Two articles at The Drive, when read together, made me frown – not least because of Miss D.‘s and my experience of car-buying after her old vehicle died a few weeks ago. First, the CEO of Stellantis (the holding company for Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep, among many other familiar vehicle brand names) had some… Continue reading Looks like driving is about to become a very expensive privilege
Tag: Automotive
The joys (?) of older cars – NOT!
Miss D. and I headed down to Big Texas Metroplex a couple of hours from us yesterday, to take her car (an old-model Subaru) to the dealer there for a major service. We get routine services done up here at a local shop, but for the big stuff (every 50,000 miles or so) we… Continue reading The joys (?) of older cars – NOT!
The supply chain logjam is hitting spares and parts now
Two recent posts caught my eye. First, Ricochet reports on a behind-the-scenes crisis. We have all seen the empty shelves for randomly illogical items, starting with toilet paper and now cat food. With a very small engineering firm, there is a larger supply chain crisis that will be coming to a head in three… Continue reading The supply chain logjam is hitting spares and parts now
Big Brother on the road, getting more intrusive
Since 2014 American drivers have had to put up with a “black box” device that automatically records various items of information about their vehicle and how they’re driving it. Those recordings can be – and have been – extracted from vehicles after accidents and used as evidence to exonerate, or convict, their drivers. Nobody… Continue reading Big Brother on the road, getting more intrusive
That looks a tad chilly…
Here’s a (silent) video clip of a Russian cargo ship that arrived in a Far Eastern port with a deck cargo of vehicles solidly encased in ice. (If the embedded video doesn’t want to play, you’ll find it here.) Looking at the offloading process, one hopes nobody expected to drive away with them at… Continue reading That looks a tad chilly…
The supply chain crunch finds new victims
It looks like the supply chain crunch isn’t about to ease up, despite positive comments from a number of sources. The latest sector to take a hit is the transport industry – the very people who have to move supplies through the chain from origin to destination. Supply headwinds facing the trucking industry were… Continue reading The supply chain crunch finds new victims
This driver had better not buy any lottery tickets…
… because he just used up all his luck! The original tweet is here. Click any image below for a larger view. That happened on I-5 in Washington state near Seattle. Astonishingly, the driver was extracted with only minor injuries. Looking at the remains of that Nissan Altima, I wouldn’t have believed it possible.… Continue reading This driver had better not buy any lottery tickets…
Well, so much for “economical” electric vehicles…
It seems that electric vehicles (the pure-electric variety, not hybrids) aren’t as economical as they’re cracked up to be. Costs to drive an EV compared with a gasoline car are detailed in a report Anderson Economic released Thursday called “Comparison: Real World Cost of Fueling EVs and ICE Vehicles.” The study has four major… Continue reading Well, so much for “economical” electric vehicles…
A British boy and his lawnmowing toy
A British engineer has broken the world speed record for lawnmowers, and done it in style. Tony Edwards … said: “I know that a guy from the UK had the record at one point, at 96mph. Then I think Honda had it at 116mph, and then a team from Norway did it at 132mph,… Continue reading A British boy and his lawnmowing toy
Enterprising little offender, isn’t he?
I had to laugh when reading this report. A driver in northeastern Spain has tested positive for ‘every possible kind of drug’ after being pulled over by police on Saturday. Police found high levels of cannabis, amphetamines/methamphetamine, cocaine, opiates; as well as alcohol, with a rate of 0,60 mg/l. Local police told Euronews that… Continue reading Enterprising little offender, isn’t he?