“Northern Germany is as flat as my native Iowa.”

Purple is a gorgeous color in general and I’m sad it isn’t on more cars. If I have the discretion, I’m going to try to find one when I replace my xB.

Here in the Midwest we have animal rendering plants that stink to high heaven. Thankfully, in my town, they’re on the southeast side, so you can only smell them when the wind is from that direction, which isn’t very common.

The entire length of Highway 20 in Iowa is now a 4-lane expressway, the last segment west of Sioux City expanded just a couple of years ago. I agree with you about the traffic in Illinois, which is why this is all a moot point, since his route wisely routes him far away from Chicago.

President Biden is not a Boomer. His birth date of November 20th, 1942 means he is a member of the Silent Generation.

Wrong! I’ve owned 2 different 77-90 B-bodies so I speak from experience. This is a brilliant placement for the spare tire. It allows for a full-size spare to be stored both out of the way and be easily accessed, and without meaningfully impacting trunk space. I say this with some bias- GM truly hit a home run with the…

I disagree with the sentiment that a six-speed auto doesn’t have enough gears. I think that just about right. More gears just increases complexity and makes it more likely the transmission will hunt more often. And it’s very much preferable to a CVT. Good on Mazda for keeping it simple.

I have those on my car and I’m a vehement non-smoker. They’re wonderfully useful to crack your windows when parked so the  interior doesn’t get violently hot in the summer, among other uses.

One of the myriad of reason pensions are awful and all of them should be transitioned to self-directed retirement accounts, A/K/A 401Ks. I’ll give you another one- when you die, the remainder of your 401K goes to your heirs tax-free. Pensions stop paying out, unless there’s a very specific death benefit, and it’s…

He was definitely hauling ass. Drunk? Maybe. He probably came around the corner at superextralegal speeds, saw the cops, slammed on the brakes, and, as front-wheel-drive cars do when braking, understeered right into a bollard.

I’m on my second 2006.5 xB because my first one was so fabulous. It met an untimely demise when I got sideswiped by a lady who didn’t know left-turners were to yield at intersections. It had 268,000 miles on it and still ran great. My current one has 145,000 on it and is flawless. I wanted to replace it with a Granite…

This is complete CYA bullshit and you know it. Shame!

Untrue in my ‘06 Scion xB. I easily lose 2-3 MPG in the summer when I have the A/C on constantly. I gain that back in the spring and fall, then lose it again in the winter when I fill it up with winter-blend gas. I also lose a lot of power, which is concerning in a car that only has 108HP and you’re trying to merge…

Came here to post all of this. Lane discipline is absolutely awful here in the upper Midwest.

A pox on whoever’s household forgot to include Kubrick’s masterpiece. Shame! Shame! Shame!

Wow I’ve owned 2 cars on this list- I had a 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix Gt 2-door in a lovely green (an underrated color IMO) with the NA 3800 Series II V-6, and my current car, a 2006.5 Scion xB. Both wear/are fantastic cars and I feel lucky to have owned them.

I once had an ‘89 Chevy Caprice 9C1 that I decided to open up one night after dropping off my then-girlfriend in her rural town. The road back was a 4-lane divided highway with an inexplicable 55 MPH limit. About a mile into my journey, doing about 85-90, I see flashing red lights behind me. The county mounty was off…

I was absolutely obsessed with the Z32 300ZX when it came out in 1989. The 15-year-old me snagged every magazine that featured it. Back then, it was so futuristic-looking and made gobs of power for the era. I think the looks still hold up to this day.

WTF? NO!

This was my answer. The 300/Charger/Challenger chassis is a 20+ year old E-class Mercedes design. Way too long in the tooth, but it’s probably been fully amortized so it’s probably all profit for FCA/Stelantis by now.