I lived in the UK for 33 years, and now in the US for 22 years, and it still surprises me how much cheaper almost everything is in the US. If you check new US car prices (always shown without taxes) and UK prices (dividing them by 1.2 to take out the VAT), you'll find that they're 35-50% higher than the US. For…

Sorry I forgot about the ST. That's an enthusiast car and enthusiasts are more discerning about options. I meant a run-of-the-mill Focus when there are 50 of them on the lot or nearby.

Oh yes, I agree about Europe. When I was working in Switzerland, I bought an Audi A5. It was to order (none in stock). It also cost 80% more than the same exact car, same warranty, same free maintenance in the US "just because". I don't know how people in Europe put up with this. It wasn't taxes....I'm talking pre-tax…

Actually, almost any car company will do that, if you have to have your own very specific set of options and colors. In most cases, it takes less time than you might think: sometimes as little as 4-5 weeks. But your overall point is correct. The highest-end cars (Porsche, Ferrrari, Lamborghini et al) have enormous…

I saw my first Macan at the Pinehurst Concours on Sunday; I don't think that it's even on sale in NC yet. It was.....ok, but seemed very cramped compared to a Cayenne and some of the interior materials seemed cheap. I love Porsche, and have owned everything from a 924 (in 1984....yes, I know) to a 997 Turbo, and have…

Plus impaired value. People don't generally want to buy cars that have been crunched. This looks like non-structural damage, with a perfect fix a strong possibility, but it'll be on the car's record. Cars that have this kind of damage often end up as rentals. There might be $50-75k of impaired value here.....

Don't use lawyers, buy a Nolo book, use the money saved to buy one of these.

Sigh. As anyone with, you know, a brain, can probably tell, the Top gear guys, while somewhat prone to racist comments, almost certainly didn't have anything in mind other than "an inclined plane" when they used the word s***e.

I've worked with product marketing managers before, and this technique is top of the list: how many times have you heard an ad like "The <boring POS pretend sports car>. <Significant pause>. More trunk space than a Ferrari 458. Better mileage than a Hummer. Shorter stopping distance than a school bus. Available…

But, even if this were true (i.e. your credit card would show a charge of 10 or 7.30 euros), you'd still be flying on, you know, RyanAir.

While it's true that early 458s had a "catching on fire" problem, the cause was isolated (wrong glue application in wheel wells) and a recall fixed it. There were some early DCT gearbox issues, also fixed. Nobody was left with an out-of-warranty car with expensive repairs. Ferrari also instituted 7 years' free…

US octane ratings use a different scale than European. 91 octane US is roughly 95 octane in Europe. CA only offers up to 91 octane. Much of the rest of the US offer 93. A 458 runs just fine on 91, but runs better (as a dyno will prove) on 93. Above that, no measurable difference. 100 octane is not recommended by…