YouTube is a godsend. Short of actually having a mechanic stand next to you while you operate on your vehicle, it’s a far cry from the days of Chilton manuals or even forums. Plus you can see what tools they’re using. And then you can see if your local parts store has what you need, or even browse inventory at local…

20 years of being a daily taxi for a mother who, at least according to the amount of times she critiqued my driving, was herself the world’s greatest driver. Despite the fact that the last time she’d driven a car, she was 17 and put a Ford Pinto into a creek upside down.

I miss you, Mom, but I do not miss the side-seat…

Also drive minivan. Can confirm.

When I was 17, I slid in some gravel and put my Dodge Shadow into a ditch. It didn’t appear to have caused any damage, so I called a tow truck and went on my merry way. A month later, I was driving on a highway with my mom and we’d started hearing a squeaking sound. Suddenly, there was a ‘pop’ and the rear end started…

I had a 1999 Mercury Sable wagon. It was a large wagon (9 inches longer than a Ford Scorpio estate from the same year) and even had rear-facing jump seats. It nice nice fat 205/65R15 tires but ground clearance wasn’t great. Still, it could swallow cargo like nothing else until I got my van.

You’re probably aware of anot…

The “big” issue here in the states is the escalation issue. We have a combination of wide-open spaces, wide roads, relatively cheap gas, and having to share the roads with millions of pickup trucks and massive tractor trailers. Not to mention our garbage infrastructure and crazy weather. Even where I live, which is…

I did my part:

I’m not advocating “coddling” your kids, but you can get them a 2013 Hyundai Elantra or Kia Soul or some other small boring sedan/CUV that has multiple air bags, backup cameras, crumple zones, stability control, and all the other advances in safety that will protect them while they figure out driving. Keeping your kid…

I go to church with a couple of doctors and they’re all very pragmatic about their vehicles. Granted, yes, one of them drives a GMC Yukon Denali, but it’s an older model and he does actual towing, light farming, etc. It’s a rural area, so most of these doctors have large plots of land and require at least a full-size…

You can still work on modern vehicles, but I think the bigger issue is that old-school mechanics don’t want to because they don’t want to learn. Many engine and suspension components still take wrenches to fix. Also, newer cars don’t need fixed as often. A car from 1993 - or even 2003 - hits 100K miles, everything…

Modern large vehicles are very safe, but because they combine acres of metal with crumple zones and other techniques shared with most modern vehicles regardless of size. But a late-model small CUV is going to be lightyears safer in a collision than even a full-size SUV from, say, 20 years ago.

I said this in my own post - don’t worry about your teen being a good driver. They won’t be, not for a long time. Worry about them being a safe driver. You’re not just protecting them from themselves, but from everyone else on the road. Learning all of the unwritten rules, quirks of infrastructure, vehicle abilities -…

Chicks dig bench seats.

Anything other than a lightly-used sedan or small CUV made between 2010 and now.

No “specialty” vehicles. No sports cars, sport compacts, off-road-focused SUVs. They will wreck it. “But I taught them how to—” Nope, stop right there. They will wreck it. Listen to my words. It’s not a question of if, nor a judgement on…

Neutral: A while back, my TPMS light came on as soon as it started getting cold. No big whoop, I just checked tire pressures, brought them up a bit, and the light went away. Next cold snap (below freezing), light came back on. This time, the tire pressures showed OK. Now, my van has a finicky TPMS that doesn’t have…

When I bought the van, the only people who sat in the back on a regular basis were my kid in a car seat, and two wheelchair-bound parents. My SIL still sometimes rides in the back, but she’s not complained about comfort. But it’s certainly no high-end SUV back there. My main consideration for going with Stow N Go was…

One of the reasons why Chrysler’s Stow ‘n’ Go systems is such a great feature. Underfloor storage when the seats are up, flat load floor big enough for an 8' x 4' sheet of plywood when down. Unfortunately, that’s not doable with vans like the Sienna - and the Pacifica - going hybrid. Even having to remove seats is a…

The Midwest/Appalachia is littered with unfinished roads and half-ass “improvements” due to the boom/bust cycle of our economies:

Bonus points if your cousin works at the local DMV (like mine does).

“Eh, we’ll just ignore those fees today.”

Dodge Schadenfreude.