Others
New tires arrive covered in information. Numbers identify their size, load capacity, speed rating and date of manufacture. Then, among all that serious molded lettering, someone appears to have atta
On a cold morning, the dashboard can produce a blue thermometer symbol that looks far more alarming than the engine sounds.The car starts normally. No steam rises from beneath the hood. Nothing sm
Follow an SUV down a wet highway and its rear end soon develops a familiar gray coating. The bumper gets dirty. The license plate gets dirty. The rear window looks as though someone misted it with mud
Walk past a parked car after dark and the cabin can seem completely asleep, apart from one tiny red light pulsing on the dashboard.Blink. Pause. Blink again.Since red dashboard lights usua
There is a reason people are suddenly Googling “side hustle” like it is a survival skill.It is not because everyone secretly dreams of spending Friday night delivering burritos to some
The emergency jack in a car’s trunk rarely inspires confidence. It is narrow, awkward and usually accompanied by a handle that looks as though it escaped from flat-pack furniture.Then ther
On a cold morning, the rear window begins clearing as expected. Most of the condensation disappears, but one neat horizontal stripe refuses to move.That stripe is useful evidence. The window has p
The key slides into the ignition normally, but refuses to turn. The steering wheel feels almost solid. Trying harder only makes the key flex in a way no piece of metal that small should ever flex.
Few things make a car owner question reality quite like finding every window open in the morning.The doors are still locked. Nothing appears to be missing. There is no broken glass, no damaged wea
So, can you legally drive without a rearview mirror? The slightly irritating answer is: maybe.That is not very satisfying, but it is the truth. In the U.S., mirror laws are not perfectly iden
The car feels perfectly normal around town. At 35 mph, nothing rattles. At 50, there may be the faintest tremor. Reach highway speed and the steering wheel begins a steady dance between the driver&rsq
A small square or circular panel sits almost flush with the painted bumper. It has no button, light or obvious reason to exist. Once spotted, though, it becomes surprisingly difficult to ignore.Be
Close a car door with every window shut and the air inside has to go somewhere.The door pushes a substantial volume of air into an already sealed cabin. Without an escape route, pressure builds fo
Shift an automatic car into Drive, release the brake and it begins moving without a touch of the accelerator.The movement is usually gentle. Just enough to edge forward in traffic, ease into a par
A car door can hide an impressive amount of water before anyone notices.Usually, the first clue arrives after heavy rain or a thorough car wash. Pull away from the curb and something splashes near
Cruise control feels wonderfully precise on a flat highway. Set it to 65 mph and the speedometer settles into place, leaving the car to handle the small adjustments that a human ankle normally makes.
For most of the year, the liftgate rises with one push and waits politely while the shopping is unloaded. Then the first properly cold morning arrives.The hatch opens halfway, pauses as though rec
The old-fashioned car antenna made no attempt to hide what it was. It was a long metal whip sticking proudly out of a fender, ready to catch radio stations, snag a car-wash brush or disappear overnigh
There are plenty of things inside a trunk that nobody pays much attention to. A jack that has never left its plastic tray. A spare wheel that may or may not contain air. A collection of reusable shopp
A car accelerates away on screen, clearly traveling forward, while its wheels begin doing something ridiculous. First, the spokes slow down. Then they appear to stop. A moment later, they are rotating
