Yay for Americans, haha.

That's promising, at least. And really not that bad. It sounds pretty close to what you'd pay here, although I have to imagine it'd be a slight bit less for something of that age. I'm paying about half of that for the Milano, but less power, more doors, so the gap narrows.

That's insane. This whole issue is insane. I want answers, dammit, and none of us can come up with any!

Do some of the same firms that operate in the UK also provide insurance across continental Europe, or are they mostly segmented to the UK/continental Europe/each country? Being relegated to only the UK would definitely provide a much smaller consumer base and thus higher premiums, possibly.

That's a very good point. I'd say that about 5 or 6 firms make up the bulk of the provider market here; the rest is a group of small/regional firms that probably add up to represent another 2 or 3 large firms' worth of coverage. So yes, there are several VERY large firms, but there are many many smaller firms that…

That really doesn't sound extraordinarily different from the US, aside from the fact that the levels of insurance are more variable than that to a degree.

I guess that must be the case. I just did some snooping, and while a lot of Americans were under the impression that US insurance was WAY more expensive than UK/European insurance, it's not even close.

Why is that the case? If it came down to actuarial analysis alone, either the US insurance companies would be charging much higher prices, or the UK firms would be charging much lower prices. Is it a regulatory thing with the government, or is there less competition for insurance there or what? It really baffles me,…

There is a regular stock of them up for sale on Hemmings.com. Hell, I ran across two examples in south Texas (outside of Houston), which may be the least likely destination for a classic Mini, ever. They're just not that rare here.

That is one area where we in the States really seem to have a leg up on the UK/Europe, motoring-wise. My very first car was a MK4 VW GTI, which I had for about a year. After that, I went directly to a V8 powered Mustang that was a year or two newer than the GTI, and my insurance didn't increase by much (I want to say…

There are plenty of $7-10k examples available here in the states.

They're only delivering a handful of 60kwh software-limited models to those very few who ordered 40kwh models before they axed it; they won't be producing the software-limited model in any large numbers, leaving them still without the sub $50k model.

Dan Neil is still a dumb sonofabitch.

NO WAI.

I do remember hearing that. Honestly, it's taken them so long to get around to a true next-gen car that I'm not sure what to think at this point.

I was just wondering the other day while staring at the new Imprezas how Subaru is going to make the WRX not ugly, because the new Imprezas look awful.

Heard that. It's like the day my dad came home and told me he was thinking about buying a Town Car. My initial reaction was "Are you fucking serious? That waste of automotive space", but upon his explanation (relatively cheap, extremely comfortable, effortless to drive, endlessly reliable) it kind of clicked with me.

I really don't have any explanation for my fascination with them. I think a lot of it had to do with sitting in old cars with sloppy transmissions as a kid and playing with then and remembering what it felt like; I think the other half of it is the fact that, while my cars have always had very satisfying snick-snick…

I'll disagree, but mainly because I have a thing for bad manual transmissions. Like I almost enjoy a bad manual more than I like a good manual. Don't ask me why, but one of my favorite stick-equipped cars in the world is a 10 year old Ford Ranger. Sloppy and vague with contintentally long throws, something about it…

Yes. Auto is default, and for a long time a stick is what you got if you wanted to save $500-1000.