They say that people get the government they deserve, but government is so unchecked in Massachusetts that perhaps they've reached the point where a government is getting the people they deserve.

The people that GM hired with our tax money to do their thinking used the examples of Coke and Apple to make their point. No, not to make the point that Coke is really Coca Cola, used interchangeably. And not to make the point that Apple's products do just fine without any mention of Apple when they're being discussed…

It looks like a broken toy.

They're awkward, but had Renault saved Studebaker, either one of them would have been the best looking French car of the '60s.

@kylan442: A friend of mine had an editorial published in the Cavalier Daily about how smoking pot made him a better, more patient driver. Then he rolled his Subaru Brat with a passenger in the bed.

In related news, smoking marijuana does destroy the ability to apply the scientific method.

Stone? I wonder if it manages to be as heavy as a real Z4. Seems to me that they should have picked an attractive car to model after. Why not a 507 or a 2800CS?

@Paul Y. is dumb all over: That is how I feel about the current crop of Porsche designers. I wouldn't call them engineers.

@Turboner: Miatas are FR. I think jalopnikfan was conceding that a Mini can outhandle a 911 and was arguing that the Cayman S was a better handling car. Incidentally, where is the engine in a Smart car? Are they MR? They handle pretty poorly compared to any good FF car.

@jolietjake: I would suggest that Mini challenged the 997 because it is low hanging fruit. Porsche has to cap the engine options for the Cayman and Boxster to protect the price of their fundamentally flawed neo-classic. Calling out the '911' makes a lot more sense than racing a lesser idolized car with the engine in…

@My X-type is too a real Jaguar: Hopefully it will happen and we'll see. Straightaways weren't enough for the 3,340 lb Carrera S to see off less powerful cars at VIR, nor to let GT3s gap much less powerful cars at Buttonwillow for that matter.

I didn't know Zagato made 50 of them. I wonder where they went.

@trev: 7 seconds a lap slower than a 426 hp, steel frame, $55K Corvette Grand Sport at VIR. Go back another 7 seconds a lap and you're talking Chevy Cobalt. Slower than an obese M3. Slower than a Nissan on all season tires. Slower than a Cadillac. Mustang slow. For the price, it represents less value than a movie…

@OA 5599: Ouch. That would give Porsche a chance.

The 997 Carrera S is REALLY slow around any road course with elevation changes. Something is telling me that BMW already tested their Mini Cooper S hypothesis before making the challenge.

The Saab 9=7x is the only one I'd put on a top 10 list of worst pieces of badge engineering. It made no sense as a Saab. I'd take a Kia Elan in an instant, if only to show up at Lotus club meetings. The others are just standard practice with none as cynical as what VW-Audi-Bentley-Lamborghini-Bugatti-Seat-Skoda does…

I hate gimmicky door handles. The best doorhandles were the ones on Mercedes and BMWs in the '80s. They always worked, were strong enough to rip off the door in an emergency, and didn't clog with ice. Designer door handles are a missed opportunity and an indication of flakey engineering contained within.

So that is who still buys BMWs now that they're ugly and have every feature we denigrated when BMWs were great.

Maybe they thought she was Milka Duno.

@MushyHeirloom: Do they steal the cars and then paint them hideous colors and install NBA hoops, or are there people intentionally making their cars appeal to thieves?