I picture a conversation like this:
“The Scion FRS should be selling more”
“It would sell more as a Toyota Celica”
“But without the FRS, no one will go into a Scion dealership”
“Well then, why do we even need Scion?”
“We were hoping it would engage the youth market. Now it’s an old person’s car because it makes older…

Nothing was exactly great. And nothing was exactly cheap. The youngish people I know who bought new cars from the Toyota conglomerate, bought either a Yaris or FRS. I don’t know anyone who has bought any other Toyota product. The FRS should have been a Toyota, and it should have been called “Celica”.

I think any complex explanation beyond “Toyota didn’t give a shit” is unnecessary.

How about, “In effect Democratic votes in the legislature are irrelevant because of the Republican majority, so all legislative decisions are made exclusively by Republicans.”

As bad as the deterioration under Democrats has been, it took a Republican appointed “emergency manager” to cost the taxpayers what will amount to hundreds of millions to billions of dollars, just to save $36,000 a year.

It’s something of a parts bin project. Most of the tech needed has already been designed for the ISS, so there isn’t a ground up R&D effort needed for every single part. Also 3D prototyping seriously improves design to implementation cycles, especially if you have the kind of printer capable of printing aircraft…

A Subaru Crosstrek is simply an Impreza hatchback with bigger wheels and raised off the ground. It does have some superficial plastic trim in front and back that makes it look more SUV like. A raised Legacy wagon with bigger wheels and tires is an Outback.

I think the Dart would have done better if they’d released it as a hatchback. Sedans just aren’t practical enough. Even within their current plans, they could make it into a hatchback, put larger wheels and tires on it, raise it up a little, and call it a CUV. The Subaru Crosstrek has been a huge seller, and has…

I used to be part of a motorcycling group where you were never allowed to talk about road trips if you took anything other than two lane roads for most of the trip. It didn’t matter that you had to ride across the whole country to an event.

I fixed that on my ST. Cut 3" off the foam 3 years ago, bought a Volvo S-60 spacesaver spare and now I have a flat floor. It doesn’t seem like a lot of space, but it made a huge difference. No regrets. Amp is sitting on a mouse pad with the hole cut all the way through with the bottom of the amp glued to the mouse…

It took me two walks around my car to find it. Also black. Sure I could have read my owners manual. If my wife reads this, that will make her laugh hysterically. So I find the little indentation, and ask myself, “What do I do with this?” before pushing hard on it to flip the door open. Pretty certain I also wondered…

Because it’s really German, and fark those other smarmy Germans.

And my reaction to the STI and WRX was the exact opposite.

As long as you’re basing it on appearance, that’s more reasonable. Liking the way your car looks is pretty much more important than most of the objective criteria. I like the way my Focus ST looks, but not a regular Focus, and I hate the way Golfs including the R and GTIs look and would never consider owning one. No…

A BMW M3 is just a BMW 3 series, so how could you justify spending $68,000 for an M3, when a 328i costs $38,000? For an extra $30K, I’d expect a bigger leap from a 328i to an M3, than you get from an $18,000 increase from a base Focus to a Focus RS.

There’s one thing people don’t understand about the Focus. The handling is magical. Acceptable in rental trim, but even an ST has a balance that you just rarely find.

Ford might not have plans for a Fiesta RS now, but they didn’t really plan on a Fiesta ST in 2010 either.

Dear Lincoln: please take note. You are no Cadillac.

It’s pretty simple. Do not buy a car on your first visit to a dealer for that model. Figure out what you want to buy, go on the Internet, go to the forums for that model, and compare the sales pitch to results in “real world mileage” threads, and see what owners are saying. Generally, you have to “handicap”…

I’m not making fun of their ability. They know full well how to make any kind of beer being produced by anyone in the world. The product that their customers want to drink is Budweiser. They can produce a European lager and the higher price will drive customers away, while not attracting people who like European…