Column

A Convertible with a Hard Shell!

Living in California where the sun always shines (at least that’s how the brochure reads), it only makes sense to have a car where you can drop the top and let your hair fly or your scalp tan. OK, I know what you are thinking; convertibles aren’t safe and can easily be broken into with the slice of a knife through the fabric top. Well, Chrysler gave us an option typically only seen on more expensive cars: a retractable hardtop. So, when the weather permits, you can pour on the sun tan lotion, crank up the Beach Boys and cruise free and easy in the basking sun. If the weather gets rough, with just push a button and you’ll feel the comfort of steel over head. Now that’s a resourceful convertible!

If you are looking for a reasonably priced convertible that seats four adults (most fit two adults and two kids – six-years old and younger), then your choices are very limited. Chrysler’s offering comes in the form of the 2010 Sebring convertible. In 2008, Chrysler introduced an all-new Sebring convertible. The 2010 Sebring comes with two power roof options—cloth and a retractable hardtop—which distinguishes it from its competitors. For 2010, the Sebring convertible receives a refresher course with a restyled hood, new instrument gauge cluster, new aluminum and chrome-clad wheel designs, driver and front-passenger active head restraints and four-wheel ABS is now standard.

The 2010 Chrysler Sebring convertible is available in three trim levels: LX ($28,600), Touring ($29,960) and Limited ($34,705). The LX comes standard with a 2.4-liter 4-Cylinder motor and a 4-speed automatic transmission plus a cloth power soft top. The Touring trim has a 2.7-liter V-6 engine paired with a 4-speed automatic transmission with overdrive and power cloth soft top. I tested the Limited which is equipped with a 3.5-liter high output V-6 motor and 6-speed automatic transmission with overdrive, AutoStick and power retractable hardtop.

Here are some stats on the three engine choices on the convertibles: The 2.4-Liter 4 cylinder delivers 173 horsepower and 166 foot pounds of torque and is rated at 20 mpg City and 29 mpg Highway. The 2.7L V-6’s HP jumps to 186 with 191 ft.lbs of torque while producing 18 mpg City and 26 mpg Highway. The high performance 3.5L V6 cranks out 235 horses with 232 ft. lbs. of torque and earns MPG numbers of 16 City and 27 Highway.

I should note that the Sebring is also available as a sedan with two trim options: Touring ($20,870), and Limited ($22,865). Both models come standard with the 2.4-liter, 4-cylinder motor complemented with the 4-speed automatic transmission with overdrive and produce 21 mpg City and 30 mpg Highway.

Styling of the Sebring has always been a debatable topic. I think the most recent changes on the third generation Sebring deliver an attractive four-passenger convertible. The new changes to the hood are cleaner and elegant and the car looks great with the top up or down. The retractable hardtop separates into three pieces and folds neatly and quickly into the trunk. The trunk, as with most retractable hardtops, has a cage that must be in place for the top to collapse into. The purpose of this cage is to ensure that other items in the trunk are not in the way of the hood and so that the hood doesn’t crush any items in the trunk. Even with the top down you do still have a fair amount of space, but with the top up there is 13.1 cu. ft. of cargo space.

The interior has also been a hot spot for criticism in the past with complaints of cold and hard points and bland styling. The 2010 Sebring interior is nicely integrated with metal and wood trim and a tight fit and finish. There are still some touch-points that could be a bit softer, but overall the interior was very comfortable. The wood treatment in our Limited model was beautiful. The center dash rises up in a V fashion housing climate controls and a media center for radio, navigation, and more.

The front seats were comfortable and the driver’s seat also had a manual lumbar adjustment. The rear seats in the convertible lose almost four inches verses the sedan, which limits the rear legroom. If you have a tall driver, I would suggest placing a child passenger behind them as there is not enough room for adult size legs at that point.

Behind the wheel of the 2010 Sebring convertible was enjoyable especially with the top down. Yes, I am a sun lover! The Sebring is not a sports car and doesn’t try to be one either. It delivers a smooth and comfortable ride. The convertible is actually 400-pounds heavier than the sedan and if you were to drive them back to back it would be noticeable in the handling and performance. No doubt, however, the Sebring still drives well. Since I had the 3.7-liter V-6 in my test vehicle the performance aspect was fine.

Room for improvement:

• Limited rear leg room

Cool Features:

• Retractable Hardtop
• DVD rear-seat entertainment system

The 2010 Sebring has a number of safety features including multi-stage front airbags, seatbelt pretensioners, torso protecting front side airbags, antilock brakes, electronic stability with traction control and brake assist ($425) and rear-seat child safety seat anchors and tethers.

