If the content stickers are accurate, Mexican-assembled Cruzes frequently have more US/Canadian parts content than, e. g., Subarus assembled in Indiana or Hyundais assembled in Alabama. Honda and Toyota are better in this regard, although it may result from moving their respective keiretsu to North America and not…

1993-2002 Nissan Quest was a Mercury Villager. That wasn’t a simple rebadge; Nissan supplied the VG-series V6 modified to Ford requirements (e. g., non-interference valves, unlike in most Nissans), but they were built in Ford’s Avon Lake, OH plant.

The only non-US brands that had unionized plants in the US were VW Westmoreland (closed), Toyota (NUMMI partnership with GM, since ended, now nonunion TESLA, somewhat ironically), Mitsubishi (originally Diamond Star partnership with Chrysler, later 100% Mitsu, now closed), and Mazda (AutoAlliance with Ford, still open…

Scratches are inevitable? I have admittedly only had smartphones since about 2011, but an LG, 3 Motos and now an Essential and I’ve never seen a scratch. Physically, the only way a surface can be scratched is by contact with a substance harder than the surface. Don’t permit such contact, and scratches shouldn’t occur,…

Using the same logic, the Civic 5-door’s poor sales is why Honda is also ending UK manufacturing.

An increase in covered health expenses that the employee doesn’t have to pay is equivalent to an increase in wages—an increase that did not require renegotiation of an existing agreement, and one which is largely not subject to taxation, adding to its value.

Well, a billionaire narcissist. Too bad he was born in South Africa; he has all the qualities Americans admire in a President.

As a retro tribute it always strikes me as having as many ‘53-55 Corvette cues as it has ‘55-57 Thunderbird cues. The predecessor you deride, otoh, was one of my favorite cars of the era and I still have regrets that I passed over it twice, reluctantly concluding each time that it was too large and too thirsty for my…

Pittsburgh has significant snowfall a limited number of days per winter with bad storms once or twice a decade. Unless you are in a mission-critical job where you must be somewhere at an early hour no matter what, AWD really isn’t a necessity, but please don’t be the person who tries to get one more winter out of your…

Past marijuana use usually doesn’t affect getting a clearance, although current use could be an obstacle. The more significant thing is filing an inaccurate application and you’re not the President’s son-in-law. Failing to disclose things creates doubt about what else you may be concealing and whether you might become…

The headlamps are the worst bit.

The phrase “lipstick on a pig” immediately leaps to mind. If forced to pick from Buick’s lineup I would prefer the Regal Sportback in Carrageen Metallic, or since that is no longer available, Dark Moon Blue Metallic.

I avoid shopping at places that don’t have it. Problems are rare. IKEA pissed me off a few years ago by removing it at the local store; I’m not standing in line behind 6 people with flatcarts to buy a couple marketplace items.

It has a lovely score by Peter Schickele, aka P. D. Q. Bach, with some Joan Baez vocals. The Varese Sarabande release I bought in the mid-1970s came on translucent emerald green vinyl.

IMO a Whispbar Aero is better looking and even a bit more practical. I look at what I typically put in my Thule Force M, which is not as sleek, and very little of it would compress thin enough to fit in this.

In the 1970s Pittsburgh, where I learned to drive, there was a period of experiment where traffic lights had a cycle of green, green+yellow, yellow, red; repeat. This doesn’t require additional lights and signage and made a lot of sense to me, and at least to my mind should not be too difficult for an unfamiliar…

I remember one of Chrysler’s ads illustrating their FWD vans’ superiority to GM’s RWD by showing photographs of the driving position with the flattish floor (at least when not equipped with the optional console) vs. the intrusive transmission hump. The arguable validity of their point was somewhat undercut if the…

The Beetle also had a multi-layer top with foam padding between the outer fabric and inner headliner, with the bows thus concealed, when most convertibles had a single-layer canvas top with exposed bows. I think the only other convertible tops similarly constructed at the time were Roll-Royces’.

If you watch the PBS documentary A Hot Dog Program, when it features the restaurant that deep-fries hot dogs (no batter or coating), they comment that there are a lot of takers for the ones that stay in the fryer and get blistered and charred on the outside, so there must be some appeal.

Geoducks, except that few outside the region will pronounce it correctly.