Fighting Comment Spam

Ugh, I am being inundated with comment spam. I am tightening the policy for comments, from now on, only users with an OpenID or other form t...

Fisker Suspension

Edmunds has a very nice photo review of the Fisker Karma suspension. My takeaway: heavy car, expensive chassis, very complex.   But also ...

Cadillac 4 Cylinder

This is what the world has come to.    GM is putting a four-banger in a Cadillac.   But this isn't the I4 of old, this is a modern, di...

iDrive Prank Box

I was sent this prank gift box, which is hilarious. It is designed to look like a believable (but crazy) product, the iDrive, which is a suc...

Old People Cars

According to the Detroit News , this is the list of most popular vehicles for senior citizens.  I have added additional information: which m...

Remember Pearl Harbor!

A momentous day in U.S. history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor

Bridgestone Airless Tire Concept

Cool.  From PhysOrg.com. Michelin has also been working on the Tweel airless tire for some time now, but it isn't ready for civilian com...

Volt Battery Fires NBD

The blogosphere and news media have become somewhat excited about the Chevy Volt battery fires, and GM has been very defensive, going so far...

Aptera Dead!

I have been watching with morbid fascination the death spiral of Aptera, the designer of the electric trike that looks like a big spermatozo...

How To Reset Your Garmin

I needed to reset my Garmin 1390 GPS unit, before giving it to a friend, to erase all of my personal data.  I found out there is a nice fact...

NHTSA: Volt Battery Pack Post Crash Risks

NHTSA posted a press release on its web site which explains its recent test results with Chevy Volt batteries. In an effort to recreate...

Review: Davis CarChip Pro

This is a review of the Davis Industires CarChip Pro .  The CarChip is a small device which plugs into your vehicle's OBD-II port, and a...

Predatory Lexus Face

When I saw the new design for the 2013 Lexus GS 350, I was reminded of something...    Or perhaps

You Walk

Saw this hilarious billboard on the outskirts of Pontiac the other day.  Rough neighborhood, I guess.

Coda: Does Anyone Care?

The Coda is an all electric sedan built on a Chinese copy of a Mitsubishi compact sedan chassis, stuffed with batteries and electric motors....

New Fiat 500 Abarth Commercial

Awesome. Translation from a YouTube viewer: What are you looking at? Uh!? What are you looking at?! (slap) Are you undressing m...

Smelly Anarchists Begone!

NYC has finally had enough of the Occupy Wall Street crowd in Zuccotti park.  A judge has denied a lawsuit for a restraining order against N...

EVs Should Be Loud

Today, while crossing a busy grocery store parking lot, I was really startled by a silent Prius driving accross my path.  Since I didn't...

The End of Saab (Again)?

This might be the be the end for Saab.  GM is stating that it does not support the sale of Saab to two Chinese auto companies.  Without fin...

Prius Smugness Run Amok

Smug Prius owner goes apesh*t because a guy is idling his diesel pickup in an adjacent parking spot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=...

EVs Are Expensive!

Ford today announced the pricing for the electric Focus, $40,000.  Facebook and blogs are howling at the price. Truth is, the price is not u...

The 53%

i am also proud to be part of the 53%.   This is great .

Review: Drop Stop Car Wedge

Drop Stop Car Wedge is a simple product that does one thing very well. It blocks the gap between your car seat and the center console, so t...

Sonic Drop Breaks Down?

Chevy is doing a stun t to promote the new Sonic b-car.  They are dropping it off of a huge tower attached to a bungee cord, and using web c...

Minor Fact Check: Volt Charging Handle

According to Mike Davis at The Detroit Bureau , the Chevy Volt charging cord has a safety feature similar to a certain .45ACP pistol that I ...

Electric Delorean?

Jalopnik's Kevin McCauley was invited to test drive a Delorean DMCEV, an electric conversion applied to a Delorean chassis by the new D...

Birmingham Ferrari

Spotted in downtown Birmingham on Sunday.

