Big SUV’s & trucks seem to be getting substantially larger. I would argue that more people are moving up to CUV’s from sedans (and similar ride-height vehicles) than are moving down from larger SUV’s, bringing the overall vehicle height (relative to the driving height of a sedan-ish driver) up. It’s not just height…

Agreed. I had a MKIII Jetta which I liked quite a bit, but there were so many little problems that cropped up, mainly electrical-related in some way, that it eventually became the only car I’ve gotten rid of before 100k miles.

Can’t come soon enough, IMHO.

I haven’t looked into the Tiguan much, but my impression is that people think it’s priced too high for what you get in terms of size. Plus it doesn’t have enough requisite plastic cladding. I could be wrong in that assessment, but it’s not been received well despite CUVs being a red-hot market segment.

Completely agreed. Baffling is the perfect word.

Pretty much, yes, but with AWD optional and minus the Subaru “quirkiness” (real or perceived). It’s no accident that Subaru sales have (relatively) been killing it of late.

you want to sell wagons and (more) hatchbacks in the US? Jack the ride-height an inch or two, slap on some black or gray plastic fender trim/bumpers, charge 10-25% more. An AWD option would help too, but honestly, if it just looks like it might be AWD, that’s good enough for most.

Thorium!

fair ‘nuff

I assume the use of “Mets Stadium” is intentional so as to not further promote/advertise the corporation who’s name is attached to the building, since big corporate interests seem to be driving the problem in the first place.

“...and that was the last they saw of Big Bird.”

redundant redundancy

it’s about as “Baja” as this:

VW will let you lease meth?!?

I hope you stopped to get BBQ. My favorite place is a couple of stoplights ahead on the right-hand side of where this picture was taken.

simple Virgin Olive Oil displeases the Grill Gods.

who cleans a grill? That’s what the fire is for.

I see you’ve found a stock picture of the Bosch LH 2.2 engine harness.

The brown, paper bag of the 1%

Note: basketball effectiveness for actual basketball will be significantly diminished