I disagree with a lot of your takes and tone, but this was a fantastic read.  Kudos given where kudos due.  More of this content here please.

Because customization is fun and a core part of modding/customizing things, be it computers or in-game avatars or cars or bikes or your wardrobe. You wouldn’t believe how much time I spent deciding what color to powdercoat my calipers, or what stitching to use on my custom seat covers, for example.

RGB lighting looks…

Fair enough, I keep projecting my lack of wrenching time onto this one. 

If it’s just an o-ring or something as simple as that, do you really think the guy wouldn’t fix it before listing? I find it hard to believe that someone maintained a car this odd for this long but couldn’t be bothered to fix something that critical to comfortable use of the car if it was cheap to do. I’d bet he got a…

Yep, if you live anywhere hot that’s a dealbreaker. I had a hard line leak in an SUV I bought from a used dealer, and it was in a place where it couldn’t be reached to be repaired (it was literally crammed between the engine and the firewall with less than an inch to work with) and there was no replacement part to…

Just wanted to throw my two cents in that I thoroughly enjoy your normal, humble, human responses to your critics. Even if you don’t agree! It’s refreshing to see a blogger jumping into the comments without having his dukes up.

Get a mid-range DA polisher. If you don’t skimp, you won’t risk burning through the clearcoat. Thrn get the Meguairs two stage kit. Being able to paint correct is one of the best skills to have IMO. You’ll never be able to feel a car the same way again after knowing how silky smooth they should be.

Same here. Brakes, suspension, exhaust, intake, fluid cooling, plugs... can do. Engine internals, transmissions, diffs, or electrical?  Calling the mechanic.

All true, but the appeal of the Bronco is that it’s not a beater like an old Jeep. It’s a car that can pull double duty as a respectable and useful DD while not driving like garbage like a Wrangler. There’s no way I’d pay new money for it, but used in five years or so I could definitely see myself considering it for a…

Both offroading and tracking assume that, yes.  I have three tracks "near" me but still a 2-3 hour drive to each.  

I think Andrew is right in that this thing has a potential to be a gateway drug to offroading. I mean I’ve always been a track guy... but I’d be lying if I hadn’t run through my head if it would be easier/more fun/more accessible to enjoy a pleasure vehicle like the Bronco than a track modified sports car like I have…

My Z is debadged (Nissan burger and model name), and I got pulled over years ago. Cop asks what kind of car it is and I say a 350Z. Ticket read 350z as the make and no model. Regular people just don’t know what cars are.

This is correct. Many people don’t know which word is the make and which is the model on the back of most cars.  Doesn't mean this needs to happen, but I guarantee it would confuse more than a few laymen.

What a great example of GM and Jalopnik both not giving any ef’s as of late.

As best we can tell, it’s a sand runner/dune climber/pick your term. We can tell this due to the mods, the location of the shoot, and the required orange saftey flag needed to get an ORV permit. I’m not sure how you can compare that to... red tow hooks on a truck parked on in front of a house. As others pointed out,…

Do you see where the picture is taken and the orange pole on the back? This thing looks like any of the million sand runners I see at the Michigan dunes in the summer. It doesn’t look like it was meant to be taken to Moab and sand doesn’t require underbody protection.

Empty roof rack is a problem why? I wasn’t aware of…

What you’re describing is an automatic transmission with a manual shifting mode.  Cars have had this dating back to the late 90's, I believe with the Prowler being the first or one of the first.

I’m with you. All three of my cars are automatics, and all three have the option to shift gears manually with my right hand on the stick. Modern automatics obey pretty well, and most will even hold gears to redline and let you bounce off it.

I drive my Z this way 99.9% of the time (exception is stop and go during…

I don’t hate it. Definitely modern and light. But it looks like it belongs on a gaming PC more than a car.

What’s that you say? Modern cars like the newly shown Ariya are designed like a gaming PC? Then this fits right in.

Because Erik doesn't know shit about cars.  Musk is all he's got.