Checkered Blog by Checkered Flag is the automotive play place in Hampton Roads Virginia

California Dreamin'

As I hail from the Golden State, I was relatively psyched when we moved to Virginia Beach. Comparable latitude coupled with miles of lovely coast placated my inner beach girl. I was surprised on my first trip to the local beach however by the lack of groovy surf mobiles, namely, the lack of old VW buses with surfers, skimmers, etc. piling out of them. Where have all the VDubs gone, I wondered?

It turns out, according to VW technician Dave Morill at Checkered Flag, that they are still around, but that the moist air makes keeping them up especially difficult in Hampton Roads and The Outer Banks. Dave’s worked at Checkered Flag for about 9 years and has a ‘56 VW Bug that he tinkers on. He says that there are probably 4 or 5 tech’s at Checkered Flag that work on the older models. "Everyone else is too young to remember the old air-cooled engines," he laughs. While they see more models from the 70's and 80's, Dave maintains that the folks at Checkered Flag are more than happy to take a look at your vintage Volkswagen. They also have the skinny on where to get parts, both locally and nationally. Supply channels for those models ‘70 and newer are more active than those for earlier models. Dave told me that a lot of parts do come from the West Coast but that there are a couple of good local sources as well.

I did some poking around, too, and found that www.oldbug.com is a good resource as is this ebay "neighborhood" and locals seem to swear by The Bug House in Virginia Beach.

Meet Checkered Flag Volkswagen Customer Sue Klingbeil!

Where do you live?  Virginia Beach

Where are you from originally?  St. Louis, Missouri.  I came here because of the Navy.

What kind of car do you drive?  A 2000 VW Passat.  It's got over 102,000 miles on it!

What do you do?  I am active-duty Navy and a full-time nursing and women’s studies student at ODU. I am a senior and will graduate in August. I also have two children - two boys, ages eight and one.

Where is your favorite place to drive?  I just drive to ODU and back, everyday!

What's your favorite restaurant?  I love Italian and, really, anything with a lot of carbs!

Do you have any pets?  We have a five-month-old American Bulldog puppy. We got him as a gift for Christmas in St. Louis. His name is Louie, for St. Louis; my son named him.

What do you like about Checkered Flag?  The service department is convenient and always available when I need it.

Penny Pinch With Me!

Super news about gas prices, no? Ugh. Since my commute is not terribly long, my car gets decent MPG and I don’t do a ton of traveling, I’ve never really worried too much about rising prices. Sure, I complain with everyone else when making small talk around the water cooler, but I’ve been fortunate enough to never feel I need to change my plans due to rising gas prices. Having said that I feel kind of feeble minded because a friend recently alerted me to this really great website where you can search by zip code in order to find the least expensive filling stations near you. It takes about 3 seconds and I found several convenient locations cheaper than the place where I normally fill up. To give an example, I paid $3.09 a gallon yesterday for 10 gallons. That’s $30.90 (duh). If I would have gone to the cheaper station equi-distant from my house, I would have only paid $28.70.  That’s a savings of $2.20 a week, $8.80 a month, or over $100 a year!!! It doesn’t seem like a lot, but it’s a couple of Starbucks or a ticket to the movies every month.

The Great Race 2008

In 1908 a handful of racing teams from around the world took part in the first truly international auto race, The Great Race of 1908.  Only one American team entered the contest, which took drivers from New York City to San Francisco  then across the Pacific Ocean (on a sailboat, of course) to Japan, to Vladivostok, across Asia and Europe, finally ending in Paris.  The American team won the race and finished in 169 days!

This year marks the centennial of the race and organizers have been working hard to re-create the race for 2008!  The Great Race 2008 will begin on May 30, 2008 from New York and again head across the USA, but then will go to Shanghai, through China, Mongolia, Eastern Siberia, Moscow, and down into Eastern Europe through Belarus, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, and finally will end in Paris, France.  Organizers anticipate that this year's race will take about 80 days.  In 1908, there were six teams...in 2008 there are already over 30 teams signed up!

Trail Teams Special Edition FJ Cruiser Has Arrived at Checkered Flag Toyota

FlagRaiser was all excited on Friday because he found out that Checkered Flag Toyota had finally received one of the limited edition Trail Teams FJ Cruiser. He saw it first at the NAIAS in Detroit last month. Of course, anything limited edition causes great excitement here at The Checkered Blog so I went down to check it out.  When Toyota's wildly popular FJ Cruiser came out, they decided to get together a bunch of off-road enthusiasts and form the FJ Trail Teams to travel around and lend FJ owners their 4x4 expertise.  Eventually, Toyota also got them to give their input on this special edition FJ which has been on the auto show circuit all year.

It's a special color (Warm White) and has blackout front and rear bumpers, grill surround and side mirrors as well as 17" Black Steel Wheels, Bilstein Shock Absorbers, bumper mounted auxiliary lights, a dash mounted multi-informational display, unique shift knob and, of course, Trails Team badging.     

The Fit is (Ph)at!

