I’ve just watched my fourth automobile commercial in the last half hour. For 60 seconds all they talked about was the radio in the car. How many speakers it had; how you could talk to it to change the station; how it would automatically lower the volume when you were talking on your cell phone. The radios in these cars can do everything for you except microwave your lunch. Going home will only be a let down after spending such a wonderful time in your car listening to this radio. In short, the ads are telling you to buy a $38,000 car because it has a $300 radio in it.

Wow, talk about deal!

Still, you may wonder what kind of mileage that radio gets? Is it reliable? Easy to repair? Will that radio keep its resale value? How does it handle in the snow and the rain? These are the things I want to know when I buy a car. It’s hard to believe the car companies needed a bailout when we all know they can build a better radio than the Japanese. Oh, wait, all car radios are Japanese, but you get my drift.