Open a car door slowly and you may feel it pause partway, then settle again when opened farther. Those pauses are useful when you are climbing out beside another parked car. They also explain why a fa
There is a point in parallel parking when a space stops looking like a space and starts looking like a judgment of your driving. The front of the car is almost where it belongs. The rear is still out
Washing a car in winter can feel wonderfully pointless. The bodywork is clean for perhaps half a journey. Then a truck passes in the opposite direction, the windshield receives a cold brown showe
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
Press the accelerator hard in a conventional automatic car and its behavior follows a familiar rhythm. The engine climbs through the rev range, the transmission changes gear and the engine note drops
Pulling into a gas station should not require advance planning. Yet anyone driving an unfamiliar car knows the little moment of uncertainty that arrives before choosing a pump. Which side is the fu
A remarkably low odometer reading has a way of making every other detail fade into the background. The paint may be dull, the tires may look suspiciously old and the service book may contain a de
Drivers spend hours holding the steering wheel without giving much thought to what lies behind it. Remove the trim, switches and wiring, and the basic arrangement appears simple. A shaft carries th
In a conventional car, the relationship between the brake pedal and the brake lights feels reassuringly simple. Press the pedal and the red lamps illuminate. Release it and they go dark. Drivers be
The usual explanation sounds perfectly logical. When a car slows down, its weight moves toward the front. The front tires carry more load, so the front brakes provide more of the stopping force. That