No, we still don't know what caused our 2003 Passat to burn up a couple of weeks ago. Our insurance company, Liberty Mutual, hired an independent investigator to look at the car (they were careful to mention that they don't suspect us of torching it). more ›

A 2003 Passat GLS wagon. It's anthracite blue, with black leather seats and automatic transmission. more ›

What we wanted: a wagon. Preferably stick shift, but automatic would be OK. Remote door locks, air conditioning, leather seats (kids -- we prefer fabric, but we hear leather's much easier to clean), a CD player. We don't need lots of gadgets, but we'd play with 'em if we got 'em. more ›

A week ago Friday, Seattlest arrived at work to discover that our '93 Mazda 626's engine was pouring out more white smoke than a '40s film noir. We dropped it off at the nearest repair place and awaited the bad news: we'd sprung a coolant leak and blown a headgasket. At 192,000 miles, the engine had died. more ›