Lexus was very smart from the get-go. They’re mostly on custom, Lexus-only chassis, and they beat that drum from the get-go with that early commercial that showed them rolling a ball bearing along the edge lines of the car. The ES is one of the few, if not the only one, that shares a chassis with Toyota. You won’t see…

Unfortunately, there’s a market for that concept that’s willing to pay 50 grand for a new car, but it pretty much begins and ends with you and my mom. She bitches almost daily about all the gadgetry in her Acura. She wants a reliable luxury car, and the highest tech thing in it should be the power windows. She doesn’t…

Not really, they just replaced equally non interesting sedans.

I drive a 300hp coupe. It’s nearly impossible to enjoy anything sportier than that on public roads and not be a danger to others. And most super flashy cars still are rarely, if ever, even really used for that. The most they see is quick acceleration from a stop light, which the G-Wagen is also fun at.

Yeah, it’s really no different in concept than all the McLarens, Ferraris, etc. that never see a track.

Kids were always a larger driver in form factor than work though. They take up a lot of space. Before kids I happily rocked a mixture of small hatch and convertible. My wife also drove a 2 door hatch. Once kids came she upsized to the CUV and I went full size sedan. I downsized a bit when the kids were both front…

It really depends on the situation. The Takata airbag thing, for example. There’s nothing Honda or anybody else could have done to catch that problem ahead of time because you just can’t replicate the conditions without the passage of years. I’m less forgiving with scenarios like the C8 Corvette Frunk Thing (as…

The echo chamber on the right is so insane right now. The gymnastics they are doing to spin this debate as a win for Trump is laughable. I implore everyone to head over to r/conservative on Reddit for a laugh. I sat out 2016, I was a Republican-leaning Independent in a heavy blue state, but after what the senate has…

4th Gear: From what I saw working at a large German company, the Unions have more than one good idea there.

So don’t lie, which I understand, but don’t also tell the truth. I have to disagree with you. I think the US is due to have, and deserves some ugly, harsh, inconvenient truths to be exposed. Going back to pre-Trump “normal” shouldn’t be the goal. If we’re going to move past where we are, then that should start with…

These things are ugly. I don’t quite understand how they could go from the Model S that has nice proportions and is a handsome looking car to a complete suppository looking suv. And they look even worse in-person.

Lots of leftists are very pro-nuclear power. As always, the answer to “how do we solve climate change,” the answer is ALL OF THE ABOVE. Nuclear, renewables, residential solar, neighborhood small-scale natural gas backup plants, energy efficiency, public transportation, working from home, leaving fossil fuels in the…

2nd Gear: Newsom is an idiot. We cant power the state as is let alone with a bunch more EVs suckling at the electrical supply. They literally went through rolling blackouts for just a 2 week heatwave. How the hell in 15 years are the power companies supposed to keep up with demand. They cant build coal, natural gas,…

$25k is the base version which they’ll make a few years later after they’ve been selling the $30k trim level from the start.

It is important to remember that although things are particularly dark at the moment, right-wing  attempts to hobble if not outright kill the USPS are about a human generation old. Yet still it survives, even thrives, under constraints on how it can and must do business that nobody in the private sector would consider…

Its fine if you want to call it an appliance, but its the BEST appliance in a sea of appliances, and being a car...and me being interested in car culture...I think it’s worth exploring why that is.

It’s a box ticker type of car. It’s a SUV (“I need an SUV because I like to see better!”), it it’s too expensive, it’s reliable, and offers the features people ask for (AWD, V6). You buy one as you would a new refrigerator. 

That said, I actually like the modern Rav4, especially the Prime. Decent looking, moderately rugged, plenty of space, nice enough interior, and a plug in hybrid drivetrain that can stay in electric for all the driving people do the majority of the time, and then fill up on gas for an occasional roadtrip, all with…

“Maybe these RAV4 buyers didn’t know that they could get an interesting car instead.”

The EV1 was not exactly a practical EV. The thing operated on an extremely heavy set of conventional lead acid batteries. So an owner could probably expect to have to replace those in less than 10 years which would not have been at all cheap. The cars were crushed because the parts suppliers would not support the…