I’m partial to a MK4 VW TDI. Very easy car to learn with a manual given its inherent low end torque and medium friction point of the clutch. Not sure how well these have held up overtime but mine’s doing quite well with 325K miles on it. I just have to switch the ECM back to stock every other year for an…

I was just about to say the same thing. I like to add my celery last as I try to keep its crunch (but cooked) texture. The celery leaves makes a nice garnish for crawfish etouffee either left whole or minced. My late uncle and aunt lived in Lafayette, La and I very fond memories of all the crawfish/crab boils at…

Well this should surprise no one. Tesla has their own level 3 charging infrastructure spread across the US with real-time stall availability. Our old 2013 S85 can recharge at a peak rate of 128kW, while our 2013 Fiat 500e recharges at a peak rate of 6.6kW (not level 3 capable). Despite this disparity our Tesla has…

Well I’ve never been in a life-threatening disaster where I needed to escape so I will try and be sensitive to that. Our old 2013 Tesla Model S is good for at least 200 miles at highway speeds before we need a quick level 3 recharge; my wife use to make her 55 mile commute to her office from Newport Beach to Downtown…

I had a very similar experience years after getting my driver license. Full size van was stopped at an intersection that just turned green. I was rolling through at 20mph and there was a pedestrian who must have started walking on a blinking red pedestrian signal cuz they were only 20% across by the time my light…

Yes zero Z8 owners I know complained about the window controls…but I don’t know any Z8 owners…apparently there were only 2,543 sold in the US. Seriously though, I usually put both my front windows up and down at the same time in my non-convertible cars about 20% of the time. Most of the time only one of my windows…

Musk’s MO is that the customers are perpetual beta testers. 

Half an hour? I’ve been convinced that 10 minutes was all I needed in my kamado grill. I also recently learned to stop soaking my smoking wood chunks too and to let the first few minutes of smoke clear before placing my food on the grill...it tastes better by being less bitter and almost acrid.  Can’t believe I was…

Burnout 3: Takedown was so much fun on my brother-in-law’s PS2.  I bought Burnout Paradise and was completely letdown in comparison.  However, I will say that I started driving like a maniac shortly after playing the game and had to psych myself down before hitting the road.  Luckily I was driving a moderately…

Well that’s good. I was driving from OC to the Hollywood and couldn’t help but realize how horrible the traffic was during conventionally non-rush hour and remember how horrible the Metro has become with tweakers, homeless, mentally ill, and assaulters. Folks won’t take public transit if they don’t feel safe and…

I don’t know about that...I’m a pretty heavy breather. /s

I’ve been a Kyle Busch fan for years and believe a lot of his success came from his pit crew beating the average stop by over 1 second for years. Huge advantage on green flag stops and even bigger on cautions when you literally gain positions out of the gate.

Generally I think going all-in is a bit much. Perhaps swap half the fleet just in case there’s either an unforeseen problem or ICE proofs to be better suited in future scenarios. But the performance, comfort, ease of maintenance, and low carbon footprint while in service is a huge difference.

Generally I’d say anything that reduces the driving experience, safety, and/or increases the production/replacement cost beyond the old design. So I’m not in favor of:

You’ll also want to clean up the oil residue before it becomes grimy with dirt.  I learned about using fresh oil as means to clean up grimy old oil/dirt when I experimented with biodiesel.  Now I have a squeaky clean stainless steel range hood.

Not sure if you’re being sarcastic or not, but I’d get behind a nationalization of the rail system for the People. It’s pretty wild that our rail system is structured from a pre-Civil war perspective where tycoons and magnates ruled for decades. Now it’s taken on the form of corporations who lack oversight and…

I would love to see automakers make cars more affordable, cheaper to repair, and more durable. Not sure why every car has to have low-profile rubber band tires that pop and bent the rims at the very sight of a pothole, or painted plastic bumper covers that have $5K of fancy headlamps, solenoids, rheostats, ultrasonic…

Are you familiar with the DMV area? It’s pretty crazy over there. It’s like 96% order and 4% absolute mayhem.  Individuals find all kinds of ways to dart ahead and evade the herd 

Very scary from the rider’s 120mph+ perspective. Glad everyone walked away and I guess it shows it’s not just air traffic controllers that are having communication errors (doesn’t make anyone feel better, I’m sure). Seems like better protocols should be in order like flagging, loudspeaker announcements, and confirming …

Always great to see an article confirm what we were all feeling long ago. On a side note, my wife and I say we hope our first Tesla will be our last Tesla so long as Musk is part of the company and continuing his antics.