I think the short and easy answer would be worldwide safety compliance.  Europe has added pedestrian safety laws that dictate the height and angle of hoods among other things.  Having a sharp piece sticking through the hood probably didn’t do great in pedestrian crash testing.

I own a 5th Gen 4R so yes I know what the auto shifter looks like.  There is no “sand” mode on the 5th gen to modulate transmission shift strategy/traction control.  The “manual” mode on pretty much every automatic (4R included) is limited by the fact it is sequential.  It’s not uncommon that I want to shift from 1st…

Is there a reason I need an automatic to go to Target/Starbucks?  Why can’t I drive a manual transmission vehicle there?

Because I like driving a manual.  That’s it, and frankly as a consumer that’s all the reason I need.

One could argue no vehicle needs a manual. Doesn’t mean I don’t want one. As far as offroading- that depends. I drive on the beach when I go offroad. These are 4x4 only beaches mainly in the Outer Banks of NC. Driving on sand is confusing to automatic transmissions. It is often a momentum game so if the trans decides…

This is a chicken or the egg for supply and demand.  The manufacturer says there is no demand (even though there most likely is) and then builds less than 300.  Customers can’t find any (no supply) and settle for an automatic.  Manufacturer claims no one buys them and refuses to produce any more for the next model…

Maybe they should privatize the police for through a company named Omni Consumer Products which could develop an robotic AI that will defend their autonomous cars.  If that doesn’t work they could always come up with some kind of human/robot hybrid to keep the city safe.

Blasphemy.  Next you’ll say they made them oil cooled and chain drive.

“It’s an 800-ish cc parallel twin, like my GS”

Honestly outside of the QX80 I have no idea what any other Infiniti product looks like at this point.  They’ve kind of fallen off the radar for anyone looking in that market.

VW and Audi had a feature where if you hold the lock button (or in older cars turn the key in lock position) and it puts up all the windows, or puts all the windows down if held in unlock.  Not sure how many other cars have that feature.  My other answer is the keypad on Ford/Mercury/Lincolns.  Many poorly built cars…

Ford has a whole stable of really stout four cylinder turbo engines-the US Focus ST’s 2.0 t, the European Focus ST 2.3, and the Mustang 2.3 (which I believe is slightly different).  Any of of those could make or surpass the 3oohp range.  Most likely Ford needed another car to drop the 2.7tt in to reduce costs of…

Sure but we are talking a lot of voltage and a lot of amps. That would make this cable extremely heavy based on the gauge required and not very flexible.  I’ve put in services for homes and those cables hate to bend especially in cold weather.

Depends on the mechanic. I’m not afraid of pulling an engine to do all the maintenance if you are paying me for it.  It’s kind of nice making your entire months worth of hours on one car.

Friend’s wife had one and it was decently quick especially for being a Ford Fusion. I imagine a little ECU tuning could smooth all that out. I do remember it being a bit wallowy in corners due to the surprising amount of heft for being a small sedan.

Have they?  Last I checked both the Mirage and the Versa were getting axed.

Not enough people talk about these.  They were such a sleeper model from Ford.

Where would one go to get a Scout have any maintenance done?  All cars require maintenance and repairs including EV’s.

One of the reasons I went with a FWD CX-5 was gas mileage. The other is I’ll never have to do anything with the rear axles/diff.  FWD offers better gas mileage and less maintenance for a lower starting price too bad many manufacturers (including Mazda) dropped their FWD offerings in favor of more popular AWD.

That might be more to do with the change of the fuel than anything else.  The blends of gas change seasonally and winter gas tends to lower gas mileage.