upworthy

cars

SOURCE: TIKTOK

Little secrets to be found.

Half of the Internet learned that Jeep vehicles have hidden 'Easter eggs' on them. Apparently, the other half already knew but didn't bother to tell us.

As Joel Feder of Motor Authority explains, Jeep vehicles have had these little surprises since the 90s. Hired as a designer in 1989, Michael Santoro decided to slip an Easter egg into the Wrangler TJ. Since then, pretty much every vehicle has included at least one Easter Egg. According to Mopar Insiders, the Easter eggs can be found on each of the brand's cars.

Not everyone was aware of this fact, though, as a TikTok by jackiefosterrealtor recently revealed. The user discovered a spider hidden in his fuel tank and decided to share the Easter egg in a video.


"So I bought my first car, and a fun fact about Jeeps is that they have a hidden animal which is called an Easter egg," the user said. "I couldn't find my Easter egg for the longest time, and one day I was pumping my gas, and I saw this spider coming at me, and I thought 'oh my god', and then I realized it was my Easter egg."

@nkyrealestate 🕷JEEP WAS REALING TRYING TO GET ME.🕷🤦🏼😂 #fyp #jeepsoftiktok #spider ♬ original sound - Jackie

Now, TikTok users have been looking a little closer at their jeeps to discover the Easter eggs hidden in their cars. Most of them posted @jackiefosterrealtor's original narration over their videos to explain what was going on.

This user found a cute little lizard.

@katepetersonn Bruh wut #fyp ♬ original sound - Jackie

This user found multiple Easter eggs, including Bigfoot and a miniature grill in the headlights.

@jazzy._.boo i never realized these were easter eggs😳 #fyp #jeeprenegade ♬ original sound - Jackie

Others found jeeps on their jeeps among other Easter eggs.

Some people have even found a tiny pair of flip flops on their cars.

@micaelaaaraeee welcome home to the love of my life 💕🥺👉👈 #2020 #jeepwrangler #jeepwranglerjl #wrangler #jeep #jl #jeepeasteregg #orange #car #fyp ♬ original sound - Jackie

Everyone is having a lot of fun trying to find their Easter egg.

@kennedankk

We searched the trackhawk for 30 minutes before I found it in the headlight

♬ original sound - Jackie

So. Many. Animals.

@jackieforesterrealtor even found two more Easter eggs on the front and back windows of his Jeep.

‼️PART 2: EASTER EGG HUNT‼️ WHO WOULD’VE THOUGHT?! 😂🤦🏼 THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED ME FIND THE OTHER ONES❤️ #fyp #fypchallenge #jeepsoftiktok

@jackiefosterrealtor

‼️PART 2: EASTER EGG HUNT‼️ WHO WOULD’VE THOUGHT?! 😂🤦🏼 THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED ME FIND THE OTHER ONES❤️ #fyp #fypchallenge #jeepsoftiktok

If you can't find the Easter eggs in your vehicles, NowCar.com put together a handy guide that seems to cover most of them.

Hopefully everyone can have some fun searching their cars for hidden animals and objects.


This article first appeared four years ago.

Photo from Pixabay.

Running on empty.

There are two types of people in this world – those who panic and fill up their cars with gas when the needle hits 25% or so, and people like me who wait until the gas light comes on, then check the odometer so you can drive the entire 30 miles to absolute empty before coasting into a gas station on fumes.

I mean…it's not empty until it's empty, right?

But just how far can you drive your car once that gas light comes on? Should you trust your manual?


Now, thanks to Your Mechanic sharing this information in a recent post, you can know for sure. Of course, they also want to warn you that driving on a low fuel level or running out of gas can actually damage your car.

Proceed at your own risk.

fuel efficiency, cars, science, gasoline, gas

How far you can go on empty.

Graph from Your Mechanic.

Here's a link to a larger version of the chart.

These are, of course, approximations that depend on several factors, including how you drive, your car's condition, etc. So don't automatically blame Your Mechanic if you find yourself stranded on the side of the road.


This article originally appeared on 7.28.21

checking your car might be easier than you think.

Buying a used car is often the more sustainable and financially sound choice, but it does have its inherent risks. Even purchasing from a dealership doesn’t guarantee quality, or safety. NBC News previously reported that some “certified” pre-owned vehicles which had passed auto retailer AutoNation’s “precise inspection process” had unresolved recalls.

Bottom line: you don’t truly know how well the vehicle was taken care of. However, there are certain precautions we can take to ensure our investment is a wise one.

