Japan has a pretty effective maritime self defence force already. The US Navy cooperates with its Japanese counterpart regularly, at least as much as with any other ally, and you can bet that if the shooting starts there'd be at least covert assistance. And if heaven forbid China attacks Japan, the US is treaty bound…

Yeah, you know what happened to the first two, right?

The difference, and I've said this before in a reply to another post, is the Russian leadership. The Soviets had experienced the destruction and death of World War 2, knew what war was, and were afraid of it as well as respectful of American power and resolve. And they answered to the politburo.

ok ok. Apologies to all. What I meant to do was praise the cars acceleration not criticize it's handling. Poorly worded on my account.

Not a big GM guy but these things are great if you want to go fast in a straight line. And remarkably little maintenance for a car this fast.

Honestly I think it depends on what the car is and what you want it for. Base is perfectly acceptable for a work truck, as was explained above, if what you really need is a WORK truck. If you want a big tall luxury car with a big open trunk, look into used. Although honestly with the way trucks depreciate there isn't…

You hit the nail on the head. "As with many newer cars". Sure, the Bentley will have its little weird quirks, but so does every other make and model. Your challenge is to find a mechanic who isn't afraid of it. You can rack up a $500 bill putting ball joints in an Explorer and nobody will ever look at you twice and…

Ok keep wife. Definitely ditch V6 Firebird. Unless you're open to an engine swap, then we can talk.

Well for me personally they're fun. That's why I read them.

First new car I ever bought was an 87 Toyota pickup. Hose it out vinyl everything, no air, 4 speed, did have cassette. Bias ply tires. No caps of any sort on the wheels. Loved that damn thing. Miss it every day.

One of my requests to Santa is for someone to be selling a Phaeton and not know what they have.

Encouraging people to think a little outside the box when used car shopping. No, I probably won't buy a Bentley. But I certainly won't limit my search to low mileage late model Accords. If these kinds of posts can keep someone from winding up in a used Taurus, they're well worth it.

I've had customers in the shop believe we report to carfax. Uh, no.

Had an uncle who was a Toyota tech in the 70's and 80's who had one of these. Always wanted to find one. Never even seen a manual, that'd be sweet. Definite candidate for sort of a retro-JDM-5 series kind of thing.

I'd love to see someone do this. It'd be profitable as heck. Something like the Tornado from Chevy of Mexico would sell like hotcakes (tortillas?) here. Efficient, practical, sporty, would appeal to young homeowners, makers, outdoor sports enthusiasts, old farts who miss their '87 Toyota pickup...

No you don't.

If only. But it wasn't only Cadillac, Chrysler went through the same thing. There was lots of internal opposition to building the Cordoba, and that thing's a boat by today's standards. Even a Chrysler exec ( don't remember who) admitted in the 70's that they'd been 10 years too late in building a "small" Chrysler.

Wow, these hybrids really are green, aren't they?

I'm not trying to speak for Tavarish, but from reading his other posts I believe he'd be the first to say this sort of thing isn't for everyone. (Which I think is what makes it cool). The average person probably is better off getting a Camry and trading it before those valve covers start to leak.

The key to these ratings is to remember they are only good for comparing ratings among a single manufacturer. They mean nothing when comparing tires from different manufacturers because each uses their own testing methods, benchmarks, etc.