By “dense,” I mean in the mental sense. They tend to behave in ways that are counterintuitive and just feel plain stupid. For instance, my 5EAT in my Legacy does this thing when after accelerating gently after braking down for a corner and turning, it’ll shift normally through to fourth, where it’ll lock the torque…

I’ve never driven a Mirage, but I’ve poked at them at auto shows a few times. They seem built so flimsy that I doubt that Hummer EV driver would notice having hit one any more than they’d notice having splattered a junebug on the grille. The fenders flex like they’re made from soda cans.

I really don’t like that we’re in the period of Subaru’s development where they’re allergic to fun. They seem to be following the same timeline as most of the other Japanese manufacturers, where they went from funky to boring. Sure, my old ‘97 Outback was slow and practically a road-going tractor, but it was funky and…

I kind of wonder the same thing, but there is a meaningful difference in practice as opposed to on paper. My wife has a Forester with an FB25, my mother-in-law has a CrossTrek with an FB20.

Someone once commented on how my Legacy 3.6R “has a Porsche engine!”

That’s 100% Bond villain stuff right there.

Given the number of merchant companies posting record profits — not revenues — quarter after quarter lately, it’s definitely a little hard to believe that inflation is simply a worker shortage. I may not be an economist, but when I see a company complaining about its costs having gone up 30%, but I see them raise…

That is an interesting question about the headlights. I feel like when I was researching buying a 944 a lot of years ago, I read about the fact that the linkage that attaches one light to the other across the engine compartment (why?!) can get stuck and/or the rack that the pinion gear on the headlight lifter motor…

I’ve heard of “accidents” happening to catalytic converters on older cars in NY where they come out for inspection and then the guts end up falling out, leaving just the shell. It’s kind of weird.

Yeah? My sample set is small, but I’ve found the complete opposite. Every U-Haul I’ve rented has been a clapped out piece of shit with 400k on it that’s hotdog-down-a-hallway worn out and gets 3mpg. The Penske’s have all been in much better shape and didn’t bankrupt me with fuel costs. Well, not nearly as quickly,…

Might be because the NA was just so damned good, and the NB was almost that good, but not quite.

I’m interested in what makes the Z4M so uncomfortable. I’ve never driven a Z4 at all. I have driven a friend’s Clownshoe a couple times. It just felt like a slightly more cramped version of my E46 coupe, which isn’t a great road trip car owing to the kind of short gearing and the fairly stiff suspension the German’s…

Hmm. I was under the impression the rear ends were the same, but I can’t cite my source. Could be wrong.

Why would it be different for the sedan? Isn’t that part of the chassis the same?

You know what I didn’t see, now that I’m going back through the ad? Any mention of the rear subframe mounts. This being a mid-run E46, they’re probably fine, but that’s really a killer on these. On the bright side, it’s easy enough to check for if you’re there in person and not such a big guy that you can’t slide…

True story. They’ve been putting big V6's in family cars since time immemorial. It’s only recently that they’ve been bothered to make those big V6's actually do much of anything but make noise when you step on the accelerator.

I’m skeeved out by some orange peel on the front bumper cover and those seats are hammered. But, E46 seats (or interiors in general!) aren’t know for being particularly hard wearing and it does look like it’s got a most of the services I’d look for in a car that age done recently. Though, front control arms — for the…

My E46 has that and it’s never been smoked in. Though, I didn’t order the car. I bought it from the guy who did. He wasn’t a smoker either. I suspect that’s just how they came.

Have they said what the repercussions for not implementing this tech will be? My guess is it’s not particularly high, typical of this kind of regulatory virtue signaling. If the tech doesn’t work perfectly and unintrusively, i.e. can’t be made as a selling point like mandatory ABS and backup cameras are, companies…

Ironically enough, my first car had them. And it was a Tracer.