“Geriatric old Benz” - jeez, that’s harsh, and it makes me feel old myself. It looks pretty late-model to me. Then again, I drive a 2003 Benz, so I’m biased. Still, I find most people have little idea of its age. They know it’s not brand new, but that’s about it. 

Actually, research has shown that drunk people get less injured in crashes precisely because they DON’T brace themselves. Your body needs to absorb and dissipate the impact, so that’s the absolute worst thing to do. Imagine water skiing with your legs straight and rigid rather than flexible and bent. Bracing yourself…

The “strange infatuation” with the Daewoo Matiz can easily be explained by the fact that Daewoo took a 51% majority stake in Romanian auto manufacturer Oltcit in 1994. It was a really smart strategic move that gave Daewoo a European production base (which Hyundai and Kia didn’t yet have) and resulted in a…

“Turbulence is responsible for roughly 75 percent of all weather-related accidents and incidents, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.”

That’s actually not true. Between 2003 and 2007, turbulence ranked fourth among accident causes or contributing factors among all weather-related accidents. Of those, 65% were part 121 - commercial airliners.

I remember well that when the Phaeton was under development, Ferdinand Piech kept saying that Audi had a perception problem, that it would be easier to move Volkswagen upmarket than to establish Audi as a true luxury brand. And I kept thinking, “Huh? This guy has no idea what he’s talking about. He’s making a big…

Did anyone notice that the perspective of the steering wheel is off? It’s canted at the wrong angle relative to the dashboard.

I’m sure the author is 100% correct. I’m 38, and I remember vividly learning “ajar” at age 5 from a Chrysler my father had rented while our car was in the shop. “Why does it say that, Daddy? It’s not a jar, it’s a door!” Daddy explained, and the incident has stayed in my mind ever since.

I recall being very upset when…

I think the main stumbling block of the Bolt and Volt is the brand incongruity. Eco-friendly sorts don’t fit the “buy domestic” profile. Tesla solved that by A) being a disruptive newcomer with no brand baggage, and B) making a high-performance, premium product that attracts status-seeking early adopters rather than…

I think the main stumbling block of the Bolt and Volt is the brand incongruity. Eco-friendly sorts don’t fit the “buy domestic” profile. Tesla solved that by A) being a disruptive newcomer with no brand baggage, and B) making a high-performance, premium product that attracts status-seeking early adopters rather than…

These cars have aged very poorly. Here in South Korea, they were once driven by upper management sorts but are now essentially worthless junkers. I occasionally ride in them - the plastics are usually in bad shape, steering and suspension shot, etc. Point is, your part shortage is probably caused by the fact that even…

I don’t think they were consciously copying Lincoln. I was in Korea at the time, and it was very cut off from foreign products and global trends. I knew a couple of Korean automobile designers educated at the most prestigious local schools, but they had no sense of history - I introduced them to groundbreaking designs…

One can pay just a little more and get a much better car: $6,000 will get you a circa 2005 BMW or Audi.

It’s totally the show. As a San Antonian, the first thing that came to mind when I heard “Waco” was David Koresh and the Branch Davidian siege (“Wacko in Waco,” we used to say).
Now I live across the globe in South Korea, and there is an international community of people here going, “Wow, Waco is beautiful and the…

So is the new KDM Hyundai Grandeur coming to the U.S.? They’ve been quite popular here in Korea, most likely because they look like a budget Infiniti Q50.

It’s totally “dandyism” misspelled. I’ve lived in the region for 15 years and have been coming here since the late 90s, and I can remember when “dandy” was a thing in Japan and Korea. It never had negative connotations.

Buying a car private party from a car aficionado is also a good way to go, particularly if the car is visibly in pristine shape. Meanwhile, aftermarket modifications often indicate that the car may have been driven hard. I look for the fastidious purist car lover, not the “2 Fast 2 Furious” car lover. (For example,…

While we have hearings and lay out guidelines and mull things over, countries like China and Korea will just do it. Their governments will consider it a vital matter of strategic and economic importance, so they will work together with automakers to get it done urgently.

This is another area in which autocratic China and socialist Europe will leave the U.S. behind: “Given how much vehicles cost and how long they last – more than 20 percent of cars on the road today were produced before 2002 – vehicles equipped with Level 5 systems will likely not be a majority of the fleet for three…

I would buy a 2011 BMW 528i for $15,000. It has everything you’d want in a car - prestige, driving pleasure, technology, build quality, price - and it looks so similar to the new generation that an average Joe wouldn’t notice the difference. As with any used car, several grand more should be earmarked for maintenance…