TTAC alumni Ed Niedermeyer has an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. The piece discusses the spin surrounding the bailout in this year’s campaign. Check it out here.
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Similar to the TWATs, we are seeking to nominate the 10 Best cars on sale today. The nominees are selected exclusively be our readership, just like the TWATs. During the nomination process, we recieved nominations for different models of the same vehicle line (i.e. Corvette 427 and Corvette ZR1, Mustang and Shelby GT500). For the purposes of our contest, these will only count as a single model. If you want to vote for the Ford Focus ST or the Boss 302, you will be voting for the Focus or the Mustang. Voting will be announced shortly. The whole list is below.
Some time ago in TTACs history, the site held an award for the poorest choices in the automobile kingdom. We called it the Ten Worst Automobiles Today – or, the TWATs, for short. It’s been almost 4 years since the TWATs were last run, but for 2012, they’re back.
“And all the troubled world around us
Seems an eternity away
And all the debt collectors
Rent collectors
All will be behind us
But they’ll never find us
‘Cos we’ll be dri-i-i-i-ivin'”
-The Kinks “Drivin'”
The last time I made an announcement about my status here at TTAC, I made it clear in the headline that I was bidding the site “au revoir” rather than “adieu.” Having taken an opportunity to work in politics for a year, I was absolutely planning on returning to the fold. Unfortunately, that plan has now changed, and I have informed TTAC’s owners that today will be my last day on the site’s masthead.
A TTAC contributor who shall remain nameless recently raised an issue at our secret conclave regarding the free gifts that automakers sometimes give out to journalists during press trips. Said writer was due to receive a very big ticket item (less expensive than a Rolex, but more than an iPod) and wanted to know if he should accept or refuse it. The answer, handed down by our very own BS, was “take it – and then send it to Derek so he can give it away as a contest prize.”
Interested in meeting your least favorite TTAC author? Perhaps you’re a fan of my unique lyrical styles, or you’re a lonely female journalist stuck on the West Coast with a boyfriend who plays Goth music through a Les Paul that isn’t even from the f**king Custom Shop. Maybe you’re one of the GM forum loons who nearly crashed your ’96 Grand Am GT automatic into a Jersey barrier when you saw that my awesome article on the Crapillac ATS was translated into German, complete with fun illustrations, and now you want to choke me with the power of your massive, Cavalier-tattooed biceps. Failing all that, perhaps you’d like to appear in the next TTAC video?
Good news! I am doing an international tour during the next two weekends!
When we last left off with Project G-Body in March, Joey was about to pull the trigger on a Grand National. Three months later, the Grand National is home, and nearly in showroom condition.
With the my Miata now gone (sold to a friend who has given me the right of first refusal when it comes time for him to sell it), I needed a new car with a bit more practicality, and a low price tag. A quick call to my friend Vasco, who functions as Toronto’s version of our own Steve Lang, led me to the car you see above. Did I mention it’s a manual?
Despite debuting over seven years ago, extensively refreshed in 2009 and nip/tucked again in 2011, the Acura RL remains a mystery. Flagship products usually sell in small numbers, but the RL is one of the rarest sedans in America. This isn’t exactly been a badge of honor for Acura. Overlooked by shoppers who flock to the cheaper Acura TL and largely forgotten by the automotive press (after all these years, TTAC has never fully reviewed the RL) With a full replacement due next year in the form of the RLX concept, I hit Acura up for an RL for a week to see how a flagship product from a major brand could manage to sell just 56 vehicles in Canada and 1,096 in the USA in 2011. For those who like statistics, the TL outsold the RL by 2,850%. Ouch.
From our family to yours, TTAC wishes all its readers the best of holiday wishes. We’ll be enjoying the company of our loved ones for the next few chilly winter nights, but we’ll return to regular service on Tuesday. And who knows, maybe Santa will leave something for your reading enjoyment over the weekend…
I’m not generally much for anniversaries. Heck, after more than six years together, my steady sweetie and I can’t remember our actual anniversary, so we had to make one up… and we (both) still forget it most years. But here on the internet, there’s a record of everything. And looking back, it seems that it was exactly two years ago today that Robert Farago called me to say that The Truth About Cars was going to be my problem from now on.
The Truth About Cars is excited to announce that in our relentless drive towards globalization, TTAC has now added a Polish edition. (Read More…)
Gratitude doesn’t always come easy for a bunch of opinionated car-mudgeons (just ask our pals in the PR business) but today we all have plenty to be thankful for. As Editor-in-Chief of this fine site, I am eternally indebted to TTAC’s immensely talented writers, our faithful fans, and our dedicated owners. I feel incredibly lucky to have what I believe to be the best team of auto writers in the world backing me up each day, overcoming the challenges, sacrifices and personality clashes that are our daily bread and putting out the finest car-related content to be found anywhere. Our owners at VerticalScope are owed a special thanks as well, for paying the bills while allowing us to work in complete freedom. And of course, without you, our faithful readers and commenters, none of this would be possible (or necessary). Your faithfulness to this site, your dedication to the truth, and your occasional ad clicks allow TTAC to persist, keeping our talented writers working at continually improving their craft.
So thank you to everyone who makes TTAC what it is…. without your dedicated support, TTAC might not have survived to see this day. And please believe that your trust and time has earned more than a mere post of thanks: I will carry this sense of gratitude with me every day as inspiration to make TTAC the very best site it can possibly be.
Yours in Kaizen,
Edward Niedermeyer, Editor-in-Chief of TTAC
From the moment I took over as TTAC’s Editor-in-Chief, I knew that I was going to need a lot of help in order to live up to the brand that had been built here for the better part of a decade. I was stepping into some big shoes, and filling them would have to be a team effort. I was lucky enough to inherit some of the best car writers on the web, and we’ve been able add even more talent to the roster over the last year. Now, as we welcome Murilee Martin (formerly of Jalopnik fame, also of Murileemartin.com and Hooniverse.com), we mark an important point in TTAC’s development: maturity (or something like it).
With the addition of Murilee, TTAC has a dream team of editors who will keep TTAC stocked with the freshest, most engaging car-related content on the web, and as a result we’re moving to a streamlined masthead. My faithful Managing Editor Bertel Schmitt and I will continue to handle major editorial and blogging duties while Paul Niedermeyer, Michael Karesh, Jack Baruth, Sajeev Mehta, Steve Lang and Murilee Martin each tackle the world of cars from their unique perspectives. Thanks to a major commitment from our owners, VerticalScope, we’re now able to keep this core team cranking out regular content while we augment their work with the best contributions from our worldwide TTAC contributor family and from around the web. The goal of all this is to consistently provide the very highest quality content, to host the most engaging debates and to keep you connected with the latest developments in the world of cars.
So, please join me in welcoming Murilee and thanking our owners for empowering TTAC to be the best damn car site on the web. I’m truly honored to have the opportunity to work with my personal dream team of writers as well as to serve you, our dedicated readers and commentators. Thank you all for making TTAC’s continued success possible.
How would you like to see your writing published at TTAC? Over the years we’ve always taken contributions from new writers, indeed many of TTAC’s current staffers (Editor-in-Chief included) started out here by pitching a story to our editors email. In hopes of highlighting new talent, giving our commentators a new stage, and generally providing a little more variety around here, we’ve decided to feature a piece by a TTAC reader or commenter every Saturday. We’re calling it Ur-Turn and the rules are very simple: When the spirit moves you to write something insightful, passionate or entertaining about cars, car ownership, the car industry, car sales, buying cars, or any other topic that you might about read on TTAC, send it to editors [at] ttac [dot] com. We will select the choicest pieces as they come in, provide the lightest of edits, and let you know which Saturday your piece will run. Keep in mind that because we cannot guarantee that your piece will run on a given week, time-sensitive pieces might not be the best idea. Contributions should be at least 600 words, but no more than 1500 words… although we’re willing to make exceptions for the right piece.
TTAC’s greatest strength has always been its dedicated, well-informed and tough-minded commentariat. This is your opportunity to share that story that was too long for a comments section, or start the debate that we’ve never gotten around to. And if you appreciate the kind of high-quality writing that TTAC provides, this is your chance to give back. After all, we ask for so very little…
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