With new $8 fees to drive in Manhattan, this might be the best way to get your car into the city.


A plan to charge drivers $8 for using Manhattan's busy streets appears to be moving ahead.

Mimicking a fee imposed on drivers in London, the new fee for New York drivers is an attempt by the city to deal with the crushing gridlock that can slow down the major thoroughfares in the city, the Wall Street Journal said today. The plan in its draft form would charge each car an $8 toll for entering Manhattan below 60th Street from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the work week. Trucks--aside from those certified as low-emission vehicles--would be charged $21. Taxis will get a $1 surcharge and higher meter rates under the revised plan.

The city has been grappling with a plan under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, at first proposing that 86th Street be the cutoff--and adding a surcharge to travel in the zone. The new system could generate $500 million a year to use toward improving the city's infrastructure, the Journal adds.

We're all for market mechanisms to ease traffic, but the universally levied charges strike us as a bit hamfisted. What do you think? Would raising taxi rates be the key--or simply raising tolls on the city's bridges and tunnels? And would a plan like this work in your city--Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco or Atlanta? Tell us what you think in a comment below.

Plan Addresses New York's Traffic - WSJ.com

While the rest of the automotive world awaits January sales figures next week--we’re betting some will be up, some will be down--the back-end elves here have been poring over server logs to see which vehicle reviews were the most popular in January.

There’s no huge surprise to find out that the bloodlust-red Audi S5 we drove late last year tops the list. Our road test underscores an oddly delightful fact about the hot-rod Audi two-door: that from its engine note to its daring (well, daring for Germans) body, it’s as close as Bavaria will get to building a Chevy Camaro.

And it’s not a big mystery that Saab’s popular Convertible came in second, despite having just a couple weeks on the site. Since it bowed in the 1980s, the Saab convertible’s found a dedicated following that prefers its four-seat cabin and Swedish style to the harder-edged convertibles from BMW.

We do confess to having a “whoa” moment when the Pontiac Torrent came in third--but it was our first full road test of the crossover. The ’09 Toyota Corolla and the current Jeep Patriot rounded out the top five.

Here are the top ten road tests, with a note - these are cars put through a full road test by TCC’s expert reviewers. Tomorrow, we’ll tell you about the most popular vehicles we covered last month.

2008 Audi S5

2008 Saab 9-3 Convertible

2008 Pontiac Torrent GXP

2009 Toyota Corolla

2008 Jeep Patriot

2008 Honda Accord

2009 Jaguar XF

2008 Subaru WRX STI

2009 Nissan Murano

2009 Volkswagen Tiguan

Joe Isuzu is long gone; soon Isuzu vehicles will, too. Isuzu today announced that it will withdraw from the U.S. market in January 2009.

Present-day, no big loss. Currently the brand’s U.S. lineup is limited to a couple of pickups, the i-290 and i-370, a rebadged version of the Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon, and the Ascender, a rebadged version of the Chevrolet Trailblazer/GMC Envoy. And with a limited dealership network and a limited array of configurations there’s been no compelling reason to buy these trucks — which have been given more homely grilles and trim — versus their Chevy and GMC counterparts.

It continues a slow withdrawal that began back in 2002, when Isuzu backed out of a longstanding agreement to share a production facility in Lafayette, Indiana, with Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent company of Subaru. Toyota now takes advantage of the additional production space at the huge plant for additional Camry production, while Fuji still utilizes the rest of the plant to make several Subaru models there.

In recent years the brand’s sales had fallen to a small fraction of what they were in its heyday of the 1980s and early 1990s, when its trucks had gained a decent reputation for being economical and rugged, and its Trooper, which paired a then-generous helping of interior conveniences with off-road ruggedness was arguably ahead of the curve as families moved to replace their sedans and wagons with SUVs.

During that time, the brand became a household name because of the memorable ‘Joe Isuzu’ ad campaign, in which actor David Leisure played an exaggerating, deceptive caricature of a car salesman.

In 1988 the character was so well known that Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis commented that George H.W. Bush may be the Joe Isuzu of American politics.

The automaker’s products were first brought to the U.S. in the 1970s, when the Isuzu-produced Chevy Luv was imported through an agreement with GM. It was the beginning of a long relationship that had Isuzu supplying the U.S. market with products badged as Chevrolets and Geos well into the 1990s.

Even into the late 1990s, the brand itself was showing promise with its aggressively styled, rally-influenced VehiCROSS and the rakish and quirky Axiom — both models that have left their mark in the design evolution of this decade’s crossover SUVs. Despite slow sales, the Axiom was produced through the 2005 model year, when it was unceremoniously discontinued.

Then there were the cars, which many have forgotten. But some of them were quite good. The I-Mark and Stylus and their GM siblings, the Chevy and Geo Spectrum, were perfectly fine, frugal appliances. And the sporty, front-wheel-drive Impulse and nearly identical Geo Storm — especially the innovative coupe that was part wagon, part sports car — developed a minor cult following among Gen X in the 1990s.

I sure miss the wedge-shaped, Giugiaro-penned, rear-wheel drive, late-’80s Impulse I once owned — rorty turbo engine, ‘Handling by Lotus’ badging and all — but let's face it, Joe left that smoke-filled office a long time ago.

Isuzu's long battle to stay in the U.S. market ends next year, as the Japanese automaker announced today that it would stop selling new vehicles in the U.S. as of January 31, 2009.

Isuzu's withdrawal has been expected for years. In the early 1990s, the company sat at the forefront of the truck market with its Trooper sport-utility vehicle. But troubles in its home market--and a lack of cash to develop more sport-utes and crossovers like the ill-fated Axiom from 2002--hamstrung the brand, which resorted to selling rebadged GM pickups and sport-utes and halting all passenger-car sales as it tried to find its footing.

The Wall Street Journal points out that in 2007, Isuzu sold only 7906 vehicles here--roughly four days' worth of production for the Ford F-Series pickups.

The final death knell for Isuzu likely came as GM declined to provide it with a replacement for the i290 and i370 pickup trucks, which are based on the Chevrolet Colorado, and as GM is set to cancel the mid-size SUVs like the Chevrolet TrailBlazer that provided the clone donor for the Isuzu Ascender.

"It has always been our intention to remain in the U.S. market," the Journal quotes Terry Maloney, president of Isuzu's North American operations. "However, we were unable to secure any commercially viable replacements for these vehicles."

It has inventory to sell for the year ahead, and Isuzu is also promising to honor all warranties and roadside assistance programs.

Isuzu's departure isn't any surprise. But are there other automotive brands that don't serve a purpose? And as new-vehicle sales are expected to take a tumble again in 2008, which companies won't be able to weather the storm? Tell us in a comment below.

Isuzu to End Car Sales In North America in 2009 - WSJ.com

We told you yesterday about all the cliches we’re expecting in Dodge Journey reviews this coming Friday. But we really couldn’t one-up that any better than Dodge can--and the Chrysler brand is upstaging even the Chicago auto show by putting on a wedding at its show stand, complete with a Journey cover band.

The wedding will take place on Valentine’s Day, at the McCormick Place show. The couple in question? Blake Humphrey and Jackie Rohner, from Rock Island, Ill. They were chosen from 63 entries in Dodge’s “Journey of a Lifetime” contest that concluded last week. In the process, the couple also won a new Journey crossover, along with an all-expenses-paid wedding for themselves and 100 family members and guests, including entertainment provided by Infinity, a Journey cover band.

Everyone on cue now--awwwwww! But c’mon, Chrysler--surely the real Journey was available?