Can all classic cars be salvaged?

Reconstructing classic cars to their former glory is a popular hobby, and as such, there are many reasons why millions of passionate enthusiasts get involved. For some, it’s a hobby handed down through generations. For others, it’s interest in a particular model or manufacturer. Some just want to create a permanent collection or simply catch some looks when driving around town.

While all classic cars can be salvaged to some extent, it’s important to have a clear idea of what you want. When you think about your classic car in its final state, what is it meant to do? If you just want to drive in parades every year, that means a different set of requirements than you might be looking for in a weekend car. Perhaps you’re just looking for the hobby itself — rebuilding the engine, or making the frame and outer panels beautiful — and don’t even care about the final product. Or, on the other extreme, perhaps you’re looking to turn a buck by making the machine into something beautiful that you can sell to other collectors.

In any case, knowing what you want is essential to figuring out how you’re going to get there. As with any hobby, a large portion of the passion with which you devote yourself comes from the effort and learning that go into the final project. You’ll need a plan and a budget before you can begin learning how your particular model runs, where to find the best parts and tools, and how to get yourself to the finish line.

Once you’re clear on what you want, it’s just a matter of figuring out how much you want to spend, how much time you’re willing to devote, and exactly what you’ll do with the machine once you’re finished. Each of these steps has the potential for both pleasure and disaster, so it’s important to stick with the plan no matter what. Plenty of people are turned off by the “money pit” issue and end up abandoning a project or hobby that could have brought them great joy if they’d started with a plan and budget — and stuck to them.

Read on to learn about some of the warning signs that a car might be difficult to save.

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Subaru BRZ Boasts a Different Kind of Press Launch

In a seemingly endless effort to differentiate the environments in which new cars are experienced by journalists, automakers go from the Costa del Sol to the untamed backroads of rural India to show off their latest offerings. 

Subaru already previewed their BRZ in Japan and along Southern France’s Route Napoleon, but after setting the automotive lap record at last year’s Isle of Man TT with a WRX STi (the first time a car had run the course in over 20 years), Subaru cheekily announced yet another BRZ launch, saying they “lied, begged and pleaded long enough with the organizers” to allow journalists to be the first non-racers to drive the storied road course at speed for the first time.

The experience was surreal. Shooting through the in-town section, the BRZ hit speeds of up to 120 mph– which, due to the narrow roads and nearby stone walls and trees, felt twice as fast. The throngs of fans along the course were so close, I could’ve rolled a window down, stuck a hand out, and slapped them with high-speed high fives. The final run through the mountain course offered staggering vistas to the Irish Sea, where wide open stretches of road see motorcycles surpassing 200 mph speeds on race days.

Perhaps the only problem with Subaru’s first-ever press launch? The challenge of outdoing themselves with an even more grandiose media drive.

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5 New Gas Engine Technologies

With all the hype about hybrid, electric and alternative fuel cars, it’s easy to think that the age of the gasoline engine is over. When you’ve got cars that run on hydrogen or that plug into the wall, the internal combustion engine can seem downright passé.

But the fact remains that the vast majority of cars sold in the United States are powered by gasoline engines. The dominance of gas engines in the automotive market is going to persist for the foreseeable future. Car makers use gasoline engines for a lot of reasons. People are used to them, there’s an infrastructure that supports them, and they fit nicely with how most Americans use their cars.

That’s not to say that gasoline engines don’t have their downsides. They pollute and they’re dependent on gasoline — which leaves American drivers subject to shifts in fuel prices. Though the engine in the car in your driveway has a lot in common with the engines used on the earliest cars, new innovations in engine technology have allowed carmakers to negate some of the problems associated with gasoline automotive engines. Improvements in power, fuel efficiency and emissions are letting people drive the types of cars that they like while also reducing the amount they pollute and the money they spend on gas.

Looking at some of the new technology that improves fuel economy by just a few miles per gallon may not seem like much, but keep in mind that with almost all cars on the road using gasoline engines, small improvements have big impact nationwide. Currently, electric and hybrid cars only make up about 2 percent of the cars on the road. Making the other 98 percent more efficient saves money, reduces dependence on foreign oil and cuts pollution while keeping new cars affordable and appealing to most buyers.

