Exactly! Legend has it that Ford UK tore down a Mini to find out that they had to be selling them at a loss on each unit, and that was over half a century ago.

Beautiful, love The Wire!

Heroyam slava!

Exactly my thought. Do I have to google it or what now? 

I can attest to the fact that first year Lada 2101s or “Shiguli” as they weren’t technically called Lada yet were among the best ever. The Russians received fresh tooling from Italy along with some Italian workers to show them how to use it. While neither side is especially known for good build quality, they…

Well said! Couldn’t have worded it better!

Remember that scene from “Lord of War”?

As a language teacher I’m more in love with the fact that there is an actual word for that, and a latinism to boot, than I wanted to name a guilty party. But then, people usually don’t fall out of windows on their own.

The correct term for that is defenestration. We should use that way more often. ;) 

I know that BMW diesels (especially the inline 6 ones) sound especially smooth, driven several between E to F generations. I was talking about their newer petrol engines giving off a diesel vibe when you stand next to them at idle or have the window open. My F11 528 xi mostly sounds like my Mum’s F31 320 xd. If that…

Does the 4 cyl petrol still sound like a diesel at idle because of the direct injection, or did BMW come up with solution for that?

Yes, and yes. They own all these brands and they use the same platforms but they have enough individual sheet metal to call them different cars rather than re-badges.

But they had the looks going for them. I was living close to Munich when the BMW E30 3series was new. The BiTurbo looked like an E30 325i 2 door on steroids, with a plush Italian interiour to boot as well. A bit like an alternative reality E30 M3.

That was the guy who started this thread, not me. I also came across them being declared as conservatist.

Well, Wikipedia describes her party as “economically liberal, conservative and pro-European”. BTW her husband died 8 years ago fighting russian troops when they invaded the last time. So he might have seen a need to join a admittedly dubious group.

BMW 3 series. While the E21 was a good start it’s successor the E30 is regarded as being the best 3 series ever and steadily rising prices reflect that.

Nice one, dude!

Over a decade ago I read a review of a Wrangler soft top which stated that if you can lock a cat into one overnight and it doesn’t escape that’s considered good enough.

The Up! GTI is basically a Mk I Golf GTI that passes modern safety standards. Weight/power/overall dimensions are pretty similar.

The Germans just looooove their forests. It’s some mythological thing that would take me ages to explain, so I’ll spare us the trouble. But as a result we are very anal when it comes to cutting down trees. Every form has to be filled in and approved and then double checked. Plus there were some rare lizards on that…