Saw a grand national in a parking lot near work today. Poor thing had been horribly abused. There should be some sort of Animal Rescue group for mistreated classics.

At the bigger schools with successful football programs, the football team is a profitable revenue stream which funds other sports.

Well, I was curious what it would cost to option-up a 135 with all the bits and pieces from the t-ii concept, now I know: way too much.

@luxsdad: Yeah, the prius is definitely not a hatch, regardless of whatever toyota says. The Fit is ginourmous inside for a car with such small exterior dimensions.

@Neener: You forgot hookers, as illustrated in the above picture, as well as hooker-related services like car detailing and hush money.

@Ash78: Well, the GTI is unique among 5-door versions of 3-door cars in that the exterior and interior dimensions are identical. They just squeeze two more doors in there.

@SeanKHotay: If you add up the purchase price and the fuel costs you won't come to the "total cost of ownership" number they give. Unfortunately they don't break down that number anywhere that I can see.

@chucky2jimmy: "(assumes similar equipment level)" The TDI is a little upmarket from the base Jetta. In the wagon, it's comparable to the "SE" model:

@Ash78: And if you switch comparisons from MPG to Gallons per 100 miles, the difference looks even closer. Plus you can haul more crap in the VW and quite frankly I'm willing to pay a premium for something that isn't a prius.

So tempting, but they probably won't be widely available for at least 6 months. Rumors on VW vortex were saying not to expect pre-orders until as late as January. Don't know if that's still accurate, but yikes.

DWH: Driving While Hippie.

@FrankGrimes: @:

Golden.

@s14kouki: Yes but my point is that you're still technically settling. The argument that " I want what I'm accustomed to having now" isn't far off from that of a spoiled child (or a recent divorcee). You may want a suburban with an 8 liter motor that goes 0-60 in 4 seconds, seats 23, and has a full bar, but at…

@GasGuzzler: Well since there are no practical electrics available, you're absolutely right (although I don't think anyone's saying 6 hours for 40 miles, unless you're talking about 110v outlets, which is exactly what the above article is saying they're trying to replace).

@s14kouki: "As a consumer, I shouldn't have to settle." Unless you have unlimited funds, yeah, you do. It's kind of how capitalism works, you don't ever get to buy what you really want, you settle for what you think is reasonable for the price it's going to cost you.

@crevans: Growing algae in coal exhaust is a good idea, but most of the people touting this are "double counting" that carbon.

@s14kouki (and others): Worst case scenario, the cost savings of buying a car with a smaller range would more than make up for the cost of a gas or diesel powered rental car for the couple long trips you make every year.

@Van Sarockin: Exactly. It will work just fine but you won't charge your electric car at an electric car filling station. You'll go to McDonalds and park in a space and let your car charge while you eat. The flip side of this inconvenience is that now EVERY business with a parking lot is potentially a gas station. You…

@jmcg: I'm not so convinced of the "Beloved" aspect of the R32. Yeah It's a great car, I drove the first version and it was fun and made nice noises. But it's just not that fast and the MK-V version isn't much improved over the MK-IV. It's beloved by hard core VW fans, but not many others. That 3.2l lump is heavy (and…