That sounds about right. Safety first only works if you’re keeping your head above water.

Rule #1: Don’t lift.

My AW11 has almost this exact wheel and it’s horrible.

No comment on the Naming, but as an AW11 owner I would tell you that it’s an excellent car and you should get it. It’s easy enough to fix, and at the end of the day it’s a Toyota so it’ll keep going for a long time.

Pre-check is still worth it, in that you and your fellow passengers don’t have to shed shoes, belts, liquids, and laptops which speeds up overall throughput.

Hopefully they move towards an actual racecar, rather than whatever it is I just saw.

This sort of car is the perfect first car.

It’s a small price to pay for the few that grow out of it and move on to better things.

Having a shitbox car was a major driver in cementing my enthusiast status. I didn’t have the “I’m going to screw up the car” fear that one might have with something halfway decent, and so I got over any hesitation about wrenching that I might have had. Because of this I don’t ever consider that I won’t be able to fix…

I thought British people could spell. They always harp on the English language, you’d think they’d give some of their own usage some attention. Perhaps this is just a trait of online Defender enthusiasts.

I’ve actually been searching for a rear bar after my last autocross. I put stiffer springs on, but I could still use a little more roll stiffness in the rear for rotation, and I think the factory rear bar would be a perfect addition.

It’s an early ‘86, no wing. Late enough that it doesn’t have the rear Anti-Roll Bar, but early enough that it has the mounts for one. I spent much of last year refreshing the exhaust (for smog purposes), suspension, and steering (and everything that I could get to that was made of 30 year old rubber). I’ve taken it on…

Got one, though it doesn’t have the wing as it’s an earlier car.

The ones you bribe with beer to help you fix the problem? Those boys?

Nope, not even a little bit of a problem. Maybe a handgun would be an issue if you’re moving to California (it’s a form you have to fill out if you live there), New York (Verboten), or Chicago (also Verboten). Other than that you can transport any gun you want through any state you want without issue. Hell, if you’re…

There’s plenty of opportunity to enjoy your enthusiastic driving up there. It just helps to have a comically slow vehicle. I was up there last weekend with my Mazda 2, which was comically slow enough to be a hell of a good time in this corner, and all the rest of them too.

...wow...

You really do have a hard-on for a couple of cyclists in the road. I was at Mulholland last weekend, there were cyclists, and their presence didn’t noticeably slow my spirited progress. Much more noticeable in slowing my fun were the old people in their brand new Corvette, the loaded down Vanagon, and a guy in a work…

I mostly transitioned to mostly MTB when I moved to SoCal. Lots of trails, great weather year round, and a hell of a lot more fun most of the time. I’ve found some great Road Biking routes, but they’re not the same ones that I drive on the weekends.