Much of the non-mechanical detail work is outsourced. Heated / ventilated leather seats? Pick them off the shelf from the same vendor that makes them for a dozen other car companies.

Can I make a really annoying and pedantic comment? Well, I’m going to regardless. I find the use of “the thing” to denote a level of journalistic flippancy or casualness to be ... annoying. Whether its an AMR or an Accent, its not a “thing” - its a car. In most cases the inclusion of a “the thing” is entirely…

Why would any startup car manufacturer choose to launch with a sedan, vs a CUV / SUV? 

Came here to echo this sentiment --- the “new” interior doesn’t look any better IMHO -- just different. I mean, a new head unit is nice, but the rest is kind of ho hum and looks dated already IMHO.

That 3 inches of ground clearance will “render” it unusable anywhere. I mean I get it, its a render, and supposed to look sexy, but come on. A sexy rendering of a commercial van actually decreases its credibility.

Early on, I thought their utilitarian design was for the sake of low cost manufacturing - an inexpensive, durable, easily fixable truck for doing real work. I’m willing to bet that that was in fact their plan. Along the way, the costs spiraled, so they pivoted to this low volume luxury plan, just without the luxury.

I’m going to post an unpopular opinion. A lot of the E46s “Gotchas” are things a PPI aren’t going to catch. That is to say, still do a PPI, but anything it catches (IMHO) is going to be obvious from driving it anyway- like egregious engine or transmission problems.

Aside from just seeing things he might not otherwise hear about, he’s also empowered to address them, right then and there - whether that’s changing a process, or adding a million dollar machine - those sorts of things might happen eventually, but could take months to wend their way through channels, whereas having…

You know, looking at how that portfolio of brands is faring, maybe Ghosn wasn’t doing such a great job after all.

This feels so... mortifying.

How does one reserve the spots adjacent to these for electric vehicles?

I test drove a Macan S, X5 and GLK when I was SUV shopping for my daily.

There are Alpina Z4s already:

That gets you an old school yeaaahhhhhh

Say what you will, I’ve been in a number of Audis, and they’ve all smelled “good” - not the VOC-laden odor of a less expensive plastic interior, or even the Old Leather smell I associate w/ BMWs (e46s in particular) - just clean, wool carpet smell, and good materials.

As a former E46 owner, I can say that I love driving these cars, but hate owning them. Cracked plastic. Mysterious codes. Electrical gremlins. Especially with a slushbox, this is not worth the maintenance effort and expenses that its going to take to keep running.

OMG so it is! I assumed that since it was a Honday it would be engine up front, FWD. That mid engine RWD makes it even more attractive. Quick googling shows.. HAYABUSA swaps?? Sweet.

Looks like fun! Something tells me the shift action would be great too. My only dream K-car request would be to make it RWD.

Yeah- totally fair point. For some reason audi sticks out in my head as the most rigid purveyor of a singular design language across models, so.

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