Hear me out on this - the Lotus Evora.

I did a 6 hour drive after new year’s with my gf, and her brother. We’re all over 6' (well over, in his case), and yet we all fit quite comfortably in my 3-series sedan, with 2 cases of icewine + usual luggage.

Close your eyes. Now imagine a mid-size sedan, with tasteful and understated styling, and 50:50 weight distribution. Imagine sitting inside, and discovering a luxurious, yet driver-focused interior. Imagine gripping the well-positioned 6-speed manual, and just snicking through the gears. Imagine turning the key, and…

Imagine someone (let alone someone who reads Jalopnik) wanting to occasionally have fun in their daily driver O.o

Mindblowing, really

Physics is a strange concept for a population where many people seem to think the earth is flat

They’re being tested in their “loudest” mode. I would have gone the Aston Martin route and configured it with a dedicated fuse and have the valve shut when the engine goes on (opens up for "cleaning", wink wink nudge nudge), but that’s just me

The fact that it was a “few years ago” means the suspension was likely nearing 30 years old... No shit it’s gonna roll like a tanker. Drive one with new bushings and shocks, it’s night and day (I did my suspension last year on the mk1.5).

Its the bolster pad for your knee (to help prevent sliding under hard cornering). RHD will have it flipped over to the other side

Not a huge fan of the rear in pictures, but I’ll hold my critique until seeing it IRL.

If the rumors of it getting an AC6 are true, then I would definitely consider it - slightly more expensive than getting a 997 C2S X51 or a 996TT, but new, warrantied, and my BMW experience has been pretty good so-far (family has had…

Can confirm, one of the greatest honors in Manual Elitist Jerks is to take an automatic car, and bring it into the light of the manual transmission with a swap

They’re also million-dollar supercars, designed under the motto of "spare no expense", with enough electronic assists and sufficient processing power to make even HAL9000 feel inadequate

Mildly tuned MK1.5 here. I guarantee that it’s faster than a similarly modded SW, it’s honestly pretty comfortable aside from the lack of AC (my fault), and looks are subjective.

Get/build an MK1.5 - you can have your cake, and eat it too!! That was my solution ;)

300 crank is straightforward. 300 wheel can be done as well, and it’s still relatively painless (just requires some fuel/electronic upgrades)

MR2's have always had a place in my heart.

That being said, you havent lived until you’ve tried an MK1.5 - the 2.0 Turbo out of a 2nd gen, popped into the featherweight & nimble body of a 1st gen.

I’ve had one since 2011, and it was the best purchase/project I’ve ever made. And yes, it’s red.

That was actually partially why my dad bought himself an NC a few years ago. Cross-shopped a few other cars (including an early 996 and a 335i), wound up with Z4 vs NC as his finalists.

Z4 costed twice as much, and while it was a more fun car, “it wasn’t twice the fun”.

Too late

If I wanted to pay $5000/year to fund some insurance exec’s yacht, I’d live in the States.

As a Quebec we, I can tell you that the price of winter tires is pretty low unless you’re running 18's... And your net tire cost is about the same - instead of 20k km/year on one set of tires, you put 10k on the summers, 10k on the winters, and the tires last twice as long as they would otherwise.

I’m fine, bud. Mostly because I’m fully aware of how economics work, and realise that shifting the entire market to higher octane fuels wouldn’t affect overall prices significantly - 93 becomes the new 87, it starts getting manufactured in higher quantities, supply increases, and price drops to where 87 is now. Tough…