One Louder.(Column)

Byline: Richard S. Chang

There's a classic scene in the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, where the band's lead guitar player, Nigel Tufnel, is showing off his amp. He points out that all of the knobs go up to 11, instead of the usual 10. He explains, "What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, know what we do? Eleven. Exactly. One louder.''

The interviewer responds, "Why don't you just make 10 louder and make 10 be the top number?'' A logical question, to which the guitarist has no real response.

This inability to simplify also affects car companies. They add letters and numbers to the names of their vehicles, which makes a simple conversation about cars sound like spy talk. There's the Dodge Neon SRT-4 Stage 2, Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec-V and Acura RSX Type-S A-Spec. We might not be at R34 Skyline GT-R V-spec II Nur-level yet, but there's no denying that everyone is going one louder.

What's strange about all of this is that the weakest offerings come from Honda/Acura. The Factory Performance and A-Spec packages feature no real engine news, a few aero parts and some "track-tuned'' suspension mumbo jumbo. Decent stuff, but honestly, I could have used more cowbell. And consider this: Acura charges about $5,000 more for an A-Spec. Back in 1998, Integra Type-Rs were going for just less than $25,000, or roughly $3,000 more than GS-Rs. That makes it all the more disappointing, since the Integra R paved the way for this current alphabet soup.

Let's warp back five years, to a time when Saab still had some integrity. The Escalade was just a gleam in 50 Cent's eye. And Nissan was struggling to find its identity. I was an editor at an import car magazine, and we worshiped anything Type-R. Cams, headlights, seats-didn't matter, if there was a red "R'' ...