The 2016-2019 Volkswagen Golf GTI May Be the Best Ever

• Base MSRP: $27,595
• 228 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque
• Exceptional balance and utility
• “The GTI is subtle and understated, a car for adults.”

The Volkswagen Golf, as James May noted in his BBC documentary series, is the preeminent people’s car. The well-regarded hatchback offers fun driving and practicality at an affordable price. The Golf has seen off all comers during a production run approaching 50 years. It killed off the old Beetle. It will bury the new Beetle, which, truth be told, was a Golf beneath its retro styling.

German engineers designed the Golf. So, it took all of a few minutes before someone inserted a more powerful engine, tuned it for racing and stumbled upon something brilliant. That brilliant creation became the Golf GTI. The Mk1 version debuting in 1975 became an icon, birthing a new market segment for the “hot hatchback.” The latest and perhaps greatest GTI, the Mk7, should prove a collectors’ item in its own right.

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VW has come up with some goofy catchphrases for the current GTI. A brief sampling includes “the stylish hot hatchback” and “raw power, fully cooked,” whatever that means. The trouble stems from VW not being able to touch on what the Mk7 GTI is: perfection. Doing so would leave no reason to upgrade to the Golf R (raw power, burnt?). It would make buying a standard Golf or any other Volkswagen, by definition, imperfect.

The GTI has a proven basic formula: precise handling, peppy engine with strong torque and a smooth manual transmission. VW has refined that formula for 40-plus years. Some batches have been a touch weak, heavy or outmoded. But, the Mk7 came out just right, capturing all of the car’s heritage and accrued wisdom. It may be the best-balanced car on the road, not only for its price point.

With 228 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque, the GTI offers the exact power optimal for exuberant driving. You can push the GTI on real roads at speeds that won’t see you carted away in handcuffs. Automobile writers have extolled the car’s handling with every synonym of the word “sublime.” It rounds corners masterfully. Despite packing all that performance, the GTI is also still a Golf. You can park it easily, help a friend move and get a well-equipped base model for less than $30,000.

The GTI’s style exhibits its refinement. Other “hot” cars (the Honda Civic Type-R, for example) announce their presence like young rock stars, strutting around in the automotive equivalent of indescribably tight, red leather pants. The GTI is subtle and understated, a car for adults. It has a clean exterior and an elevated interior. What flair the GTI does offer – the red grille lipstick, the tartan seats, the golf ball shift knob – is traditional. You don’t know what you’re looking at with the GTI unless you know what you’re looking at.

The Mk8 GTI will arrive in 2020. Changes, mild and drastic, will be afoot. The best GTI we have yet seen – the current Mk7 – may be the best we ever get, or at least the purest incarnation of the GTI’s initial vision.

VW developed the new GTI during an awkward transition period. Dieselgate has cost Volkswagen AG $33 billion and counting, sapping resources and forcing a complete reorientation of production strategy. VW plans to phase out the combustion engine in 2026. Meanwhile, trucks and SUVs continue dominating the market. Plowing R&D into further perfecting an already perfect gasoline-powered hatchback, when well enough would do, makes little sense.

Golf sales have dipped in the U.S., so moving toward the market may work against getting an optimal GTI. To sell more Golfs, the hatchback will have to get longer and wider to be more viable families. The purist-favored three-door alignment may be scrapped altogether. We can presume VW won’t drop the manual (yet). But, development will go toward more fuel-efficient hybrid powertrains and improving the automatic transmission. VW has also hinted at a fully digital cockpit overhaul, which, if it does not annoy present buyers, will date the car, as technology tends to do, in the decades to come.

An MK7 GTI, tastefully modified for winter conditions – Photo: Hunter Kelley

If the base Golf goes more family-friendly, the Volkswagen likely would differentiate the GTI further by making it hotter. Expect more power. Ditto for more aggressive styling. The “Rabbit” and “Autobahn” trims, as well as the bevy of metallic paint options, may prove a harbinger of what is to come. It may be faster. Though, the balance and sophistication of the present model, not to mention the reasonable MSRP, may be difficult to preserve.

The Mk7 GTI arrived when Volkswagen was a car manufacturer and the best modern technology went toward producing an optimal driving experience. The Mk8 GTI will be a showcase for the Volkswagen Group’s broader ambitions as a mobility-oriented tech firm. The driver will always be connected, for better or more probably worse. We may get objectively more efficient and better-performing GTIs moving forward (and the climate will be better for it). But, they won’t feel the same.