A man who goes by “Jackson The Mekanic” recently posted a now-viral video explaining the “three musts” that you need to check before pulling the trigger on a car purchase. Great news—all these things are easy to check, even without mechanic supervision.


1. Oil Level

"First, you pull out the dipstick," Jackson explains as he shows where to find it under the hood.

“It's very important to wipe it with a rag first, then re-insert the dipstick back in." After you pull it out again, you want to make sure the oil makes it to the “full” line. Also, make sure the car is off when you check.

@mekanic_jackson

3 simple checks

♬ original sound - Jackson The Mekanic
2. Coolant Level

Coolant, also known as antifreeze, is a liquid that keeps a car's engine from overheating by transferring heat and preventing it from freezing or boiling. In the comments Jackson says that this is an important thing to check because low levels can indicate a leak.

To check coolant levels, Jackson says "There's two ways you can do this, you can check it directly from the radiator, or you can check it from the overflow tank."

To check from the radiator, you’ll need to lift open the cap, but keep in mind that you’ll need to wait until after the engine has cooled down to do so.

If the car is low on coolant, Jackson recommends you simply add a little water.

3. Brake Fluid Level

Jackson might have saved the most important for last.

"What you're looking [for] here is for color and for the level, so we can see this color looks nice and new, and is also topped up to the max,” he says while pointing to a full brake fluid tank.

For many of us, car upkeep can be overwhelming. But it’s a necessary skill, at least if you don’t rely on public transportation to get you everywhere you need to be. And certain aspects aren’t all that difficult to understand once we really pop open the hood and see what’s inside. And expert explanations like the ones Jackson offers certainly help.

If you’re looking for more of his advice—like how to replace a car battery, which cars to avoid to save money and diagnosing engine noises —follow Jackson on TikTok.

Pop Culture

Couple advertises their rundown Honda as a luxury vehicle in hilarious parody ad

Their spot-on impression of most luxury vehicle commercials says a lot about how we are trained to view consumerism.

Fularious/Youtube

Luxury, it's a sate of mind

When Carrie Hollenbeck needed to sell her 1996 Honda Accord, with over 140,000 lifetime miles on it, having a filmmaker boyfriend paid off. Big time.

Max Lanman had the idea to produce an actual commercial to advertise his girlfriend's jalopy. But this wouldn't be some low-budget production for a 4 a.m. run on the local access cable channel. Oh no. Not at all.


“I thought it would be hilarious to make a high-end car commercial for a really junky car,” Lanman told ABC News. “And she had just the car.”

The ad begins like any high-gloss, self-important, sleek car commercial, with a deep-voiced narrator uttering some vaguely inspiring patter: "You, you're different. You do things your way. That's what makes you one of a kind."

Cut to — instead of a luxury vehicle with a slick dash, leather interior, and impeccably dressed anonymous driver — Carrie's old Honda, complete with coffee spills, random objects rolling around in the back, and one of those cassette things you use to play your iPod in a car without Bluetooth.

"You don't do it for appearance. You do it because it works," the narrator adds triumphantly.

Check out the finished product:

Lanman may have intended the piece to be more silly than satire, but the faux ad inadvertently makes an important point about the car buying experience in America.

As commonplace as the ads he's lampooning are, the majority of Americans cannot afford a new car. Things are only getting worse — the average price of a new vehicle has skyrocketed 35% since the 1970s, while the median household income is only up about 3% for the same time period.

Cars have always been a status symbol, but somewhere along the line — between the time of horse-drawn carriages and the modern era of Matthew McConaughey selling Lincolns by falling backward into an infinity pool while wearing a tuxedo — cars have become an extreme symbol of status.

Car commercials would have you believe that cars are not something you buy because of how well they can get you from Point A to Point B, but because of how they made you feel and how they make you look to other people. For every person buying a $60,000 car that fits their "lifestyle," (or to sit in their garage, barely touched) there are dozens more people buying a used junker on Craiglist or eBay because it's all they can afford. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Though it wasn't intended to be, Max and Carrie's viral ad is almost a digital middle finger to those who want the rich to get richer and income disparity to get worse. It reminds us to be proud of our ability to successfully live our own lives, even if it's not always pristine or glamorous. This ad ... is practical and real and ... well, it's all of us.

"Luxury is a state of mind," the narrator bellows at the end. Finally, a car slogan everyday Americans can get behind.


This article originally appeared on 11.09.17