But while you're straight-saving for your $20,000 car you have no car. And money sitting in a savings account is decreasing in value thanks to inflation and today's shit interest rates. You might make it work if you're investing it, but that's another debate.

Except that vehicles (new and used) are not investments, aside from classic cars. They are monthly costs labelled transportation in peoples budgets.

Counter-post from me coming soon :)

You CAN tow the heavier loads... but you have to tow like they do in Europe... and that means less tongue weight, mandatory trailer brakes and don't exceed 55mph to be on the safe side.

There's a lot of reasons as to why our tow ratings are lower, the main one being they cannot exceed 55 while towing

In Europe the speed limit for light vehicles towing is 50-60 mph. This prevents undamped oscillations with larger loads. If you want EU level tow ratings you need to lobby for a national towing speed limit of ~55 mph. You up for that?

Once again: Europe gets a car with a useful tow capacity (2000kg/4409 pounds) and we don't.

A friend of mine in college had a Colt and we always used to daydream about shoehorning this powertrain into it. Glad to see somebody actually went and did it.

Assuming it was bolted together properly (decision pending further review), I really like the conversion.

Nope, if you really want one it's got to be for track use, since they really aren't at all pleasant/safe to drive on public roads. They are absolute unicorns on the open road.

Here's a runaway in the wild

I haven't driven the new MK7 GTI and Golf yet, though I really want to. But for whatever it's worth, my co-driver on this trip has, and he said the S3 felt like a really different car to him.

TL;DR, sounds like a really nice GTI...

Oh, and FWD minimizes drivetrain frictional losses.

FWD also saves weight in that you don't have a heavy drive shaft going from the front to the back.

Maybe you should talk to Maxima owners who were running 87 octane.

Unfortunately there is no definitive answer to this question, but each has it's pros and cons. FWD provides good traction in inclement weather because the weight of the engine is on the front wheels and is often cheaper. Generally, FWD cars don't handle well because the front wheels are tasked with all the engines…

Sure, black's never out of style, whether you're going out for groceries or annexing the Sudeatenland. The first actual run of Beetles was in this blue-grey color — that'd be an interesting one, too.

I can see that, but KISS can be applied at every level. Look at how complex a camshaft is. They are very reliable, but I'd imagine that a ton of engineering and manufacturing effort goes into them. And KISS is a nice idea, but not a rule. It too can be taken to the extreme.

As well as the two stroke bit. If you still have conventional valves in the head (no matter how you open close them), you still need two strokes to get the exhaust/intake to happen.