A $60 tip might not seem like much in Reno, but at a Taco Bell? A customer asked the manager if she ever gave anything away for free. When she handed him the entire meal for nothing, he threw her three Andrew Jacksons. The exchange was no more inexplicable than some of the deals going down at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center during the Hot August Nights (HAN) car auction.

For over 60 years, The United Autoworkers Union (UAW) has sold itself as the protector of America’s working class. According to their web site, “We’ve used our bargaining power to demand – and win – a role for union members to ensure that consumers receive the highest possible quality cars and trucks.” Regardless of your view of the quality of UAW-built vehicles, the union’s gained tremendous power on the factory floor, secured a group of benefits that are the envy of workers everywhere and amassed a mountain of money. So, now that GM and Ford are in trouble, will the UAW give anything back? Here’s what the union has to lose…

For a certified car freak living in the City of Angels, the drive to Las Vegas is a special treat. Sure, LA is only a traffic jam or three away from the kind of twisting coastal tarmac that ad makers and throttle jockeys adore. But the two hundred seventy-five mile haul across Interstate 15 to Sin City tells you everything you need to know about a car’s capacity for long distance love. Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking with it. My tale began when my friend and I jumped into the hairy knuckled Mazda Speed6 and set off for a suite at Caesar's Palace.

Last Friday, Ford announced its largest production cuts in over two decades. The bold (not to say unavoidable) move comes in the face of evaporating truck sales; even large discounts on the formerly formidable F150 and Explorer can't move the metal faster than it's being built. With a debt rating that’s sleeping with the fishes, with the company’s “Way Forward” recovery plan in triage, with another disastrous quarter only days away, Ford is looking increasingly, irredeemably desperate.

Timing is. Everything. Case in point: Toyota is about roll out its re-designed Tundra. The full-size pickup represents a huge investment for the automaker, including a brand new factory deep in the heart of Texas. By all accounts, the new Tundra will hit the market just as “lifestyle” load luggers have left the building, abandoning the genre for smaller, more fuel efficient machines. But as bad as Toyota’s timing may be for their corporate aspirations, it's worse for the so-called domestics.

First off, I’d like to ask you a favor. Could you please take a couple of minutes and fill out this survey? The suits at FM Publishing want to hook potential Truth About Cars (TTAC) advertisers on the quality of our readership. As you are all Harvard MBA’s earning seven figure salaries ready to buy whatever high-priced goods we tout, FM should have no problem landing a major sponsorship deal with BMW (you know, aside from the whole flying vagina thing). No really; do what we do: tell the truth. Much obliged. Now, to my main point: should TTAC post once or twice a day, or more?

Toyota’s RAV4 is often called a “cute ute.” For die-hard SUV drivers, the label is sacrilege, implying that the small four-by-four is a downsized, de-butched truck. To paraphrase the B52’s, WELL IT ISN’T! Like many so-called crossovers, Toyota “Recreational Active Vehicle with 4WD” is a hatchback on stilts that looks something like truck and drives something like a top-heavy station wagon. Despite these drawbacks, the RAV4’s runaway success has green-lighted the entire crossover genre. The latest version tells us all we need to know about the niche’s immediate future.

Somewhere between the proud homeowner and carefree apartment dweller lives the best of both lifestyles. Who wants to throw money away on a rented apartment or deal with the hassles of home ownership? Enter the townhouse: smaller bills and fewer hassles than a full-size home with more usability than a mere apartment. Just like a townhouse, the mid-size pickup combines attributes of rigs both big and small. And ever since its inception, the Toyota Tacoma has been living large in the mid-size pickup penthouse.

Driving talent is as rare as the ability to play a sitar. Driver training is a joke. Driver testing is the punch line. In fact, there’s only one thing keeping the highway fatality rate from ascending epidemically: the car. Electronic braking aids, traction control, stability control, handling improvements, crumple zones, airbags, seatbelt systems, stadium-bright lighting, pavement shredding brakes, tires so good they make ‘70’s rubber look like wagon wheels— these are our saviors. And it’s time to take the next step: automation.

While GM and Ford continue their slow-motion fall from grace, Audi’s headed in the other direction. The German automaker’s U.S. sales are up, moving towards record levels. The company has a raft of new vehicles on dealers’ lots and more models on their way– from mid-market entry level models to the new TT roadster to the R8 supercar. Audi’s interiors are still the industry standard for design, fit and finish. They’re modifying their distribution system to increase customer choice and reduce dealer inventories. So is all well with Audi?  Yes and no.