I've driven it. Quite a bit, as one of my best friends owns one. The giant touchscreen sucks as a car user interface. It's a HUGE distraction, literally and figuratively, and you cannot use it without looking at it. It's better than the tiny touchscreens in many cars, but that is like being the prettiest girl in the…

That's just a used car that happens to still be under CPO warranty - and almost at the end of it timewise, as the CPO warranty is six years from in-service date/100K miles. That car must have had an '09 in-service date to still be covered, and that seems really odd, as the '09s would have been sold in starting in…

The worst case scenario is the car burning to the ground with no insurance coverage. Anything mechanical is fixable.

Still down to the risk/cost ratio. A CPO M5 is not a little more money than a car like this one, it is a TON more money than a car like this one - 3-4X+. You could nearly rebuild the entire car for the difference. I think the risk of a catastrophic failure on one of these cars assuming it is maintained CORRECTLY is…

Cost down the road is irrelevant to the manufacturer. DI is a way to meet ever tightening emissions and fuel economy requirements - with added power as a benefit. Within 5-10 years I predict it will be nearly impossible to buy a car without it.

The service up front is much better if you can afford it. I decided many years ago that I am too old, too spoiled, and too fat to fly coach over the ocean. A big seat in a semi-private pod that turns into a bed, GREAT food, a big screen and tons of entertainment and having my ass kissed by the FA's is entirely…

Base price was $83,900 in '08, though I am sure you could option one into the stratosphere, just like now. You never get your money back on the options. It's almost a brand new Corolla a year averaged over the seven years. And probably a new 3-series the first year or two on a loaded one. That level of depreciation is…

That is why new cars have warranties in the first place. No manufacturer has ever in the history of making anything, managed to make every single widget 100% perfect every single time. There is always some number that will fail. My Mom had a brand-new 1986 Saab 9000T that lunched its gearbox at 1500 miles. It happens.…

I don't foresee any major cost increases for several reasons:

You have to look at it the right way. It's roughly $60K less than what it cost new. That pays for a LOT of repairs. You cannot compare this car to a $19,500 Camry.

Is there any possibility of insuring the Scout as a limited-use antique vehicle? Costs me $120/yr to insure my Triumph Spitfire that way.

This is very much self-regulating though. A new car may be easy to get parts for, but it is worth a lot, and thus their risk of loss is much higher. And old car is worth much less, so their risk is much less. It really makes no sense at all that it costs more to insure my $8000 Range Rover than my $30K BMW. In fact,…

Always astounds me how expensive insurance must be for some people in some places to get these sorts of prices as an *average*. I pay ~$1100/yr to insure FOUR cars with full coverage, low deductibles, and much higher than state minimum liability in Maine. And nothing boring either, '74 Spitfire, '01 Range Rover, '11…

I would infinitely rather ride in the back of a Camry than a manky old Crown Victoria.

A non-blinged up original HUMMERs never really had that aura about them. It's the Tahoe with delusions of grandure uber-poser versions that always did.

It looks a bit like a cross between a Mercedes and a Rolls-Royce Carmague . I definitely would not call it pretty, but I bet it has a lot of presence in the metal. It's also probably a LOT bigger than it looks in the pictures.

You can disagree all you want. The fuel economy and emissions benefits ensure that DI is the way of the future, just as port fuel injection took over from carbs. Any added expense down the road is not much of a concern relative to meeting CAFE and other mandates.

Is there no truer thing in the universe than TANSTAAFL?

Personally, an '82 Volvo 245T. I bought it in about '94, with 150K on it. It was an epic POS. Within months the alternator quit, the radiator turned out to be clogged, the A/C compressor grenade, the autobox started slipping on cold mornings, and the final straw, it caught fire on Rt128 outside Boston due to the…

Was she working at Zona Rosa?