Earlier this year we went on a 6500 mile road trip which included some very rural areas as one is bound to encounter when driving around the US. Given the struggles and stresses encountered on that trip given we were in a petrol burning car makes reading this article almost panic attack inducing.

We moved into the city, sold all (3) of our cars and bought a 4Runner that we only see a couple times a month.  Would be cheaper to just do Zip car or something, but we love cars too much to be completely without one.

I believe you, but that’s ridiculous for Subaru’s engine to need that.  It is a small reasonably powered four banger.  It shouldn’t need 3k intervals even with spirited driving.  Unless “severe” means tracking it.

Cost/benefit of direct injection (in terms of MPG, not HP/liter)

A miata with winter tires was awesome in the snow.

Yes to that last point.  Most of us live places where if you wait a minute, someone plows.  Sure that’s not everyone, and not everyone can wait, but most of us will, at worst, deal with packed snow/ice on a road and not deep drifting snow.

I went from a WRX with all seasons to a Miata with summer/winter tire sets.

Lewis still has to wear this mask of quiet relaxed calm with just the odd little dig maybe here or there.

If Max can learn when to pull back he’ll be a phenomenal driver.  He’s already very good.  Taking risks and being pushy is part of the game, but you can’t assume everyone is just going to make way for you even IF they’re supposed to.  Losing the lead for a few laps is a hell of a lot better than a DNF.

Max has established a pattern. He drives with his elbows out and everyone is supposed to get out of his way. He’s a fantastic driver still, but he always expects the other guy to get out of his way. Sometimes, he’s right and the other driver should make way. He still needs to learn that even when he’s right, that…

Subarus tend to have long noses because their AWD system means the front wheels are driven right out of the transmission usually. So you have the engine + transmission shifted forward.

I’ll phrase this as a question, but my opinion will be obvious. Was Albon really good enough to be the #2 RB driver? So he wasn’t up to the level of Max. Okay, but he was just too inconsistent and seemed like he was trying to make up for significantly lesser ability with extra aggressive racing that usually didn’t end…

PA is one of the few places I’ve ever been given a speeding ticket. I was only cutting the northwest corner. Cops were on me in a black Corvette.

Super hot take: If you don’t speed excessively, cops are not much of a problem. Very few will even enforce basic traffic laws outside of speeding. Just keep it within maybe 5 miles of the speed limit, and you can often forget the police are a thing.

That’s what the kukri in the emergency kit is for.

They seem really really cool, but then I remember that we usually leave our regular ground tent setup and go drive around all day. So... I don’t want to deal with stowing a roof tent every time I need to go somewhere.

Excellent inventory! And if anything you’re being extra reasonable (tents for example can be much more).

I’m not a Jeep guy, but I agree.  They’re fun, capable, and owners enjoy  the hell out of them.  They’re usually not even all that ridiculous a choice from a practical point of view until someone starts strapping rando “overlanding” crap all over them, and if that’s what the owner wants to do, more power to them.

I won’t argue any of your points, but it took a very niche vehicle and made it appealing to a massively wider audience and still is a pretty darn good off roading platform.  So, while I don’t want one (we got a 4Runner instead), I get why people do.

We used to call the older ones a rollersate.  We’re sort of disappointed they made them longer and they no longer have that profile.