Actually, I’d contend that all the travel will be within its own country. With no spares or foreign maintenance resources. Paid with rapidly depreciating rubles and no access to outside revenues or resources.

I just have never heard of this practice, or even seen people who don’t hold the brakes at a stoplight. It seems like an unnecessary risk though, if there’s more of a grade than you thought and get distracted you could roll without realizing it, and lights do provide redundancy that can save someone from a mistake.…

Russia does not gain (in any way, except for getting to fly stolen planes for a few months) but the lessors most definitely lose. It is the equivalent of a meth head stealing your catalytic converter and selling it for $45.

WTF? Why weren’t these pieces of shit arrested? (ask a stupid question) Get a stupid answer. Looking forward to 2024, as these and other assholes are really ramping up for the ‘good times’ to come...

California, home of six dollar a gallon diesel and a political climate that—except for boondocks towns where they can preach to a rather small choir, and wealthy enclaves that wouldn’t welcome the physical reality of a truck convoy—might be among the nation’s least sympathetic?

Wow. Their convoy is all about freedom...

You’ve got it. If driving a manual is annoying, you are doin’ it wrong.

I can’t think of a part of my commute that isn’t on a hill, but also that seems risky because you’re not lighting up your brake lights, seems like increasing the odds of getting rear-ended, or just confusing other drivers about the condition of your brake lights.

Hopefully our nuclear future is disaster-free!

If you have a reverse traffic commute, manual really gets your day started right. I have two cars and while the automatic is more thoughtless to get to the market, if I have any stretch of open road infront of me, I’m choosing the manual.

Still better than a DCT/PDK IMO.

30 years of driving manuals in traffic.  Its as hard as using a steering wheel in traffic

You still have to hold the brake when sitting at a stop with a manual... Unless you live in Nebraska and have never heard of elevation changes.

Ever since I was a kid I always thought the perfect car would have an automatic column shifter AND a 5-speed manual in the console and you could just use whichever you liked depending on your mood.

Mercedes is the cool grandpa who keeps it classy but understands the young’ns. BMW is the old man trying to be young again, and Audi is the Chad of the group. Porsche is that Uncle everyone loves

They’re just like riding a bike, you kinda just do it without thinking. What really gets you is stop and go traffic which unfortunately there are more of.

BMW’s future styling direction is genuinely abysmal - on track to be the worst in the U.S. market within this decade, and the sole thing that will keep the company afloat is brand recognition (because it sure as shit isn’t going to be reliability or heat seaters that require a fucking subscription).

Station wagons are better than SUV’s.

Any body remember that show from the 90s?