Park on a slope, move the shifter to P, take a foot off the brake, and most automatic cars will perform a small, familiar shuffle. The body rolls a fraction of an inch, stops with a muted clunk, then
At the tire shop, the choice seems too obvious to question. The front tires on a front-wheel-drive car handle the steering, put the power down, and do most of the braking. They usually wear out first.
A tire can look almost offensively healthy for its age. The tread grooves are deep. There are no nails in sight. The sidewalls still turn glossy after a wash, and the car has covered so few miles th
A car can sit unused for several days without concern. Stretch that pause into several weeks, however, and the first signs of neglect may begin to appear. The battery loses charge, the tires remai
The phoenix badge is staying in Japan's prime ministerial motorcade, though it's now attached to something much taller. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has now swapped her Century sedan for
When people see fuel economy numbers change, the first instinct is usually to blame the car. Maybe the engine got worse. Maybe the transmission tuning changed. Maybe the automaker got sloppy. M
A lot of people shop for used cars like they are shopping for avocados. They want the freshest-looking one, the lowest number, the cleanest surface, and they assume that if they can just find t
A lot of used-car shoppers act like mileage is the whole story. They open a listing, see six digits on the odometer, and mentally move on before they even finish the first photo. Somewhere alon
BMW and reliability have had a weird relationship for a long time. There was a stretch where people talked about older BMWs like they were carved out of granite. The straight-sixes had a reputa
There are certain car problems people take seriously the second they hear about them. Brakes. Tires. Battery. Engine. Anything expensive gets respect immediately. Even people who ignore mainten