I once had a Phaeton with a W12 engine – that was fun! Thank God I didn’t have to pay for it. Think of a W12 engine like two VR6 engines engaged in a hot mating ritual. In a Kamasutra-busting position, the two imaginary VR6 engines are mated together at an angle that looks like a W. V – W, get it? (Read More…)
Some car companies would kill if they would have as many new cars in one year as Volkswagen shows concept cars at the Frankfurt International Auto show. Here is a quick overview. Most of them are offshoots of the new Volkswagen up!, which seems to be Volkswagen’s carmeleon. (Read More…)
I usually limit my cars-in-the-wild photography to street-parked machinery, but I had to make an exception for this fine motor vehicle that I spotted in a Denver parking lot. I’m pretty sure I’m seeing Chrysler K-platform ancestry here, but… words fail me. (Read More…)
Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood wants to get people out of their cars and start riding bikes and walking to work. Unlike LaHood, I’ve actually done 18 mile commutes on a bike, five days a week, seven months out of the year, and when I worked only 3.5 miles from home on nice days I’d sometimes walk.
Once, while doing intervals on my way to work and with my heart close to terminal rate and breathing pretty hard, contrarian that I am I wondered just how much CO2 a person puts out on a bicycle and how it compares to a car with an ICE. It turns out that it’s a non-trivial amount and it’s possible that with enough passengers a car-pool or bus filled with commuters has a smaller carbon footprint than the same amount of people riding bicycles to work.
Some said that I need to be a more focused and a more disciplined writer, that I must be more ruthless when excising or editing extra, redundant, superfluous, unnecessary, and/or gratuitous words. So I’m not here to talk about CO2, though I am here to talk about bicycles. Another of those funny thoughts occurred to me while out on the *Litespeed this morning : Are bicycles really more efficient than cars? (Read More…)
Stay Classy, Honda!
TTAC Commentator Anchorman33 writes:
Hello Sajeev,
Love TTAC, and the Piston Slap series. I’m not a fixer, mainly because of time and space, but knowing a community like the B&B/TTAC is out there definitely makes me think about my automotive choices more than I ever did before.
I’ve got a 2006 Honda Odyssey that’s coming due for it’s 105k mile service. I’ve had it for about the last 3+ years and done basic maintenance, to include changing the brake and transmission fluid about 10k miles ago. don’t know when/if they had ever been changed before. It’s been in at least two wrecks, rear ended before I bought it and not fixed properly – the driver’s side rear bumper has about a 6″ bolt holding it on; and side swiped on the drivers side about 18 months ago, fixed properly. I Overall it’s an ok ride,but definitely showing it’s age cosmetically and mechanically. The current plan is to keep it for another 6-8 months and replace it with a new(er) van that’s a keeper.
The local independent shop (SoCal) is quoting me $1100 for the timing belt, water pump, radiator hoses, fluid and oil change. Local dealer is saying $1850 for all that plus valve adjustment. My question for you and the Best and Brightest is, how big of a gamble is it to just change the oil and hope the rest of the items can make it 8-12K more miles? I obviously don’t want to blow up the motor, but I’m having a hard time swallowing that much cash outlay on an older than its age/miles would suggest vehicle that I’m planning on getting rid of in less than a year. Thanks. (Read More…)
Ryan writes:
I have a friend who just got her PhD and is moving to Texas for her post-doc. She has never owned a car, but now needs to get one so she can go out in the field to do research. I’ve agreed to help her find something used, probably a small manual-transmission pickup truck. Needless to say she’s not a car person at all, just wants something inexpensive (under 5k), that she won’t have to worry about too much. I’m recommending something after 96 or so, to get the R134A A/C and maybe a few more airbags and safety features.
I have owned a couple Nissans (Frontier and Rogue), and a Toyota Tacoma, and my brother owned a Nissan Frontier, all were mostly problem free. I also had a 91 Ford Explorer before that, which also gave me few problems up to 200k miles.
Given my experiences, I’ve been thinking Tacoma or Frontier for my friend, I think they will be more reliable at the high mileages she can afford. But looking in the local (Phoenix, AZ) Craigslist – By Owner section, I see that Tacomas are relatively more expensive, older Frontiers are cheaper but less common (many are also heavily modified), and there seem to be lots of less expensive Ford Rangers available.
Do you agree with the 96 or later idea? Or do you think something older could work? What about the Ranger’s reliability as opposed to the imports? Also, are there any other models with a proven track record she should consider? And finally, given that a 10+ year old truck with over 100k miles is going to need maintenance no matter what, what about parts availability and ease-of-maintenance between the brands? (Read More…)
Hey you! Do you have a fourth-generation Camaro? Are you sick of the fact that it doesn’t look like a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air? Are you willing to paint some fiberglass to make it look slightly more like a Bel Air? Do you have $5,595?
If the answer to all those questions is “HELL YEAH BUDDY,” then do I have a kit for you!
