Archives Library - scroll along with me.

Tesla Follies.
The all electric car saga continues.
A movie script in the making.

Buying a new car?
Keep your lips zippered!

Hybrids and performance.
Seems like an oxymoron, but the instant torque of the electric
motor produces some surprising results.

Without due care and attention.
Merely listening can reduce activity in the region of
the brain that processes spatial and visual
information by as much as 37%.

Driving a hydrogen car - 30 minutes to fill it up.

A common econazi theme : Do as I say, not as I do.

$1.50 a litre? Thanks, Al.

Robot drivers.
What can't be programmed? Instinct, born of experience.

iDrive.
Instead of getting less complicated, you can now program
ALL your BMW car functions, and I MEAN all, from your PC
while the car is standing in your driveway.
If you can plow your way through all the BUMF in this
article, just ask yourself one question:
What happens when it all goes wrong?

Gimmicky
UK testing of so-called green cars shows that they're
nowhere near as ecofriendly as the manufacturers claim.

No traction
Even with a much improved line of cars to sell,
Saturn doesn't seem to be succeeding.
The brand may be just left to die.

Automotive Hoes - Part Two
Someone who should know agrees with me.

Which brands will follow Oldsmobile down the tubes?

Clean diesel vs hybrid.
An update on the state of the art.

A bolt out of the BLUE Red.
Is GM a genius or a dolt for developing the Volt?

Hippycrits.
Many celebrities pontificate about global warming
and saving the planet, but do they actually practice
what they preach?

Plug in electric cars
A study by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory agreed that
the number of plug-in vehicles in use and when they recharge
could profoundly influence power-generating costs.
Under some scenarios, electricity costs could more than double.

Automotive Penis Envy.
How many people do you admire or respect
because of the car they have in their driveway?
Sure, the car freaks may find Toyotas and Hondas boring,
but for $100,000 in savings over time I'm willing to be really
bored, as long as I have reliability, safety, efficiency and comfort.

Holey Sonata, Batman.

Air bags
Are you sure you still have them?

Practice makes perfect?
The Chinese sold 650,000 units last year.
Mostly into the third world, where a crooked bumper
or a misplaced decal don't matter much.

Hybrids - From worst to best.
Before we all get carried away in a
bi-powered love fest, let’s have a reality check.

Here's why.
The age of cheap and easily pumped oil is over.
A doubling of gas prices within four years.

Canadas' cheapest new cars.
What do you get for your (minimal) money?

Farewell, Commander.
The first of many.
Why buying any Chrysler product right now is a crap shoot

We drive while they starve. Biofuel follies.
The world intelligentsia has been asleep at the wheel.
While we rage over global warming, global hunger has swept in.

Premium gas: Do you really have to use it?
New vehicle models that need, or at least supposedly
run better on the priciest gasoline has steadily risen:
From 166 in the 2002 model year to 282 this year.

Economical used cars.
If fuel economy and low price are the only combination you seek,
then these cars and trucks might suit your budget.

Formula One energy recovery.
Under the new regulations, I shuddered to think how F1 cars
might turn into "Piouses". But in fact, no batteries are included.
Designers are turning instead, to an old and well known energy
storage device: The flywheel.

High cost hybrids.
A new Canadian study shows how much it really costs to go green.


Push button starters.
Why? And how much?

Frequent oil changes:
About as useful and modern as a hoola hoop.
Every year, 185 million gallons of used engine oil get
dumped on the ground, tossed in the trash, or poured
down the drain. That translates into the equivalent of
17 Exxon Valdez oil spills.

Car repairs are getting more and more complex.
Although DIY may make a comeback someday,
the near future is bleak!

A history of Jaguar.
From greatness to mediocrity in just over 80 years.

Hondas' new clean diesel.
No need to pee into the muffler on this one!

IF global warming exists, then the car is not to blame.
Putting science ahead of superstition.

Across Europe in a 5 series BMW and a Toyota Prius.
Which one was the most economical?

A clever and yet simple idea. (The best usually are).
A new engine oil monitor almost guarantees
a 25% increase in oil change intervals.

Eliminating asbestos and lead.
Two big mistakes in the automotive business.
While not using asbestos in brake pads has caused
havoc in brake noise problems and maintenance,
eliminating lead in solder joints has led to tin whiskers.
One reason your garage may need several hours
to find an electronics problem

Plug in electric cars -
NOT a good idea for most parts of the world.

Burgers bad, cycling good.

AJAC COTY award gets more ridiculous as time goes on.

