That's Estoril. But Interlagos is a gorgeous, gorgeous blue (Z4M Coupé):

The drop-in machinegun turret is cool; evidently you just winch it in and out of the bed as and when you need it. But how comes the driver and passengers are relying on prayers and lucky Bibles in breast pockets to keep them alive?

Probably because their marketing image is less 'haute couture' and more 'trail rated'.

...I'm getting that feeling too.

I think you raised that potentially emotive issue in respectful and reasonable terms, so thanks for that. I can't say I agree - many things and creatures can be stillborn - but I can say I'd never considered the effect the word might have on others before.

And I was born! Plus the F40 was in production, then, too, as was the Testarossa, the Ur Quattro, the 25th anniversary Countach...

Oof, I'd never seen that before, but now - seconded.

Every year Rinspeed show up to Geneva with an idea that's hella hardcore balls-to-the-wall batshit insane and will never turn a profit. How is this company still solvent?! Does the Swiss Government pay hefty welfare to people suffering from guanopsychosis?

I took my first car (a flat white 1995 Nissan Micra, 0.9l of Japanese fury - no central locking, air conditioning, passenger airbag, rear windscreen wiper, leather interior, CD player, electric aerial, tachometer, traction control, ABS, disc brakes in the rear - nothing) gravel rallying. I had eight people in it once.…

+1, they're awful. I swear I've seen this car with regular clear-moulded lenses.

Yours is much better resolved.

Honda did this to a much lesser degree with the first generation (ZE1) Insight and managed to sell 17,000 cars. This VW is like the less practical, less affordable, less probable result. The problem with the eco 'halo' car is that isn't how environmental protection works: you don't need 250 ultra-low-emissions…

Does your Speed 8 have a build thread?

*Woosh*

Was that Dayton, Ohio, Australia?

Stock appearances or not, this is atrocious. It looks like it was assembled out of left-over prebends.

It wasn't until I saw this grey one that I realised how half-assed the blue example is. Leaving that door handle and shutline in place is both nonsensical and lazy, not to mention butt-ugly. The grey one, on the other hand, is all kinds of awesome. Add that to AWD and I'd be all over that.

"[S]imilar" ≠ "the same", but point taken. It's apparent that the differences are in the yawning gaps between the upper ratios of the automatic - which are, like I said, a transparent concession to the EPA test. If the manual gearbox were allowed to shift for economy driving in the test (i.e., when it's most efficient…

The automatic weighs 24kg more than the manual even in its lightest configuration. Where the 'boxes have the same number of speeds (which they do) and similar gear ratios (which they do) heavier weight simply equals greater fuel consumption; it's inarguable. The reason the manual gets worse fuel economy in the EPA…

+1. This car does what a car is supposed to - move people - really, really efficiently. To paraphrase Henry Royce, that might be a humble aim, but anything done well is noble, and certainly worthy of any enthusiast's respect.