National Motorists Association Blog

By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist They say that 40 is the new 30. I dunno about that. But the modern high-ouptut/high-efficiency V-6 is arguably the new V-8. And you can make a case that the modern four — with direct injection, variable valve timing and all the rest of it — is the new V-6. […]

By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist Does anyone miss Oldsmobile? Not what Oldsmobile was in its heyday back in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s — the era of the Rocket 88 — but what it had become by the mid-late 1990s, just before GM pulled the plug? Probably not. Same goes for Plymouth. And Pontiac, for […]

By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist With used cars, should you buy outright — or finance? The main advantage to buying a used car is (obviously) the lower purchase price. You have let the original purchaser absorb the depreciation hit, which can amount to a mountain of money. But when you finance the purchase of a […]

By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist Buying a new car can put you one step closer to living in a van down by the river. New cars cost about $25,000 on average for the typical family sedan — which is about 30 percent more, adjusted for inflation, than a family sedan cost in the 1970s. But […]