Mine would be the 88-89 Mazda 323 GTX.  Turbo 16v 1.6l making 132hp/136lb torque. AWD. 2600#s. All the ingredients for a Corvette killer. To bad only 1243 were imported to the states. 

Not totally obscure, Marisa Tomei’s character knew about it in My Cousin Vinny

Remember though, the size of the tire has no bearing in contact patch size. That comes down to vehicle weight and tire pressure. It does affect contact patch shape, though. Taller tires have a longer front to back and narrow side to side patch where as wider tires have a wide side to side patch and narrow front to…

Actually, I agree. Stock they are blah but something about this one just looks right to me. 

See DnD’s Bottle of Boundless Coffee.

“Would you pay over MSRP for a Cybertruck with 3,000 miles on the odometer?”

There is nothing difficult about acquiring parts for the SMG since it’s just the same trans as the manual. The only thing that really fails is the pump and it is about a 2 hour job to replace and $1200 parts. After that, you won’t have another issue with that for at least 100k miles.

Obviously none of you have priced a factory 6mt E46.  Since the SMG uses the exact same transmission as the manual, you can convert this with factory parts for a couple thousand. Purchase this, convert it if you like and be ahead money wise. 

As the owner of almost this same exact car (mines topaz blue w/ black interior) I can say that the hate on the SMG is severely overblown. It drives almost exactly like a normal manual just without working the clutch. The real beauty of it comes when you set it to "5" on firmness, turn off traction control, mash the…

Lets keep in mind that they had a nearly new 2018 Subaru Legacy that was given to them so this had nothing to do with needing space. It was entirely selfish reasons on his part and I called him out on it.  

No, it’s partially financial illiteracy. Case in point. My daughter’s boyfriend started with a pos truck 5 years ago, traded it for a 2016 Hyundai accent, kept that for 2 years then traded that for 2018 accent 4 door. Kept that for one year or so and traded it for a brand new Hyundai Tucson. This is a guy that makes…

Maybe where your at but there are still plenty of 24hr Walmarts, CVS’s and grocery stores where I live.

Those numbers don’t seem right. The only difference is 30 min longer charging for the Ford but it takes 2 hours longer to get there. Am I missing something?

I guess I must be insane then. 

Opposite take. My wifes E46 M3 SMG convertible is a blast to drive. You just have to realize they are not low rpm, torque monster engines. Wing it out to the redline and they’re pretty quick. Not as quick as more modern cars but you are talking about a 15-20 year old car.  0-60 in 4.5-4.8 secs isn’t slow.  As for the…

Yeah, I have a lot of fond memories and met a lot of great people of working with VeloPromo. The crit in SF around the Levi Strauss plaza, the Walnut Creek crit at night and the wet/windy/snowy 1993 cyclocross national championships in Sonora at come to mind.

If you don’t mind me asking, what small California town were you from? And circa what time? I used to work for a guy out of Santa Cruz first then Soulsbyville, promoting and officiating road, MTB and cyclocross races, VeloPromo. I would work races all over central and northern CA in the early 90's. Wondering if I ever…

I absolutely hate push button start! Another solution looking for a problem. And phone apps for opening and starting a car are even more stupid. I don’t mind hitting a button to unlock a door, that’s good, but not having a specific place to put the key or fob so you don’t forget it, is just asking for problems. At…

Most of the M’s I’ve had, had an oil temp gauge, not oil pressure.

That was a GMT400. GMT800s were the next generation, 1999-2006. And that must have only been in the 1500s because my ‘95 2500 with the NV4500 doesn’t have it.