“The beetle (even new) was a legitimately shitty car.”

I had a previous gen and it was a really great car.  It did not have the tail out drama of some other cars out there and it was not going to be a great track weapon.  But, it may have been the best street car I’ve ever owned and I regret selling it.   Had it been a manual I am sure I would never have let it go.

Another counterpoint:

WAIT!!!.

Jeeps are so bad on road and so unreliable I can’t see recommending any Jeep. the only reason to get the 2 door would be if you were going to use it as a dedicated off roader. The short wheel base is good off road but makes it even more unstable and reduces its towing capacity for on road use. It’s not about the rear…

I get the two fingers down regularly from other riders. I never worried about specifically what it meant.  It just seemed friendly.  I rarely return it if there is any traffic about.  If it’s about safety, then the safest wave is no wave.  

I disagree with the “more support” angle. This is not going to be an on/off switch of a transition. Engines will continue to be produced for quite a while. Attrition and retraining of younger workers will cover most of the transition. This is not like cars replacing horses where the skillset overlap is very…

There’s two kinds of automotive stupidity. Harmful and harmless. Prop cars are harmless and if they bring joy to their owners I don’t have to understand. I wish their owners all the joy in the world even though I don’t get it.

The only thing that is more insane than Musks views on his investors stupidity, is the actual stupidity of his investors.

There are no boring cars.  Just boring drivers.

Historically disruptive tech costs jobs in one sector while creating them in another. This is a smoke screen because Toyoda does not like the concept of going fully electric and never has. He’s not totally wrong about the tech, at least in the near term. Right now plug in hybrids make the most sense as the grid…

It’s really hard to clean a title and there is enforcement.  Most of these flood cars get purchased at auction by overseas buyers.  The few that are left end up at someplace like Chapman that sells them as “Branded Title” cars. 

It is criminal and fines are hefty.

The dealerships won’t send these cars anywhere. Insurance companies will be dealing with them after they play submarine. The insurance companies will buy them, then sell them at auction as flood cars with salvage titles. It’s really hard to wash a title these days since the feds started tracking the vins. And it is …

This might keep the exteriors from getting damaged by flying debris, but when the floods come they will all be totaled (except maybe the one’s on a lift).

Distracted driving is every bit as dangerous as drunk driving. I think it is way past time that the law treats it accordingly.

A coworkers F350 has a negative effect on road safety, pedestrian safety, air quality, gas prices and massively increases foreign policy costs, as fuel dependence leads to military incursions overseas.

Subaru has had a large number of recalls, warrantee extensions, service bulletins along with threats of class actions over their CVTs. Honda and Toyota limit use to lower power lowish cost vehicles to avoid the issue and still use slush boxes in many applications. Toyotas E-CVT is a completely different technological…

The manual is dead. The next generations will not have manuals to purchase. It is not about trends or coolness or even take rates. It’s about regulations in both Europe and the US. The GTI and Golf R are no longer offered as manuals even though the take rate was incredibly high. Euro regs made it impossible to…

Not sure about the Xterra part.  Body on frame SUV’s are all the rage now and selling like mad.  The whole overlander vibe is creating a lot of sales opportunities.