Cars of the future will be electric or powered by other eco-friendly means. Many will be automated. Fewer than now will be individually owned. Driving a classic internal combustion car will be an expensive pastime, if not outlawed in some areas altogether (Aston Martin is prepping for that eventuality).

“Ludicrous” performance will be obtainable from EVs. The gas-powered cars that still resonate will be those that provide a unique, well-tailored and deep-rooted driving experience that disconnects the driver. The Mk7 GTI, perhaps the best Volkswagen creation to date, does that.

So, cover a Mk7 Volkswagen GTI in bubble wrap and store one in a climate-controlled garage, right? No. Save for retirement like a normal person. Use the GTI as the extraordinary daily driver it was designed to be.

2019 Suzuki Jimny 4×4: Super Functional and Super Small

Just after Thanksgiving, automotive Twitter erupted in a micro flame war over a micro-SUV, the Suzuki Jimny. When images of the fourth-generation, Jeep-like 4×4 began circulating, and a pair of banana-yellow samples showed up in Los Angeles during a media drive just before the auto show, debate about its merits ran rampant. Half the tweets bemoaned the fact that the model isn’t for sale in the United States; the other half laughed at those in the former group for being such gullible chumps. The core question emerged: Is it even worth getting into a tizzy about?

The two that were spotted cruising up and down Angeles Crest Highway, north of Pasadena, were shipped stateside by Suzuki so that jurors in the World Car of the Year Awards – a group of 48 journalists from around the world – could sample the cars during the large test-drive event held just before the L.A. auto show. It happens that I’m one of those jurors, and I took one out for a spin to see what all the fuss was about.

Because it’s meant to be an economical off-roader, 4×4 aficionados scoffed at its presumably cheap and flimsy construction and likely negligible ability to manage any serious terrain challenges. The car, which presumably would sell here in the U.S. for around $20,000, if not less, is small and light, and much of the pro-Jimny enthusiasm centered on its ‘cuteness’ – a kiss-of-death of you’re trying to win a Twitter battle. After all, cute don’t feed the bulldog when you’re trying to wriggle through a rocky slot canyon before sunset.

While I didn’t get to test the vehicle in an off-road setting, I can say two things about it from my drive up into the mountains on the pavement: 1) It’s not a piece of junk, and 2) it is awfully cute. Remember, the Jimny was introduced in 1970 as a compact and affordable 4×4 that smacked of a micro-Land Rover Defender. That means it’s fully a 50-year-old model, one that the company has nurtured more or less with respect through the years. Though there was definitely an awkward phase in its third generation, with a design crippled by too-rounded corners and too many soft details, the new one is appropriately butch and properly proportioned. It’s back to being Defenderesque, in a good way. After all, there’s twee cute and there’s earnest cute, and the Jimny is very much the latter. It’s a good-looking, functional 4×4 that just happens to be super small.

Its 4×4 trail-creds are perfectly acceptable: body-on-frame construction for maximum stiffness, solid live axles and smart ABS for traction distribution across a wide swath of challenges. No, it won’t be able to get out of the same jams that a Jeep Wrangler can, and its 1.5-liter, 100-hp, 101 lb-ft of torque three-cylinder engine won’t triumph in any OHV-course stare-downs. But its power is right-sized for its mass, which is just 2,500 pounds, by the way.

On the road, I didn’t feel the least bit perturbed by any excessive vibration or tire roar. There was the expected wind noise at highway speeds, given its cubic construction, but it otherwise felt solid and nicely tuned for on-road comfort. It was also tons of fun to drive the five-speed manual transmission up and down the steep (paved) inclines. It’s roomy enough for tall adults in the front seats, and never lacked for power on the highway, despite its minuscule motor and modest 90 mph top end. With the window down and your arm on the sill, it’s a blast, both on the highway and while inching around at low speeds. Early reports from those who have taken the upgraded new model off-road indicate it’s just as startling there, Twitter trolls be damned.

Would this car thrive in the U.S.? Sure. It’s cool and fun and will take you where you want to go for thousands less than its closest competitor. And yeah, it’s cute, too.

