This just in – from the Department of Annoying Technology: * Nissan “EcoPedal” – Imagine an accelerator that doesn’t want you to (accelerate, that is) and you will understand the essence of Nissan’s new gizmo. Designed to “assist drivers to become more fuel-efficient,” in the words of Nissan PR, the system works by increasing...
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Oldsmobile, like Anne Boleyn, probably never actually felt the blade. By the time the end came in 2002, Oldsmobile was already effectively dead. GM had moved on to other tarts such as Pontiac and Saturn (they too would lose their heads within another few years) and quickly forgot about its former amore – the...
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Most people either just send in the fine – or go to court and make no real attempt to bob and weave their way out of a speeding ticket. Cattle do the same thing on their way to McDonalds. Even if you have a perfect driving driving record, every ticket is worth fighting with...
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Five years ago, the following statement would have been laughable: Buick sells one of the nicest – and maybe the nicest – plus-sized crossovers on the market. Today, it’s gospel truth. Seriously. The 2011 Enclave has – and does – everything a Lexus RX or Acura MDX has or does. It can even be...
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GM’s Pontiac division was sent off on its own version of the Trail of Tears in 2009 – after years of broken treaties and forked tongue-talking with the corporation’s upper management. Part of the reason for the decline and fall of Pontiac can be traced to the loss of the division’s formerly unique, Pontiac-built...
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Two key things to know about the new Mercedes-Benz GLK: First, its size. The GLK is slightly smaller than current mid-sized crossover SUVs like the Lexus RX350 – and bigger than compact-sized models like the Acura RDX. Second, the GLK – unlike just about all the competition in its segment – is built around...
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Sometimes, the best comes last – and not in the nick of time. The Studebaker Avanti was one of these. Styled by automotive legend Raymond Loewy, the 1964 Avanti was a last-ditch effort to resuscitate Studebaker – which for many years had been struggling to stay afloat. The car was almost universally admired, but...
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I have become a routine law-breaker. Today, for example, I passed three cars – even though it was a “double yellow” zone. I almost always drive 10-20 mph faster than the posted speed limit. There is a red light at an intersection that often only cycles green for a left turn once every other...
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Let’s dial back the clock a quarter century and return to the early days of the Reagan Era – when Pontiac made a last-ditch effort to keep the Trans-Am from becoming a re-skinned Camaro powered by the same Chevy-built V-8 found under other the hood of its sister “F” car. The Pontiac-built 400 that...
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Once population gets to a certain density, it’s game over – for liberty. I mean, for real-deal, live and let live, do-what-you-want (provided you’re not physically harming anyone else) liberty. You know – what most of the founding fathers (Alexander Hamilton and his proto-Reoublicans excepted) had in mind. The best analogy I’ve found is...
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