You’re likely right. I had a 2011 LS 460L AWD, and it was surprisingly problematic. Not only that, it didn’t cost any less to fix than a 7 Series, S-Class or the A8 I now have.

Eh...the GT-R is already not a particularly well-connected car. It’s more like a precise, computerized and highly capable weapon that can turn even an amateur into a performer. It delivers a lot, but doesn’t ask much from the driver in the way of skill.

From the sides, it somehow manages to look uncannily similar to a C7 Corvette. Not that that isn’t a good-looking car by all accounts; it’s just odd. They don’t even have the same engine layout.

Same. I want nothing to do with Tesla’s culture, and—frankly—its lackadaisical attitude about development gestation and QA scares me.

The Highlander also made that list.

There’s only the GX 470 (2003-2009) and GX 460 (2010+). So, not much to split, and the GX 460 is 13 calendar-years old at this point. There are plenty of them, and they sell quite well.

I love large-displacement or large-cylinder-count engines at low highway RPMs. Very relaxing. I rented a 2018 Silverado LT once and loved the way it drove on the highway. It also dipped into “V4" mode, and you couldn’t even tell, other than the indicator on the cluster. I also like my 2013 A8L 4.oT. It runs at low RPMs…

The Toyota hybrids probably ought to be higher on that list. I’m also surprised the Ford hybrids (Fusion, Escape, MKZ, etc) didn’t make the list; they’ve also been proven to go the distance, often well over 400K miles in NYC-taxicab duty.

Oh, no! That’s heartbreaking. I didn’t know that part.

I feel like I read your story at some point, several years ago, and wow. It’s no less infuriating now than it was then. 

Bahahahaha, I just wrote about that movie (Johnson Family Vacation, starring Cedric the Entertainer, Vanessa Williams, Solange Knowles and Bow Wow)  for a car group, and how it was one of two movies during that time period featuring predominantly new 2004 Navigators that end up destroyed (the other was Are We There…

I considered the EB 118. The thing is, it wasn’t developed under Volkswagen Group. The design was said to be production-ready in 1998 and Bugatti had likely been working on it for years. It had no Volkswagen Group engineering, as Volkswagen acquired Bugatti only a few months before the 1998 Paris Auto Show, where the…

I forgot you had a W8 Passat. That had to be fun while it lasted.

Notes on the Audi Avus Quattro

Well, the M113 family is among the most reliable engines Mercedes-Benz has ever built, and the 5G-Tronic is solid, too. No need to do that. Electronics and sensors (or that top) are what will kill this thing, if anything. Still, it’s a relatively cheap car to fix.

That would be correct. And they didn’t all have the warning triangle in the US. My 2000 528i doesn’t have it. But you can buy it. I’d be curious if the rechargeable flashlight is still in the glovebox. If not, that’s easily replaced, too.

In case you all weren’t aware, Saturn never made a dime, and needed to be killed. As far as Pontiac, its situation was equally untenable. Even if you take into account the exciting cars that were coming from Holden, Holden itself was done after 2020. Had Pontiac shifted to making RWD cars on the Alpha platform, it…

I don’t understand Hyundai’s insistence on putting the four dots on the steering wheel boss, in lieu of the IONIQ logo/wordmark, which is the same thing they’ve done on the IONIQ 5.

I don’t understand Hyundai’s insistence on putting the four dots on the steering wheel boss, in lieu of the IONIQ logo/wordmark, which is the same thing they’ve done on the IONIQ 5. That’s the one part that doesn’t make sense for me.

This is a good point. One wonders why the engine didn’t shut down immediately.