2008 Hummer H3 Alpha Sport Utility 4-door 5.3l, V-8 Engine, Atx Thug Wheels on 2040-cars

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Are orphan cars better deals?

Most folks don't know a Saturn Aura from an Oldsmobile Aurora. Those of you who are immersed in the labyrinth of automobilia know that both cars were testaments to the mediocrity that was pre-bankruptcy General Motors, and that both brands are now long gone. But everybody else? Not so much. By the same token, there are some excellent cars and trucks that don't raise an eyebrow simply because they were sold under brands that are no longer being marketed. Orphan brands no longer get any marketing love, and because of that they can be alarmingly cheap. Case in point, take a look at how a 2010 Saturn Outlook compares with its siblings, the GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave. According to the Manheim Market Report, the Saturn will sell at a wholesale auto auction for around $3,500 less than the comparably equipped Buick or GMC. Part of the reason for this price gap is that most large independent dealerships, such as Carmax, make it a point to avoid buying cars with orphaned badges. Right now if you go to Carmax's site, you'll find that there are more models from Toyota's Scion sub-brand than Mercury, Saab, Pontiac, Hummer, and Saturn combined. This despite the fact that these brands collectively sold in the millions over the last ten years while Scion has rarely been able to realize a six-figure annual sales figure for most of its history. That is the brutal truth of today's car market. When the chips are down, used-car shoppers are nearly as conservative as their new-car-buying counterparts. Unfamiliarity breeds contempt. Contempt leads to fear. Fear leads to anger, and pretty soon you wind up with an older, beat-up Mazda MX-5 in your driveway instead of looking up a newer Pontiac Solstice or Saturn Sky. There are tons of other reasons why orphan cars have trouble selling in today's market. Worries about the cost of repair and the availability of parts hang over the industry's lost toys like a cloud of dust over Pigpen. Yet any common diagnostic repair database, such as Alldata, will have a complete framework for your car's repair and maintenance, and everyone from junkyards to auto parts stores to eBay and Amazon stock tens of thousands of parts. This makes some orphan cars mindblowingly awesome deals if you're willing to shop in the bargain bins of the used-car market. Consider a Suzuki Kizashi with a manual transmission. No, really.

2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5 Cupholder Mega Test: Will the Nalgene bottle fit?

I absolutely adore the Hyundai Ioniq 5, and so was excited to spend a week with it when the EV landed in my driveway. When I first drove the Ioniq 5 in San Diego, though, I hadn't packed my favorite style water bottle: the big 32-ounce Nalgene. Despite it being the best, its sheer size makes it less ideal when trying to pack light for a short trip. It also means it doesn't fit in most cars' cupholders, but, without the bottle on hand, I'd have to wait until this new opportunity with the Ioniq 5 to find out if it passes the Nalgene check. So, let's get to it. Starting at pole position — the front cupholders — we find ourselves unlucky so far. It's not even close to fitting. Not unusual, but our first option for convenient access to megahydration is denied. In most instances, our next best bet is the molded pockets in the front door panels. Here we have success. It's quite a tight fit, so while our drink won't be knocking or rolling around, it's not as easy as it could be to retrieve while driving, and I'll probably eventually wear out the little plastic tether connecting the lid to the bottle, as that's the easiest thing to grab without looking. Still, I'll give these door holders a pass. How about the folks sitting in back? Where can they stash their Nalgenes? No surprise about it not fitting in the center armrest cupholders after our inauspicious start with the fronts. The fact that it won't fit in the door panels is disappointing. C'est la vie. But one more thing ... you might have noticed another potential stash up front in the storage cubby below the center stack. The Nalgene fits in there just fine, but a little bit of extra room means the bottle will be knocking around. It's actually a decent spot, and more accessible than the doors.

The electric Hummer gets a new logo

GM submitted three trademark applications to government offices here and in Canada, as discovered by GM Authority. Two applications went to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office on February 4 this year, seeking to reserve the new Hummer logo, at the top in the image above. Note, the two logos aren't to scale; they're about the same size all things being equal, but we shrunk the old mark. GM sent a second application to the USPTO on February 7 requesting the brand name "Hummer" for application to "motor land vehicles, namely, automobiles, trucks and sport utility vehicles; bicycles." True, we've seen the new Hummer script stretched across the front of the coming electric pickup in a teaser clip, but the paperwork continues the process of getting the entire continent ready for the alternate universe resurrection of one of America's most notorious brands.     In 2010, gas prices were in orbit, GM committed to closing the Hummer brand, vandals were setting fire to the scattered Hummers left on dealer lots, the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 made 638 horsepower, the eco-minded revered the Toyota Prius and the Tesla Model S was still two years away. In that year, it would have been hard to say something more bonkers than, "Hummer's coming back in ten years as an electric pickup, its top trim making 1,000 horsepower and 11,500 pound-feet of torque." But here we are. The new logo's squareness connects it to the resolute bluntness of the old mark, yet the thinner font and chopped corners both modernize the old logo and lessen its truculence. The brand appears headed the same way, with lurid specs and square-jawed looks just like old times, but having in LeBron James a more modern take on the hardcore male vibe than it once got from (unpaid) association with guys like Arnold Schwarzenegger. To be fair, old Hummer commercials always featured women in the driver's seat, or men and young boys dreaming of big adventures, or Regis Philbin chatting up models, but the marketing department couldn't — or didn't want to — outrun the lineup's reputation on the street. We'll see how the electric version and its “incredible on- and off-road capability" fare. According to the teaser site, the new Hummer's debut is still on track for May 20. If the brand manages to recreate the old H3T pickup but with an electric powertrain, it's got one buyer right here lined up already. Related Video: