I have a pair of stone-reliable daily drivers now, and save my personal wrenching time for stuff I enjoy doing, like crapcan racing, rather than driving an old POS that needs a lot of attention by necessity.

Lifts and heat in the winter are game changers. 

Does the girl come with the car? :)

$700 for 30 horsepower through the range and 30 lb ft of torque , with no labor cost is *cheap* as long as the tune doesn’t blow the engine.

Triumph, Aprilia and many other moto manufacturers also had plastic gas tanks with the same problems. Ducati actually acknowledged it and replaced tanks, even out of warranty. 2007 was also the first year for the new, longer maintenance intervals, and scheduled maintenance checks and labor time were significantly…

Ten years ago? Uh, no. 20, maybe. Once TPG bought Ducati they put real money and real reforms into the company, and the 916/996/998 was born. The reforms fully took around the 999 and by 2007 - when the 1098 was introduced - Ducati was generally competitive with other high end European motorcycle marques in…

Ducati has been doing special edition monsters like the Cromo since the 90s, and Tricolore edition superbikes go back to the 2007 1098 intro. There was a Matrix edition 996 - green - back when that movie came out in the 90s. VW didn’t invent any of that.

Hit a nerve there, eh?

Says the guy who opened with “Ok, so first off, no need to be such a dick about it.”😂

One company conspired to break federal law, in advance, as a matter of policy, and build hundreds of thousands of cars that broke said law. They then conspired to lie to federal regulators. 100% of those cars were illegal from day one.

I see what you’re saying. I think part of the issue is that “soar” is dramatic but vague, with different meanings for different people, and IMHO the author runs into problems when she says that “automakers will be screwed” if oil rises by $10/bbl this year, to $60... when that’s pretty clearly not been the case in…

So the answer is no, you don’t have hard information, you don’t know what corporate policy actually was, and you’re still making sweeping statements about nationwide experiences based on anecdotals.

I can’t believe I need to say this, but - Not always. A 20% rise at 20 bucks a barrel (that’s 4 bucks, bringing it to $24) won’t generate the pain that a 20% rise at $100 a barrel will (bringing it to $120).

What is your actual proof for these sweeping, hyperbolic generalizations you’re saying?

The percentage sounds a lot more impressive than saying $10/barrel rise. Click bait headline FTL.

You - one customer having owned one car - don’t represent any larger truth with the company, their dealers or their customers.

Ugh. Yet another half assed armchair quarterback Saturn article from someone who was a child when the car launched. Saturn really was revolutionary for it’s day, and not just revolutionary for GM - Honda and Toyota dealers were notorious for treating their customers like shit in sales and service back then, and GM’s…

They exist in other countries, just try a Tsuru or a Nano

When I worked in Manhattan a full 25% of the vehicles on the street at any given time were yellow cabs. Often closer to 40%. When the cabs went on strike the traffic was very noticeably better.

Patrick - as new cars, Corrados failed on value vs. the competition (even/especially versus the more practical, cheaper, more useful yet similarly performing GTI) and they developed a reputation for expensive and flimsy model-unique parts that broke a lot, like the shifter, some interior bits, headlights that failed,…