Of all the automakers populating this vast land, none display quite same the level of guarded optimism for the passenger car’s future as Toyota. Two years ago, if you recall, it boldly declared that its new Camry might save the midsize sedan segment. Well, there’s now a new entry in the rose-colored glasses race.

Honda feels that public distrust in the ability of a four-door sedan to carry occupants to their intended destination has pretty much bottomed out. (Read More…)

It’s a rumor that’s existed since the debut of Hyundai’s performance N division — the evential debut of a much hotter Tucson compact crossover to pair with N-badged compacts already heading to customers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Now, a report claims to have the inside scoop on the existence of just such a model. A Tucson boasting at least 340 horsepower is on the way, sources say. (Read More…)

Few automakers can boast of 85 consecutive months of yearly month-over-month growth, but that’s exactly what Subaru did as the calendar turned from 2018 to 2019. Still, despite the automaker’s impressive performance in the United States, not every model in Subaru’s lineup is a sales stud. There’s always a problem child or two.

As American buyers drain from the passenger car market, Subaru plans to make a pitch for the non-traditional traditional car, unveiling a next-generation 2020 Legacy at next week’s Chicago Auto Show. By the way, you should wish the Legacy a happy birthday today. (Read More…)

If you drive, or walk, down Woodward Ave. from Detroit’s New Center area to downtown, you can’t help but notice the economic development along that corridor. Detroit has bottomed out. Areas formerly bereft of businesses and housing have been filled in, and hopefully that development will start spreading east and west of Woodward, Detroit’s version of Main Street. Over on the east side of town, one of America’s most blighted urban areas, there is another hopeful sign — a symbol of the city and domestic automobile industry’s decline has literally come crashing down.

The Packard plant bridge over East Grand Boulevard, target of lazy photojournalists for years, collapsed last week, perhaps due to extreme temperature swings the midwest has seen recently. (Read More…)

Brian writes:

Sajeev,

This is a weird one, but I figured you would enjoy it. I have owned an ’88 Accord LX-i five speed hatch for a while. One day, driving along, I noticed that it seemed to be coasting easier than normal. When I approached a red light, I found out why: 3,000 rpm was my new idle speed. I stopped, and before I could even think of why this was happening, the idle returned to normal. Once underway, 3,000 rpm was again the new idle speed. Subsequently, I tried many things. This is not related to the brakes, not related to the throttle input, not related to absolutely anything other then wheel speed. In the most stark example, idling on a slight incline, I can just release the parking brake and, once rolling, the idle jumps to 3,000 rpm. Using only the parking brake to stop once again, the idle returns to normal. No CELs or anything else strange happens during this.

I found that it would idle normally if I disconnected the IACV. This worked fine, but when using the A/C it can no longer compensate, so that was not ideal. I also could make it work if I disconnected the speedometer cable, so I did that for a while before really missing my speedometer and cruise control. I tried another way, which was to disconnect the electrical connections between the speedometer and the rest of the gauge cluster. This works, but I get no cruise control, and a CEL only if I coast with no throttle input for too long, which is strange.

I have tried bleeding the IACV, replacing the IACV, replacing and adjusting the throttle position sensor, replacing the entire gauge cluster (which had the same issue, but seemed to change the high idle RPM weirdly enough, but still wonky-high).  Also, I did check all grounds and the solder joints in the ECU.

Here is my long standing build/upkeep thread, and here is a terrible video.

(Read More…)