This is pretty scary, but I would actually want a couple of these if I lived on a small island. Namely the S10 for (very) light cargo duty and the Dauphine for giggles.

+1. I definitely lol'd at the image of a secret agent clown driving an AMR barchetta.

Mmmhmm, yes, would not want to be that driver. Could start the race at the wheel of an Aston and end up dressed like a clown, face down in a creek.

Panhard rod is sad.

I've already hearted you, but this sums it up for me, too. First car I've seen in a while that really, really rocks the silver.

I agree. Much too NP. I've seen SC's in a good mettle go for nearly this amount.

I can understand why Lotus had to stop sales in the EU (emissions), but why kill the lineup in the U.S.? Did they run out of engine blocks?

Yeah, I sort of twisted the meaning. Perhaps we file this under epic failure instead of awesome failure.

They definitely could be. I remember reading that Leno's Baker had the original cells. I should have called them alkaline batteries. To clean them you flush out the acid, wash lead plates, replace, fill, and go. Pretty straightforward but potentially hazardous, which is why, I suppose, modern starter batteries are…

The awesomely bad Solargen AMC Concord wagon.

Nice one. Never heard of this marque. The old lead-acid batteries last an exceptionally long time if they are cleaned regularly.

Reminds me of workers in Tokyo who, because of recent rolling blackouts and lack of A/C, were offered dress-down privileges. Many suit-wearing salarymen were so accustomed to their look they wore their suits anyway, or changed into their suits whenever they had to greet a client.

+1. Leaf is short, don't waste time worrying.

I guess Dave's not a golfer?

My god, it's full of LEDs.

Didn't Porsche used to be a leading sports car manufacturer?

I hate the Beetle, too, but VW has been pushing upmarket for so long it's hard for them to do a cheap car correctly. If they can get the Polo here, they could certainly give the $20K+ Mini a run for its money.

The Beetle's pricing is probably at $19K to give VW plenty of room to price its Polo. I was hoping the Polo would arrive with a sub-$15K sticker and trounce the field as a true "people's" car. Instead, they'll probably position it as a premium choice to a Mazda2 or even the Fit.

Not sure, but I think the 2-door Golf retains the nicer interior, rear discs, and multi-link suspension of the fancier "sport" Jettas. The bargain-basement Jetta gets the drums, torsion beam and dull dashboard.

This makes tremendous sense when compared to the $90+K BMW wants for a new 650i (which should depreciate like rock), but it still seems CP.