As you read this -- well, provided you're reading it after 6:30 am or so Pacific time -- I'll be towing our race car (and I use that term loosely) in the general direction of the 24 Hours of Lemons race at Thunderhill in northern California. Now, last time I towed the car to a race, I did it the old fashioned way: With a Dodge RAM 3500 pickup powered by the famous Cummins turbodiesel. The Dodge drove as if I was towing a load of feathers, and returned a respectable 16.7 MPG.

This time, I'm trying something a little different -- I'll be towing the car with a 2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid. GM says the four-wheel-drive Escalade Hybrid will tow up to 5,600 lbs, which is just a few hundred pounds more than we need, and its 14,000 lb gross combined weight rating (GCWR) means we can add another ton or so of passengers and cargo without risking a Darwin award. EPA fuel economy estimates for the two-wheel-drive Escalade Hybrid are 20 MPG city/21 MPG highway. I'm driving an all-wheel-drive version, and the EPA estimates are... well, I actually don't know, because the extra weight of the all-wheel-drive system pushes the Escalade into a higher weight class and makes it exempt from EPA testing. (You'd think Cadillac would publish the numbers anyway, as a point of pride.) Whatever the numbers are, they've got to be better than the non-hybrid Escalade's estimates, which are -- Prius owners, you'd better sit down for this one -- 11 MPG city and 14 MPG highway.

So far, I've been averaging 18.8 MPG in mixed driving with no trailer but about 200 lbs of race-related cargo in the back. We'll see what a trailer and a crappy race car do to the Escalade's fuel economy. Any guesses? -- Aaron Gold

Related: 2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid test drive on About.com SUVs

Photo © General Motors

Before I get to today's topic, allow me to beg your forgiveness for the lack of new reviews this week -- I've been busy as all get out, driving cars for the upcoming Best New Cars list and Internet Car of the Year and preparing our BMW 633CSi for its second 24 Hours of Lemons race (we're turning it into a replica of Richard Petty's Superbird; pictures coming soon). I have a bunch of new 2010 reviews in the works, so please bear with me.

Okay, on to business. Yesterday, I was reminded of a British chap I met some years ago who used to rev the engine of his Volvo 245 before shutting it off. When I asked him why, he said that revving the engine "leaves a spark in the distributor". I tried to explain that electrical sparks are not something you can store, and that turning off the car's ignition turned off all the electricity, but he wasn't buying it -- he continued to rev his engine so he'd have a spark ready and waiting the next time he wanted to drive his car. I've never heard a myth that good -- although the friend who insisted that it was better for the car to shift from Park to Neutral and then to Reverse, rather than going direct, came pretty close. (And for all I know, the P-N-R thing could have been right.)

I'm sure you've heard some pretty good car myths -- truisms that people swore by, even though they couldn't possibly be true. So let's hear 'em -- click the "comments" link and tell your tale.

And by the way, if you need your new review fix, Jason Fogelson, our Guide to SUVs, has just reviewed our first 2011 production vehicle (assuming you don't count my 2011 Ford Fiesta preview drive, that is) -- check out his write-up on the 2011 Kia Sorento. -- Aaron Gold

On Friday, I attended a press conference for the kickoff of the Nissan Leaf tour. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn was among the speakers, and although he did not announce exact pricing, he did talk about the pricing plan: The electric Leaf will sell for the same price as a similarly-sized gasoline-powered car. The Leaf is similar in size to the Sentra, so my best guess is the price will come in around $21,000... but the battery isn't included. Read more...

There's been a lot of talk in the news recently about how many people used Cash for Clunkers to swap old F-150 for a new F-150, yielding a fuel-economy increase of between 1 and 3 MPG. The conclusion, according to the pundits, is that the program was a failure. And my conclusion is that Microsoft should invent a way for me to reach through my monitor so I could grab said pundits' collective collar and do a little 'splainin. Read more...