I mean, all types of firefighting foam contain synthetic surfactants that basically never break down in nature. That they have only now finally changed the formulation from PFAS to some other engineered molecule gives me no real comfort. Firefighting foam has permanently contaminated the ground and people’s drinking…

Your article does not come to that conclusion (root cause of spill).  Do you have solid info?  That should be a lifetime behind bars if so.

No, you lose a lot by trying to drive this thing. Real-world vehicle width is actually at the side view mirrors. These are way wider. You cannot fit this truck in a normal driving lane, any parking lot space, etc. The extra interior space is completely pointless.  And so is the bed space, for the most part.  I don’t…

Lawrence, WTF man. You left out the main part of the press release:

Whoa I guess I didn’t realize you could get the 5-spd manual on the 6.0L.  I have an ‘03 2500HD 6.0L auto with only 112k so far.  Doing my best to keep it rust free (which pretty much means I can’t drive on salty roads any more).

You couldn’t be more wrong, though.

This is a good point. VWs can be fickle. All six of mine have been pretty damn reliable (I maintain them at home myself).  The one exception was my wife’s 2010 passat wagon, which she loved.... kept eating coolant pumps and blew the rear main seal.

Sure, comfortable and reasonably quiet (although my buddies 2010 pruis V is loud as hell when the engine is droning away, and the wind noise over 60 is noticable), but still not fun to drive, whatsoever. There’s no feedback, no engagement. It just goes, turns and stops ok.

Lol, I daily a golf (alltrack) with two kids, so I do agree. My rear-facing kid seat does make my wife scrunch up into the dashboard a little though. Her CX-9 is far more comfy and only gets a few worse mpg. But at the same time, some days I need to drive my full size pickup to run errands, and I appreciate the roads,…

It’s rather cute how proud Europeans are of all the compromises they make in life. Tiny cars, tiny streets, tiny houses/flats, call it all perfectly fine. We like stuff, and space, here in the USA. Definitely a bit too much, but.

I mean, glad you enjoy driving yours, but they are just boring appliances.  Go drive a mazda or a VW and then you’ll see how dull the prius is.

Yeah I got the manual specifically for the fun-to-drive factor. However it wasn’t all that fun to me, until I did: short shifter, clutch delay valve delete, dogbone mount, and added ~40 BHP (JB4, intake).

Was it an aftermarket, heavier clutch? (crankwalk?)  curious how it caused failure for you.

I am in southeast Michigan but took a train to Chicago so a dealer could pick me up, and finish the sale on a Friday afternoon. Theres over a dozen VW dealers in chicago land, pretty good price competition. I got the dark blue (night blue? I forget). I wanted silk blue with marakesh brown interior, but was impulsive…

ha, thats awesome.  congrats, nice ride.

You’re totally correct, I didn’t realize it was so old (2008).  The styling is timeless, looks great still.

Looks a lot like mine.  Nice!  I love my manual, but the DSG cars are substantially faster, too.

I love my manual alltrack but occasionally think about how I should have gotten a DSG auto instead - for my wife to be able to drive it, and because they are substantially faster than the manual.  They hold boost through each shift.  Hard to do on the manual unless you want to really reef on your synchros every time.

Nice car, but dang it always seems like BMW owners just rack up the miles. 151k on an N54.... I just couldn’t do it. Gonna be so expensive to keep on the road, I would fear.

WTF is with these suggestions. You had it right in the lead image.