I’m considering something with a third row seating option that’d be nice to drive. Short of an SRT Durango or Caravan (both no’s, thanks), there aren’t many options. Finding out you can get a decently powered Acura in a nice trim for half the price of a Model X is good news to me. If it can pull off occasional minivan…

Older transmissions typically aren’t using synchronization, so it’s usually necessary to spend more time matching up the clutch speeds. You can (sometimes) almost catch it just by releasing the clutch in neutral at idle to get it spinning... or if you release the clutch in neutral while the engine is still up on the…

Don’t do the aero kit.

Depending on how long you want to be in the car, it might be better to consider the long term customer satisfaction rating and reviews.

Reminds me of another key piece of inclement weather gear you should check out: (golf) cart mitts!

Neutral: The easy answer for us is the GM plant closures in Canada. However, that could be viewed as business as usual and a result of globalization.

Only serves to reinforce my point, so I'm going to allow it. 

 Not drunk enough to ask those questions... yet!

I don't know if they have to but, scientifically, they should. 

It is.

Not sure if your car has this feature or not, but some of the modern VWs started warming the glow plugs as soon as they detected the door opening... which means even shorter wait times and less likelihood that someone would accidentally try to start the car before the light went out. 

While you do have a point, some of the numbers don’t seem right to me. 40k is a base price for almost any full sized truck.... prices I see advertised locally easily run up to 70k. 35k for a feature loaded full sized sedan does seem legit... but I would expect mpgs closer to 35, even 40 in this day and age.

It’s a good point. The perfect camouflage would have been ‘rusted out old jalopy’ because then it would just look like someone’s project car.

And it is true that it’s a wear item, it’s also true that it can take some abuse and still function, and it’s also, presumably, true that the customer has also caused his share of wear and tear to the clutch.

I would say that’s fair...I would also say the shop could use those bargaining chips to assuage the customer if they wanted to keep him. It may have felt like blackmail, but some people are more accustomed to negotiation than others.

There. Finally someone hit upon the ACTUAL case in point here, unwarranted wear and tear to someone else’s property.

While I wasn’t going to name any more names, the sad part is that people almost certainly already have said tattoos.  At the very least, I wouldn't be surprised to see it.

Sausage a sight....HA.

Thanks. I was completely misguided I assuming that planetary gear sets were used in manuals. Don’t ask me how I came to that conclusion (or how I envisioned such a system actually working)... just chalk it up to ignorance.

Wait wait wait. I’m not saying your statement is wrong, but aren’t manuals typically orbital (read: planetary) gear sets as well? The difference lies at the end of the crank, where you either have a torque converter or a clutch... doesn’t it?