Regular Car Reviews

LOL, this guy is BRILLIANT.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GavwFFJHot8

Tesla Model S and Carwashes

Did you know you are not supposed to take a Tesla S through a normal automatic carwash?   And this is the car of the future?

The 2015 Mustang Design

Ford unwrapped the new 2015 Mustang today, and it is a very handsome car.  Personally, I think they struck a good balance between retro styl...

NHTSA Is Not Investigating Tesla At Musks' Request

NHTSA does not initiate investigations on CEO request.  NHTSA says they chose to investigate Tesla battery fires independently.  Which means...

Tesla's Fire Problem

I think Tesla has a problem. There are only about 17,000 Tesla Model S on the roads right now, but there have been 3 fires due to damage...

Tesla Valuation

I don't understand Tesla's stock price and valuation.  TSLA is trading at about $175/share right now, with a market cap of $21 billi...

EU Proposes Satellite Based Speed Limiters

A great demonstration of how the Europeans are not necessarily worth emulating.  The EU has proposed ISA (intelligent speed adaptation) base...

Diesels: Good MPG, Less So Carbon

I have heard man advocates of small diesels moan that we "just don't get it" here in the U.S. and we need to be more European,...

Tesla's Extra 0.4 Star

Tesla is trumpeting the Model S' excellent performance in NHTSA's safety tests.  Tesla says that the model S has achieved a combined...

Ford's C-Max Debacle Explained

Ford yesterday announced that it was re-stating the fuel economy label of the C-Max hybrid, from 47 city / 47 highway /47 combined to a sti...

Tesla Quality Checking

An interesting insight into Tesla's assembly and delivery process over at Wired, here . Tesla is testing every car they  build with ...

The Chicken Tax--Bad and Good

There is an interesting piece in the Detroit News today about the possible impact of the "Chicken Tax", the 25% import duty on fo...

Tesla's Hungry Doorhandles

Edmunds discovered that the Tesla S motorized door handles will not detect your fingers if you have them in the way when they want to close...

Top 20 Vehicles June 2013

Here is a list of the top 20 best selling vehicles in the U.S. through JUne, 2013.  Data table courtesy of Good Car Bad Car . Rank ...

GM's eAssist: 25% improvement?

In a recent blog post , GM claims that their eAssist mild hybrid (starter/generator) system is good for an average 25% fuel economy improvem...

Musk: Batteries Are Expensive

"The biggest single challenge for electric vehicles is affordability." -- Elon Musk This comment was made during a recent shar...

Spotted: 2014 Corvette Stingray

I saw this M-plate (GM test fleet car) 2014 Corvette Stingray at a local Lowe's. The interior is a big improvement over the previous...

NHTSA Delays Backup Camera Rule

The NHTSA has decided to delay the regulation requiring backup cameras until 2015,  announced in a latter to Senator Jay Rockefeller from Ra...

iOS For Your Car?

Apple's recent announcement that they would be working with automakers, including heavyweights GM, Honda, and Hyundia + Kia, to integrat...

Should Chrysler Recall The Jeeps?

NHTSA wants Chrysler to recall 2.7 million vehicles to install some kind of crash mitigation hardware on the vehicle to reduce the likeliho...

Fox News: Aptera Not Dead

The guy who bought Aptera's bones was trying to set up Chinese manufacturing for the chassis.  That isn't going so well, so now he s...

Tesla Legislative Defeat In Texas

The Texas legislature failed to advance bills sponsored by Tesla that would allow direct-to-consumer sales.  This means that to sell in Texa...

Kudos to 2014 Impala

I took a look at a new Impala this morning, and I have to give GM props for the nice job they did on the body assembly.  All of the panel ga...

Tesla Market Craziness

Tesla's stock drive through $100/share this morning, giving the company a market value of around $11 billion.  That is more than Fiat/Ch...

Sad News Down Under

Ford has announced that they will cease manufacturing operations in Australia in 2016.  Product engineering will continue.  However, this ma...

Tesla Pays Back ATVM Loans... But Why?

