I had a 2005.5 Jetta with the 2.5 I5. It was a really nice-feeling motor. Smooth, and felt more powerful that the 150 HP and 150 lb/ft it was rated at. The problem? Reliability. The timing chain on these things stretches, and needs replacing at about 70,000 miles (this is about 10k outside of warranty on the…

"They sent me the wrong engine block. Again." My mechanic was replacing the motor in my Forester. I think with the Subaru parts guys, you call them up and say "I need a short block". They'll pick one at random and send it to you. If it's not right, you ring them up and say, "nope, not this one". This continues…

So, in the past, Anna calls ZipCar, says, hey, the guy who had this car before me left some stuff in it. ZipCar looks up Nicholas, tells him to come get his stuff. Seems pretty easy to me, no?

The new commenting system was just the start, now the whole site's going all hokey. I'm sure you were doing it exactly right. At least you got your giant, awesome Viper pic, right? :)

Click on it. Not big enough?

Total NP. There's gotta be 20 guys out there looking for a running work truck. For $1,800, you almost can't lose. And, 4x4 to boot.

In the show "Bones", the season before last, they'd spend up to 5 minutes out of the show to tout the features of whatever car Toyota wanted them to schill for that episode. I have distinct memory of them working this into the actual dialog of the show. An especially bad one was where Brennan shows off the parking…

There's getting to be too much need for those special places in Hell... I think this deserves a special Hell in Hell.

Precisely. The 2.5 5-cylinder motor from 2005 or before to 2007-2008 would have the timing chain(s) stretch to the point of failure at 60k-70k miles - that's less than you get with a belt, but just outside the standard powertrain warranty, go figure. This was the base motor for half their US line during that time. …

2nd: A strongly worded discussion about what is and what is not a 'shooting brake' to follow. Clue - shooting brake - 3 doors. Estate - 5 doors.

I run a helpdesk for a medium sized corporation. I shudder to think how many more people I'm going to have to hire to help our little-old-lady accountants find Excel on this...

Oh my word, that poor car looks so sad...

So, basically, pull the body off and drop on a Miata frame with a EJ25 engine swap. Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad idea...

I totally agree. Sure, it might be fun looping through corners, but it's going to be a whole big pile of not-fun when you pull up next to some guy at a stop light, and are left sucking his exhaust when the light turns green, the only thing left to console yourself with being, "well, I'm not supposed to be fast, I'm…

Opel GT. Of course, I would expect a more modern engine, and modern tires that would help the understeer problems. Give me a smallish direct-injected 4 at the base model, and bolt a turbo on for the high-trim. Keep the beautiful body, and the awesome roll-over headlights. Toyobaru, eat your heart out.

Yeah, those numbers blew me away, too. I can hit 22-23 mixed in my Forester XT if I really baby the thing (same powertrain as you). Getting that out of a twin-turbo 600hp V8 is nothing short of unbelievable.

I know this isn't very Jalop of me, but $3,500 for the privilege of fixing this? Even though some of the harder-to-source original parts are in great shape, getting everything working again is going to eat you (or, more accurately, your wallet) alive. CP for me, but, I'm sure I'm in the minority.

4th gen Pontiac GTO. LS1 / LS2 means there will always be cheap parts. They're known to go like a stuck pig, and handle better than one. Problem is, everyone knows that, and they only sold just north of 40,000 of them in the 3 years before Pontiac was axed. Still a viable option, and I see high-schoolers hooning…

Seconded. Saw one of these on the road a few years back, and actually started laughing out loud. Noone else in the car understood the joke.

One of the previous CFOs at the company I work for had one of these in this exact color. It is precisely what I'd envision an aging, empty-nester accountant that's going through a mid-life crisis would buy...