They make fold up ones -

A jeep wrangler competitor, someone please make another SUV (or pickup) with a removable top and doors, stick shift, solid front axle, and is easy to modify. Alas we won't get this because of CAFE regs-

The reason sedans are no longer practical is because have gotten so much smaller over time. IT use to be that the trunks in the typical American sedan could swallow a weeks worth of luggage for 4 people easily- that is no longer the case. So people have done the sensible thing and switched to body styles that better…

It seems to me that car sharing services like the one you describe will suffer from the exact same issue our roads suffer from. That is, congestion occurs during commute hours when everyone is trying to get to and from work. If everyone is using a ride sharing vehicle to do that, how will it significantly reduce the…

Why on earth are they measuring this in tons instead of ton-miles?

Interesting, I had no idea F-16s even had an arresting hook.

What's going on here?

In what world is 60k affordable for a work truck?? Make one that costs 35 that I can use for real work without feeling bad.

I'm OK with this because its not a disgusting piece of plastic. If they had stamped it like in previous versions it would have been awesome. As is - its just a big tacky piece of plastic that will fade in 5 years.

They get a CUV (which will be much better at moving people and a utility trailer, or a useful pickup. This is just a trucklet with too many compromises.

It has nothing to do with the chicken tax, its a business case. Dodge and Toyota would have 100% produced those vehicles in north america. The only vehicle I can think of that is curretnly suffering from the chicken tax is the VW amarock.

I agree with you. People who buy this would be much better off getting a utility trailer which is not only massively cheaper, but also much more capable.

Needs more V8.

I missed your post because of the holidays, but agree with you 100%. I have been critiquing Fords truck eco-boost strategy for ages only to be called a luddite. The fact of the matter is that unless you live in Colorado, a larger displacement gasoline engine in a truck makes more sense than a smaller displacement…

This comes as no surprise. The same issue occurs with the 3.5L when you actually put stuff in the bed or hook up a trailer. Turbos work well for certain applications, trucks with gasoline engines just don't happen to be one of them.

Agree with you on facing up to history. The politics of their prime minister visiting the Yasukuni Shrine are silly. However even if Japan were to do this, I don't think it would at all quell China's power plays in the region. That's going to happen regardless of the Sino-Japanese relationship and isn't so much…

Agree with you Pav, not saying we should pull out, I would argue the U.S. should maintain our current levels. However, what I am arguing for is that Japan do the heavy lifting to counter China's increasing military capabilities. In other words, negate the need for the U.S. "pivot to Asia."

Fortunately, to help explain Volkswagen's issues, they have me: a self-described automotive expert in the sense that a) I own a car, and b) I sold two cars in 2014, which makes me approximately as successful as the Routan.

Good points, however, given Japans current debt to GDP ratio, and their constant state of recession I think using our old equipment to bolster (not simply maintain) their expeditionary capabilities.

You're correct, I didn't catch your distinction. I still maintain that Europe needs to create a more robust native offensive capability.