Haven't we basically seen this before? It's not the redundancy that bothers me, it's the cruel taunting.

If being near the cutting edge is worth anything, Ford scores a double: Fusion for a hybrid that car people may actually want, Transit Connect for pioneering a new truck segment (for North America).

Can you hear me Major Tom? Can you hear me Major Tom?

Are you reading this because you're online while driving?——Yes.——Stop your vehicle.——Strike your portable device repeatedly with a hammer or other heavy object.——Drive to the nearest police station and surrender your license.

I saw a new Acura sedan of some sort in the wild this morning, and you just can't fully grasp the horror of that snout until you see it in person.

So Honda's stylists discover the concept of hips while designing a hybrid minivan?

@Ash78 is going POLAR...: If I knew what you looked like, I suspect there would be a very disturbing mental picture haunting me right now.

1300 cc? So that 1.5 sticker is just a case of rounding up a little? I seriously hope the H/O thing is just a little sarcasm.

Not far from my office is a very exclusive country club that sometimes allows corporate helicopters to land on the grounds. Somebody opened a detailing shop nearby. You can guess what happened one day when a chopper landed as a freshly detailed car sat on the lot.

@Bullitt417: I used to work in Hudson County. Had the perfect car for it: a Chevette. I really COULD fit in almost any spot, and if it got dinged, I really didn't care.

Bumper guards used to be a common factory option, at least stateside, but they were permanently attached, vertical rubber appendages, at least as ugly as this. As we migrated away from chrome metal bumpers toward the flush-mounted plastic covers of today, bumper guards as we knew them disappeared. I hadn't seen this…

Those pieces should fit smugly.

That overhead shot finally helps me make sense of the tail treatment on this car. OK, I now love it without reservation.

I think a Viper hybrid would result in some kind of matter-antimatter effect.

This actually looks far less awkward than most stretch jobs.

They couldn't stop, could they? They had to add one more random diagonal crease, just forward of the rear wheels, to clutter up what was a pretty nice design.

This seller has turned a Samurai into a Kamikaze.

@MadcowsDiseased: Once you're off the interstates or the Parkway: jughandles. You go right to go left, or back the way you came. I'm so used to it, I catch myself looking for them when I'm out of state.

@jodark: Yeah, I mostly do the 78/81 stretch from NJ to Maryland, en route to Virginia. Went all the way across on 80 once, but that was at night. My one pass through the Appalachians, I was reclined in the passenger seat, recovering from emergency retina surgery I had in Indianapolis. Good times...

Ah, Texas. Drove there from NJ a few years back, destination Dallas. I remember crossing over from Arkansas with jubilation, calling my brother-in-law...and finding we had 3-4 hours to go.