Auto News & Reviews

  • 12 Feb 2016 3:22 PM | Mary Welch (Administrator)

    They say that a picture is worth 1,000 words, so consider this a story with more than 10,000 words.

    We recently took a road trip with a theme — cars. Our agenda included a stop in Smyrna, TN., to see the Nissan assembly plant and then a few more miles toward Nashville, the Lane Museum. We started at the Nissan Smyrna Vehicle Assembly Plant where free tours are offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Nissan plant started operations in 1983 and currently it manufactures the Altima, Maxima, LEAF, Pathfinder, Rogue and the Infiniti QX60. In fact, about 640,000 vehicles a year are manufactured, which makes it the highest-volume auto plant in North America.


    On the hour-long tour you’ll see various stages of the manufacturing process from beginning when the individual parts and panels are stamped from huge coils of steel to the finish when vehicles go through the final inspections. There’s lots of sparks from welding and robots who are vital to the assembly process. 


    It really is exciting to see the cars being assembled and the hard work and pride of the workers.


    From the fresh off the assembly line to the historic, we visited the Lane Museum, a few exits closer to Nashville for a real trip down memory lane. The Lane Museum, founded by Jeff Lane, is one of the few museums in the U.S. to specialize in European cars and its goal is to have all the vehicles in running order. It houses more than 150 cars that date back to the 1920 and feature the whole car gamut from microcars, amphibious vehicles, military vehicles, prototypes and motorcycles.


    These are not your typical old cars. No! The cars come with two heads, two engines or three wheels. One even has a propeller. Its smallest var is a Peel P50, which is only 53 inches long, 39 inches wide and 53 inches high. It was made in the Isle of Man and, as a single-passenger car, gets 40 miles per hour. The largest is a Vietnam era amphibious LARC-LX, which is the width, length and height of three semis parked side by side. It takes four engines to drive that hunk. Each car is pretty amazing but one of our favorites would be the Helicon, a wooden body vehicle built in France in 1932. It has four foot propeller and a wooden guard on the front. The engine drives the propeller, which pulls the car down the road.


    The Lane Museum is certainly worthy of a stop either before hitting Nashville or on the way back. It costs $12 for adults; $8 for seniors and $3 for kids 6 to 17.


  • 02 Feb 2016 10:43 PM | Anonymous

    SpeedBeautiful.com reviews the 2016 Ford Edge Titanium.

    Video & Pics: http://www.speedbeautiful.com/2016-ford-edge-titanium.html / Full review: http://www.speedbeautiful.com/blog/2016-ford-edge-titanium

  • 31 Jan 2016 11:13 AM | Greg Morrison

     The truck world is getting very competitive these days, especially in the smaller size segment. Bumper2Bumpertv has a look at what the new Tacoma offers.

    Watch video here

  • 25 Jan 2016 4:39 PM | Mary Welch (Administrator)

    Texas Mazda store learns what’s necessary with relationship-building,

    sponsorships, advertising. BY MARY WELCH

    With roughly 40,000 soldiers stationed at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, about an hour’s drive north of Austin, it must be

    like shooting fish in the proverbial barrel for a car dealership – right? Not so fast. As other dealerships near bases can

    attest, it’s often far from easy to penetrate the local military market. Sometimes it’s hostile territory, in fact.

    “A lot of military have been taken advantage of by the auto industry,” said John Burge, general manager of the Mazda

    Killeen dealership. “They’ve done a lot of [negative]things such as overselling or giving a higher interest rate. Many

    dealers see these young men and women with steady paychecks who haven’t made a major purchase before, and they

    take advantage of them. That’s why a lot of officers tell their people not to buy a car from a local dealer.”

    http://cbtnews.com/dealerships-adjacent-to-military-bases-cant-just-sit-back-and-wait-for-customers/

  • 24 Jan 2016 9:02 PM | Greg Morrison

    The latest edition of the Kia Optima is an example of what happens when a car maker constantly tries to improve a product. Bumper2Bumpertv thinks this may be an example for the rest of the industry to follow.

    Watch video here.
  • 18 Jan 2016 10:30 AM | Greg Morrison

    Once again Buick is trying to raise the temperature in terms of design with the Avista Coupe. For now it is being called a concept, but that is likely to change according to Bumper2Bumpertv.

    Watch video here

  • 18 Jan 2016 10:26 AM | Greg Morrison

    What was big at the Detroit Auto Show this year? Bumper2Bumpertv thinks it was the variety of luxury automobiles introduced to the public and media.

    Watch video here

  • 08 Jan 2016 5:29 PM | Christopher Lawrence

    AutoAcademics shows why the 2016 Audi Q3 is deserving of its prestigious badge.

    Watch video.

  • 29 Dec 2015 4:41 PM | Greg Morrison

    While Lexus has cultivated a brand image as a luxury car maker there is a performance edge as well. Bumper2Bumpertv got a taste of what happens when some serious performance chops are added to the Lexus recipe.

    Watch Video Here



  • 29 Dec 2015 4:36 PM | Greg Morrison

    Who is the "Greenest Car on the Road" this year. The honors were presented at the Los Angeles Auto Show with entries from Hyundai, Toyota, Audi, Chevrolet and Honda

    .Watch Video Here

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