Jane O'Shea articles

Some of the world's most valuable collector cars spent decades looking like ordinary junk. They sat in dusty barns, deteriorated in forgotten garages, and sometimes came dangerously close to being discarded. Today, collectors pay extraordinary sums for certain surviving examples, especially when their originality and history can be documented. These remarkable discoveries show how an unwanted old car can become an automotive treasure.

The United States is one of the world’s biggest SUV markets, but that does not mean American buyers get every interesting version manufacturers build. Australia, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East still receive diesel engines, specialized off-road models, and entire SUV nameplates that never officially reach U.S. showrooms. Some prioritize towing and range, while others preserve old-fashioned four-wheel-drive hardware that has become increasingly unusual in America. Looking overseas makes the American SUV market seem surprisingly selective.

Small hatchbacks have long occupied a strange position in the American market. Models that make perfect sense on crowded European streets or in densely populated Asian cities have often struggled against larger sedans, pickups, and SUVs in the United States. The contrast has become especially noticeable as American manufacturers have abandoned numerous subcompacts while small cars continue attracting millions of buyers elsewhere.

Your car behaved beautifully while it was under warranty, and now it seems to want something repaired every few months. That timing can feel suspicious, but an expired warranty does not suddenly make mechanical parts fail. What often happens is simpler: several components have accumulated roughly the same years, miles, heat cycles, vibrations, and road exposure. Once the car reaches that stage, separate maintenance and repair needs can begin arriving close together.

On a freezing morning, starting the car and letting it sit for several minutes can feel like basic mechanical sympathy. Many drivers learned the habit from parents who insisted a cold engine needed time before going anywhere. That advice once made more sense than it does for most modern vehicles. Today, the better routine is usually much shorter.

One of the reasons I liked the idea of owning an EV was being able to charge it at home. There is just one problem: I do not have a private parking space, so my setup only works when I can park close enough to my house. By the time I get home, someone else often has the spot I need, leaving me wondering whether EV owners have any special rights to the curb.

Modern vehicles can do things that would have seemed luxurious not long ago, from opening the tailgate with a foot gesture to adjusting suspension height automatically. The catch is that every extra motor, sensor, actuator, computer, and piece of moving hardware creates another possible failure point. Consumer Reports mechanic and reliability coverage repeatedly shows that some sophisticated features can make repairs more complicated or expensive, even though many work perfectly well for years.

Living near a school often means accepting a burst of traffic twice a day, but losing access to your own driveway is a different problem. Municipalities and schools routinely warn drivers not to block private driveways during pickup and drop-off. The exact rules and enforcement procedures vary by location, but a vehicle obstructing a driveway can generally be reported to local parking enforcement or the appropriate municipal service.

Can your neighbor legally idle a diesel truck for 30 minutes every morning? Here’s how anti-idling laws, noise ordinances, vehicle weight rules, and cold-weather exceptions can affect the answer.