Driving Gloves: a History and Buying Guide

When cars debuted in the 1890s, long-distance travel became more accessible to a wider audience, but the physical act of driving was no easy task. Roads were unpaved and cars lacked windshields and hardtops. Drivers were exposed to the weather and they needed specially designed clothes and accessories to make driving more comfortable and safe. Retailers quickly realized the monetary potential of this new apparel sector full of wealthy people. One advertiser wrote, “You may have perfectly good tires and lots of gas and oil… but if you are not comfortable yourself, you don’t enjoy riding.” Then they pushed their apparel: “you need proper motoring clothes” (The Clothier and Furnisher, ’63).

Proper motoring clothes consisted of heavy, waterproof coats, hats, boots, goggles and gloves. Imagine cranking a car to get it started, then gripping a metal steering wheel with no power steering in the winter. Drivers often traveled with two pairs of gloves, one for gripping the steering wheel and one for changing tires. They were essential to early drivers and started out looking much different than they do today. Since steering mechanisms and logistics were rather crude, gloves were made of thick leather, sometimes lined with wool, that reached all the way back to cover the cuff of your coat. (Think Robin Hood.) Once a driver was off the road, these gloves weren’t very practical, so they would leave them in the aptly named glove box.

During the 1930s, heating in cars began to effectively keep drivers and passengers warm. So the profile of the driving glove developed evolved into a more popular, tight-fitting and shorter shape made of thin leather. The gloves often featured extra stitching on the palms for enhanced grip and perforations to keep your hands from sweating. These features kept drivers comfortable and allowed them to use less grip strength when grasping the wheel. They also became a status symbol: you were considered high class if you had light-color gloves that were kept clean, which indicated you were able to afford a pair for work and one for presentation.

As heating systems became more efficient and the technology that was incorporated into cars improved, the popularity of driving gloves began to decline. Non-slip, rubberized steering wheels were easy to grip with bare hands and power steering meant the wheel was much easier to turn. Stylish men like Steve McQueen and characters like James Bond continued to wear driving gloves, so they stayed part of mainstream culture even though they were no longer needed for everyday driving.

Nowadays, driving gloves have been featured prominently in movies that focus on driving. The characters in Drive, Spectre and Baby Driver all wear driving gloves so they can operate their car with precision, sticking precisely to the wheel and gear shift. People who own vintage and racing cars are typically the demographic that wears gloves now.

Driving gloves today are typically unlined and made out of soft, grippy leather. They can be machined or hand sewn, with or without fingertips, with or without knuckle holes, in a wide range of colors and back styles. Below you’ll find the styles we like best.

Buying Guide

Chester Jefferies The Drive Gloves

Pickett London Men’s Leather Driving Gloves

Autodromo Stringback Driving Gloves

Fort Belvedere Driving Gloves in Lamb Nappa Leather

Note: Purchasing products through our links may earn us a portion of the sale, which supports our editorial team’s mission. Learn more here.

The 2020 Land Rover Defender May Be an Incredible Disappointment

The Land Rover Defender is an icon. The rugged off-roader traveled the Globe with the British army. It was a vehicle fit for both queen and commoner. The world bid a fond farewell to it when its 67-year production run ended in 2016. The Defender is also a cultural phenomenon. It has become one of the most exclusive vintage cars.

Prices inflate in the U.S. We’re limited to imports and survivors from a limited U.S. production run that ended in 1998 when we unworldly Yanks decided to require front airbags. But, even factoring that in, vintage Defenders fetch ludicrous prices. Clean versions, whatever the mileage, can run $70,000 to $100,000 – enough to buy a new Range Rover. Custom resto-mods can run much higher.

Land Rover believes it can capitalize on that phenomenon. The company will relaunch the Defender in 2020, and that SUV will be sold in the U.S. The new Defender will be one of 2019’s most anticipated car debuts. That debut could be an incredible disappointment.

The engineering challenge is enormous. Reinventing the Defender is more than just a square peg/round hole problem. You can convert a boxy, body-on-frame truck into a unibody, shared platform vehicle that meets modern safety and emissions standards. The trick is doing so while retaining the original vehicle’s charm. Jeep has never resolved this dilemma with the Wrangler. The company’s solution has been punting the problem as far into the future as it can. It’s easy to aim for a Wrangler, make a few necessary compromises, and end up with something more akin to Renegade, much easier than getting it right.

Land Rover must nail the styling. The Defender’s appeal has nothing to do with everyday performance. Those sought after originals, being completely honest, were janky, uncomfortable and underpowered. It’s all in the chic appearance and exclusivity. The Defender dream is having ECD Automotive Design build a more comfortable, reliable car with a Land Rover shell.

The new Defender can be as luxe and off-road capable as Land Rover can make it. But, it has to look appealing and, just as important, distinctive. There’s little margin for error. If the new design doesn’t grab us immediately, the car will blend right into the Land Rover background.

It’s not clear where the Defender’s market niche will be. Like the Wrangler, Land Rover will make their money with the four-door version. The trouble is Land Rover already dominates the four-door, upscale, stylish, off-road specialist SUV market. Variations of that exact car are Land Rover’s entire lineup. The Defender’s base price will probably come in where the Wrangler market tops out. Will the new Defender lure Jeep buyers to spend more? Or, will it be luring away drivers from the rest of the Land Rover stable?

Pulling off a complete Defender overhaul that recaptures the original and meets expectations will require a bold feat of engineering and design innovation. That’s not really Land Rover’s element. You don’t go to Barbour to redefine the jacket for the modern era.

We may get the perfect fusion of past and future for the modern off-roader with the new Defender. I’d put my money on it only being a slightly boxier Discovery. I hope I’m wrong.

The Absolute Worst Trend in Automotive Design Today

No matter the industry, trends come and go with the tide — some fizzle out and don’t catch on, some can really hit the mark and truly define an era, while others are just plain awful. The automotive industry is no different. In the ‘50s there was jet-age styling with turbine-inspired intakes and fins sprouting up everywhere. In the ’80s it was turbos and stylized graphics down the door panels.

A couple of years ago, seemingly damn near every sports car needed to have a vent of some size or shape behind the front wheels — a trend we’re still very much in the throes of. Which isn’t as bad as the fake intake vents designers seem to be using as a crutch to fill the massive amount of space on the front of cars. But the most recent and most egregious design quirk that has been quietly swelling in popularity is fake exhausts. Stainless steel pipe ends built into bumpers just for show.

There are even varying levels of this design lie. The first high-profile case was the first generation Lexus IS-F. A car that, at a glance, looked like it had a unique set up: two pipes vertically stacked on either side of the car. But if you took a closer look you’d see the bottom exhaust tip of each pair wasn’t actually connected to anything. And if you look at most luxury cars on the road today, you’ll see the “exhaust tips” aren’t connected to anything other than the bumper. They just masquerade as big, wide-mouthed sport exhausts with puny, seemingly unfinished pipes just sort of hanging out behind them and hidden under the car. Now that you know you won’t be able to unsee it — you’ll notice fake exhausts everywhere.

One of the most recent examples I’ve come across is the 2018 Audi SQ5. I reached out to Audi (and a few other manufacturers) to ask what the point of it was, but none responded. Maybe because there is no good answer. What Audi did (and what other brands are guilty of as well) was design the lower rear bumper to look like it has a chiseled, edgy, performance-orientated quad exhaust; in reality, it’s just black plastic.

Which, plainly speaking, is just a waste of perfectly good plastic. Why even bother? What’s the point? Are we that addicted to the connotation of performance that Audi would have felt ashamed had it not added fakes? At this point, Audi is no better than the guys who bolt on false hood scoops or the ones who buy BMW M and AMG badges and stick them on their Corollas.

Newsflash: guys, we know.

The Only Feature You Should Spend Extra Money On When Getting a New Car

Our cars are so laden with technology and creature comforts that luxury options are almost becoming burdens. Infotainment systems are the epicenters of that information overload, and gauge clusters are also now one of a handful of screens that cram every gigabyte of data they can get onto one of the even smaller screens in the car. Navigation, tire pressure, suspension height, ride settings, radio station, who’s calling you; in sportscars it’s track time and horsepower meters on top of the speedometer and tachometer stalwarts. And those are just a sliver of what some cars can come with. Option lists go on ad infinitum across the board.

At what point does a relaxing drive turn into a source of stress? We’re at a point where most of these options are a waste of money because you stop using them or never used them at all. But if you’re buying a new car, save time, money and stress — skip all the frivolous extras and focus on the seats. You won’t regret it.

According to J.D. Power rating report, at least 20 percent of new-vehicle owners have never used 16 of the 33 technology features measured. The five features owners most commonly report that they ‘never use’ are the in-vehicle concierge, mobile routers, automatic parking systems, head-up display, and built-in apps.” Not only that, but those are also among some of the features listed that drivers actively won’t get in their next car. But, as far as the interior goes, seats are most assuredly features you can’t forgo. Therefore, they should be as good as possible.

While pedals pretty much come as they are and steering wheels can be fitted with heaters and switches for ancillary options, think about how much of your body touches the wheel and, inversely, how big of a contact patch you have with your seat. Then consider that you’ll spend about 300 hours in that seat next year alone. All of a sudden, money spent on a better seat is incredibly more appealing than dropping an extra $3,000 just to have satellite navigation — something your smartphone can telegraph through the speaker system with a $10 cable.

Seats aren’t merely a common-sense expenditure anymore, with the best seat options you’re really getting your money’s worth. Manufacturers spend a massive amount of time developing seats, which makes sense since the driver’s seat is the most significant interface the driver has with the car. It’s also quite literally one of the largest objects in the vehicle, second only to the back seat if there is one (and probably the driver).

According to Jonathan Line, Lincoln’s Advanced Seat Innovation Supervisor, when it comes to their flagship captains chairs, for instance, Lincoln started development on them in 2011, debuted them in 2016 with the Continental and premiered a new-and-improved version in the 2018 Navigator. “We were really striving to achieve an experience, not so much to outdo the competition with features but we were going after the greatest human experience we could find in a seat to make them optimally comfortable,” Line admits. You don’t spend six years, as Lincoln did, just to come up with a porch swing. Lincoln dedicated a 15-20 person team to study materials, suspensions and structural composites, and went even further to study biometrics and pressure points to analyze where the body needs to be supported and how to increase blood flow for both comfort and alertness while driving. The result is a 30-way adjustable seat that’s both heated and air-conditioned, massages your back and legs and supports every square inch of you than rests on it — stopping just short of supporting you emotionally.

Now, I’m not saying any less research and development goes into a Sport mode, Apple Carplay, or whatever you can think of that can connect wirelessly to your car. Or, it should be said, any other manufacturer’s premium seats. But, much like “if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound,” if a luxury option or creature comfort goes completely unused, is it any good? Is it worth it? There’s no practical circumstance wherein you’re in your car and not using the seat. It stands to reason that you’ll always appreciate the time and money you spend optioning it out to its fullest capacity. Get the best seats you can.

Camper Van Restoration Pros at Peace Vans Make Modern Magic of Retro VWs

Harley Sitner didn’t plan on owning an auto body repair shop. He’s a tech entrepreneur by trade with a long tenure at Microsoft on his resume, and he’d helped launch a few businesses throughout his career, including a skin care line and a nursery. Van repair wasn’t in his 10-year plan – that is until he bought his first VW camper van in 2008.

It’s hard to get older vans repaired, Sitner said, and he struggled to find a shop in the Pacific Northwest that could help him get the parts he needed for his new purchase. Then he found a small van repair shop in Seattle, WA called Peace Vans. The business was about to shut its doors, which gave Sitner an idea: What if he bought the place?

“I was like wow, I think I can do this. I’m passionate. I know what the market needs,” he remembered, laughing. “My wife was like ‘Really? This is what you want to do next?’ But I did it.”

When Sitner sets his mind to something, it’s clear there’s really no stopping him. It’s been six years since he purchased the shop and Peace Vans is now a small empire hidden behind a rather unremarkable storefront in Seattle’s Sodo neighborhood. Sitner has grown the business into one of the biggest camper van repair shops in the United States, with a staff of talented auto body repair folks in tow. He attributes the business’s quick growth to great customer service, deep expertise and a community vibe.

Peace Vans is made up of three parts. The first and largest is the repair shop, which boasts a month-long waitlist and offers fixes for all types of retro camper vans, especially Vanagon Westfalias. Most of the repairs are basic, focused on safety concerns like brakes and fuel. A few cases are more serious, requiring updates on motors or transmissions. Still fewer are bespoke projects, which Sitner only takes on when someone has a very clear and reasonable vision of what they want. In fact, Sitner says he was once offered his own television show about bespoke van repairs – but he turned it down. “They wanted me to put an aquarium in a van,” he said. “That’s ridiculous!”

