10 Things That Used To Be Common - But Which You Won't Find Today
Here's a fun way to test your age - or at least, your automotive IQ. If you can remember even half of the following features that cars used to have, you're either over 40 - or know your four-wheeled history!* Floor-mounted dimmer switch - With modern cars, you pull back on a steering wheel-mounted stalk to activate (or switch off) the high beams. In the olden days - prior to about 1981 - you'd use your left foot to tap them on and off. The change was done ostensibly for safety reasons - though a argument can be made that having to take one hand off the wheel to dim the high beams is not necessarily an improvement, safety-wise, over tapping a button with your left foot - and keeping both hands on the wheel.
The "Real Killers" And The Electric Car
Who "killed" the electric car? It wasn't General Motors - despite the innuendoes floated by conspiracy theorists who believe the world's largest automaker was more interested in suppressing electric vehicle technology than developing it.In fact, if you want to affix blame for the failure of the electric car, Uncle Sam deserves at least a partial share of the blame.
Here's why:
New SUV Review: 2008 Lincoln Navigator
Ford (and its luxury division, Lincoln) has had an unfortunate history of thinking up some really great ideas - and then not following through on them.From the recently euthanized and now-resurrected Taurus to the abandoned Mark VIII luxury coupe to the died-from-neglect BMW contender Lincoln LS sedan. All of these vehicles were either very popular initially or had tremendous potential. And all were left to fade away into near-irrelevance while competitors ate into their market share.
The Navigator is on that sad-sack list, too.
At the time of its launch and for several years thereafter, it was the pre-eminent full-size luxury SUV - having virtually created the segment and inspiring a slew of imitators, including the Cadillac Escalade. The Navigator was once so white hot, in fact, that on the strength of Navigator sales alone, Lincoln actually surpassed Cadillac in overall sales for the first time in decades.
Road Trip Safety Tips
Cars are safer than they've ever been - but what about us?Air bags and crumple zones certainly make a car more crashworthy. But they don't make it less likely we'll crash the car. That's still up to us, to a great extent.
Mostly, it's a matter of exercising common sense.
That would include:
