Tag: jalopnik.com

Motor oil does not freeze solid like water. Instead, it thickens, and this somewhat solidified state affects what’s called a motor oil’s pour point. In this regard, the pour point refers to the lowest temperature the oil can endure before it becomes thick enough to resist flowing. When oil becomes too thick or overly viscous…

The British are great at a few things, and one of them is building excellent lightweight sports cars. Another is cooking up fun nicknames for their cars. Enter the Austin-Healey “Frogeye” Sprite. A charming little sports car from the golden era of British car manufacturing, the humble little Sprite was the perfect solution for drop-top…

The Mazda CX-30 is a small crossover SUV that debuted for the 2020 model year. It runs on fourth-gen Mazda3 underpinnings and has inherited the shapely body style of its sedan- and hatchback-bodied stablemates. However, it also means visibility took a backseat, as the CX-30 and Mazda3 are among the newer cars with the worst…

Costco offers plenty of car-related perks to its members. From car repair discount packages to premium new tires that usually offer very competitive prices, Costco warehouses are a haven for car enthusiasts. Their tire offerings are quite enticing, particularly the tire installation package included in every purchase. The freebies cover the installation, valve stems, balancing, and nitrogen…

The best part of renting a car is the moment of relief that comes over you when you leave the keys with the rental car employee, having agreed that everything is good, and you’re finally free. That is, unless the rental car company reaches out a few days later saying you owe almost $10,000 for…

Billet and forged car parts have the same starting point: a processed piece of metal. But what happens to that metal afterward is different, and that gives their resulting components different traits, too. At the most basic, billet components — created by machining the metal — can be made to more precise specifications. Forged parts,…

The minivan was a revolutionary concept in the 1980s when Dodge and Plymouth first introduced the Caravan and Voyager, respectively. There were some earlier minivan-esque vehicles produced before the Chrysler minivans like the Stout Scarab and Volkswagen Transporter, but the Chrysler products were the first front-engine, front-drive minivans to become true sales successes.  Competitors didn’t…

Word from CarEdge is that a whopping 117 different new vehicle models have rolled off production lines across America in 2026. There’s an abundance of choice if you want to support domestic manufacturing — or to potentially shield yourself from the worst effects of recent tariffs.  But as with cars assembled anywhere else in the world, not all…

Ah, the vaunted 0-to-60-mph test. We all know and love (or loathe) this car acceleration test metric -– even non-gearheads get the gist of why it exists. The prevailing wisdom is pretty straightforward: does a car leap off of the line quickly from a stop? Look up the 0-to-60 time, and you (kind of) have…

Bosch has been an important innovator in the braking industry since 1927, pioneering systems like anti-lock brakes and electronic stability programs back in the 20th century. The company — whose magneto ignition device made spark plugs possible – hit the headlines in 2025 with another advance: a brake-by-wire system in which the brake pedal isn’t mechanically part of…