Diesel. Manual. BMW. Wagon.

No problem. As you say, each of us goes about it differently. For me, going somewhere by car on the Interstate is dull, and I want the trip to be over so I can be wherever it is I’m going, be it an event elsewhere or at home afterwards.

Not just available, but as ubiquitous as gas stations are now.

If I never drove more than 100 miles in a day, and always drove around big cities or on the Interstate, I’d agree with you. My profile is quite different, though. When someone bothers to build charging stations in places like Armstrong, Iowa, or Gleason, Wisconsin, or Truman, Minnesota, then they’ll be practical for…

I only drive 15 minutes each way to work. The problem isn’t my daily commute, it’s that, living in rural southern Minnesota, I need to drive long distances to do much of anything that isn’t work. What are you going to do, round up everyone living in flyover country and herd us into big-city rabbit warrens? Lots of us…

If I were an environmentalist, I’d care. I’m not and I don’t.

I don’t. But I do drive 5 or 6 hours. Having that kind of range means that I don’t have to care about when the next fill-up happens anywhere near as much as I do a car with shorter legs. Like I said, it lets stops happen on my schedule, not the car’s.

I’m going to have a real problem when this one gives out, because it will be hard going back to 300 miles on a tank. The nice lady who tried to sell me a GLC300 hybrid’s face fell when I explained to her that getting 40 MPG in town doesn’t do anything for me if I don’t get that kind of range on the highway.

I don’t try to drive that far straight through. But stopping for fuel in Davenport, and then food in Kalamazoo, with nothing in between, is a nice thing to be able to do. Just get on the road, lock it on cruise, and let the car eat miles.

Fans of the classic Jan and Dean tune should seek out the Animaniacs cartoon Little Old Slappy from Pasadena. It’s the music video Jan and Dean should have made.

That’s my point exactly. I’ll buy an EV when it will haul as much as my current vehicle (midsize SUV), go for at least 300 miles at 70 MPH anywhere in the country (not just on Interstates, but places like the back roads of Iowa), and be ready to do it again in 15 minutes, repeated indefinitely.

Until you’ve gone 650 miles on a tank before you have to fill up, you don’t realize how truly freeing it is. It makes road trip stops happen on your schedule, not the car’s. Both my previous vehicle and my current one will do that without breaking a sweat. (2008 and 2015 Mercedes M-class diesels.)

Well, when I first started looking, I had a 2008 Mercedes ML320 CDI that had a curb weight of 4817 pounds. I thought its replacement, a 2015 ML250 Bluetec, was lighter, but it’s not: curb weight of 4993 pounds. The folks that make the QuickJack say that the 5000-pound version is an honest 5000 pounds, but the idea of…

I’ve been lusting after a QuickJack for a while now...just can’t decide if I need the 5000 or 7000. Got a different vehicle since the last time I seriously considered it, though, and it might be fine on the 5000.

It’s not a project unless it draws blood.

Neutral: I’m not thinking of buying a hybrid because my driving patterns are the opposite of those that benefit from it. I spend a lot of time on the highway cruising at speed, and the hybrid technology doesn’t do a thing there.

That thing is ooooogley with a capital oog.

I prefer MB-Tex to leather. Stuff wears like iron, and is just as comfortable. When I bought my previous 2008 ML320 with 133K miles, the interior looked like it had just rolled off the line.

It’s as much about the ownership experience as it is anything else. Yes, a luxury car needs to be smooth and quiet and comfortable, but the entire experience, start to finish, needs to be about taking care of the customer.

There’s your winter beater, David. It’s no less ludicrous than any of the other ...stuff you’ve driven.