If you want to lose some weight, get rid of your spare tire. No not your abdominal fat: the emergency spare in the back of your car. Our car-buying colleagues down the highway at the Consumer Reports auto testing center note that many new vehicles lack spare tires. Why? To save weight and thus fuel, and because nobody knows how to change them anymore, anyway. [More]
cars
Map Of Most-Stolen Car Models In Each State Shows Car Thieves Need More Variety
By 8.18.14
Car thieves either don’t have much imagination or they don’t have much to choose from when selecting which vehicles to boost. A look at the most-stolen cars in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia shows surprisingly little variety in terms of cars being swiped. [More]
Only 1 Out 12 Small Cars Gets “Good” Rating In New Crash Test Results
By 7.31.14
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (the place that crashes cars into walls for science) recently ran a dozen popular small cars, including the Chevy Volt, Ford C-Max Hybrid, Mini Cooper Countryman, and the Mazda 5, through its “small overlap” front crash test, where only the front corner of the vehicle is involved in a collision. While several of the tiny cars had okay results, only one earned an overall “good” rating from the IIHS. [More]
Leaving Your Child In A Hot Car: “If You Think It Cannot Happen To You, You’re Wrong”
By 7.30.14
By this point in the summer, we’ve written more than a few times — unfortunately — about children who have died after being left in closed cars on hot days. While some cases point to parents deliberately leaving their children behind, the reason we keep writing about the dangers of doing so is because the reality is that it can happen to anyone. [More]
EPA Wants Car Companies To Test Gas Mileage In Real World
By 7.15.14
Over the last few years, car makers have had to fork over more than $500 million in refunds to customers because of exaggerated fuel economy estimates on new vehicle stickers. In an effort to provide more accurate mileage information to consumers, the Environmental Protection Agency wants car companies to do their mpg testing on the road instead of in the lab. [More]
4 Popular Cars That Aren’t Worth Your Money
By 6.18.14
While you’d like to think you can’t go wrong with a middle-of-the-road vehicle from a well-known car company, sometimes you’re still not getting the most for your car-buying dollar. [More]
Why Are Some People Having A Harder Time Paying Off Car Loans Post-Recession?
By 6.3.14
For many of us, things have improved since 2010, when the country finally began clawing its way out of the crater that resulted from the collapse of the housing market. So why are some consumers doing a worse job of making car loan payments than they were during the recession? [More]
Google’s Newest Self-Driving Car Prototype Does Away With The Steering Wheel, Pedals
By 5.28.14
Operating a car is a relatively simple process for a driver — you get in, turn the key, push the gas and brake pedals as needed and steer it where you want it to go. But Google thinks it can get even simpler, removing the steering wheel along with the accelerator and brake pedals entirely in its newest self-driving prototype. [More]
Former Jiffy Lube Mechanic: We Sold Services, Didn’t Actually Perform Them
By 5.1.14
It began with a customer complaint to St. Louis TV station KMOV: customers accused one local Jiffy Lube franchisee of a disturbing scam on the part of the store’s staff. Customers claimed that mechanics sold services to customers, then didn’t actually perform the repairs that they sold. Worse: one customer claims that employees asked for cash, claiming that the shop computers were down. Of course, they still didn’t perform the repairs. [More]
You Can Buy The Vice President’s Old Cadillac, Signature Biden Jokes Not Included
By 4.16.14
Whenever I think of Vice President Joe Biden, I imagine him either on a train or telling a somewhat awkward joke in a totally inappropriate setting. But it turns out he also drives cars on occasion, along with his usual train riding and jokemaking duties (and also being VP, etc), one of which is now reportedly for sale by its most recent owner. No jokes are included in the deal though, so you’ll have to provide your own. [More]
Don’t Rack Up ATM Fees, Buy Hot Wheels Cars
By 2.25.14
What should you do when the bank is closed, you need some cash, and there’s no ATM handy that doesn’t charge piles of fees? Sure, you could join a bank with no local branches that refunds ATM fees, like USAA, Schwab, or Ally. Some local banks do this, too, but if the branch isn’t open, you can’t go open a new account. That’s when you open an account at the Bank of Hot Wheels. [More]
The Newest In Collision Avoidance: Cars That Talk To Each Other
By 2.4.14
Our cars aren’t flying yet, but soon they could be talking to each other. And this is no idle gossip or chitchat about how awful potholes are on the old chassis, but new technology that would let vehicles warn each other when they could be heading for a collision. [More]
12 Things You Should Keep In Your Car For Emergencies
By 1.29.14
Snowy, icy winters make for especially treacherous driving, so you usually see lists like this published when the first storms of the year hit. That’s not quite fair, though. Emergencies come up in any climate and at any time of year. You may not need all of them year-round, but here are a dozen things that can help you out in an emergency on the road. [More]
Say It Isn’t So: Nine Dealerships Cop To Deceptive Advertising
By 1.9.14
You can’t always believe what you see. Especially when it comes to car advertisements. Those ads promising low financing and easy monthly payments are probably too good to be true. [More]
We’re Thinking About Picking Up One Of These $4.5 Million Lamborghinis
By 1.7.14
Among all the TVs, appliances and other mundane products on display at CES is this $4.5 million Lamborghini Veneno Roadster that we think would look really good parked in the secret underground garage of the Consumerist Cave. [More]
Saab Rises From The Dead… Sort Of
By 12.3.13
Created as a post-war offshoot of a Swedish aircraft manufacturer, Saab crashed to the ground in recent years, with the bankrupt luxury vehicle brand being kicked around between various new owners before finally landing at the feet of investors from China and Japan. Now the once-great car brand is back in production, but don’t hold your breath waiting to see new Saab vehicles in your neighbors’ driveways in the near future. [More]
Please Don’t Fling Your Empty E-Cigarette Cartridges Out The Car Window
By 11.26.13
E-cigarettes, even the ones that are plugged into the correct charger and don’t explode, have a problem. Well, their users have a problem. Some former cigarette smokers who are used to flinging butts out the window when they finish a smoke are having trouble letting go of their nasty habit. The trouble is that metal e-cig cartridges are, well, metal, and puncture tires out on the roads. [More]
This May Be The First Ticket For Wearing Google Glass While Driving
By 10.30.13
California law prohibits drivers from operating a vehicle when some sort of video screen is showing “entertainment or business applications” that are in the front seat area or otherwise visible to the driver. And at least one police officer in San Diego thinks this law applies to Google Glass. [More]
