It’s time for the third installment of our Crapwagon Garage QOTD series. The first part was all about the hatchbacks, while the second entry focused solely on sedans.
In today’s section of the garage, vehicles with open beds fill our peripheral vision. They are, of course, pickup trucks.
A reader linked me to an article last week that started off strong but went downhill near the end. I agree with the main thrust, though.
Mainly, that Elon Musk’s Tesla Model 3, in yet-unattainable base form, is wholly unnecessary. We’ll leave the company financials aside — Musk claims high-zoot Model 3s are necessary to keep the cash-burning company afloat, and there’s little reason to doubt it — and focus on the broader argument.
Electric cars are nice, but you don’t need one to save the planet. (Read More…)
A good morning to each and every one of you. We know you’re eagerly looking forward to your Memorial Day long weekend, but there’s trouble brewing in this bucolic paradise. You see, oil and gas companies exist, and that’s bad. Also, there are car companies that manufacture products that ordinary citizens can buy, and they’re also allowed to — get this — advertise what they sell. Distasteful, we know.
What’s worse, lurking among the citizenry (most of whom are true of heart and noble in intention), is a subversive threat that can no longer be tolerated. They call themselves “journalists” — bored, bourgeois types, to be sure, but possessed with the notion that what they scribble about cars isn’t fully and completely tainted by the fact that car and oil companies can advertise. Bloated and decadent from the checks rolling in from ExxonMobil and General Motors, they profess to speak the truth.
We know this isn’t the case. Come with us, comrade, as we discuss a solution. (Read More…)
In the first installment of the Crapwagon Garage QOTD series, we asked all of you to submit value-priced used hatchbacks which were near and dear enough to earn one of the limited spots available.
Moving away from the hatch and liftback body style, today we turn our virtual attention to the sedan section of the Crapwagon Garage.
It’s only natural to root for the underdog. Ford Motor Company consumes so much oxygen in the truck space, what with its best-selling full-size status and its unceasing pursuit of ever-greater horsepower, torque, and fuel economy figures, that it’s nice to see another automaker challenge the Blue Oval’s technological crown.
The unveiling of a new turbocharged four-cylinder for the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado last Friday surely dropped a few jaws in the American heartland. After all, memories of the base-model Chevy S-10 and GMC Sonoma’s dump truck-like acceleration lingers, despite two decades of progress. And yet, here’s a 2.7-liter four-pot under the hood of a brawny full-sizer, generating class-leading entry level horsepower and torque. And it’s standard on the bottom two “regular” trims.
Is there a four in your future? (Read More…)
Today’s QOTD is a bit of fun … if you’re willing to tell the truth about your age, that is.
The question is simple: what’s the best-looking car from the year you were born?
One of the criticisms of all the various pieces of technology that serve as driving aids is this: They make it too easy for drivers to fall into bad and lazy habits.
I thought of this while making a lane change near my Chicago home the other day. The test car I was in had blind spot monitoring, and I made the change without turning my head, and with barely a peep at the mirrors.
It was a harmless maneuver, as no one was near me. The system worked. But I chided myself – I’d let technology make me lazy.
There’s a long list of things other drivers do that piss us off. It’s longer than long. If written on parchment, the scroll would unroll past the horizon, then drop of the edge of the earth, plummeting through the weightless vacuum of space for all eternity.
Yesterday, or perhaps the day before (who keep track of days? It’s 2018), I was reminded of a challenger for the “Biggest Dick Move” podium. It’s one you’re probably all too well aware of.
You’re waiting at a light, the light goes green, and suddenly… (Read More…)
Today is the start of a series of related Question of the Day posts. Each Wednesday QOTD for the next few weeks will be dedicated to selecting vehicles for a different section of an ideal Special Crapwagon Garage you’ll be compiling.
Up for Part I in the series are hatchback and liftback vehicles. Start your brains.
Having been on a few trips to the dealer lately, this question comes naturally. Well, not because any great thrills arose from my visit to the local Hyundai retailer, but older memories are often shaken loose through mundane experiences.
The dealer experience isn’t normally one that inspires an upturning of the corners of your mouth. Frankly, if I never had to walk into one again, I’d be a happy man. But joy — and terror — can be found in many places. Good or bad, what dealer test drive memory stands out in your mind? (Read More…)
There are two good examples in the automotive sphere of the student ascending to stand alongside the teacher. AMG, once the in-house skunkworks at Mercedes-Benz that breathed (sometimes psychotic levels of) additional performance into mainstream cars is on a quest to become a full-line maker all of its own. Now, we learn of Polestar’s aspirations in a similar wheelhouse.
Here is today’s question: what other trim line (performance or otherwise) do you think deserves a shot on the big stage?
In last Wednesday’s Question of the Day post, we asked you to build the perfect manufacturer lineup. As you responded and built your hodgepodge lists of desirable present day cars from various manufacturers, capitalist and commenter Dal20402 had something else on his mind: profitability.
Propulsion, platforms, and product planning are on the agenda today. What combination is the most profitable?
One’s imagination often runs away with itself, usually late at night and after a lengthy immersion in suds or, if it’s your thing, Pinot Grigio. Well, I’m sad to report there’s no Coors Banquet left in this house, and high-falutin’ vino isn’t my style.
What got my mind working overtime last night wasn’t proudly American hooch, but a chance visit to a local GM dealer — one where I’d hoped to stumble upon a unicorn. As rare as a backbone in politics, this mythical creature regularly fills my thoughts, leading me on a (so far) fruitless voyage of discovery. I’m talking about a base model Chevrolet small car.
Obviously, it’s not a situation unique to General Motors. Nissan emblazons the ($9,988) base price of its Canadian-market Micra across the front of many dealers around here, and I think I’ve seen a single example in the wild. Nearly all buyers throw an extra few grand at Nissan for the SV trim — power windows and doors, A/C, etc — and most do it because there’s no S models on the lot and they’re easy targets for upselling.
If only I had the means of creating my ideal car company from the ground up, I thought… (Read More…)
About a month ago, we asked which cars you thought would be most unlikely to turn a wheel on their namesake soil. The B&B offered up a lot of good answers … including the entire Saturn and Mercury brands. Hardy har har. Very funny, guys.
Today, let’s flip it around. What model is most likely to be found in the place for which it is named? Given the image above, it’s clear I’m going with an obvious choice.
The ongoing tumult in the small car segment is a shock to the system, though it really shouldn’t be. We’ve seen sales figures drop year after year as buyers gravitate towards larger, more commodious haulers. Haulers with a liftgate and optional all-wheel drive, of course.
To this writer, it just seemed as though there’d always be cheap, small cars. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, as the cupboard’s far from bare — and certain automakers will surely keep theirs in production as others vacate the building. Even if the small car becomes endangered, though, it doesn’t mean there won’t be diminutive vehicles on offer in a showroom near you. It’ll just be a crossover.
But how much can a crossover shrink while still remaining viable? (Read More…)
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