I don't want you to take this negatively, because I understand where you're coming from, and I respect your opinion, but you're wrong. The only reason that BMW and Fiat have had success with Mini and the 500 is because of their massive recognition and history, even in areas where these cars weren't necessarily sold.…

Done. Get me Peggy, Stan, and Roger and I'll destroy the 500.

Actually both Mini and Fiat (specifically the 500) had HUGE recognition and presence prior to their launch. We're talking about two pop-culture icons so huge that, despite the fact that neither of them were actually sold in the US during their halcyon days (I could be wrong on this, though), their impact was still big…

The one big reason that GM can not do with Opel what Chrysler is doing with Fiat, or on a more proven level what BMW has done with Mini, is that Opel is completely and totally lacking in brand cachet, whereas Mini and Fiat have charisma and name-recognition to spare.

And by "French Open finalist" you mean blogger who struggles with fact-checking, right? Come on, it was two weeks ago and he was in the semis.

No, it's definitely just you. Oh, and the other half of the internet that insists on screaming "LOOKS JUST LIKE ______" every time a new car debuts. It's annoying, and you guys should probably stop.

There are literally zero shared design cues between these two cars. Zero. Stop reaching so much, you might pull a muscle.

As a designer, it's really disheartening to see the amount of bitching that's going on right now. I mean, really? People actually think this is a bad looking car? Are you fucking kidding me? People bitched so heavily about Mazda's previous design language, which, while a little awkward at times, was at least…

Did...did he actually drive the car? Like, at all? Because yeah, the 135 is prone to understeer, but the 1M absolutely does not suffer from the same problem. And the idea that the M3 understeers is also pretty damn laughable.

See, this is how I've been going about it, as I tend not to bring it up a lot, but even with the amount I do, I'm pretty sure my time is running out. I mean, I 'retired' four years ago. It's in the past even for me at this point...

What's the statute of limitations on sporting achievements, i.e. how long after the fact are you allowed to still brag about how good you were at something?

I just turned 25, and after being a low level pro in a sport that's relatively big worldwide but not huge in North America until about the age of 21, I feel like…

The day these become popular is the day that car designers and custom shops finally run out of romantic design notions to run into the ground. No thank you. The car design world, both OEM and custom, has bigger issues to tackle.

I'm an industrial design student in my fourth year, a big fan, and I want to work in the auto industry eventually. Any chance you're looking for an intern?

For the love of god, stop being a pedantic twit. Yes, if you pick out small, relatively subtle details of almost ANY modern car, you can tie them to the small, subtle details of another car. One cookie for you. This is the nature of modern auto design for a large number of reasons. But the fact of the matter is that,…

I'm genuinely curious here, how is this even a question, and why we're comparing these two cars. The CLA is significantly smaller than the 3-series, and yes costs nearly as much as the base 3. It's like comparing apples and grapefruit. If you're going to do a direct price comparison, go with the 1/2 series to the CLA,…

Duly noted, but even so it's going to be a heavily front-biased system.

No thank you. It's too small for the flowing, curvaceous aesthetic they're going for, and as result it looks droopy. It's also going to be too pricey, too FWD (LSD or otherwise...no), and not nearly mad enough. It's perfectly wrong on every level.