There was a time when I would agree with you but... We have a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong history of, well, strip mining countries and giving the folks who live there some shiny beads in return. Hell, we did that here. I can’t see that really changing so colonialism is colonialism no matter what you call it.

Yeah, those damned commies in Bolivia should totally let us strip-mine their natural resources. It rude they won’t just let us do whatever we want. Ungrateful savages. 

So basically we’re going to go into the loop where suddenly everyone complains that there’s not enough public transit options and damnit why don’t we have an infrastructure that will allow us to get around without cars and maybe we should really do something about it and there will be much argle bargle on the angry…

Don’t worry, people will stop buying gas because it’s too expensive and that will cause prices to normalize because that’s how free markets work. Or, someone will come in and start selling oil for less and that will cause prices to normalize because that’s how free markets work. Or a magic fairy will land on the gas…

OK, I say this as someone who absolutely loves his Subaru Outback, but... The Subaru Outback has definitely gotten worse over the years. On the one hand, it drives better, it’s quieter, it’s more refined. On the other hand it’s just gotten so damned big and too damned butch.

I mean honestly, I’m not surprised. Here’s the problem in general- wanna make roads safer? have less people on the road. Have less drivers. Have more public transit, have more methods of getting from point A to point B that take into account the fact that the modern driver is distracted by a dozen things.

But you get what I’m saying. One really rich guy can be dangerously mercurial. And relying on one rich guy to prop up an industry because suddenly he thinks boats are cool is really, really dangerous.

The problem is when rich folks decide that they know better than the experts. Which happens A LOT. Which is why a really rich guy decides he’s an architect and designs a new dorm for your campus even though he’s an investment banker and not an architect and his ideas are really really bad, but hey, he’s gonna pay for…

Or more to the point, imagine being a worker at Tesla, knowing that your job is literally at the whim of a single rich guy who can decide that he’s mad at your state and moves everything to Texas just because he’s having a twitter tantrum or because the president didn’t say how awesome he is? So you get the option of…

I seriously appreciate the answer. And while I have not found mine to be laggy, I can get where that would bug people. But having experienced the marvel that is the GM 3 speed automatic transmission which managed to be both unresponsive AND inefficient, I’d say that folks today do not know haw good they’ve got it :)

So it’s a “princess and the pea” kind of thing- got it. Some folks are so extremely attuned to the car that they drive that nothing save god’s own perfect transmission will suffice. My mom swears she’s that way with flavor- says she’s a “supertaster” but in practice it mostly means she just complains when she doesn’t…

I mean, up here the used outback is still the dirtbag vehicle of choice- the prefered model is anything pre- big stupid racks that still fits regular rail riders so you can carry boats, bikes and whatever else...

OK, so I work for a nonprofit and I can try to explain the problem with your statement.

Slightly off topic but can someone please explain the hatred directed towards the CVT transmission? I have one. It’s fine. It shifts, it works, it allows my fairly large outback to get decent mileage. I came to the CVT from a VW manual and before that nothing but manuals. I’ve driven other automatics and honestly, I…

Oh for fuck’s sake. The CVT is fine. I have an outback with a CVT and it does exactly what it’s supposed to do. It replaced a VW sportwagon with a manual transmission and honestly, it’s fine. No normal person and 90% of “enthusiasts” do not care about the CVT. It works, it shifts, it gets you where you need to be. It…

Yeah, around here every other car is an outback, crosstrek or forester. I have to say I love my outback. 

In retrospect (having just recently watched an episode), they weren’t bad. Like, you could tell they were kinda forcing their personalities a bit but that’s pretty typical first season stuff. And the challenges were kinda fun- the pickup trucks in alaska was goofy. I can say that honestly, it’s as entertaining as The…

Uggggggggghhhhhhhhh Netflix. Carmasters: Rust to Riches is the worst. The faux drama. The “personalities.” The deadlines. The budgets. All of that is pretty stock modern car show bullshit but then you actually see the work they’re doing and it’s... it’s just bad. Like you can tell that the people who’ve been drafted…

Fun fact- most deer hits are on the side of the car- they run into cars all the time. 

Right, but we can still work at getting better instead of kvetching.