Sachin Agarwal: November 2003

Yesterday when I got to LA I saw my parents' MINI for the first time. It's GORGEOUS! I absolutely love the color.

This car is rediculously cool. They really nailed the design and performance. It seems they took all the nice features and gadgets from my car, put them in the MINI, and fixed everything that pisses me off in my car. In many ways, the MINI is more like my Audi was. Both MINI and Audi pay very close attention to detail.

This car is so much fun to drive! I think it's way more fun that my car because it's so small and light. I feel like I can throw it around turns and do anything I want and it just takes it without complaining at all. I feel like there's a direct link between me and the road. Now I REALLY wish I had bought a smaller car, either a MINI or an S2000.

If I ever said this car was slow, I take it all back. Even being a non-S and an automatic, it's got some punch. When in sport mode, it revs high and has lots of torque.

When I was driving around Santa Monica yesterday (checking out the Apple office there (they have an awesome office with an ocean view)), a guy in an Audi A4 pointed at my car and said to me, "That's a nice car"

Highlights:

* The CVT transmission rocks. It starts at 1000 rpm like any other car, revs up to about 2500, then stays at 2500 forever! it's kinda of weird at first. You accelerate in speed, but the revs don't move. If you switch into sport mode, it goes up to 3500 and sticks there. That means you always have power, you never shift, and it's always smooth.

* Best sunroof EVER. It's enormous. Almost the entire roof opens up. Then it has a black mesh so the sun doesn't come down and burn you. I wish i could get that on my car. I would use my sunroof so much more.

* Tire pressure monitor. When any of the tires are low, a light comes on telling you to fill them.

* Oil changes are SMART. This is like my car: there is a counter on the dash that starts at 15,000 miles. If you drive your car fairly conservatively, that's how often you go in for oil changes or other maintenance (all free). If you drive your car hard (like me) it counts down faster and you go in more often.

* Normal cool stuff like a trip computer, Xenon lights, Harmon Kardon stereo

I can sum up the whole car in one line. My mom drove it home and called me and said, "Now I see what you mean by the quality of European cars." I think people get too caught up in the marketing of other cars. German cars don't necessarily look all that great on paper. Your average econo car might match the specs. But go test drive the car and you'll feel the difference.

I really think it's one of the most well rounded cars out there. It has the performance of a BMW (more in handling than in sheer speed), and the design and quality of an Audi.

Click here for pictures

I was going to blog how Barnes and Noble is really cool because you can go into the store, scan any CD, and listen to the whole thing instantly.

But then I went there to buy a book and was surprised to find it was 40% more than the cost at barnesandnoble.com! That pissed me off.

They suck. I'll do all my book shopping at Amazon and music shopping at iTunes.

I installed my iPod in my car so it's powered, going through an aux in, and it's within reach so I can control it from the driver's seat.

It lets me have all my music with me everywhere I go.

Lots of people email me for help and part numbers.

Here is a writeup I just did

I just spent 2 full days at Laguna Seca with the BMW Club of LA. It was LOTS of fun. Highlights:

1. Awesome cars. Lots and lots of M3s. Porshe GT2 and GT3. Ferrari F355. BMW M1. 700hp Supra. Lancer Evo.

2. Luckily it didn't rain at all but it was COLD. We all got free BMWCCA LA fleeces.

3. I won a coffee mug/car cup thing in the raffle

4. Two cars actually crashed! One car on turn 6 spun and hit a tire wall. Later another car spun on turn 11 and hit a wall! Probably $15-20k damage to each.

5. Another car spun on turn 11 and missed the wall by a couple feet

6. Late in the day an m3 engine blew on the cork screw.

7. Since this was an actual BMW event, it had more people with expensive, awesome cars. It also had more random drivers who don't care about performance too much, but want to learn more about their cars. What you learn on the track definitely makes you a better driver on the street.

8. Horsepower and straight line speed don't mean shit. There were guys out there with old BMWs putting out half as much power as me, and they could take me. And I had no problem passing some E46 M3s with 100hp more than me.

9. At the event they were filming a new TV show for Speed channel. Maybe I'll be on TV in a few months!

Overall the event was awesome. Driving on the track is the only way to see what a car is really capable of. It's amazing that these cars can take the abuse they get on the track.

The event was very well organized and the instructors were good, but I don't think I'll ever do a BMWCCA event again. It was more expensive and more restrictive than the other events I have done. In other events you spend more time driving, or at least riding with other drivers.

Click here for pictures

My first real vacation since I started working! I had a stressful day at work today so it totally feels like I finished a quarter of school.

Tomorrow morning I am heading to Laguna Seca for 2 days at the track with the LA BMW club. Then I'm going to LA on Monday, and leaving for India on Wednesday!

It feels good to get a break from work. I'm actually more excited to see my mom's MINI than I am about going to India :)

I went to a BMW car club meeting at the Stanford mall today. There were a lot of cars there and we basically checked out the cars, compared notes, got ideas, etc.

