BMW in the US has been performing this passive aggressive ploy for years. In Europe autos have been typically at additional charge. “Sure you can have the manual at no charge”, but as soon as it hits the street as used car it suffers an immediate penalty - automatic transmissions are valued higher. Oddly enough…

When air bags were first introduced it was commonly held that they would remain expensive and existing dealer mechanics would not be able to service. Now even cheap cars have them everywhere and replacing them is no longer seen as a risk. To assume that autonomous driving hardware will go down the same economic and…

Production dashes need permanent tooling to be built. Permanent tooling is made with hardened steel that is shaped with plunge EDM machines. If you want to get a future look at automotive interiors you just have to go to the small number of EDM shops who do most of the automotive work for all manufacturers…

The buying experience is far better for the Porsche than any other competing brands. Porsche treats its customers the same the world over. They provide options that Porsche deems important and they hope customers will agree. In 2011 they had 3 separate carbon brake options for the Base, the S and the GTS. I can’t…

Remove it with Windex and dental floss. Works better across the sharpest curve. Squirt Windex underneath, pull out a good measure of floss, in a sawing action get the floss under the edge, pull up on device as air leaks out. Leave device at the scene unharmed and cleaner than you found it. A tapered line used on…

Now we know why Audi was such an ass with respect to the availability of manual transmissions: they didn’t have a method to cheat the EPA.

There was a time when Toyota had a sports version for nearly every model. Pricewise they would be in the middle of the lineup. The constituent sport components was typically a standard manual transmission, with upgraded steering wheel, shocks, alloy wheels and tires. Worldwide, Toyota has a deep bench when it comes…

History frowns on European cars designed for the American market. The Bug short of lighting requirements was brought over as is and was wildly successful. Despite the stupid name the Rabbit was successful when European built. VW then felt compelled to build an American version in America and truly screwed the…

Assuming it could work if properly installed and calibrated where could you get the work done? Moreover the likely installers would be the guys in mobile electronics. Good luck on those guys getting any liability insurance. Also the states would soon wade in with training, testing and insurance requirements. This…

Agreed. One of the most important things you have to have is a way to accurately assess the condition of the battery. You have to know exactly what the range is on the newly charged battery. Perhaps the ultimate answer is to lease the batteries. The batteries will maintain a complete history detailing the user and…

F1 intends to migrate tire designs to larger wheels and lower profile designs at the behest of tire manufacturers. The move is not a technical improvement but an attempt to make F1 tires look more like what high performance cars are equipped with. As it is in most forms of motorsport the wheels are small and the…

Evidently no one at Fitch has never been to Texas. First of all nearly half of all Texan sales are pickups, large SUV’s and off road vehicles such as Jeeps. Good luck on developing an electric alternative to these vehicles. I regularly go to our condo in Vail. Two thirds of the trip is the 716 miles to get out of…

This doesn’t seem to hard. All of you journos have a vested interested in sharing the mpg figures with your readers right? During one of these boondoggles why don’t all of you get together and pinky swear to each other to limit your individual reviews just to cosmetics and avoid any mention of performance. Each…

74mph is the speed at impact accompanied by “shitttt”. I bet the car was driving 95+. At that speed you can drop 20mph with a hard stab at the brakes. Conscious drivers flying at 74mph have few fatalities as they can quickly burn off a lot of speed before impact. Those driving 95mph have little margin for error.

Keep the windshield the same; why add minvan elements that don’t add space? For the rear use front hinged doors which are cheaper, easier to install, you avoid the need for electrical actuators and front hinging will make access to the rear much easier. Tesla’s low floor coupled with a Magic Seat license from Honda…

The original inventor of the GFI didn’t have much selling the product until he used his own daughter in demonstrations held a industry exhibitions. Once show goers saw that it really worked when it had too the concept was adopted and the rest was history.

Costco now has a 55" LG OLED for $1999. Why not buy the best? I just installed a 78" Samsung curved and it is still tempting. One thing, it is so good that it can reveal how much compression the program suppliers (as in all of them) are compressing the content. The demo materials do show what it can do but don’t…

Costco now has a 55" LG OLED for $1999. Why not buy the best? I just installed a 78" Samsung curved and it is still…

You beat me to it. We have 3 Panasonic Toasters and they all work great. They have a frozen setting useful to bachelors who keep a frozen loaf of bread in the freezer. Press “frozen” and set your toaster setting and it is toasted perfectly. It’s a miracle.

You beat me to it. We have 3 Panasonic Toasters and they all work great. They have a frozen setting useful to…

Anyone who can’t see the artistic majesty of womens beach volleyball must be gay... not that there is anything wrong with that.

I’ve read that the passenger door was also an option. If you don’t have a seat why get the door?