Open the door of a large American sedan from the 1950s and the front seat looks less like a modern cockpit than a particularly comfortable sofa. There is no center console dividing driver and passe
A driver can move between unfamiliar modern cars and still understand the transmission selector within seconds. Park sits at one end, followed by Reverse, Neutral and Drive. Lower ranges, manual modes
The automobile conquered continents, crossed deserts and survived two world wars before anyone decided it desperately needed a secure place for a paper cup. For much of automotive history, drivers
There are few sounds more effective at making a driver feel guilty than the crunch of a manual gearbox going into reverse. The clutch is buried in the carpet. The car is standing still. Everything see
A dead battery is annoying in any parking space. It becomes considerably more awkward when the car is nose-first inside a garage and the tow truck needs it in Neutral. The brake pedal feels normal.
There was a time when checking automatic transmission fluid involved a dipstick, a rag, and five minutes under the hood. Now the dipstick has vanished. The filler may be buried beneath the car, the fl
There's real money to be saved by doing your own car maintenance. Oil changes, air filters, wiper blades, bulbs — these are legitimately easy, and the savings are real. A cabin air filter th
Some cars ask for oil changes and maybe a fresh set of tires once in a while. Others behave like they’re actively trying to financially punish you for owning them. And the dangerou
Some transmissions are basically automotive cockroaches. Not glamorous. Not exciting. But somehow impossible to kill. Meanwhile, other gearboxes seem to explode emotionally the second yo
At some point, almost everybody driving an automatic transmission has glanced down at the gear selector and thought: “Okay, I know P, R, N, D... but what exactly is L supposed to be?”