Cars – Page 6 – Splendid Isolation

So Much For That Stereotype

August 28, 2025 Kim du Toit Drive Time, Technology

My buddy (whom I’ll call “Brian” because, well, that’s his name) was once married to a gorgeous but rather empty-headed girl named Irene (also her real name). Over the course of his twenty-odd year marriage, he would unfailingly buy her a new Honda Accord every two years or so. When I asked Brian why always an Accord, his answer was quite succinct:

“Because not even Irene can fuck up a Honda.”

Well, that may have been true back then, but apparently it’s not so true anymore:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched an investigation into more than 1.4 million Honda and Acura vehicles over defective connecting rod bearings that can cause complete engine failure. The probe targets 3.5-liter V6 engines in popular models including the Honda Pilot, Odyssey, and Ridgeline, along with several Acura vehicles.

The investigation underscores growing safety concerns about widespread engine problems that could leave drivers stranded or create hazardous situations on busy roadways.

Federal regulators opened the probe on August 20. They are focusing on the J35 V6 engine used across multiple Honda and Acura model lines. The investigation covers 2016–2020 Acura MDX vehicles, 2018–2020 Acura TLX models, 2018–2020 Honda Odyssey minivans, 2016–2020 Honda Pilot SUVs, and 2017–2019 Honda Ridgeline pickup trucks.

NHTSA has received at least 414 complaints involving engine failure tied to the defective connecting rod bearings.

Oops.

Strange that this problem should surface in their V6 engines; I always thought they’d be bulletproof compared to the smaller 2-liter 4-bangers, but there ya go.

Readers thinking of buy a new-model Honda with said engine: caveat emptor.

Impressive

August 21, 2025 Kim du Toit Drive Time

So some guy decides to take a drive in his old car.

The drive happens to be from Rhode Island to California, the guy is famed car collector Fritz Burkhard, and his old car is a 1937 Bugatti Atalanta:

…worth about $30 million.

I like his attitude:

“If people just park their cars to show them and keep them in the garage they miss 70-80 percent of the fun.

“They don’t know what that is. These are machines to be driven. They are pieces of art, but you don’t tack them on the wall.”

There is no mention of how his insurance agent felt about it.

Of Course, It Would Be

August 20, 2025 Kim du Toit Corporate Fuckery, Drive Time

…Volkswagen, who are taking that extra step towards eventual self-immolation:

Auto Express reports that German automaker Volkswagen has introduced a subscription-based model for unlocking the full potential of its ID.3 electric car, a new model available in the UK. While the ID.3 Pro and Pro S models are listed on the configurator as producing 201 horsepower, buyers must pay a monthly subscription fee of £16.50 ($22.29) to access the car’s maximum output of 228 horsepower.

Considering that sales of the ID.3 outside Yurp can probably be measured in single figures per month, nobody Over Here should care about this. (And if this lawsuit succeeds, well…)

But in this case of bastardy, it’s very definitely the principle of the thing that matters.

Fuck them, and the batteries that power their accountants’ laptops.

Gotta say that it’s this kind of chiseling that makes me want one of these oh so badly:

Anything without a chip or batteries will do, come to think of it. Even a replica with a (non-electric carburetor-fed) VW Beetle engine.

Big Iron

August 9, 2025 Kim du Toit Drive Time

Whoo-ee, this is tasty:

1957 Chevrolet Bel Air (283 CID / 4.6-liter V8)

(click pics to embiggen)

I have to say that the ask of $105,000 is a little too steep, but the seller is probably trying to recoup the restoration costs (protip: you never recoup your restoration costs).

All that said, if I were a wealthy collector of late-50’s Murkin Big Iron, I might be tempted because this is one Californian that deserves a home in Texas. What a peach.

It’s three years younger than I am, and I don’t look half as cool.

Proper Kit

August 2, 2025 Kim du Toit Drive Time

Here’s another one of those “Just suppose” scenarios.

Your Uncle Ernie has passed away, childless and single. You are his sole heir. In his will, he has left you his well-established farm — 500 acres in western Montana, with grazing, a couple hundred head of cattle and a dozen horses. His only stipulation is that you may not sell it for ten years after his death.

So you visit the place, and find it in really good shape — good fences, barns, stables, corrals and what have you; it’s a going concern, and won’t need much other than good management to keep it going.

Unfortunately, for various reasons, you are not in a position to move there for the next few years, so you’ll have to find a manager. That’s all well and good, but your best prospect is a younger guy who in turn has only one condition: that you replace Uncle Ernie’s clapped-out pickup truck with something that will start and run without a full-time mechanic on hand. (Ernie did all the maintenance himself, but it’s actually almost a full-time job.) You scan the Used Truck ads, and reject all of them because they’re all pretty similar to the late Ernie’s. So it’s a new one, then.

Your truck choices are as follows (click on link for specs):

Ford F-350 XLT (6.8-liter V8)

RAM 3500HD (6.4-liter V8)

Chev Silverado 3500HD (6.6-liter V8)

And the ringer:

Toyota Tundra TRD Pro (3.4-liter V6 turbo hybrid)

Which one would you pick for your farm manager, and why? Be as technical and opinionated as you want.

And here’s some proper background music while you consider your choice.

Blast From The Past: 70s Roadtrip

July 19, 2025 Kim du Toit Drive Time

Time to wax nostalgic (again). The setup:

You are going back to 1973 to make a trans-continental car trip from Savannah GA to Monterey CA:

For the sake of convenience, let’s say that the trip will take place in the early summer (mid-May to mid-June), which would be months before the Arab oil embargo was imposed later in the fall. In other words, gasoline prices and availability will not be an issue.

You need not take any particular road (the above map is just a guideline), and you can take up to two weeks to complete the journey.

Your choice of companion is up to you: a buddy, your wife, your girlfriend, the girl of your dreams, or even that rather skanky-looking thing you picked up at the gas station while filling up before setting off. Your call.

As with all these little games of mine, imagine that your car will prove to be 100% reliable (as much of a stretch as it may be to imagine, in some cases).

Your choice of 1973-model cars comes from the following list (no substitutions are allowed):

Dodge Challenger