Honda and Toyota separately announced new measures in attempts to cope with possible shortages of car parts as Japan recovers from the earthquake and tsunami disasters.
Honda Motors said that starting today, its North American plants will temporarily slow Honda and Acura vehicle production. While 80 percent of its cars sold in North America are [...]
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Ford is trying something different by offering a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 as an engine upgrade in their full-sized F-150 pickup truck. On the surface, it would appear that Ford has got a tough sell. After all, a V8 has familiar appeal to traditional pickup truck buyers. But Ford is putting its marketing muscle behind the [...]
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Men are more likely than women to mistrust and disobey directions from a global positioning system, a survey of motorists in the United Kingdom found. While 83 percent of male drivers regularly rebel against the navigation advice of their GPS devices, less than 75 percent of women reported that they disregard GPS directions.
More than half [...]
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During the recession, motorists have cut back on their car insurance policies, according to a new report, thereby saving money, while assuming great financial risks. The study by analytics firm Quality Planning found that the rate of people opting out of collision and comprehensive insurance rose from 2006-2010, especially in those cars 10 years and [...]
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In a recent blog, we noted that due to the disaster in Japan, new small cars are susceptible to higher demand-driven prices due to elevated gasoline prices and constraints in production due to the shutdown of many Japanese plants. If you are having trouble securing that new small, fuel-efficient new car, you may want to [...]
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And now for something completely different from Lexus… The Lexus website says that the CT 200h is “unlike any hybrid you have ever known,” but this rather small hatchback explores new territory for the brand, as well. Well-known for their posh and isolating sedans and SUVs, the CT 200h instead aims to be sporty to [...]
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Better Place, the Israeli/Californian EV infrastructure start-up, has just opened its first battery swap station in Israel. (An experimental facility currently operates in Japan, serving a fleet of electric taxis.) The Better Place facility is one of 40 such stations the company plans to deploy throughout the country.
The battery-swap process is fully automated, kind of [...]
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Just as NCAA March Madness has seen college basketball teams fall out in the pulse-pounding, bracket-based competition, several automakers were voted from the Consumer Reports’ Moto Madness drivers’ choice challenge in the latest round. The people have voted, cutting the eight quarterfinalists down to four vehicles motoring on to the semifinals. It is time to [...]
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Like many of our readers who own 2011 Hyundai Sonatas, we’ve taken our Sonata Turbo back to the dealership multiple times to fix an issue that causes the car to drift to the left, particularly on the highway. And like many of our readers, we’re still not satisfied with Hyundai’s fix; our car still drifts [...]
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It’s been a tough winter for much of the country. Record snowfall in some areas and tight municipal budgets have made it tough for many of our communities to keep our highways and byways passable.
Unfortunately, the relentless cold weather has resulted in potholes, which have been popping up in what might seem like record numbers. [...]
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