Agreed. Diet Coke has always been much sweeter than either original Coke or Coke Zero. I think the word “cloying” was invented to describe Diet Coke.

But on the bright side, he doesn’t have to drive a... is that really a Buick Terraza?

Jeez, but you have a burr in your bonnet about Betas. The Lampredi 2.0 was pretty much at the end of its development lifespan by 1981, and though it was DOHC it was still 2 valves per cylinder. As far as I can tell, the first Camry, circa 1984, had the 2S-ELC, rated at 92. And the first gen Camry outweighed the Beta…

To each his own. I’d rather have a sense of humor about it (as my Land Rover dealer tells me) and enjoy life instead of working in a cubicle, staring wistfully at the timeclock. Whatever gets you through your day, my friend.

Your comment would carry so much more weight if you spelled “Alfa” correctly.

I encourage you to do so. Consider buying a rental company’s cast offs; I hear they are inexpensive and well maintained.

Oh lord, that whole “rusted on the showroom floor” thing. That was the first generation Berlina. They fixed the issue before the Coupe or HPE debuted but the English never got over it.

Coupe, 81. Last year in the US. Fuel injected 2.0. Previous owner’s dodgy rust “repair” meant though mechanically quite reliable (despite the nay sayers, it never let me down) it was never going to be worth too much effort.

So go buy a Camry and die of beige.

Naw, just equip them with like the self-cleaning public toilets in Europe. When the ride is over, the doors lock, cleaning spray nozzles appear (I assume), everything is hosed down and flushed out. Pine forest clean for the next ride.

Sure, sure. We can all be relieved that this is what’s in everyone’s mind’s eye.

What is the towing capacity for the new Ridgeline? Can’t find it anywhere on the Honda site (though they brag a lot about tow hooks being standard - YIPPIE!) My old Jeep Liberty was unit body, and could tow 5,000+, which was enough for most things, but obviously there’s always going to be people with things like…

I was pissed when I read about the law that came into effect a few years ago here in California, requiring drivers to turn on their headlights anytime it was raining hard enough to use wipers. It’s common sense, I said. Why legislate common sense? Until I started paying attention and realized that fully half of the…

I get that it’s pretty easy to blame Land Rover for mystery issues, (my service guy likes to say that “you have to have a sense of humour about these things”) but the fact is that better quality gas hasn’t caused the problem, and in fact resolved it. It’s a Jaguar-derived motor, so make of that what you will.

On a Thanksgiving roadtrip in my Land Rover LR4, had to gas up at a dodgy AM/PM instead of a Shell, Mobil or Chevron. Even using the premium ARCO caused a problem: the following day, she threw a check engine light which was decoded as a sensor problem. It being Thanksgiving weekend, no way to see a Land Rover mechanic…

You have the joy of having been correct.

Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.

Or if you drive an English vehicle, like I do, know that it thinks any temperature above fog and mist is HOT.

FWIW the header photo is the second generation R5. Note the flush rear side glass. The LeCar was first gen.

Ya know, my 79 Le Car was one of the most reliable vehicles of my high school days. Everyone shits on them as unreliable rustbuckets, but that just didn’t happen to me.