It’s annoying, but for $240, you got 4 at least somewhat usable tires and some new studs. That’s less than one new Dynapro tire.

It Vietnam you could buy gas from roadside stands in old plastic water bottles (scooters don’t need much gas). Occasionally, I saw gas being sold in corners of black plastic garbage bags, tied up in the top - kinda like an icing tube. I assume they just cut the tip on the bottom and poured it into the tank.

This is clearly a garden hose. It's thin, was clearly coiled up, and running along the ground (gas pumps delivery from the top usually). 

I had a 100 series land cruiser. The only thing that you need to watch out for is the timing belt. Make sure it was replaced recently. Other than that, there is very little that will strand you.

I drive the same 10 year old 5 series with 140k miles and its been incredibly reliable and well built. This Activehybrid is NOT the same at all. It’s a decade old experimental powertrain paired to BMW’s least reliable engine and sold in extremely limited quantities.

BMW bought back almost all of these, as the drivetrain was extremely fragile. Parts these days are damn near impossible to find, as only a handful of these were sold. It’s error code away from becoming a paperweight. Since the electric motor is integral to the transmission, there’s no way to bypass the hybrid system…

Since I bought my BMW, the trunk opening dampers haven't worked. When I press the trunk release, it flies open at catapult speed and feels like it'll go through the back window. It's a simple repair but a PITA and doesn't really impact drivability or longevity. 

Yeah the metal surfacing on the side feels too premium to be Nissan (which has the cheapest, blandest metal surfacing in the business). More Hyundai to me.

It looks good. A hell of a lot better than our Explorer and Edge. It’s modern without trying too hard (Palisade, for example, is the opposite). And it’s good they’re offering some interesting colors. You can take beige if you’d like, but I would prefer not to have another bland, greyscale, crossover.

I had my car searched at the Canadian border at Windsor/Detroit for NOT looking at a border patrol car suspiciously. As I was inching up in the queue of cars, there was a parked border patrol cruiser I stopped next to for a few minutes in the queue. I consciously avoided looking at him at all, which he found…

fuck.yes.

In American English, we have some interesting slang for numbers. We usually say “one-fifty”, “one-eighty”, “three-sixty” for 3 digit numbers, even though that’s technically incorrect.

Because “Eff Won Fif-tee” rolls off the tongue.

this is true. I think a carbon tax should be separate, and levied on gas, non-renewable electricity, and at the sale of a new vehicle, based on the carbon it generated through production.

FWD packaging works well for EVs, as it does for gas cars. That front compartment needs to exist as a crash zone, anyway. GM decided to forgo a Frunk and give more interior space by packaging the EV components and motor in the front compartment. Tesla does the opposite, packaging everything under the floor and rear…

This is all true.

Since Americans would never allow a government tracker in their car (though many happily allow commercial trackers via insurance or OnStar, etc), the government could leave it up to insurers to collect the tax. Similar to how property taxes are collected in escrow on your mortgage.

Pay-per-mile insurance schemes are becoming more and more common (I personally won’t go back to normal insurance). It’s not an uncommon idea, but the implementation is expensive if they require a tracker or OBD reader. Not to mention people simply won’t allow that invasion of privacy from the government.

He did what a CFO does, and sounded optimistic while committing nothing. If he said “we’re almost certainly going to win some of all of the NGDV contract”, then I’d see the cause for suit.

Bangle caused a shock in the luxury automotive world, and it took other companies years - even decades - to catch up.