DIY Clear Bra from 3M—Prevents stone chips for under $50
Last year I spent about what my 1967 Sunbeam Alpine is worth on a cosmetic restoration that left it looking much better than new. This year I’m trying to drive it enough to get my money’s worth, and...
View ArticleCar Salesman Confidential: Reaching Your Dreams – Or Not – Through Your...
I’ll never forget the day a middle-aged woman came into the dealership to buy a car. I’ll call her Sarah. She was divorced, had a good job, and by the way she dressed and carried herself, you’d think...
View ArticleCar Salesman Confidential: The Power of Words
It has been said that more car deals are killed by words than by numbers. What does that mean? Contrary to popular belief, people seldom leave a dealership without buying a car because the numbers were...
View ArticleMy Week in a 2013 Lexus GS 350 F Sport
The 2013 Lexus GS 350 F Sport gets a lot of attention. A lot of attention. I just spent a week driving one, and everywhere I went, passing cars slowed to inspect the F Sport’s flanks, passengers...
View ArticleToyota Rolls the Dice on the All-New Corolla
Much to the surprise of people who know only of the current-generation Corolla, Toyota’s unassuming compact car is the best-selling automobile of all time, and will soon be kicking off its 11th...
View ArticleYour Car’s Contribution to the “Big Data” Cloud
Recent coverage of the NSA’s data-mining flap has stretched my mind with a lot of new numerical terms. The government’s $2-billion, million-plus-square-foot Bluffdale, Utah, data storage and analysis...
View ArticleThe Return of the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
In the May 1963 issue of Motor Trend, we published our first road test of the Corvette Sting Ray. Technical editor Jim Wright opened his review with the following: “For the first time in its 10-year...
View ArticleDieter Zetsche Interview –“The Better is the Enemy of the Good”
During the recent North American launch of the 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class, I sat down for an interview with Daimler AG Chairman Dieter Zetsche, aka Dr. Z: MT: The S-Class is the flagship and every time...
View ArticleMobileye Driver-Assist System Long-Term Test Wrap-Up
Our long-term Passat TDI departed the fleet a few months back, and few of my west-coast colleagues were sorry to see the Mobileye device I had installed in it go away. Many developed a natural two-step...
View ArticleHeads up!—Garmin transitions from Nuvi to new cars.
Sure, everybody’s smart phone does turn-by-turn voice navigation these days, but as the personal GPS navigation device market is winding down, don’t sell your Garmin stock just yet. The company got...
View ArticleHas BMW’s M Go-Fast Division Lost Its Way?
On a cool, cloudy day about 20 years ago, I arrived at BMW’s test track at Miramas, in the south of France, for an afternoon of hot lapping a tasty selection of M-cars: the E36 M3 coupe—the real one,...
View ArticleCar Salesman Confidential: Market-Based Pricing
Over the past few months I’ve read some interesting definitions of “fair price” in the comments. Some folks define it as paying a fixed or non-negotiable price, and point to chains like Carmax as an...
View ArticleMazda MX-5 Miata – Little Red Coquette
Is it just me, or do the years on the north side of 50 seem to sweep upward faster than a Ferrari’s tach needle? Please excuse me as I choke on this bitter little chunk of reality, but it was nearly a...
View ArticleHow to Avoid Being Buried in an Automobile – Car Salesman Confidential
In the bucket. Tanked. Upside down. Five grand hooked. Buried. We’ve all heard the terms. And we’ve all been there, at one time or another, when buying a new car. But what does it really mean to be...
View ArticleInstalling My Own EV Charging Station
I like to think I’m as prescient and forward-thinking as the next guy, so in 2005 when we built a big addition on our house, I had the electricians run 240-volt service out to my detached garage so...
View ArticleAdventure Travel, Close to Home—117-mile day-trip in a 76-mile Focus EV.
My intrepid navigator Smith, puppy Snickers, and I set out Saturday morning in a Ford Focus EV with perhaps some smidgen of the uncertainty and foreboding that Amelia Earhart and her mum surely felt in...
View ArticleCreative Engineering for Niche Profitability
Can engineers keep a small company such as Mazda viable in this era of globalization? Maybe. And if not, their attempts will surely give Mazda’s next big-wallet benefactor a leg up in niche product...
View ArticleBright Eyes for your Retro Ride—Peterson 701C LED replacement lamps.
As a continuation of my resto-mod Sunbeam Alpine project, I ordered up a pair of new LED headlamps from Peterson. These bright new bulbs are designed as a bolt-in replacement for 7-inch round...
View ArticleIs GM Serious About Taking Chevy Global?
A couple years back, I was invited to give a presentation to a group of 100 or so top product development people at General Motors. “Give us the good, the bad, and the ugly,” said the executive who set...
View ArticleMore Than 30 Years Later, 320i is Still Plenty
In May 1981, Motor Trend tested the BMW 320i, a rear-drive, five-seat coupe weighing only 2500 pounds. A Bimmer that lightweight had to be quick, right? Well, sort of. Yes, it was about 800 pounds...
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