Nobody likes to think about the passing of a parent. When it happens it leaves you with a lot of different feelings, sadness, emptiness, loneliness and even, if your parent has been effected by a long illness or a prolonged decline, an unexpected sense of relief and completion. The grieving process is different for everyone, the legal process isn’t. Within a few days of your parent’s passing, the division of assets, property and cherished mementos begins to grind relentlessly forward. If your family gets along well, who gets what is generally handled gracefully and your relationships are actually strengthened by the process. So it was with my family and, since I was the only “car guy” among my brothers and sisters, it was a foregone conclusion that I would get my father’s Oldsmobile.
The General giveth and The General Taketh Away. The 2014 Buick Regal Turbo and Regal GS will now get all-wheel drive as an option, with the ability to send up to 90 percent of the engine’s power to the rear wheels. But both the Turbo and the GS will get the same engine, a 259 horsepower, 295 lb-ft 2.0T 4-cylinder. Only the GS model will get a 6-speed manual.
Feel free to pick any two when it comes to all things cars. Consumer. Retailer. Rebuilder. Doesn’t matter. You always get a choice of two out of the three.
Don’t believe me?
Good. Cynicism is always a solid first step in buying any used vehicle. Whether you are kicking the tires at a lot as the end consumer. Or listening to the urgent chant of an auto auctioneer trying to sell the mediocre remnants of a rental fleet at a wholesale dealer auction. Everyone pretends to offer you a great deal.
But truth and reality in this business, at all levels of this business, are two very separate things.
Let’s take all those great deals I get from the auctions… good, fast and cheap. Sure. I do get them all. Just almost never in the same car.
I once owned a 1995 Range Rover. Looking back, I’m not entirely sure why this happened, but I suspect it may have something to do with a well-known car enthusiast theory about British cars: “they can’t all be that bad.”
Last week, Murilee’s junkyard find stirred up memories of my Range Rover, primarily because mine was about as reliable as the one Murilee found in the junkyard. It also spent just as much time moving under its own power.
I’ve decided to provide a review of the vehicle, which can also be viewed as a cautionary tale for anyone thinking of taking the plunge into old Range Rover ownership. For those who would rather watch videos on Jalopnik, I can sum it up in just six words: they can all be that bad.
1 million units a year. That’s going to be the minimum volume necessary for car makers to survive, if you believe SEAT boss James Muir. His struggling brand sold just 320,000 cars last year, and their exposure is largely limited to economically ill countries in the sunny areas of Europe.
Over 100 emergency vehicles will hit Detroit’s streets in the next few months, including 23 ambulances and more than 100 police cruisiers, thanks to a coalition of private sector donors that pitched in for the vehicles.
Brown Car Afficionados, Buick has your back. While the 2014 Lacrosse’s updates are either cosmetic or related to safety features, Buick boldly chose brown for the press photos. Because nothing says “would you like to upgrade to Premium Full-Size for just $10 more per day?” like a luxurious mocha-hued Epsilon sedan.
Having just picked up a Chrysler 300C, I would have told you that it’s the last American luxury car on sale today. Now I’m not so sure. Despite foisting on us the dreadfully mediocre XTS,Cadillac has had an ace up its sleeve the whole time.
A couple of years ago, my car died in the middle of the night while at a friend’s house. The tow fees to my house and then to my mechanic ended up costing more than the alternator replacement itself. I still cringe to this day when I think about the final sum, and a service like YourMechanic.com would have made things a lot easier on my wallet and my sanity.
Passover is upon us, and starting tonight, the Zionist Occupation forces of TTAC’s editorial roster (as well as our 44th President, and Road Tester Emeritus Michael Karesh) will refrain from eating bread as we recall the Exodus from Egypt, and the last time The Tribe ever did any manual labor.
Rubens Barrichello’s daughter once asked him why he looked so sad on the podium; to make his children as well as the tifosi feel better about Ferrari’s relentless approach to team orders, he decided to make sure he always smiled from then on. The contrast between the crinkled mouth and unsmiling eyes he displayed in the podiums after that makes for an interesting study in human dynamics. How can a man feel so conflicted about standing on the most important podium in the racing world, week in and week out?
At the end of the Malaysian Grand Prix yesterday, however, there were no smiling faces at all.
Get any group of car enthusiasts together and they’ll eventually start arguing about which recent models will increase in value over the next twenty years. I don’t think it’s actually possible for assembled gearheads not to discuss this topic, usually somewhere in between stories about past speeding tickets and bashing the Toyota Corolla.
As a result, “investment” cars have been covered quite a bit. But here’s an interesting variation: which cars won’t increase in value? Of course, the easy answer is “most of them.” But more specifically, which recent cars are people holding on to, hoping for a value increase that just won’t come?
This years New York Auto Show marks the end of car show season – we won’t be treated to another one until the Los Angeles Auto Show in November. Like the Geneva show that preceded it, this one will be crossover and hybrid heavy, with a sprinkling of American muscle thrown in for good measure.
For years, Greenpeace and Volkswagen were engaged in a low level conflict over alleged high levels of CO2 emissions. Now, both sides decided to declare victory and to go home. After announcing ambitious CO2 goals before the Geneva Motor show, Volkswagen had a sit-down with Greenpeace, where both decided to bury the hatchet. Read More >
Chinese state TV claims that the air in German cars is dangerous to people’s health. In a report, the station said that insulating materials used in cars made by Audi, BMW and Daimler create noxious odors, Der Spiegel reports. Read More >
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