Regular TTAC readers may have noticed a slowdown in our publishing cadence of late. Fear not, dear readers, TTAC has not lost it’s passion. Rather, we are victims of our own success. Rather than being stuck at our computers, TTAC’s editors are hitting the road more than ever to bring the in-depth insight and quality stories that set us apart from other car blogs. We know that you visit TTAC for our quality reporting and analysis, rather than for our speed or search engine optimization. Accordingly, we thank you for demanding quality auto writing and we beg your patience when things slow down as we chase the big stories. Rest assured any slowdowns will be made up for with even bigger stories. In many ways, TTAC is only just hitting its stride. So hang tight in the back seat, and thanks for allowing us to achieve our true potential.
Ed
Sent from my iPhone (literally)
After landing in Botswana, Malta and Bangladesh over the last few weeks, we now travel half-way through the world again to arrive in Venezuela.
If you cannot stand one more Hugo Chavez-related article, that’s ok I have prepared info about car sales in 155 other countries that you can explore in my blog, so click away!
Now the most paradoxical element of the car landscape in Venezuela is that by and large it is dominated by American brands…
But how is that possible I hear you ask with vigor?
The white-collar unions Unionen and Ledarna filed bankruptcy petitions today against Saab, everybody from Associated Press to inside.saab reports. On the same day, Saab announced that it had licensed its PhoeniX architecture to China’s Youngman at firesale prices – a move that could possibly buy another month or two. But first things first: (Read More…)
If you want to charge your Nissan Leaf in 30 minutes, Nissan will (at least in Japan) sell you (reluctantly) a pricy quickcharger. It costs about half of what a U.S. Leaf costs – before incentives and rebates: The current quickcharger sets you back 1.47 million yen, in today’s dollars, that’s about $19,000. Soon, this will get considerably, well, more reasonable. Nissan today announced a quickcharger with the same performance, but at half the size and half the price of the old one. (Read More…)
The only vehicle at the last Detroit Auto Show that I just had to get my picture taken with was a classic Mercedes gullwing SL. Somehow I’m guessing that I won’t feel the same way about this F-125 concept, come the 2060 auto show. Just a guess though.
Police may not pull over a car simply because two passengers are riding in the back seat, according to a September 2 ruling of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York. On December 30, 2009, a trio of New York Police Department officers had a hunch that a passing gold-colored Ford Crown Victoria with New Jersey license plates might secretly have been charging for rides.
The vehicle broke no traffic laws, but the officers became suspicious because in the dark at 1:30am, the officers only saw dark silhouettes of people in the back seat — and nobody in the front passenger seat. At trial, the officers were unable to provide a description of the vehicle, or identify any unusual activity from its occupants. None had ever seen this Crown Vic before. Officer Trent Narra testified that he had a “hunch” that the car was violating the New York City Administrative Code that fines individuals who operate cab service on the side without paying the $686,000 fee for a taxi medallion.
„It is like being married and getting a divorce. Instead of criticizing each other, it is better to go through it with a smile,” Suzuki’s patriarch chairman Osamu Suzuki told reporters at a hurriedly arranged press conference in Tokyo today. And a divorce it is: Suzuki announced it will terminate its relationship with Volkswagen after a nearly 2 year unhappy and childless marriage.
In a news release, Suzuki announced that “its board of directors has officially determined today dissolution of the comprehensive partnership and the cross-shareholding relationship with Volkswagen AG. “ Here is a short version of the long list of reasons given in the divorce papers (known as the “green form” in Japanese matrimonial matters): (Read More…)
Welcome to an unauthorized diversion from our core purpose called another episode of TTAC At The Movies. I’m your host, Jack Baruth, and this time we will be looking at a movie that is unlikely to find too much American viewership. (This is the second such review on TTAC; the first is here. Still, we are the site which had three people review the Camry.) Those who do watch it, however, are likely to be very passionate about the subject.
Quoth the Wiki:
In 2009, a poll of 217 current and former Formula One drivers conducted by the British magazine Autosport named [Aryton] Senna as the greatest Formula One driver.[2][6] He was recognised for his qualifying speed over one lap and from 1989 until 2006 held the record for most pole positions. He was especially quick in wet conditions, as shown by his performances in the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix, the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix, and the 1993 European Grand Prix. He also holds the record for most victories at the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix – six – and is the third most successful driver of all time in terms of race wins.
As with Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, and a host of other notables, Senna’s already lustrous reputation was burnished by death in his prime; unlike the champions who succeeded him, most notably Villeneuve and Schumacher, nobody ever had to watch Senna plod through depressing end-of-career, back-of-the-pack seasons. (Of course, one might want to ask precious little Lewis Hamilton whether Herr Schumacher still has any fight left in him.) The documentary Senna is intended to be watchable by both F1 “anoraks” and people who are utterly ignorant of the sport. When Vodka McBigbra and I showed up to watch it on Friday night, therefore, we had a representative of each type.
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