Good news for anyone who enjoyed the Karl on Cars series of blogs on CarPool: I will be moving my weekly blog post to our Inside Line Straightline blog, starting next Tuesday.
Many of you probably already read Straightline, so you'll have to do exactly nothing to see Karl on Cars, but I wanted to let everyone know they can still catch my weekly ramblings (along with plenty of other great automotive news and information) over there.
I'm looking forward to my new digs.
Thanks again!
Categories: Karl on Cars
I was going to do this blog post on my 1974 Pontiac Trans Am Super Duty running out of gas, but then I realized this was my last Karl on Cars post before the Edmunds.com redesign site launches, and there won't be a CarPool blog (formerly known as the Karl on Cars blog) after that.
So the "Out of Gas" phrase describes more than just my Super Duty last week, though in both cases the story ends happily.
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Categories: Editors' Personal Cars, Karl on Cars, Muscle Car, Porsche
Yesterday, I read a story about the son of Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., having a pair of Apple MacBooks and $27,000 worth of concert tickets stolen from a Cadillac Escalade Hybrid registered to the 14th Congressional district. The article by the local FOX TV news station ponders why the congressman's son was driving a government registered car.
Excellent question, but they're completely missing the bigger picture: Why the hell is the government registering a $76,000 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid???
Well, after drying off the water from my spit take (seriously, $76,000 for an Escalade Hybrid?), I decided to revisit a Thoughts from the Curb from July 2009 that dealt with this very topic.
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Categories: Thoughts from the Curb
What do you get the car guy who already seems to have everything? That's a fair question, and one I'm betting plenty of car guy friends and family struggle with every year.
I know how much I hate shopping for folks when I have no idea what they need. And given we've just entered the official holiday shopping season I thought I'd help out the wives, husbands (yes, when I say "car guy" I'm including women enthusiasts too), kids, parents, pals and anyone else who is shopping for an automotive-themed gift but has no clue where to start.
And don't worry, these aren't expensive items. If anything, the theme of my gift-giving list is "products under $20 that every car guy will love."
Here we go:
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Categories: Editors' Personal Cars, Karl on Cars, Motorcycles, Muscle Car
Black Friday doesn't just apply to huge savings on clothing, home electronics or computers. There are also plenty of savings to be had for the gearhead in your life. Now, I wouldn't be caught dead lining up for a sale the day after turkey day, so thankfully, my picks can all be acquired from the comfort and safety of your laptop or smartphone.
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Categories: Weekly Top 3
Keep those fingers off your keyboards for a few minutes people and let me explain. Yes, this is not the typical, unattainable "Dream Car" entry -- no Ferrari 288 GTO, no ZL1 Camaro this week. This is about a car that you may have dreamed about and actually driven, to happily discover that it was every bit as good as you'd hoped (dreamed?)
Introduced for 1990, the Mazda Miata was a hit right off the bat. This two-seat roadster was something of a Lotus Elan reincarnate in that it was lightweight, finely balanced and cleanly styled. Except it didn't leak oil and had an electrical system that didn't require an exorcism every other day. I remember dealers getting thousands over the sticker price, which started out at less than $14,000.
Twenty years later, the character of the Miata is thankfully unchanged. Respectably quick but more about being nimble, a Miata provides one of the most rewarding, unfiltered and entertaining drives of any car, regardless of price. And by "a Miata" I mean any Miata of the car's three generations will do just fine. Our fleet of long-term cars is/has been comprised mostly of brand new vehicles that generate a lot of buzz -- from a BMW M3 to a Dodge Challenger R/T to the Ford Raptor. And yet, one of my favorites is our recently acquired 1997 Miata project car.
For more on the Mazda Miata, be sure to check out Edmunds' comprehensive history on the lovable little bugger.
Categories: Dream Car Corner
I've experienced my fair share of driving simulators over the past 30 years. From Atari's Night Driver on the 2600 to Grand Turismo 4 with a Force-Feedback steering wheel and Sparco Racing Cockpit Pro.
But last weekend I tried out the VRX Mach 3 system from Virtual Racer. This system is available for PC, PS3 or Xbox 360. Certainly the most striking aspect of the VRX Mach 3 is the bank of three 24-inch HD LCD Samsung monitors, but the most effective aspect of this simulator is the coordinated seat, pedal and steering wheel force feedback.
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Categories: Car Audio and Technology, Karl on Cars
This one might get ugly. In a special Face-Off this week, we're pitting two Fords from our personal collections against each other. In one corner, we have Associate Editor Mark Takahashi's 1957 Thunderbird, which has been in his family from day one. In the other, Photo Editor Kurt Niebuhr's 1966 Mustang, which has drawn more blood, sweat and tears than he dare admit.
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Categories: Editors' Personal Cars, Face-Off, Ford
No doubt about it, being stuck in traffic sux, and here in L.A. you spend a lot of time stuck in traffic. But offering a bit of comic relief are the dozens of funny bumper stickers you come across. Some are light-hearted while others exhibit rather dark humor or make political statements. Whether you're a redneck or a computer geek, there's a bumper sticker that'll let everyone know what you really think.
In no special order, my current top three (subject to change any day, of course) are...
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Categories: Weekly Top 3
It's no secret that I love lightweight sports cars. Put the engine behind the seats, give it some pretty bodywork and you can color me happy. Of the many cars on my wish list, only one comes from France -- the Renault Alpine A110. It was built for rally racing, and actually captured the very first World Rally Championship title in 1973.
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Categories: Dream Car Corner
