Productopia | Automotive

Maybe you're not looking for a sweet deal on a stand mixer or an electric razor this Black Friday. Perhaps you have a more substantial purchase in mind. You know, even bigger than, say, a new flat-panel TV. Suppose you decide to avoid the mall entirely and instead head to one of your local car dealers. Are there deals to be had on Black Friday? According to a report by CNNMoney.com, the answer is yes.

Once again, the experts agree: If you're going to stick a portable GPS device to your car's windshield, your best bet is to go with a Garmin. The manufacturer's auto GPS units earn consistently high reviews from professionals and owners alike, thanks to their ease of use and attractive features such as free traffic information for the life of the device. The latter even applies to the budget-priced Garmin nuvi 265T (*Est. $185), a Best Reviewed pick in our latest report on portable automotive GPS devices.

The end of General Motors' Pontiac division will be lamented for years to come. No, not because anyone's going to miss stuff like the G5 coupe (a rebadged Chevy Cobalt) or the laughable G3 Wave (a rebadged Chevy Aveo). Those cars exemplify the kind of dealer-placating product decisions that helped shepherd GM towards bankruptcy, muddled the Pontiac brand's identity, and ultimately contributed to the division's outright cancellation. What people will miss are  bright spots in the lineup. There were a few, after all, and if you want a piece of that good history in your garage, you'll need to act fast, because the dealer stock is drying up.

For most of the country, winter's just around the corner. (And for some of you, it's already arrived.)  If you generally experience mild winters, you may be able to get by with a set of all-season tires, but if you'll be doing a regular amount of driving on snow-covered roads, experts say you're better off storing the all-seasons for the winter months in favor of a proper set of snow tires. Winter tires employ tread patterns and specialized rubber compounds designed to maximize your car's grip on snow and ice, making winter driving safer. We researched expert and consumer reviews  from a wide variety of websites and publications, including Scandinavian ones, to determine which snow tires are best.

We're particularly proud of our annual report on snow tires, because in order to bring you the most complete, up-to-date information, our background research needs to go beyond the reviews offered by English-language publications. This presents an interesting problem that we don't need to deal with on other reports: a language barrier.

A couple of weeks ago, ConsumerSearch editor-in-chief Christine Frietchen predicted that Black Friday would bring deals on some entry-level GPS units such as the Garmin nuvi 205 and TomTom 130. She was right. Sears' Black Friday ad has been leaked online, and both portable GPS devices are listed, though the pricing on these older, bare-bones models isn't quite as low as she envisioned they might be. In fact, despite attractive pricing, the models offered are hard to get terribly excited over.

The results of ConsumerReports.org's eagerly-anticipated annual auto reliability survey are in, and once again, Japanese and Korean manufacturers lead the way in terms of the number of cars displaying above-average reliability. Many of the survey's granular details are still tucked behind CR's pay wall and available only to subscribers, but Consumer Reports has made the overview summary open to all, and added a fully-accessible blog post with an interesting rundown of the most and least reliable vehicles by automaker. Additionally, Autoblog.com has posted ConsumerReports.org's official press release, along with an image gallery of charts that will likely appear in the print magazine, and are probably included in the content that would otherwise be limited to the subscribers. All told, if you want a good general rundown, you can see a lot of useful information for free. 

Early next month, Chrysler will formally unveil its future product strategy to the media at an all-day event staged at the automaker's Auburn Hills headquarters. However, The Wall Street Journal has apparently gotten early word from inside sources on what to expect -- and the changes Chrysler is set to implement (under the guidance of post-bankruptcy stakeholder, Italian automaker Fiat) are sweeping in nature. Several models will be phased out as Chrysler takes the steps necessary to reinvent itself, and a couple of brands we haven't seen in the U.S. for years will make a return.

Back in April at the New York Auto Show, Honda showed off a dog-friendly Element concept vehicle. It was fairly obvious at the time that the so-called "concept" was merely a preview of accessories that Honda planned to introduce at a later date. Well, that later date is here, and Honda has made it official: you'll be able to order the 2010 Honda Element with a pooch-friendly suite of factory add-ons.

Earlier last week, you may have read a news story in which British researchers say that driving a convertible with the top down at highway speeds could damage to your hearing over time. The Brits found that some of the driving scenarios can produce sustained sound levels over 90 decibels. That's loud, just so you know. That said, the eggheads noted that simply rolling up the windows gets the noise down to a more manageable, if still loud, level. As a convertible driver myself (that's my car to the left), the article got me thinking about what other stuff you might want to look out for if you choose to roll in a ragtop. Here are some of my personal observations on the topic.