1st Gear: The industry is really changing focus, and its scary to be in the powertrain business for a lot of people. That said, the ICE isn’t going to disappear overnight. The engines designed today may live on longer than any other generation of engine ever made. So, if you are in the business, do a good job, and be…

I’m not as much worried about failures. I want the transmission to actually put power to the ground. If it still consumes a large percentage of the available hp while driving in heavy traffic, then it’s useless and gets abused. Which leads to failures ...

I thought the same thing ... then my aisle was full of CUVs :-(

That was my exact though. At least Nissan is still trying. It already looks a bit dated, but it’s moving in the right direction.  I wonder if they did anything about the suspension or transmission yet?

I remember having this same conversation years ago about how rare blue cars are ... I now own a fleet of four blue cars. So, I guess I helped get that 7% :-)

I’ve never owned a mustang, but that convertible is really temping.

I really like this. When do we get to buy these in the US?

Toyota executed this much better. The Venza at least has close to a traditional SUV shape. The slant in the rear is fairly minimal.

I’d be happier if they just made modern (crash worthy) versions of these old cars.

Agreed.

Sorry. I love my VR6 swapped Mk2 Jetta. But, it’s not worth $8k.

I agree! I had that same requirements as the post ... except I wanted to be able to track it as well. Golf R is the answer! I sold my A8L and Elise and bought a Golf R for this exact reason. While the Lotus was fun, I just can’t drive it when I need to be/dress professional. No one thinks twice about a Golf, and it…

I spend time on The Dragon every year. There are three rules at the dragon:

If you love your GTI, just go buy the Golf SportWagen. Or if you want a bit of a lift, you can get the Alltrack. Both are offered with a manual trans, and fall well within your budget.

I call BS on yanking the e-Brake!

So, they have a car that pollutes so bad they are willing to give it back to VW to prove their point. And they decide to create excessive pollution for 1000+ miles across the country to prove their point!?