I rented a mid-level Camry SE 4 cylinder and thought “my God, what an excellent car this is”. I was disgusted when Avis only had it left, but it was a great car. Handled well, super comfortable, excellent fuel economy and decent acceleration. I imagine the top spec V6 models are genuinely sporty cars.

The Dodge Journey was our last true “people’s car”. It was compact, 7 seater, optional AWD, decently efficient, and generally reliable... And absurdly cheap.

I think this will fare better than the Baja. What people forget is the Baja was a sedan/wagon with a bed. It sat low and looked goofy. This is a crossover with a bed. It will sit as high up as most crossover buyers want, with a bit more cohesive styling than the Baja.

Because most non-commercial truck buyers commute with their trucks, and maybe have 1 Home Depot run a month. Most non-commercial buyers would be fine with a sedan, but think a bed is necessary in case they might someday need to bring home a refrigerator from Home Depot. And of course, trucks have a cooler image than a…

What people think the 80s were like:

BMW has done this for a long time as well. A very handy feature. I don’t know if Volvo does it, because we’ve never used the real key!

Of all those, I think the Sky and Insight are overall decent cars. The Sky is still stylish and handled great. The Insight is quirky AF and was the only manual hybrid ever sold (until the CRZ). 

I always loved when power window switches have two levels of “click”. The first level is normal operation. The second level requires a harder push and express opens or closes. Simple but useful. I think BMW or VW invented this, but it’s becoming commonplace.

I disagree with your volume idea. You already have volume controls on your steering wheel (and a physical knob in most cars). Having another preamp means you need to balance the Thing's volume, your phone's volume and the car's volume. Infuriating! I'm glad most modern cars are now taking volume control from phones so…

I have a 2011 535i (turbo 3.0 six) with a 6 speed manual. I drove it from Chicago to Miami for snowbirding purposes. Loaded up with stuff and no passengers, I got 25.5 MPG average. It has 140k miles.

Not really. It depends on the car more than the engine type. For example, the V6 Camry and Accord 2.0T get equal gas mileage. Though the Accord makes 50 horsepower less than the Camry, and has 2 more gears in the transmission.

reminds me a bit of a Sbarro Windhawk. If they had used a first gen 4Runner instead, it would be a very close match.

If you like this, wait till you hear about the REAR WHEEL DRIVE Toyota Avanza. It’s a 7 seater MPV that is 9" shorter than the B-RV and is based on a mini-truck platform to handle horrible roads in developing markets and long-life taxi duty like a champ.

Hey, these are the same issues that my grandpa’s 2016 GLS550 with 28k miles has! I bet his LX is significantly more reliable overall, though.

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…