Wrapping has actually become pretty popular. The BMW kids do it all the time. Done correctly, you really can't tell it isn't paint. Lasts a few years, depending on how you treat the car. Much cheaper than paint, and you can just peel it off. But in this case, I too wonder what it is hiding.

If it was easy to fix, why have they not fixed it? Comes under the heading of "the A/C just needs a charge" - yeah, sure it does, after you spend $2K finding and fixing the leak!

The 55mph speed limit was repealed in 1987, which was rather more than 20 years ago. It was also completely and utterly ignored at that point. I was a senior in high school with a newly minted license when the limits went to 65. Traffic speeds did not change one bit, except when there was a cop in view. Traffic ran…

Germans don't really do simplicity. A w123 is a MUCH more complex car than a 240, even in it's simplest base 240D form. By the time you get to a US-spec 300D turbodiesel you have a very complex vacuum system, and the HVAC system from hell to deal with. Even the later automatics are vacuum controlled. The earlier ones…

And HUGE windows. My favorite current airplanes to fly on. Which is good, because I do it all the time. An E-175 and an E-190 today. PWM-DCA-LGA on US Airways. Two more tomorrow going home. Thanks to cancelled flights yesterday, I was in coach today, and even in coach they are perfectly reasonable. Back up front…

I owned a very nice, low mileage '79 300TD. The idea that it is more reliable and easier to maintain than something like a modern Toyota is frankly laughable. They are well built cars, and they should be, they cost an absolute fortune new. But they are also maintenance intensive to keep them running properly, and if…

Like the mutant offspring of a new Impala and a Mazda6. With a dose of CUV.

Nope - you can't outrun this level of hideous.

They are all in Portland ME. Though numbers are now dropping. Classic 900s that are not convertibles are getting rare finally too. The new cockroach Saab up here is the NG900S - all over the place.

At least for BMW, there is no fundamental difference between ordering a car or buying off the lot. But if the car on the lot has been there a REALLY long time, you can use that to your advantage of course. BMW rarely if ever limits incentives to cars in stock like other makes do.

With todays silly-low interest rates, I only put down enough to ensure that the car will NEVER be upside down on the loan, even if I don't pay it off early. Planning to put $7500 down on my BMW. With the $5700 discount, that is more than enough to not have to worry about it. The rest of the money stays in the market…

Can't stress this one enough - when I bought my Fiat Abarth in 2013, Fiat was offering 2.9% financing on Abarths, but .9% on the other models. I was pre-approved by my credit union for 1.9%. The Fiat dealer was able to get me the .9% on the Abarth even though Fiat was not technically offering that deal on that car.…

Having just done this (put the deposit down this afternoon), I'll add a few things, some of which are specific to the car I just ordered, a 2015 BMW M235i. Which is a bit special in that it is a fairly low production car with limited dealer allocations.

Unsafe at any speed my friend. You will die just sitting in it in your driveway, per Ralph Nader.

Demographics play into this. Volvos do tend to be safe cars, but they also tend to attract VERY safe drivers. Camaros ARE probably better cars to crash than some others, but they tend to attract drivers who drive like idiots too.

The 15-20 older Range Rovers you can buy for $100K. Still luxurious enough, even better off road. :-)

The top spec RR Sport did it in something like 8:14, which is pretty damned fast for a 2.25 ton SUV. Admittedly not the same vehicle as reviewed here, but not THAT different either.

The Range Rover has always been the measuring stick for this sort of off-road passenger truck. Each is the finest vehicle in its class, and has been since they debuted eons ago across numerous generations. I love that they still look basically the same, so restrained and elegant. Though I think the first two…

A Range Rover can do 90% of what an S-class can do, and 90% of what a Jeep Wrangler can do, I call that a fair trade0ff.

"Bless your/his/her heart", said with a proper Southern accent works for that sort of thing.