What hatches and wagons are you referring to? They are disappearing from the US market. Audi bailed completely, Volvo is reducing, as are BMW and Mercedes.

I live in Colorado, and drove an ‘04 MINI year round for a while. While not necessary, AWD and snow tires is awesome. And what can I say? I like small hatchbacks. And European cars.

Granted, it was 11 years ago, but my brand new 2004 was in the shop thirteen times in three years. Sold it before the warranty ran out.

Yes! My A3 wagon is getting long in the tooth and since almost no one sells wagons anymore but I really like wagons, and turbos and want AWD for my Colorado living I thought this might do. No need for the JCW, though, nor any larger a car. Had a 2004 and it was great but too small for day to day.

I used to yank the engine from my MGB on a whim. About 45 minutes coming out, 2 hours going in. The guy I bought the engine from used to swap it between his daily driver and his racer on the weekends.

Like Hondas? I rode for about 10 years and owned like 20 bikes—Hondas, Yamahas and a Kawasaki Ninja, but never a Suzuki. Bikes are so cheap it’s pretty easy (I was in college for some of that) to experience so many machines. I started with an XS650 or 3 had an Aspencade at one point and finished with a 600 cc Ninja…

This one has the desirable, but little known, aerodynamic attribute known as “upforce”.

Not only stealing the name from BMW but the not-exactly-great beer tap shifter too?

Not bad. I index the cost in comparison to my recently purchased 2009 135i convertible, loaded, with 35k miles for $20,000. Therefore this is a Porsche with an interesting roof, similar power, engine misplaced for $3000 more than I paid. Might have made a mistake.

Rich people’s tumbleweed. Except that they are rich so they can't tumble or be weeds.

Yeah. I prefer my 135i, but still love my A3. Make the cheaper car AWD and up the interior quality a bit and I am good to go.

Dude, it's the teal SPORT script that makes it luxury! 1990s style.

Ford’s Buick, but Buicks have lux. Like goldilox lux—not too much, not too little.

My first car was a 1979 Fairmont wagon. Same chassis, right?

New Texican?

What does Steve Lehto have to say? SOP seems to be that the police call a tow company and they hold your car for ransom. Sure, it’s not worth $48k, but will they destroy his credit and his financial future for almost no expense to themselves?

They used to sell a couple hundred thousand of these XJs per year (one of them to me) so this scenario might be frequent enough to make that salary very lucrative.

You mean dealing with visibility issues caused by 200 *quarts* of water per second? Easy.

Terrible idea. Just like religious evangelicals are irritating, so are those tied into the religion of speed. I was addicted to bikes after losing my drivers license (shoulda been a sign, maybe). I have owned 22 of them. To be clear—I NEVER SUGGEST MOTORCYCLES TO ANYONE. It’s not theoretical or subject to spin—bikes…

I wondered about this! We have this here in Colorado, and it has worked well for my petrol cars—I haven’t had to go in for an emission test in years. I guess the VWs scored poorly, were told to come in, and voila—passed on the dyno!