And somehow nissan managed to make the commercial about 100x better than the jeep compass commercials

Pointless to have that car in NZ. Last time I got about 400 USD in photo radar tickets at the end of my trip. Thanks Hertz!

Stuff like this makes me question the state of humanity......or in this case; the lack of..

I think Hondafan (post 19)nailed it on the head. I think most Diesel fans here always talk about mileage; but forget that their current TDI VWs pollute more than an average V8 SUV.

Now that they're releasing BLUETEC, the european manufacturers are relying on Urea, which requires constant refills.

The problem is, when the Urea runs out, the NOx output is as bad, or worse than current Euro IV, which is near the bottom of US EPA emissions regs. THere is no regulation on ensuring BLUETEC users will keep their supply of Urea ready.

Honda has already developed and is putting out a Diesel that is CARB reg Tier II/Bin 5 compliant without the fuss of BLUETEC. Something no other engine manufacturer in the world can claim at this moment. After all, Honda IS a Motor company first, and a car company second.

Now that IS newsworthy.

Based on the license plates (and the Volkswagen Santana), this is in Shanghai, not Japan.

Link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/25/automobiles/autospecial/25design.html?pagewanted=2&ref=autospecial

It's good to read up the NY Times article about the brothers Callum (Moray and Ian), who coincidentially designed the XK as well as the Taurus....

"He (Moray)worked on pickup trucks and minivans — and a face lift of the Taurus family sedan. He lent the soft-looking Taurus a sporting touch by providing it with a grille reminiscent of the classic E type Jaguar of 1961."

and

"When Ian’s new Jaguar sports coupe, successor to the iconic XK8, was unveiled at the Detroit auto show in 2005, critics commented on the resemblance of the luxury car’s grille, an elliptical aperture with a chrome bar bearing a logo, to that of Moray’s humble Taurus, not to the classic Jaguar that inspired both designs.

After the criticism of his brother, Moray wrote a letter of apology, more or less facetiously, that Ian still displays in his office. "

The biggest travesty is how a Taiwanese (small) subsidiary can release a car that's better looking than the Galant they release here in the US. They should just take this design and apply it to the US one.
http://www.grunder.com.tw/

China motor also assembles Chrysler vehicles in Taiwan for consumption on the island
http://www.chrysler.com.tw/

Rico - One more thing. Have you ever used WCDMA/UMTS based handsets in europe?

Vodafone Spain - I can't even hold a phone call on the highway in Barcelona in 3G. The hard handoffs on GSM were horrible; the handoffs of UMTS were atrocious
T-mob Germany - Downtown frankfurt, i've gotten more dropped calls in 1 day than I have in 1 year on a Sprint phone in the US in a metro area. (15 drops)
Voda UK - Can't seem to hold it from tower to tower either.

I think the problem is that people seem to have the "grass-is-greener" envy mentality when it comes to gadgets; let alone mobile gadgets. Overall, the best experience has to be Japan on an AU by KDDI handset in EVDO. Can't speak for korea, but US Sprint and Verizon are a close second in terms of reliability

Rico - How is the US behind other countries in wireless tech?

1- We have fully implemented nationwide 3G solutions that cover more square miles than all of europe (VZW and Sprint EVDO alone).
2- These implemented 3G solutions have functional AGPS that are starting to be accessible on most handsets (Once again, only on CDMA-based systems in the US, Japan, Korea, NZ, and AU)
3-We're not on WCDMA (or UMTS, well, since we don't have 2100 mhz open under ITU specs), yet our wireless implementations have higher speeds than anything WCDMA or HSDPA systems regularly put out in practice.
4-WiBro, WiMax, 4G OFDM tech? - Comin' out of here.

What makes you think we're behind on wireless tech?