Daily coverage of the world of cars.
When looking for stories to warm the cockles of the heart, pro sports typically aren’t the best place to begin.
Usually, stories involving people and cars in professional sports include young athletes using overpriced wheels to flaunt their multimillion-dollar contracts.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just what we’ve come to expect.
This story, though, turns what we expect upside down.
The winter of 2010-’11 has so far been defined by blizzards, freezing temperatures and deep snow. Pretty harsh stuff!
There’s been more than once, even in my AWD SUV, when a simple jaunt to the grocery store turned into an epic quest reminiscent of Top Gear’s drive to the North Pole.
This winter I’ve certainly made a lifelong commitment to AWD, and it seems I’m not alone. I got a call from a friend who wanted advice on what used AWD sedan to buy in place of her aging MINI Cooper. She had narrowed her choices to a Volvo S60 AWD, an Audi A4 Quattro, an Acura TL SH-AWD or a Lexus IS AWD.
All are fine choices, but I took the opportunity to point out a car she hadn’t even heard of…
What if the perfect new car for you isn’t new at all?
As one of your resident CarGurus, people occasionally ask my advice on what new car they should consider. My answer always begins the same: How will you use it?
Whether the intended use is family hauling, boat towing, weekend getaways or street racing, I always have an opinion and a recommendation. From there the discussion filters down through price, reliability, resale and performance of the vehicle in question.
While I’ll never hesitate to recommend a new car, there are usually some perfectly acceptable (and often forgotten) used options available that could save a buyer boatloads of money without much sacrifice.
Since family sedans are always near the top of the best-sellers list, here are five examples of used models that are proving their worth as alternatives to the perennial top sellers, the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord.
Cars in Mexico are usually colorful, and a lot of advertising gets done via automobile. This Suburban (I think it’s a Suburban!) is touting Huatulco, a resort community into which the government has put serious money. Most likely some of that ended up decorating this travel firm’s carro.
Oaxaca is experiencing big traffic problems, and you hear lots of horns sounding off, particularly on Friday afternoons as people try to get out of the city. City government is also tearing up and repairing many downtown streets, which creates clouds of dust (polvo) in this dry season and angry reactions from residents. The typical comment is that the repairs are only coming now, just before the elections.
In the 1970s, excess and ugliness competed with lame attempts at fuel efficiency. The result? Lots of underpowered, hideous-looking cars that looked back toward the glory of the ’60s and extended a great big middle finger at them.
Very little good came out of the ’70s, but there were a couple of gems among the morbid Mustang IIs and miserable Mercury Bobcats.
First, though, we have to give a little credit to the ’70s for at least trying to deal with a triple blow to the auto industry. First, the Clean Air Act of 1970 was passed, which by itself wasn’t that big of a deal to the automakers. But then the stock market crashed in January 1973, followed by an OPEC oil embargo that raised the price of a barrel of oil by 70 percent.
A sinking economy, government regulations, and high gas prices are just as much to blame for the Pinto as Ford is. Even in those hard times, though, some cars shined and still have a lasting influence today.
Take Toyota, for example. It’s $1,700 Corolla came to the States in 1968, perfectly timed to take advantage of Americans looking for fuel efficiency and low prices, rather than big block V8s. Some early quality and safety issues were addressed, and here we are now 40 years later with a Toyota that arguably owes its U.S. success to the problems of the 1970s. For that, we are thankful. (Anyone care to make a modern-day Hyundai comparison?)
We’re also thankful for the 1978 Pontiac Trans Am. This was one of the last great cars from Pontiac before the brand dropped its large displacement engines in the face of tighter emissions restrictions. Savor those T-Tops and that 400-cubic-inch engine, friends, because once the 1980s arrived, we had a whole new ballgame.
Are any of your favorite cars from the 1970s?
-tgriffith