Blackwood Sighting

The Lincoln Blackwood was a white elephant for Lincoln. A car that did well as a concept but flopped bad in production. I saw this one the...

Ford Quietly Kills Off Hybrid Escape?

Ford has announced that the next Escape, based on the European Kuga , will come with 3 flavors of I4 engines, 1.6L Ecoboost (GTDI), 2.0L Ecb...

SUVs Less Dangerous To Others*

A new study by the IIHS shows that SUVs which strike cars of a similar weight are now not more dangerous than other types of vehicles.  Thi...

My Sad HP Tale

I decided to replace my stuttering old Dell Optiplex desktop (Core 2 circa 2008) with a new desktop.  I saw a very good deal on Woot!--an HP...

The I3 Is The New I4?

Ford has unveiled a GTDI (gasoline turbocharged direct injection) 3 cylinder engine, which they brand Ecoboost.  The 1.0L inline 3 will powe...

HEVs: Make Some Noise

The industry is busy trying to decide what noise HEVs and BEVs should make when running in electric mode.   My humble proposal is here.

Volvo Kills V8

So I'm a few months late, but I just now noticed that for 2012, Volvo is no longer offering the Yamaha sourced narrow bank V8 (4.4L, 311...

No Buick Wagon For U.S.

Jerks. According to a Buick spokesman who spoke to Edmunds , there won't be a Buick wagon for the U.S.   Won't someone build a fun...

Ford, Toyota Co-Developing RWD HEV Powertrain

The new CAFE standards are proving to be a real matchmaker.  Ford and Toyota have jointly announced a co-development program to develop a R...

Pre-Cruise: Ferndale Police Cars

Some of the police cars in Ferndale.

Pe-Cruise: Ferndale Choppers

I saw this lovely orange chopper in Ferndale. And this bicycle was neat, too.

Pre-Cruise: Public Safety Fun On Woodward

One of my favorite places to go at Dreamcruise time is the area in Ferndale near city hall, where many interesting police, fire, and EMT veh...

More Pre-Cruise Photos

Some stuff I saw in and around Ferndale today.

Woodward Pre-Cruise: The Focus ST

I took off of work early today and went to Fashionable Ferndale to see if I could find Ford's Focus ST which they were going to show off...

California Clean Cars Confusion

In California, an umbrella organization called the California Clean Cars Initiative is advocating ever tougher standards.  It is a coalitio...

Yaris Fail

I have not seen the new Toyota Yaris in person yet.  Maybe I'll cross paths with one on Woodward this weekend.  Anyway, looking at the p...

Goodyear's AMT Project

Goodyear is working on an R&D project to design and demonstrate truck tires which maintain their own pressure with some sort of internal...

The Steer Safe: Are The Joking?

There is a hilariously bad invention up on Kickstarter called Steer Safe which is supposed to help people "safely" use their smar...

Review: id America Gasket iPhone Case

id America, a maker of iPhone cases and covers, sent me their Gasket iPhone case to review. The case is made of brushed aluminum, and is des...

CAFE: Rise Of The Turbo

One way that automakers will meet the new CAFE standards will be to downsize engines and add turbocharging, as a relatively inexpensive and ...

Engineers: CAFE Won't Be Easy

Wards has published a survey of 1,100 automotive engineers (I am sure I was one respondent) which highlights the trade-offs required to meet...

The Mighty Have Fallen

Wow. Consumer Reports, formerly certified fanboys of Honda, have utterly dogged the 2012 Civic .  It isn't recommended.   Too boring, ...

The Truth About 60MPG

There is furious lobbying going on, as the automakers and the greens try to sway the Obama administration on future CAFE standards.  The gre...

Tuesday Night Cruisers

A few pics from Woodward Ave as the sun was setting.

The Ritchie Boys At Holocaust Memorial Center

One of the Detroit area's hidden gems (well, it isn't that hidden) is the Holocaust Memorial Center . A fascinating, if grim, museu...