The Internet Pricing Bait and Switch

Posted on May 25, 2020 in Editorials | 1 comment

The Internet brings transparency to the car buying process and allows us to search the whole country for our favorite car. While shopping for a WRX a few months ago, I got quotes from dealers as far as 1,500 miles away. I ended up skipping the local dealers and travelling to a dealer 80 miles away in order to get the best price. Leaving your immediate...

Zing in Your Thing

Posted on Feb 12, 2020 in Editorials | 1 comment

I had another opportunity to visit United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka last week and, naturally, I brought along my camera for another visit to the “Lemon Lot.” While my last visit noted the many people haulers for sale and focused on a pair of cheerful Toyota Fun Cargoes, this time, my attention was drawn to sportier fare. First on the list is a 1992...

Inside Stories From the War Between Automakers And Dealers Over Exports

Posted on Jan 16, 2020 in Editorials | 2 comments

There’s not a more uncomfortable phone call for a car dealership’s finance manager to make then asking a customer to come back to have their finance or lease contract rewritten. This is typically caused by sales managers — the people most despised by finance departments — who spot deliver a vehicle based on their wrong guess about the rate or term a lender...

Vapor Lock and the Hot R32?

Posted on Dec 2, 2019 in Editorials | 2 comments

Nick writes: I bought a used 2008 Volkswagen Golf R32 with 48,000 miles in January 2010 (5,000 only in the U.S., 3.2-liter NA V6). Every summer since then I’ve had issues as the weather warms up. Basically, it starts to act up when driving at around 85+ miles-per-hour or so, and it gets even worse if I’m stuck in any kind of stop-and-go traffic. The only sure...

Two Doors Good, Four Doors Better

Posted on Oct 23, 2019 in Editorials | 2 comments

Dear Bark, I, like you, am a committed family man with two small children. Both of them are in car seats. I currently drive a 2007 Acura TL, but I miss the small cars of my youth. I dream of getting a Miata like I used to have years ago, but I don’t know if I will get enough utility from it to make it worth the expense. I was also considering an S2000 or an...

High-Low and Crossovers to Go

Posted on Sep 14, 2019 in Editorials | 1 comment

(Welcome Daniel Ho — a.k.a. “Waftable Torque” — who’s here to school you proles on the true appeal of the crossover/cute-ute/abominable mom-van. — JB) There has seldom been a topic that riles automotive journalists and commentators up as much as crossovers. They inhabit categories that are successfully profitable and growing. Non-existent 20 years ago, they...

What to Do with $300/Month?

Posted on Jul 23, 2019 in Editorials | 2 comments

Every once in awhile, somebody writes in to Ask Bark with a question that makes me check my own bank account to see if I can afford my own recommendation. Today is one of those times. Sit back and relax while you read about our friend’s quest for a more powerful grocery-getter, and then see if you share in my envy. Ben writes: I am currently leasing a 2014...

1982 AMC Eagle Station Wagon

Posted on May 25, 2019 in Editorials | 2 comments

I live in Colorado, where the AMC Eagle sold as well in the 1980s as the Subaru Outback does now, and so I see the all-wheel-drive versions of the American Motors Concord and Spirit everywhere here. This means they show up in Denver-area self-service wrecking yards like clockwork, and I photograph them when they do (and I walk right by most air-cooled Beetles,...

A Craigslist Escort (Replacement)?

Posted on Apr 12, 2019 in Editorials | 1 comment

Jon writes: Hello Bark, It will soon be time to replace my wife’s car: a ’94 Ford Escort wagon. We’re considering spending somewhere between $4,000 and $10,000 on its replacement. We have no kids and, thanks to a little snip-snip, we will continue to have no kids. Fuel economy isn’t a big issue as we both work from home. However, we live in rural Iowa, so...

1980 Toyota Corolla Station Wagon

Posted on Feb 17, 2019 in Editorials | 2 comments

The fourth-generation Corolla was a gigantic sales success in California, but you won’t see many of these TE72 wagons even in rust-free regions these days; nearly all of them were driven into the ground and replaced by RAV4s or Priuses a decade or two back. Since we had wagon Junkyard Finds on Monday and Wednesday, let’s make this a Junkyard Wagon Week with...

“Avanti!” She Cried

Posted on Feb 17, 2019 in Editorials | 1 comment

(From “HW” comes a tale of a Corvette, a hot-blooded Alfa Veloce, and a young Italian wife with romance on her mind.) Sam, a good friend of mine, had lusted after a particular 1965 Corvette Stingray, and had somehow finally acquired the object of his desires. However, the cost of putting on 23 coats of a gorgeous, dark, lipstick red paint and clear coat, of...

Of Cost and Axle Differentials?

Posted on Jan 18, 2019 in Editorials | 1 comment

Sajeev, We have three cars in our household that see regularly use, but we are considering going down to two vehicles in an attempt to save some money. However, instead of just getting rid of one of those three cars, we are trading in two of them toward a newer vehicle that we plan to keep long term. The two cars we plan to get rid of are a Toyota Camry...