In Summary – The 2010 Chrysler Sebring convertible is available with multiple engines and top selections. I am confident you can find a combination that works for you. The retractable hardtop provides both the fun of the open air and the security of a sedan. Chrysler’s new owners have made a commitment to improving quality, fit and finish, and the 2010 Sebring is an example of their efforts. It is a great looking four-passenger convertible and represents good value for the money.

For more information and a complete list of features and specification go to www.autofastracks.com.

Specifications:
2010 Chrysler Sebring Convertible Limited

Base price: $34,705 as driven: $37,335 (including destination and optional equipment)
Engine: 3.5-Liter V6
Horsepower: 235 @ 6400
Torque: 232 pound-feet @ 4000 rpm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic transmission with overdrive and AutoStick
Drive: Front Wheel-Drive
Seating: 4-passenger
Turning circle: 36.5 feet
Cargo space: 13.1 cubic feet
Curb weight: 3959 pounds
Fuel capacity: 16.9 gallons
EPA mileage: 16 highway, 27 city
Wheel Base: 108.9 inches
Warranty: 3 years/36,000 miles
Also consider: Ford Mustang, Volkswagen Eos

Investors have been flocking to bond mutual funds at record levels the last several months. Those tired of zero- return cash are pulling money from money market funds and reaching for yield by piling into other options such as bond funds. Other investors, still smarting from the financial crisis and weary of our current economic malaise, are abandoning stocks and moving their money into the perceived safety of bonds. 2008, 2009 and now year to date 2010 have all seen net outflows from U.S. Stock funds.1 This behavior is highly predictable. After all, human nature has not been repealed—stocks have been extremely lousy performers the last three years and bonds have done well recently. Going forward, however, investors need to be aware of the risks that exist in bonds right now and the potential opportunity stocks can offer to long term investors.

With interest rates at all time lows, they have nowhere to go but up. Bonds generally perform poorly in a rising interest rate environment. When rates go up bond prices go down. Our sluggish recovery will hold rates low for some time, but sooner or later rates will rise. Most everyone agrees that this is not a question of if but when. A better alternative going forward may be high quality dividend paying stocks. In fact, for the first time in more than 50 years, a large number of stocks have dividend yields that are higher than comparable corporate bond yields.2 This is just one example of why stocks may be cheap, relative to bonds.

Mutual fund flows can be a fairly reliable contrarian indicator of which asset classes will do well and which will do poorly over the next chunk of time. Show me an asset class that is experiencing record inflows, like bonds now (perhaps gold as well?), and I will show you an asset class that will probably underperform over the next block of time. Show me an asset class that the general public is fleeing, like stocks the last three years, and I will show you an asset class poised to be the next outperformer. History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.

Don’t get me wrong, bonds can be a very important part of one’s portfolio. My concern is more for those that have come to the bond party more recently and may not adequately appreciate what could go wrong. When rates move up, certain types of bonds can do better than others so be sure to understand what you own. Lastly, don’t give up on stocks. Patience will be required but could prove profitable in the long run.

1. Business Insider, Investor Fund Flows Have Never Been This Bearish Since Lehman Collapsed, June 6, 2010
2. Wellington Management, Do Dividends Matter, July 2010

Damien helps individuals invest and manage risk. He is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and a principal of Walnut Creek Wealth Management. These are the views of Damien Couture, CFP® and should not be construed as investment advice. All information is believed to be from reliable sources; however we make no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. Investors should consider the investment objectives, risks and charges and expenses of the funds carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other information about the funds. Contact Damien Couture at 1850 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Ste. 170 Walnut Creek, CA 94596, 925-280-1800, walnutcreekwealth.com to obtain a prospectus, which should be read carefully before investing or sending money. Your comments are welcome. Damien can be reached at 925-280-1800 x101 or Damien@WalnutCreekWealth.com.

There has been much fanfare over the book Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese with just cause. This book runs a big 564 pages and I think I read it in two days. I couldn’t put it down.

It is a sweeping family saga that takes place in both Africa and America and thrills the reader from the first page to the last.

The main characters, twin boys, Marion and Shiva Stone, are born to a beautiful Indian nun and a British surgeon, Thomas Stone. The backdrop is a mission hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where the boys are connected at birth through a blood vessel in their heads and continue to have an almost supernatural closeness through their lives. Due to their mother’s death and their father’s disappearance, the twins are taken in by loving foster parents who are both doctors and shape the boys’ destinies to become doctors themselves.

With the Ethiopian revolution in the background, the wrongful imprisonment of their foster father, and entanglements with the same woman, the brothers grow increasingly distant until Marion escapes the betrayal of Shiva and flees to America to practice medicine. In America he is almost destroyed by his life-long love but get help from an unlikely source.

