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 race car that never got to race has finally found its second life. Koenigsegg built the original CCGT for GT1 competition, only for the rules to change before it could enter a single event. Now that
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
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
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
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
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.
Automatic stop-start has a peculiar talent for irritating drivers both when it works and when it does not. At one traffic light, the engine shuts down the moment the car stops. At the next, it keep
Neutral has a reassuring name. It sounds harmless, disconnected and mechanically impartial. Put the selector in N, release the parking brake and the car can roll. Surely that means it can also be towe
There is something wonderfully unhelpful about the traction-control symbol. It shows a car wriggling across the road, which makes the button beside it look like the obvious thing to press when the roa