“Why do people always opt for AWD instead of just buying a FWD car and getting snow tires?”

The Camry, Avalon and RAV4 share a platform if memory serves me, so some of the hard points may already be the same between the two, whereas the Highlander’s units probably would have required more extensive modification to the design, if it would fit at all. 

I know, right? I’m happy about it, too. I’ve been a big Lincoln fan for most of my life, so I’m glad to see brighter days are here. 

Here’s how I think FCA/PSA should handle the US brands...

It has an anemic V6 that’s probably gotten a lot worse with age and it probably has a Takata airbag that’s waiting for just the right moment to fill your face and torso with shrapnel, but it’s super clean and otherwise well-optioned with AWD and parts are plentiful so it should be easy and cheap to service it.

There are some great, great builds in this post. Thanks for sharing! I’m a little jealous I couldn’t see them in person.

Luckily I never had a drowsiness issue with my Lincoln, but every single time I went anywhere with my friends in it, at least one of them would fall asleep! And it was rock-solid reliable, too. I put over 120k on it over the course of 8 years. Ultimately, rot got to it and it was time to say goodbye. 

I hope it’s easier for them. Their US ramp up was really in tents for a while! 

What year Town Car? I daily drove a couple of 3rd-gen F bodies and a Town Car for a while as well. I loved the Lincoln... it was an ‘89, built in August of ‘89 near the end of the run before the body style changed for the ‘90 model year. I wish I still had it!

Naturally since you pay the card off every month, they’re making very little on you since they can’t charge you interest. They might even be losing money or only breaking even if you factor in card perks like points, cash back rebates, etc.

I think that gap might be part of the factory design/QC... with the way the hood has to open, and with how many components it has to line up with properly, I don’t think they ever made a perfect one.

I’m in the parts business and have many local dealers that are great Customers, both for their pre-owned vehicles as well as same-brand Customer cars. And even with the great relationships we have, we still occasionally have to deal with shit like a dealer claiming independent/aftermarket parts are automatically…

The argument is that new cars are getting so technologically advanced and complicated that many independent repair shops are not equipped to fix them. And as more and more cars come from the factory with these advanced systems, the disparity between mechanic and dealer is only going to get worse.

I LOVE peanut butter and I’m not afraid to try new combos with it.

This was a very close vote for me, but I voted NP. In the end, the wheels can be changed and although orange over tan isn’t my favorite color combo, the work (in the pictures at least) appears to have been done well. Having a clean title and no apparent panel gap issues is a big factor in my decision, because so many…

Absolutely. An average 3-year-old vehicle has lost close to 40-50% of its value since new, but still has about 80% of its life left, or more if you maintain it properly.

So it really depends on your loan term. If you did a 60 month loan which seems to be the most common, and traded up after 7 or 8 years, you drove that car with no payments for a bit and still have something that is worth a few bucks. Of course there is no shame in keeping something forever either.

The easiest thing to do is just get one credit card, put your normal expenses during the month (groceries, utilities, gas, etc) on it and pay it off every month.

This is a risk a business takes when they employ a just-in-time style inventory system for their retail business. I’m sure it happens so infrequently though that it’s still worth it in the long run for them to shave every last nickel out of their processes. 

Yeah, the local dealer does a lot of things that Mitsubishi itself doesn’t, such as... advertising. Radio ads, cars parked at the mall, different events and stuff. I mean, they have a long way to go to be a real player but they do a good job considering the product they’re working with.