We know styling is subjective, but after driving and reviewing hundreds of cars each year, our editors earned the right to call some out as just plain ugly. We’ve compiled a list of the top 10 ugliest cars from the last 30 years. And because we’re tired of seeing Aztek on lists like this, Pontiac’s homeliest vehicle isn’t on ours.
Used-car supplies have been pretty tight this year, making it harder for shoppers to find the cars they want at the right price. If you’re fortunate enough to find what you’re looking for, it’s important not to get your hopes up because the car could end up being a dud. Important warning signs include dings, stains and shoddy repairs, says Car Talk’s Tom and Ray Magliozzi. Not so obvious, and admittedly prejudicial, cues include the age of the seller, the type of car and radio station presets, the Tappet Brothers say halfheartedly. Check out their list in the Advice section.
Top 10 Warning Signs That You Shouldn't Buy a Used Car (Cars.com Advice)
Well folks, we have only a year left before the Mayan calendar “ends.” For those worried about the soothsaying of impending doom, you better come prepared. We’ve put together a list of the best cars to survive the apocalypse — or at least go out in style in, like the 2012 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor and the 2012 Jeep Wrangler. Continue reading the full list with the link below.
Top 10 Cars for the 2012 Apocalypse (Cars.com Advice)
August was another solid month of sales growth for many popular carmakers, but Toyota and Honda once again remained the exception.
General Motors (up 18%), Ford (up 11.2%), Nissan (up 19.2%) and Hyundai (up 9.1%) all recorded strong growth. Chrysler grew by 31%, which the automaker says is “well above the industry average.” Stable truck sales buoyed GM, Ford and Chrysler: The Ford F-Series and Chevrolet Silverado are firmly the top-selling vehicles of the year thus far, and Ram sales have grown nearly 25% compared with 2010.
The Chevrolet Cruze was the third-best-selling car of the month, and it was the best-selling compact car. It’s also GM’s best-selling car, beating the Chevy Malibu and Impala year-to-date.
Toyota and Honda were a different, yet familiar, story. Both companies saw double-digit declines compared with a year ago. Toyota was down 12.7% while Honda fell a whopping 24.6%.
Despite the slump, the Toyota Camry remained the top-selling car in August, with more than 30,000 of the family sedans reaching customers. The Honda Accord returned to the top 10 best-selling list, finishing in ninth place. The once-venerable nameplate was absent from the list in July.
We all have our own issues and hang-ups in life — for instance, I always make sure to have three bottles of mouthwash available on hand at all times and consider a coffee label’s “extremely hot” warning to be a compliment. Having strange mental complexes is fine so long as it doesn’t affect others. It’s even worse when your personal perceptions, emotions or general carelessness affect your habits behind two tons of high-speed steel, as Car Talk radio hosts Click and Clack can attest. The brothers have a complied their top 10 most annoying driver habits. Are you committing any of these taboos? Which one drives you nuts? Top 10
Vehicles that work well in the suburbs aren’t necessarily the best in an urban environment. With little available parking and heavy pedestrian traffic in the city, a car’s visibility and ease of parallel parking are more important considerations. So, what cars are the most apt at maneuvering through the urban jungle? Check out our latest top 10 list to find out:
Top 10 Urban Cars (Cars.com Advice)
Despite mounting pressures on the auto industry from rising gas prices and growing concerns involving the production delays and the earthquake in Japan, car shoppers still bought new vehicles in droves in March.
While all automakers generally did well, Hyundai (up 32%), Ford (up 28.2%) and Nissan (up 26.9%) performed above average. Ford (selling only Ford and Lincoln models) with 212,777 cars sold, outsold all four brands at GM (206,621 cars sold, up 11.4%) to become the best-selling automaker in the United States in March. GM is still the best-seller year-to-date.
Ford has three vehicles in the top 10 for March, the most of any automaker. That’s an accolade typically reserved for Honda. Toyota was the only major automaker with losses compared with March 2010 (down 9.2%). The Toyota Camry and the Toyota Corolla were the only vehicles showing falling sales in the top 10.
Seven vehicles on the list sold more than 30,000 units in March, compared with only three that did that in the first two months of 2011.
The list also shows significant gains in the midsize sedan category. Typically, the top two spots are pickup trucks, but the Honda Accord managed to wrestle the second spot from the Chevrolet Silverado, a perennial favorite. The Camry, typically the best-selling midsize sedan, fell behind both the Accord and the Nissan Altima in March. The Hyundai Sonata rejoins the top 10 after a four-month abscence, with sales up 63.4% for the year.
Check out the full list below:
Ever get the sneaking suspicion that the posted speed limits in your area are there less for safety and more to generate revenue for your local government?
It isn’t just your paranoia. Speeding tickets are a $4.5 billion to $6 billion industry, according to the National Motorist Association. With so many municipal budgets in the red, artificially low speed limits or strict enforcement may be a common practice in some regions.
What parts of the country are the worst offenders? It was a question that CNBC.com posed and answered recently by compiling the total number of speed traps in a given city based on driver reports. Two Texas cities, Houston and Austin, fare the worst because of their wildly fluctuating speed limits. In these areas, it’s not unheard of for a single cop to issue hundreds of tickets a day, or for everyone you know to have a couple of infractions under their belts. Cities like Chicago and Orlando, Fla., which rely heavily on red-light cameras, don’t fare well, either.
Check out the full list below:
Deciphering truth from fiction in automotive marketing can be tough sometimes, especially if the model in question doesn’t have much to brag about. Over the decades, this helped sway opinions on plenty of models, usually by touting numbers of some sort. “Most [blank] in its class,” is an annoying phrase that can easily be paired with either a partial truth or a flat-out lie. Cars.com senior editor Joe Wiesenfelder chose his top 10 worst offenders, including some old favorites like horsepower and fuel economy. To check out all 10, follow the link: Top 10
Ways Automotive Numbers Lie (Cars.com Advice)
As 2010 comes to a close this weekend, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on how this year was truly awesome for the car industry.
I'm not talking about corporate bailouts, green technology or F1 racing in America. I'm talking about the number of well-designed and excellent-looking cars that were released.
After a few visually mediocre years full of boring SUVs and generic family sedans, 2010 marked the return of the well-designed car. It's a miracle. These days, manufacturers are putting a lot of thought into interior and exterior aesthetics as well as manufacturing cost, fuel economy, performance, comfort and utility.
Let's hope this trend continues. I can't wait to see what comes out of Detroit in a few weeks. Have a Happy new year!
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