Too much maintenance, or not enough fun? Alwyas wanted to pick one up for a weekend fun car (if I had a garage...).

I also wonder if she got the 2.0L instead of the 2.5. The 2.0 is a fine car, but the 2.5 is pretty damned fun (though I admit to having the stick which helps). My biggest complaint is the FWD has a hard time keeping its wheels from spinning during spirited driving.

Or just travel to Europe, where EVERY car is a manual. They still exist in droves, you just can’t get them in the states.

The woooooorst. And as some others have noted, the people who seem to forget that paying is also part of the transaction should be maimed with a wood chipper. I’ve had people in front of me bitching about how long everything takes, and then they get to the front of the line, and haven’t even thought about having…

Also drives a car powered by his own sense of self-satisfaction.

Maybe. Even ignoring New Orleans, I don’t know that having a beer on the street makes someone more or less likely to act like an animal.

Cities that treat adults like adults? Weird.

This devolved quickly.

It’s almost as if I replied to that comment? Awesome boilerplate smug response to being challenged though.

It’s almost as if people have different psychologies from each other, or something.

Anyone have a back-seat-removal instruction for the Clubman? Cheapest option....

Are you suggesting thta they won’t repair things period, or just not for free?

I haven’t looked in a while, but in the early stages the Android Auto hack was one of the more dangerous as far as potential bricking of the system (to the point where a while new unit was warranted). It’s probably more safe but your reticence is justified.

I’m all for hacking things like this, but I understand why Mazda wouldn’t embrace it, obviously. If someone can “improve” the system, they can pretty easily break it too. I have a Mazda and have played around with this, and there are a dozen ways to brick your system. If Mazda was complicit in this , you can see…

Some of the tweaks arguably make it EASIER to use (LESS time looking away from the road). While most improvements in the infotainment world unfortunately lean towards diverting attention from driving, there are exceptions :)

I’d be hesitant to buy a lot of American cars for the same reason ;)

I know someone who works for an Italian vehicle company (I’m being vague to protect identities here). Coming from a Japanese company, he says he is shocked DAILY by the quality control out of said company. Basic, blatant things come to dealers from the manufacturer obviously wrong. Like, mismatched wheels blatant.

Of course it’s arrogant to think that things are 100% within your power. But I hear a lot of folks from your generation using the current system being “stacked against them” as a crutch. Is it a little — or maybe even moderately — harder to afford a house or nice car now than it was for our parents? Maybe...…

I said the same thing above. If the risk of loans weren’t essentially passed on to the entire public, this problem goes away — lenders only lend what they reasonably think they can get back.

Completely agree that they come in all ages. When I said above that I don’t like to say the “M” word, it’s because I think this is a societal problem, not limited to one generation or age group.