How To Drive Around A Motorcycle
Sunday, August 31st, 2008Though motorcycles hold pretty much the same status on the road as a car or truck, they have enough different qualities that they need to be treated differently by the careful driver.
Archive for August, 2008
Though motorcycles hold pretty much the same status on the road as a car or truck, they have enough different qualities that they need to be treated differently by the careful driver.
Police Chase Saves Safe-Driving Advocate
Sunday, August 31st, 2008A man who constantly reminded his wife of the need to practice safe-driving techniques was killed when a car being chased by the police crashed into his car. This opens up at least two issues, including the value of police chases and the sad reality that trouble can strike you ...
What To Do If You Buy A Really Bad Car
Sunday, August 31st, 2008Cars that have endless problems are called "lemons" and there are programs pretty much everywhere in the US designed to help the consumer if she gets one. This story provides a general overview of the situation and a link to the various agencies involved.
Auto Writers Finally Notice Emissions From Scooters
Friday, August 29th, 2008An auto writer has finally noticed that the emissions coming from scooters and motorcycles is much worse than that of any car on the road, but there's still the fact that they're a lot cheaper to buy and operate than a car.
Jay Leno Drives A Chevrolet Fuel Cell SUV
Friday, August 29th, 2008The long-time host of the Tonight show and noted car geek takes a Chevrolet Equinox with a hydrogen-powered fuel cell for a spin, spreading laughs and information as he goes. This is auto journalism you can understand and enjoy.
Hard Proof That Smaller Cars Are Less Safe
Thursday, August 28th, 2008Findings of the Industry Research Council on costs and injuries from real world crashes supply hard proof for the reality that you're more likely to be injured or killed the smaller your car is.
GM Plug-In Will Be Better At Saving Gas Than Toyota’s
Thursday, August 28th, 2008The media tends to lump the plug-in cars coming from GM and Toyota together, but the fact is they're two different kinds of cars. The Chevrolet Volt from GM will run a lot farther on the electricity in its batteries (which can be charged from a household plug) and can ...
Cadillac Will Launch New Entry-Level Model
Thursday, August 28th, 2008The luxury brand that has by far the most stylish cars will bring a new entry-level model to market in the next couple of years, to compete with the over-priced BMW 3-Series, Audi A4 and Mercedes C-Class. It will have all of the same talents as those foreign models, but ...
The Bikini Carwash: One Sexist Tradition?
Thursday, August 28th, 2008The popular fund-raising activity at many schools causes at least one blogger to wonder what such behavior tells boys about how to treat women in general and girls their own age in particular.
No Response For Bikes As Short-Term Loaners
Thursday, August 28th, 2008For living proof that car dealers can spin anything to their advantage if they're clever, consider that a BMW-Mini store in British Columbia says it's trying to get its service customers to take bicycles instead of cars as loaners because it's environmentally sensitive, not cheaper for them. No takers yet, ...
Woman Trapped In Car For Days Near Her Home
Thursday, August 28th, 2008Every couple of years there's a story about a woman's car sliding off the road down a ditch and she remains trapped there for days. A couple of years back it was a woman in suburban Seattle and more recently it was a woman in North Carolina. Terrible stories with ...
Record Number Of Cars Pass $10,000 In Incentives
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008A study by Edmunds.com proves what most observers have recently felt -- that car companies are more willing than ever to offer incentives to get people to buy cars.
Teen Drivers Buckle, But Teen Passengers Don’t
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008Even though the overall numbers aren't good, a college study shows that teen drivers seem inclined to buckle up when they're behind the wheel but aren't so inclined when they're passengers. Since the male in a mixed-gender couple still tends to drive more often, that means that more girls are ...
Euro Study Shows What Women Want In A Car
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008Apparently a sense of practicality is the primary driver when most women shop for a car, though a sense of automotive style doesn't hurt, or the ability to grab everything important from the driver's seat, and knee-room in the back for passengers. Not much is said about safety, which is ...
Woman Hopes To Cash In On Obama’s Old Jeep
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008An Illinois woman with a Jeep the Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's old car hopes to sell it for four times what it's worth.
Military Money Helps Armed Service Members Buy A Car
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008A magazine specifically designed to help the men and women of the services get the most from their money has an issue dedicated to car-buying.
Are Small Cars and Small Houses The New Cool?
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008If you ignore his mistakes in facts regarding the cars and the car business, this writer from San Francisco makes some interesting observations about the way our taste in material things is changing. He cheers the recession for this.
Headsets Improve Greatly For In-Car Phone Calls
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008With more places making it illegal to hold a phone while driving to cut down on the driver distraction that results in crahses, it's probably not a surprise that companies that make headsets have been busy coming up with new models. As a result, the quality of such devices has ...
