Out of curiosity, what is the terrain like where you live? Are the good roads following the curves of rivers, or are they in mountainous areas? I think that is what divides people’s opions of the FRS/BRZ, and even the Miata.

A Scion FRS. I got to try one on my favorite canyon roads in Malibu. On the uphill parts it just struggled. With good tires, it couldn’t drift. It had no punch. Until I drove it, I thought the FRS would be “the one”.

Sadly, it just has the wrong power plant for our SoCal mountain roads, and I hear it’s truly anemic…

They are both glorious.

My wife’s gigantic recent model Outback gets a realistic 34 mpg highway (EPA 33), which is better than any other CUV/SUV we looked at with a >6 foot long cargo capacity. This was greater fuel economy than FWD only CUVs. And it appears to be more aerodynamic than the other CUVs we looked at before we bought it.

It was…

5th Gear: Because another generation as they’re aging, have discovered not everyone needs a motorcycle that can out-accelerate a Ferrari. 0-60 times between 4.2 and 6 seconds are adequate for most people, and a lot of people simply don’t like being crouched over the gas tank and want to sit upright when they ride. I…

Cobalt SS. ‘Ring time of 8:22 vs a 2010 Camaro SS at 8:20. With a tune, those things are ridiculously fast.

I disqualified Camaros and Firebirds, because people expect those to be fast.

So there’s no real conclusion that helmet laws are responsible one way or the other. We’re missing crucial bits of data.
*How long had the riders been riding?
*What is their training?
*Do the states that had increases in motorcycle deaths, have motorcycle safety programs available at low cost?
*Did the states that saw…

In LA we could glue our TAP cards to the back of our phones.

What is he going to do? Go back to trying to make an appealing Lincoln that just doesn’t hold up to European competition like Caddys do?

I stopped attending the LA Auto Show years ago, because it’s the last major show of the year. By the time the show comes to LA, everything on the floor is old news, and automakers seem to leave their concept cars they show at Detroit at home.

The LA Auto Show has been trying to find its place for years. They tried to…

But GMOs!

It’s a 1996 patent. It will expire soon.

It’s not like anyone could really sit in the center seat above the age of 6. The big old transmission/drive shaft hump made placing your feet an exercise in least worst position, and someone was going to yell at you if you couldn’t keep them right on the peak of the hump.

I grew up with benches, but always thought they were horrible. When I started driving, the seatbelts without the shoulder strap, would still let you slide over the plastic seats. Which your parents bought instead of the cloth seat because they didn’t want them to look dirty with kids that attracted it like magnets.

The…

My Focus ST has been updated twice. My 95 Trans Am had to be updated once. But I’m never going to receive an update that lets my Focus drive itself autonomously.

And a real update to the entertainment system really would have been nice. The most recent one makes it not too bad, but a far cry from modern.

Early adapters always have to put up with early production problems. No matter what car it is.

In their quest to make this happen in two years, I think they’ll make it in two and a half to three years. Which would still be impressive.

In the original run of what we now call “utes”, they were based on station wagons. The lack of station wagons now, is why we don’t have “utes”.

I had a 1969-70 (it was a FrankenCamino) which was great in every way save one. It was too low to the ground. And amping the suspension up so the back end wouldn’t drag would…

Every time I hear the “compensating” angle, I think about all of the women I see in pickup trucks and sports cars.