I wrote about Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems two weeks ago, but I’ve received some new information since then. I previously stated that TPMS has appeared in vehicles since late 2007, as part of a National Highway Transportation Safety Administration mandate. True. I wrote that some…
It's all-GM all-the-time this week here at Seat Time. For the past few days, we've focused on Chevy's new mini-car, the Spark. For the next few days we'll look at Cadillac's newest and smallest, the ATS sport sedan. We might as well get this out…
As you would imagine, the base Spark ($12,995, including destination) is relatively spare in the standard-features category. Air-conditioning, power windows, 60/40-split-folding rear seats, a height-adjustable driver seat, a tilt-only steering wheel, a trip computer, OnStar telematics and a four-speaker radio with an auxiliary audio jack…
Dodge’s Ram trucks are still huge and meaty just the way you like em’. In my opinion no other American pickup has a beefier front end that perpetually appears to be trying to eat something. It was a difficult pill to swallow when Ram’s spokesperson…
The first thing that struck me about Fisker’s display was that it appeared to have been left there untouched from last year’s show. It was in the exact same place on the showroom floor with the same single car in attendance: The $100,000 plugin-hybrid Karma.…
Toyota Avalon… Give it a moment. Did you picture a sixty five year old man driving a sofa? Toyota is tired of the Avalon being regarded as the Buick of their lineup. That’s a serious gripe when even Buick is tired of being Buick. Toyota’s…
Buick is trying hard to not to be your Chinese grandfather’s car. They appear to be headed in the right direction. Sales in China accounted for about 77 percent of the brand’s global total last year. Five years ago the average age of its buyers…
Scoring a press pass to the Seattle Auto Show is kind of like finding a golden ticket in a Wonka Bar. Only the press pass doesn't come with the risk of being saddled with CEO duties to an ailing chocolate factory. It does come with…
I suspect that in the final analysis, touchscreen navigation and infotainment systems will be found to be dangerous. IMHO, any onboard function that requires that drivers a) take their eyes off the road and b) reach out to touch an icon on a screen while…
Not even Chevy claims for the Spark the ride and handling package of a German Grand Touring machine. Twelve feet long and riding on a 93-inch wheelbase, the Spark has more in common size-wise with a washing machine packing crate than an S-class Mercedes. Fifteen-inch…
Chevrolet’s Spark is the company’s first mini-car, a competitor to the Fiat 500, Smart Fortwo and Scion IQ. The anti-Suburban, if you will. It’s GM’s smallest car, and also, at $12,995, its most affordable. Yet the Spark has room for four adults and, so configured,…
Since 2008, vehicles have been equipped with Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems. When things are okay, you don’t even know they’re there, but when the pressure in one or more tires drops by 25 percent, you are warned. That warning will be an illuminated instrument cluster…
So much cool stuff clings to the 2013 Ford Escape, it would be easy to lose site of how fundamentally good it is. No doubt you’ve heard about the motion-sensing handsfree tailgate, the torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive system and the first-in-class application of active park assist. Nor…
Chrysler’s Little Red Express pickup truck was designed to dance through a loophole in late 1970’s emissions regulations. It worked so well the Express turned out to be the fastest American production vehicle of 1979 and the original muscle truck. Unlike its immediate predecessor in…
In 1976 Chrysler was taking part in a shameless product line few people are aware of today dubbed ‘Adult Toys’. The toys were a series of factory-issued utility vehicles that rolled off the assembly line outlandishly customized in what would become a staple of late…
Soon after venturing into the trick truck crowd with the Dodge Dude the marketing wizards at Chrysler sensed the public was hungry for more. Enter the 1976 Dodge Warlock; a production show truck for urban cowboys that wanted to look even more like Burt Reynolds.…
Remember the 1970’s? They were nasty. Imagine a decade where you could buy a hot-rod Dodge pickup truck with semi-stack dual exhaust straight from the factory. That actually happened. Dodge called it the Little Red Express. It ran a high-performance Police Interceptor 360ci V8 and…
Subaru fans that lean towards the hippie end of the spectrum should get ready to flip their hemp wigs in the wind. I'm talking about Forester folk, the Northwesterny sort who admire the off road sport wagon charm of the first generation Outback. People, Subaru…
Few new cars have made more people swoon this year than the $26,000 Subaru BRZ. By most everyone’s standards that’s had a chance to drive one it’s close to perfect for what it set out to be: A purist’s rear-wheel drive sports car, the kind…
We’ve all seen the cliché elderly person in a powder blue Cadillac doing a righteous 48mph on the freeway with their turn signal on. It’s annoying, dangerous and according to several new studies these active members of the greatest generation should be allowed to drive…