-On that note, Nissan says its Infiniti brand will be the first to put a lane-warning departure system on one of its U.S.-market vehicles. Lane departure systems use the white lines on the road to judge whether a driver's really paying attention to the road; when you veer out of the lane, it sends a loud audible signal into the cabin. The systems don't activate if you use the turn signal, however, and in the case of the coming Infiniti system, it only works at about 45 mph. Many manufacturers are working on similar systems and some have been marketed in Japan. The U.S. Department of Transportation says 55 percent of fatal accidents are caused by unintended lane departure.
-Nissan says it's eyeing the success of Korea's carmakers with envy, and that the strength of the under-$10,000 market might force it to bring over a model smaller than the Sentra to add to its lineup. The market for Kia Spectras and Rios, Hyundai Accents and the like has grown, and all manufacturers are looking with envy at the success BMW has had with the revived MINI brand, which is about the same size but priced at a premium, and at Toyota's Scion brand, which adds a new tC model this summer to its lineup of xB and xA five-doors.
-Subaru's chummy relationship with the woodsmen and woodswomen at L.L. Bean endures in 2005 with the addition of a new edition to the Forester lineup. The Forester 2.5 XM L.L. Bean edition sports a four-speed electronically controlled automatic gearbox, leather trim, ten-spoke alloy wheels and scads of L.L. Bean logos-they decorate everything from the front seats to the bumpers, we swear. A power moonroof, self-leveling rear suspension, security system and a water-resistant hard surface of the cargo floor and the rear seatback are also standard on the special edition; pricing hasn't been released yet.
-A new law proposed by California lawmakers and endorsed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would give hybrid vehicle drivers a pass into state HOV lanes. That's a big victory if you own a hybrid Honda or Toyota against the state's massive traffic problems. The proposal would be the first of its kind in the U.S. and would allow vehicles that get better than 45 mpg to use the HOV lanes with only one person in the vehicle-something electric-vehicle drivers already can do in the Golden State. While it would include most existing hybrids, the new law wouldn't permit the coming crop of hybrid SUVs-Lexus RX 400h, Toyota Highlander, and Ford Escape-to use the lanes because their fuel economy is not projected to reach the 45-mpg bogey.
-XM Satellite Radio, already an in-car godsend for travelers through the FM wasteland, is now adding live traffic updates that will be able to show where traffic is snarled and, with the right equipment, allow drivers to steer clear. The new XM NavTraffic system will display where traffic snarls occur on a navigation screen, giving drivers the chance to choose alternate routes. The system will make its debut on the 2005 Acura RL; the information will be available in a few major markets by the end of the year with a more complete roster of cities due to be online by the end of 2005.
-Should we be buying a different kind of import? Apparently, BMW drivers have more sex than owners of any other cars and are much more active than Porsche drivers, a new German car magazine has found.
The German magazine Men's Car found in a survey of 2,253 motorists aged 20 to 50 published in its inaugural May issue that male BMW drivers say they have sex on average 2.2 times each week while Porsche drivers have sex 1.4 times per week.
Following BMW drivers were Audi (2.1), Volkswagen (1.9), Ford (1.7) and Mercedes (1.6). Drivers of foreign car makes were also behind BMW with Italian cars (2.0), French (1.9), Japanese (1.8), Swedish (1.6) and Korean cars (1.5) trailing after.
Among women, French car drivers were top with 2.1 times per week followed by Audi (2.0), Italian (2.0), and BMW (1.9) with Porsche again at the bottom of the scale at 1.2 times per week.
So really, are they getting more in the sack, or is a BMW driver just the world's biggest sack of bullshit?