Category: Drive Time

Stumbled on a nice 15-minute history of DeTomaso’s Pantera.  To my mind, along with Bizzarini’s offerings, this was the ideal marriage:  dago styling coupled with a decent Murkin engine.  (Of course, in the beginning “Italian styling” went hand-in-hand with “Italian build quality”, but at least that was rectified in the Pantera’s second production year.)

And I have to say that I do prefer the pre-1980s Pantera:

…even in the fugly late-70s American trim with the loathsome “safety” bumpers:

…without that fat, ostentatious wing that was added later:

Hell, I’d drive one today — yeah, I know, “Kim prefers an early-1970s car over a modern one, quelle surprise.”

As much as I love Jaguars, even I have to admit to their manifold failings:  crap electrical systems, rust at the slightest hint of humidity (let alone rain or snow), and engines that should have been excellent (and often were), but not always so.

I knew a man who owned an XJS, and apart from the terrible V8 — they should have just stayed with the E-type’s 6, but nooooo — it just could not handle any road conditions that weren’t dry midsummer.  And this in Chicago.  (In our company bowling league, I gave him the lane name of Jagno Snogo.)

And was it but a couple days back where I castigated the company for buying into the Global Cooling Climate Warming Change© nonsense and deciding to go all-electric?  (Why yes, yes it was.)

Well, paint me white and call me Paleface:

A driver who was trapped behind the wheel of an out-of-control Jaguar I-Pace has revealed to MailOnline how he almost cheated death as his car accelerated up to 100mph on the busy M62 motorway without brakes.

Nathan Owen, 31, was on his way back from his first day at a new job when his 2019 electric car started malfunctioning, sparking a huge police operation to bring his car to a stop after 35 minutes of hell.

But in a shock revelation, Mr Owen told how his car had also gone rogue on the motorway in December, this time reaching up to 120mph. He claims Jaguar handed him his car back 24 hours after he had taken it in to be looked at.

Oh yeah, did I also mention Jaguar’s legendary customer service?  Which is to “service” as Rosie O’Donnell is to being a Playboy model:  not even close to acceptable.

He admitted: ‘In the back of my mind, I was thinking I’m going to end up crashing the car, I’m going to kill myself or I’m going to kill an innocent person on the roads.’

Mr Owen, originally from North Wales, added: ‘The car was in its own world — it just had no brakes. The worst thing about it is that it’s happened before.’

And yet you kept on driving the stupid thing (#Wales).

‘The car literally just started speeding up,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t press the brakes. The speed was going towards about 100mph in the high 90s, going to 100. I thought this was a bit wrong. [ya thaink? — K.]

‘It came up on the dashboard saying there was a battery malfunction in my car.’ [I’ll say — K.]

But here’s the best part:

Mr Owen’s car was finally able to be brought to a stop when the miles on his electric car started running out.

Yeah, that’s $80,000 of pure automotive quality and reliability right there.

I wouldn’t accept one as a gift.

Via Insty:

The overarching trend in the car world has been that the manual transmission is on the way out. People like automatics for the convenience, but they can be faster than manually shifting, and they’re frequently better at saving fuel. But the manual still has advantages. It’s small and light, it’s still sometimes more affordable than an equivalent automatic model, and, of course, it’s much more engaging than an automatic. For these reasons, automakers are still selling a variety of models with manuals. The list is certainly short compared to a couple decades ago, but the variety is impressive. Whether you’re looking for an extremely affordable commuter, a sports car or even an off-road oriented truck or SUV, there’s a manual-equipped car for you. And we’ve assembled the whole list of every single make and model of car with an available manual transmission for you three-pedal diehards.

…and then follows the list, for those who’d prefer driving a car instead of just steering it.

Manual transmissions are the bolt-action rifles of the automotive world.

And if you can’t see the similarities… well, I can’t help you.