Agreed to a certain extent. Auto journalists tend to be very stuck in their bubbles and don’t understand the everyday appeal of trucks, CUVs, and “boring” cars. 

This is exactly on point. The middle and southern states have much lower infection rates than urban areas. These are also redder and more rural states, where government stay-at-home orders are viewed skeptically and sometimes with hostility. This happens to be the core market for trucks as well. 

The modern replacement for small work trucks are small vans. In many ways, they are superior to the old small pickups, offering an enclosed cargo hold, better fuel economy, and better safety and handling.

I don’t have a truck. I have no need for a truck (just rented an F250 flatbed from Home Depot this weekend for $40, so that’s all the truck I will need for this year). However, every time I see a new Ram (especially in Rebel trim, minus the obnoxious stickers), I kinda want one. If I had a truck, I would definitely…

The MDX does have a hybrid now. 

Some would say it was never alive to begin with.

Even if $5800 is no big deal for you, getting this is probably more hassle than it’s worth. My neighbor had one, probably this model year, in the early 2000s, and he was complaining how much it went into the shop. Sure, it looked great and fun, but a 20+ yo Benz will probably be in the shop more than being driven. CP.

I assume it was so it can pass California’s emissions standard. Still, it seems like a crazy solution, given that plenty of other manufacturers (BMW included) don’t have to resort to this design oddity.

A lawyer friend told me that if you get dinged with an expensive speeding ticket, your best bet might be to fight it in court, and the first thing you can argue is whether the speed gun was in-calibration. If the speed gun was out-of-calibration, you can get your case thrown out based on this technicality.

Thanks for that fascinating nugget! This is another exhibit why “German engineering” is definitely not superior to any other engineering society.They have their pluses, but it comes at the expense of many minuses as well (like performance vs serviceability and reliability). Something like this would cause a Toyota…

I consider buying any individual stock equivalent to gambling. With that said, I did put a few sheckles on a biotech stock that was working on coronavirus treatments. Has paid off so far. Staying far away from any automotive companies, however.

Businesses love using there hyperbolic statements to garner more government handouts. Airlines and hotels: collapse, maybe. Toyota, where you’re STILL making a profit, and your borrowing rates from the Fed or government banks is essentially 0%, you’ll do fine. Lower growth, yes, but collapse, unlikely.

You might as well buy your daughter a haunted mansion that sits below sea level on a coastal city.

The internets love rankings. I want power rankings, worst lists, best lists, and everything in between. Like rank all the “holy grail” jeeps while excluding Tracy from it. Have car “drafts” for hypothetical (or not) cannonball runs. And put a GD poll on WCSYB, or at least follow-up with the buyers.

This thing looks pretty permanent. Good luck “sliding” this beast off.

We’re not talking about towing, we’re talking about an off-road ready camper. If you’re comparing irrelevant things, when was the last time you saw an F-350 take 12 passengers and their luggage to the airport. Get back to me in the morning on that one.

You would need a very big garage and crane to remove a 3000 lb slide in. At that point, a trailer makes much more sense. 

That’s always been my problems with these “off-road” ready campers and overlanding vehicles. Their size and weight makes it very difficult to do a lot of backwoods off-roading, even if they have the hardware to do so. You’re wasting money, complexity, and weight on stuff that will barely be used. It doesn’t take a…

It’s a slideshow, so there’re a few more pics. Doesn’t convey much, other than Collins having a nice travelling partner.

It was a she, and even if that thing was aligned, it might have improved it to 45 degrees. I don’t know what was wrong with it, but it was easily the sloppiest steering I’ve ever driven.