The cost of installing an electrical outlet near the toilet can double the cost. Stretching an extension cord to the washlet (bidet is an antiquated term) is both dangerous and hideous. There is one danger: just because you wash your butt every day does not mean you can skip bathing even if makes you look European.

The cost of installing an electrical outlet near the toilet can double the cost. Stretching an extension cord to the…

Building a manual transmission for the C8 may be hard but I expect there are clever folk who are now waiting for deliveries so they can figure out how it can be done. Once sorted I expect there won’t be a shortage of gearheads willing to pay $20,000 for another pedal.

Replace the Smax?  No way.  It is a European R-class but was better executed.  I once was one of 5 passengers in one while it was getting 35mpg at 85mph.  This new Ford will never serve that market.

The vinyl tape you can buy at Walmart or HD has no place on a car for a bunch of reasons. The leader of the automotive tape market is Tesa which you’ll find in many cars. It typically has a fabric backing which never leaves sticky snot as the vinyl crap does. 

Traditionally an SAE technical committee composed of american manufacturers and tier 1 suppliers have controlled headlight standards to their advantage since the 1930's. It was this committee that barred quartz iodide bulbs, they created worthless sealed beam QI rectangular lamps and barred moveable headlights,…

There are a lot more than 17.  They had that many in 2011.  There were some models that were only offered in manual so the total number would be in the hundreds, maybe thousands.  Sadly no manuals are available now.  

Suggest that they avoid crew cab models and make a straight up single cab and a extended cab. Good reason. There are many thousands of vehicles doing parcel delivery, courier service and security that carry only a driver and less than 500lbs. In times long past they used small trucks to great effect. As the trucks…

If you want the right to screw your phone up then go Android.  If you want the most secure mobile phone go iPhone.  As it is I bet most folk have less than $50 worth of apps (not including subscriptions like the NYT or Netflix).  The cost of Apple’s curation is meaningless and its value priceless.  Done.

This is brought to you by the same folks that made the Phaeton. Say no more. 

No wonder why Europeans find older German cars acceptable: their costs of ownership are mitigated by the availability of standalone authorized service centers and the availability of remanufactured components that are not available here. I suggest it is not the inconvenience of the repairs but their outrageous costs…

I bet you would wet yourself if you found a low mileage Ford Granada.  

Polling ignorant individuals about a product that has not been implemented is a waste of time. Blogging about a worthless poll is an even greater waste of time.

Go on a tour of an a vehicle assembly plant and you will invariably hear boasts about how they can efficiently produce any mix of vehicles. I believe them after seeing Miatas and model 3 sedans being assembled on the same line at their plant in Hiroshima. In the US distribution model vehicles are to be sold out of…

A worthless parlor trick. If they were only trying to demonstrate their capability why not transport a dozen doughnuts?  At best drones would be the last resort to transport critically needed organs. If conditions barred traditional methods of transport what is the use of delivering an organ if the transplant team…

BMW doesn’t understand rich folk. If they want a track car they get a track car. If they want a street car the house manager has several ready to drive. It’s only the poor mother fuckers who have only one car and try to do more than one thing with it. Same thing with houses; the Maui, Vail and the Hamptons houses each…

If planes were built to current automotive standards none but the suicidal would fly. Southwest has the best safety record for good reason: they prefer military pilots who typically depend on automation only to blow things up and they order their 737’s with the minimal amount automation “we expect the pilots to fly…

Japanese are too polite to say it but they think American toilets are akin to wiping your butt with leaves.  Once you have a washlet in your home you’ll agree with them. Yes, you’ll still use a little bit of toilet paper but only as a QA measure.  

The SAE has traditionally set headlight standards and is dominated by the Big Three and submissive OEM’s. For over 60 years this group has set headlight standards to frustrate foreign interlopers and keep US production costs down. Europe introduced quartz halogen lights to great effect but the SAE declared them…

Those shooting video typically work in resolutions double that of the ultimate display. “Work” isn’t just the camera but all of the downstream devices required for its ultimate release. As such the production video universe has largely adopted 8K as the resolution of choice. For mainstream 8K video the complete equipme…

Many years ago I ordered an ML320 new with 16" wheels. Before it came it I found new MB 17" wheels for $160 each delivered. Took them to Discount Tire and had new tires mounted. When the car came in I took the set to the dealer who installed them and put the originals inside before delivery. Listed the originals on…