How did ugly massive grills become something manufacturers thought we wanted? I’ve said, autos should look happy, like the original Neon. Interestingly, the new Fiat 600e looks like a tall Neon.

How did ugly massive grills become something manufacturers thought we wanted? I’ve said, autos should look happy, like the original Neon. Interestingly, the new Fiat 600e looks like a tall Neon.

It’s not just the bling. Twenty years ago, I said to my mechanic, the industry is using complexity as a problem solving tool to declining marginal rate of return, that is, it’s costing more more and producing less and less improvement. BEVs could actually be less complex. Case in point, the Citroen OLI concept car,…

The problem was not the car. It was Edelman. He was a danger to other people on the road. How did he drive to get “no miles per gallon?” Using the throttle as an on-off switch? We averaged 34 mpg in our 2001, which I drove to 240,000 miles in northern Minnesota, land of salt and snow. Granted it was a 5-speed manual,…

The problem was not the car. It was Edelman. He was a danger to other people on the road. How did he drive to get “no miles per gallon?” Using the throttle as an on-off switch? We averaged 34 mpg in our 2001, which I drove to 240,000 miles in northern Minnesota, land of salt, snow, and 40 below. Granted it was a…

What is happening was very predictable. The market for high end cars is small and is now saturated. By chasing high profits, manufacturers have put themselves into the position of not developing or having vehicles that meet the incomes of the majority of their buyers. Up next will be a cash flow crunch, as not enough…

What is happening was very predictable. The market for high end cars is small and is now saturated. By chasing high profits, manufacturers have put themselves into the position of not developing or having vehicles that meet the incomes of the majority of their buyers. Up next will be a cash flow crunch, as not enough…

I’m 74, and I’ve never owned a new car. Most of the time I’ve paid cash for older cars that don’t look cosmetically good but are reliable. New car prices have gone up 25% in three years, which in turn have driven used car prices up 50%. This is unsustainable. The early adopter and high earner market is rapidly…

Autonomous vehicles won’t be accident free. They’ll just make different accidents than human drivers do. I really don’t see how a driverless car could handle a northern gravel road in winter. We’ll find out how well they work since a number of them will be running in Grand Rapids, MN this winter, but they plan to stay…

Florida is built on coral and porous limestone. It’s not like the hard rock of Japan and east Asia. The substrate of Florida is like a sponge.

Entry from the back would require major redesign and there probably wouldn’t be enough clearance for wheel chair and person. It’s a small vehicle. I blew out my knee a week ago, and for the first time in my 74 years I was immobalized, but with crutches and a rigid leg brace I was able to reorganize my life. People in…

Most people don’t want aggressive. They want an appliance. That’s Toyota’s passage to success. I laugh at all the adds with street cars racing off road and not a speck of dirt on them. My minivan goes on worse roads than 90% of AWD cars.

The new Fiat 600 is the one that should be brought over. It’s got the first friendly car face since the Neon, which it, ironically, most closely matches. The Fiat 600 is a vertical Neon, and it should be sold here as the Dodge Neon, not as a Fiat. We drove a Neon to 240,000 miles and then switched over to a PT Cruiser…

The 2CV is the greatest car design of all time. It does the most with the least. Jan Myrdal drove a 12 hp 2CV from Sweden to India in 1959, lots of it off road. The most important speed increase is from walking pace to 30 mph. That’s an order of magnitude, one that the 2V could accomplish with ease. To go from 30 to…

A manual PT Cruiser. It’s a minivan, really, with a very functional interior. The manual version got far better gas mileage than the automatics. If she goes off to college, she can haul all her stuff in it. And it will cost you far less than $15,000, and she can keep the extra for other expenses she’ll have. I drove…

When I was farming, I used a Dodge Caravan instead of a pickup because most of the time it was more practical. I did have a long-frame one-ton dually with hoist for heavier work. I’ve also used a PT Cruiser as a pickup. With its solid rear axle, huge tailgate, and versatile interior it could haul a lot of heavy stuff.…

Auto manufacturers and house builders have learned the same wrong lesson from the mid-2000s financial collapse — that the only things worth building are high profit products. That will work up to a point of diminishing returns, as more and more producers chase fewer and fewer buyers. The result, before collapse, is…

Not surprising. Toyota was early on electrification but not on full electrification. The same reason people bought Toyota in the first place is why they’re leaving. The other thing is this obsession with sedans. People like taller cars for better visibility and ease of entry and exit, no matter what you call them.…

Dawn dish soap is a great surfactant. It has “tons” of uses. Moving heavy objects with simple tools is something riggers and millwrights do frequently. I’ve moved a 10 ton machine by myself with just a pinch bar, like railroad crews use to move a rail car.

So the Bolt is going to be replaced with heavier more expensive vehicles. This is the wrong way to go to decarbonize transportation for two reasons: it requires more batteries with their weight and use of rare raw materials, and it will increase the cost of entry level BEVs from GM. The decision to eliminate Bolt…