A major problem with the German Autobahn is the ‘Baustelle’ construction works. They are everywhere and they take forever. Yet, you hardly ever see people working there. It's as if there is some kind of very inept national organization running this, or some kind of mafia structure.

Given the description of this engine, this is very much not an economy car powerplant. An economy car powerplant is simple and cheap to produce.

I remember when the Golf GTI had 110 hp, and that's still a riot to drive.

If they are missing the point depends on the market. In the lax NA this might not make much sense, but with the old Skyactive engine the co2 emissions (read: efficiency) of even the Mazda 3 would result in strong tax penalties FOR MAZDA in the EU market starting 2021 or 2022. Like, thousands per car. In something more…

I’m not even talking about actual handling. I used to drive a very low mileage 2000 Corolla (5-speed, Euro market 3-door) quite frequently and it handled fine. The issue with that car was that it felt like the steering wheel was not connected to the wheels and the suspension ... suspended. It was comfortable and…

Those are Chevrolet/Daewoo Matiz shitboxes. The less we talk about those, the better.

Now imagine much better steering/braking/chassis feel, less weight and a lower price when new. That’s where these two shine.

They are though. They are the hot versions of these cars. Not just with significantly more hp than the base versions (almost twice as much!), but typically with changes to the chassis, brakes, exterior, steering and whatnot as well.

These laws don’t specifically target American companies, they target every company that operates within their borders. Apple is not even mentioned in these regulations. And when a company willingly breaks a law that has been in place for a longer period of time, what kind of toothless government would let that slide?

How will you factor on all the explosions? Will it be heads that explode? Gas stations? Something else?

The Bolt did not outsell anything in the UK, as it is not available with RHD. Even in continental Europe, sold as an Opel Ampera-e, it’s an also-ran. Partly because GM waved the white flag and retreated from Europe in 2017. The new owner of Opel is understandably not really motivated to sell GM tech. They bought the…

You complain about using the European name in the US, and then use the Japanese pronunciation of the name? This seems odd.

You actively made it snow?

I had the same reaction when I read that. A 2CV... fragile and fiddly? Even a classic DS isn’t fragile (you could argue fiddly), but a 2CV is neither fragile nor fiddly. They are designed to (and will) run at max rpm for ages and they can be repaired with nothing but a hammer (and ductape and WD-40) by a blind monkey.

No. What I'm saying is that European pay a premium for fast cars and other luxury products, while Americans pay a premium for decent health care and education. So it's the opposite of what you just wrote.

“they pay premium for everything”

Like Chevrolet, Cadillac and Pontiac?

Why? Do you have experience with the 406 or other late 90s/very early 00s Peugeots? These are known to be rather reliable. The 200+ k miles on his is quite normal.

A Peugeot 406 is a cockroach though. More reliable than many (not all) Japanese cars from the era. I own the coupe version with 358k km (222k miles) on the odometer. It feels like it can take many more. And no, it’s not a diesel. You can only kill these when you never change the oil and treat the gas pedal as an…

I still think you guys should join us some time in Europe. We’re oppositelock (so jalopnik) based, and we do a meet or two (or three) a year. All over Europe. I’ve visited 11 different countries in my life while meeting foreign oppositelock/jalopnik readers.