Hyundai is guilty of this as well. 2019 Santa Fe the hood comes back far enough you can only move the wipers about an inch from the windscreen. Reading the comments, I had no idea this was a thing and that they have “service positions”... good to know, my wife drives it and we get snow once a year so it’s her problem…

I remember getting my very first new car in 2008, just as gas hit $4 in VA. Was great having a $350 month payment and $60 to fill the tank every 350 miles...

I’m in the same boat. My car is my office and a normal day could be 100+ miles round trip, on top of the fuel used sitting and working. Unless my company changes their productivity goals, hybrids are as far as we’re going in the next decade, and we’ve been pretty progressive with our fleet. As for a personal car, my…

During “Snowmagedon” that crippled the DC area in December 2009, I was driving I66 E towards the city, trying to get from my girlfriends dorm to the hotel where her family was staying. They were picking her up to start winter break, they’re from Buffalo, NY and didn’t have issues with the snow. VDOT did a good job…

To be fair, in my personal experience it’s far more dangerous riding on a mixed use trail than on the road. More cyclists obviously die from a collision with a car, but I’ve had way more runners/walkers/weirdos just step out in front of me with no time to react compared to cars. I actually felt safer riding on the…

Your assumption is basically correct, but each state is a bit different so it may vary in some areas. In the states I’ve been licensed in one repair costs exceed 75% or 80% of Actual Cash Value (ACV), thats when a vehicle is a total loss. Doesn’t matter if it’s a lease, car you own outright, or car with a loan, ACV is…

9 years seems acceptable to see staining, but I’ve seen Ford and Volvo that are less than 2 years old with it. I hope Volvo fixed it, I remember seeing a huge blue stain on the left bolster of the drivers seat in a 2018 XC90 with less than 4K miles. Now how much of that is fancy designer jeans leaching vs poor…

It depends of a lot of factors. Also the question can have a lot of answers based on how you interpret “handle” an accident. From my perspective, all new cars for sale in US will hold up well in a reasonable collision, say 40 MPH or less. Much above that you’re lucky to just be injured since the average human body can…

I’m of the same opinion. I handle insurance claims, so looking at cars all day, I’m able to see what cars hold up in real life situations. I’ve yet to see imitation leather that appears to withstand any decent amount of time. Some are better than others, usually from more mainstream brands, but Ford and Volvo have…

It’ll definitely be GM. They’ll still have “low” volume HD fleet sales that necessitate old school V8s like you said. I also think the Corvette will continue to have a V8, at least in Z06 and ZR1 trim until they’re forced to go all electric. I can see the base Vette going electric or TT V6, but I wouldn’t put it past…

I dreamed of working at GM s as a designer when I was younger. I was in 9th grade when my uncle told that it was highly unlikely I’d ever design more than a door handle. He was a consultant for Holden at the time and heading up SRS implementation on the ZETA platform, so he was working hand in hand with the design…

This or the Pontiac Aztec. Mid 2000s soft roaders with gray cladding will always have a very fond spot in my heart.

I bought my first brand new car right out of high school a few months before the Great Recession hit. I remember setting a budget of $16k and having lots of options. While those cars had manual windows and locks, and accounting for inflation you’re getting way more car for your money, the reality is not many 18 year…

My 2012 FR-S. Bought it, loved it, then within 2 months I got relocated for work. My commute consisted of 1+ hours of stop and go traffic each way, all on very hilly terrain. It got real old, real fast, having to keep working the clutch in my work shoes. I finally started wearing sneakers during the commute, but still…

I mentioned it a few days ago on a Reddit post about this, I think RB keeps him because he knows the car. Max can wring spreed out of almost anything, I think he’s way over performing in the current car. If Alex can give meaningful input and manage the car, why replace him with someone unfamiliar with the car? Why…

We joke, but I see so many of these on the road. Definitely there is a “type” of owner for these things.

Many OEMs do this, it’s quite common now. If you can’t demonstrate your knowledge and tooling to be able to perform a proper repair through an OEM repair certification then they won’t sell you the parts. Cadillac does this with all their aluminum and UHSS parts, Audi only has certain shops that can do structural…

GM is getting bad about this. They have non-serviceable UHSS floor pans that are flanged onto the inner rocker panel. So what used to be a easily sectionable rock and HSS inner structure replacement is now a total loss because GM says you can’t repair that floor flange where it got crimped in the accident. I’ve been…

Yup, Copart and IAA sell our salvage vehicles. Part of my job is figuring out that math to make the claim cost the least amount possible. Sometimes it’s better for us to deem a car a total loss because we’ll get enough money selling the salvage vehicle to basically pay out less on the claim than we would just fixing…