Happy New Year

Happy new year to the blogger world. Hope everyone was safe and happy this New Years Eve.

I spent my NYE in New York City, feverishly trying not to look like a tourist. It is amazing to me how much different the city is to the rural living I have at home. There would be numerous accidents daily if people drove like that up here. People switch lanes, crowd lanes, double park, honk, beep, curse, yell, and countless of other things that would be considered reckless up here.

I have mixed feelings on cabbies. I would say that in 50% of the cab rides I took this weekend, the cabbie complained about the tip I left. I understand that they're trying to make a living, but damn, I was throwing out between 25 and 30% each ride. The last guy who dropped me off at Penn Station looked at me and said, "That's it?" I told him to go love himself, but using a few different choice words. That's pretty nervy if you ask me. You don't see waitresses, bartenders, and others in the service business begging for tips. It's considered poor practice to do that.

People are going to tip what they're going to tip. Bottom line. If you don't like it, maybe you should find a different line of work.

Big news recently from Chrysler: The Dodge Viper is here to stay! That's right, previous plans to drop the model from the Dodge lineup have been stopped! It will continue to use the Chrysler-developed 8.4L V10, and will go through some minor changes for 2011. The biggest changes will be to the interior, updating the drab instrumentation and harsh environment. Expect to see the fourth (fifth?) generation for 2012 or 2013.

The 2011 Grand Cherokee is growing on me. Although, the rear liftgate almost looks like a BMW X5. It's not really "Jeepy" anymore.

It sucks a little bit that they're dropping the 4.7L V8, but all in the name of innovation. The 3.6 Pentastar engine should be a solid replacement, and EPA estimates to see 23mpg on the highway. Updates to the HEMI include VVT and a bump in HP, expect to see 19mpg highway.

They have taken a page out of Range Rover's books and introduced Quadra-Lift and Selec-Terrain. Push a button and clearance height increases to 9.6 or 11.1" from the standard 8.1". It also has Aero mode where the vehicle lowers about 0.6" to increase aerodynamics and gas mileage. We'll see how long this option will stick around. It will probably add between $2000 and $3000 to the overall price. The interior is GORGEOUS. Jeep has definitely stepped up their game for this model.