If you couldn’t find a replacment engine, would it be sacrilege to replace the NSU engine with a Mazda rotary in the name of making a sort-of restomod? Imagine something out of an RX-8 or TT from an FD. All done in the name of adding legendary Japanese reliability and durability :P

My first car was a ‘77 Dasher wagon that I remember my mother buying new at Parkinson VW in Placentia CA (home of Harvey, the big white Rabbit - I just found a matchbook from when it was North County VW after Parkinson and which featured ol’ Harv) so I think I’m qualified to make a few comments on this car. First off,…

Electrical issues in an expensive German car? Say it ain’t so...

Was it that putrid yellow/ochre color? All of the SD1s I’ve seen in the states have been that color.

23 years ago, out in front of an apartment I was looking at in Redondo Beach, was a rather rare Bitter SC. It obviously had a hard life, probably parked out on the street under the sun and bathed in ocean moisture. The leather on the seats was starting to come apart at the seams, and there was a noticeable rust bubble…

Well, I’ve seen restored Vanagon Westfalia Syncros sell for $125,000, so this really doesn’t surprise me at all.

No worries at all. I didn’t want to see the conversation devolve into one of those “but I showed you one exception” things I see all too often. I agree - road trains are a pretty cool solution to an interesting geographic problem. I would guess that the costs for such a setup would be cheaper than rail. In a way they…

I am aware of the road trains, but this video was of a much shorter truck and was not in the outback, so I discounted that as a possibility. 80 tons seemed a little high for the truck in the video, especially how quickly the trailer stepped out.

True, but it’s better than it was. Especially in western states, the limits appeared to be based more on length than anything else, leading to the use of a lot of short cabover tractors in order to get the most out of a load.

80 tons? Are you sure? If the laws are anything like in the US, it’s 80,000 lbs (or 40 tons).

16x9 is great for watching movies, but the other 98% of the time I’m using a tablet or desktop I want something that has the proportions of a piece of A4 or letter-sized paper. Even though my main monitor is a 23" LG HD, most of the time I prefer to work on the Dell 1600x1200 monitor right next to it, rotated into…

I’ll take my wagon in RWD, thanks...

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As a fellow Mazda owner I second every single thing you’ve said. I came here to write the same thing, but you’ve covered everything I wanted to say.

This might explain why I see more Mitsubishi vehicles in junkyards than I see on the road, late-model ones at that.

I’ll I’m saying is that the performance is nearly equal between two cars that are separated by $130,000 (in 2015 dollars), almost 50 HP and are in two completely different segments. How much performance is enough? I’ve got a friend that keeps talking about buying a Nissan GTR if he strikes it rich, because, well, 0-60…

Nah, there’s just lots of talk about what people think they would do, but rarely is any of that backed up by an actual purchase.

Since when were the GTI and the Mazda5 even in the same category? Do you really think there’s a lot of cross-shopping between the two? Yes, if I wanted a performance hatchback, the GTI is the first place I would have looked, but I wanted a small minivan. Obviously you’re not in the target market for a such a vehicle…

Just crap? Based on what? Seriously, how fast does it need to be? 0-60 in 8.3 for the MT, which is 0.1 seconds slower than the fastest time time recorded for a 1982 Ferrari Mondial (most had the Ferrari around 9.7). Even with plenty of passengers I have no problem keeping up with, or passing, traffic in mine.

Lots of us have to park out on the street, under power lines and trees and other popular hangouts for our feathered friends.