Welcome to Must Read, where we single out the best stories from around the automotive universe and beyond. Today we've got reports from Forbes, Hemmings, and The Wall Street Journal.
When Customer Service Fails: A Car Accident — Forbes
There's really nothing worse than being in the car accident... Other than the costly aftermath.
Ever had your iPad break? Call Apple AAPL -0.73%. They’ll fix it. They’ll tell you they’re very sorry. They’ll send a new one before they receive yours. Macbook catch fire? Well, they’ll give you a call and do everything they can to help deal with even a bizarre manufacturing defect. You’d imagine, or at least I would, that the result of a much larger purchase – say one that includes you buying a vehicle that could cause harm – would result in amazing care and concern. Well, you might be wrong.
Racing Heroes: Gilles Villeneuve — Hemmings
Gilles Villeneuve never really lived up to his full potential. And that's a shame, he was one of the most exciting racing drivers of all time.
In the history of Formula 1, few drivers are quite as polarizing as Canadian star Gilles Villeneuve. Nikki Lauda reportedly called him, “the craziest devil I ever came across in Formula 1,” and BBC F1 analyst Eddie Jordan is on record as saying that Villeneuve was “a hooligan who never would have won a championship,” punctuating this with, “He drove like an idiot.” On the other hand, former Ferrari teammate Jody Scheckter called him, “the fastest driver the world has ever seen,” while Alain Prost referred to Villeneuve as, “the last great driver – the rest of us are a bunch of good professionals.”
2013 SRT Viper: A Speed Demon With Too Much Engine — The Wall Street Journal
We don't normally pimp other reviews here, but Dan Neil has a way with words like few others.
RUMORS OF THE new Viper's livability are wildly exaggerated. While the fifth generation of Chrysler Group's V10-powered, front-engine roadster/coupe is much improved, rest assured America's supercar remains a huge pain in the seat heaters. It's still a devil's deal of design trade-offs—the agricultural gearshift linkage, side exhaust pipes that scald your leg when you step out, acute cabin claustrophobia, lousy outward views—all in the service of this thing, this joyous, hurts-so-good masochism of the Viper experience, which is strangely like a question-your-sanity experience.