My 1990 Trans Sport with the anemic 3.1 V6 and 140K miles burns at most a half a quart of oil in 5000 or so mostly local miles.

Isn’t this a continuation of or successor to the “Star Wars” Reagan era efforts? I remember tests of what they came up with were not necessarily successful and were done in more than ideal circumstances, like they knew the trajectory of the target already etc. I know I could spend a few hours on the internet and…

Oh. I thought it was a teeny Corvair.

Was built.

Yes. For example as a Senator, Hillary Clinton’s reputation was that she was always the most knowledgeable and informed person in the room.

The 16 is the same, with the same chassis layout, and it came first.

The spare on first gen VW buses was later (I guess) behind the front seat.

I’m fine with a space saver spare. Saves space and weight and cost. About 25% of new cars come with a can of Fix A Flat and nothing, which is not great if you cut a sidewall, which has happened to me and not with off roading.

I guess with the Renault 16 and DS, the engine being behind the axle line meant that it wasn’t toasting the spare like in a Subaru.

The DS and Renault 16 and 5 had FWD and an arrangement like an Audi except turned around so the engine intruded into (unused) passenger space. This left a lot of room in front because only the transmission and some other stuff were there. So putting the spare tire there made good use of the space. On the 16 this meant…

Same Frenchy arrangement as in a Renault 16.

I think there was a valve that cut off the washer function at a certain pressure.

After about ten NE winters I went to crank the spare under the back of my minivan down. The crank spun around. The tire was gone. Apparently the steel piece, or whatever held it on, at the end of the cable rusted and fell off and the car left the spare like laying an egg (nicest analogy) somewhere.

Really smart, funny, and well written piece. Not just for an engineer either.

That’s the design critique by the same guy as always that is still in Automobile magazine.

Obviously fake brake cooling intakes and exhausts you mean.

Blame Audi for the big distinctive “radiator” grille.

Honda loves them, front and rear.

I thought the Neon looked fine for the time and its intended niche. And others think the PT was always awful, it was the first retromobile and I thought then and now that they did a really excellent job on the styling. I would have been proud of it as a designer. The pictured one is after the facelift, which improved…