Subaru is in the house

Photo: RSportsCars.com

Today they opened a new Subaru salon in Tallinn. AS Autospirit, which also sells Chevrolet and Nissan, got the rights to represent Subaru recently, and thus opened a new salon, which focuses on professional post-buying service.

”Every year a marginal number of new Subarus are added to our traffic, but not enough attention is paid to comfortable and good post-buying service,” said the CEO of Autospirit, Marko Viirand. ”With adding this salon we guarantee short waiting times for current Subaru owners at the service section, and the best available support for new customers when buying a new Subaru.”

The new salon is located at Ehitajate Tee 122, and on the opening week they're open even on Sunday. Autospirit says they want to apply the new 'right now with the right price' policy, and lower the prices for the cars by up to 60 000 EEK.

If you want a Subaru, now is the time to go there and get one. Cheap.

Update on Fiat 500

Apparently yesterday and today, they have a display of the 500 in Viru Keskus. I went there and I noticed a few setbacks to the car.

Photo: Motion Trends

First, I think I figured out why it is so hard (if not impossible) to find a picture of the car taken from behind (eye-level). It looks 85 years old from there. Take away the chrome strips and focus on the real back end of the car. It looks like the tires are standing underneath the frame, not stuck to the rear axle. From this view, cornering should be out of the question, because it looks like it would roll over with the smallest turn.

Photo: Motoring Fun

Secondly, they have a red one there on display. Top-spec model of course. With the red dashboard. Ugly. On the picture, it looks like a marvel of design. In real life, it looked like they covered the dash with the cheapest vinyl plating and said "yeah, flashy, that'll do!". Please don't buy the red one.

Fergie's Hummer

It's been rumoured that the Hummer H2 on sale in Tartu belongs to the lady vocalist from the Black Eyed Peas, Fergie.
Photo: Auto24.ee

Well, it is quite flashy and bling, has three subwoofers in the boot, and a Black Eyed Peas tattoo on the side. Go figure. Oh, and then there is the price tag: 1 239 000 EEK. There is another Hummer of the same age in Auto 24, which is on sale for 790 000 EEK. Is there a person in Estonia who is such a big fan of Fergie that he/she would gladly pay almost half a million extra? The only point would be to buy it and then sell it on eBay to some gazillionnaire BEP fan.

What puzzles me is the clash of some facts. I don't have any idea whether Fergie has a driver's licence or not, but the car is dated January 2005, and has only gone through 12 000 kilometres. If I spent a fortune on blinging up a UPS truck, I would show it around a lot more.

Anyway, all you small BEP fans, grab your cameras and head on to Tartu, this is the next best thing to a real Fergie concert, isn't it?

Definitely not a car weather

Photo: Marta Raja

I went to sleep last night and it was snowing sideways. I woke up this morning and I couldn't find my car. It's been snowing since yesterday afternoon, so around 24 hours now. They predicted a 36-hour snowstorm.

So why all this in a car blog? Accidents is the key word. People, please try and use your head when you go out driving. Or don't go driving in the first place. They are using all their power in Tallinn city centre, and have pretty much managed to keep the traffic flowing. The Estonain Road Administration has asked people in small cars not to go driving at all (article in Estonian).

I live in a suburb in Tallinn, and the only things that plowed the snow were dog's stomachs, children's sleighs and car's bottom plates. I had a few unintentional powerslides just trying to corner at low speed. There were a couple of kids in a Nissan Navara making money - they drove around the streets and looked for cars that were stuck (and there were a lot), and offered to drag them out for a small change.

I can't leave the Premium Motors new salon unmentioned: I saw the concrete laying crane there today. What were they laying the concrete on, if I may ask? There's just a huge hole in the ground, which was probably filled with snow by daybreak.

So, once again, please, don't go driving if you have summer tires, a low car or no brains. Thank You!

Estonian

After a long hard struggle I think I might have been accepted to the blog.tr.ee community. I just have to publish a post saying the following: qsxPznFhEa. There you go then. Hope this helps me in some way..

Back on cars soon!

Sepang

Well now, this looked mostly like good old F1 from a few years ago. All the cars were on rails and no such destruction derby as last weekend. Only Massa showed his ballet skills as he spun off.

So what happened to Hamilton? He was being towed by Webber for the best part of the race, and when it was already too late, started showing his speed. I just wish the race had lasted for 10 or so more laps, would've got interesting. Webber and Alonso could also have started to battle in a few laps time.

Of course, the reason Hamilton dropped behind Webber in the first place, was the catastrophic first pit stop. The first thing that came off the right front tire was a heapload of black smoke. Then they got the bold open, then they dropped the power drill (why would you do that??), and finally got the thing to work and the tire back on. 20 seconds all in all. Yes, I have at times thrown the wrench down with great vengeance and furious anger when I can't get those darned bolts off, but I am usually not expected to change four tires in 8-10 seconds either.

Next up Bahrain in two weeks, with a final straight that's over 1km long. Can you spell s-p-e-e-d?

500

No, this is not the 500th post to this blog (obviously). Nor is it a sequel to the movie 300.

This is a post saying that the Fiat 500 has arrived!


Photo: Fiat.ee

The European car of the year 2008 has hit the Estonian market at last. The prices of the base models vary from 165 000 EEK (the 1,2 Pop) to 225 000 EEK (the 1,3 Multijet Lounge and 1,3 Multijet Sport). This is actually less than I thought. The previous revived style icon, the Mini, starts from 260 200 EEK for the base model and goes up to 311 000 (Cooper D). But enough about the prices.

Everyone in Europe is familiar with the expression Polish/Polski Fiat. This one is no exception, it is indeed being assembled in Poland. But who can blame Fiat for that? The only cars the Italians are willing to assemble are those of Fiat's sister company, the one with the prancing horse logo on the bonnet.

As mentioned before, the engine range starts at 1,2 litres, which seems like nothing, but is actually used in the VW Polo. /pause/ My God, I just did some calculations and it seems like the Fiat 1,2 would leave the Polo wiping up its dust. Some numbers: even though the Fiat is 37cm shorter and 2,3cm more narrow, it is 2,1cm higher than the Polo. But the aspect that makes this a faster car is the following: the Fiat is 149kg lighter (kick two passengers off the Polo), yet the engine has 9 more horses under its bonnet (60 vs. 69). When it comes to the 1,4 litre engines (the biggest the Fiat has to offer), the differences are more or less the same. But who am I to compare a true style icon (like an iPod or a Chihuahua) to an everyday item?


Photo: Fiat.ee

Yes, indeed, the Fiat 500 is a true and pure style icon. Some points to prove it:
¤ It has optional plug-ins for the iPod and other similar trendy devices
¤ The optional extras list features items such as Italian flag stripes running from back to front, various colour stripes across the body, the number 5 on the bonnet in either black, white or red, squares on the roof, the number '500' and the word 'sport' in various colours. Basically, you can pick up a load of stickers for your car and let the people at the factory place them on your car.
¤ Voice activation of various systems (a modern stylish person could not be bothered to press the touch screen on his navigator, can he?). This brings to mind some Italian bloke yelling at his car in the middle of town square. Bueno.

Me? Yes, I am so going for a test drive in this.

Spotted!

Saw a Porche Cayenne yesterday. Not an ordinary one, though. This one is called the Gemballa GT600 Aero 3 Prestige, which is on sale as a new car for 3 500 000 EEK. For comparison, you can get a 130 sq.m. two-storey house with a 1000 sq.m. yard and a sauna for 1 900 000 EEK. So, two houses or a car, even if it churns out a massive 600bhp?

Since officially there is only one of those on sale in Estonia, why did I see this one? They say it is brand new (AKA the mileage shows it's rolled off the transport vehicle). This one was standing next to the construction site of the new Premium Motors salon (the one near my house, which also sells Wiesmann's), all muddy and dirty. Had it been driving past me, I'd have thought it was just another Cayenne, but since it was standing, I barely made out the sign 'GT600' under the mud on the side skirt.
Edit: I saw it again today, showing its speeding skills at the traffic lights

You've got to hand it to the fine men at Gemballa, they have tried to make something nice out of the Cayenne. But I still would not pay that much to get a car that is not essentially a Porche. If I wanted a four wheel drive Porche, I would buy a 911, thank you.

