The compact car market has been in full swing for some time. Cars like the Mini, Smart and Scion have helped pave the way for these new little beasties and help them become solidified as something more than just and automotive trend. While walking through the GM display I noticed two new little guys that I had not seen before. The Chevrolet Aveo RS show car and the GMC Granite were drawing oohs, aahs as well as they occasional WTF, from onlookers.

Up first is the Chevrolet Aveo RS show car. Now keep in mind, this is based off of the standard Chevy Aveo – a car that is by no means a performance oriented compact. For the show car however, Chevy took hold of the little 1.6 liter I-4 Ecotech and slapped a turbo charger on it. This bumped power from 106 hp to a semi-respectable 138 hp that is put down by a 6-speed manual transmission. Granted at 138 hp this is no pavement shredder, but when you consider the car weighs in at just over 2500 lbs. it’s actually not that bad.

If you’re like most consumers in the market for a used car, your needs are probably best served by eBay, AutoTrader, or your local Craigslist. If you are like 99% of automotive enthusiasts, however, your pursuit for that perfect diamond in the rough exists in perpetuity. You can easily squander 5+ hours at work tirelessly refreshing your browser in the vain hope that the pristine Volvo 850R you’ve spent the better part of your adult life pursuing will magically appear for thousands less than its Blue Book value. If such is the case, then the chances are good that you’ve also experienced significant frustration at the hands of Craigslist’s rather limiting search parameters. Although you probably could if you neglected your job, family, and personal hygiene for days on end, it’s realistically impossible to search every Craigslist in every state in every city in the continental U.S. (though you’ve certainly tried). Fortunately, I’ve found a way: searchtempest.com. Not only will SearchTempest.com allow you to expand your search radius to include any location within your current zip code, it also throws in all the relevant eBay listings as a bonus.

Inspired by my current quest for a sub-$5,000 daily driver, I’ve decided to publish a companion piece to the generalized buyer’s tips I outlined months ago specifically geared towards purchasing from Craigslist. Unlike other digital automotive marketplaces (Vehix, AutoTrader, etc) Craigslist provides the unique opportunity to find both rare treasures and immensely entertaining, often poorly executed scams. As a matter of fact, so prevalent is the latter it would likely be prudent to offer a few tips to avoid losing your shirt to the crown prince of Nigeria, but if the giant banner at the top of the auto classifieds proclaiming “OFFERS TO SHIP CARS ARE 100% FRAUDULENT” doesn’t serve as enough of a warning, you should probably be sterilized. So, moving on.

The first and most solid piece of advice I can offer is this: lower your standards. If you’re shopping for a used car with the same kind of operating budget that I am then your search is going to be not entirely unlike that of the skeezy guy/fat chick’s at the single’s bar. Your options are going to be limited, so you can’t afford to be too picky. At this stage in the game (10+ years old, 100k-ish miles), barring any miraculous discovery of a Granny-driven, garage-kept Benz, the cars that you’ll be looking at will have seen much better days. The “Service” indicator will probably be stuck on because the local garage didn’t have the right code reader needed to turn it off, there’ll be a couple dings from lost battles in cramped parking garages, and the leather might be ripped from where the K-9 unit started smelled the coke. What you need to determine is which defects you’re willing to let slide and which ones will be a deal breaker. For example, I need: air conditioning, a tape deck, no leaks, and rear windows that roll all the way down. I can live with: blood stains, minor dents, and awful aftermarket rims. I can also live with a wealthy beneficiary whose willing to buy me a decommissioned military-spec Gelandewagen and/or a Land Rover Defender…but I digress.

My second piece of advice is equally as simplistic as the first: get a clue. Kbb.com and Edmunds.com offer excellent used car appraisal services – use them. I’ve found that often times owners will demonstrate a particular soft spot for their aging piece of crap by pricing it for thousands more than it’s worth, so it pays to be aware of exactly how delusional a seller may or may not be. With the ‘93 Volvo 240 I discussed below, the seller wanted literally double what the vehicle was worth – though to be fair that wasn’t so much an example of die-hard loyalty as it was a blatant rip-off. At any rate, the likelihood that you’ll run into a comically priced vehicle on Craigslist is actually much higher than if you’d gone the dealership route since most of these guys have a personal attachment to their rides. Keep this in mind when you march in to meet them with your KBB print out in hand and try not to piss all over their hard work. Gently yet firmly explain to them how much the vehicle is worth, how much you’re willing to pay, and if all else fails offer to perform sexual favors. I jest, of course. You should offer the favors up front.