The big announcement yesterday in the auto business was that Tesla was paying off its ATVM loan off early. I am puzzled by this, it se...

Will BEVs put auto service shops out of business?

Inside EVs asks , "Will Electric Vehicles Drive Mechanics Out Of Business?", after an article in The Street . The answer is ye...

Telsa's Profit

Tesla's profit this first quarter, $11 million, was due in part to income from selling EV credits in California to other automakers.  Te...

Another ATVM Borrower Fails

VPG, which designed (and actually built) a purpose-built vehicle for handicapped transportation, has shut down. The company ran out of...

Elio, stalled?

It sounds like Elio Motors is having a hard time raising capital to fund development.  According to KTBS , Elio has not raised enough money...

Terrafugia's "Flying Cars"

Terrafugia, a company made up of MIT grads, has developed a "flying car", which is really an airplane that can be driven on roads ...

RIP, CODA

Not surprisingly, CODA is bankrupt. With it, one of the first street legal Chinese produced cars (the CODA glider came from Hafei, a re-badg...

How to get your 5% off from Home Depot, online

I wanted to order an item from Home Depot online, using my Home Depot credit card, but there was no indication that I would get the 5% disco...

Does Telsa Need Texas?

Inside EVs has a nice write-up of Elon Musk's appearance in Texas to lobby for an exception to that state's dealer franchise laws. ...

Fisker: The End?

There are reports that Fisker has terminated most of its employees, leaving a "skeleton crew" in place to try to find a buyer for ...

That new Tesla Lease...

... is not $500/month.   Don't be fooled. To lease a Model S, the deal is something like 10% down, and a residual value percentage e...

Carbon Motors: The End?

According to Indianapolis Business Journal, Carbon Motors has removed their stuff from the former Visteon plant they had hoped to use for pr...

The Fallacy of Fuel Economy Law Suits

Lawyers are firing up lawsuits against Ford for misleading consumers on the fuel economy of the C-Max hybrid and Fusion Hybrid.   Ford certi...

Brand Graveyards.

Take a look at www.pontiac.com , www.oldsmobile.com , www.hummer.com , www.saab.com , and www.mercuryvehicles.com .   Kinda sad. Then th...

New Jeep Cherokee... Maybe Not That Bad

I am willing to give the 2014 Jeep Cherokee a second look, but only if it has body-colored fascia.  With body colored front fascia  the spli...

The Leaked Jeep Cherokee Reminds Me...

The leaked Jeep Cherokee reminds me of something a that might have happened if a Chinese car company tried to rip off Jeep by slapping Jeep-...

2014 Jeep Cherokee = FUGLY

Jalopnik has dropped some spy shots of the 2014 Jeep Cherokee, apparently taken inside the assembly plant.   Chrysler must be hitting the g...

Cruze Diesel: Does It Make Sense?

How much sense does the upcoming Chevrolet Cruze Diesel make in today's U.S. auto market?  I think it mostly will depend how much money ...

Superbowl Auto Ad Winner: Chrysler

A quick review of the Superbowl ads from carmakers.   Winners: Hyundai, Chrysler, Toyota.  Hyundai for silly humor, Chrysler for touching pa...

CARB Hubris

In classical literature, a character that show the flaw of hubris, extreme arrogance, often winds up being toppled. California's Air Res...

I ♥ Leatherman

I have an addiction.  I can't stop buying Leatherman tools. Somewhere, I have an original Leatherman PST, which came with a leather case...

Zlaty Meyer at NAIAIS

A local journalist, who has a pretty good sense of humor, did a video dispatch from the North America International Auto Show in Detroit. It...

Steel vs Brass Ammo

Shooting is a hobby of mine.  I own several firearms, and though I don't get out as often as I like, I try to stay proficient. Gun b...

Elio Motors: Another Zap or Aptera?

A startup named Elio Motors ( website ) has announced plans to buy GM's closed Shreveport LA plant, with intent to produce their 3 wheel...

IIHS Top Safey Picks for 2013 (so far)

IIHS has published their list of "TSPs" (Top Safety Pick) for 2013 models.  I am pleased to see that the "Home team" (Fo...