This post was originally written for Oppositelock, but with the potentially impending death of Kinja user blogs, I’m reposting it here.
Right now, we’re in a golden age of accessible high performance motoring. Hot hatches are everywhere, regular sedans from compact to full-size are available in hot versions, and there’s several affordable performance coupes of very different flavors.
Continue reading “The next trend in performance cars, in three cars”This post was originally written for Oppositelock, but with the impending death of Kinja user blogs, I’m reposting it here.
The Volkswagen 1-Liter-Auto concept, from 2002. It was one of Ferdinand Piech’s three projects designed to create a corporate culture of cheating to make the boss happy as halo cars to demonstrate the technical prowess of Volkswagen – the other two being the Phaeton and the Veyron. The Phaeton’s goal was to be the best luxury sedan in the world, the Veyron’s to be the fastest car in the world while still being easy to drive, and the 1-Liter-Auto’s goal was… to consume 1 liter of fuel for every 100 kilometers, or in ‘murrican units, 235 miles per US gallon. And, it had to do this while actually being capable of decent speeds – top speed was 120 km/h, or about 75 mph.
This post was originally written for Oppositelock, but with the potentially impending death of Kinja user blogs, I’m reposting it here.
I swear, this is the last part! If you haven’t read parts 1 and 2 (on degrees of hybridization and the various systems out there), I highly recommend doing so first. Today, I’m covering the energy storage systems used by hybrids.
Continue reading “A Primer on Hybrids, part 3”This post was originally written for Oppositelock, but with the potentially impending death of Kinja user blogs, I’m reposting it here.
Yesterday, I posted a primer on the various degrees of hybridization, ranging from “micro hybrids”, to range-extended battery electrics. Here’s the follow-up, with coverage of the powertrain layouts of hybrids.
Continue reading “A Primer on Hybrids, part 2”This post was originally written for Oppositelock, but with the potentially impending death of Kinja user blogs, I’m reposting it here.
As a hybrid enthusiast who’s noticed quite a few questions about hybrids here on Oppo (as well as on Jalopnik), I thought it might be useful to write up a primer on hybrid technology, the various configurations of hybrid systems that are out there, and what all of that means.
Continue reading “A Primer on Hybrids, part 1”This post was originally written for Oppositelock, but I’m also posting it to my blog simultaneously.
Yes, a Prius review, on your Oppositelock. It’s more likely than you think. Continue reading “2016 Toyota Prius: An Oppositelock Review”
In case you’ve been living under a rock, Volkswagen was caught cheating on emissions testing with their 2009-2016 diesels. Recently, a proposed settlement including a buyback program (as well as, potentially, a fix) has been announced for the 2009-2015 2.0 liter vehicles. One concern, however, is the CO2 emissions impact of this buyback – both in terms of manufacturing emissions, and in terms of fuel consumption. Continue reading “Dieselgate and CO2 emissions”
That’s right, MPG is bullshit (and along with it, MPGe). Continue reading “MPG is bullshit”
I’m going to rant a bit about the availability and pricing of transportational cycling gear inside the US, because I’ve been inspired by recent purchases. Continue reading “A rant about transportational cycling gear in the US”
Prompted by a Hooniverse article on the subject, I thought I’d go ahead and tackle driver’s licensing in the US in a blog post. Continue reading “Thoughts on driver’s licensing standards in the US”