My Dad is a small town auto mechanic near industry. 5500 sq feet, ~60 acres, lives 1.3 miles from his shop. The schools are rated among the top in the state, I managed a 33 on the ACT, and I know my brother was above 30. We did not take those crazy year long study courses either.

My Dad has an ‘04 (same generation as you mentioned) with the 5.4L. It has the spark plugs that break when removed, has had the transmission replaced at 90k miles, and it has a knock in the engine since around 50k miles. He only replaced the transmission because he couldn’t get a good deal on a newer truck at that…

U-Haul doesn’t have any problems unless you bring in a Ford Explorer... I went to rent a trailer to haul with my ‘03 Explorer about 3 years ago and got denied, even though a same year Mercury Mountaineer was fine, and even though the ‘03 was on a completely different chassis from the “Exploding Firestone” Explorers.

I just purchased a 2017 Acadia Limited (old body style). I went for the older version because the new one has been shrunk quite a bit to more in line with the rest of the segment. I think that is the reason the gas mileage of the Enclave/Acadia/Traverse was below average. They were much larger than the rest of the…

What year did you drive? I have a 2017 Acadia Limited and find it to be quite nice. The interior is much nicer than the Ford Explorers we looked at as was the handling. We test drove an Explorer Sport, and it had much worse handling and visibility. The “sport tuned” suspension is code for stiff springs, but the Acadia…

US Federal Law does not apply in Germany, but it does apply to products that you are selling in the US. Since the product was being designed for the US market, tested in the US, and sold in the US market, the laws were broken in the US. If I designed a product in the US, sent it to Germany to get it approved and sold…

The GM case was purely negligence with a fix being issued after a defect was detected. However, the defect was not necessarily linked to a safety issue at the time the fix was created. It’s really difficult to diagnose an issue if the entire car is shutting down prior to an accident, especially if the system acts…

I don’t know if that is even a thing. In fact, having more seats means there are more people that will need medical coverage. ;)

It took a supercharger to beat the catfish. The later 4th gen mustangs really hold up much better than the earlier ones. Vice versa for the Camaro. I think the 93-97 models look much better than the 98-02.

The HR-V and Equinox are in completely different classes. The Equniox is more in line with the CR-V.

Nissan Juke. I literally cringe every time I see one. How that design ever moved up the corporate approval process boggles my mind. It actually makes the Pontiac Aztec look good in relative terms.

True luxury if I have ever seen it.

It makes the $1500 per month Book By Cadillac program seem quite nice since you don’t have to worry about registration, insurance, or maintenance. You can also swap out cars at any time. Want an ATS-V for a fun road trip through the mountain twisties? Sure. Want an Escalade for taking the entire family to the cabin…

I forgot about the F&F movies, and how they shifted over time. I vividly remember the first time I saw the Supra vs Ferrari race in the first movie and immediately thinking how it cool it would be to build a “Ferrari beater” in my garage. Having just recently watched the Fate of the Furious this past weekend I…

I would say that both groups have existed for a long time. Even when I was growing you up would always see the awesome custom ‘37 Fords next to the numbers matching 1969 Z/28 Camaro, and both would get a lot of appreciation.
My thought is that the “well optioned” craze is growing in part to two main reasons. First is…

I thought one of the advantages of doing away with the dealership model is that the automaker would not try to push customers into buying what’s “on the lot” or upsell them with more expensive models they don’t want/need.

He is referring to the interstate connecting two cities that are about 300 miles apart...

Unless you are purchasing a limited release car or a Tesla, ALL, I repeat, ALL salespeople ask for more money than they are willing to sell it for. It is a social expectation that they will ask high and that you will counter.

As a matter of fact, I have successfully haggled at Best Buy before. I was buying a TV in…

The SS was never meant to be a volume seller. It sold in similar numbers to the Taurus SHO and Charger SRT8. It was also well known that it was only produced to buffer the plant capacity in Australia until the pants shut down.

It’s the year I got my first PlayStation. Been gaming ever since.