This is government saftey regulation at work. Start that hood at the Chevy band, lower everything else accordingly, and you’d be in business.

I’m the proud 7th owner of an 07 GTI.  It’s...not what it once was.  Still fun, still fast, always starts. But it’s at a wear-and-rattle level more comparable to a ‘97 Toyota.

I don’t have as many objections to the rather vulgar car as to the price.  That’ll buy me a lot of something just as fast.

$40k can buy you a whole lot of something else.  Lotus comes to mind.

Does this mean I don’t have your endorsement? Oh, man. This is not my day.

I’ll tell him I have your endorsement. That should get me through.

Well, it’s saying “fuck you” in comments that they really frown on. But my recommend expires in December, so I gotta stay on good behavior.

Uh, okay. Go die, then.  Because bigoted assholery warrants a comment.  Even against Jalopnik-commentary royalty, like yourself.

I’d say “go die”, but I’m so pleased you knew how to say Tooele that I’ll let it pass. 

Even with this monumental reliability fail, you’re probably right. That A8 would have eventually caught up and exceeded the Highlander. Probably through more and more problematic fails that made it increasingly inconvenient.

I need to throw in here that I just bought my wife a 2008 very-lightly-used Toyota Highlander Hybrid, purportedly among the most reliable cars on earth. One month in, the ABS actuator and pump died. And I’m out $4200.

Don’t feel sorry for me. But just realize, life is short and even the best bets can end up biting you.…

I think this has value for people who really, really don’t car. My wife, who is bright but utterly bored by cars, found she liked driving her 2013 TDI Passat’s DSG in “S” because it was “less annoying” that way. The idea of generally making a car more easily drivable and “less annoying” at every speed for every…

Back floor looks like it has a tunnel, albeit a tiny one. Was this bad boy RWD? Am I grossly underestimating the size of a tunnel needed to bring 80 horsepower to the rear wheels? In which case...well, a flicker of interest, in terms of Dukes of Hazzard hijinks.

Edit: forgot you can just Google “Back seat of 1986…

This will certainly be a minority position, but I think this a bit like life expectancy. You’re expected to live to 82. But if you make it to 90, you’re expected to make 93.

This has some miracle of manufacturing where all the parts that came out just right made it into the same truck.

I love it. I want it. I believe…

1) Awesome article

This hurt my brain. Definitely four doors...

I’m from that part of the world. No AC in Palmdale? Those seats are 15% dried sweat by weight. I can’t imagine how gross they must be.

I was thinking of the now-turbocharged everyman car with smaller displacement as opposed to a standard naturally-aspirated version. Particularly thinking of use of a turbo 1.6 in the new Jetta, as opposed to the past’s 2.5 naturally-aspirated engine as standard.

That has to increase heat that needs to be dissipated.

I would guess that with more intense turbo charging of late, keeping things cool requires a grill, where you could do without in naturally-aspirated times.

Totally. I’ve been an attorney for 11 years. I just bought an MK5 GTI. Cash. Under $6k.