It’s also largely being cross shopped against 3/4 tons, where all the competitive Diesel engines are. No, the Eco diesel V6 doesn’t count. No, the towing figures aren't notable in that class.

Serious question: when was the last time you bought a new full size pickup?

That's a bad idea. All the trunk overhang facing forward would make it more likely to hit the back of the tow vehicle in tight turns, at the least

Good article. One note: 16 mpg towing a Benz on a uhaul trailer isn’t groundbreaking. My 11 year old dodge long bed crew cab 2500 5.9 Cummins gets 17 all day long pulling an even-heavier 1953 Eldorado convertible on an identical U haul open trailer, and it's gotten that mileage towing that load on that trailer from…

I was a tech for a Honda dealer in the 90s, and we hated the Passport for the same reason. Customers bought them because they thought it was a Honda SUV, but they in no way lived up to Honda standards and we hated working on them just as much as the owners hated paying for repairs out of warranty.

Working on poorly designed cars with shoddy components, needless complexity and repeat failures grates on you after a while - especially when you skin your knuckles, shear off rusty bolts, burn yourself, and get your hair and face doused in leaking oil/coolant/trans fluid/gear oil while working under shitty cars.

All I want is Waze running on the display in my cars (the mytouch screen in the Sonic turbo and the aftermarket AVIC touchscreen in my Fit). IMHO Apple is making a mistake by not allowing Waze functionality in CarPlay. Yes, I know waze belongs to their competitor, but it's still dumb. Does android auto support waze…

Everything is brutally expensive to replace on these and even more so with the inevitable rust on this car. Timing belt, water pump, oxygen sensors, and with over 200k on it you’ll be spending thousands on repairs before you know it. Total CP. Run away!

The European statutory test speed is 56kph and the NHTSA crash test speed is 35 mph.

NCAP continues their shady ways. Crashing cars at a significantly higher speed -64 kph- than even the current European standard in order to generate the worst results possible, then trumpeting the results to get publicity (and money) for themselves. For shame.

Great video! Maybe could've used a Dirt Wing category, for those of us on 130hp bikes with 95/5 tires (ADV sticker optional, but popular)

Uh, no. Jesus, do you always pull this stuff out of your ass? Identical policy. Same company. Identical limits. Identical usage. Identical motorcycles. I asked for (and got) a specific breakdown of every factor in play as to why my cost went up so dramatically. The major factor was that the California legislature…

I like this one better: (seen in Oakland recently)

What are you talking about? The government doesn’t force insurance companies to enter the motorcycle insurance market nor does the government set rates for doing so.

Uh, I’m not sure what you’re talking about. If you don’t crash in the first place, you’re not going to die in a crash. Plenty of riders are hurt or killed in single vehicle crashes, with “failure to negotiate a curve” and locking one or both wheels under braking being frequent causes of single vehicle m/c crashes.…

Except that there is no proof that safer cars lead to more crashes or more reckless or careless driving. Just the opposite, in fact.

Bikes are getting safer, though. ABS and traction control are common on new bikes now, and airbags are starting to show up on production bikes as well as safety apparel.

That’s true, but what’s the causation? Did the warmer, dryer weather make for a 10% increase in the number of good riding days? Were there increases in miles traveled, the number of motorcycle sales (new and used), or the number of motorcyclists on the road? The raw number doesn't mean much out of context.

Not to mention warmer, drier weather in many places making for a longer riding season, the high fuel prices of last year leading people to switch more often to fuel efficient motorcycles when they had the choice, the long term trend of increased motorcycle sales and registrations, the ever improving crash safety of…

Sure. Just look at the Chevy Volt, it operates that way.