Back in 2002, I decided to trade vehicles, as my ‘92 Dakota V8 was getting long in the tooth with 175k miles. The only thing I was using a truck for was to haul other people’s junk, and I made a lot of long trips; therefore, it was time for a car. But which car?

MPG took a slight hit.

How about that Scout thingy they teased the other day again?  They could make it with a removable back of the cab, so buyers could turn it into a truck if they wanted...

Ford has to be close to 60 recalls for this year now....

Driving past all of the 4wd pickups stuck on icy roads and in icy ditches. I do this with my AWD truck with oem all-season tires, and with the wife’s fwd Accord with Blizzaks.

2002 Honda Accord coupe with four-cylinder five-speed manual. In the 18 years and 174k miles I owned it, I had three issues:

Agree. Based on geometry, headlights placed lower on a truck (say, down by the bumper) would allow the lights to shoot further down the road while the light cutoff allows the light to stay below the height of neighboring car windshields. However, it would look goofy and wouldn’t sell.

1st Gear: I just want them to adopt European lighting standards so I don’t have the illegal aftermarket LEDs from oncoming cars piercing my skull during these short days / long nights of winter.

Leave early.

You can get various VCM defeat devices to eliminate it, like VCM Tuner, S-VCM, VCMuzzler.

You need different packages for different offroad scenarios. For example, a Raptor might be great for running across the desert, but would be a horrible choice for rock crawling or narrow forest trails.

I'll just go with a dirt bike.

The TrailSport was actually tested at Red Rocks of Moab, as well as the Glass Dunes or whatever in Cali, and the mud bogs in KY and NC.  Most people aren't going to take then there, but a few will.

I agree. I’m simply playing devil’s advocate as to why they may be skipping PHEVs.

How do you feel about the Odyssey?

Correction, they all have the bones of the MDX. One minivan in the bunch of five vehicles does not make all of them a minivan.  Whether that’s good or bad depends on your particular kool-aid.

Keep another blanket right inside the door in your heated house, and grab it on the way out.

Agreed. When I needed a truck, I got a Ridgeline because it hauls almost as much as a full-size truck, yet fits in the garage (when it’s -20°F, the garage is a godsend). Also, its AWD functions much better on winter roads than a 4x4 system.

If everybody buys PHEVs, nobody will buy EVs.

Same reason many people buy big-ass trucks, knowing full well they’ll never use the capability, but want to feel good about that 0.001% just-in-case scenario.