For companies that want bailouts, I think there should be a set of criteria to qualify.

1. If you spent your giant tax break money on stock buybacks - go fuck yourself.
2. If your CEO got a giant bonus from tax break money - go fuck yourself
3. If your employees are woefully underpaid, worked to death, and have no…

I had one of those in Ultrasonic Blue Mica 2.0. I still miss that car. It didn’t have the performance of some of its rivals, but the naturally aspirated V8 sounded great, and it could really turn heads. It didn’t require much maintenance either compared to Mercedes and BMW. Great car. 

I didn’t mean to imply they were panic buying cars. Just that they are taking advantage of people who are already panicked. They take advantage of buyers who are at 100% of their normal mental capacity on a daily basis. This is just going to make it worse. 

I can see the argument for keeping the service departments open as being at least plausible. Keeping the sales floor open so they can take advantage of panicked buyers is a lot less so. 

I went for a drive today just to keep from going crazy. I’m a little worried about just having leased a new car right before the economy is poised to fall off a cliff.

In most instances, I would agree.I think in this case, with a pandemic that is shutting down the entire nation, the government might be in the best position to help everyone financially. A tax holiday, “helicopter money,” or some other mechanism will get money to the average worker faster than most methods. I’m also…

While I agree in principal on the fairness issue, I think the larger issue is who is going to be burdened the most. The average factory worker will have a much tougher time weathering a long furlough than most executives. To generalize, it’s going to be easier for the executive to arrange for someone to be home with…

These people are not going to make it in an actual crisis.

I would rather drive a Yugo than a crossover.

I tried pulling the electronic parking brake button in my BMW. It just told me I was an idiot, and drove me into a tree.

It’s actual not terrible. That’s all I’ve got.

And since there are fines for dirty vehicles, manufacturers are gonna have to raise prices on the dirty ones while give more discounts on the clean ones.

The companies can create as many “clean” vehicles as they want, but if consumers aren’t buying them, it won’t do any good. Their choice now is to build vehicles people will buy and face massive fines, or build vehicles not enough people want and go out of business.

So a government bureaucracy, an entity least equipped to do anything efficiently, is going to levy crippling fines against the companies in the best position to help vehicles become more efficient. 

Congratulations! The law of averages indicates that eventually you would get a good one. Enjoy.

I willingly buy performance sedans from BMW and Mercedes, but I’ve been a little weird.

Are BMW and Mercedes purposely uglifying their lineups now? I know crossovers are all the rage, but it’s possible to make them less hideous. 

A firearm is better protection than a restraining order if someone is threatening to harm you.

Not because of the engines. They consistently win awards for best engine. Most BMW residuals are higher than the other luxury brands. BMW, with the exception of a couple of years, has been subsidizing residuals to make leases more attractive. I agree that owning any out of warranty German car is a gamble unless you…

It’s great for Cadillac to have its own engine, but just copying what BMW and Mercedes have been up to for years has long been a losing strategy for Cadillac.