No, I won’t rest until Subaru returns with a true successor to the brash and youthful Brat. I’ve harped on this desire in the past when we asked what vehicle the well fleshed-out Subaru lineup lacked, and I’ll do so again today.
With Hyundai’s Santa Cruz entering production in Alabama next year and Ford working on a unibody challenger, the timing will never be more right. (Read More…)
Is Mitsubishi about to try on Fiat’s shoes? After the Japanese automaker’s CEO presented a new business plan that aligns with the goals of its alliance bunk mates late last week, it’s starting to look that way.
The Mirage maker, suddenly eager to save cash and firm up its foundation, plans to pull back in the North American market, preferring instead to focus on Southeast Asia and other overseas environs. It’s not that the brand wasn’t growing its sales in the U.S. and Canada; it was. Its dealer network was steadily adding stores, too, and 2019 was the brand’s best sales year since 2007.
What we ask you today is: should “pulling back” turn into pulling out? (Read More…)
Don’t you love it when an automaker comes out with a survey? Served up with a huge grain of salt, such surveys are only published when they reinforce a conclusion the OEM already wishes to make, and always in the service of marketing.
There’s a Ford F-150 coming on June 25th, and it seems the Blue Oval now wants to talk to you about sex and booze. (Read More…)
Nothing like a nice evening drive on a warm summer’s night, streetlights whipping by as the western horizon glows with hues of peach and lavender. Yessir, there’s nothing like some leisurely motoring. And what’s that up ahead?
Oh, an FJ Cruiser, Toyota’s answer to the retro craze sweeping the industry back in the early to middle 2000s. Big ol’ thing, it was — and thirsty, too. Kept its resale value, though, but certainly not its initial sales prowess. That thing’s popularity dwindled faster than inhibitions at a kegger.
Will a time ever come when automakers again dive into retro with such ferocity, I wondered? (Read More…)
Something appeared on social media yesterday that inspired a healthy bit of conversation among the denizens of the TTAC chatroom/lounge.
On the subject of cars that are not actually “cool,” one participant in the chat — we’ll call him “Adam T” (wait, that’s too obvious; maybe “A. Tonge” is better) — posited that a certain rear-drive sports sedan does not deserve the label of “cool.”
Perhaps you agree. (Read More…)
“Huh, I wouldn’t have figured you for a [insert make and model here] driver.”
“You don’t seem like the type to drive a…”
You get the idea. The personality we project in polite social and work settings might not be the primal being that emerges when no one’s around. There’s a bit of Jekyll and Hyde in all of us, and it sometimes manifests itself in what we drive. All too often, of course, the mundane reality of personal finances keep even these urges under wraps.
But not always. (Read More…)
A very minor occurrence nudged my brain in this direction. One the way home from nowhere last night, a cop lit himself up like a Christmas tree in order to blow a light, his 3.7-liter V6 screaming as it strained to move the Police Interceptor Utility’s bulk with something approaching alacrity.
Which got me to thinking about the previous-generation Explorer and its platform mate, the defunct Lincoln MKT — both of which offered a 2.0-liter four-cylinder for a time. And from that, a question formed. What specific vehicles would you call under-engined? (Read More…)
The other day, we posed the question of whether you’ve ever regretted lending your vehicle to another individual. Not hard to see how something could go wrong in a hurry in that situation; God knows we’re a flawed species. Hopefully the memories weren’t too painful.
Perhaps less soul-destroying is what we’ve come here today to ask. While this has everything to do with the loaning of personal property to another, the situation is reversed. And the “friend” element is, for the most part, gone.
We’ve all dropped our ride off at the dealer or the local mechanic for necessary surgery (or BS servicing required to keep the warranty intact), and not all of us had a friend, spouse, or bus waiting to take us back home or to work that morning. Instead, we were handed the key to a wholly unfamiliar car. (Read More…)
Thinking back, I can only recall a single instance in which someone who wasn’t a mechanic or dealer service tech borrowed my car. Seems unlikely, but that vehicle sitting outside isn’t a hammer or a cup of sugar. I’d protect it with my life. Which is why it’s only been out of my sight, under the command of another person, one one occasion.
My dad wanted to pick up a pizza, and his car was a boring automatic. Hand ’em over, sonny.
Other people are far more generous with their personal property, tossing their keys to anyone halfway trustworthy on the promise that they’ll return it in one piece. Which, of course, doesn’t always happen. (Read More…)
You’ll have to both forgive us and brace yourself at the same time, as this could get controversial. We’re about to delve into a serious problem that goes back quite a while. One that has its roots in many factors — some of them organic, others the result of those in power making bad decisions.
It’s something many of you probably ignored, pushed to the back of your mind as your attention turned instead to the mundane day-to-day goings-ons of your own life, not wanting to concern yourself with something you don’t believe involves you, and yet it’s something we can’t ignore anymore.
We’d caution both sides of this debate not to lash out at each other, and instead, listen, learn and understand.
Ready? Okay, here goes… (Read More…)
As so-called auto writers, a good number of us spend a great deal of time configuring dream rides online and very little time walking into dealerships and actually buying anything. Someone has to support the used market, I guess.
Today we’re going to focus on a vehicle once used almost solely for hard work but now used just as much, if not overwhelmingly so, for domestic drudgery and commuting. It’s also the most popular vehicle in the country, and one that offers the option of more power for little extra price. (Read More…)
One night over the Memorial Day weekend, boredom forced me in search of something mindless and light. Netflix beckoned, and there, unfortunately, I came across a foreign tale of two friends rekindling the old days — and a nearly forgotten lust for life — via a road trip in an old French car. It starred Jean Reno of Ronin fame, so, what the hell.
Sadly, anyone’s mechanic’s brother can sell a script to Netflix these days, and the resulting flick was awash in clichés, overused tropes, and painfully obvious sociopolitical commentary. Still, it did prompt a moment’s reflection.
When was the last time you felt truly alive behind the wheel? (Read More…)
In each and every one of us lurks a number of hidden longings. Yours truly, as a child and even later, used to yearn to one day work at the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables, Florida.
That clearly didn’t pan out. They probably demand a degree in science-y things, the jerks. Oh well.
Other yearnings aren’t quite so specific, and I think one thing we all share as a diverse population of individuals is the desire for more choice. To express ourselves in one of the dwindling ways that’s still socially acceptable. I’m talking, of course, about color. Paint color. (Read More…)
In various places on the automobile Internets, one will often see the same misconceptions and myths repeated over and over, presented as strong opinion or perhaps even disguised as fact. There are an awful lot of car fans who are dead wrong about a lot of things on the Internet. Let’s talk about it.
I can’t quite remember what it was that jogged my brain the other night, but whatever it was, it conjured up a wholesome yet frustrating memory. A memory of a person and a car from my childhood.
The person was my oldest friend’s mother — one of the kindest women I’ve ever known, matched easily by the daughter she clearly raised right. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. As for the car, it was a blue, mid-’80s Toyota Tercel 5-door. For me, that car is just a memory, and a somewhat annoying one at that, but for the owner — my friend’s mother — it was the first of many.
Toyota. They’re like the mob; easy to get in, awfully hard to leave. And that’s the way it was with my friend’s mother, who never again owned a car from any other brand. (Read More…)
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