If it’s an option that is available to customers from the dealer, and it’s offered with a factory warranty, how is that any different from testing the “RS” version of the GT2 instead of the “regular” GT2, or for that matter, testing the “Black” version of the AMG GT instead of the regular “S” version?

+1. Munro seems to be lauding VW for certain decisions that appear to reduce cost compared to the Tesla equivalent part. But it looks to me like Tesla’s assemblies are engineered for higher torque levels, and greater loads along multiple axes. That’s what you’d expect when comparing a slow, light ID.4 to a heavy, fast…

Area 51 is blue, when you see it in person. It’s a very intriguing color. I actually changed my Bronco order to Area 51 after I saw a neighbor’s Bronco Sport delivered in that color.

What Bradford said. This is the crappy dealer model at work.

When you let people order their car the way they want it, they’ll choose more manuals:
https://www.gearpatrol.com/cars/a35967020/ford-bronco-manual-transmission/
And a lot more colors:…

Yeah, if the rack were merely leaking, it could be re-sealed for a fraction of that cost. You’re probably on the right track: The housing was damaged, in the same incident that bent the wheel. Just the sort of thing that happens when notorious party people drive their car home from a night of drinking (and whatever…

Everyone dies eventually. May as well die doing something you’re interested in. I’d far rather go that way than after a long hospital stay or rotting away in an old person’s home, eating mashed potatoes and smelling of pee.

This. A world without dangerous events is a dystopia.

I wonder if the Mazda driver had a heart attack or other sudden health crisis, and lost consciousness, which then led to a crash. I’ve seen about a half-a-dozen deaths at the race track that were like that.

When you’re 68 years old, lots of activities become high-risk!

Have you *driven* a Soul? They’re fun to drive. Very nimble, with great suspension tuning. Lots of fun design touches.
They’re one of the best examples of “cheap but cheerful” on the market today. 

I’ve driven thousands of miles in rented Kia Souls. They *are* great - they handle well, they hold a ton of stuff, and they have personality. They’re not fast, but they’re quick enough to be safe. They have a boomin’ sound system and a 7-year warranty. I try and talk people into buying them all the time. It never…

To my eyes, MB’s design excellence skips every other generation. W124? great. W210? Looks like a fat old man. W211? So pretty that I’ve bought three of them. W212? Ugly.

You’re not the only one.

Yeah, this was my experience with that stuff, too. Roads out in the middle of nowhere, without any real traffic. People would create their own roadblocks.

What Lawyer_Applegate says.

I work with a fair number of people who could easily swing the lease payment on a Bentayga. None of us would say that a Bentayga “communicates a clear message to the world, and to its owner, of taste and refinement.” It communicates that you are either new money trying to be flashy, or foreign money.

Don’t get me…

That’s actually a darned good idea. I bet they could sell a couple thousand of those at a Raptor price point.

I agree, especially the ATS-V coupe. But now that BMW design is Edsel-level ugly, and Audi has removed manual transmissions while adding big Cylon grilles, the Cadillacs are very attractive by comparison.

Realistically, these cars are for middle-aged guys like me, and we don’t want to roll up to the office parking lot in something with a big stupid wing and a bunch of dive planes and side skirts on it.

I’ve looked into LS3-swapping an ATS, and ran across multiple documents in which GM engineers said the ATS-V has a V-6 because it’s a shorter engine. It could be packaged for better weight distribution & track-ready cooling than was possible with the V-8.

100% with you. I was slapping the “reserve now” button yesterday and made it onto the waitlist for the CT5 version. Interestingly, the CT4 didn’t fill out its order book *nearly* as quickly.

All of the trick little engineering bits are signs that GM is bringing its “A” game to these cars. I think they’re going to sound…