I keep reading about car platforms. What are they? Do all cars have them?
Car platforms are a term the motor industry uses a lot. It’s a simple concept designed to save money and improve quality. What are car platforms? A platform is the…
Category: Mechanical
Find out how your car works – in plain English. We reveal all those tricky technical things that might have baffled you about your car
I’m looking at a used car that has massage seats. How do they work and do they really massage you?
Massage seats in cars have been an option for more than a decade now. They use a system of air pockets that fill and deflate depending on the settings. And…
I’m trying to decide between different cars, one uses horsepower, the other kilowatts. What’s the difference?
To judge how fast a car will be and how effortless it feels when you accelerate, you need to know the engine or electric motor’s power output. We measure this…
I want to replace the halogen headlights on my Skoda Octavia with LED bulbs. Can you recommend the best make?
LED lighting is the go-to for new cars. And unsurprisingly, drivers of existing models want a slice of the action with brighter lights and greater visibility. But adding LED bulbs…
I’ve just bought a car that apparently has a turbocharger. What is that?
Turbocharging engines has become increasingly popular over the past 40 years. A turbocharger is an ingenious piece of kit that uses exhaust gases to force more air into an internal…
Why is my car suffering an engine power loss when I accelerate?
There are multiple reasons for any engine power loss. The modern car engine is a hugely complex thing as the image above shows. But chances are, any power loss is…
A car I’m considering has climate control, another has air conditioning. What’s the difference?
An increasing number of cars these days feature climate control. This includes air conditioning but has crucial differences to it. Read on to find out what those differences are and…
Do I need to run a new car in?
Back in the day, running a car in was one of the most important things you could do when you took delivery of a new car. The technology in cars,…
Why don’t you see car rust like you did 20 or 30 years ago?
Back in the 1970s, Italian, Czech and even British cars were renowned for rusting after they were just a couple of years old. Then Japanese motors picked up the mantel…
What is the best diagnostic tool for my car?
No modern motoring enthusiast’s garage is complete without a diagnostic tool. But there are a lot out there. Here we look at what the best ones are and explain what…