It will almost certainly do dealership and out-of-warranty service better than the Ford. And it will absolutely be a more comfortable car, especially over long distances. Of course it will fail at all the performance metrics, and maybe even things like fuel economy and 5-year depreciation.

Eh, they were cut-rate Ferraris, all of them. Maserati didn’t even get to market the California, as was originally intended.

At MSRP the Mirage and Outlander Sport are among the worst new cars on the market in the U.S. Aside from a touchscreen, the OS is the same car Mitsubishi launched in 2010. It wasn’t competitive back then, either, with little sound insulation, balky CVT, rough ride, and poor fuel economy given its low power ratings.

The Protege5 was a subcompact, though. Like barely more cargo room with the rear seats folded than a Golf R. 38 cu ft.

I recently rented a Corolla Cross (not by choice) and was prepared to be about as underwhelmed as I was the last time I ended up with a Corolla (car) rental. No, it was far, far worse. The sightlines were awful, the seating position was miserable, the thing felt huge and bloated relative to the interior space, and the…

Yeah, we got that drivetrain configuration—2.5L with dual x-mode—on the Sport (equivalent to Outdoor) and the Limited. And yeah, it’s the same Lineartronic and FB20D engine.

Not sure what spec you are looking at but there’s no way the V6 Tacoma does as well on fuel. In the city it’s a wash, probably, but on the highway the Ridgeline will absolutely do better. The Ridgeline is also on a different planet than the Tacoma in terms of refinement, and given the fact it’s only available with one…

But the feeling of slowness from the 2.0 transcends math.

Let’s say you want your Corolla Cross Hybrid.... today. Good freaking luck. However, the bog standard Toyota is a decent alternative now that it’s readily available. And the turbo CX-30 is a silly comparison since it starts at almost $34K, well beyond a tricked out Crosstrek. But, sure, I would definitely have the 2.5…

I’m not sure Toyota needs to go through any special fuel or safety regs to get a manual Tacoma approved in the U.S. Imported cars? Sure. But not sure about trucks made in Mexico. If they did, they would probably not offer it, because in 2019 the take rate for manuals Tacos was 5% and it can’t be much different now.

Also, CarMax’s share of the used vehicle market is 4% as of April 11, 2023, so there’s that.

Eh, any of Honda’s VTEC engines in that time period suffered a significant trade-off in torque output (117 lb-ft with the B18A1 vs ~130 with the M42). The non-VTEC B engines made about the same output as the M42 in U.S. spec, and with a clear advantage in cost because of how the brands were positioned in the U.S. marke…

Sounds like a flatspotted tire to me.

I suppose if VW ever bothered with an Eos R it would cost a ridiculous $46K or something.

How about the day before yesterday's technology? VW sees fit to charge more than $42K for a loaded Golf IV with articulating roof.

You can get a Golf convertible! It's called the Eos. Well, okay, it's based on an old 5th-gen Golf. But it's close to what you would get from a Golf droptop.

Not really a huge waste of cash. The entirety of the FCV program has generated IP totaling 5,680 patents, all of which has been made freely available. This Toyota acting like a Bell Labs or, more accurately, an IBM, which functions more as a contract research company these days. I'm willing to bet at least some of…

Well, in the 1980s what the AE86 offered was cost. It was probably much cheaper to buy, operate, modify than an E30. Nowadays that's not true, so it's mostly a matter of taste.

Good lord, the same SM is still there?! It's a white car from what I remember. I'm no longer in Maine, so I haven't been back to that area (although I'm occasionally Downeast). I'm glad the shop is still up and running. The DS19 I saw was claimed to have been the one used in a Mel Gibson movie.

Yes, French manufacturers proliferated like crazy after 1890. I think Peugeot was among the world's top sellers of cars in the 1890s, with dozens of models and sales of 300 a year by 1900. A strong base in manufacturing bicycles and carriages helped get France jumpstarted, and Michelin's pneumatic tire of 1895 helped,…