A block heater often needs only a few hours before you leave. Natural Resources Canada suggests switching it on two hours before starting, while the Ford system discussed below has a three-hour operat
Why does car AC smell bad even when it blows cold? The smell may come from a dirty cabin filter or contamination around the evaporator, where moisture collects. A refrigerant recharge won’t clea
Open the door of a car with frameless side glass and watch the top edge of the window. It may drop a fraction of an inch before the door swings out, then rise again after the door closes. The movement
The first minute is often the worst. You start the car, turn on the fan and get a brief gust that smells faintly sour or musty. By the time the cabin has cooled, the smell has faded enough to make you
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
A bright red car, a metallic blue car and a taxi painted the color of a highlighter will normally leave the factory with exactly the same footwear. Black tires. The color seems so inevitable
Starting a modern car requires so little effort that the action barely registers. Turn a key, press a button or let the vehicle recognize that its driver has climbed aboard. A second later, the engine
On a cold morning, the rear window begins clearing as expected. Most of the condensation disappears, but one neat horizontal stripe refuses to move. That stripe is useful evidence. The window has p
The car feels perfectly normal around town. At 35 mph, nothing rattles. At 50, there may be the faintest tremor. Reach highway speed and the steering wheel begins a steady dance between the driver&rsq
For most of the year, the liftgate rises with one push and waits politely while the shopping is unloaded. Then the first properly cold morning arrives. The hatch opens halfway, pauses as though rec