Valet Job

Hi again!  So, a couple days ago, my friend came up to me and offered me a spot to work with him as a valet at an upcoming wedding.  I wasn't doing anything, so I figured I might as well get paid and write about some of the cars. (The wedding took place in a fairly wealthy city so I figured I would get to drive some nice cars).

Before I begin, let me explain how I will describe these cars.  I didn't get to drive these too far so handling and power won't become the focus of this post.  I will talk a bit about design, ergonomics of the dashboard and buttons, etc.

Mini Cooper S (source: Carsfolia.com)

The first car I encountered was a Mini Cooper Hardtop Cooper S.  This was a decent car; it is a standard 4-cylinder engine with about 180 hp output (nothing exceptional).  It doesn't look hideous either.  Parking it was fine, but trying to get out of it was a bit confusing - there are no buttons for door locks and windows on the actual door.  Everything is in the middle by the radio, probably because there wasn't much space on the doors.

BMW M3 (source: Automodels.org)

The next car, one of my favorites, was a bit of an improvement.  My friend was supposed to take the next car, but he doesn't drive stick, so I lucked out and got to drive the BMW M3.  I've always loved the M-series of BMW; my dad drives (notoriously) fast and can usually navigate around untrained drivers in cars of this caliber, but M3s and M5s, (mostly M5s), seem to escape from our sights with remarkable ease.  I still remember once when my dad was behind the wheel of an M5. To this day, it is still the fastest speed I've ever reached inside an automobile.  But I digress.  The M3 was a phenomenal drive, the shifter went smoothly into place and didn't give any problems.  The turn signal was perfectly placed right by my hand and had a lot more than just the usual light switches, etc. But I didn't get the time to test out all of those things.  I did have a problem with getting the car into reverse, I had to push a lot harder than I thought I would need to, but that's probably better on the road.  All the buttons for the radio, locks, etc. seemed normally placed and nothing was wrong there.  There was, however, an obnoxious blind spot at the driver's side A-post.

Porsche 911 Targa 4S (source: HDwallpapers.in)

My next car was an equally fun ride, the Porsche 911 Targa 4S.  This was an automatic, so I didn't get the thrill of putting it into gear and feeling the engine engage, but it was still a decent ride.  Everything was great about the dashboard, even the radio's display made its way there.  The shifter was somewhat unusual, as the button ran from the top along the palm side of the shifter.  Otherwise, this is a beautiful car with a classic design. It also had a Bose music system which sounded great.

Mercedes-Benz C300 (source: mbusa.com)

My German streak did not end there.  Following the Porsche was a Mercedes-Benz C300.  At first, I wasn't expecting much from this as this is one of the lower end cars produced by Mercedes-Benz in the US and my dad had instilled in me a dislike for Mercedes-Benz.  But I was quickly shown otherwise. Not only was everything in place, which I expected, but the car seemed to handle incredibly well.  Mercedes-Benz also knows how to design their cars too, and even this "low-end" Mercedes was no exception.  One problem I did have was that the car did not back up well; giving it small amounts of gas did nothing and larger amounts almost sent it into the car behind it, although this may have been the fault of something other than the car.

Mercedes-Benz SL550 (source: mbusa.com) 

I will also give an honorable mention to the Mercedes-Benz SL550.  I did not get to drive it, but it was without a doubt the most beautiful car at the wedding. This particular one was a silver one with a red designer interior.

Jeep Patriot (source: cargurus.com)

The last car I can remember is a Jeep Patriot.  I'm personally not a fan of these larger cars, so this won't be much of a positive review.  Firstly, it's REALLY high off the ground, a lot more than I'm used to.  I did not handle poorly, but it definitely wasn't competing with any of the other cars on this list.  One thing I did enjoy was the massive side mirrors it had, but it was probably to compensate the useless rear-view mirror.  The massive seats combined with the small rear window and high elevation didn't offer much to see behind the car.  It was alright, but not what I would want in a car.

All in all, it was fun to drive some of these cars.

Test Ride

Chevy Malibu (source: Chevrolet Website)

Hey guys!  So, recently I got to drive a Chevy Malibu.  It was a rental car to replace my dad's Honda Accord while it was in the workshop.  I don't normally drive automatics, but I did a couple five-hour stretches in my friend's Honda Accord on a road trip this summer, so I'm familiar enough with them to not reach for the clutch (that was a fun lesson to learn). But other than that, I drove a bit in another rental car my dad had earlier, a Dodge Avenger.

Honda Accord (source: Honda Website)

I had only been driving for a few months when I drove the Avenger (the first automatic car I drove), so I don't remember much about it.  I do remember that it wouldn't accelerate much - I remember flooring it in a parking lot with no response.  However, that car may have just been lemon.  Nevertheless, I still used that car to judge all automatics for a year, until I drove my friend's Accord.  

Dodge Avenger (source: Wikipedia)

There's not much to say about my friend's Accord, as I drive a Honda Accord and an Acura TSX (a rebadged Honda Accord).  Apart from noticing that it drops a gear when I push on the gas, (sometimes two if I pushed hard enough), it was an identical ride to what I consider standard.