Prius problems.
As the car gets older and as we predicted 7 years ago,
old Priuses have horrific and expensive problems.

Prius problems
Don't drive them on slippery or snow bound roads.

Hybrid Camry.
Fuel consumption varies wildly in cold conditions.

Changing a light bulb.
Is becoming a job for professionals,
particularly if the bumper has to be removed!

Automobile Batteries - a long, long way to go yet.
Car makers can't very well sell vehicles that might
"ignite and burn up grandma and two kids sitting on half a ton of
batteries in the car."

Now comes the hard part.
The 6% of the public who are hybrid buyers represent the lunatic fringe, who will buy
anything "green" at any price irregardless.
Now comes the hard part - selling this concept to the rest of us.

Europe regrets.
Encouraging palm oil production to use as diesel
biofuel is turning out to be a serious mistake.

Guess what? Radar detectors using GPS are back in vogue.

Dashboarded to death

The TATA $2500 car.
It's been all over the media but here's insight
into what wasn't included in the design, and why.

Back to the future.
In 1987, you could buy a production car off the showroom floor
that easily achieved 57mpg, and it wasn't even a hybrid.
So what has changed so drastically?

Be careful what you wish for.
Wouldn't you know it?
As windpower projects start to materialise,
the econazis begin to argue with one another
over exactly where these projects should be built.
Not in MY backyard, they're saying.

A catalogue of new stuff you may, or may not, want.
You decide.

Suspicions confirmed.
You always knew that traffic tickets were about revenue,
not traffic safety. Well, here's proof and it's far worse than
you might have thought.

Too safe for your own good.
Do modern cars lull you into a false sense of security?

New car buying.
Don't fall off your horse!

Anything's better than ethanol blend E85,
even ordinary gasoline.
- A new cost-benefit analysis of alternative fuels,
by researcher John Graham.

Inherited bling.
As usually happens, items generally found in high priced cars
are gradually filtering down into our price range.

It's a cat and mouse game.
Detroit learns not to make cars nobody wants
and then try to fire sale them like last years' computers.

Depreciation I
As we've been saying on this site for many years
and just like carpenter ants in the woodwork,
this disease takes money out of your pocket,
without you even noticing.

Depreciation II
OK, now we've got your attention, what SHOULD
you be buying this year to try to hold on to maximum value?

Weather Channel Founder:
Global Warming is the ‘Greatest Scam in History’

The law of diminishing returns.
It's getting harder and harder to improve hybrid efficiency

Run flat tires: A very, very bad idea.

BMW diesels on their way.

VW Diesels on their way back to us.
No black smoke, no white smoke and no noise,
but lots of zip.

Technology catches up.
Of the 20 most economical cars now sold in Europe,
only one is a hybrid and it comes in  -  dead last.

Cross border car shopping.
Apart from some very expensive exotics,
the actual saving on main stream cars is
nowhere near as large as has been
suggested in the popular media.

The electric horseman - not yet, not for a long while.
Not a single purely electric vehicle with four seats and
the ability to reach highway speeds is being mass-produced
anywhere in the world.

Hyper-miling.
You won't believe what the lunatic fringe is up to now.

Race ready off the shelf? Doesn't exist
Some high end production cars are being hyped as "track ready".
No such thing exists and probably never will.

Problematic Pumpbusters
According to Forbes magazine, many hybrids don't come close
to their promise of vastly improved fuel economy.
In one case, the difference between the regular model
and the hybrid is 1 mpg.

Ethanol and bio fuel.
A crime against nature and the taxpayer.

Images of Watkins Glen 2007.

Don't like the price? Wait a bit!
The subprime mortgage debacle will have some silver linings.
New car prices will be one of them.

More battery problems.
Face it, these high powered batteries are not ready for prime time.
In cars, laptops or cell phones.

Population control.
Courtesy of the Toyota Prius.

Is Toyota quality slipping, or are the others gaining on them?

Recall champions of model year 07.
Who had to recall the most vehicles during the past model year? After the Daily Telegraph in the UK published a less than
enthusiastic review of the Prius, they were bombarded with letters
from econazis.
So they did a massive study of the situation.
Their conclusions, among many others?
Toyota and Lexus hybrid advertising has been found to
be "misleading" and "untruthful" by the
Advertising Standards Authority.
"We know the Prius is a pretty remarkable vehicle, but it doesn't
run on water and it isn't the answer to global CO2 emissions.
If you've got a Prius, fine, but please spare the rest of us
your pious condescension."

