Same as it was in the '60s, '70's, 80's, and '90s. A 190E was a shrunken 300E was a shrunken 500SE. "Same sausage, different lengths" was coined a LONG time ago.

This is a fundamental difference between MB and BMW. At MB, the S-class is the heart and soul of the company, and everything else descends from it. At BMW, the 3-series is the king. The 7 is kind of an afterthought because they have to at least try to compete with the S, but really the 3-series is what is really…

Haircut? Who could notice over the spectacle of Doug wearing pants!!

Alfasuds do that without actually moving.

Sadly the transmission it was bolted on top of was only good for about 185hp for any length of time though.

Air Transat managed to glide an A330 with both engines out to an acceptable landing in the Azores (no fatalities and they got to fly the plane again, eventually) - more than 65 miles. Fuel leak.

As far as they have fuel for.

I'm sure I am late to this party, but the $100 bill dispenser instrument, of course. With an unlimited supply.

I have a P38 Range Rover which is pretty much the same vehicle underneath. While it certainly has plenty of “character” it really is not much of a problem to deal with. You just have to be realistic about what it is, and “character” is a heck of a lot easier to deal with when you paid roughly $75K less than the…

It’s a 3-year lease. Resale and after warranty reliability are someone else’s dilemma. If you only have a tiny budget for a car, a cheap lease like that makes a TON of sense as it becomes a managed expense. You will likely never pay for anything but gas, insurance and registration if your mileage is relatively low.…

I don't disagree with that at all, though you lose the great fuel economy if you actually use the greater power. TANSTAAFL, though sometimes you can get somebody else to pay for it.

You are asking the wrong question. The right question is how much TORQUE is the minimum requirement. A modern turbo-diesel with relatively low hp but the torque of an old school big-block V8 is perfectly fine in the real world. But a car with a higher HP figure but less torque will feel quite sluggish in the real…

3-pedals and RWD! But that is OK, I’ll just keep the one I have, the new M235i is going to look GREAT parked next to it in the garage!

Not DMV related, but in a similar vein - I was once pulled over in New York by a state trooper who could just not quite wrap her (not-so) pretty little head around the fact that I would be travelling through New York to get a car I bought in Oklahoma back home to Maine... She must have taken the same geography class…

My '85 Jetta 2Dr had a top speed of "M".

The BMWUSA website still shows that you can get a manual in a 320i. Is that changing for 2016?

Nope - about 5-10%. They are fairly easy to identify, as those are the cars with manual transmissions.

“Looks” like a pretty good car. I suggest you go drive one. It certainly isn’t a BAD car, there really are no bad cars. If you normally drive a Camry it will probably seem really nice. If you normally drive a 5-series it probably won't seem very impressive. It is a classic “car by the pound” - bigger and more stuff…

I look at it as a cheap car trying to look like an expensive car and failing badly. Just looks and feels cheap, inside and out.

Having had a number of the big Hyundais of both generations as rental upgrades (with almost no miles on them usually), both V8 and V6, all I have to say is "looks like a Lexus until a real Lexus roll up". Not even REMOTELY in the same league as anything German as a sporting sedan, and not anything like as nice as an…