The Malibu, however, was a bit different than my usual rides.  When I first walked to it, it looked slightly larger than the other cars here, and it did feel like I was sitting higher off the ground, (which made my line judgement a bit more awkward when parking, but that's a matter of getting used to the car).  Because it was raining, I noticed a couple things on the inside of the car immediately: there was an automatic feature for the headlights, and the lever for the windshield wipers was the reverse of the Honda's lever (pushing the lever up in the Malibu would be the equivalent to moving the Honda's lever down and vice versa).  

And now, we'll move on to the actual driving.  Immediately, I noticed this car drove much better than the Avenger I drove; it would accelerate when I wanted it to and it could handle corners well. One interesting thing that my dad showed me was the manual mode (M).  This allowed you to shift through the gears with a push of a button.  However, it was a bit awkward to push on the top of the shifter with your thumb to change gears, but it did get the job done and prevented shifts if the engine was underpowered.  Finally, there were a couple awkward blind spots, one at the drivers eleven o'clock (with the driver side's A-Post) and one at the driver's four o'clock (with the car's C-post).  The former made it hard to pull a turn going left and the latter made it hard to pull into lane.

However, all in all, it was a decent car to drive.

Double Clutching

Hello again!

Today, I figured I'd talk a bit about a technique I've been teaching myself with manual transmissions.  This technique is called Double Clutching, or Double Declutching.  I had gotten in the hang of driving stick and I know how to shift in a quick and smooth manner, however my dad told me about double clutching and the people who race use this.  He also explained the basic principles and its purpose to me.

Starting from one gear (while in motion), you press the clutch, place the shifter into neutral and release the clutch.  This first part is the same for both downshifting and upshifting.  To upshift, you DON'T hit the gas because you are allowing the engine to lower the RPM. Then you press the clutch and put it into a higher gear.  I haven't been doing double clutching for too long, so I don't know if this is any more effective than simply naturally shifting up.  However to downshift, you have to tap the gas to increase the RPM so that the engine can match the lower gear.  Then, you quickly press the clutch and put the shifter into the lower gear and release the clutch.  Upon accelerating, you should notice that the transition is smoother than not double clutching.  I find that when I normally downshift, there's a bit of a jerk.

However, you don't want to do this if you are downshifting to use engine-braking.  Engine braking is when the engine is underpowered and the energy from the car's motion is used to speed up the engine, (Newton's laws at work).  So when you don't double clutch, and you feel the jerk upon downshifting, it's the engine slowing the car down slightly.  This is a very useful tool that you can use to more quickly brake and lengthen the lifespan of the brake pads by not placing as much force on the brakes.

Just be careful when you're practicing these techniques.  You can start slowly to get the hang of these things, like double-clutching, even if it's not effective.  Getting a hang for the motions can prevent you from crashing your gears. Have fun!


On an unrelated note, I saw a McLaren MP4-12C today.  The McLaren isn't a brand seen often on the road mostly because they don't have many cars on the market and came to the public fairly recently. McLaren is a big name in Formula One racing as they are partnered up with Mercedes-Benz and their racer, Jenson Button is one of the top racers in the world.  The precursor to the MP4-12C, the McLaren F1, was McLaren's first car to their name and was the fastest car in the world when it came out (1992).  And with a top speed of 231 mph, it's still one of the fastest cars in the world.

McLaren MP4-12C (source: Wikipedia)

Welcome to Zero to Sixty

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to my blog, The Zero to Sixty Car Blog.  First, I'll introduce myself. I love cars, (especially the more expensive ones), driving and talking about cars. I learned to drive on a manual transmission, taught by my dad who only buys manuals. I may also do the same when I start buying cars if manual transmissions are still available.  Newer technologies like electric cars do not require manual transmissions, so who knows?!  Currently, I'm in college and don't have a car, so I don't drive during the year, but when I'm home I'll drive whenever I can. And finally I'm writing this blog because a couple of my friends told me to share whatever I talk to them with other people as there might be people who share similar interests.  So without further ado, lets begin.

Aston Martin DB9 (source: Aston Martin Homepage)

Aston Martin DB5 (source: Wikipedia)

One of the most recent conversations I had before starting this blog was with my family about an Aston Martin we had seen on the highway.  It was the Aston Martin DB9.  For those who have never heard of Aston Martin, it is a high end British luxury car manufacturer.  James Bond has driven a range of Aston Martins over the past few decades, the earliest and most recent being the Aston Martin DB5, a
predecessor to the DB9.

Hennessey Venom GT (source: Wikipedia)

However our conversation did not end with Aston Martins and James Bond.  The DB9 was a convertible and we were able to see that the woman driving it looked like Steven Tyler, the lead singer of Aerosmith.  Steven Tyler has a Hennessey Venom GT (pictured above), one of the fastest cars in the world.  The Venom currently has the unofficial record of fastest 0-200 mph time with 14.51 seconds, (according to Wikipedia).  However it was not able to break the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport's top speed of 267.856 mph.  Companies like Koenigsegg, with the Agera - a car with a claimed top speed of 273 mph - and Hennessey don't have access to the Ehra-Lessien track that the Volkswagen group owns.  The Ehra-Lessien is a 60 mile long track of private tarmac that the companies associated with the Volkswagen group, (i.e. Audi, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Porsche, Bentley, etc.), use to test their vehicles.  This is where the Bugatti Veyrons break world records.