In Los Angeles, the Petersen Automotive Museum is a go-to destination for us staffers at Automobile, and there isn’t one of us who hasn’t wiled away an afternoon there immersed in all it has to offer. While the museum is understandably closed until at least the end of March, it hasn’t taken long for it to begin a schedule of live streaming events and other educational activities from its avant garde headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, all offered for free on its website.
If you have bored kids at home, you’re in luck. The events are mostly geared toward children, though no doubt parents will enjoy following along as well. So far, the schedule is as follows (all times are PST):
- Tuesday, March 17, 10 a.m. – Force and Motion
- Cars are about motion. While it may seem simple to press a pedal and move forward, there are dozens of forces interacting that [...]
As I write this, we’re in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. With every browser refresh, there’s more breaking news, and the commentary online ranges from doomsday prognostications to hoax conspiracies. For many of us, sports provide an escape from the serious news of the day, but as every hour brings news of sporting event cancellations, that escape is drying up fast, leading some in the sarcastic corners of the internet to wonder if e-sports will be the only sports left. And that leads others to ask: What even counts as a sport in the first place? The 2020 Nissan Rogue Sport raises similar questions.
(Is this really the most important question of the day? No, of course not. But cars, like sports, provide a mental escape for many of us. Below, you’ll find a pandemic-free analysis of the name Nissan gave its subcompact SUV.)
Is the Nissan Rogue Sport actually sporty?
It’s the kind of bargaining we do every day: Should I buy the store brand or pay a few dollars more for the name brand? Most of the time, it’s the same thing, but sometimes it’s worth it when you just like the name brand better. We do the same thing when we’re car shopping: buy the car that fits our spreadsheet of criteria, or the one that speaks to us? Sometimes, though, you get both in the same package, like when you’re cross-shopping the 2020 Kia Soul and 2020 Nissan Kicks.
It used to be buying any car that started under $20,000 was an exercise in finding the least cheaped-out model on the lot. They were basic transportation, and they reminded you of it at every turn. Automakers have realized, though, that people on a budget still want nice things, and if you give them the option to tack on a few extras at [...]
We’re unabashed fans of the Alfa Romeo Giulia here, naming it our 2018 Car of the Year, the best small luxury sedan to lease, and a better sport sedan than the segment-defining BMW 3 Series. Even still, it wasn’t perfect, but the 2020 Alfa Romeo Giulia has exorcized its worst sins.
The biggest knock on the Giulia since day one has been the quality of certain interior parts (which ought to tell you something about how good the car is otherwise). Alfa, to its credit, listened to customers, dealers, and the media and fixed what most needed fixing for the 2020 refresh.
Up first: the flimsy infotainment control knob. Until now, Alfa infotainment systems could only be controlled by the black and silver knob behind the shifter, and it felt as though they used two cents’ worth of hollow plastic to make the thing. It felt like it would pop off in your hand at [...]
The company email read: “Our vast employee population across a footprint covering most of the globe is working remotely, and will do so for the next two weeks, or more if necessary.”
Thud.
This whole working home thing due to the coronavirus outbreak is going to take some getting used to here at Casa Reynolds. My friend, Larry, who’s in the same boat with his shoe company, sent a picture of himself with his laptop actually on his lap, reclining on a sofa, slippered feet up on a pillow. He said he isn’t getting anything done at all. At the other extreme, I once knocked on my friend Peter’s front door, who was a salesman and had always worked at home. He greeted me wearing dress clothes and a tie. “Where are you going?” I asked. “Nowhere. I’m at work now.” I’m shooting for somewhere between Larry and Peter.
This morning, I reflexively checked the [...]
