So, you want a small, practical wagon with a little bit of Euro flair and luxury pretensions. Unless you’re willing to mix with the rabble in a VW, what are your options? Volvo V50? Dead. Audi A3? Not much time left before it’s discontinued in the USA. Try the BMW 3-Series Wagon if you want […]
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First in a series by car salesman Matthew Guy.
Trying to eke out a living in your early 20s is rarely an easy task. Compounded with fresh debt and a lack of solid work experience, I decided to parlay my knowledge of cars into making money, taking a job selling cars. It was intended to be a gap job –turned out I liked it and, more importantly, I was good at it. Some customers stick out in your mind. The 1000 watt bombshell with fabulous frontage to whom I sold a convertible. A raven haired beauty who was equally as sharp a negotiator as she was a testament to the female form. (Read More…)
Third in a series, the format of which I described in the introductory remarks of Part One, this article will focus on specific modern technologies—not at all egregious in themselves—that have, in my opinion, been applied and utilized in a most egregious fashion in the modern automobile. One is a direct continuation from Part Two, although covering a new area. The other one is a component technology within one of the technological areas criticized in Part Two. Tally Ho—to THE BIN we go!! (Read More…)
Please say a friendly hello to TTAC’s newest author, Virgil Hilts.
Brock Yates called them “members of the Anti-Destination League.” You and I have our own pet names for the folks who dawdle along in the fast lane, oblivious to those around them.
I have recently deduced that the auto-demographics of Left Lane Blockers has shifted. Over the past 30 years, no automobile has come close to the most common clogger: the Cadillac. Was the traditional Caddy owner taught to drive in the left lane as teen? Does owning the “Standard of the World” give you some entitlement to annoy your fellow man? Whatever the reason, I am here to announce that the Cadillac’s reign is over. All hail the new King of the Left Lane Realm: (Read More…)
It’s an extremely wet June morning and the three men in the above picture are about to go off on a tour of the various car shows that only the most hardy or negligent of owners will have on display. Standing around in the rain looking at cars: what a passel of eejits.
Still, to use one of the less-lovely cattle-based rural Northern Irish expressions that peppered my childhood, my brother and I didn’t lick it off the grass: it’s a family trait.
I can thank my father for this strange fascination with wheeled metal boxes that frequently go *sproing* and break down. I thank him also for teaching me to be self-sufficient, handy with a hammer, patient, kind, and mildly disorganized. As I gaze out along the long, challenging and rewarding path of my own impending fatherhood, it’s with a renewed appreciation of sacrifices made and lessons learned.
To all the fathers out there, whether just starting out, or ensconced in the wisdom of grandfatherhood; adoptive or biological; married, divorced, single-parent, or simply the father-figure to someone who needs one – we salute you.
While it was possible to get a Ninety-Eight Regency Brougham in 1984, the buyer of this Olds cheaped out and went for the non-Brougham version. That just seems wrong. (Read More…)
The Chevrolet Volt should eclipse its 2011 sales total by the end of June, and is apparently on pace to sell 20,000 units this year. It’s also outselling a major Chevrolet nameplate.
It’s funny how a college professor goes from cool to angry in a split second. Case in point: my first transportation design class at CCS. People showed off their designs as per usual, but one day I opened my big mouth. I mentioned that a classmate’s rendering sported wheels that looked like the Star of David. He seemed completely clueless about what he did. But I just had to “keep it real.” Oh boy, was that ever a mistake!
A design school that caters to the big automakers, staffed with adjunct professors who work in the business…well, they know better than some punk design student. My wrist was (kinda) slapped, and everyone was warned to not include religious symbolism in their products. Because everyone in this business wants to sell their product to anyone with green money. Nobody gives a crap as long as you can “splash the cash.”
Stop reading if you believe TTAC has no business discussing religion.
Even though crossovers tend to get their share of criticism at TTAC, the Audi SQ5, despite its silly name, is more desirable than the average mommy-mobile.
The Interior Of A True Carver Cruiser. Only $240,000!
Atlanta traffic is an absolute bear.
Bumper to bumper… to endless bumpers. For much of my commuting and scooting through the ATL, I have to deal with an endless assortment of highway construction projects, rubberneckers and the esteemed species of driver that doesn’t use their turn signal.
It’s easy to get annoyed in this type of environment. Yet I still chug along in a small first generation Honda Insight.
Maybe I have become a glutton for punishment in my middle age. But I do like the handling and don’t get too bothered by the noise. When I do find a winding one lane road, it’s a surprisingly decent ‘carver’. A cruiser? Not so much.
So what about you? Do you prefer a car that can find its prime in the twisties… even if your road is usually straight? Or do you prefer the sound of silence and the ambience of luxurious detachment?
You see plenty of Fiat 124 Sport Spiders in self-service wrecking yards these days, but junked MGBs— which were more commonplace back in the day— are fairly rare. The MGB was slower, less sophisticated, and sturdier than its Fiat competitor, and it still has a big following today. This could mean that more MGB projects get finished, while 124 Spider projects languish for decades before getting discarded. (Read More…)
(Yet another new contributor! Matt Fink brings us his detailing tips from Speed:Sport:Life — JB)
Welcome to the first edition (and potentially last if none of you like it) of ‘Spare me the Details’. Your author is an amateur Professional Car Detailer. I’m not sure what exactly makes one a professional car detailer, except that people pay me to do it, so I’m claiming to be a professional. Plus I have hordes of fans that follow me wherever I go. I have worked for a car detailing business as well as a car wash and now have my own small business of auto detailing that I run out of my home. I detail cars on the weekends and have a “regular” job the rest of the time.
To my neighbors I am the creepy guy who cleans his car like 3 times a week… but to you guys I’m just your friendly neighborhood car detailer giving you unsolicited advice. I have never been to school for car detailing nor do I claim to know anything about the chemical makeup of a cleaner wax compared to a paint sealer. What I do know is what works for me. I have detailed hundreds and hundreds of cars and I want to share with you, the readers of TTAC, some of the things I have learned. ‘Course, you’ll have to pay me, seeing as I am a professional.
Tesla’s 10 minute driving time limit at their Model S press events are leading some to cry foul – “how can a journalist reasonably evaluate the new EV without getting an idea of its battery range?”.
The bigger question is “what value do press trips really provide to the reader?”
Jeep is hoping to sell 125,000 vehicles in Europe by 2015, and in addition to new product, the brand is also undertaking a sponsorship deal with one of Italy’s most popular soccer teams.
This is now the second time Project Volvo has tried to kill me. The first time, I was turning left into a Scion dealership to go peek at an FR-S. All of a sudden, the steering locked up, and I looked down to see the dashboard lit up like Malmo synagogue. A few hundred yards down the road, an F-Series was bearing down on me. Luckily, the Volvo started up, and I drove off without having to test the brand’s legendary safety systems.
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