The bikes don’t actually come out of the factory that loud. Months ago I got to test Harley’s King of the Baggers roadgoing specials and they were quieter than some of the stock metric bikes that I’ve owned and tested. It was the same deal when I rode a friend’s Harley trike (I was curious). With the stock exhaust… Read more
Mercedes Streeter
smart
Staff Writer at Jalopnik, learning pilot and does bus stuff. Smart Fortwo (x4), Honda Beat, Suzuki Every, VW Touareg V10, Passat TDI, Jetta TDI, Audi TT, Buell Lightning, Triumph Tiger, Genuine Stella
Oh man, the acceleration of that thing is probably best described as “gradual.” Read more
The Montana title is a trick used to avoid sales taxes on expensive cars. Basically, the owner set up an LLC in Montana, registered the truck to the LLC, and avoided paying sales tax on $400k of truck in their actual state. Read more
I somehow missed this comment all those months ago! I do not need my hazards to merge onto a highway. Read more
The list of Smart-loving stars has always been somewhat interesting. Shaq loves Smarts so much that he’s had more than one of them. I’ve forgotten that Hamilton has one! Read more
It was the other way around. Ford imported Transits as wagons with passenger seating to avoid a 25% tariff. Then, once the feds were looking the other way the passenger seats got tossed out.
1993 Ford Festiva.
Illinois can be decent if you stay off of the highways. Take backroads (or Route 66) and you’ll see some history, great little hole-in-the-wall eateries, and great cars. Read more
Sadly, you are right. Back in early 2020, Geico left me stranded on the side of an interstate in rural PA after I got a flat tire on a motorcycle I bought. Read more
After having driven thousands of miles in the future wife’s Prius, I have come to greatly respect the thing. In fact, I’ll even call it an enthusiast car. Read more
Weirdly, none of the ID.4s that I’ve driven (both RWD and AWD) were as frustrating as Cammisa’s experience. The infotainment was slow, laggy, and unintuitive, but the windows were fine, the doors opened when the handles were pulled, and the assistance systems didn’t freak out. Read more
Extremely helpful words from my lawyer/wife regarding things that are illegal: Read more
I have no idea if you’ll ever get this notification (Kinja!!!!!) but thank you. Read more
Now hear me out: Volkswagen Jetta TDI. Read more
One thing to note is that if you end up in a situation where your car is floating (and thus sinking) every second counts. Forget ten minutes, if you’re real unlucky, your car can be fully submerged in less than a minute. And a sedan might take around three or four on a good day. Your best bet is to waste no time in… Read more
Keep in mind that those are reported sexual assaults. It’s well known that a number of sexual assaults never get reported. So your 1:384,000 is just the baseline. And that doesn’t even consider other awful behavior... Read more
OH! I forgot to say, but freaking good picks this week!
Cranking but not starting with a Smart will sometimes either be an issue with the immobilizer not disabling or perhaps a bad fuel pump. Given that car’s mileage and cosmetic condition, I’m leaning fuel pump. Easy test: shoot some fire-make-it-happener down its throat and step back. Read more
I recently saw a Rivian for the first time on the road. Of course, I happened to be near the Rivian plant at the time, so...yeah. But wowie, these look even cooler in person than online. Read more
I saw one with the same mileage, but silver, in Indiana a few months ago. It was half of the price. Read more