When I visited the Peace Vans shop in the early fall months, camper vans were lined up end-to-end in the side yard, three deep. Sitner pointed out specific projects, like a van that a father-son pair had driven from the east coast to Seattle for a winter re-up. This is typical, Sitner said. Many of his clients come from far away because owning a Vanagon Westfalia is no small undertaking and finding a good repair shop is a big deal. Parts can be tough to find, although Sitner said VW recently sprung up a whole business dedicated to creating new parts for their older vehicles.

“It’s tough to work on these vans,” Sitner said. “Most of the ones we work on are children of the ’80s, and the ’80s were a weird period in automotive engineering. At this point, a lot of the vehicles we fix are 30 to 40 years old and they have deferred maintenance.”

Sitner also cultivates relationships with folks who make certain parts for older vans (some are even 3D printed) and Peace Vans sometimes strips older vans for parts, too. Still, he said, this is a hard business to move forward. Retro van repair is a dying art, something he’s all too aware of as he tries to keep his employees engaged. After all, the business depends on people with niche knowledge.

You can rent camper vans from Peace Vans, too, which is the second branch of Sitner’s business. For a not-so-low price, Sitner will hand you the keys to a retro VW van stocked with all the gear you need for a week or two out in the Pacific Northwest wilderness. The vans come with fridges, beds that fold down, pop tops, tables and other well-thought-out features. They’re typically reserved months in advance by out-of-town visitors who plan to explore the Pacific Northwest during the summer months.

The third part of the Peace Vans business is new. They’ve partnered with Mercedes-Benz to turn the newest fleet of 2019 Mercedes vans into camper vans. For people who are interested in a high-end camper van experience, this is the way to go, Sitner said. When I visited, he was coaching an older couple on their options for decking out their new Mercedes-Benz van, including a trailer for e-bikes and enough power to support other essentials.

Not to be forgotten in this business equation is Sitner’s ability to build a strong community, which is more than likely the secret to a deeply loyal clientele. He said that people often bring six-packs of beer into his office at the end of the day, asking for free bits of advice about the best updates they can make to their vans. He’s happy to share what he knows because he truly believes in this lifestyle – so much so that he lives it, too. Sitner recently returned from Burning Man, where he slept in his maroon VW camper van the whole time. “Van life is evocative of authenticity and nostalgia, of simpler times, of an escape and disconnection,” he said.

Sitner is also set on sharing the van love with his eight-year-old daughter. Recently, they went on a four-night father-daughter van trip to the Olympic Peninsula. They spent their time together making crafts, reading and cooking their own food. “There was never once a ‘Dad, can I use your phone?’ or ‘Dad I’m bored,’” he said. “That’s magic.”

Winter Car Prep and Snow Driving Tips from a Rally Pro

Though an affordable older car is a great way to spare your shiny performance car the pains of driving through winter, it can also make for fun and safe winter conveyance. Ironically, beaters make great winter cars because they lack many of today’s standard safety features. “ABS brakes can take twice as long to get a car stopped on snow than a halfway decent driver without them,” says Wyatt Knox, special projects director at Team O’Neil Rally School and Rally America 2WD National Champion. “Traction Control will cut your engine power or apply brakes when it senses spinning wheels, such as when you try to drive up a hill, meaning you might not make it and could potentially go sliding back down. Without these systems, you know what you’ve got. You know exactly what the car will do when you give it a specific input, you quickly learn what it can and can’t do, then just operate within those boundaries and you’re fine.”

Knox also notes that while four- and all-wheel drive are great advancements, they aren’t the be-all-end-all for winter driving. Proof positive is his personal choice of car, a 1996 Mazda Miata, which he uses year-round — yes, even in the winter, in New Hampshire. “I guess I’ve always just liked the challenge of getting around with only two-wheel-drive. It makes you think more, work harder, plan ahead, be smooth, and you really don’t get away with too many mistakes. It’s great training,” said Knox. “You also slide around more, which is always good entertainment.”

