I’ll probably get in trouble. After all, I write new car reviews. Advising people not to buy new cars is not what you’d probably expect. But, here’s the fulsome scurvy truth: I – and every car journalist I know – drive used. Because we know. And now, I’m gonna spill the beans, give you...
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People are frustrated – and want to know what they can do. It gets old merely talking. They – our oppressors – don’t care how much we talk. Perhaps then it is time for us to act. But we must not act precipitously, much less suicidally. A Wagnerian last stand is exactly that. Leaving...
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Sun Tzu counseled that it is madness – because pointless – to directly confront a superior foe. A costumed goon with a badge and a gun, for instance. You will lose (cue Dolph Lundgren voice from Rocky IV). But that doesn’t mean you must cooperate with said goon. In that spirit, here are some...
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You think it’s hard on you when it’s 10 degrees outside? Think about your car. You may feel cold. Your car is cold. If it’s 10 degrees outside, that’s the temperature of your car. Its engine. The oil in the engine. Everything else, too. Now imagine being subjected to sudden extremes of pressure, friction...
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Here are five things you should never tell the guy trying to sell you a car: * How much you like the car … Never show emotion; it’s the surest way to end up paying too much. It lets the seller know you really, really, really want that particular car and are probably not...
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Getting a car to burn less fuel is actually pretty simple. It boils down to – make it do less work. Here are five ways to do do that – no hybrid technology required: * Skip the all-wheel-drive - AWD may be the most oversold feature for the average motorist since 4WD. Certainly, AWD...
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No, not the one around your middle. The one that used to be in your car’s trunk. Most cars (note: passenger cars, not just big trucks and SUVs) used to come with a full-sized spare tire. What happened to them? And why? Two things led to the near-abandonment of the once-common full-size spare tire:...
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There’s typically 10-20 percent difference between what a dealer will give you for your old vehicle as a trade-in vs. its retail market value – i.e., what you could probably sell it for yourself. The dealer’s not being cheesy. He will have to clean/prep your trade-in for sale – and often, perform whatever work’s...
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Traffic stops are more stressful for women than for men – especially at night and especially when the stop takes place on some not-well-traveled road… and it’s just you and the cop. If it is, in fact, a cop… . There are creeps out there with cop-style wig-wag lights built into the grille of...
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Buying a new car can put you one step closer to living in a van down by the river. New cars cost about $25,000 on average for the typical family sedan – which is about 30 percent more, adjusted for inflation, than a family sedan cost in the 1970s. But it’s not just the...
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