CP ‘08 [via]

“Test your ability to choose the most fuel-efficient combination of cars.”

“The interior is worse. While the button-laced steering wheel is slicker than the hair on the sorority girls that will be driving it, the center console is an ergonomic disaster zone.

— Justin Berkowitz (The Truth About Cars)

“The Newseum displays these daily newspaper front pages in their original, unedited form. Some front pages may contain material that is objectionable to some visitors. Viewer discretion is advised.”

The presses have been hot as of late, churning out info on hyperlocal sites. Most notably, coverage surrounding Rob Curley’s latest flop, LoudounExtra.com (LE); a venture launched from the Washington Post (WP).

The Wall Street Journal may have covered the Loudoun story, but rest assured there are plenty of local media interests across the country running with similar coverage.

Take for instance Katie Granju’s piece about a Knoxville case study for hyperlocal coverage. Granju claims that Randy Neal’s KnoxViews.com sets the standard for community-driven fodder.

LoudounExtra.com and KnoxViews.com are not hyperlocal sites like the above media outlets have painted them to be. Here’s why:

• Hyperlocal sites should be for the people by the people. LoudounExtra.com was planted and grown from within the Washington Post. Thus, LE was inherently grafted into the WP corporate skin. Not to mention, LE was the brainchild of an “internet punk” who doesn’t allow comments on his own blog. Need I say more?
• Hyperlocal sites should not be politically centered. KnoxViews is 99% politics. So, where is the actual community news? Mr. Neal does a good job covering the Democratic landscape – both locally and nationally – but there is little focus on local events, announcements, etc. KnoxViews is not hyperlocal.

So, what is hyperlocal?

• Hyperlocal is community. When a shooting broke out in West Seattle, the community rallied around WestSeattleBlog.com, adding comments and questions on what was shaking the local neighborhoods. It was community in the purest form found on the internet.
• Hyperlocal is friendly. News, events, announcements and more should come from well-known, trusted friends in the community. For those living in Knoxville, examples would include CK and company and Trotta.

What’s your take on hyperlocal?

The same can be said for my fuel consumption. The owners manual for the TSX calls for no less than 91 octane. Beginning February 7, 2006, the only octane ratings guzzled up have been 92 or 93, depending on the fueling station.

After 133 fill-ups I have averaged 25.93 MPG, or 27.53 MPG per the multi informational display (MID) located in the gauge cluster. I arrived at the 25.93 number by dividing miles on the tank by gallons needed to top off the tank; a number I feel more confident in versus the MID.

Via the window sticker, the Department of Energy was almost spot-on with the estimated annual fuel cost. $1,386 x 2.5 years = $3,465.00. According to my data, I spent $3,654.87. Pretty close.

Let’s take a look at gas price fluctuation since my first fill-up on February 7th.

Gas prices have went up and up ever since I bought the car, and the same can be said for my ownership satisfaction. To quote the February ‘06 edition of Car & Driver, “It’s rare for anyone to emerge from a drive in the TSX spouting anything but superlatives.” Here’s to many more miles in the trusty “silver bullet”.

Should you find yourself wanting to crunch my data even further, here is some Excel candy.

‘06 Acura TSX Fuel Consumption Data

“People who dig deeply into their interests and naturally become leaders are likely to do so time and time again.

— Scott Belsky