You can go buy a new GTI, Mazda 3 or Corolla hatch today with a six speed manual.  Can’t speak for the Corolla, but the VW and Mazda have very nice interiors and great seats.   All hope is not lost…. Yet. 

This exactly. I just looked up the specs and this 18 year old beast took 6.3 seconds to get to 60 even with that V8. Those fat tires were for show. My 2014 328i wagon with 80k miles on the clock is probably worth not much more than he is asking, and is faster stock, has similar cargo area and gets far better…

My iron duke experience was aweful.  86 Grand Am that was burning a quart of oil every fill up at 95k miles.  Not to mention every belt driven part (water pump, alternator, starter) had to be replaced annually.

I’m always surprised about how people swear by their reliability, although my experience is very anecdotal. Bought an 86 Grand Am in the early 90’s with 55k miles. Drove that car for 4 years and in our time together I replaced three alternators. Two starters, the heater core and the water pump. At 95k miles in…

I live in the city and had a new underground electrical service installed in the back yard of my 1/8 acre lot. Electrician rented one of these. Squeezed right through the 4’ gate of my fence and he easily dug the 3 trench from the ally to my house.

Regarding sound/ vibration… it all comes down to your frame of reference…. If you are coming from loud/buzzy non turbo 4’s in American or Japanese economy cars… the Ford engine won’t sound bad. If you are used to German VAG/BMW 2.0T engines, the Ford eco boost will feel loud, course and unrefined.

Yes, and American luxury back then was all about smoothness and isolation from the road. A giant softly sprung car with a high torque, low hp engine and lazy transmission was perfect for this mission.

5.4 seconds to 60 is pretty fast.  Agree with you on cornering though.  Straight line speed and fun in a car aren’t necessarily connected anymore.  

Accord has been on Car and Drivers 10 best list 35 times and is the best selling car in its class.    Hard to defend it as underrated.  

No doubt they are great vehicles, but at $90k they are an irresponsible purchase new for all but the top 2-3% of income earners, so tough to defend them as underrated or great all round cars for the average person. They are a great, capable niche vehicle for wealthy people with specific needs. Nothing more, nothing…

For $44k you can get an Audi Allroad.  

They sell both the A6 and A4 Allroad here which are 100% wagons. I like the extra lift and meaty tires with our crappy Midwest roads. When I retire my F31 BMW wagon, that is where I’m going. A4 Allroad starts at $44k which probably undercuts the Golf R wagon. Not as powerful, but 5.5 second 0-60 is plenty fast for…

Probably either an Audi Allroad or a Volvo V60 Cross Country. If I could reliably do a safari mod on my BMW, I would as I drive on a lot of construction sites for work so I see the body cladding and extra lift/tire sidewall as a good thing. The downside to those cars is front biased AWD. My F31 BMW defaults to 60%…

The new ones are better, but yeah I had a 2015 GTI at the same time my wife was driving a loaded 2015 Impreza and everything about the GTI felt $10-$15k more expensive.   Nicer materials, switchgear, heavy doors, better electronics, etc….  It costs $$ to stick a longitudinal novel engine design and full time AWD in a…

People love ripping on cars with a little extra lift and some body cladding, but given the state of our infrastructure I would love to have both on my wagon.   I really don’t want to embrace SUV’s but damn i drive on a lot of construction sites and bad roads and am left wanting.  

It is a actually much cleaner to mine than coal.    Unfortunately a lot of energy mining is dirty.  The cleaner we can switch to green energy and replace Lithium in batteries the better. 

They are doing so well because of their pivot to SUV’s.  Bringing back smaller margin, niche vehicles will just cut into their profits.   I say this as someone who has owned a Sportwagon and GTI.   

SUV’s are playing checkers, minivans are playing chess…. The long game.  

The Outback is pretty unique, and as a BMW wagon owner, I try to talk myself into liking them, but they are too big and that CVT…

Fair.