The sticker inside the driver’s door says 35 PSI. After an hour on the highway, the dashboard says 39. Four extra pounds of pressure sounds like a problem. The tires were set correctly that morn
Fresh motor oil is reassuring stuff. It pours from the bottle in a clear amber stream, looking clean enough to belong in a kitchen rather than an engine. A few hundred miles later, the dipstick can
Set the cruise control to 70 mph and glance at the navigation screen. It may insist the car is traveling at 67. Increase the cruise setting to 71. GPS grudgingly moves to 68. The two displays can sp
The reservoir under the hood is sitting close to the minimum line. There is a bottle of brake fluid on the shelf. The obvious response seems to be pouring in enough fluid to bring the level back to &l
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 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
Used cars are expensive enough now that people are starting to look in places they used to ignore completely. That is how government surplus auctions end up back in the conversation. On pap
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
Fourteen percent. That’s how far Ford’s May sales slid compared with last year. On paper it looks like a red warning light, 190,000 vehicles that never drove off the lot. Social feeds