In my old car (‘04 Xterra), I never used the headrest, for the same reason you mentioned. If I leaned my head back on them, I’d be looking at the headliner. They were pretty flat.

Agreed! My car has two trip meters and I use them both regularly.

Thanks! I actually really liked it, very comfortable, good power, and it had a ton of boot space. They are getting hard to find, at one point I really wanted one, but all the ones in decent shape with reasonable miles were basically the same price as a new compact hatchback, so I bought a Mazda3 instead.

Agreed, I test drove a ton of cars at CarMax because it’s easy, and then went and purchased (new) elsewhere.

I really hope these e-plates do not happen. I completely agree this is just adding complication and fragility to something that isn’t broken.

This was my thought too. The automakers don’t seem to necessarily care about keeping environmental regulations, they just don’t want the headache of dealing with more than one standard.

I recently drove a bunch of different new Subaru models when I was looking for a new car. The seat heater switches in the newest Impreza/Crosstrek are exactly the same as the ones in the 2006 Impreza. 12 years later, and still the exact same switches (and only marginally different than the ones from earlier in the…

You actually can turn them off in most GM cars, or at least you could in older models. In our 2001 Suburban which had auto-headlights, you could press the dome light switch (I think 5 times in a row) and it would turn off the headlights until you moved the headlight switch. Think it was something similar in my 1998…

I had a ‘98 Intrigue with the 3.8l (bought it used in 2006 with ~60,000 miles). I actually loved that car, but mine also went through window regulators way too quickly. IIRC I replaced all four, and the front passenger one went twice! Not to mention the sunroof motor going, and all the interior buttons…

I grew tired of my ‘04 Nissan Xterra after ~10 years of owning it. I loved that car, I maintained it well and it never once gave me a single bit of trouble (sold with 170,000 miles). I ditched it mainly because I wanted something that was smaller with better ride/handling and fuel economy. Even when I bought it, it…

I agree that people are over-reliant on these tech solutions and most drivers do not pay nearly enough attention. I don’t know how I feel about rearview cameras being mandatory, but they are handy with the way newer cars are designed.

I don’t know why, but I approve of this trend. Although hopefully they don’t drive too closely to sidewalks... or try to park in public.

Agree 100%, this is the worst automotive trend. I personally prefer a nice PRNDL/S lever with actual, tactile detents. None of this video game weird shifter handles or twirly knobs or dashboard buttons. I can sort of see the point in SOME designs, like in recent Lincolns where they are left of the infotainment screen.…

Not my lie, but in high school I had a ‘98 Oldsmobile Intrigue with the 3.8 V6. Not fast but it had decent kick. The transmission was crap though. One time I let my friend borrow it and she brought it back insisting that my car had a turbo. I told her no, but she said “when you slam the gas, you can feel the turbo…

I do a variation of this every time I go through a yellow light, I get it from my mother. It’s called “Kiss it, tap it, snap it”. Kiss two fingers, tap the sun visor, then snap your fingers.

The thing that bothers me most about these VW interiors (Golf, Jetta, CC, etc) are the blank buttons around the gear leaver. Does anyone know what features go there? Even in loaded CC’s, GTI’s, etc, most of those buttons are still blank! What are they there for if the high trim models still don’t fill them? Here’s…

I was thinking the same thing. The outside screams Hyundai/Kia to me (the rear looks especially Kia-ish), and the interior reminds me of Hyundai with a bit of Mazda.

I see your point here, they are close, but those also aren’t really Apples to Apples. That Mazda CX-5 has much lower power numbers than the Fusion (155hp vs ~175), in a package that I believe weighs about the same, if not slightly less. If I remember correctly, the larger engine available in the CX-5 is rated at 26…

I think part of the problem is that people want a car that does “everything” all the time, even if they don’t really need it most of the time.

My DD Mazda is an automatic and I alway use the parking brake (though I do have a MT Forester as well). I figure it saves wear on the transmission (I have no science to back this up, just intuition).