J. Clarke articles

Before SUVs became the default family vehicle, the minivan transformed how Americans traveled. Starting in the mid-1980s, these roomy, easy-to-drive vans replaced station wagons in countless driveways by combining car-like handling with space for kids, cargo, and road trips. For millions of families, they became part of everyday life.

If your navigation suddenly starts acting up after you park beneath a solar panel canopy, it's easy to blame the panels themselves. In reality, GPS signals are incredibly weak by the time they reach Earth, so anything that blocks, reflects, or distorts those signals can sometimes affect your device. The important question is whether the canopy is actually interfering electronically or simply making it harder for your GPS receiver to do its job.

If your insurer has invited you to install an app or plug a device into your vehicle in exchange for lower premiums, you're looking at what's known as usage-based insurance, or UBI. These programs use telematics to measure how you drive instead of relying only on traditional factors like age, location, and claims history. The idea sounds simple, but deciding whether to participate is anything but.

Buying a new vehicle today often means buying a connected device on wheels. Many cars continuously gather information such as location, speed, braking, acceleration, diagnostic data, app usage, and connected phone information to power navigation, remote features, maintenance alerts, and other services. The challenge is that some of this information may also be shared with outside companies, leaving many owners wondering what control they actually have.

Car designers have spent more than a century trying to make automobiles faster, safer, and more eye-catching. While engines and styling usually take he spotlight, some manufacturers decided the doors deserved just as much attention. Whether created to solve engineering problems or simply make a dramatic entrance, these unconventional designs became defining features of some of the world's most memorable vehicles.

Most people associate Volvo with practical sedans and boxy wagons, but during the 1980s the company decided to try something much more ambitious. Volvo wanted a genuine luxury coupe that could compete with premium European grand tourers while still retaining the brand’s reputation for safety, comfort, and durability.

Motocross was already wild enough on its own, but some riders looked at dirt tracks, jumps, and roaring bikes and thought, “What if we made this even crazier?” That’s basically how freestyle motocross, or FMX, found its groove. Instead of chasing lap times, riders started chasing bigger tricks, smoother style, and the kind of airborne moments that make crowds hold their breath.

Most racing is dangerous. Off-road racing takes that danger and adds deserts, mountains, rocks, mud, extreme weather, and hundreds of miles of unforgiving terrain. Unlike traditional circuits with runoff areas and barriers, many off-road events send competitors deep into remote landscapes where a small mistake can end a race—or much worse.