RAY: That's a tough shopping list, Leo.
I think you’ll be able to find a wide car. That won’t be a problem. And there are plenty of cars that still use keys, for the time being (sometimes as backups to remote key fobs), so I think you’ll be able to find one of those, too.
But manual roll-down windows are hard to come by these days. And the triangular windows up front are gone – at least the vent-style windows that open.
Touch screens are becoming ubiquitous, as are backup cameras, which will be mandatory starting in model year 2018 – so you’d better move fast, Leo.
And the other safety equipment you refer to (automatic pre-collision braking, blind-spot monitoring, etc.) is trickling down into lots of less-expensive cars, too.
You still can avoid that stuff by buying the lower or lowest trim levels. Since most people want those features (and we strongly recommend them), car makers sell them as part of more-expensive option packages. But you can just decline those.
And the extreme slant of the rear window is the current style. It’s aerodynamic, and hard to avoid unless you buy a station wagon or a squared-off SUV.
So I don’t think you’re going to get everything on your list, Leo. Actually, now that I think about it, I may have the perfect car for you. When you’re ready to sell this ’05 Buick, what you need is … a 1955 Buick! Or maybe a DeSoto. No, wait … the DeSoto doesn’t have the rear-window defroster. But maybe you can get a hibachi and leave it on the shelf behind the rear seats.
I’m not sure what to suggest, Leo. A bare-bones “stripper” version of a wide-ish car probably is going to come closest to what you want. But even then, it’s going to be a challenge. Let me know what you end up with, so at least I’ll have something to steer my other readers away from. Good luck!
White smoke on starting, you and your car soon will be parting
Dear Car Talk:
When starting my Camry cold, white smoke billows from the rear tailpipe. What is this? – Sherry
RAY: This is the universal signal to grab a new auto-loan application, Sherry.
Well, maybe not. But white smoke usually is caused by vaporized coolant, which often is the result of a blown head gasket.
At the middle of the engine, you have the cylinders, which combust gasoline and air. All around those cylinders are passages for coolant, to keep the cylinders from overheating. And when everything is correct, the twain never shall meet: Coolant stays outside the cylinders, and the combustion materials stay inside.
But when there’s a breach – like a blown head gasket – the coolant, which is under high pressure, will seep into one or more of the cylinders after you turn off the engine. Then, when you restart the engine, that coolant gets combusted, along with the gasoline and air. And that makes white smoke.
So, the first thing to do is ask your mechanic to do a head-gasket test. If he believes the head gasket is bad, then you’ll have to decide whether to put $1,000-plus into the car.
That’ll depend on how old the car is, what kind of shape it’s in, whether you still love it, and how much credit is available on your home-equity line.
Of course, once he opens up the engine, he might find that it’s worse than a blown head gasket: that it’s a cracked head, or a cracked block – which both are way more expensive. So be aware that there’s some uncertainty going into any such operation.
And depending how close the call is regarding whether to fix the car or dump it, you may want to issue a DNR in case the mechanic discovers a crack in the head or block. I’ll think good thoughts for you, Sherry.
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