This. I don’t mind digitizing features, but I refuse to buy a car without a physical buttons, even if they are redundant to the screen. Especially for key features, such as HVAC, radio volume, traction-control etc. 

Ford/Lincoln already has fully heated glass windshields. It works far better than the heating elements in other cars, and on a frosty morning will clear the windshield in about 90 seconds . But that still doesn’t prevent ice from building up in the wiper blade grooves when it’s very cold and blowing snow, and…

It’s not an OEM feature. It’s shitty dealers upcharging for it, and if a customer declines, they tell them it came that way. It’s literally a $15 a plug-and-play module, but the dealers charge hundreds for it, and suggest they buyer gets an insurance discount for having it.

You really only find cabovers in western states where overall length-limits apply to triple-trailer combinations. Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah mainly, and primarily on East/West routes where the driver will overnight in the trucks’s sleeper. North-south routes use day cab conventional trucks since they can make it…

Because Portland Metro population has gone up nearly 50% in the last 20 years, while the number of gas stations as steadily declined (combination of property values and legacy costs are old stations, like leaky tank remediation), and the miles-per-person average has gone up as well.

Most camper-vans are going to all-electric appliances. Even a decent AGM setup will run the induction stove or an instapot for a few days without recharging the house batts.

The black version looks like somebody plasti-dipped a set of plastic wheel covers.

Because there is a not-insignificant population at large who must think the high-beam switch is just a position adjustment for the turn signal switch. Like a telescoping steering wheel. For your turn signals.... Not matter how many time you flash them, or what time of day... high beams are always on....

I gotta wonder how much payload this thing has remaining. From what I could find, 4x4 extended cab models had about 1,400 pounds of payload stock? Deduct 350 pounds for the front bumper and winch and tire carrier, and another 250 pounds for the extended range fuel tank (filled), 200 pounds for the topper, and this…

Not the generation you can get for dirt cheap:

Yeah but the Aerostar will be easier to keep going. The 1st gen Sedona/Entourage are loaded with already-obsolete parts that are hard to impossible to find. And serviceability sucked. They were designed as a throwaway car, hence the low resale values. The Ford 4.0L and 5-speed auto still have a ton of a aftermarket…

that’s nothing. The Dodge full size van used the same unibody for close to 3 decades! Only the front clip and taillights changed.

Deep bone bruising in my left elbow, torn shoulder tissue (infraspinatus and superspinatus) from a it being dislocated as the tire continued up my arm and onto my face, and a pretty decent concussion. Here’s the weird part. I didn’t even realize that he drove over my face until the next day, when the tire tread…

But bike share usage plummeted EVERYWHERE.

Yup. This article does a pretty big disservice by focusing fatalities only, when having a permanent brain injury is arguably worse (yes... I’d rather be killed than be a care-dependent patient the rest of my lift).

The Transit is infinitely better than the Promaster in every single way. In most ways, it’s better that the Sprinter, including reliability. But #vanlife requires a fancy badge for more shares.

From the article: “An Opel-sourced five-speed stick was made available for those who liked to take the shifting into their own hands”. This specific example has that transmission.

Pretty much this. Also, I suspect at 125,000 miles and this motor being being supercharged, it’s probably has some decent wear. And having a bunch of Opal parts scattered throughout makes me think the total cost of ownership will end up being higher than something more modern, like an early FiST.

It depends on the transmission, and on the region.

Yup. The Taurus Z became the 5th gen Explorer. They just added subframe pucks.Everything under the skin and even seats are all the same.