This is true of the Merc Tracer/Mazda 323 as well. It was one of the few times that Ford outdid Mazda on a stable mate, the Probe/MX-6 being a prime example of how Ford stumbled compared to Mazda.

What ruined wagons in the US was the marketing machine that pushed SUVs into every American’s waking hours. The Hummer H2 led that marketing charge. Back in 2000 you still had a number of good options for wagons that didn’t wear the Volvo badge, but Americans were too busy being sold on how ‘cool’ SUVs were, and how…

It was me.

Even though I aspire to something better than a Mirage from years of hard work and education, I am not above one. I just wouldn’t buy one brand new. This is an interesting thought exercise. Both me and my wife work fully remote, so the 2 vehicles we have now are rarely used for anything other than trips and errands.…

I learned this around my early 30s when I could pay someone to do it and have time to relax. And then I had to relearn it about 2 years ago when I did the lift kit on my GX. I had back spasms a few days after that. Was not fun. So when my K2500 clutch slave cyl went out I decided to let my mechanic do it. But that…

I think at some point after doing my 4th timing belt I decided 1. I will never own a vehicle with a timing belt again and 2. if I do for whatever reason decide to do that I will hand it over to someone else for the labor.

I think you just summed up the target audience, although the non-working window is a problem for doing parking lot drug business.

$9,000 is about what a running and riding RE-5 is worth on a website that isn’t Bring a Trailer. Easy Nice Price.

A good Honda CBX will cost you well over ten grand, a really nice Honda 400 Super Sport around 5 grand or so, maybe a little more for a Kawasaki H2. Welcome to the world of classic bikes. I would gladly pay this much for a unique motorcycle that doesn’t look like bug arching it’s back (i.e. most any modern sportbike).…

HA! Been there done that with my posts.

Once, when I was drunk in my 20s, I wandered through a construction site and did this in a front-end loader. Luckily I was just sober enough to realize how terrible of an idea it would be to actually start the thing up.

right!? like cmon, gimme a 4 door sedan but cut the trunk off and gimme a bed just long enough that I can carry some stuff around in it. maybe set it up so you can put covers on it for long distance driving. tuners can have a bolt on points on the tail gate to have modular aero attachments/a wing. it’s low enough to…

Spot on, I use my old Mercedes C-class as a truck more often than most truck guys in my area. There’s a lot of room for lumber and tools when I fold the read seats down and a 7-8 ftChristmas tree fits in there too. 

Oh my god, that reminds me of the time I came home from work, couldn’t find the cat anywhere in the house, finally heard her barely meowing from behind the living room sofa. She wouldn’t come out, so I lifted up the end of the sofa, and she shot across the room, down the hall, and into the half bath, with something…

We always said “barely pull a piece of GREASY string out of a cat’s ass”, because if it’s dry string, it’s harder to pull out and would require more energy, and greasy string shouldn’t take much effort at all - so if the truck was severely underpowered, you’d need that string to be greasy! 🤣

99% of truck owners in the US would see the same utility from a car no bigger than a Subaru Baja. Somewhere out there, there’s an alternate universe where instead of truck culture being the dominant car culture in the US, it’s the ute. The ute can pander to both the truck guys AND the tuner guys. If you need a big boy…

could barely pull a piece of string out of a cat’s ass

The Santa Cruz is one of those vehicles I’d answer for a QOTD prompt about a car that you irrationally kind of like. Like, I can’t foresee a circumstance where I’d ever own one, but I also kind of like something about the way they look. I had similar feelings when the Kona debuted. Just funky enough in the right ways.…

It was the correct choice by Mazda. While everyone seems to retrospectively love the FD RX-7, few people actually bought them when new and Mazda did not make any serious money selling them. Its follow-up the RX-8, had Mazda drop the ball badly with the issues the Renesis engine had at its launch (which they pretty…

Seriously? Zoom actually seems like the most appropriate way to conduct these hearings. This isn’t an actual trial, this is basically an arraignment and you do your 5 minutes in front of a judge just to find out next steps. There is no reason to have to drive to a court house, walk through security, wait for an hour,…