I agree with most of what you said, although I think people are naturally suspicious/skeptical about the deal they got on their car simply because the process is so frustrating and convoluted so even if they DID get a terrific deal, they often don’t believe it. Because of the size of the purchase price it’s also one…

It’s possible that the local dealership just didn’t have the room to move on the price. They don’t usually have thousands of dollars worth of margin to work with on used vehicles, especially if they’ve had to put money into them for things like brakes, tires, etc. Sure, they often take them on trade but they also…

This is a really interesting, well-written, informative piece, Alanis. Well done!

And every one of them has that bullshit anecdotal story about their brother-in-law/cousin/friend/neighbor who had some freak accident one time where they were “lucky to be thrown from the vehicle” and uses that to justify never wearing theirs - just in case they, too, encounter the same freak, fictional crash…

That sounds like a really interesting, awesome experience. I’d love to get the chance to see one in person someday... I always thought they were fascinating for a number of different reasons.

Massachusetts has laws related to lifting vehicles. I don’t remember the specific values, but the bottom of the door can’t be more than X inches above stock height. Tires also can’t stick out beyond the bodywork, so anyone who puts wider wheels on (or wheels with a ridiculous offset) would have to get fender flares or…

I agree with you that I’m generally annoyed/disappointed when a manufacturer builds to the test, but the flip side of that is that the manufacturers are faced with a lot of conflicting objectives when designing a vehicle that I can understand how some can get it wrong so easily.

Alien Roast Beef, Y’all!

Ford could easily rebadge this and sell it as an electric Transit in my opinion. It would make a lot of sense for them to partner up on the development of this van. 

I keep hoping the SCG cars will show up in Forza 7... but alas, nothing yet.

Agreed, although shortening it to “scrummy” and saying it in a British accent like Mary Berry is perfectly acceptable. 

I love a good sultry piece of banana bread...

I swear to you all, we need the word moist. How else are you going to describe a perfectly baked muffin, or a succulent roast goose?

I really expected this to be a Fancy Kristen post. Have you started to acquire her tastes, Alanis? 

So a bike would theoretically be more stable with a rotary engine than with a piston engine?  If so, has anybody tried this?? 

What if they shook up the order of the Bread Week episode a little bit next season; do the Signature Challenge, start the sourdough, then film the Showstopper on day one with the rest of the sourdough technical on day two... I bet they could do it. Having challenges spread out over two days is rare, but they’ve done…

I had a TLX for three years, and generally liked it for what it was. I honestly didn’t mind the dual screens - sometimes they felt redundant and unnecessary but other times it was helpful, like being able to have nav, music and HVAC info displayed at the same time.

I think Patrick’s suggestion is spot-on. If they have that kind of budget they can get an optioned-0ut V90 XC and have one of the best, most comfortable wagons ever made. Pretty sure they can even get it in brown! 

Could this be used when making peanut butter at home to avoid having to stir it every time I want to use it? 

I’m personally not a fan of very hop-forward beers either and one of my favorite go-to beer styles is hefeweizen, or its cousin that usually comes around this time of year, dunkelweizen. Sweeter, almost fruity (without being fruity) and no wince-inducing bitterness.