Preach brother. Just a customer, not a car journalist: they can have my manual when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers (or my left knee goes out, at which point I’m looking for hand controls). Never owned an auto in 30 years of car ownership. Wife feels the same way, though she’s sold out since you can’t buy a…

Meanwhile, at the MechaGodzilla factory ...

My 2010 Sport (w/manual!!) is still going strong after 10 years and 90k miles. Fun to drive & cheap to operate — I’ve tracked it and autocrossed it, put on the snow tires for Michigan winters, and loaded it full and moved myself halfway across the country.

Manual? Check.

Not that you can rent one, but I get a kick out of knowing that if you don’t know the trick you will not figure out how to open the gas tank door on an S2000.

Once.

Fixed price contract.

Not to mention you don’t pay to get your Ford F150 airdrop certified ...

That type of contract doesn’t tell you the “flyaway cost” (ok, driveaway cost) of a vehicle. It will include engineering support, test support, initial spares packages, possibly training support (both training the maintainers and the operators), development of the operator, maintainer, and parts manuals (because…

Bradley has a crew of three, transports 7, and is designed for protection against battlefield threats as well as defeating like armored vehicles and the occasional tank in order to have the infantry keep up with tanks. The HMMWV is a more mobile Jeep designed parimarily for support roles, though it became a combat…

It’s faster than a 3 mph leather personnel carrier with equal protection and much greater range. That’s a decent tradeoff.

Life in the Ol’ Dog yet it seems.

Totally worth it.

Move to a state with no front plate.

He really has become Howard Hughes, hasn’t he?

Sadly, the Accord (I’ve owned two over my car ownership career) has gotten too big and porky for me. Heck, the current Civic is basically the size of my last (‘04) Accord.

We’ve found Blockbuster’s corporate headaquarters!

Seriously considering a Civic when I replace my 2010 Fit next year (disappointed that the Fit did not get an Si version, and you can’t get the manual in the higher trim levels now).

Good, fast, cheap — pick any two, or sometimes only one. Let me give you a perspective from someone who works inside the system.

Fascinating.