Click here for pictures

One huge difference I notice between these BMW car clubs and the Audi ones I used to go to is people who drive these modified BMWs are all ricers!!

When I had my Audi, the drivers cared about performance. They modified their cars to be better performers. They went to the track. They had manuals. I got so much shit for having an auto!

These BMW drivers all have automatics! They don't do anything that increases the performance of their cars, they just make their cars look "better". I bet not a single one of them has ever been to a track event or driven their car to its full potential.

On another car note: I was at my aftermarket tuner shop yesterday getting my sway bars adjusted (getting ready for Laguna Seca next weekend!) and there was this totally riced out Accord there. It was a 2 generation old coupe. I was talking to the guy and he said he had a prelude engine in it. How fucking stupid.

I was talking to some people while they worked on his car and we were laughing at the fake disc brakes he had in the rear. They were just pieces of plastic that looked like cross drilled rotors!

Also, I just got new tires last week and they are INCREDIBLE. I decided to go with Bridgestone S03s, the same tire I had before. They are sooooo sticky! Well worth the money. A few days ago I launched my car at 3500 rpm and the wheels just stuck! No wheel spin at all. And today I took the Page Mill onramp too fast but the car just did it! I kept going faster and faster and my body literally hurt from the forces. My Audi could never handle that (and it was stiffer). Unbelievable.

UpdateI forgot: The funniest thing at the meeting was I saw a guy who had his tires rotating in the WRONG DIRECTION. He had no idea! I mentioned it to him and he was like "Fuck, Tirerack must have put the tires on the wrong way."

No, fool, you put the wrong wheels on the wrong corners of your car. Crazy. These people really don't know anything.

Apple should hire this guy

Vaskevitch was keen to point out that the BlackBerry did not run Pocket PC: "It is not a Microsoft device and does not use any Microsoft software," he said.

I give him 30 days in the company.

In other news, a friend of mine (not a techie) just emailed me and said "I love OS X." That's fucking cool. Have you ever heard anyone say they love an operating system?

Some companies (not just Apple) do really great things. Here's what has impressed me this week:

DirecTV: First of all, I have always been a HUGE fan of directv. It's cheaper than cable, more selection, better quality, much better customer service. I think I read somewhere they have a 80% customer satisfaction rating, vs 30% for cable.

You can do cool things like subscribe to a channel for just one day (to see some cool movie, or whatever) and you only pay for 1 day ($0.50 for HBO). You can subscribe/unsubscribe to stuff online, and it's instant.

I called them a couple days ago because Chris wants a TiVo. They are offering a TiVo for only $100 including installation! Just the installation (with the cables and other tools) is worth $100. A TiVo for normal cable is $200-300. They are LOSING MONEY on this. There isn't even an additional monthly fee since we already have 1 tivo. It's pretty awesome.

Aki also ordered a DirecTiVo system. I think the whole world should use DirecTiVo.

T-Mobile: They just reduced the price of their GPRS data service to only $5/month for unlimited access. I somehow got grandfathered in at $3/month.

Also, my parents just went to Cancun and they called up T-Mobile before they left. In just a few minutes their phone was unlocked to roam in Mexico and call anywhere in the world. AND T-Mobile unlocked their phone and TOLD THEM they could get a SIM card from other countries that would be cheaper. So nice.

Crutchfield: They have always been the place to go for car audio and home theater. They have great customer service (they actually KNOW THINGS ABOUT PRODUCTS) and awesome return policies.

Now they are selling iPods. Regular price, no sales tax and free 3 day shipping. If you use my referral code (p5ev7-767pe-fi4ki) you get $20 off, I get a $20 credit, and it becomes the cheapest place to buy an iPod.

Apple outsells Napster 5 to 1

Apple on Intel, Media Center PC, and more
It's actually interesting this story came out today because just two days ago I was telling Roy the Media Center PC didn't make any sense to me. First of all, it's $1000 which is much more than a PC and a TiVo. Second, I don't want my PC near my TV. (Actually I don't want a desktop at all.) In most households you want one person to be able to watch TV while someone else uses the web. Third, it's not a TiVo. I haven't seen Media Center PC but none of the other competing video recorders even come close to TiVo in their interface. The DirecTV/TiVo combo is amazing. Especially being able to record one thing while watching another. That's really important at my house because the TiVo is in the main TV room. If I set a bunch of things to record, that would make the TV unusable to the rest of my house. With 2 tuners, it's not.

Limp Bizkit will be using his 17" powerbook and iSight on tour to make videos and post them on his site

On Pearl Jam's website they offer direct links to the iTunes music store to buy their albums. "Make your own live bootleg compilation on iTunes"

A lot of you have been asking me about buying iPods. They are now available to me at a discount. 15% off, plus tax.

one catch: they aren't available online, only in our company store downstairs. So I will have to ship the iPod to you if you aren't local.

Lemme know if you want one (friends only!)