Few automotive features can make a parked car look as alive as pop-up headlights. Turn the switch and two neat sections of bodywork rise from the hood, pause with theatrical precision and reveal the l
A driver can move between unfamiliar modern cars and still understand the transmission selector within seconds. Park sits at one end, followed by Reverse, Neutral and Drive. Lower ranges, manual modes
The usual history of the rearview mirror is wonderfully neat. Ray Harroun entered the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911 with a mirror attached to his Marmon Wasp. He drove alone while his competitors
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
A dead battery is annoying in any parking space. It becomes considerably more awkward when the car is nose-first inside a garage and the tow truck needs it in Neutral. The brake pedal feels normal.
There was a time when changing the temperature in a car took half a second. You reached down, turned a knob, and somehow civilization survived. Now, in some cars, the same job feels like openin
Most people do not think about their tires until one of them does something rude. A warning light comes on. The car starts feeling strange. A road trip gets interrupted. Something looks low.
A minivan recall never sounds dramatic at first. It sounds like paperwork. A letter in the mail. A service appointment to squeeze in between school pickup, groceries, work, and the 47 other t
Nobody really thinks of a car as a computer until it starts acting like one. It unlocks from an app. It gets updates while parked. It remembers routes, phones, settings, payments, sometimes even wh
While SUVs have become a staple of American roads over the past couple decades, very few new ones are still available with a manual gearbox. Truth is the manual isn't being sold as an option with