You are way over-selling this. The difference between a G70 2.0T RWD Standard and a G70 2.0T Manual is the latter gains Brembos and an LSD in exchange for losing the automatic. I say exchange because some would consider going from manual to auto a step down.

In the US, at least, all manuals are inherently stripper models. Last time I looked (which is a minute ago), you can’t option basically anything on them, and they come with the basic interiors. Compare to Canada, where you can deck them out with the fancy seats and contrast diamond stitching and all that jazz.

Goddamn, Polestar is even adopting Chinese marketing methods; this is basically a non-story. How much do people give a shit about the efficiency vs. how far they can actually go? Especially when electricity is a fraction of the cost of gasoline?

It appears a few of them are manuals strippers, too.

In 2020, VW is a shitty independent corporation building some pretty good cars. Geely is a shitty corporation that is a legal accessory to an even shittier government and building mostly shitty cars.

Nah, I don’t want that. With rare exception, I prefer a fastback look to that of a typical utilitarian two-box.

True story in 2020.

Oh my fuck, I want that so bad.

That’s pretty neat and good to know. What kind of steering rack is on your V70R though? Is believe the current cars are electric, but I’m having a harder time verifying that with a cursory search than I thought I would.

Volvo was likely forced to because 1.) they haven’t owned Volvo Cars since 1999 and 2.) that whole use it or lose it reality concerning trademarks.

Audi has it on basically all the 2020 models smaller than an A6. VW has it on the Rabbit Edition GTIs and had it on the Golf R paint selector before they took it down last year. Chevrolet has it on the Corvette.

I don’t want it less boy racer, I just want it in the Coupé body style instead of this absolutely disgusting looking hatch-but-not-really thing they insist on.

“Expenses”

I just test drove an S6 T6 R-Design precisely because I was impressed at an auto-show and was contemplating the Polestar wagon; the looks and the fit/finish of the car only underscore how terrible they are to actually drive. Having had that test drive experience, I can extrapolate the reviews I’ve watched and know…

The kind of stuff Apple (and Google) are doing is the same kind of stuff Microsoft got whacked for decades ago. When you have such a commanding share of a market, it is no longer your store and your rules.

Why do you think this level of greed is uniquely American? You ever heard of Bernie Ecclestone? Ferdinand Piech? How about quaint little companies like Daimler or Geely?

Epic also employed anti-competitive practices to bootstrap their digital storefront, so them suing Apple for being anti-competitive is deliciously ironic even if they are correct.

There’s also the situation on iOS where only certain apps Apple-branded or Apple-approved are allowed to be the default apps on your phone for system calls, i.e. using the Search will always open the results in Safari no matter what browsers you have installed. And you can’t uninstall Safari.

Even that’s still too new. If it’s a Volvo designed post-Geely, it’s meeeeeeeeeeh.

It’s not the same company anymore. They are not the quirky upstart underdogs, they are now a subsidiary of the biggest automaker in the world building boring cars that underachieve. They’ve gone all-in on this “safety” nonsense so that their Chinese associates could divert the enthusiast attention to their Trojan…