Yeah, that ended with the eighties. Shall I regale you with tales of my W210? Never again...

Don’t bother. There is absolutely nothing satisfying about rowing your own in an SLK. I test drove one when new and it was garbage, and I’m sure a decade and half has not made it better. I’m a manual transmission die-hard, happily shifting for myself in my old 525i as well as my DD, a Mazda5, so I think I know what a…

My experience is limited to vehicles sold new in the US in the last 30-40 years. I rushed down to the dealer when the SLK was first offered with a manual, but found the whole experience lacking. And I tested out a 240D for a friend out of state. As much as I love I6 engines, manual transmissions and R129 SLs, I…

I was so happy to see a manual when I looked inside of another 2012 Mazda5 near me at a gas station the other day. I didn’t get a chance to chat with the owner, but it was nice to see another like-minded individual out there with similar quirky taste in vehicles.

Any Mercedes with a manual probably qualifies. I’ve tried a few, from a W123 to an SLK, and have found that they’re all terrible and better with an automatic (except the SLK which was universally terrible and wasn’t going to improve regardless of what options it had).

Exactly.

People are always surprised to see the manual in my Mazda5. I’m not working as an engineer these days, but I am not at all surprised by this common trait that we engineer types tend to share.

I had 231,000 miles on the 525i when I let a co-worker drive it. I was hoping to get at least a quarter million miles out of that clutch, but his 5th to 1st downshift vaporized what was left of the friction material. If it wasn’t for all that wear the damage might have been much, much worse.

Agreed. My dad, who has been driving German cars for nearly 40 years leased a Volt recently and is quite pleased with it. It’s no MB, mind you, but it’s a great vehicle for the price.

That sounds like a great idea until the ass end of the plane is scraping the ramp and the nose is higher than the terminal...

Well, I can think of one dog-related product that might be appropriate with Dolt 45's name on it:

And back then they also fumigated the aircraft with some rather nasty chemicals, things that make the cigarette smoke on board seem healthy by comparison...

At least from my experience they were . That’s probably where the myth of German build quality came from before that reputation was ruined by VW, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, etc. I don’t know if I’d buy a newer one though, but my ‘93 was great.

Yup. But where’s Porsche? I was hoping to hit the trifecta with my last three cars...

Can confirm. Two months ago my dad gave up trying to keep his beautiful 2000 E320 running right and sold it to his mechanic for just $2,000. He had it since new and was trying to get 20 years out of it, but the repair costs were eating him alive. It was cosmetically perfect, and he did tend to all mechanical issues…

The trick is to save painting as the very last task, thus in 2021, when a new president is sworn in, we won’t have the expense of repainting. Just show doofus some pretty photoshopped images every few weeks indicating ‘progress’, and by the time delivery approaches the senile old fuck won’t be able to tell reality…

There is no faster vehicle on the planet than a UPS truck on its way back to base after finishing a route. Route 141 near me is a long stretch with few cross streets, and near the end is the main UPS depot. If I’m heading up that way in the late afternoon I’ll follow behind quite closely, letting them block me from…

I think I’ll do the same, but with a double scotch chaser...

There’s a certain bitter irony in the fact that Trump’s own useless, disgusting family exemplifies his own (or more likely, the RNCs) beliefs as to why immigration should be highly restricted. Germany certainly didn't send their best and brightest all those generations ago and now the rest of us are paying the price.

Well, four of them in this case...