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
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 seller has polished the paint, vacuumed the carpets and arranged the service receipts in a folder that looks reassuringly thick. The engine starts without complaint. No warning lights remain on af
An electric car is sitting in the driveway with 200 miles of range showing in the app. The large battery beneath the floor contains enough energy to move two tons of metal across an entire county.
Finding a hole in the exhaust usually leads to one conclusion: the muffler is rusting away and the bank account is about to become involved. That conclusion is often correct. Exhaust systems live a
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
There was a time when replacing a car battery was a reassuringly simple job. Disconnect the old one, wrestle it out of its tray, drop in the new one and tighten the terminals. If the engine started, t
Red goes to positive. Black goes to negative. It is the sort of rule that feels too simple to forget. It is also incomplete. When jump-starting many modern cars, the final black clamp is not suppos
Opening the hood and finding a low coolant reservoir seems like a straightforward problem. The liquid inside is pink. The parts store sells pink coolant. Buy bottle, pour liquid, close hood. Unfort