---

For lo' these many years, in our FAQ section, we've been telling
you that teflon oil additives, electronic rust proofing
and "fuel saving" devices don't work.
Well guess what?
The American Government just got round to testing 94
so-called fuel sippers and not one of them works - nary a one!
Click here for the details.

New Renault Megane dCi
Proves that Hybrids are Much More
Costly and No Greener than a
Class-Leading Renault Diesel Engine

500 changes that make the Ford 500
into a ...............Taurus!

California Dreaming.
Driving an SUV is like walking into a crowd with a false beard
and a backpack full of ticking alarm clocks and then shouting:
“Only kidding.”

Honda comes onside - forsakes hybrids for diesels.
Ever since the Pious appeared I've been saying things like:
"red herring" & "con job" & "blind alley"
Now, it appears, Honda Motor Corporation agrees.

Unlocking car doors by cell phone.
Apparently it can work, under certain conditions.

Rules of the road.
The unwritten "laws" that control our daily driving.

Built in navigation systems lose
you money in the long run.
The answer lies in compact, portable, transferables.

Planned obsolescence.
As the number of parts in a car increases, the odds on
finding what you need down the road get less and less.
Someday your car may not have much more life than your PC.

Sat Nav.
If your GPS system suddenly stops working,
drive directly into the nearest coal mine!

Black box spies.
If you're worried about an approaching brave new world in
which our every action in a car is monitored by technology,
you're too late.


So Toyota passes GM as the worlds' biggest car manufacturer.
Will it take another 76 years for the next star to arrive?
Probably not.


Before you pour used french fry fat into
your diesel car, better you should read this.

Glamorous garages:
After the bathrooms and the kitchen, a well organised garage
becomes the next major selling point for a house owner.

High tech cars:
The more the technology, the faster the depreciation
and the bigger the used bargain.

Curbsiding.
In the spring, many peoples' minds turn toward the purchase
of another car. Curbsiders are waiting out there to "help" you find one.

Ethanol.
The news gets worse. Ethanol will produce more smog than gasoline.

Potholes.
A damage claim to your insurance company
may not be considered as "no fault".

The $225,000 MINI.
Nope, we're not kidding.

Fuel economy:
It's available in many different forms
and at a much lower cost.

Natural gas fueled 2007 Honda Civic.
It weighs 1 1/2 tons more and costs 50% more,
but hey, it meets the latest, greatest California regs
and you can refuel it at home - for an extra $6000

Which pollutes the most, overall?
The Hummer or the Prius?
If I have to ask the question,  then the answer is
obviously not as simple as it seems.

Run flat tires in trouble.
As predicted on this website a year ago, run flat tires
are proving to be an expensive and unnecessary "innovation".

Mars melt.
Know what? Mars is heating up too!
And there ain't no cars up there.

"An inconvenient truth".
We know most politicians bend the truth.
But Pope Algores' version is particularly loathsome.

Lexus automatic parking.
You can play with it while the wife shops.
She'll just about be finished at the same time as you.

Recalls.
Last year (2006) more vehicles were recalled than were sold.
Why? For the same reason that cops give out speeding tickets:
It's all about the numbers

Ford:
Spitting plugs and setting on fire: no wonder they're in trouble.

Economy eschewed.
On average, cars are 800 pounds heavier and
no more economical than they were 10 years ago.

The bogeymen of science.
Many younger scientists are becoming increasingly
uncomfortable with the scientific scaremongering
of their older colleagues.

Suspicions confirmed.
Our owners' manuals are written in the third world.

lindspots.
Had a close call with a pedestrian or cyclist you just didn't see?
Might not be all your fault.

Environmentalists, stop treating us like idiots.
The rest of you, relax. It's OK to own a car.

Reliability 2006 - Consumers Reports
A handy chart and short commentary on what's
been good and what's been bad in 2006.

Road racer.
The latest in a long line of British racers disguised as road cars.

If you've already succumbed to the
religion of the environment,
here's what you're facing.

Hydrogen
It may the fuel of our future, with the potential to rival the invention
of the the first car in 1886 in terms of its impact on personal transport.
The problem for car makers is how to harness the gas
and how to make it commercially viable and when?

San Storm.
No, the "d" isn't missing, this is the
name of a new Indian sports car.

Why there is absolutely no chance that
gas will become significantly cheaper
 - ever again.

Supercar blues.
If you drag together enough money to buy your dream car,
new or used, you'd better know what you're getting into.

God bless America - Live free or die.
Oh, to be in England, now that the nazis have arrived.

No more smoke - very soon. 
Clean diesel has arrived

A Rogue's gallery of men doing their
damnedest to make motoring miserable.

