Help TTAC Help You

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

TTAC Headquarters is experiencing a tiny internet outage thanks to our good friends at the cable company, so our content cadence will be a bit off today. We’ll be back with Monday’s news, review and analysis as soon as the local outage is fixed (I’m assured that top men are on the case), but in the meantime we’d like to take this moment to solicit your burning technical and car-buying advice questions. Struggling to identify that smell/sound coming out of your family truckster? TTAC’s in-house advice guru, Sajeev Mehta is standing by to answer your car-related technical questions in his Piston Slap column. And if the problem’s too big for even Sajeev to solve, he and Steve Lang will get your search for its replacement started right, with their car-buying advice column New Or Used? Begin your voyage of automotive discovery with an email describing your technical problem or car buying conundrum to mehta@ttac.com

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • PrincipalDan PrincipalDan on May 17, 2010

    Don't be afraid B&B! They even tolerated my inane question that I had really clarify. Thank you, B&B! This weekend I found out I may be making some big road-trips in the future so I think I chose the right car. http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/new-or-used-analysis-paralysis-edition/

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    • 86er 86er on May 17, 2010

      No need to 'splain yourself, Dan, you bought what was best for you. Enjoy.

  • Kericf Kericf on May 17, 2010

    I have a two year old son who one day will be driving. I also have a father-in-law who is a mechanic and gearhead. My son's name is Case and the obvious vehicular tie-in would be and International Harvester Scout. I want to buy a project car to work on over the next 16 or so years for him to learn about working on cars with and have something at the end of it. It's hard finding one not rusted to hell, but since I'm in Texas it's possible. I guess the questions is, am I crazy, or just stupid?

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    • PrincipalDan PrincipalDan on May 17, 2010

      I think that is simultaneously the craziest and coolest thing I have heard. The only other thing would be to wait a few years and pick up something from the same year as his birth to be his first car. But you sir win my father of the year award!

  • Stuart Stuart on May 17, 2010

    O.K., I'll bite. Back in the '80s, I was impressed with the FIAT 128. It wasn't a fabulous car, but they were fun to drive, cheap to own, utilitarian (space-efficient front-wheel drive), and all FIATs suffered extreme depreciation (i.e. they were cheap to buy). I did all of my own work, so maintenence was cheap. (I'm well aware of the 128s many shortcomings. No need to remind me. :-) I hope to be able to buy another car in the next year or so. Here' s my question: What's the 'spiritual successor' to the FIAT 128?

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    • Stuart Stuart on May 21, 2010

      educatordan, Thank You for your suggestion. I Googled for driving reviews of the Cobalt, and ... well, you're right about cheap. I guess I did a lousy job of explaining what I wanted. Those old FIAT 128s were really fun to drive. If you Google for "FIAT 128 fun to drive," you'll find dozens of folks, all saying the same things. The Cobalt reviews speak in reverential tones about the super/turbo/charged Cobalts, but otherwise, the comments seem to be "forgettable." Not bad, but not very positive either. If you Google "cobalt fun to drive," about 1/4 of the reviews say "Cobalt blanblah... but is more fun to drive." For all its faults, the 128 was voted the European Car of the Year in 1970. It was a lovely, quirky, space-efficient little car that totally failed to catch on in the US. But it was a blast to drive. Recent driving reviews suggest the Honda Fit and the imminent Ford Fiesta do O.K. on the "fun to drive" metric. I suppose the Lotus Elise would also be fun to drive, albeit rather impractical and out of my price range.

  • Festiva Rob Festiva Rob on May 25, 2023

    How do you make posts?!

    I need to know.

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