XLT is hardly a fleet-only trim. How did we get to the point where you’re considered a peasant if you don’t have leather heated and cooled seats with a panoramic moonroof and small robot in the dash to steer your boat down the ramp?

Its does look rather FiST-ey.

Fuel filler is there.

The new system that debuted on the GLA has touch screen capability. But super limited, and its doesn’t support gestures like Sync. Basically lets you push buttons, but functionally not really any better than the dumb little curser wheel in the center stack.

I never suggested Lexus is worse for lacking some features. I’m just pointing out they tend to be a little more conservative, which makes it a more reliable product. TBH - the Focus is the first car I’ve bought with any premium options. I usually skip on everything except the largest engine available. But now that…

Does the Lexus LS have 30-way adjustable seats? What about rear-seat seat-belt airbags? Lincoln Continental does....

Compare a 100,000 mile Mercedes S-Class to a 100,000 Avalon, same year, and one of those will cost the equivalent of college tuition to keep running. Besides more expensive scheduled maintenance, you have more repairs on the Merc, and probably aren’t too far off from major service requiring the engine out.

Yesterday I was driving behind/beside 20's-ish Asian guy rocking a Crown Vic Police Interceptor! Still had the pillar spotlights and police-spec steelies with chrome hubcaps!

The new Ford Fusion hybrid is the first vehicle to get certified for pursuits. Previously, the all hybrids were only good for “special service” (i.e. supervisors, parking patrols etc)

Bad interpretation of the sentence where it says they “reviewed the entire fleet”. Ooops

Also, some EMS departments assign an alway-on readiness requirement for some units, so that in a low-coverage area, there’s no chance of an unexpected no-start condition, and the chances of something else going wrong are higher that it will happen while on standby.

Under normal driving, no. But under police duty, I could see it. That much idling is sure to break down oil faster, at which point it starts getting used up.

So this one police department has 100% failure rate on THE MOST COMMON POLICE VEHICLE IN THE COUNTRY????

Not at all. Ride in the back of an F150 or Expedition, and it’s mighty comfy.

C-Max Energi.

Lincoln is showing this Aviator concept as a plug-in hybrid, which is a nice gesture but feels kind of weak in this day of electric SUVs.

That’s crazy in came out the exhaust and not out the block!

Cars without wear sensors are reuqired to use a “squealer”, which is a metal tabs that drags on the rotor, and sounds like you’re down to metal before you’re actually down to metal.

Sounds like the hardware is there. They just missed it in programming....

Bigger chunks, sure. Most of the small stuff just slices through the foil-thin fins. (Mishimoto vs OEM Ford pictured).