Some new Nissans - October 2006.

The anti-theft chip in your key may not be as secure as you think.

Three wheeling:
A very English tradition travels across the pond to Quebec.

Features you pay for that aren't really there.

Cars that won't start are a royal pain.
So why deliberately make them shut down all the time?

Hybrid sales plunge as reality sets in - (told ya!)

Range Rover Reliability - an oxymoron if ever there was one.

A year of driving with a 2005 Porsche 911 Carrera S
As long as it doesn't need servicing, the gilt stays thick
on the gingerbread.

Forget top speed.
Point to point, it's braking, cornering and handling that wins the day.

Chevrolet is sticking the SS label on every car in sight.
Not many deserve it, but what can you expect from a corporation
that called a sickly little Daewoo a Pontiac Le Mans?

Chevrolet Impala.
Just when you think you might have got it right
- along comes another edition of the bloody Camry!

Don't say you haven't been warned.
Buying champagne cars on a beer budget.

Car Haters.
It's not your imagination.
Newspaper editors hate cars and auto racing
and everything else associated with the car industry.

The tortoise and the hare.
In a 12 hour dash across Europe which is faster?
A 500 HP Mercedes SL or its diesel engined sister SUV?

Reliability and cost of repair:
Japan and Korea vs Europe.

Money, but no skill.
Suspicions confirmed.
Lawyers and stockbrokers may be rich,
but that doesn't mean they know how to drive.

Who's winning and who's losing the profit wars?
(You may want to buy from a car company that's
likely to be here five years from now!)

Big brother is watching.
(Please don't tell the NDP or the American Democrats about this)

Your choice.
A good car may not be a cool car.

Women drivers.
Hey fellas. You wanna mess with me?
Depends on what kind of wheels I'm driving, right?

Feel good gimmicks.
Like Honda starter buttons.


Another huge con-job.

Life in the slow (green) lane.
Like fat-free desserts, which sound healthy but can still make you fat,
hybrid cars can make people feel as if they're doing something good,
even when they're doing nothing special at all.

A really bad idea
A hybrid tax rebate scheme is unfair because it rewards only one
possible solution to the presumed problem, thereby penalizing all others.

Prius envy.
Life in the not-so-fast lane.

An automotive oxy(moron).
High performance hybrids - and other tales from the auto industry

By losing the battle, they're winning the war.
Whether the customer loses or not, Toyota comes out on top.
Even when the cost of developing and manufacturing
hybrid technology-- batteries, drivetrain, controls, brakes, etc,
ensures that Toyota makes a loss on every single Prius sold.

Hybrids in the doldrums.
Common sense prevails!
Gasoline prices rise, sales of hybrids tank.

Consumer Reports.
As we have long said, based on our personal shop experience,
these guys really know what they're talking about and now
we have an honest journalist who agrees with us.

Touring.
The German Alpine Road.

SUVs
No matter what you think of them, there's no
doubt that some people DO need them.

Hybrids
The fad begins to fade - the European experience.

Rock & roll.
The BMW Z8 seems to have a tendency to twist and shake.

Bullitt.
Regretfully, there's a re-make of this classic 1968 movie in the can.
But was the Mustang REALLY capable of defeating the Charger?
Apparently, not.

Alternate fuels.
As usual, Europe is way ahead.
Here's a survey of what's available now,
and what the near future may hold.

Thieves and cars:
Both getting smarter as time rolls on.

Vintage corner.
Ettore Bugatti
- a short history of his cars and his career.

Car of the year awards.
Someone else, besides me, thinks these things
are of limited use to the consumer.

Criminal, intentional crashes.
Going touring this summer? Renting  a car or truck?
Better read this first.

Debunking the hydrogen myth.
If all the cars in the world were
converted to hydrogen tomorrow,
one in every five vehicles on the road
would be a hydrogen-carrying tanker.

Hybrid hype.
Getting worse all the while.

Europa S
This famous Lotus of yesteryear is back.
But it's not for us.

Size matters.
Another view of the Lexus IS250 says "forget the back seat,
this is really a two seat motor car".

Depreciation. - A list of culprits.
The hidden cost of buying a new vehicle, or a clue to
which ones are used car bargains after three years on the road.

Automotive technology
What's coming at you and why it doesn't work
anywhere near as well as it's supposed to.

Prius problems proliferate.
Leaking batteries and self immolation:
The latest in what we expect to be a continuing saga
of technology gone mad.

Totally unfair!!
Europe is favoured with a Chrysler 300 Diesel that gets 45 mpg
and performs like a Hemi - all for 50 large.