Offshore Oil Rig
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How's your Wednesday? Good? Unthreatening? If so, stop reading now, because HybridCars has just published a list of six "chokepoints" for the global oil supply, which, if attacked, could bring the industrialized world screeching to a halt. Downer, I know.

Spread mostly across the Middle East and Asia, the half-dozen locations are important shipping lanes for oil tankers, and thus, the international oil trade. Not surprisingly, they're all straits and canals, which leave the vessels traversing them vulnerable to pirates (yes, they still make pirates) and terrorist groups, as well as run-of-the-mill shipwrecks. Nothing serious has happened in these areas yet, but pirates did seize a supersized Saudi oil tanker near the Suez Canal just a couple of months back.

Given the degree of political unrest we're seeing in Palestine, Pakistan, and swaths of Africa--not to mention the freakish storm systems of recent years--it would seem it's only a matter of time before similar incidents take place in these locations. All of which should serve as some kind of impetus for the US to do as every political candidate in recent memory has suggested: reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Or else.

So...still having a good Wednesday?

--Richard Read

[HybridCars.com]

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Howard McAlpine street art
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Street art has been around for thousands of years--in fact, you could probably argue that the folks who tricked out Lascaux started the whole movement. When we think of street art today, however, we often think of graffiti, and while there's definitely a place for that--mostly GnR videos--rarely is garden-variety graffiti as interesting as the auto-centric works of British artist Howard McAlpine.

McAlpine doesn't really include an artist's statement on his website, and he tells us nothing about his "automotive" portfolio, but I'm guessing some of them might be one-off ads for clients, which include Shell and Fiat. I'm also assuming that McAlpine was responsible for both the car selection as well as the outstanding Banksy-style murals that relate to the vehicles.

No matter what their inspiration, you can tell the man loves his cars and they way they fit into the environment. And honestly, isn't that enough for a Wednesday?--Richard Read

[via AutoMotto.com]

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2009 Volkswagen CC
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As the sleet continued to fall here in Detroit, the vehicle logistics company that manages Fleet Farfegnugen just retrieved their 2009 Volkswagen CC. I was bummed to see it go. You see, just a few days before Christmas, Detroit got dumped on … not by Washington or the media (this time), but by Mother Nature, who has apparently forgotten about global warming. The snow in my front yard is 11-inches deep.

We're experiencing a bitter December, which isn't a great month to begin with up here as on average we only get three days of sun during the month. But the current weather makes me fully appreciate the 4Motion fitted to our loaded-up VR6-powered 2009 Passat CC. The sucker will mush with abandon so long as the snow isn't much deeper than the front air dam.

You can guess that the mostly-Passat CC has some familiar features, but here are a couple of random observations: First, the rear-view camera that electrically peeks out from under the VW trunk emblem/release is very cool. (This seems like a James Bond "Q" inspired feature.) Second, even though the exterior rearview mirrors were supposed to heated, the gerbils VW spec'ed to exhale on the mirror's backside don't have what it takes to keep the surfaces clear when it's really cold. Thirdly, our $42,630 CC was fitted with nearly the same instrumentation as the Jetta that replaced the CC in our fleet rotation. The white-over-black gauges are easy to read, but with a price point north of $40k, economy car dials just won't due.

Since the handsome sedan's debut, people have called it the entry-level Mercedes CLS (since MB does not offer a V-6 powered CLS). We think this is a kind if not fully accurate characterization, especially if one acquires a base 2009 Volkswagen CC for something less than $30,000. At this price point, the Passat CC represents a good enough value.

However, once you start adding features, the price can escalate to levels that don't make any sense. A quick search of used car values found that the 2006 Mercedes-Benz CLS can be purchased for under $40,000. This begs the question, why own a facsimile when you can own the original for the same price?

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