While explaining the virtues of the new Dodge Challenger to his 14-year-old daughter, Simon Boag, president of Mopar global service and parts, received blank stares when he talked about the muscle car's horsepower and other gearhead attributes.

But when he told her it was a hybrid, she perked up, Boag recounted during his keynote speech at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce's annual Fiesta Hispana recently in Dearborn.

"It's a hybrid," he said. "It burns gasoline...and rubber."

If only Business Insider had thought up that line first.

Insider shudders to think what it's like to fly on U.S. Airways and United Airlines, the two carriers that scored lower with travelers than Northwest Airlines in a survey released this week.

What can they be doing worse? Do their planes lack seats? Are their snacks made of Styrofoam? Now they're about to merge into one giant awful carrier.

Claes Fornell, the University of Michigan researcher who conducted the study, isn't sure that's a great idea. "Adding one group of dissatisfied customers to another group of dissatisfied customers rarely sums to a positive," he says.

The trouble with Northwest, according to his findings, is that "passengers are paying more for less." Not a happy formula. The paying more bit, Insider can understand -- after all, a barrel of crude oil now costs a zillion dollars. Travelers know that. What they don't understand is why Northwest, and its staffers who deal with the traveling public, are skimping on zero-cost commodities like courtesy and service.

That's disheartening on long flights to places like Frankfurt where Insider flails like a squid to get a cup of coffee or glass of water from cranky attendants speeding down the aisle, avoiding all eye-contact. Northwest is about to merge with Delta Air Lines, another low scorer in the survey.

"It must be prepared to address a large group of disenchanted passengers," Fornell says.

Thirsty and contorted too.

The infamous Geo econo-cars are one of the more cringe-inducing moments from General Motors Corp.'s recent product past.

But maybe GM was on to something after all.

According to an article this week on CNN.com, the automaker's decade-old Geo Metro mini cars have been selling on eBay just under their price tag for brand new in the 1990s. That's because the most fuel-efficient Metro gets 40 miles per gallon, similar to that of Toyota's beloved Prius.

One eBayer interviewed for the article bought a two-door, three-cylinder Metro for $7,500, just $1,500 less than the car's price tag when it was new.

Sure, it doesn't have the hip factor or the nifty display screen of the iconic Prius. But at about $14,000 less than the Toyota hybrid, some consumers are apparently willing to overlook the Metro's shortcomings.