About Alvaro Marin Melero

Posts by Alvaro Marin Melero:

REVIEW: 2012 Jetta TDI SE

Last weekend, I made a trip back to college after spending all summer in NYC. I needed to swing back to rural Pennsylvania to pick up a few boxes I had left there in storage for the summer. Having no car, I decided to rent one for the weekend. I went for a Volkswagen Jetta TDI SE Automatic (MSRP $22,990) and, after driving over 500 miles, I can now give my short-term impressions on this car. I have two main takeaways: firstly, the Jetta is all the car most people would ever need, and, secondly, diesel-powered cars rock. I am no experienced car reviewer, I haven’t driven hundreds of cars from Smart ForTwos to the latest Aventador. What I can offer, however, is an honest to god opinion on how this VW Jetta stacks up in real world use for the average Joe. You know, people like you and me who actually buy these cars. Read on for the rest of my thoughts.

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An intern’s advice on how to hire interns

Let’s start with a full disclosure. This post was written by an intern with a simple argument – start-ups should make good use of intern services and not just use them for grabbing coffee or researching/processing/pushing/crunching data. Since I’ve pretty much spent all summer interning at Mojo Motors, here is my take on what interns can offer a company, why it is important to pick them well, if companies should pay interns, and how you can benefit most from an internship program.

Make the jump for answers to all of your intern related questions and an intern’s experience at a start up.

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The Monday Grind

Get curious about NASA’s new Mars rover. Meanwhile, back on earth…

- Mars rover Curiosity successfully lands on our neighbor

- GM to write down its 7% stake in PSA Peugeot Citroen

- Ferrari on track to new Guinness World Record for largest parade of its cars in Silverstone

- NYC planning 2,000 more Yellow Cabs, slowing traffic down, and making your cab ride longer

- Ferrari driver attempts to get away from ticket by running over NYPD officer’s foot

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Ode to the Hilux

What do South American farmers, Libyan rebels, the United Nations, Taliban fighters, and Top Gear have in common?  You need but look at any picture compilation of civil wars, peacekeeping missions, or African road trips from the past four decades to come across it. Never the focus of the picture, never in the center, yet ever-present.  A legend born in 1968 and now in its 7th generation named the Hilux. What the AK-47 is to the world of arms, the Toyota truck is to the world of cars and mobility. Indestructible, cost effective, reliable, quick and maneuverable. Add in a brigade of guerrilla soldiers with the aforementioned Kalashnikovs or a .50 caliber gun on the bed, and you have one of the technically simplest yet most dangerous weapons systems in the world. This is why the Toyota truck has seen action in all major and minor conflicts since its creation. It even has a war named after it: the Toyota War between 90,000 man strong-Libya and 30,000 Hilux equipped Chadians (guess who won)?

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The Automotive World’s Frankensteins

Some cars are styled with cost saving, space maximization, or aerodynamics in mind. Others were design from the start to stand out, to let everyone around you know: you are driving one ugly-butt car. Here is the Mojo Motors Blog pick of the most deformed cars the 21st century has had to offer.

#5 SsangYong Actyon

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The Monday Grind

Ken Block goes for a spin in San Francisco, a truck spills some rocks on a now-flat car, and a man attempts to claim a beach with his Nissan.

- This is what happens when you drop a few too many rocks on a car.

- Watch the Subaru BR-Z’s hot (literally) new commercial.

- Recap of Sunday’s F1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

- Man drives into ocean while screaming “this is my beach”!

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Performance Cars the Wife Will Let You Get Away With

Volvo V70 R

Sporty cars come in many shapes and sizes. Some are known to be fast, and look the part too. Many others are slightly pretentious and sport a spoiler here and diffuser there; perhaps a larger set of rims than the stock alloys while remaining mechanically identical to the non-sporty members of their lineup. And then there is a small group of cars which don’t appear to be out of the ordinary, yet can be faster than most cars this side of 911 Turbo. The simple truth is that a spoiler doesn’t make your car go any faster. In fact, unless you’re going much faster than is safe for your license, it isn’t doing anything at all aerodynamically either, so let’s not kid ourselves. Luckily, a few car manufacturer don’t want to kid with you either, and side step the marketing department to build proper performance hidden away in inconspicuous packages.

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