“Economic Patriotism” Requires People To Buy American Cars
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008The mayor of one of Michigan's biggest cities may not be totally bi-partisan, but there's no doubt that he makes some extremely interesting points about the modern international car market. He also makes the claim that local products are often better and safer.
The Feminist Subtext In “Duel,” A Great Car Film. Really
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008Ask most people about "Duel" and they'll tell you the great Stephen Spielberg thriller from 1971 is about a man in a small car being terrorized by a lunatic in a big truck. But the blogging mind has come up with a much more creative interpretation than that, full of ...
Get Ready For Small Cars That Cost A Lot Of Money
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008Every car company doing business here, including Toyota and cheap-and-cheerful Kia, has been caught with some wrong products at the wrong time. Now they're all trying to deal with a move to a fuller range of smaller cars with bigger price tags -- much bigger price tags. Early evidence suggests ...
Does Technology In Cars And Elsewhere Make Affairs Impossible?
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008A writer from England takes a long and entertaining look at the way technologies (including some you probably never heard of) make it hard to have an affair without leaving traces wherever you go.
Flood Of New Vehicles From India And China Delayed Again
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008You probably didn't even know that a company from India was planning to bring diesel-powered pickup trucks to North America, but they are, at some point. This is a reminder that the car market here is about to get a whole lot more crowded with cars and trucks from India ...
Automakers Tweak Existing Models To Improve Mileage
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008Normally car companies tend to leave their offerings alone between one model year to the next, but the sudden interest in fuel economy by consumers has many of them tinkering with existing models so they can deliver more miles per gallon. The Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 compact cars provide a ...
Liberty Mutual Launches Special Car Insurance Plan For Educators
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008While it may be as much public relations gesture as anything else (see how it worked with us?), the move by Liberty Mutual to offer a special package of car insurance coverage to teachers and education administrators might also have some genuine benefits for people who often need some financial ...
Eat Less Beef To Save The Environment (And Your Heart)
Monday, August 25th, 2008A vegan car freak who writes for an auto enthusiast publication lays out the green solution to cutting down on the emissions that despoil our planet. The ethical ones she leaves to each reader.
10 Things You Should Know About Your Car Insurance
Monday, August 25th, 2008You may be aware of most of these aspects of auto insurance, but there are bound to be some you weren't aware of and they might be useful to know.
After “Amber” And “Silver” Alerts Comes The “Blue” Alert
Monday, August 25th, 2008Texas and Florida have set up "Blue" alert programs that send out media notices looking for the public's help in catching suspects involved in cases where police officers where killed or injured. This program joins the "Amber" alert for missing children and the "Silver" alert for missing oldsters.
Real Estate Listings Online In Your Car
Monday, August 25th, 2008If you're one of those people who spends her off-hours driving around looking for a new home to buy, there's now a service that will transmit the latest real estate developments in your neighborhood to your cell phone.
Could Technology Stop Parents Leaving Kids In The Car?
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008For one reason or another, adults don't all seem to remember that they have a child in the car, so dozens of die every year because they're left alone in the heat (and less heat's needed than you think). There are aftermarket technologies to deal with this, but there's also ...
Deaths Show Need For Taking Care When Offering Help
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008Good Samaritans stopping to help someone in trouble on the road are doing a good thing, but those folks need to take care on any highway or road with moving traffic. There's nothing fair about dying when you're trying to help someone, but it happens all too often.
Garage Doors Are The Latest Environmental Issue With Cars
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008For a long time people didn't worry about the need for insulation in a house because all you really needed to do if you were hot or cold was turn up the AC or the furnace as required, but those days are long gone. So long gone that people are ...
Infiniti Pushes Second-Tier EX35 As “Reward Car” For Women
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008In an effort to create some buzz about its latest crossover (which we prefer to call "faux-by-four"), the upscale division of Nissan is pushing the second-best version of its EX35 as a car suitable for women. No matter how you market it, the car has limitations you need to prepare ...
Toyota Considers Dropping Slow-Selling Scion Brand
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008The Scion brand was supposed to be Toyota's chance to attract a younger and hipper audience, but it hasn't worked out that way. It has a small group of slow-selling vehicles that aren't even that good at delivering fuel-efficiency, and critics claim it's distracting the firm from its core brands.
Savings May Lurk In Old Insurance Policies
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008If you're looking to save some money on your automotive expenses, your insurance policy is a good place to start. You can do an online comparison to see which firms will charge you less (there's almost always someone who'll charge you less) and you can go through your current policy ...
