Liberation, lust, envy, rage, power, thrill—our cars provoke enough emotion to jam a six-lane highway.

If you name your ride, reminisce about sex in the back seat or enjoy roaring down the open road, you know why we love our wheels. But if you hate traffic, curse at the price at the pump or fight over parking spaces, you know why we hate them too.

Drive is a cross-continent adventure that explores where our fuel-injected dreams have taken us. Award-winning journalist Tim Falconer invites us on his road trip as he meets vintage car enthusiasts on Route 66, rides along in a police cruiser, kicks the tires at a Las Vegas auto show and takes a hydrogen-powered car for a spin.

Steering us along North America's interstates and blue highways, meandering through small towns, sprawling suburbs and walkable neighbourhoods, Falconer shows us the growing collision of cars and people. In this complicated affair, who's really in the driver's seat?

Can smart growth, public transit and complete streets free us?

A spirited, front-seat view of quirky locals and locales, Drive looks at what auto-dominated life means to our health, environment and communities. Falconer also opens the door on British and Argentine car cultures, and considers the road ahead for China and India, nations with increasingly American attitudes. As billions grab their keys, can we avoid carmageddon?

"[A] fascinating survey of the automobile and its effect on society … A fun book about a serious topic." —Winnipeg Free Press

"Essential reading for any Canadian intrigued by the conundrum of finding better ways to get from here to there." —Spacing magazine