This book was riveting and beautifully written. The characters are masterfully developed and I loved the complex relationship between Marion and Shiva. The author is a Professor of Medicine at Stanford University and his knowledge and descriptions of surgery and the medical field which run through the book are fascinating. This is the type of book people talk about and press into their friends and relatives’ hands saying, “you have got to read this!” Cutting For Stone leaves a lasting impression and is a journey well worth taking.

The Book of Eli

The whole basic premise of The Book of Eli intrigued me. I had seen and heard just enough about this movie to spur my curiosity but not enough to go to the theater and plunk down twenty bucks (it truly is all about the popcorn!). Let’s begin.

The Book of Eli is a reasonably violent post-apocalyptic tale. Loner Eli (an appropriately taciturn and always dignified Denzel Washington) has been on a thirty year journey across a devastated America, armed with a nasty looking sword, a gun and a mysterious book, and an almost otherworldly ability to kick people’s butts. The world has been thrown back into the Dark Ages after a barely discussed war “tore a hole in the sky” with Eli one of a select few who was alive before the catastrophe changed the earth forever. Eli wanders into a dusty town in the middle of nowhere and is thrown into a collision course with the mean through and through, Carnegie (Gary Oldman), who wants to bring civilization back to the world through domination. He has all his minions bringing every book they can find to him in hopes of finding “The Book.”

First things first, it’s no real plot spoiler to reveal that the book Eli is carrying and Carnegie is searching for is the Holy Bible. We eventually find out that after the mysterious war, all of the Bibles were destroyed because they were “what started it all,” obviously suggesting some kind of extreme Christian-Muslim Holy War. Eli is delivering the book to safety…Carnegie wants Eli’s Bible, the last in existence, because he knows that he can use it as a “weapon” to lead people to blindly follow its words and instantly attain power over them. They both understand the power of “The Word.”

If you like action movies you’ll probably love The Book of Eli. Eli appears almost invincible. His lightening quick reflexes are amazing. Here blood flies magnificently and Eli performs extravagant feats of karate, without breaking much of a sweat. He really is righteous in the religious sense but the righteousness is delivered with few words, never sanctimonious. He is a Saint…of sorts. Gary Whitta’s script seems set out to mimic the contours of a religious parable. It has simplicity, sweep, incredible last minute plot twists, mystical happenings and a fundamental belief in Faith, as in the Christian kind.

Early in the movie, when Eli is asked about the way things used to be, he says, “People had more than they needed. They didn’t know what was precious. People kill now for what we threw away then.”

If that isn’t a message, I don’t know what is. Maybe now is a time for us to get leaner, and simplify. Find out what is truly precious.

As always, I welcome your comments at chastings@rockcliff.com.

The comings and goings of Michael Crabtree have dominated 49er training camps in each of his two seasons with the team. Last year the first round draft choice sat out training camp and the first five games of the regular season in a contract dispute. This year, he made it to camp but a neck injury has kept him out of all the preseason games, and his lack of attention to detail led to a profane and public calling out from offensive captain Vernon Davis.

The exact content of the 20-minute heated discussion between Davis and Crabtree was not shared with the public. What is known is that many on the San Francisco roster are tiring of Crabtree’s diva-like behavior but feel powerless to say anything because of the young receiver’s skill and position in the organization.

Crabtree was selected 10th overall by the 49ers in the 2009 draft after his sophomore season at Texas A&M. In his very first game with the team, despite having become the longest rookie holdout in 49er history, Crabtree caught five passes for 56 yards and played more snaps than any other receiver on the team. Crabtree finished his rookie campaign with 48 receptions, 625 yards and 2 touchdowns in only 11 games. He led all rookie receivers with 56.8 yards per game.

That performance on top of his six year, $32 million contract ($17 million guaranteed) has obviously made him special in the eyes of the 49ers organization, and it appears that Crabtree has taken full advantage by milking his Aug. 12 neck injury for all its value and minimizing his work in training camp. On Sep. 1, Davis decided enough was enough.

Head coach Mike Singletary not only seemed to endorse the 20-minute on-field conversation, he let it continue in the locker room afterwards. When he faced the media after practice, he wasn’t exactly dismayed with what took place even if he seemed to wish Davis had handled things a little differently.

“You have kids and every now and then your kids have some misunderstandings or what have you and they forget that there is a father at home,” said Singletary. “They were both wrong. And we will not have distractions on this team, Vernon just forgot temporarily, and that is not allowed. We don’t do that. We don’t treat family like that. We don’t disrespect each other. And I just needed to remind him that that’s not who we are. He’s fine. He did a great job. He’s one of the captains. He did the right thing, but he did it the wrong way.”

Certainly the 49ers hope that the next bit of Crabtree news relates to his on the field prowess. In college he was the first two-time winner of the Fred Biletnikoff Award as the top receiver in the NCAA. He also won the similar Paul Warfield Award twice in his only two years as an undergraduate player and was a multiple first team All America Selection.

