Last Commented Automotive Blogs (377)

. Retard suspect meets many Cops
With many. Many shots fired..
Since eYe haven't seen the whole video
& The local neighborhood is also buzzing
With cops...get back to you later..

Mike is running for office. His new campaign ad talks about an energy plan to lower costs and by 2040 will make America the leading energy producer in the world. I like it and I'm with Mike on this plan.
Just like Mike, I want to be able to pull up to a pump, without paying, remove the nozzle and be able to put gas in my car and not have to squeeze the handle!

Awesome plan Mike...

Story link:


X (Twitter) link:


Energy plan:

News in Texas where someone accidentally locked their keys in the car with a baby inside.
A group of guys are pounding on the WINDSHIELD, then sending a woman in to pull the baby through the smashed windshield.

What's wrong with this scenario?
Windshields are made from laminated glass to resist smashing.
One smack to the driver or passenger window shatters it into a few hundred pieces where they can safely reach inside, UNLOCK the door and get the baby out!

Many years ago, I was able to purchase rear window louvers for my cars. Some were factory louvers installed by the dealers and some were after market add-ons.
I cannot find them now and I'm not sure who they disappeared.

One YouTube video has a different explanation why they are no longer available, but I didn't agree with that one and I'm thinking maybe they were a hazard if incorrectly installed, so insurance companies banned them.

The ones I had were anodized black aluminum with safety clips for removal and cleaning the glass. I recall there was an 'inside the car variety' sold in auto parts stores... They're gone too!

Summer in South Florida is brutal and the hottest my car has registered this month was 113 degrees F. so, I'm looking to buy some louvers.

For now, there are stick on window shades made from perforated plastic that is white facing out and black facing in. It restricts vision so I'm debating to use them or not.

I checked Amazon and a few car places and the only loivers I found were old inventory for some American sports cars that were never sold. Unless I could get dimensions or actually test fit to see if they work for my car, I'm reluctant to buy something that's non-refundable.

My quest for a rear louver goes on...

Nearly all my my cars were in the economy class having manual transmissions. The last group had a Toyota Celica 1.2 liter engine with 5-speed, Hyundai Veloster 1.2 liter with a 6-speed. Four years ago, I switched to a Toyota Corolla with a 2.0 liter engine and automatic transmission. That was different in many ways as it had a Sport Mode. What did it do? Change the gear ratio so the power band made the car quicker in acceleration. It didn't change the horsepower and it didn't affect the steering or suspension.
I only used it a few times. The car had to be at a standstill when changing modes.

My current car a Mazda M3 also has automatic transmission. Equipped with a 2.5 liter engine and sport mode.
In normal mode going 45mph the engine runs 1200rpm. Fast acceleration doesn't redline.
In sport mode going 45mph the engine it's doing nearly 3000rpm and fast acceleration redlines at 6500 rpm. By no means it's a race car, but the modes can be changed 'on the fly' so if I need to slam the accelerator to do a quick move, it's available.

What sport mode doesn't do on this car is change the suspension or steering.
I've read there are some cars in a higher classification (more expensive SUV's) that have economy, normal, sport modes that also affect the steering and suspension where the overall performance in each mode is different.

I used to drive more than 30,000 miles per year and changed cars every 3 to 4 years, just around the time expensive mechanical problems would start. I'm doing less than 20,000 a year now and hope I can keep cars longer. The last purchase was more for seating comfort and the rear storage is slightly taller/bigger.

Sport mode appears to be standard on all the cars I had shopped for, but it's something I will rarely use. However, something I often use is to back shift/down shift that simulates a manual transmission that doesn't need a clutch. So, coming off the highway, I can back shift to slow my speed and since it's all wheel drive, the car stays level where the front wheel drive cars sometimes 'lunge' and the nose dips.
That feature I like!

The concept of a flying car isn't new. Every wannabe inventor dreams of building one. Popular Mechanics magazine has been writing stories about them dating back to the 1950's but those were full sized vehicles with gasoline engines and huge wings to give them sufficient lift.

