The Best Of Car Talk

This week on The Best of Car Talk, should Bill risk humiliation and passenger nausea by trying to learn how to drive a sitck shift in time for the high school dance? Given that his options are the family minivan or station wagon, he may need to go for it, and have a handy supply of barf bags on hand. Elsewhere, Jane's neighbor's dog is biting her Subaru's tires and chasing her car. Jane is thinking a healthy dose of pepper spray may help dissuade Fido, but Tom and Ray may have a more (or less ) humane solution. Also, Abby's Accord has a burning smell since she accidentally backed down a friend's steep driveway in drive; Steve promised his wife he could fix her oil problem three months ago, but is stumped; and can Ray convince John his air conditioning is making noise, even when it's off? All this, plus a quiz for the Philosopher King, and more, this week on The Best of Car Talk.

This week on The Best of Car Talk, Jenny's fiance, a budding bryologist, thinks she's crazy because she swears her car is more difficult to start when its low on gas. Should he stick to moss and stay away from fuel dynamics, let alone female psychology? Elsewhere, Angela's smelling something sweet from her dashboard, but the cost to fix it will be mighty sour; Eric is wondering how a $4 part could require $358 in labor to replace; and David is trying to decide which of two heaps to dump, when the answer should probably be both. And, in the midst of New England foliage season, New Hampshire native Kurt has lots of time in traffic to profile the tourist drivers slowing him down the most. All this and more, this week on the Best of Car Talk.

This week on The Best of Car Talk, Michelle's husband paid $170 for her dream car, and she thinks he may have overpaid. It's just missing a few things, such as the rear windshield, the gas cap, chunks of the floor...and we haven't even gotten to all the problems under hood. Fortunately, Michelle is talking to a guy who can appreciate junk, and Tommy is as excited as her husband about this dream turned nightmare. Elsewhere, Mary discovered how big a rock it would take to kill her lawn mower; Matt is looking for music recommendation to drown out his Civic's brake noise; and can Tom and Ray convince Andrea the noise she thinks is coming from the dashboard is actually originating 3 feet away; and our on-call Physicist Wolfgang helps ease Ray's gastrointestinal distress. All this and lot more, this week on The Best of Car Talk.

This week on The Best of Car Talk, Anne's mechanic can't identify the gunk blowing out of her car's ventilation system, but he does know that whatever it is, fixing it will cost $1000...if that's what it is. Sounds like a new mechanic's mantra to us! Elsewhere, Linda is still trying to figure out how a gas attendant put her radiator cap on backwards; Alan is baffled by the diamond patterns he sees on rear windshields, especially when he's wearing polarized sunglasses; and is Andy safer keeping his doors locked while driving on the highway? And, has our pal Daniel Pinkwater found his true calling, as a scientific measurement? All this and more, this week on The Best of Car Talk.