Star for referencing the criminally underrated “Gung-Ho”.

I worked at a multi-line dealership that has Oldsmobile when the Achieva first came out. We all went out to see this new hot-shit car that was going to pull Olds out of the gutter. I swear it was the worst new car I had ever seen. The door cards, seat belts, and the seats were mismatched colors - the lefts and rights w…

Neutral: Fact is that preparing for the future costs $. Preparing for a new technology or perfecting an emerging one takes $$$$$$. We gave the Big 3 shit for not being able to shift in the 70's to efficiency and being outgunned by the Japanese imports. They’re trying to prevent that from happening again like it did in…

Nope, moving the gear lever to the right just puts it in straight manual-shift mode (alternatively, pulling the upshift or downshift paddle will put it in manual mode until you don’t change gears again for a few second); you’re still in whatever drive-mode you were in before. To get into Sport mode, you can either…

My dad bought it in ‘84 and drove it once. He passed in1984 and my brother and I passed it back and forth. It eventually became mine and my oldest son calls dibs on it, so in my lifetime, that’s forever

1994 Dodge Stealth r/t twin turbo. Have owned it since 2004. Very not stock. Can I please get out of the greys now?!

Right but the crossover efficiency requirements are lumped together with the likes of body on frame SUVs and trucks. They are classified as utility vehicles and as far as the regs are concerned help offset the requirements of trucks rather than hurt cars

5 or 6 year loans are perfectly acceptable if you want to have the car for a long time or are purchasing something reliable or with a damn good warranty (Toyota, Honda, Kia, etc). And as someone who is fiscally smart, I would rather pay a few hundred bucks more in interest and be able to keep that extra 50 or 60 bucks…

1st Gear: Yes, car makers are making too many cars, but not just that, they are making too many of the same car.

Not to mention that old engineers often refuse to learn how to do new things or use new programs (not to say that all engineers do that, but it sure feels that way sometimes).

People also forget that it doesn’t take many more man-hours to build a $70,000 F150 Platinum than it does to build a cheap Focus.  It also doesn’t help that our fuel economy regulations favor the production of SUVs and crossovers over sedans and hatchbacks (though I kind of wish in the small car segment the sedan…

Sure, or course, just noting you need to have the mindset that the prices you are seeing on that list is inflated.  Pricing is still going up of course. 

I agree on the safety aspect. I was more referring to people just shit-talking the concept thinking he was somehow doing it out of necessity or stinginess.

My guess, seeing as the windows are WHITED out, rather than blacked out, is that he is trying to block/reflect as much sunlight as possible to reduce the need to…

This. When I buy a gallon of milk, it’s not priced at $2.75 with another $0.65 added back in for “transportation costs.” I get it that it costs money to get the thing to the dealer from the factory. Everything must be transported, but only vehicles break that down as a separate charge. Unless I can pick it up straight…

I messed up. I’m sorry. 

You know what would bring joy to my life? A new Focus and Fiesta ST. You know, fun cars that regular people can actually afford.

I always thought it was telling me to go to McDowell’s

Neutral: Much of the overall safety ratings are now determined by crash avoidance technology (auto-braking, lane-keep, etc.). While that stuffs important... I look more for structural rigidity, and airbag count/placement.

I read the headline in the RSS reader and clicked through thinking “Please don’t look like a half-way-between-hatchback-and-SUV lump of non-design.