Because they got a huge discount when they bought the land for being close to the track. If they can force the track out of business the value of their property would skyrocket. People do the same thing near highways.

I did not watch the whole thing. Did anyone make any effort at all to not block the emergency vehicle with lights and sirens?

Non-climate controlled storage unit. Most don’t care what you do with it as long as you don’t damage anything or leave a mess. Throw down a drop cloth or get some cheap outdoor carpeting. Most units are only 20 feet long, so invest in some dollies so you can wheel the car part way out when working on it.

David, you are spewing bullshit. This a very technical and regulation heavy area that most people know nothing about (including the guys from the video.) Here is my comment from this video on oppositelock:

I see this as a good thing, bear with me here. Higher income makes people more likely to buy new cars and drive newer cars. While low income people buy used, and drive older vehicles in general. Duh, no real revelation there, but it could mean the gap in the statistics is because safety technology is advancing more…

That’s a good answer for fuel, but cars need other maintenence. Let’s assume tools are available or can be improvised and that nothing breaks. What about oil, tires, brake pads, and air/oil filters?

In those countries where they are more popular, what bikes do we see? Cheap, economical Vespas. It’s an easy choice to make when you cannot afford a car and the only alternative is walking.

No, those standards are not applied to real world driving. They are applied in carefully controlled circumstances as a benchmark. Yes, in theory they should correlate to real world conditions, and they do, just very loosely.

...and for all that, owners still love them. That should tell you something. If the biggest reason you can find for buying a particular vehicle is listed somewhere on the spec sheet, don’t.

In the US, that will not happen (though it could, in theory.) It is generally easier and more effective to regulate what is sold, not what is already out there. The EPA might try to cut a deal where VW offers to buy back the vehicles, but they cannot force owners to take them in.

The PT Cruiser thing is not a cheat. The NHTSA classifies vehicles, not Chrysler (or any other automaker.) The NHTSA classifies vehicles with flat cargo areas as light trucks. You might just as well claim that Ford is cheating emissions standards by calling the F-150 a light truck.

Yeah, I only know because I work on it. It’s the stuff no-one cares about until it costs you a few billion dollars.

One of the EPA requirements is that defeat devices are not used. VW can claim that all day long (as they are about the rest of their lineup, along with BMW and MB,) but that does not make it so.

The law is not ambiguous, there is no question here. This is from a letter from the EPA to truck manufacturers from 1998. It is the EPA’s interpretation not legislation, but has been upheld in court (affirming that interpretation unless overridden legislatively.) It applies to this article and the current VW thing. In…

How much stuff do you plan on hauling? A tow vehicle and low flatbed trailer can be sized to the loads you expect to use it for (assuming you have a place to keep the trailer.) It also lets you drive something cool instead of a truck when you are not using the trailer.

Actually, your keyless entry module is on the same bus as your engine controller. If someone can access it, they could pass messages directly to the powertrain controller. Modern vehicles are slightly more complicated than that, but the layout is similar.

Perspective, guys. Your Fusion is hauling around about 3000 lbs. you don’t need to carry just yourself to work every day. 35 mpg is not really as sensible as you think.

I think it’s just your average brand loyalty multiplied by the only maker of that kind of bike (for a long while) and the only large volume US manufacturer. Look for that to decrease substantially in the next decade due to rising popularity of Victory, Indian, and Japanese cruisers (all the Japanese cruisers improved…

I should explain why I think the Joyita story is so fascinating. Mysteries like the Mary Celeste or Flight 19 can have plausible explanations based on rational actions taken by those involved. The crew of Mary Celeste evacuated to a towed longboat because they feared an explosion of the cargo, and the tow rope came…

The wing piece does not seem too mysterious to me. The serial number was on a plate mounted to the wing section. Is it so inconceivable that it could have been torn off? As for “must’ve somehow floated for weeks just beneath the surface,” that conclusion comes from the fact that it has barnacles growing over the…