen. Not having pets or kids of my own, I showed her pictures of my last collision. She was impressed. She said it took a lot of talent to twist a fender into the shape of the Big Dipper at only three miles per hour. And I’m not even an astronomer.

As time wore on, we hit it off so well, we made plans to go out on a date. Where we would go was a tossup between a trendy upper East Side night spot for young singles and a downtown senior citizen’s ball, depending on when we got out.

By now our line had gotten shorter by twenty-three people. Eight had renewed their licenses, four were on the wrong line, three were in the wrong country, six died of natural causes, and one asked for political asylum.

One guy, who wasn’t too familiar with our language or customs, thought he was being picked out of a lineup when the woman behind the window looked at him and yelled “Next!” He confessed to two burglaries and a subway turnstile jumping. The man now works for the DMV, sort of — he makes license plates at an upstate correctional facility.

When I finally reached the window, the woman asked to see two forms of identification. I showed her a major credit card and a picture ID. Taking a quick look at the picture, she said, “This doesn’t look like you.”

I said, “It did when I arrived. I was younger then.”

She pointed to an eye chart and asked, “Can you read the bottom line?”

I said, “Can I read it? I know the guy. He works for a Greek car service on my block.”

Upon my passing the eye exam, she stamped my forms, saying, “Your license will be good for four years.” Then, gleefully pointing to a long cashier’s line, she added, “You can pay at the cashier.”

“Four years from when?” I asked. “From when I get on the line or from when get off the line?” If looks could kill, the look she gave me could’ve killed a Brontosaurus the size of a DMV backlog.

On the cashier’s line I wound up near a guy listening to a small radio. After two hours of eavesdropping on news reports and financial updates, I found out that in the time I’d been waiting on this line, the dollar had devaluated by about four percent on the Japanese market, our national debt had risen by about six percent, and my patients was wearing thinner by about eighteen percent.

By the time I reached the cashier’s window, I had a pretty solid understanding of how the world financial markets operate — but I still hadn’t the foggiest clue as to how the DMV does. Is the DMV’s system designed to make the place look busy? Is it crowded because they have no system? Or is the DMV just a stepping stone for moving up to a better career; like, if you work really slow here you can eventually move up to becoming a postal employee.

Cindy and I were reunited outside and shared a cab. I asked the cabbie to step on it. Cindy asked what the rush was. I said, “No rush, I’d just forgotten what ‘fast’ looked like.”

by Josh Greenberger from shopndrop.com