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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
The roof rack looked harmless in the driveway. At 30 mph, it was still harmless. Somewhere around 50, however, the car developed a whistle sharp enough to make every passenger start inspecting the win
The engine stops. The dashboard goes dark. The radio continues playing as though it has decided the journey deserves an encore.For a driver unfamiliar with the car, this can produce an immediate r
A car left in the afternoon sun does not need long to turn into a small greenhouse. The steering wheel becomes unpleasant to touch, the seats feel freshly ironed and the dashboard claims it is 104 deg
The car drifts gently toward the shoulder, and suspicion immediately falls on the alignment.That is understandable. A car should travel where it is pointed, and anything that seems to tug at the s
Every old motorcycle has a story, and not all of them end with a traditional restoration. Some are simply too far gone. That's the path this 1974 Honda CB500 was heading down after its engine an
The tires are new, the wheels are back on and the invoice is folded into the glovebox. Before handing over the keys, the technician mentions one final detail: come back after a short period of driving
A car battery does not need to be completely dead to leave the car behaving as though it is.Sometimes the battery is charged and perfectly willing to work, but the electricity cannot get past the
