My ’05 Ranger 4wd w/5spd manual (35K on the odometer) does something strange indeed when I get ready to drive after it’s been parked for several hours. With the parking brake off, I shift to first and lightly engage the clutch. The truck strains against some kind of resistance, as if there were something obstructing the tires or as if I were starting on an incline. Neither of these are ever the case. With a little more gas and a little more clutch engaged, the truck “breaks free” with a loud “clunk,” and then drives normally afterward.
The opening minutes of Le Mans contain perhaps the most subtly powerful automotive endorsement in film history. It’s the day before the race is slated to begin, and Steve McQueen’s character, Michael Delaney, is driving his 1970 Porsche 911 around the course, stopping to look at the spot where he’d crashed the year before. There’s nothing exciting about his trip along the small French streets, no speeds above perhaps thirty or forty miles per hour, none of the ridiculous, staged tail-out antics which are now found in everything from video games to Nissan Altima advertisements. There’s merely the plain implication: The Porsche 911 is the car chosen by the world’s finest sports-car drivers. If you don’t want that 911S desperately by the time the sequence is done, you don’t love cars very much — and if you wanted it very desperately, now’s your chance.
The whole BMW-goes-front-drive thing has come as somewhat traumatic news for a number of Roundel fans, and at first blush, you’d think this camo’d BMW i3 would only stoke these fans’ fears. At least with its camo on, it’s a funky, decidedly un-BMW-like shape, all stubby nose and high, rounded roof. Think MINI meets Audi A2, and you’re getting there.
But unlike the other i-branded BMW that’s been winter testing, the i3 immediately identifies itself as an heir to its brand’s sporting legacy, kicking out its rear end in the Swedish snow. That’s right: despite the MINI-esque looks, the i3 is no front-driver, as its BMW-designed and built electric motor sits under the trunk and drives the rear wheels. Add a carbon fiber reinforced plastic body and possibly a range extender to the mix, and you’ve got one compelling (if expensive) little subcompact, rear-drive EV proposition…. and it looks like it’s a hoot in the snow. The i3 may not help BMW fans get over their front-drive phobia, but it should help bust the perception that EVs have to be mundane.
On Thursday, Toyota will restart seven parts plants in central Japan to supply replacement parts for the domestic market, The Nikkei [sub] reports. Production of parts for overseas markets will start Monday. Read More >
How do you goose fuel economy? Lower the cubic inches. Then add a little blow. Honeywell hopes that usage of turbochargers will double in new U.S. automobiles by 2015, “as tighter fuel economy standards foster an emerging market,” writes Bloomberg. The U.S. has among the lowest turbo use in the world, making it an “emerging region from a turbo standpoint,” Alex Ismail, head of Honeywell’s transportation systems division, said. Read More >
If we don’t organize the transnationals, I don’t think there is a long-term future for the UAW.
But based on the dearth of media reports on either the campaign’s success or failure, it would seem that the UAW has given up on the effort and is hoping everyone just forgets about it…
I’m a recent convert from a jalopy-related website to TTAC, and couldn’t be happier. So my first time question for everyone…
I’ve got a 2001 Ford Focus ZX3, five speed with 2.0 DOHC engine. It’s got a little over 130k on it, I’ve owned it since new and paid it off many years ago. It’s starting to show it’s age (a rough idle we can’t seem to pin down, the rear bearings are making a lot of noise even though we just replaced them, and a lot of squeaks and rattles that annoy from time to time). I do love this car, and when I’m on the open highway or zipping around an on-ramp, I’m reminded why I love it. My wife also loves it, and it’s been a part of my life for ten years. Yes, I’m a sentimental fool.
Competition may be tightening for midsized sedan sales, but the battle is already well underway in the Mid/Large CUV category. Seven vehicles find themselves within 5k sales of each other at the top of this chart, making for something of a knife fight for large CUV buyers. Even much-hyped new entries from the Explorer and Grand Cherokee franchises (please note: February 2010 volume for both represents sales of the previous model) haven’t broken the stalemate in the war to become King of the Krossovers… in fact, Explorer isn’t even in the bunch battling for first place. Add up the volume, and the Lambda platform is the winner, but this segment still lacks clarity. Let the competition continue!
Have you ever seen a car truly ratted out? I’m not talking about the Oscar Madisons amongst us who leave their food wrappers in their cars til’ kingdom come. I’m talking about a real rat car. Interior seats with more thread than fabric. Transmission shifts that make the car jerk quicker than John Ashcroft at a Mardi Gras. Panels with more dents than…. you get the idea. The owner of this Grand Prix decided to get an advanced pharmacology degree during the waning moments of ownership. He was kind enough to bring what was left of the car after his latest meeting with the local magistrate, and with $410 left on the note I could…
Volkswagen’s long flirtation with Fiat’s Alfa Romeo brand has hit a few obstacles recently, as Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has been adamant that he won’t sell its money-losing brand to his European rival, saying
As long as I am CEO of Chrysler and Fiat, Mr [Ferdinand] Piech will never have Alfa Romeo. It’s hands-off. I told him. I will call him and I will email him. I’m not the one who bought Seat. He’s the one who bought it. I don’t know if he can [fix it], but he needs to try.
What is it about human nature that forces us to destroy the things we love the most? Jaguar’s E-Type died long ago, shuffling off this imperfect mortal coil to take its place in automotive Valhalla. And, if we really loved the XKE, that’s where we’d let it stay, swathed in the immortality of the glorious yet out-of-reach past. Instead the E-Type is being destroyed in the name of love… and on the 50th anniversary of its birth, no less. For between €500k and €1m (depending on the number of takers) Switzerland’s Robert Palm will modify a new Jaguar XKR into this hollow mockery of the E-Type’s epic proportions and classic design cues. Called the Growler E 2011, this 600 HP beast is neither a high-quality, faithful resto-mod like the Eagle E-Type, nor a truly modern interpretation of the classic. Instead, what we have here is a wire-wheeled lesson in learning to let go.
Police in Massachusetts may no longer stop a car merely because a laser jammer or aftermarket backup camera partially obscures the motto on a license plate. A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals decided on March 2 that the state police had no business pulling over Patrick H. Miller simply because the phrase “Spirit of America” at the bottom of his plate was partially covered as he drove on Route 93 South in Stoneham on April 30, 2009.
“The ripple effect of the stoppages to supply and production in Japan will be felt in many parts of the world, including the United States, China, and Europe, as many key parts and technology are exported to global operations from Japan, writes IHS Global Insight in a research report. “Disruption to production of parts that are unique and cannot be easily shifted has the potential to hit output badly at several automakers in the near term.”
First to be hit will be Japanese production sites overseas which often import 20 percent or more of their parts from back home.
However, plants owned by U.S. or European companies are not immune. Read More >
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