Danny writes:

I am looking to buy an RX-7 (FC) convertible. I currently own a hand me down 2000 Honda Accord V6 from my mother in law. this car drinks WAY too much gas. 20 dollars in 89 octane gas DAILY! my commute is about 50 miles round trip. but I always loved Mazdas my dad had a 1984 323 with a 1.3, a 929 with the V6. I grew up playing with FDs in Gran Turismo. now that I can buy a cheap used car I was thinking about an FC convertible. BUT the major problem that I have is my job, I work for a Chevy dealership as a salesman. The GSM and the SM fired a guy who bought a Toyota Corolla S brand new.

I don’t wanna lose my job but I LOVE the FC and will not buy anything else, I know rotaries are as unreliable as an iron duke but that doesn’t matter. I have access to a repair shop so free labor is there. the parts might be a problem, though i think there are plenty of them in my local junk yard. so please help me figure out my dilemma I Don’t want to drive that POS accord in the summer heat, because it has no A/C, brakes are almost shot.

(Read More…)

The gang at TTAC wishes you, the Best & Brightest, a wonderful, happy and lucky 2012. May all your wishes come true (go easy on your New Year’s resolutions, this year, you may have to keep them …) May your rods remain unthrown and your payments be painless.

Our New Year’s resolution is to provide you with even better information, reviews and analysis.

I am starting off the well-wishing (unless the Aussies did beat me to it) on a balmy evening, overlooking Hong Kong Harbour.

As a longstanding TTAC tradition, let’s march the celebrations around the globe!

The gang at TTAC will take Sunday off to nurse any party aftereffects, and will be back on Monday.

Happy New Year!

“How ya gonna keep ‘em down on the farm after they’ve seen Paris?” So said the farmer to his wife about the chances that their sons would return home following the end of the First World War. The societal implications aren’t quite so large, but the same might be wondered about the redesigned-for-2012 Audi A6. […]

Quick: What does the Chevy Sonic have in common with the original Bugatti tourers? Simple: they were built to go, not to stop. Well, the Sonic isn’t necessarily built to “go” as such, but you get the idea.

In its continuing effort to make life easier for burned-out TTAC headline writers, General Motors announced their latest “Mark Of Excellence” today: a recall campaign covering 4,873 Sonics sold in the United States and Canada. What’s wrong with these Sonics? As John Mayer would say, something’s missing…

(Read More…)

TTAC Commentator Jimal writes:

Sajeev and Steve,

I have one of those quandaries that most adults will go through sooner or later in life and I figured I would tap into you and the B&B for suggestions. My father passed away recently after a long illness and I’m helping my mother with settling his estate; cleaning up finances, etc. Among the things my father left behind were his 2005 Buick LeSabre, which my mother hates, and her cherished 1996 4-door Chevy Blazer. (Read More…)

Hongqi is the most famous brand in China when it comes to parade cars. In 2008 however, Chery tried to change that with help from the Chinese army and some astronauts. The Eastar parade car debuted in April 2008 and was used for a very special military parade. Or more like a parade of parades. (Read More…)

Yesterday, the alleged enthusiast blog did play its usual “if we would tell you, they would shoot us” about a possible suitor from India:

“We are not allowed to reveal the identity of the company yet, but we are allowed to reveal some facts about it. They are of course based in India but acts on a world-wide basis with much more than 100’000 employees worldwide. They are a multi-billion dollar company, that work on multiple fields such as energy, logistics, real estate and of course within the aerospace and automotive industry.” (Read More…)

We give GM a hard time over the Citation, but at least the Citation was a big leap into the future compared to the primitive, rear-drive, Opel-designed Chevette. However, it tells us something that more Chevettes than Citations have survived long enough to make it into junkyards in 2011. (Read More…)

If you are a car manufacturer, and you haven’t yet lined up your Chinese joint venture, don’t even bother to apply.

This is the message the Chinese government sends to the world in its new Foreign Direct Investment Industry Guidelines, which were released yesterday. These guidelines open more sectors of the Chinese industry to foreign investment, but they effectively close the door to foreigners who want to play in the increasingly overcrowded Chinese car industry.

Automakers have been removed from the list of industries the Chinese government “encourages foreign companies to invest in,” China Daily reports. (Read More…)

Luiz writes:

Dear Steve/Sajeev:

I am a 35 year old elementary school principal, married with 2 kids (5 and 9), and a certified car nut who thinks and reads about them way too much, and who is a walking contradiction when it comes to cars. (Read More…)

Twas the day before Christmas, and driving from Lexington, Mass., to northern Virginia, on the New Jersey Turnpike just two miles south of the Molly Pitcher service area, my ’99 Accord 5-speed hit 200,000 miles. I love the New Jersey Turnpike so this was a highly appropriate spot for the milestone.
(Read More…)

A good month after our trek to the South where we checked on the (un-) willingness of transplant workers to join the UAW, the hard-hitting team at the Reuters Detroit bureau did the same.  In a special report, Reuters comes to the same conclusion as we did: It won’t be easy. Bernie Woodall and  Ben Klayman of Reuters did more thorough digging. And they unearthed the secret strategy of the UAW: With the help of the German metalworkers union, they want to talk themselves into Volkswagen and Daimler: (Read More…)

Earl writes:

I just bought a mint condition, dealer-maintained 1990 Cressida. I am aware of the head bolt torque issue on the 6 cylinder engine. The car shows no sign of head gasket issues. My question: should I have my dealer simply re-torque the head bolts? Their tech (30-year’s experience) says he’s done this on many cars with no issues. Your thoughts? (Read More…)

Christmas resulted in a lot of toys under a lot of trees. That’s good. If they are Chinese, I will buy them a generation from now.  If you keep them in their original box, I will pay you more. I am a fanatic collector of Chinese tin toys. I will show you around in my collection. Today, part 1. (Read More…)

Various news sources across India are reporting that Audi will make that country the debut market for its A3 Sedan. It will be a good fit for that market. Reliable information on the vehicle is hard to find — Autoblog’s summary of the concept A3 Sedan from its debut earlier this year sounds uncannily like the incoherent moaning of a middle-aged woman perched on an unbalanced washing machine, clutching a picture of Taylor Lautner, and one Indian source can only report the shocking news that the A3 will be “priced to compete with BMW” — but there you go.

Other, secondary comments and information after the jump.

(Read More…)