I had always heard from my mother that the drunk was always totally relaxed, so they didn’t tense up in a crash.  Everyone else always saw it coming, tensed up, and broke more bones.

Okay, I have typed that out loud, and, looking at it, it seems I should re-examine some of the other things my mother has told me....

That makes sense. Thanks for the response.
So, the regular guy that has to work a job he can ill-afford to lose can gain some protection from the shittiness of employers. In theory, state or federal law could protect them, but the reality is that Jim-Schmo has to eat every day, as do his kids, and the drawn-out…

I rolled back from a place 30 minutes west of Staunton all the way to Goochland in one of those 30 years ago, with a broken leg. We didn’t have a lot of gas, so we were literally rolling in neutral for something like 20 miles (we started waaay west in the mountains at a Scout camp).
Can confirm, those seats can make…

So, there are unions, and there are unions, right? I was a teacher in a non-union state, but I saw IBEW use our classrooms every night, teaching for hours at a time. I get that.
If you can carry heavy stuff, you are a helper or an apprentice until you are smart enough to keep from embarrassing yourself or the union…

We also have to meet the technology halfway by, you know, painting lines and filling in the craters  potholes on even our limited-access highways.

Your view should not be skewed. As we are constantly reminded, making cars is hard.

These are going to be crashed so much.

Correct. This is a standard cap-and-trade process. It has been used with power plants, seafood harvests, and any number of other markets that can be clearly defined. The fedGov only cares about the cap, not how it is achieved. The cap can be changed, if need be. Or, it can remain in place and allow population pressure…

In which part of the country are you wheeling?

I get that. I will redact my statement on breakage.
I will not redact on head bouncing around.
That isn’t to say that it doesn’t happen in mud, but I have always had it worse on rock.

Neutral:
I do not.
20-ish college-aged me would probably have seen the value.

Rocks. I dunno, man. I have done them both (mud and rocks). I just don’t enjoy getting my head slammed around when on rocks. There is less of that in mud or on muddy hills.
Rocks just effing hate your concussed-ness. Rocks break stuff faster.

Sand? Sure, as in “I drove onto the beach with my cooler, towel, and fishing…

Neutral:
Yes, my manual says I can use either 91 or 87, but 91 is required for full-spec performance.

Agreed.
I would argue, though, that ‘special’ is subjective. Part of what may make them ‘special’ to the olds is that they remind them of their youth, when they were pervasive.

Preach.
They were special at some point in history.  Now, old people that dreamed about them as kids have money and can buy what they want because, hey, you can’t take it with you.

I can save you your wonderment.
Your instinct was correct.

Name checks out.

But I sure can pay 65k for one, so maybe price isn’t part of the luxury equation.

If you can get people to pay a lot of money for it, it is a luxury car.

On the other hand, I just upgraded my 2011 Mazda 3 iSV to a 2012 Nissan Pathfinder. I now have leather heated seats, a remote for locking my doors, cruise control, a sunroof, and automatic gear shifting. I am in luxury-heaven! I only paid 14.5 for…

2nd and 5th:
“...yes, it sounds evil to salivate about “a substantial amount of synergies,” but there really is still a lot of pointless fat in the auto industry today....”

“...but I think you can’t look at this without putting a great deal of blame on companies like GM for shutting down whole factories when we’re not…