On the otherhand, the 037 is seriously underrated. It was introduced after the Quattro and managed, as a rear drive machine, to beat it to the 1983 championship. It was the last rear drive machine to win the WRC and, in my probably unpopular opinion, is the best looking WRC vehicle of all time (yeah yeah I know the…

This obsession with the solid axle needs to stop.  A solid axle is not the only way to a capable expedition vehicle.

California is THE place to be if you have a car hobby.  You’ll get 10,000 people shitting on California “because CARB!” but you won’t care when you’re craving canyons on Christmas Day.

The local Rolls-Royce dealer occasionally sends me e-mails announcing their low low (generally around $2k a month) leases.

I’m waiting for the day when Torch gets an e-mail marriage proposal.

6x6 trophy trucks with low profile tires?

We should have a gentlemen’s agreement that no performance car should have larger than a 19" wheel.

The RHT doesn’t have a sanctioning body legal rollbar option where you can put the roof down.  Meanwhile, you could combine this hardtop with a rollbar and still go top down if you choose.

It’s also essentially a no investment option for Mazda as it’s the same hardtop offered on the Fiat 124 GT sold in Europe.

Okay, pet peeve rant alert.  The climate control temperature setting is an on/off thermostat.  YOUR CAR WON’T HEAT UP FASTER IF YOU SET IT AT MAX.  Setting it at max merely increases the threshold where the heat shuts off.  Thus, setting it first at max and then dialing it back accomplishes nothing. Same thing with…

Or you could import a RB26 from Japan, since you originally imported the car from Japan anyway...

Too few rust holes to interest David Tracy.

Bless your heart for thinking people actually bother looking back these days.

Honestly, I’d be up for a “Signature” low-key 250 hp turbocharged Mazda 3 with a nice leather interior way more than I’d be up for a hot hatch boy racer Mazdaspeed 3.  But I might just be old now.

That visual reminder is striking.

How is BYD a start up?  The company has been around for 15 years and has a significant share of the Chinese car market.  If BYD is considered a start up, so is Facebook.

Luxury SUVs are totally practical.

So, alternatively, just wave rusted parts in front of David Tracy and profit?

To be fair, it doesn’t matter what the peak power is since most people refuse to rev above 4,000 rpm anyway. I bet there’s significantly more power in the lower areas of the rev range than the garden variety Crosstrek, which is what matters to the typical owner.

I’ll raise your anecdotal story with my own.  My neighbor has a plug in 3-series that he religiously plugs in when he gets home.  My friend has an A3 E-tron that is always charged as well.  When I discuss PHEVs with friends, the plug-in aspect is very much a selling point.