Piston Slap: A Spoonful of Sugar for Bitter Medicine?
Peter writes:Hi Sajeev,My mother-in-law in New England drives a fifteen-year-old Mazda Tribute with a manual transmission that is way overdue for replacement. She won’t settle for anything that doesn’t have 1) the ability to power all four wheels equally at the same time (I think her Mazda has a button or lever to engage the 4WD, so it doesn’t have to be a full-time 4WD system), and 2) a manual transmission. She is suspicious of the modern “all-wheel-drive” systems found on Subaru, etc., and swears that nothing works in the snow like 4WD.
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Piston Slap: A Tribute to the Mariner's Idle Escape?

TTAC Commentator sundvl76 writes:

Sajeev,

Your post of 2 Mar 2011 was a great explanation regarding the cause of the “T” joint oil leak I’ve been experiencing. No one on any of the normal Ford sites has been able to pinpoint the problem, so I thank you for the information. (I’d discovered the source, but didn’t know the cause/fix until your post.) TTAC is now on my Favorites list!

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The Clones: Send Them In Or Send Them Out?

Trent was a poser. He was the kind of guy who wore a fake Rolex, an imitation Italian suit and “alligator” shoes that were actually made out of vinyl. His $100 hair style cost $8 at Supercuts and his midwinter suntan, the one made him look like he had just returned from a lengthy South American stay, came from a spray can. Determined to climb from the bottom rung of society, he was forever trying to get over on people by manipulating his image and the truth is I really could have cared less. What really tore it for me, however, was the day he decided to put SS emblems on his tatty old Malibu.

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  • Zipper69 " including numerous examples of the Cybertruck"I could only see four in the lead photo, but they are kinda anonymous from above...
  • FreedMike These were great cars, but I don't think they're particularly novel or collectible. You can get a newer beater for that money that'd be easier to keep fixed.Good to see these soldiering on, though.
  • Funky D The only piece of technology introduced in the last 10 years that is actually useful is the backup camera. Get rid of the rest. All I want is a car with that and phone connectivity and zero driving nannies.
  • TheMrFreeze As somebody who's worked in IT for my entire career, I don't want any computer automatically doing something of this nature on my behalf. Automatically turning on my headlights? Sure (and why hasn't THAT been mandated yet). Automatically braking, or steering, or actually driving my car for me? Not an effing chance...I've seen computers do too much weird stuff for no reason to trust my life to one.
  • Daniel J Our CX-5 has hit its automatic brakes a few times at in very unnecessary situations. My 2018 doesn't have it, but it will shake and throw a warning if it thinks you should brake. Only once was it needed. The dozen or so times it has gone off I was already on the brakes or traffic was in a pattern that just fooled it.