Should’ve Seen This Coming: Digital Steering Wheel On the Way?

Posted on Jan 8, 2015 in Safety | 4 comments

Note to inventors of the world: Not everything needs to go digital. Yes, we appreciate digital music players instead of the old-school Walkmans. Digital television signals are a nice replacement for analog. Replacing in-car audio controls with touch-screen digital interfaces is less necessary, but I suppose I can be convinced. I’m feeling pretty good, though,...

Has Audi Given Up On Making Cars?

Posted on Jan 7, 2015 in Editorials | 1 comment

I was driving along the other day, and I found myself behind an Audi A6. A new Audi A6. A brand-new, midsize, luxurious Audi A6 sedan. And I thought to myself: When was the last time I saw one of these things? This wasn’t always the case. Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, you saw the Audi A6 everywhere. They had that cool rounded design, and they were the...

Hey, You’ll Never See a Hearse in NASCAR!

Posted on Dec 27, 2014 in Racing | 1 comment

So my friend jgoods would rather ride in a hearse than a Mustang… Read his post from yesterday, and you’ll see that I’m not making that up. He also wonders what’s so great about American muscle cars and claims they are not performance vehicles. I guess theMustang GT’s zero-to-sixty in 4.9 seconds doesn’t count as “performance.” Sure, a Mustang may not take...

Rebirth of a Legend: 1984 Chevrolet Corvette brochure

Posted on Dec 10, 2014 in Featured | 2 comments

It’s hard to overstate the impact that the fourth-generation Corvette made upon its national introduction on April 21, 1983. Replacing a popular car that had grown very familiar through its incredible 1968-1982 lifetime was an incredibly fresh and forward-thinking new model that was completely of the 1980s, but would also prove timeless in the physical appeal...

Street Burnouts: What’s the Point?

Posted on Dec 8, 2014 in Safety | 5 comments

I appreciate a smokin’ hot burnout as much as the next guy, especially when one of the six muscle cars profiled yesterday is laying down the rubber. A burnout, though, has a time and a place where it’s appropriate. Any burnouts outside that time and place are no longer cool, just pathetic attempts at trying to be cool. Driving yesterday during rush hour, a...

Gran Turismo 5 Cars

Posted on Dec 6, 2014 in Antique | Comments Off on Gran Turismo 5 Cars

Someone at Polyphony is a car lover, and one look at the new Gran Turismo 5 list will confirm it. This is Part II of my highlights from the GT5 cars, and it includes some amazing automobiles. Maserati – 35 examples of this fine marque are included in the new GT5, including the 250F, Khamsin, Ghibli, and Quattroporte. The perfect Italian mafia car is finally...

Advancing Technologies for the Next Electric Vehicles

Posted on Dec 6, 2014 in Technology | 2 comments

Fully electric as well as gasoline/electric hybrid vehicles have received ridicule for being unproven and expensive. However, dedicated electric automakers such as Tesla, Coda and Fisker as well as even established car manufacturers Toyota, General Motors along with Ford are banking that they are taking short-term losses for a long-term gain. The perils that...

All Signs Point to Bronco and Here’s Why

Posted on Dec 3, 2014 in Editorials | 1 comment

Ford is bringing back the Bronco. This is not a fantasy. It is not a request. And although our friends in Dearborn are not ready to talk about it, we do not need their official confirmation to see why a genuine Bronco will be back in showrooms in as few as 24 months. The return of the Bronco starts with the incredible emphasis Ford places on its leadership in...

On the 50th anniversary of its soggy victory, the Chaparral 2 returns to Sebring

Posted on Nov 26, 2014 in Featured | 2 comments

The Chaparral 2 in action. Given the focus that Ford had put into beating Ferrari in endurance racing, motorsport fans probably expected the Ford GT40 to repeat its 1965 Daytona victory with a win at Sebring. Instead, it was an innovative team from Texas, running an open-cockpit, Chevy-powered sports racer of their own design, that claimed victory in the 1965...

Gearhead Gift Guide: OBDII Scanners

Posted on Nov 22, 2014 in Technology | 2 comments

If you have a Gearhead on your gift list this year and you’re clueless as to what to get him, we’ve got you covered. Below, we explain what an OBDII scanner is, why your Gearhead wants one, and go over the differences of a few units based on skill level and what they need it for. OBD-II is an On-Board Diagnostics system originally meant for mechanics to...

Penske Wins Saturn; Castroneves Wins Indy

Posted on Nov 13, 2014 in Racing | 1 comment

Last month we talked about the possibility of Roger Penske taking control of Saturn and why that made good business sense. Today, he went ahead and did it. Penske Automotiveand GM reached an agreement for a price of $100-200 million, saidBloomberg. And let’s not forget: Helio Castroneves, driving a Penske car, won his third Indy 500 three weeks ago. These...

Study Proves It: Americans Can’t Drive

Posted on Nov 7, 2014 in Safety | 3 comments

Watch out… My 15-year-old nephew got his learner’s permit this month and has already blown past a stop sign onto a busy arterial. Luckily the incident passed without major consequence… the biggest problem for him being a seriously fuming father in the passenger seat. While experienced drivers might assume it’s the 15- and 16-olds we need to watch out for,...

Dodging the Grand Wagoneer’s Destiny?

Posted on Oct 20, 2014 in Editorials | 1 comment

Shandor writes: I used to have an ’84 Jeep Grand Wagoneer. When it died, I replaced it with a new ’99 Dodge Durango. It seemed to be a fairly solid, updated replacement for the Wagoneer. My mechanic, who was a master Jeep mechanic, said that Chrysler came up with the Durango to fill the gap in the market created after the Grand Wagoneer stopped production in...