You know, after further thought, I'm not sure a LeMons Bristol would be deserving of the Index of Effluency. I think there would need to be a special award dreamed up that would do justice to an entrant with hand formed bodywork and airplane inspired secret compartments in the wings (that's "fenders" to the…

This Pug is a strange animal.

@Murph: That would be a great PCH. I currently have a 9k Aero. I've often thought it would be fun to swap in the Alfa v6 (4 cammer, please). Shouldn't be too difficult.

@cgarison: Alfa pulled out of the US market in 1995. This was bad for me both spiritually and economically as I was selling them at the time.

@Murilee Martin: We're going to try to pit by a team using a VW, just to get the car in the correct frame of mind.

I find it not surprising that Mr. Stig would choose the CTS-V over an M5. The Cadillac offers a purer experience than the Bimmer as you don't need to fiddle with a bunch of settings to extract the desired performance.

That GTV is very compelling...

@Murilee Martin: I used to work at a restaurant on San Pablo in Oakland and always marveled at the variety of offerings sold in 40 ounce containers. I like to call them "liquid heroin".

@jteckmann: Vitamin R was a favorite of mine during college in Olympia. I also hold a warm spot in my heart for Oly.

The Alfa GTV6 Maratona came with a little window on the hood. It also had a hideous collection of plastic ground effects.

As much as I like the Volt on the merits of its engineering, I suspect it is likely to become the Smug-Eco choice due to its expense.

Perfect candidate for an infusion of Miata drivetrain. Add a little bit of wasted spark fueling at idle for an appropriate vintage pop-pop sound, and you have a fun and surprising daily driver.

@Paul Y.and the Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Liv...: You're absolutely right. Toyota makes high quality cars, not least of which is the Prius (no really, it's a nice mid-sized car!).

Good for GM for sticking up for itself.

I don't know why I feel this way, I'm not one to wrap things with the flag. Might it not be a good PR move to debut the production Volt in the United States?

Needs more Webers.

I owned a Yugo and loved it. Sure, the build quality left a bit to be desired - the terry cloth seats are a bit charminng aren't they?

@JHK: I claim subterfuge and replace your reality with my own.

Timeless car design

@FionaScrapple: Hmm... White'd be nice if there were some contrasty bits. As it is, the curves might flatten out a bit with white.