I always INTEND to keep for the long term, it just rarely happens - I have had one of my cars 19 years, but it was 23 when I bought it... Otherwise, I have kept 3 new cars for 2ish years each, and one for 4 so far with no plans to ever part with it (I just keep buying additional cars). Boredom, changing needs,…

The closer the local climate is to Germany, the happier they are in my experience. European cars love Maine...

The Fukashima reactors survived both a major earthquake and a major tsunami without particular issue. The problem was the lack of backup power. If the backup generators and fuel tanks for them had been on the roof, those reactors would probably still be producing power today.

Your prerogative.

Not true at all. I really wanted to like the new Mustang enough to buy one. I have LONG had a soft spot for Mustangs, and I do have other things I could use the $20K difference on, though obviously price was not a deal breaker. But ultimately, it still wasn't a good enough drive. The main reason I ended up with an…

It's not the 10 hp, it's all the torque that is waaay down low in the rev range. The V6 feels like a dog unless you are nearing the redline, the EB goes everywhere.

I don't understand the appeal of a hairshirt existence so that you can "retire early". I want to enjoy my life. I want to eat great food, drive great cars, see the world in some semblance of style, not as a backpacker. I am lucky to have a career that I absolutely LOVE that pays well enough to do all that. I have no…

Where you live is by far the most important thing. I live in Maine, but work for a company based in Boston. I make roughly the same salary as my counterparts who live in greater Boston. The big difference is that my house cost between 1/4 and 1/3 of what their houses did (and I bought well before the housing bubble…

"dots, not feathers", as I like to say.

Ultimately, the profits are going to Ford shareholders located all over the world. Global multinational companies are GLOBAL.

Straight highway I get 30 or a bit better, which is better than EPA for the car. Suburban around town I get 25. The N20 cars beat that handily while being rather faster. Too each his own, I will take added power and efficiency over sound any day. My '11 does have the various Efficient Dynamics improvements that were…

Pilots have to carry liability insurance, no different than drivers of cars - at least they are supposed to. Actually a lot MORE insurance, usually.

Which would actually be kind of awesome - I have long wished I could have had my current 328i wagon with the engine from my former Saab 9-3 SportCombi. Saab Turbo efficiency in a perfect RWD chassis. But yeah, an early APC 8V Saab 900T motor would be a very different animal altogether.

The n/a engine will simply never have the low rpm torque and flat torque curve of a good turbo. I love my N52-engined BMW, but the reality is you have to rev the hell out of it to go fast, which is NOT efficient at all. It is fun when you are in the mood, but the 2.0T has shove EVERYWHERE. The speed is so much more…

Good ones certainly do. I own a BMW with the classic N52 3.0L inline six n/a engine. A wonderful piece of machinery, 230hp (@7000 rpm!) in low 328i tune, with Valvetronic it even makes a decent amount of torque across the whole rev band. But then compare it to the newer BMW N20 2.0L turbo 4. A VERY underrated 240hp…

Back in the early days of supercharging, many cars were setup such that the blower only engaged at full throttle. Mercedes-Benz was famous for this.

A Fiat Abarth is one of the last remaining old school turbocharged cars. And even that has nothing like the lag and thump of an old Saab, especially the 8V cars that were the classic "nothing, nothing, nothing HOLY SHIT"! Though the late non-Aero cars were pretty undramatic, even the last of the 16V Turbo C900s with…

Valid point, and utterly irrelevant to an OEM that has to meet a CAFE target. And pretty irrelevant to me, who is highly unlikely to buy a new vehicle and keep it for long enough for it to matter. So I will take the efficiency gains up front, and so will the OEM.

Turbos have very little to do with back pressure. They use the heat energy in the exhaust to spin the turbine. The back pressure is a side effect, and a largely irrelevant one. They are the closest thing to a free lunch that physics will allow in an internal combustion engine. Superchargers are a lot less close to…

But pretty typical for a $70K TRUCK these days... This is literally an ancient army truck they have been building fundamentally unchanged for almost 40 years. Slapping a big engine in it and some leather is not an expensive proposition. The profit on the G65 has to be at a level to make King Midas blush, or they would…