13-14 mpg? That's actually pretty decent, if you ask me. Better than what I average in my car... and it has 479 fewer horses :O

Found it! Here is the article I was thinking of. I guess it doesn't really give an explanation...

I think I remember a Jalopnik article about them a couple years back, but I can't remember what explanation it gave, no can I seem to find it right now...

Yes. This. I think that is the only possible reason for their existence.

Nice try, Gamecat. We all know that your car has them. They came stock on all New Beetles, right?

The only purpose I have been able to identify is that there are there to help us more easily identify the douches at the car shows, so you know which owners to avoid talking to at all cost.

That's not terrible, as long as it is installed well and out of the way (near the bottom of the pillar). Most the time, it is just a huge mass of gauges that are poorly installed, don't match the interior of the car, and double the size of the blind spot of the a-pillar, and serve no real purpose, other than making…

I know, right? I still cannot figure out why they are a thing... or who on earth likes them... yet there they are, at EVERY. SINGLE. CAR SHOW.

Does this count? I absolutely DESPISE these dolls that people put on their cars at car shows.

Pillar gauges. Oh, how I despise pillar gauges.

Assume for a moment that Hardibro is finally giving you the Christmas bonus that you deserve this year instead of hoarding all of Jalopnik's millions for himself (for arguments sake, let's peg that bonus around $400k). Which one of these cars are you spending your own hard-earned money on?

I love me some Wagoneer, but seriously, get the Land Cruiser. There is a reason that there are so many of us on here that have them... and no one that I am aware of with a Wagoneer.

Hey, that's me!

Holy shit that sank fast. Those guys are lucky to be alive.

Same here. The only thing I have to sell it my time, so you better believe I am going to charge for it.

Except that isn't current US law... and hasn't been since 1965. The current law:

That's what I am not getting. How would that be money laundering?

Um, what? What on earth does money laundering have to do with any of this?

I have never driven any of the puny diesels they sell in Europe, but as someone that did recently buy a TDI, I would say that I do think that there is a market for the smaller diesels here. My impression of my TDI is that it has a bit more power than the minimum required to be a basic transportation appliance on US…

Thanks Ralph!