Haynes is better known as a common source for repair manuals for cars, trucks, and motorcycles. Sometimes they’re the only repair manual you can get. And they’re definitely the only backyard repair manual for the LM-5 Eagle that we’ve ever heard about. This isn’t a joke – check out the description from Haynes after the jump.

I have officially experienced super-envy. My buddy Andy called my a few weeks ago to tell me he was popping over to Germany on a whim to drive the Nürburgring. Worst part? He did it for less than two week’s pay. Here is his story.

Mother’s Day is almost here. If you recall, you still aren’t forgiven for spray painting racing stripes on your first hand-me-down Honda Accord. And let’s be honest, you went downhill from there. A card is just not going to cut it this year. What Mom needs is a new whip. Even if you can’t swing a single payment on her behalf, what you can do is the research. Here are ten great cars for dear old Mom.

2007 Camry SE tinted out.

Immediately after I picked up my first off-the-lot brand new car, I set up an appointment with a local auto shop to get my windows tinted… Very exciting.

Not only did I think it would look very good with darkened windows, the car being charcoal grey, I knew I wanted tinting for 2 good reasons: privacy, and to keep the headlight glare of trucks and SUVs driving behind me to a minimum. I’m sure those RideLust.com readers who drive cars, who are surrounded by larger vehicles, have a pretty good idea what I’m talking about, and let me tell you, tinting does make a difference. The light coming into your car from vehicles behind you, reflected off your side and rearview mirrors, is definitely dulled, even at the lightest tint level. Additionally, the privacy aspect of having your car tinted is quite nice, something you get used to and come to enjoy. Whenever I drive my girlfriend’s car, which is not tinted, I feel oddly exposed, out in the open…it’s a strange feeling, and likely why the rest of my cars from now into the future will be tinted.

I’ve commented on this, oh-so-subtly, in articles previously, but it’s time that something was said in more straightforward terms. I’ve been going through articles written by some of the “old media” types. Automotive journalists who write for big, respectable, recognized outlets. Newspapers like the Wall Street Journal or the Globe and Mail; car magazines like Motor Driver or Car and Trend… or whatever it is. I’ve been surveying the conclusions these journalists tend to arrive at, and by-and-large, they usually seem to agree wholeheartedly with one another, like some kind of Old Boy’s Club circle-jerk.

Let me be perfectly clear, then, on what needs to be done: the Old Media journalists need to be taken out to the back forty and Old Yellered as soon as possible.

As we mentioned during the introduction to our beginner’s course, Road Rage 101: How To Piss Off Other Drivers, poor driving isn’t an obvious side effect of limited cerebral capacity, but rather the result of countless hours of feverish, committed practice. Although drivers in places like New Jersey make it look effortless, the fact remains that dangerous, often illegal driving habits require fastidious dedication to the craft, and we here at RideLust are determined to help. To begin, you must first honestly asses your personal ability. If you feel as though you’ve successfully mastered all of the lessons outlined in Road Rage 101, or you have at least 5 years experience regularly commuting in the Tri-State area, you might be ready to graduate to an intermediate level of douchebaggery. However, be forewarned: the upper tier of jackassedness is an elite circle open only to those who have demonstrated an unfailing dedication to inciting blind road rage. If you still feel truly prepared to assume the responsibility of serving as an ambassador of the asinine, please proceed to study the advanced tactics we’ve outlined below.

Yes, you can watch Nascar online

If you’re like us, you could spend hours in your favorite recliner (which probably reeks of Doritos and Blue Moon) watching every motorsport event from the Daytona 500 to the Baja 1000, but you really can’t afford to fork over a couple hundred dollars to your cable company for the Ultra Elite Premium Platinum Gold Star upgrade package. Well despair no longer, oh titan of the tubes, for we have found the solution to your problem, enter: the money-saving majesty of the world wide web.

Yep, it’s finally true, online TV is now a viable alternative to cable and satellite. The quality is there AND you can save money. In fact, you can often watch TV online for free with sites like Hulu. The best news is that even live sporting events are available for viewing on the web. That includes motorsports.