As you lay down in bed and flip through the channels, you find absolutely nothing to watch as usual. You resort to watching a re-re-re-re-rerun of an episode of Cops with footage from the 80's and can't stop thinking to yourself "I've never seen this stuff happen anywhere near me on the highway". Continuing to watch the footage you eagerly wait and see what kind of damage this dude is going to unleash while driving so recklessly. It isn't until about 5 other cars get hit and the suspect's wheels come flying off as he ingeniously tries to make a sharp turn into a field full of cows does the chase end.
Get ready for chase scenes on T.V. to get a whole lot more boring. The High Powered Electro Magnetic System (HPEMS) is an invention recently unveiled that will stop a car (this is definitely post 1980's technology) in it's tracks. Check out the video below to see how it works.
Crusin' down the road, windows down, music up, you are in the "zone" with this sweet new track playin' on the radio. You start trying to sing parts of the chorus, and completely butcher the rest of the song. Full of emotion, you utter slightly slurred words mixed with gibberish to comprise what would surely amount to a migraine for anyone unfortunate enough to be in the same car with you.
You get to the end of the song and look forward to the radio announcer revealing the name of the song and artist so you can download it on iTunes later. But what the...the announcer reveals the details of the song you loved so dearly while your friend was yelling at you to get him some aspirin.
Dang it all to heck! You missed it all and end up going into a major state of depression because you still don't know the name of that song... If only there was a feature that lets you record, let's say, oh... the last 20 minutes of music so you could re-listen to it and pick up anything you might have missed.
Wh-heh-ell, if GM isn't on top of their game bringing things from our dreams into a usable, tangible technology. With the Pause and Play Radio, you can save up to 20 minutes of whatever you are listening to on the radio, even XM or Sirius to an internal hard drive. The radio feature is currently built into the Chevy Equinox and Buick LaCrosse and it will also be implemented in the upcoming Buick Regal and Chevrolet Cruze (cool!)
From playing games, to converting practically any measurement you need at the click of a button. The new spawn of smart phones and gadgets are, needless to say, impressive. 'But what's next?' you may be asking yourself as you scroll through the thousands and thousands of apps available from the Apple and Verizon store. Well, I have the answer for you, and is it oh-soooo-sweet.
Imagine waking up mid-winter to start your day. It's so cold outside, the last thing you look forward to is feeling your freezing hair rub against your skin on the drive to work. Fear no more, as the latest and greatest thing for your phone since being able to put 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" as a customizable ringtone, is (nearly) here with GM and OnStar's Volt Mobile Apps. If you don't have one of his ringtones yourself, someone you know does.
With this new app, you are able to control several things on your Volt straight from your phone, including: remote control start, lock and unlock, keep track of battery charge and electric range, schedule when to charge the Volt and when to stop, email or text message alerts when you forget to charge the Volt, and much more. Now you can wake up, check your voice-mail for 18-minute drunk dial calls from last night, then start your car so it will be warm by the time you are ready... no more having to worry about your freezing hair giving you mini cuts on your neck. You won't even have to look for your car keys (which are probably attached to your house keys and are hanging from the lock on the door knob of your house's front door)!
To use the app you must be subscribed to OnStar, which, in addition to this great app, has several useful features such as: Automatic Crash Response, Emergency Services, Remote Door Unlock, Roadside Assistance, Crisis Assist, OnStar Turn-by-Turn Navigation, Hands Free Calling and OnStar Vehicle Diagnostics.
The official app will be released when the Volt comes out. In the meantime, OnStar has released a demo of the app you can play around with here: OnStarMobileDemo.com
In the car business you often get a mixture of old school thought vs. new school. Yesterday, this really seemed really apparent when we asked one of our senior salesmen to help provide us with a customer of his that we could interview for the blog. His response was: "No. Actually, I can't wait 'til that thing (the blog) goes away."
In the past couple years, social media has become what it is and at Runde's we have tried to embrace it for the positive. We run a good business and word of mouth has always been one of the cheapest and best forms of advertising. So we figure, we'll interview customers and ask them what they thought of their experience at Runde's. It's been good for Runde Auto Group and we get to discover a little more about our customers -- facets of their lives that may not have normally come to the surface during a normal visit here. Posting the interview has also been a postive for our customers. We've interviewed many people who don't know their way around the internet too well. However, once their interview pops up online -- so does their picture and all of the sudden they're getting calls from friends or family who saw them online. It's a positive for everyone involved. Social media has quickly become a staple of our society and even though some of the old schoolers around here may not like it, it's quite evident that social media is here to stay.
Small vehicles are starting to become mainstream. What's not to like about them? They are cute, fun, and best of all - great on fuel economy. But before you go and give your kids one of these for their graduation gift, take this video into consideration:
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It's true that smaller cars generally get better gas mileage but like the man says near the end of this video: there are larger vehicles out there, like the Ford Fusion Hybrid, that get as good, if not better gas mileage than several smaller vehicles. Remember: just because you might be saving some money on gas doesn't mean you are investing in you, or your families health. Be sure to do research before buying a vehicle to make sure they get great safety ratings and are proved to be reliable in case the worst scenario happens.
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