That's exactly right. I guess nobody remembers what happened in the '90s when the 300ZX went from $30k to $50k in two years. The change in value of the yen killed the 300ZX, RX-7, Supra and 3000GT. The NSX soldiered on but that car also increased in price by $30K over its production run. And the changes were largely…

Not one of May's finer moments explaining science.

The Gordon Bennett races are worth a mention as well, mostly because they were among the more successful open-road town-to-town races before they were banned in most of western Europe. They were also unique because they were so strongly nationalist with a limit of three entries per country. This predates the "Grand…

Subaru's website says direct-injection 2-liter. Almost certainly it's the FB20, which was supposed to get DI anyway.

Several times I started a '73 Hornet in similar conditions using a pan of boiling water placed under the oil pan.

Typical brilliant bashing of the world's least entertaining vehicles.

Wow, beautiful Hornet! Amazing condition. The avatar isn't my car, it was a neighbors ride in NJ. But... my first car was a Hornet hatchback, a triple brown '73. 258 3-speed. And I lived in Maine at the time, so it's weird to see another one with Maine plates and just like it except for the color. Where'd you find…

They took a few gallons of Prius boredom poured it into the the hair shirt that is the Yaris. It is a hateful thing, but dat fuel mileage.

I had a Botts Dot ruin my windshield as well. One of those things comes loose, gets kicked up by a semi, it could easily ruin some motorcyclist's day.

The owner of the maize Escape was lucky.

Yes, excellent point! I had forgotten that the Routan didn't even have stow-n-go.

Far better VWs on the lot include the GTI and TDI variants of the Passat, Jetta, Golf. Unless you just hate VWs in general... the Routan is old, comes only with a gas-swilling V6 and has worse handling than both the Odyssey and Sienna. It's been an okay minivan for Chrysler but the only major redeeming factor are the…

Saab was a lot like M-B, BMW, Volvo, Jag, and the other Euro lux brands in that some cars were good, some were bad...even from the same production line. I had a '96 900S that had far more problems than yours (two clutches in 5,000 miles). But I also had a 2001 9-3 SE that I drove past 200K miles. The only major issues…

The best thing about Night Panel is the secret mission.

Exactly.... 1,100 documented changes between the NG900 and 9-3. This is an NG900 with a bunch of Viggen parts. I've had both types and they are quite different.

Olds Cutlass. The nameplate, in all forms, sold 12 *million*. Good luck finding one now that isn't a Malibu rebadge or a dreadful A-body Ciera.

It's funny, Saab also had terrible trouble during the same time period with their engines thanks to a poorly designed oil pan screen... and that one was GM's fault I believe. If you absolutely must stay in that range of model years, look for a car that's had the HG replacement done, preferably by a dealership. The car…

I don't think the Cube is boring (hideous, but not boring) and the Juke is pretty interesting. The Z and GT-R are pretty much unique in their market niche. But, yes, Altima, Maxima, etc. All very dull. Trucks, too... the new Pathfinder? Snooze.

I was being a bit sarcastic. I've had two post-2003 Subies that ate their engines (HG issue, burned valve) with low-mileage. Fortunately, low enough where Subaru paid for the whole thing. Subaru did its customers a real disservice with the HG problems and you are spot-on with the class-action suit that Subie…

I was going to say Sentra, but Versa works. In fact, how is the Versa different than the Sentra? They look *exactly* the same.