Volkswagen TDI Cup: Rookies to Racers

Watch Volkswagen TDI Cup on Discovery Channel. It's an ad for VW masquerading as a reality TV series. . . and it's brilliant! Volkswagen offered an opportunity for young drivers between the ages of 16 and 26 to race in a 10 event series. Qualifiers had to pony up $45K USD (cheap for car, track, crew & training.) Only the top 25 applicants were chosen for the series based on performance in go-kart, physical and technical trials.

The show gives a great sense of how demanding racing is physically and mentally and how difficult it is to rise above the rest to become a champion. Congratulations to all of the young aspirants on the show for making it this far. We can't wait to see the rest of the season.

The racing is also a plug for diesel and Volkswagen's turbo direct injection diesel technology in particular. These cars are quick, thrifty and they never rattle or spew smoke.

Thanks to the following for background and images:

http://froma2j.blogspot.com/2010/08/volkswagen-jetta-tdi-cup.html

http://blog.cochesalaventa.com/uno-abajo-seis-para-ir-por-el-vw-jetta-tdi-cup.html

http://foro.tuning-on.com/stock-cars/eeuu-vw-jetta-tdi-cup-street-edition-racing-t58532.0.html

2012 Fisker Karma First Drive

The Fisker Karma is a plug-in electric, sexy as all get out, high performance, 4 door exotic hybrid that may actually be capable of 100 mpg AND 0-60 mph (approx. 0-100 kph) in under 6 seconds. Initial test drives report that it handles brilliantly--better than any other car this size (a bit hard to believe but we at Maaco-Fremont are intrigued enough to think that this might be an alternative to our Maserati Quattroporte fetish.)

For more pictures and a full article on the initial test drives, visit AutoBlog.

GM's Going to Put Maaco--And Every Other Bodyshop--Out of Business

Good friend James May shows off GM's Hy-Wire car of the future on Top Gear. Standard Features:

• Hydrogen Fuel Cell Powerplant
• 11" Thick Integrated Chassis & Driveline
• Interchangeable Bodies
• Zero Emissions (except for water)
• 0-60 in 2 seconds (we just made that up but why not)

Another Home Run for Hyundai? 2012 Veloster

Jalopnik is quickly becoming my favorite on-line car fix site. Here's their take on the world premier of the 2012 Hyundai Veloster (click link) at the Detroit International Auto Show.

Maaco-Fremont's take is this is another dramatic score for Hyundai, the surprisingly hot, cheap, green AND RELIABLE car company. The Veloster manages to look quick and mean but almost cute at the same time. It's really light which means 1) it should be quick 2) handle well and 3) get up to 40 mpg. It's got 2 front doors & 1 rear passenger door plus a big hatchback. You can get it with a 6-speed manual transmission. I'll take one now.

Porsche 918 Spyder Hybrid the Star of Geneva Auto Show

From Edmunds.com (our favorite site for real world auto pricing), here's the scope on the awesome Porsche 918 Hybrid! Edmunds says it upstaged Lamborghini, Bugatti and Bentley at the premier automotive show in the world. And it may possibly be the fastest production car around Germany's famed racetrack, the Nürburgring—assuming it gets produced. We hope so.

Car of the Day - 2003 Honda Civic with Peeling Clear Coat

Delaminating Paint

Does your car look like this? A lot of our customers ask if this condition is caused by either a manufacturer's defect or from something that happened to their car.

Most likely you didn't do anything wrong and neither did the manufacturer. The paint is just showing its age. We call this condition delaminating paint. It is caused mainly by ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun, the same thing that causes sunburn on humans and the deterioration of your lawn furniture. Chemicals and other environmental factors also contribute to the paint's decline.

In the 1960s & 1970s it was normal to expect to paint a car every 5 years or so. And the average car did not last as long as they do now. Bodies and engines were typically worn out at just 100k miles.