Should you decide to tackle winter in an older car, it’s best to be prepared. Understand the importance of knowing how your car reacts in the snow, and, equally importantly, be open to doing a little wrenching (or pay for someone to do the wrenching for you). Knox shared some tips for getting any old car ready for the imminent snowfall.

First and foremost: tires. “Number one will always be acquiring the best possible winter tires that you can find and afford, mounting them to all four wheels,” says Knox. Winter tires are thinner, taller sidewalls and rubber compounds that offer more grip in low temperatures — if you’re going to do one thing for winter, make it a tire upgrade. But Knox notes traction goes beyond just having the right tires. “Tire pressure changes about one psi per ten degrees, so if you set your tires at thirty-two psi on a sixty-degree day, you might be surprised to see that on a zero-degree morning they only have twenty-six psi in them. If you take a corner hard or get right up to highway speeds, that tire could easily have a catastrophic failure.”

Winterize your car. There are tons of little things you can do to make your car operate optimally in low temperatures. Knox suggests topping of the anti-freeze, swapping oil to a thinner viscosity, mounting winter windshield wiper blades and adding de-icing washer fluid. Knox also highly recommends making sure the car is caught up with regular maintenance before wintertime. “If your car breaks down at night on a back road, it can turn into a legitimate survival situation pretty quickly. ”

Pack a survival kit. In case you do get stranded, pack a duffle with some essentials: a first aid kit, blankets, extra winter clothes, matches, flashlight, tow straps, jumper cables, an extra phone charger, road salt and/or traction mats and water and snacks. “The peace of mind alone is worth the effort,” says Knox.

Change up your suspension. “If you’re going to be driving quickly in the snow and ice, there are a number of things you can do to have more fun and get around a little better. You really want more ground clearance and much slower, more exaggerated weight transfer in the winter,” said Knox. When turning and accelerating or decelerating the weight of the car can affect the amount of traction the wheels get. But with slower and smoother weight transfer, the risk of sudden added (or removed) traction from the wheels reduces the likelihood of spinning. To achieve this, Knox recommends adding a taller, softer suspension, and fitting lighter sway bars (or removing them completely).

Adjust your brake bias. Normally, your car’s braking power is biased towards the front on dry pavement because when you stop, the vehicle’s weight transfers towards the front, thus more braking power at the front means quicker stops. However, when on slippery surfaces like snow and ice, less weight transfers to the front in the absence of traction, which means less braking power. When setting up a car to perform better on slippery surfaces, a brake-proportioning valve can be used to send more brake fluid to the rear brakes than usual, increasing stopping power at the back. Knox notes this technique really only works properly on cars without antilock brakes. ABS, generally, is a great safety feature to have in inclement weather, but should you disable it or drive a car without it, be prepared to master threshold braking.

If you want to go the extra mile, install a limited-slip differential. When you execute a turn in a car, because the outside wheel is covering more distance, an open differential makes it turn at a faster rate, which in turn facilitates stable cornering. But on cars with open differentials, it allows all driven wheels to continue to spin in the absence of traction, while the other wheel with traction remains stationary. The fix here is a limited-slip differential, which will provide more power to the wheel with more traction. While it’s ideal to have a car already equipped with a limited-slip diff, according to Knox, “You can usually find limited-slip or other replacement differentials pretty easily and have them replaced.”

Be a better driver. Knox’s final point: if you really want to drive safely in the snow, take the time and effort to learn from professionals how to master driving in bad conditions. “If you do get into a skid and start to lose control, there’s always something you can do to either regain control or, at the very least, minimize the damage to your vehicle if you know it’s going to crash. Our specialty is training drivers to see these things ahead of time and to take action before a bad situation occurs, and also giving them the skills they need to get out of those bad situations when they are absolutely unavoidable.”

The 15 Best Gift Ideas for Car Guys

Buying a gift for a car guy doesn’t have to be as daunting as getting caught in a conversation about the differences between horsepower and torque or why slow cars are more fun to drive. When it comes down to it, they’re some of the easiest to shop for. Keep it simple and classy but purposeful and you’ll see their faces light up like the headlights of an E46 M3. To help get you off to the right start, we curated some of the best gift ideas for car guys.

Forza Horizon 4

The latest installment to the Forza Horizon series might be the most ambitious yet. You get free reign over the open countryside of Britain with over 450 cars at your disposal. And, for the first time in a racing game, you’ll have to deal with changing seasons and the weather that comes with it.

