This one is a little more technical, but a lot of people misspell and mispronounce “giubo,” which for cars is the term for the flexible disc between the transmission flange and the driveshaft. The name is a portmanteau of the Italian words “giunto” (joint) and “Boschi” (the surname of the Italian who invented it), As…

I mean, I can see that one. And they weren’t terrible for the day. Especially if he bought one when it was new or nearly new, it would have looked pretty modern and sleek at the time.

I’ve mentioned several times that, when I was in high school, my dad purchased a one-year-old, ex-rental 2007 Dodge Caliber SXT. It was refrigerator white, but—being an SXT—was one step up from the base model, so you got power windows and mirrors, keyless entry, alloy wheels, and cruise control. I even learned to…

The Subaru B9 Tribeca almost had a sister. GM owned 20% of Subaru at the time (which got us the Saab 9-2X aka Saabaru and a Chevrolet Forester in India). The 9-6X would have been the third collaboration, and would have been a somewhat restyled B9 Tribeca. But that project was canceled when GM sold it stake in Subaru…

There are also people whose income is too high to take advantage of the EV tax credit.

I don’t know of any prime lenders who require a GAP policy. If it’s that much of a risk, they just won’t underwrite the loan, or will require the borrower to provide a bigger downpayment to mitigate that risk. And leases generally come with GAP (which is one reason it’s better to put $0 down on a lease, if you can…

Having negative equity isn’t the end of the world.

Right. Such was the case on a Chevy Cruze Eco I once drove, although that one had other fuel-sipping tricks.

The Terradyne is definitely not anodyne.

Yeah, that’s exactly my point. It’s been a while since that was routinely the case.

Excellent write-up. Yes, a car breaking down at a crucial life moment, when you’re really depending on it, can sour a relationship. I’ve bought enough troublesome cars to know that.

Active headrests are something. When I got in a frontal collision with my 2014 Lincoln MKS, it was interesting to see the headrests shunted forward post-crash. For what it’s worth, I didn’t have any whiplash.

My G90 did that, as did my S 550 Coupe. I figured that was why.

It’s the squiggly-wiggly side mirrors on the HD GM models, for me. How on earth did that make it past the design studio?

I think the K2xx trucks (2014-2018 for the half-ton) will age well, especially the pre-facelift ones (2014-2015). This, to me, is handsome and enduring:

Ironically, the SSR would have looked alright if GM had stuck to the original size. The concept was based around the S10 and chassis, but when it came to production, that was being phased out. So GM based it instead on the much larger contemporary Colorado/GMT3XX platform, and I think a lot of the goodness of the…

As with the prior one, the new Passport is clearly a sawn-off Pilot, body-wise. I think that’s a bit lazy—if not as much as the Mazda CX-70, which is entirely the CX-90 with no third row and light changes—and would have liked to see it have unique side stampings.

I agree with those who suspect money laundering.

Saturn never made a dime.

Considering that Ford’s own Fusion—assembled in Hermosillo, Mexico—frequently came with drugs smuggled somewhere in the factory-to-retail pipeline...this doesn’t surprise me.