Vrroommm

Well, this concludes the first episode in the 18-show series called the F1 championship. Well done Lewis Hamilton, this was quite spectacular (gaining a nigh 15-second lead every time the security car left). Too bad for Kovalainen getting caught up after Glock's debut as a fighter pilot and thus losing a surefire second place.
Too bad for Bourdais for having a second-hand Ferrari engine, which blew to smithereens a couple of laps before a grand debut finish.
As a matter of fact, too bad for all 15 drivers not finishing today. Haven't seen so many cars quit since, well, a long long time.

On the entertaining side, though, it's a joy they've cut down all the electronic aids. Finally the cars don't look like they're on rails and controlled by computers, there was actually some sideways action, and a few spins. Looks like the beginnings of an exciting season.

Photo: Formula1.com

Time for your opinion: what happened and who snapped, when Massa and Coulthard crashed? To me it looked as if Massa was acting as a Kamikaze, the commentator on Estonian TV3 said it was rather Coulthard's fault, since Massa had already creeped up on him. Any ideas?

SsangYong

Photo: Kommest Autokeskused

Today, SsangYong opened their first ever salon in the Baltics. As it happened, the salon was established here in Tallinn, Estonia. They used to be sold together with Peugeot's at Kommest Car Centres, says Postimees.
It is also said that SsangYong focuses on SUV's and MPV's (people carriers). They offer five models of quite big cars, and they also have a set of used cars for sale.

These cars are not for the faint hearted, though. As their site, www.sy.ee says, Rexton, their flagship, starts at 537 900 kroons. This can be bumped up with a huge load of additional gear, which can take the price up to 725,850EEK. Funnily enough, if you start with the more expensive version, the S3, add all the available extras, you end up with spending 660,100EEK. Then again, if you're in for the cheaper one, you probably would not buy all the optional extras.

When the first third-hand SsangYongs ended up in Estonia, I was not too interested in them. The fact they were from South Korea, and had superweird designs (from the perspective of a North European person), somewhat brought down the enthusiasm. Nowadays, many say the designers at SsangYong tend to nick ideas from Mercedes-Benz. This has a simple solution, though - SsangYong and Mercedes joined forces in the 1990s.

So, if you all want to see a salon made for extravagant Korean Mercs, head up to Sõpruse Puiestee 153 (next to the Peugeot Centre at Sõpruse Pst 151), and check it out.

Ignition

Welcome one, welcome all to a new blog about cars. This blog, though, has a small twist. This one is written by a person, who is an avid car enthusiast from Estonia, and one who loves to spot new cool cars in the streets. To bring some light to my own life, and to others, who would like to get any idea about what is what in the world and Estonia, I shall be reviewing new ‘supermodels’ of cars, and super-cars, and also try to find out if, when and at what cost they will arrive to Estonia. Lately, the car market in Estonia has become quite varied. Lamborghini and Brabus for example, have opened salons here. Also, next autumn, Premium Motors will be opening a new salon in Tallinn, where they will be selling one of my personal favourites – the Wiesmann, the car that inspired me to do this blog.
As I mentioned before, I hope to co-operate with car retailers to get the freshest information about new ‘exclusive’ cars.
The twist comes now: I will also be reviewing some cars that are not so cool, but have become legends in Eastern Europe. These are the Zhiguli or Lada, the Moskvich, the Volga, a luxury car, and other cars, which are fun until something falls off.
Links to co-operating retailers can be found on the right hand side, as soon as they confirm their willingness to be advertised for free.

About the author:
I am a 20-year-old media student, quite passionate about cars, love driving them, and when chance comes, love taking them to the limit, but no further. If I were filthy rich, I would have the Rolls Royce Phantom for going to the theatre, the Audi RS4 for everyday traffic, the Range Rover for trips in the country, a Wiesmann for sunny Sundays, and Jeremy Clarkson to go to the pub with. Since I’m a poor student, I have an Audi, which is probably one to survive the Armageddon along with cockroaches and Cher, and some good friends for the occasional beer. I love any sorts of car sports on TV, and on location (why oh why won’t the WTCC come to Estonia? Oh, yeah, we don’t have any suitable tracks..)

Anyway, enough about gibberish, I’m off to mail the retailers, and hope to see you here when new posts come up!

Yours, Karl