Simple suspension tweaks seem to do a lot, especially if you lack the time / money / expertise to do anything to the drivetrain.

Love these guys.

Does seem like the kind of intersection where you might put one of those yellow reflective <=> signs emphasizing the “left or right only” nature of the “T” to make it more obvious at night. Otherwise you can pretty much expect this kind of thing.

It’s the mix of smugness and ignorance that make this magic. So much arch pontificating and “So, you see”s from someone who thinks all car engines are “V-somethings.”

No one who mails me a car key that “might” win a prize, or a wallet full of toy money (more common that one would think) will ever see me in their dealership.

I guess I’ll root for this car on general principle, but Honda’s about 15 years past its golden age of pocket rockets. After the DC4/5 Integras (and to a lesser extent the K20-equipped Civic Si) they just seemed to lose all passion to innovate.

Those jokes would be funnier if VTEC was a crappy system, rather than a groundbreaking performance technology now found throughout the automotive world (even if it didn’t make 1.8 liter I-4s faster than V8s), yo.

Is it really any more risk-inducing than a 290 hp sedan though?

“two adults and two kids?”

Nipping puppies are a different proposition from an attack. We have a boisterous little guy at home, and what works most is simply not tolerating it. He’s trying to play but is also working on some dominance-centered social skills. Making an “Ow!” or similar noise works, because it’s how dogs socialize each other. Or…

It would have to be complicated. A lot of people are sufficiently poor that they should not pay any tax at all. Would they have to prove their income level at the retail level to be exempt, stigmatizing them every time they bought something? Or save all their receipts and apply for a refund? The big draw would be…

Sales taxes are problematic as well. Among other things, it discourages spending, which is a primary driver of the economy.

I got none of this garbage when I bought my GTI last year, so I was taken by surprise when we went to an out-of-town dealership to shop for my wife’s Alltrack. They had the right color combo in the right trim level and were advertising a solid discount on their internet ad. With the VW loyalty discount, we were…

Are these any fun to drive? Seems like a decent package — maybe a little tight inside with all the road clearance. Not bad-looking at all though.

I feel comfortable in concluding that something like huge squares of gray plastic molded to look like intakes, but which are not intakes, are frivolous design.

Mazda Miatas are clean and purposeful yet exciting. A lot of the Porsche / Audi / VW styling is clean and beautiful. BMW 2/3 series is largely good.

I like the four-door hatch layout, the wheels, most of what I can see of the interior, and could almost learn to love the Accord-ish snout. The crinkled, dimpled, acres-of-fake-honeycomb plastic rear I just can’t reconcile with “cool car” no matter how hard I squint. And let’s just let wings on cars that aren’t…

I think you meant “clean and purposeful.”

That’s always there, I’m sure. Consumer Reports I think insists on obtaining its review samples anonymously (or they used to). But the flip side is that honest reviews get the eyeballs companies want. All the weak sauce tongue-bathing puff articles in the world aren’t going to deliver the impact of one reviewer known…

This is the vision capital has always had for journalism, which is that it’s just another transaction where whoever has the money gets to dictate.