The TransAmerica Trail is the ultimate rural driving route across the USA, starting in North Carolina at the Atlantic Ocean and ending in Oregon on the Pacific. It features thousands of miles of unpaved roads, mountain trails, and remote desert byways, with jaunts of narrow pavement intermixed. Originally for motorcycles, an we recently completed the…
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Years ago, I told myself that when the 1998 Suzuki Jimny became legal to import into the U.S in 2023, I’d buy one. Mercedes was on board with this plan, especially after we rented a 2019 Jimny in Iceland (we’ll have to wait until 2044 for one of these). Despite two years of tardiness, we…
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Most of my cars have been slow, reliable, fuel-efficient, and practical. Yet, every so often, I get a hankering for something fast, or at least quick and sporty. Despite having a fast car at the moment, I keep looking at slow cars online. What’s my problem?
Continue reading →Over the years, we have competed in a variety of competitive automotive rallies in North America and abroad. Most are road rally events, some have more of an off-road component. But here, you can find all of our information regarding these competitions. Click each rally’s title for more information. International Competitions 2025 Thunderbird Rally Dates:…
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When we purchased our “bought not built” modified 2005 Subaru Forester XT (with the 5-speed manual), we knew the first thing that had to be changed: wheels and tires. This fact was hammered home as the Subaru would easily turn into a drift missile around corners, especially in the rain. Admittedly, the low grip was…
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Who doesn’t love the look of a freshly cleaned and detailed car? Lately, we’ve been traveling a lot, so I haven’t had a chance to do as much automotive detailing as I wanted. However, over the Labor Day weekend, I gave our rides some TLC. This included some intense detailing, including the engine bay.
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Wanderlust. It’s a word that gets tossed around a lot these days due in part to the endless array of photos on Instagram, travel vlogs on YouTube, and quick idyllic scenes on TikTok. And it probably means something different to everyone. For me, it’s always been this curiosity to see what’s on the other side…
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For 23 years, we had a sporty on-road car of some sort. While sporty didn’t necessarily mean fast, it always meant upgraded suspension and stickier tires at a minimum. Whether it was my SR20DE-powered Nissan Sentra SE-Limited or 2001 Ford Focus ZX3, our 1998 Honda Prelude SH, or 2013 Subaru Impreza WRX, we always had…
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Texas was all-new for the Subiefest series, and we weren’t sure what to expect. But Subiefest Texas 2023 ended up having some super clean builds, wild rides, and awesome people.
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Words by Andy Lilienthal; photos by Mercedes Lilienthal When we got our first ARB fridge/freezer, I said if I ever needed to use a cooler again it’d be too soon. Well, that was a stupid thing to say. There are simply times when you need a soft-sided cooler. We found ourselves in such a situation…
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