I have extolled the virtues of the 5 passenger Honda Fit before, but I am doing so again because I recently got a taste of the 2008 Honda Fit Sport, which is even cooler than its diminutive (157.5" long by 66.2" wide) sibling. Checkered Flag Honda has a couple of these vehicles on the lot, but I am particularly fond of this one, in "Blaze Orange Metallic."

The Sport adds a special body-colored underbody and rear roofline spoiler as well as a security system and MP3/WMA playback capability so you can rock  your iPod or Zune on the 200 watt Audio System’s 6 speakers. With the 5-speed auto transmission, you get paddle shifters, too.

Maybe this makes me a geek, but I think the coolest feature of the Fit is the 2^nd row 60/40 Magic Seat that folds entirely flat so you can load a ton of stuff or oversized objects. You wouldn’t know by looking, but the Fit has 41 cubic feet of cargo space when the seats are folded down. The configurations are seemingly endless because the front seats fold down too!

With the price of gas on the rise again, the Fit’s EPA estimates of 27/34 are comforting as is the list price under $17K.  Last month, Car and Driver named the Honda Fit one of their "10 Best Cars"!

5 Things You Didn't Know About Hyundai

1. Hyundai opened its first U.S. manufacturing plant in Montgomery, Alabama in 2005. Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, LLC is a $1.4 billion facility that currently produces the Sonata sedan and the Santa Fe sport utility vehicle. It employs over 3,300 people and, at full capacity, it will produce 300,000 vehicles annually. Hyundai also has facilities in Southern California and in Michigan and has invested over $1 billion in North America.

2. Hyundai has sold over 1 million Sonata’s. Sonata’s roots date back to 1989 when Hyundai introduced its second nameplate to appeal to a more mature, family-oriented buyer. Since then, Sonata has become one of Hyundai’s perennial volume leaders, and is the reigning sales champion dating back to 2005. Throughout Sonata’s history, the high-volume, mid-size sedan often has reflected the company itself, serving as the flagship for dramatic corporate achievements like implementing Hyundai’s 10-year, 100,000-mile warranty, commitment to standard safety technologies and assent up the quality rankings.

3. Hyundai will soon include 6 airbags, standard, on ALL Hyundai models, even the entry level Accent.

4. Each model Hyundai designs is tested over 100,000 miles to ensure a trouble-free ownership experience. This is a grueling test under extreme conditions. That’s how they can offer their famous 100,000 mile warranty. Hyundai also claims that every vehicle out of their Alabama plant has at least 2.3 miles on it because they test drive each vehicle before they release it.

5. U.S. News & World Report Put SEVEN Hyundai models on their Best Cars 2008: The Thrifty 50 list. 

CF Goes Hollywood

Checkered Flag has looked like a Hollywood movie set over the past few days ... with film crews descending upon various locations to set up and shoot scenes.  And, indeed, a movie of sorts is being made about Checkered Flag.  Actually, it's an orientation video that's being produced to show to all new Checkered Flag hires so they will understand the company's history, traditions, and philosophies.  However, the phrase "orientation video" doesn't do this project justice; "movie" is really a better word for it.  It's being told from the standpoint of a granddad and granddaughter, played by professional actors, and it's being directed by independent film director Chris Karvellas.  In addition to the professional actors, many Checkered Flag staff are in various roles, from speaking parts to extras. 

These photos show some of the location work -- at Checkered Flag's executive center, on the lot with a Volkswagen Beetle convertible, and in the customer lounge at Checkered Flag Porsche for the "retirement party" scene.

The Checkered Blog team has had the opportunity to be part of this project, and we are very pleased to say that this flick is going to be very cool!  It should be ready for "release" in the next few weeks.

Obsessive Over the Audi R8

My winning the lottery fantasies always end with the Audi R8, or rather, my driving off into the sunset in an R8.  It's compulsive beahvior really and I have not found a cure.  I just cannot understand why Audi doesn't get more props.  I've probably watched this video 100 times (off-the-clock, of course).  Like it much better than the Super Bowl commercial as it is longer and allows more time for my daydreams (LOL).  What do you think?

It's Heeeeeeeere...MINI goes Maxi...

Just got back from Checkered Flag MINI where I witnessed the long anticipated arrival of the 2008 Clubman.  Actually, the cars were on the showroom floor on Saturday (as promised) but I was out of town.  So I marched in today to get a not-so-sneak-peek and the place was PACKED.  Lots of excitement.  And tasty fortune cookie treats provided by the generous MINIUSA folks.  Speaking of tasty, do you like hot chocolate?  Because that's the brand new color of my favorite new MINI.  Here's all my pics and FYI:  Checkered Flag had seven for sale when I left today so, come down to have a look and remember, you can custom order a Clubman just like any other MINI!

If you want more information, here are a couple of reviews that I found...

From Motor Trend.

From Edmund's.

From Business Week.

The Southwest Airlines magazine Spirit also has a Clubman story in it this month (haha-proof of my unavailability for the launch Saturday!)

As always, call Checkered Flag MINI at 490-1111 if you have any questions or want to schedule a test drive!