Dyson V7 Car+Boat Cord-Free Handheld Vacuum Cleaner

The Dyson V7 is compact and cordless, but most importantly it has the power to keep any-sized car dust, dirt and crumb free.

Meguiar’s Complete Car Care Kit

If keeping the interior clean is high up on the car guy’s priority list then making sure the exterior shines and glistens is even higher. Meguiar’s Complete Car Care Kit is a 12-piece cleaning arsenal complete with everything needed to make sure every inch of the exterior shines. It also comes with a few sprays and wipes to put some final touches on the interior as well.

Oak & Oscar The Jackson Chronograph

The Oak & Oscar The Jackson Chronograph gets its name from America’s first road race, called the Chicago Times-Herald, which ran from Jackson Park to Evanston in 1895. Cars only averaged a blistering 7 mph over 54 miles, but it still needed to be timed. The Jackson is a 40mm manually wound chronograph with a 60 hour power reserve, date function and a stacked register.

LEGO Creator James Bond Aston Martin DB5

There are Lego recreations of Hollywood cars, and then there’s the LEGO Creator James Bond Aston Martin DB5. When all is said and done, 1,290 pieces come together to make the most iconic Bond cars of all time, complete with hidden machine guns, tire scyths and revolving number plates.

Porsche Design Lacie 2TB Hard Drive

Porsche Design isn’t a random wing of the German brand that pumps out key chains just for the sake of it. If ‘Porsche’ is branded on it it you know it’ll be designed to the highest standard and come with an equal amount of perfromance. Case and point: this two-terabyte Lacie external hard drive.

Peugeot Nostalgie Walnut Coffee Mill

Before it made cars, Peugot was in the business of coffee mills and bicycles. So if your car guy loves coffee, this manual coffee bean grinder is an easy win.

Schott Asset Leather Jacket

Schott is one of the most iconic leather jacket companies in the world; their most notable collection is the Perfecto series, whiched warmed the shoulders of Marlin Brando in the The Wild One. It’s safe to say the rest of its line is just as iconic, too. The Asset café racer-styled motorcycle jacket, with its four zippered front pockets, black metal trim & 100 percent wool herringbone lining, is an obvious choice.

Range Rover Classic County

This Range Rover was meticulously maintained by an American dealership with only Land Rover OEM parts; it has since been garage kept. As it sits now it can make an ideal daily-driver or a the perfect chariot for weekend get-aways off the beaten path.

Craighill Nocturn Catch Valet Tray

Valet trays might one of the more underrated home accessories to the general population, but leave it to the car guy to place his keys on a pedestal. A sturdy walnut Craighill Nocturn Catch Valet Tray won’t go unappreciated by a true car and definitely won’t go unnoticed by his friends.

Harman Spark

The Harman Spark is an incredibly easy way to bring older cars up to date (1996 or newer). The Spark fits right in the OBD II outlet and immediately gives your car features like emergency services, 4G LTE hotspot WiFi, theft alert and location tracking.

L.L.Bean Signature Leather Duffel

A good leather duffel bag is essential up to the countryside for the weekend. The 44-liter L.L.Bean Signature Leather Duffel is made of oiled cowhide leather with a cotton canvas lining. In other words it’s made to last and look good its entire life.

Deakin & Francis Steering Wheel Sterling Silver Enamelled Cufflinks

Car guys are all about the details – that includes how they dress. Steering Wheel Sterling Cufflinks by Deakin & Francis are a subtle sterling silver and enamel way to show off a love of cars.

If You’d Just Let Me Finish by Jeremy Clarkson

If you think a book by Jeremy Clarkson is just a long, one-sided conversation about cars, you’re sadly mistaken. Give this man enough time and space to get his thoughts down and you’ll hear rants about “How Blackpool might be improved by drilling a hole through it, the problem with meditation, a perfect location for rebuilding Palmyra and why Tom Cruise can worship lizards if he wants to.”

Gear Patrol Magazine

Perfect for whoever is manning the back seat. Inside its 200-plus pages, we explore what it takes to turn an office chair into a thing of beauty, an accidental invention into a culinary essential and a 1970s French automobile into one of the most evocative cars of the last century. Plus much more.

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