In the last 10 years, I've seen the 'winged' versions disappear and the multi propeller electric 'drone style' high lift vehicles show up on technical and aviation news.

A Chinese company had a 2-seater with 4 sets of dual counter-rotating propellers. The problem was the propellers were at knee level without any protective shroud. that idea 'didn't get off the ground' as it failed in safety.

Why is this talking so long?
A few things I can think of.
Cost.
All the wing style vehicles need a runway.
The idea of being stuck in traffic and unfolding the wing to take off won't happen as aircraft need to have a flight plan, start and land st an airport to be on their radar.
FAA certification of the aircraft and one important detail is YOU MUST BE A LICENSED PILOT.

This year is a new flavor... it's a car with a framework like a wall fan and lots of rotors that give it lift. $300,000 for pre-orders. The first of it's kind to have the go ahead of the FAA. Delivery of this flying car is estimated to be a few years away.




Company site:


I like this video showing DOZENS of these cars flying in unison like they are on their way to work!

My car has a front radar used in the safety system for Forward Obstruction Warning (FOW) and Mazda Radar Cruise Control (MRCC) but sometimes the system gives a failure warning. I called Mazda USA and spoke to someone in customer relations who says they have no records of this happening to my model or others.
Last month, I dropped the car off for it's first service and told the service adviser about the failures and showed him photos of the warnings that appeared on the dashboard display.
He did a search and said there's nothing in history of this happening to any other vehicles.

Since they need to put the car to a test drive to try to reproduce the problem, I need to schedule an appointment for them to have the car at lease 2 days and arrange a (free) loaner. While I can make arrangements, I wasn't real sure about them being able to find the trouble. For me it starts while I'm on the highway and it's raining happening about 80% of the time.

I spoke to a friend who used to work at a car dealer and he asked "Did you Google it?"

Pretty simple and I found a few Mazda Tech sites where people post questions and get responses from other car owners. I found EXACTLY what I was looking for. It appears on my model and several others current and dating back a few years. Not a new problem.

At this point, I now have the ammunition I need to get back to the dealer for something that should already know about. Making my point, I'll send the service manager some links that explain the issue, with photos so they can get to the source quickly.

Thanks Google!

Volkswagen has introduced an electric minibus that on the outside has the resemblance to their vehicles from the 1960's. Named the ID. BUZZ, it's currently only available in Europe.

A larger and more powerful version is expected to arrive in America sometime in 2024.

Priced at over $79,000 I think VW will have a difficult time finding a market for this vehicle.





Yahoo link:

My AT friend bought a new tesla years ago and waited over a year for the Tesla dealership to get it in. By the time her new car arrived that same car was selling for a heck of a lot more than she paid for it. It was a fancy car with all the bells and whistles with much of it is controlled by the phone. Only the back doors go up in the air over the car roof when you open them. I live on the east coast and she moved to the west coast without any problems. Starbuck has charging stations everywhere plus the car tells you where the charging stations are.

My ex came into town a few weeks ago, took me out to lunch to tell me he is looking to buy a Tesla but he wanted to check out another brand of electric car first. It was great seeing him which I got to do because the Tesla dealership is just a few blocks from my home.

The ex came to town the other day, called and said he wanted to take me to lunch again. I was okay with that so he came with a friend who drove him down from Ocala and they picked my up in his new Tesla. He got the very basic model which only has a huge computer monitor screen in the middle with no other buttons or switches anywhere. No "Oh shit" handle, no radio (You play it through the phone) virtually nothing but a huge flat dashboard. In the restaurant he was looking at how to start the AC in the hot FLORIDA car from inside while we ate. When we left we stood outside the car while he tried to figure out how to open the door. A comedy moment.

Last night we were talking and after all the research that man did before buying that $40,000 car was what happened to his insurance rates. He was told they would go up a little but the lowest quote so far is $2,000 every six months. $4,000 a year is an extremely harsh toke. What a blindside.

A toe truck was in the lane of a highway and someone didn't see it. When their car rolled on the ramp, it flipped about 20 feet into the air... not 120 feet as reported.

Video in the link: