Grew up in upstate NY. No one changed tires in the winter.

My very concerned 74 y/o dad told me about this just two weeks ago. First time he had ever heard of it. I had to break it to him that it’s an old wives’ tale from 20 years ago.

OH DAMN! Great idea!

So before anyone comes in here to drag the cabbies through the mud, remember this: The city severely limited the number of medallions, which drove their prices through the roof. The city also offered loans to buy those medallions, sometimes up to a million dollars. They presented a situation where you would sell your…

Tourists and people who have a tank pass from their employer do. No one else does.

dude, what the hell? no one in their right mind fills his car up on the autobahn.

If only you could ask the advice of a regular Jalopnik contributor on the legal and financial aspects of car purchase and maintenance...
Wouldn’t Tom McParland give you mates rates for his advice or intervention?

Sounds like it may be time to have a local Lawyer send a nice letter to that mechanic explaining why they owe you a new engine. That shouldnt be expensive, and if it is a reputable shop, they should have insurance to cover stuff like this

Perhaps more likely is that they did at least attempt to flush the coolant, but did it improperly, hence the air bubble in the system.

That is their excuse, which I’m not sure they thought that through before saying it. lol

I guess a used engine is like $1000?  In today’s used car market I wonder if it’s worth it.  I guess you can’t find too many reasonable replacement cars for $1000.

Oh you bet we’re talking to the previous mechanic. They’ve denied responsibility and have offered two rather incredible explanations for the engine’s death.

“ Society needs these people suckers to keep these cars around and on the roads for our morbid pleasure.”

I admit that most of the appeal is probably for Piech era VW fans, who appreciate just how silly stuff like a V10 Touareg, W8 Passat or this are. They’re the sort of cars that no logical auto manufacturer would build today, including the VW of today.

I never grow tired reading your short stories about your 850. A much younger me passed up on a $1,000 850 as a potential first car. If only I knew how awesome they are!

I daily Drive my BMW 850 and it has 207K miles as of today. Had to reset the ECU yesterday because of a Check Engine light that comes back about once a month

General question about engines here, if anyone has time. The Escape’s engine is described as “understressed” and that’s explained as “underpowered.” Could anyone, ideally David Tracy (although I understand if I’ve burned him over the years with my Jeep hatred), expand on that?

Seriously. Yikes.

She’s been renting at a price of $3,000 per month (gulp again!)

Do you accept vehicles that are not as, uhhmm, clean or as perfect as these pictures would indicate? Vehicles with dents/rust need not apply?