Today, our question circles around cars with issues. The sort of issues that could send an owner to an early grave or perhaps some preventative therapy, at the very least. Cars with widely-known issues, bad ownership propositions for running costs, depreciation, safety, or something else — they all qualify today.
Which cars would you avoid owning at all costs?
Every last one of us remembers sitting in a restaurant, wondering if we’d made a horrible mistake by choosing salad over the potentially superior soup of the day. Soup is unpredictable; salad is a safe choice. But what if the soup, as it sometimes is, was actually the more satisfying choice?
You missed out, and time only makes the doubts and regrets grow stronger.
Out in your driveway, or perhaps stashed in a nearby parking garage, is a car you bought or leased based on the assumption it was the best choice of all available options in your price range. Has the passage of months or years revealed your present vehicle as a safe salad to someone else’s weak-at-the-knees, far more satisfying soup? Did you make a mistake this time around? (Read More…)
Yesterday, young Mr. Posky brought us news that Honda has recalled a number of Odysseys for problems with their second-row seats. Now, reading into the details, it seems to be more of a user problem, rather than a design flaw. Nevertheless.
I’ve had my own share of recalls hurled in my direction, all of which were attended to with varying degrees of urgency. Our question for you: have any of your cars been recalled? How quickly did you bring them in?
You heard it here yesterday. General Motors will introduce not one, not two, but three new vehicles based on the increasingly popular Chevrolet Bolt electric hatchback. And it’ll do it over the next two years.
Is this a case of too much Bolt, too soon, or is GM within its rights to go whole hog on its green halo model, given the need to get out in front of looming competitors? One of the Bolt-based EVs will be a car, the other two, crossovers. Let’s focus on the latter models right now.
What must a Bolt-derived electric crossover bring to the table to get American buyers interested? (Read More…)
It’s no use continuing with the idealistic notion that North America will reject advances from Chinese-made cars on our shores. The Buick Envision is Fabrique en Chine, as well as the long-wheelbase Volvo S60, and more recently the Volvo S90. Yesterday, Steph Willems reported on a patent filing from the Guangzhou Automobile Company for its largest SUV offering, the GS8.
You don’t have to like the upcoming Chinese onslaught, but it’s necessary to accept it as reality. So, today we’re asking you to twist your mind and wring from it your thoughts on what it would take for a Chinese auto manufacturer to be successful in North America on a large scale.
Think of the automotive landscape as a high school yearbook. Within those pages, you’ll find more than a few charismatic, brainy jocks and vivacious prom queens eager to earn a science degree — you know, the characters destined for continued greatness. Then there’s the rest.
There’s the ones you forget about instantly, only to read about in the automotive obituaries years later. “Who knew that was still around?” you think to yourself. “No wonder it’s dead.”
Then there’s the more visible ones that, despite possessing many positive traits, never gain sales traction. Many other segment standouts go a little too wild, design-wise, fall victim to corporate dysfunction, or can’t trade on a household name.
But we’re not here today to discuss sales duds. No, today we’re looking at the wallflower who becomes “all that.” The unassuming pupil who makes it big. The stealthy sales stud, at least in your own estimation.
What model gets noticed by scores of buyers, just never yourself? (Read More…)
Over the weekend, Chevy unveiled the chest-thumping Corvette ZR1, the fastest and most powerful production Corvette the world has ever seen. That they chose to hold the reveal of this great American nameplate in Dubai says a lot about current world affairs.
Regardless of its debut city, we’ll enjoy the fact we live in a world where one can purchase a 755 horsepower Chevy with a factory warranty. Certain corners of the internet weep into their Ovaltine about “the good old days,” hemming and hawing over the superiority of muscle machines from the ’60s and ‘70s. They were great cars, to be sure, but today’s gonzo levels of horsepower have us wondering – and asking you – where’s the upper limit for factory hot rods?
Besides delivering bedfulls of cash to Bob Seger’s front door, Chevrolet trucks have spent the last century burrowing into the very core of rural American identity. Sure, Ford sells more F-150s, and has for decades. There’s more competition now, including full-size pickups from two Japanese automakers — something unheard of in Detroit’s heyday.
Still, the Chevrolet pickup, now 100 years old, seems perpetually positioned as a more honest, more Middle America offering than its domestic rivals. Its advertising campaigns, often serving as a new salvo in its bitter rivalry with hoity-toity Ford, make this clear (Yep, those F-150 power running boards really help a fellow avoid scuffing his slacks while loading up at Whole Foods). Remember Chevy’s sputtering incredulity over Ford’s “Man Step”?
And who can forget, two decades on, the famous “Like a Rock” campaign? Rocks last billions of years, guys. Ford’s aluminum beds can be punctured by rocks (well, cinder blocks, anyway).
So, with Chevy’s big truck birthday upon us, let’s take a tally. Which Chevy pickup was the best one? (Read More…)
There’s never a shortage of nostalgia here at TTAC. On any given day you’ll find at least one writer waxing poetic in our Slack chatroom about a long-departed car, be it a classic (or “classic”) model from childhood or, more often than not, a piece of crap deserving of the scrap heap.
We’re all going to play the nostalgia game today, because I’m asking you to think back. Way back. Specifically, to that impressionable time in your life after your feeble, developing brain began retaining memories, and ending just before you received your driver’s license. Your main method of transportation at the time was probably a bike — something you pedalled furiously up and down your childhood street in pursuit of your friends (or perhaps while being pursued by bullies).
Look to your left and right. Sitting in at least one of those driveways is a vehicle you wished was yours. What was it? (Read More…)
I’m going to wager that, as a percentage, ninety-nine and a bunch more nines of TTAC readers have their driver’s license. I mean, it’s not like the ranks of our readers are filled with youth wielding keyboards their parents’ basements or anything.
With such an august readership, I’m certain there is a story or two here about getting one’s driver’s license. Like mine, for instance.
Two new models are entering the not hot wagon market in North America. While one wagon entry is aimed squarely at the near-luxury market, the other aims higher and challenges established luxury wagons.
Our question today is this: Will either of the models work?
It’s an “eye of the beholder” kind of thing. Like in the Twilight Zone episode of the same name, sometimes a great-looking vehicle stands out as a freak in a world of uglies. Some models we just don’t appreciate like we should. We grow accustomed to a singular form of beauty.
We’ve turned our critical gaze on past and current models before, but this time we’re asking you to to focus on new (or refreshed) for 2018 models. There’s no shortage to choose from. Honda’s all-new Accord; the heavily (and questionably) revamped Toyota Camry; the frowny-face Ford Mustang; the glitzy rolling mass of the newly sculpted Lincoln Navigator. Throw the Kia Stinger in for good measure.
You’re in good company for this question. However, is the Class of 2018 a bunch of lookers, or is it just a pack of duds? (Read More…)
This week, the population of Las Vegas will explode with leagues of auto industry people attending this year’s SEMA Show, an extravaganza filled with aftermarket car products and over-the-top custom vehicles.
Pretty much every gearhead on the planet has affixed an accessory or five onto their rig — with varying degrees of success. From underglow lights to themed valve covers, most of us have at least one aftermarket accessory we’ve affixed to a car that we now look back upon with deep regret.
Glossy magazines present multi-page spreads on their winners. Poorly funded websites present annual lists of their favorites. Other organizations that rate all sorts of consumer products give out actual, physical plaques and trophies to their winners.
Yes, we’re talking about automotive awards today. Everybody’s doing it, and with a bit of searching, one might even find a particular grouping of awards which suits their particular special interest.
But do you care?
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