From an ex dealer guy -

I do classic Cadillac restoration for a living, and that car is MINT. Whoever got it for $22,500 did very well, from the looks of it. I have seen a lot of exceptionally original, low mile 1960's caddys and that engine compartment and interior line up with the shown odometer reading. Nice find!

Manufacturers have tried a lot of “world cars” over the decades, many of them have been remarkably unsuccessful in the US.

Smart car
Fiat 500
Renault 5/LeCar

That’s a great idea in theory, but unifying the dizzying array of different and sometimes contradictory auto emissions, safety, labeling and crash standards is an enormous undertaking, even if you could get the EU and US to agree to hundreds of specific compromises - let alone Japanese, Chinese and Indian standards,…

Yup, same here. In the 2 years we have had our Bolt, we have very rarely - needed to charge it to full capacity - always ahead of a trip, maybe 4 times total.

There have been huge discounts on new Bolts lately - my friend bought a new one with a $40k sticker for $25k out the door, taxes included. So it would make sense to drop the prices of used CPO units to make them sell in the environment where new ones are so steeply discounted.

BMW is channeling Edsel, finally!

Depends on who is found liable when things go terribly wrong. Also depends on how deep the defendants’ pockets are when it comes to hiring good lawyers and picking juries - if only to shift the blame away from corporate and onto the drivers using their systems.

This is great, thank you for sharing your adventure with us - and not just the car part. Having never been to Belgium, that part was very interesting. Looking forward to the next installation!

Exactly. You can get a brand new 4X6 ramp gate equipped landscaping trailer for $648 from lowes. 1700 lb payload capacity. Harbor freight has folding trailers for cheap, too.

Thank you, Captain Obvious, for figuring out the exact point I was making. Even if you did it kinda backwards.

LOL!

Well yeah, it’s a wagon, and wagons that aren’t Subarus haven’t been selling for shit in the US for some years now. Everyone wants an SUV/CUV, which is a big reason why the TourX is a great deal, and also why VW discontinued the last 2 remaining wagons they had in the US market after 2019. Also, Buick never advertised…

All those years of waiting, and you get NA 182 hp/176 lb-ft for $27k MSRP.

250hp/295 lb-ft and AWD in my ‘18 TourX for $28k was a much better deal.

That’s a pretty good take. I can daily whatever I want, within reason, but having survived a few serious accidents and living in a city with some of the worst traffic in the US I like my daily to be both reliable and safe, and that would go double if I had kids. The fun weekend cars/motorcycles are a whole different…

Does Stern have any advice for enabling the advanced headlight functions of european cars sold in the US with dumbed-down control logic? My ‘18 Buick TourX has very good self leveling LED headlights; the European Opel/Vauxhall Insignia uses the same LED lamps but individually controls each segment to avoid blinding onc…

Has anyone talked to OJ about doing an ad? He probably needs the money

Fair enough. If you get a chance to drive one on a warm dry day, take it. Preferably in a place without much speed enforcement. That’s all I can say. TBH I wasn’t a big fan before driving it myself, most new Mercedes seem pretty sterile to me as newer cars go.

Just do *not* turn the traction control or stability…

Exactly. I had a CRX, a bunch of air cooled VWs, the parents had an ‘85 Golf, bought new. If you wanted to go fast without spending a lot of money you either built it yourself from a 60s or early 70s car (which handled and stopped like shit) or you bought a japanese 4 cylinder motorcycle.

Have you driven one? I drive my client’s 2012 AMG SLS several times a year and it’s a fun ride, with 563 hp, god’s own exhaust note, a scream at the 7,200 rpm redline you have to hear to believe and nearly 50/50 weight distribution.
The 11.7 1/4 @124 in that kind of luxury is an experience too.

Don’t get me wrong, I…

Only slightly related side note:
I love that we live in a time when a 7 second 0-60 is considered “slow” for an average used car. When I was a little kid, the exotic ‘83 911 SC cabrio with the then-new liquid cooled, all aluminum 3.0 did 0-60 in 6.4 sec.

This was a over $100k car in today’s money that was on bedroom…