Subaru XT

An American V8 rumbles and a Ferrari V8 screams because of the crankshaft. Cross-plane cranks fire unevenly between banks and produce the lopey rumble; flat-plane cranks alternate perfectly and rev higher for that howl. Here's also why an inline-six is the smoothest engine you can buy.

You can still buy a new manual sports car for about $30,000 in 2026, but the list is short. Here's every one that matters, with current prices, ranked by how much more expensive it looks than it is. The Miata and GR86 win, and the reason is proportions.

Badge engineering is selling one car under another brand with new badges and a reworked face. The oddest example is the Saab 9-2X, a Subaru WRX with a Saab nose that nobody wanted. Here's why carmakers keep doing it, and what it reveals about how much a grille is actually worth.

The $3,000 rule for cars is a budgeting guideline that comes in two forms depending on whether you're buying a car with cash or financing one. For cash buyers it suggests that $3,000 is roughly the floor for buying a reliable used vehicle worth owning. For buyers financing a vehicle it suggests that $3,000 should be your minimum down payment before committing to a loan. Both versions of the rule are built around the same underlying principle: car ownership costs significantly more than the purchase price, and you need a financial buffer before you start...