My wife and I chose a Civic hatch over the new CR-V. Same passenger seating area, but we gave up some cargo area for the extra MPGs. My mom has a 2018 CR-V that she’s lucky to break low 30s on the highway, whereas we took a trip up Virginia’s eastern shore last summer and were able to average 49 MPGs. It also didn’t…

I’m going to say, I actually enjoy driving my wife’s 2017 Civic hatch with the CVT more than I did my FR-S 6MT when I had it. The Civic handles great for FWD and has way more torque, so it comes off the corner smoother at lower RPM. My wife drove the car for nearly a year before I showed her what happens by turning…

My wife wants a CUV or smaller truck, but we’ve almost halfway through the payments on our Civic and I can’t bring myself to add on that extra debt for the few times a year we need a truck. Luckily for, me my dad lives 10 miles away and has a newer Sierra 4x4 I can borrow anytime so I don’t need to rent a truck unless…

I think that mostly depends on the dealership group. This one constantly has high turnover, whereas the Audi and Mercedes teams are more veteran. In my area it seams like the luxury makes, along with Honda and Toyota keep people longer, whereas the American makes and especially Nissan are constantly changing. I do…

They need to do concierge service, because I’ve never been to a Hyundai dealer with any kind of waiting area that would be comfortable for more than 15 minutes. Separating the brand into different dealers would have been a smart move, I know quite a few people who chose an A6 or E Class over a G80 because they didn’t…

My wife and I have agreed we can go up to a CR-V or RAV4 when we have 2 kids and her salary goes up enough to offset the difference in monthly payments. The problem won’t be needing room for the kids as much as it is space for her work stuff. She has to carry prosthetic legs to hospitals and PT offices so with two car…

Right? I love the new design language, but even an Explorer is out of my price range. Between mortgage and student debt for the wife, we’ll be lucky to afford anything over $30k in the next 10 years unless we want to live paycheck to paycheck. I don’t know how my friends do it, but they have kids and automatically buy…

I work for a large insurer in Virginia. We don’t have language in our policy (at least as of last summer when I last wrote a claim for off roading) explicitly stating off roading damage isn’t covered, so we’d be acting in bad faith if we denied a claim for a vehicle being used for its “intended purpose”, which the…

Not necessarily. It’s definitley lacking in the torque dept and the gearing was more set for driving on curvy roads. Going up to the mountains for a day was nice since keeping it in 3rd/4th gear had you around 6000-7000 RPM and right on the edge of the speed limit. To autocross I’d probably have to keep it in 2nd gear…

I did a slalom course with my 89 Prelude Si back in 2006, but nothing since. The most fun I get to have now is driving random rental cars in the snow when I visit wife’s family for Thanksgiving. 

SRS systems work off the rate of deceleration. The car may have only been going 19 MPH, but in a spin if your wheel clips a curb or pothole, that outside force is what triggers the deployment. Most vehicles only have 6 sensors, and depending upon the vehicles movement during that sudden deceleration, that’s what…

Can anyone really explain why, after 100+ years of automotive paint, we can’t match exterior colors on different substrates? I point it out to my insurance customers daily, that the paint on their composite bumper cover doesn’t match 100% to the metal fender or quarter panel it attaches to. Pearl whites are especially…

My uncle is a college professor and does a lot of consultant work for OEMs regarding seatbelts and ergonomics. When I was getting ready to enter high school in the early 2000s I asked him for advice on how to become a car designer since he was doing a lot of work with Holden engineers and designers. He promptly told…

Depending on the manufacturer the wiring to the whole car could be different for HID/LED lamps vs halogen. I know for Honda you can get a separate wire harness for the from lamps, but Hyundai for example, is one harness for the entire engine bay to the firewall.

Can you change oil yourself, or at an independent shop easily? I was shocked, a coworker got a 2018 Passat for his company car and had to drive nearly an hour away for his regular maintenance. Apparently our fleet coordinator couldn’t find a garage that could do all the required maintenance except the dealer;…

When I was in elementary school in the mid 90s this was pretty common. We even had designated tables so you could invite 8 of your friends over and everyone could still socialize. My mom and dad would alternate which month they came, mom always brought lunch, but dad would eat the same thing the rest of us did. Mostly…

I just turned 29 and I still wear the same pair of Nike shorts I wore for tennis in high school as my “around the house” wear. That and a hoody for a local surf shop I got in 2003ish... I’ve always been a lot “older” than my friends, as seen by my lack of buying new clothes and going to bed at 9pm. I got a nice job…

I rented a Cruze to travel from Chicago to St Louis right when the redesign took place. Granted 15ish hours in a rental isn’t the best way to measure, but I found it to be much nicer than my 2014 Cruze LS I drive for work. I’m pleased with our Civic so far, but since we’ve moved back to the east coast my wife is…

I’d say the Cruze hatchback is arguably better than the Corolla, and maybe the Civic hatchback too. My wife and I almost purchased a 17 Cruze hatchback Preimere when it would have been roughly $1000 less than a Civic EX. So top trim Chevy was cheaper than mid trim Honda. I convinced my wife to go with the Honda…

Exactly. GMs whole thing on Monday was to position itself to make more of the cars people are buying and cut the ones that they aren’t. Small cars are still sold in other markets and small engine development is still ongoing, so they’re not dead in the water if gas prices go up. Fords doing the same thing, but FCA may…