You’re a gearhead. You know to chuckle knowingly and condescendingly when some dumbass refers to the “V4" in their Honda Civic. You know your stuff. You know what a flat engine is, too. It’s an opposed-piston engine, right? Sometimes they’re called boxer engines, like what Porsche and Subaru use. Same thing, right?…
If you’re like most people, you spend most of your nights awake, pacing your home, a quivering, sobbing, obscenity-shrieking wreck because you can’t stop wondering just how the cargo capacity of automobile trunks are measured. That’s why I’m happy to tell you there’s an answer, and that answer involves eight very…
Drag racing seems simple at first, but the more you look into the sport where whoever crosses the finish line before the other wins, the more complicated and fascinating it becomes. One such example is called “spindle stagger,” or why top cars in drag racing don’t have front wheels that line up exactly.
Today’s carmakers are thrilled with all of the new features they can integrate into their digital dashboards but all I can think of is how Toyota put a working TV right in front of your face all the way back in the Bubble Era. Well, not in front of your face exactly.
Here’s the story: a man owns a Fiat Tempra, but finds that the car just isn’t running as well as it should be. Something’s clearly up, so he decides to investigate and give the engine a thorough looking-over. Eventually, he removes the head from the engine and discovers three normal, metal-alloy pistons, happily…
With the increasing popularity of hybrid and electric cars, the number of cars that you can buy with two independent motors capable of turning some kind of energy into spinning tires has increased dramatically. Even so, all of these current multiple-powerplant vehicles owe thanks to the addition of electric motors. If…
We live in exciting times: The new Nissan Altima is replacing its big 3.5-liter V6 for a 2.5-liter four, and it’s making up the difference not just with a turbo but also with a 2.0-liter variable compression engine.
Now, I know that as humans we’re bipedal, but when we’re in a car, driving, we’re really being true quadrapeds. All four of our ropy, mammalian limbs are in use. And, in an automatic, its’s just three limbs, which means one limb is just being lazy. There’s a lot to control in a car–should we be giving more for that…
Police in Tempe, Arizona, have released video of a fatal crash involving an Uber-owned self-driving car that fatally struck a woman on Sunday. The clip includes footage from two cameras attached to Uber’s Volvo, and shows the car’s safety driver looking away moments before the collision. The victim, contrary to…
Last night, my coworker Raphael Orlove and I went down to the neighborhood bar for a spot of traditional pub trivia. The kindly quizmaster queried as to who invented the odometer. It doesn’t matter what we responded with, because the “correct” answer—given as Benjamin Franklin—was WRONG. This is a pernicious myth that…
Some cars have too many gears, like Ford’s new(ish) 10-speed automatic transmission, which it drops into Mustangs and F-150s. I think we can all agree that’s too many gears. What is the correct amount of gears? After extensive testing, I have determined the answer.
Do you wish gasoline—all gasolines—had more octane, here in America? Do you believe that it’s the peoples’ right to fill their cars up with a potent brew of at least 95 RON octane? If so, you should probably hang out with GM Vice President of Global Propulsion systems Dan Nicholson, because I can tell you two will get…
It’s sort of a glum Monday afternoon across the world, so let’s inject a little excitement into your day. Let’s play Guess That Engine! I have a good one for you here today, an engine I happened to encounter last week.
In December 2006, Colorado was buried by two consecutive blizzards, which came to be known as the “Holiday Blizzards of 2006.” I was unaware of the coming historic snowstorms, even as I motored my way up and over Raton Pass behind the wheel of my canary yellow, 1982 Toyota Corolla-Tercel two-door sedan. As the snow…
See that picture up there? It may just look like two starters, one old, one new—and, fundamentally, that’s just what it is. But there’s more revealed in this picture if you know where to look—important revelations about the fundamental nature of humanity. Do you see it? I bet you do.
The top chassis there was originally designed in 1938. The lower one is brand new, a 2018. There’s 80 years of difference between the two, but there’s an undeniable convergent evolution thing going on as well, right?
For years, carmakers have been in the habit of putting some of the technical innovations they’re proud of on the back of their cars via badges. This practice probably peaked in the ‘80s, but it’s still around, to some degree. Today I want to look at a badge that was once quite common to see on car buttocks: a series…
As the name sort of suggests, idiot lights aren’t the sort of thing that gets much respect in the automotiverse. This is understandable; most idiot lights are scattered across a given instrument cluster with the casual abandon of weeds. But it doesn’t have to be that way, and the 1984 Fiat Ritmo Cabrio Bertone shows…
I was thinking about the word “supercharger” the other day—that’s a hell of a word. It doesn’t really tell you exactly how it works, that it’s a belt-driven compressor for the fuel/air mixture, but who cares? Supercharging just sounds like hot shit. It’s a good name for that device. Now, since I have a problem where…
Good morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know. Consider them your “desert island” stories, should society collapse in the imminent future.
