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By on April 30, 2014

My reluctance to even consider banning or otherwise silencing members of the B&B has become so well-known that a few of you have taken to making fun of me about it. The truth is simply that I value every member of the TTAC community. You’re too valuable to lose, and I try to keep sight of that fact.

Some men, however, you just can’t reach.
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By on April 30, 2014

file_CO1676_Flexible_Smartphone_Docking

Network World is reporting that a Florida man who installed a cellular telephone jammer in the back seat of his Toyota Highlander is facing $48,000 in fines levied by the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC alleges that one Jason R Humphreys of Seffner, FL regularly used the device during his daily commute and that he originally installed it more than two years ago. When questioned about his reasoning, Mr. Humphreys told officials that he installed the jammer in order to prevent people in the cars around him from using their cell phones while driving – something that is, by the way, totally legal in the state of Florida with or without a hands-free device.

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By on April 30, 2014

csegmentpremium

 

Yesterday’s chart didn’t include premium C-segment entrants, but commenter Vega beat me to the punch in mentioning them.

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By on April 30, 2014
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Ed Zitron is a friend of TTAC, but not much of a car guy. After giving up his old, gasoline powered car, Ed went and bought a Tesla Model S P85 – and we asked him to write about it over a period of 12 months, documenting his ownership experience and what it’s like to live with an electric car. This is the first installment.

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By on April 30, 2014

00X0X_emoomD9SNiY_600x450

Once upon a time, diesel luxury sedans weren’t just the domain of Mercedes-Benz. If you wanted a pokey, smokey oil-burning barge, you had the option of Cadillac, as well. And for 1,500 lucky customers, there was even a Lincoln.

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By on April 30, 2014

07 - 1986 Pontiac Fiero Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee MartinThe Fiero was something of a disappointment for GM, to put it mildly, but enough of them were sold that I still see the occasional example in fast-turnover wrecking yards. For some reason, I haven’t photographed any junkyard Fieros for this series before today (though I have photographed an incredibly detailed full-back Fiero tattoo, and Sajeev has written about this 3.8-swapped Fierrari), but this extremely yellow ’86 in Northern California caught my eye a few months back. (Read More…)

By on April 30, 2014

TheTerriblePeople-02

Six months after 17-year-old Brandon Majewski was run down by a 42-year-old female SUV driver in a residential community north of Toronto, his 23-year-old brother was found dead from an overdose. His family believes it was “grief” that killed him. Now, the people who lost two sons in half a year have another problem: a million-dollar-plus lawsuit from the woman who was responsible for at least one of those deaths.
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By on April 30, 2014

2013-Chevy-Traverse-Low-Angle

Automotive News reports General Motors, already being hammered from all sides from its delayed recall of 2.59 million vehicles affected by a defect in the ignition switch, issued a customer-satisfaction campaign in mid-March of this year for 1.2 million crossovers whose airbags may fail to deploy in a side-impact crash, an issue known to the automaker since 2008. Once the National Highway Traffic Safety learned of the decision, however, GM did an about-face and upgraded the campaign to a full recall. In addition, its Executive Field Action Decision Committee considered a full recall as early as November 2010, opting to issue service bulletins four times between then and 2012 instead, which spokesman Alan Adler claims satisfied the issue thoroughly without the need for increased action.

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By on April 30, 2014

John writes:

Hi Sajeev,

I’ve had a 2009 Dodge Caliber SRT4 for a few years and it’s coming up to its first all-around brake job at 50,000 miles / 80,000 km (I drive like a granny). I work at a dealership (different brand) but can get parts at a bit of a discount. Still, OEM brakes + pads on this thing are $980+tax Canadian. From what I’ve seen I can get aftermarket ones for a quarter of that. One of the mechanics here suggests I put on OEM pads and aftermarket discs. (Read More…)

By on April 30, 2014

landwind-e32-china-3

It seems Mrs. Beckham (and Range Rover) may have to deal with another brand knocking-off her style, thanks to Landwind’s introduction of the E32 soft-roader SUV.

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By on April 30, 2014

Syracuse Road Construction - Utah DOT

A $302 billion, four-year plan to fund the U.S. Highway Trust Fund — and, in turn, any road and transit projects on the table during the period — was brought before Congress by the Obama administration through the U.S. Department of Transportation.

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By on April 30, 2014

moparmuscle

Two hundred thousand miles.

It’s a beautiful moment for many a car owner.

As for me? Well, I admit that I cheated when I saw that number flash by in my wife’s car back in March. Like many an enthusiast, I had bought it used and was planning on keeping her daily driver for the long haul.

The question for me was, “How long would the long haul be?”  Since I buy, fix and sell a lot of vehicles, and have deeply imbibed the fluids of wisdom at the Bob Is The Oil Guy web site, I decided to live my life on the wild side.

I performed an oil analysis.

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By on April 30, 2014

Anthony Foxx + Barack Obama et al

As part of a $302 billion, four-year plan to fund both infrastructure and highway funding, U.S. Transportation Secretary asked Congress to allow the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to boost its maximum fine from the current $35 million levy to $300 million.

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By on April 29, 2014

texas

Toyota’s decision to shift sales operations to Texas has been the subject of much hand-wringing over the past few days, but the high-water mark for hate speech so far has come from Christie Schweinsberg at Ward’s Auto.
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By on April 29, 2014

EuropeCSegment2013

 

Today’s chart of the day comes courtesy of JATO Dynamics and Automotive News Europe, showing last year’s C segment car sales in Europe (click to enlarge).

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