Much has improved since then. Cars often last well over 15 years and 200k miles. Because of this, more people notice paint failing on cars even though the paint is much better than it was 30-40 years ago. Factory paint jobs typically last 7-14 years depending on color, chemistry and environmental conditions.

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Cool Site for Concept Car Designs

We stumbled on this very cool site for concept car designs the past week and thought we'd share it with you:
http://www.stingraysstudios.com/Concept_Cars.html
This is a design concept for an all electric Corvette Stingray of the future.

Jaguar C-X75 Hybrid Supercar Prototype

Check this out from our dear friends at Top Gear, the Jaguar C-X75. It's a jet-engined hybrid supercar with 780 hp, 1180 lbs-ft of torque, electric motors at all 4 wheels, 0-100 kph (0-62 mph) in 3.4 seconds and a range of 560 miles!! We want. We NEED!

Maaco-Fremont Milestones: 3000th Vehicle Repaired-98% Customer Satisfaction

Thank you to our many loyal customers and our terrific crew for achieving an important milestone. Maaco-Fremont took in our 3000th vehicle for repair on August 6, 2010, just 28th months after we opened this new facility on Centralmont Place in Fremont, California. To repair over 1000 vehicles per year requires a well-trained and dedicated staff.

The economic recession that started in 2008 hit us like it hit everyone. Our revenues declined and we had to lay-off employees. So we lowered prices to both help our customers make ends meet and to keep our experienced technicians working. What happened next surprised us.

During the worst part of the recession, our business grew rapidly. We started hiring back employees and even hired new employees. In Spring 2010 we increased capacity 15%. A few months later we increased capacity again, by another 20%.

At the same time, our customer satisfaction score increased to 98% as measured by the independent industry watchdog agency CSI Complete.

So thanks again to our customers who have honored us with their business and our great employees who work hard to keep our customers happy.

Car of the Day - 2006 Scion Tc with Accident Damage

Today's Scion coupe was involved in a fender bender that left the driver's side quarter panel buckled and the rear bumper scraped up. Maaco-Fremont fixed all the dents in the quarter panel and repainted it and the bumper to match the original factory color and finish. We used the latest technology, environmentally friendly waterborne paint that comes with Maaco's nationwide lifetime warranty.

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Car of the Day - 2001 Ford Crown Victoria

Today's car of the day is a 2001 Ford Crown Victoria that came in need of Auto bodywork and paint. Maaco-Fremont weld shut some holes, align the hood, prepped the car for paint and put a full coat of primer sealer. Maaco-Fremont painted the entire car with our Supreme Paint Service that comes with 4 year written warranty. The customer requested to change the color of the car to a green metallic.

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Maaco-Fremont Stays Green to Help the Environment

Maaco-Fremont has always done its part to help the environment. Our latest innovation in 2009 was to dramatically reduce the VOC (volatile organic compound) content in our paints. Reducing VOCs reduces smog and makes the atmosphere better to breath.

Our top of the line is now a "waterborne" paint. Instead of petroleum-based chemicals, this technology uses pure water to carry the paint through the spray system and onto the car. Maaco-Fremont uses the same waterborne paint that has been in use by Mercedes Benz and other manufacturers in Europe for over 10 years. Special equipment is required to apply this paint. We use heated & specially ventilated booths for painting & curing plus air jets to cause the water to evaporate quickly, leaving only a durable shell of paint on the vehicle. The process creates a very high quality, high-solids finish and we give it the longest guarantee available in the business.

In January 2010, Maaco-Fremont will be going a step further, eliminating more VOCs from our processes & chemicals.

And just so no one thinks this is some sort of new "green" fad we recently embarked on, we want folks to know that in 2007 we ordered all new equipment including state-of-the-art, fully enclosed, atmosphere regulated paint booth, fully enclosed curing oven and a fully enclosed, ventilated paint mixing room. These "clean room" type booths keep all of the chemicals contained to just the area where they are being used so they don't harm our employees or neighbors. Filters on the exhaust clean the air exiting the paint booth before it goes back into the atmosphere.