Beyond his perfect record avoiding preseason games for two consecutive seasons, the Chronicle reports that Crabtree frequently ignores the media and is one of the very few players unresponsive after games, even wins. At age 23 the 6-1, 217 pound physical genius does not seem to understand that the main conduit between players and fans is the media, and that he will have very little goodwill on which to fall back if his on-field performance slips.

What may save Crabtree is the understanding that his financial future is tied up in his behavior as well as his performance. He has endorsement deals with EA Sports to appear on their game boxes, and with Subway to promote their sandwiches. Those jobs will demand that Crabtree develop a positive persona as well as help the 49ers win games.

Currently there is a great deal of press coverage about a Muslim community center being built in New York City near where the twin towers were – now referred to as “ground zero.” I don’t want to get into the dispute on this somewhat delicate subject, but it did cause me to look back over my travels and reminisce about the wide variety of places of worship that I have visited. I hope you will bear with me while I muse over a few of them that stand out in my mind.

Let me start out with the most memorable Christian service I attended. Barb and I had decided to decompress from an “around-the-world” trip by spending a couple of weeks in the Cook Islands. We rented a small beach-side cottage about ten kilometers from the main city of Avarua on the island of Rarotonga. The cottage was a little off the beaten path, and this location prompted us to rent a car. (The local buses operated on their own sweet time schedule…)

As we sat around one Saturday evening watching the sun sink slowly in the west, it dawned upon us that the next day was Easter. We looked up churches and found that Rarotonga had a church about every mile on the route that circled the island. So we chose one that was close to our cottage. The service on that Easter Sunday turned out to be one of the finest we have ever attended. In our effort to maintain a low profile we sat in the back row of the balcony. Not easy. The ushers kept trying to get the two visitors to sit in row one, but we won out.

The view from above was fantastic. All the ladies wore colorful, flowered hats adorned with local blooms. These contrasted with their male seatmates’ attire which consisted of white shirts and dark trousers. The music was totally a cappella, led by a chorus of ladies who sang the verse, followed by the entire congregation responding with the chorus of each song.

Perhaps the most contrasting house of worship which we have visited was the mosque in Brunei. I debated selecting this because the Mohammed Ali Mosque in Cairo, Egypt was by far the more impressive structure. (By the way, it was not named after the boxer – it was the other way around.) The Kiarong Mosque in Brunei was much more traditionally Muslim than the one in Egypt. The weather in Brunei was a standard one hundred four degrees Fahrenheit, but this did not dissuade our guide from dressing Barb in an abaya (the traditional long black robe) and, of course, the head covering to go with it. Our shoes and socks were left at the door, and we were only allowed into certain areas of the Mosque. The most obvious variation for us was the lack of seats or benches. A few worshipers were in attendance, and we watched as they proceeded through the ritual of prayer. It required a degree of dexterity as one went from standing, to kneeling, to touching one’s forehead to the floor. All this was done on the traditional prayer rug. The facilities themselves were polished and immaculate – a very impressive place of worship.

An Orthodox Church we visited, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, was in Tallinn, Estonia. Once again there was an absence of benches, and the congregation stood while the officiant appeared from behind an altar to speak to those present. Dressed in flowing robes and with a heavy beard, he chanted his ritual while walking among the parishioners. His voice, loud and clear, made the small chapel resonate with warmth. I am sure his congregation felt the presence of God.

I have written before about my experience in the Buddhist Temple in Luang, Prabhang. Here we became uninvited witnesses to a family council. A wife who had been unfaithful, a younger man who was the culprit, and the cuckolded husband all sat with the respective friends and relatives at the feet of a great sitting Buddha, debating the fate of this marriage. The image of this group huddled around their mutual God-figure expressing an honesty that could happen only in such a sacred environment left a lasting impression.

During my life and my travels I have also discovered that a place of worship does not necessarily need to be “in a building.”

An example of the “no building” worship site is the Western Wall (or Wailing Wall) in Jerusalem. This is a remnant of the Wall that surrounded the historic Jewish Temple. Here I watched as long lines of pilgrims and Israeli natives stood waiting for their turn to worship in a historic site – very holy to them. Their reverence and emotion was overwhelming.

Finally, this is the last but certainly not the least of my theological recollections. Barb and I were invited by the cooking/serving staff at Kichwa Tembo Camp in Masai Mara, Kenya to attend their evening devotion. Here, around a huge fire with only the star-studded African sky providing illumination, we witnessed a pantheistic ceremony. We could hear and to some extent see the giraffes and elephants roaming free and grazing out beyond our protective fence. I still smile when I think about that night.

Remembrances – each experience full of reverence, worship, and respect.