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8 SUVs Worth Waiting For

When: Late Summer

We recently drove the new Ford Taurus SHO, a car that is a classic sleeper. It has a 365 hp V-6 under the hood to move the big sedan to 60 mph in a little over 5 seconds, but what’s more shocking is that it corners well, too. And if Ford’s done its homework, the all-new Ford Explorer Sport will be an SHO-equivalent on the SUV front.

The Explorer Sport gets the same V-6, a significantly beefed up chassis, as well as a stiffened, lowered suspension, bigger brake rotors, and a faster feel to the steering system. All of these tweaks made the Taurus SHO into a much more aggressive machine. Ford is also trying to walk a fine line between all-out performance and reasonable fuel economy with the Sport. Its 16/22 mpg target would be a big improvement on the 12/18 of the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 (which will cost about $10,000 more than the Ford, we think.). Significantly, the Explorer Sport will also do better than the 13/20 of the 5.7-liter, Hemi V-8 Dodge Durango, a vehicle we really like for its great handling, given its mission. If Ford catches up in power and can offer better fuel economy, it’s sure to capture a lot of buyers for the Explorer Sport.

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Extended-Use Welcome: 2013 Mazda CX-5

We’re only a few months into our extended-use test, but so far the editors are especially impressed with the CX-5’s fuel-economy numbers. Click here to see more pictures of the 2013 Mazda CX-5.The auto industry is a highly competitive environment. Automakers are constantly fighting for market share, especially in the moderately-priced, high-volume classes, such as the compact-car, midsize-car, compact-SUV, and midsize-SUV categories. Anytime there’s a new player in the game, we’re eager to see if it has what it takes to challenge the popular, established nameplates in its respective category.  This especially rings true in the popular compact-SUV segment, the space in which the new 2013 Mazda CX-5 does battle. Since we’ve been pleased with the other long-term Mazdas that have cycled through our fleet recently (2010 Mazda 3 and 2012 Mazda 5), we really wanted to evaluate a CX-5 for a year. We’re interested to see how much better the CX-5 is compared to the now-discontinued Tribute and CX-7. We’re also curious to see how the CX-5’s fuel-economy claims stand up to real-life driving.

In the fuel-economy department, the company has developed a suite of efficiency-focused features. Collectively called SkyActiv, Mazda is progressively integrating them into its existing product lineup. CX-5 was designed from the ground up to get the full SkyActiv treatment. This includes a new 155-horsepower 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine, 6-speed automatic transmission, and lightweight body and chassis components.

While in our care, this CX-5 will be driven just like you drive your car: commuting to work, running errands, and occasionally taking road trips. It will see the variety of road conditions and seasonal weather types available in the Chicago area and surrounding suburbs.

About CG’s Test 2013 Mazda CX-5

Our CX-5 is the range-topping Grand Touring model. It includes front-wheel-drive, the 6-speed automatic transmission, a tilt/telescopic steering wheel with audio controls, cruise control, power locks/windows/mirrors with turn signals, keyless entry, digital-media-player connection, wireless cell-phone link, USB port, blind spot alert, leather-wrapped steering wheel, rearview camera, fog lights, leather upholstery, power sunroof, Bose sound system, and automatic headlights.

In addition to that expansive equipment list, options added to our CX-5 include a retractable cargo cover, Sirius satellite radio, and the Grand Touring Tech Package (navigation system, keyless access and starting, automatic day/night rearview mirror, universal garage door opener, steering-linked xenon headlights, and alarm). The Grand Touring model starts at $27,045. Ours rings in at $29,355.

First Impressions

Though CX-5’s horsepower numbers aren’t as great as many compact SUVs, its EPA-estimated fuel-economy numbers are the real story: 26 mpg city/35 mpg highway for base 2WD models equipped with  the 6-speed manual transmission, 26/32 with front drive and the automatic transmission, and 25/31 mpg for all-wheel-drive models. These figures best a few of the older-design compact SUVs by as many as 8-10 mpg, and some recently redesigned rivals by about 2-3 mpg. The CX-5’s numbers are a huge improvement over those of the old Tribute and CX-7 (both between 17-28 mpg).

Will the CX-5 emerge as a fuel-economy champ? So far, we’re averaging 28.9 mpg, but stay tuned to see how it fares during its year in our long-term test fleet.

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