Sorry. That was British understatement. Sorry.

Could I sound a note of caution? Beware of comparisons between USA and UK mpg, because UK gallons are a slightly different size to American gallons...

This comment deserves more stars!

Wait! Wait! There was a soft-top version too, the “Monteverdi Sahara”.

I don’t want to be that guy, but... it’s no big innovation. Volvo already did it with Orrefors. (For all I know, maybe some baroque 1970s Jaguar had Dartington crystal)

Mercedes bullnose trucks are still working, in the developing world, hauling excessive loads on terrible roads with minimal maintenance. In places like back-country Mauritania, a Mercedes LA hauling 50-60 tonnes is the only thing on the road, apart from a Bremen van converted to a minibus, the village chief’s W124,…

If you want to argue that adorable old Blazer pickup is “smaller than a pickup” then you’re just as bad as the carmakers who pretend their 4-door (perhaps SUV) is a “coupé”.

Brands are precious. Brands can take decades to build up, they can accumulate immensely valuable respect and loyalty from consumers, and they are easy to break.

If the two were identical in all aspects of tire quality - spec, price, &c - it’d be a coin-toss for me.

Personally, I’m a sucker for that 3-door “shooting brake” shape. It’s the least bad aspect of this horrible, unreliable, handmade, British-engineered shitbox. :-)

Protectionism is stupid and counterproductive. Let people enjoy their stupid flag stickers, and the rest of us can judge goods by their tech specs, quality, price &c.

I can’t speak for North America, but over in the UK many (not all) lease cars are tied to employment in some way. Got offered a cool new job? Fine, but you might have to hand back the keys to the car you leased last year via your previous employer, and the leaseco charges big fees for early returns so *they* won’t be…

Also: I shortlisted a 1st-gen Smart (450) for the Budapest-Bamako rally. You’ll never find a more challenging car to take on a 2-week trip across Europe and Africa. Alas, none of my usual friends wanted to go along with the idea.

I think Miss Mercedes has hit the nail on the head. Smart *could* have been a much more dominant city car; it had the low fuel consumption, it had the three-pointed star backing it so buyers can tell themselves they’re not just buying a “cheap” car, it had the funky style... but Mercedes made some silly mistakes with…

Pickup trucks are always trending upwards. Bigger! Taller! More grille! Tow a battleship over a mountain pass!

The original Beetle opened up a whole new era of transportation in Germany. The origin of “Volkswagen” isn’t just a manufacturing brand, it was a whole campaign (with some admittedly shady political backing) to get the masses access to these newfangled cars instead of using horses, trams, and shoe-leather. The…

In many countries, especially Sweden, there are accessibility constraints (buses must have a low floor to allow passengers with mobility problems). There are other constraints which make it unlikely that a manufacturer would add tanks to the back (next to the engine), or at the front (where drivers need visibility) or…

Many developed countries have accessibility requirements for buses, which require a low floor to make life easier for passengers with mobility problems. Hence modern city buses with a conventional drivetrain tend to have a diesel engine wedged at the back behind the rear seats, and those with more novel drivetrains…

Are the clusters of six lights a reference to the Pleiades? (And hence to Subaru’s name and logo).