To expand on your second point, people like to see what’s ahead of them in the traffic jam. That’s hard to do in, say, a Civic. A tall-riding vehicle gives them the visibility to know whether to change lanes and cut through traffic.

That’s an interesting point about sidewalls. I remember an old Montero that I had some 7 or 8 inches of sidewall. Despite being a stiffly sprung ladder-frame SUV, the ride was quite good. The same is true of the “lux-truck” segment.

That was Bikini Atoll, which was inhabited until the U.S. moved everyone away in 1946.

The poster is probably referring to the Potsdam Declaration, which was issued a little later (July?) and demanded unconditional surrender. However, the British and Americans (China was also a signer) were in disagreement on the emperor. The British wanted to retain him as a figurehead; the U.S. wanted to abolish the…

Most of the Speedster’s color combos are too tasteful. I prefer the Panamera configurator where you can get a factory purple with matching purple alloys.

Don’t forget that you can also buy up to 10 Porsche Design Speedster chronographs (watches) at almost $13K apiece to hand out to your friends in celebration of your purchase.

It’s bizarre. I have friends with a 2013 or so Focus with automatic. They actually think it’s fairly normal. But the transmission judders like crazy when used to accelerate gently. I’m willing to bet it shifts okay if given the beans.

The air ride was allegedly adopted for ride-quality considerations and to keep the tow rating fairly high. The frame itself was a mashup of 2500 up front and 1500 out back, which explains how the ride could have been too rough for people expecting the feel of a luxury SUV.

You can’t get a CR-V or RAV4 for $21K. For $24-25K you can get the stripper models that don’t come close to the Golfs fuel economy. These are crossovers, not compact hatches. Most of these sell for around $30K.

Yes, that’s the piece that’s missing. He tells us the A90/J29 has to have an inline-six, but not why. History? Sure. Driving dynamics? Maybe. I think it’s mainly a money question. Toyota’s not willing to pony up the full development costs for its cheaper sports cars, and BMW was the ideal partner.

Rear-wheel drive and transverse layouts don’t go together. So to get a short engine Toyota/Subaru has to consider fewer cylinders or a V-configuration. It doesn’t get much shorter than a boxer-4, it’s basically the length of two cylinders.

It’s possibly because the Sportwagen is almost the same price as the Golf. You literally get more car for the same money.

I think you’ve hit on the key reason. The margins on a Golf are too small. It’s starting to have a tough time competing with the influx of new Japanese hatches, and the base price is almost the same as the more practical Sportwagen. I also expect all VWs Sportwagens to become Alltracks at some point (ala Outback).

I really don’t think it’s overpriced. $21K to start is right about in Civic hatchback territory, and with the 1.8T it was definitely more powerful. With the new 1.4T, though, it’s a little short on both power and economy to compete with the Civic. And the Corolla Hatchback is a viable competitor now, too.

Me too. Everyone gravitates to the butch-looking Alltraks despite the higher price tag. As for the most new VWs I see, it’s easily Tiguan.

VW was only non-premium Euro brand to seriously be selling in the U.S. in the 1990s, so it makes sense. The Japanese makes offered cars that were sort of similar in size, weight, and power, but nothing that benchmarked the compact Jetta. And in the late 90s, the Japanese fascination with sports sedans disappeared and…

Oddly, the MkI Jetta was made in Germany, I believe, despite being much more popular in North America. Golf production shifted to the new PA plant in 1978 I think. The 2-door Jetta was the most direct replacement for the Beetle since it had a proper trunk instead of a hatchback.

Yeah, I think the main argument for one will be the fact that you can get the best of both worlds: a reasonably entertaining car to drive and some of the cheapest running costs around. I still think the Mazda 3 is the better driver’s car, but it’s too pricey. I would really have to drive the Corolla against the Civic…

It’s important to remember, too, that Chrysler had products on the lots as early as 2005 that directly took away PT Cruiser sales: Caliber, Patriot, Compass. These cars are not fondly remembered today, but they did better with fuel economy and especially crash tests.

Good point. BMW produced the original Mini right up until 2000, taking over where Rover left off. In European markets it was less a revival than it was a complete redesign of an existing model.