The Best Car Websites

A true enthusiast doesn't limit themselves to one car website or blog, so here's my list of the best automotive sites out there.

Car Buying

Cars.com- While certainly not aimed for the enthusiast market, cars.com is my favorite car search tool. I've spent many days on the site just browsing for cars I could never afford and ones that I would be insane to actually buy. For me, being able to scroll through photos of Ferraris and classic Mustangs on dealer lots makes it seem more attainable and thus easier to fantasize about driving these cars. Maybe its just me. Anyway, I chose cars.com because of the ease in filtering the exact car you are interested in so you don't have to look at any automatic Mustangs...

Cars-on-line.com- This is my choice for those interested in searching for classic cars. Once you click on the link you'll be taken to a website that clearly hasn't yet moved into the 21st century. While the site is showing its age, it still shows you what classic cars are available in your area. Cars-on-line.com also lets you search purely by make and only accepts cars on its site that are truly classics, allowing you to see only best classic cars.

Blogs

Jalopnik- If you're a common reader of EAE you already know that Jalopnik holds a special place in my heart. Jalopnik's mix of bold writing style and "small blog" humor make it perfect for those who have a passion for cars. Jalopnik ignores those non-enthusiast readers that other blogs seem to cater to and in doing so has created a close-knit online automotive community.

Autoblog- Autoblog makes no attempt to match Jalopnik's humor or community but does do a great job of providing auto news. If you are interested in spy shots of the newest sports cars, you'll love Autoblog. Anytime I'm looking for the most up-to-date car commentary I head to Autoblog to get the scoop.

EAE's Mission for Automotive Excellence

What EverydayAutoEnthusiast brings to readers is a different reading experience than you will find on Autoblog, Jalopnik, Hemmings, etc. While EAE will include the automotive news and car reviews enthusiasts are accustomed to seeing, this website will yield bolder commentary and thus a close-knit (and likely smaller) automotive community. This blog is not trying to compete with the automotive giants and readers that follow me into the fray will be rewarded with writing that mirrors their own sentiments (unless you're a die hard automatic transmission aficionado, or an extreme environmentalist, in which case why are you here?). News of new cars likely to be complete disasters will be met with pessimism instead of the usual hold-judgement-until-we-drive-it mentality so common in other blogs. EAE will also bring more in the way of automotive gaming. I realize that many enthusiasts are either too poor, too young, or not willing to shell out thousands of dollars to purchase a new car and instead settle their need for speed with a controller. I was raised on Gran Turismo and still play Forza 6 everyday. Practically everyone can play video games and relate to both game reviews and reviews of cars in the game. Those interested in photography should also check out the blog as while I am no means a professional photographer, I have been shooting cars for about 10 years and have a very unique style. I like to photograph cars on the fly instead of going on photo shoots and picking a spot ahead of time. If you take a look at my review of the last-gen Audi A3, you'll see a couple of examples of what I am talking about. Overall, this site is meant to exist alongside your other blog favorites instead of as a replacement. Browsing Jalopnik and then coming back here should yield two different automotive reading experiences for the true enthusiast.

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Jalopnik's Reign over the Everyday Enthusiast

I posted yesterday about an article on the car blog Jalopnik and thought I'd share some of the similarities and differences between our 2 blogs. I've been following Jalopnik since about 2009 and have seen the site grow from more of a niche blog to one that competes directly with the established automotive publications such as Motor Trend and Car and Driver. Despite its best efforts, Jalopnik has went from a site with a few loyal followers to one that appeals to the "mass" automotive community. While I still enjoy the content on Jalopnik, I feel that they have traded some of their boldness of content for writing that appeals to a much bigger audience. This is not to say that I wouldn't do the same thing, the ability to gain thousands more followers and build a larger community is almost always worthwhile. I, however, miss the days of Jalopnik writers telling it like it is regardless of what car companies or others felt. This is the niche that EverydayAutoEnthusiast will try to fill. One of the first things readers will notice is my advocacy of manual transmissions. If a car is not offered with a stick, I am not interested in it. This was something I noticed with "old" Jalopnik that I rarely see in their more recent blog posts. While dual-clutch automatics and torque converters have certainly gotten better and may have turned former manual-lovers to the dark side, I believe that writers are afraid to offend those enthusiasts who like autos. Also missing in newer material are the inside jokes that only loyal followers will understand. One specifically that comes to mind is the "pretty sure that's a lambo, dude" quote from the bugatti crashing into a lake video. This became a sort of inside joke within the Jalopnik community and the blog began to use the phrase to describe any new super car. While the joke ran a bit too long in the comments section, its one of the things I miss from the "old" Jalopnik.

Dad's Impact on Our Love of Cars: Learning Stick

One of my favorite car blogs, Jalopnik, recently created a post asking readers to share their favorite car-related memories they had with their dad. (http://jalopnik.com/what-are-your-best-car-memories-with-dad-1782244783). I highly recommend checking out the comments section as it will no doubt remind some of you of similar experiences with your dad. Those of you that read my "About Me" and "Why We Love Cars" posts know that my dad heavily influenced my passion for cars. Reading all of the stories of people learning to drive reminded me of one of the fondest memories of my teenage years: learning how to drive stick.  Even after looking up multiple YouTube videos of people's feet working in harmony to shift with a clutch, I was still nervous as my dad pulled the Mustang into the high school parking lot. After a half-hour of awkward lurching and stalls, I eased out the clutch and successfully engaged 1st gear for the first time. Naturally, I was overcome with excitement. My dad, however, didn't think he'd have to tell me how to brake as well. With the available real estate in the parking lot running out, he said "OK, great now hit the brakes". Not thinking I would ever get this far, I fumbled with the pedals and couldn't work out in my mind which one was the brake. Instead of hitting the brake I pushed the clutch in as hard as I could. Now coasting and about 10 feet away from the curb my dad yells "BRAKE!! THE ONE IN THE MIDDLE!!!!". By the time I looked down my dad had managed to reach his leg across the center console and hit the brakes; stopping the car and narrowly avoiding disaster. To this day I don’t know how he was able to shoot the gap and fit his leg into the driver footwell, let alone with enough accuracy to hit the brakes. After this experience, most people would probably wrap it up for the day, but not my dad. Instead he tells me to get the car turned around and try again. At this point I was no longer scared because that was pretty much the worst case scenario so it didn’t take long after that to get used to the intricacies of a manual transmission. I even ended up driving home.