The first system I had stolen out of my A2 Jetta was a Clarion. As was the second one that got pilfered, too. And that was in 1992 and 1993!

The truth is that VW very explicitly pulled a fast one over on regulators the world over for nearly a decade. The activity of quite a few people in the organization would appear to be criminal in nature. I am sort of surprised the Feds haven’t whipped out a RICO action against VWoA and a host of individuals in the…

Yeah, you’re not going to get very far with the argument here. I should qualify that I am not a big fan of sending young Americans overseas to die for the benefit of the rich people that make those decisions. Not in the least. But, in this case, BMW is a big company, with lots of lawyers and lots of money. They should…

Not a track day, then, I suppose.

But I did star your comment because, well, it wasn’t a track day. Just shiny toys to show off and discuss which options you choose to make your $60,000 Boxster a $100,000 “unique” Boxster.

They don’t rewrite them, they just skip them entirely.

Well, the new automatics are actually faster. I believe when Cadillac set some silly Nurburgring lap record, it was with an automatic equipped CTS-V, not the manual. And the driver was a very, very accomplished engineer and racer.

My point is simply that were I to buy an engaging, sporty car, I would want to be most…

Even if the automatic and clutchless manual transmissions might be faster than a true manual, so, too, would Hurley Haywood behind the wheel of my car. Shifting a manual trans seems a lot more engaging and, to me, being engaged by a car on the track is more important than lap times, though lap times are obviously a…

Does this only affect cars with automatics? Who wants to drive an automatic on the track when given a choice?

Just as they have iced out Tesla in some states, most dealer lobby groups have rigged the system when it comes to those bullshit fees by saying “Well, the state says I have to charge you that,” which we all know is bullshit.

In most states the law says that if they charge one guy, they have to charge the next guy. But…

Well, that is what it means. ;>)

Of course it is, but there is plenty of documentation that survived the purge that indicates the rank-and-file knew they were doing something that ultimately would be considered illegal once release to the public.

I think early in the story, around late 2015, a story broke that GM engineers working on the Cruze diesel…

I am not blaming the engineers, but let’s circle back to the VW scandal. There was clearly a directive from the very top to make a diesel engine with big power, bigger torque, U.S., aka California, compliance and no SCR with urea injection—at any cost. Well, the engineers hit that target, that’s for sure. The…

I’m actually talking about the times that Mazda overstated the power of the Miata and had to come out and say “Whoops. We really meant 138 hp, not 155 hp.” Or whatever the number was. But I appreciate the effort in your obviously well thought-out response.

Germany is super-protective of their auto industry, which reaps the country massive trade surpluses year after year after year. It’s a pretty amazing run for a mature, first world country, really.

The German government for a time seemed to have turned a blind eye to lots of malfeasance in the industry. VW got in…

Would you call overstating the power of their engines “cheating” or just really sloppy coordination between engineering, compliance, marketing and management?

While we were living in Manhattan, my wife’s water broke way out on Long Island—at a baby shower, no less. I decided that this was the one chance to drive like a madman and get away with it, since her doctor and planned delivery hospital were in the city.

Hahaaa!!!! I would have paid extra for orange (available on the ST) or even red (available on the final edition U.S. models, complete with a Quaife LSD for the front axle), but opted for that shitty gray color. Black and white? Meh. The blue is cool, but way too metallicky for me. So, a metal-flake free, Stealth(ish)…

Normally I would not star the pedant, but in these circumstances it seems entirely called for.

Sign me up! I am currently ranked number 2 in the world in the lettuce wraps sprint. Okay, maybe my family, but I’m still in.

One man shot nearly 600 people in Las Vegas a few short months ago. ONE MAN! Not a pressure cooker, but a shitload of legally bought firearms and a seeming ocean of ammunition that he casually stockpiled in his hotel room over the course of a few days. He killed some 60 of them in the worst mass shooting by a single…