The Model 3 will be of greater importance, but its impact is new. The Model S was pretty much THE influence in setting up EVs to be an object of aspiration.

Definitely GTI; it’s been the gold standard for hot hatches for the last 15 years. The Golf? It’s an afterthought here compared with the Jetta, and even that is giving way to the Tiguan.

Nice piece on Alvis, Matt. These attractive cars are worth remembering, and the gearbox of the ‘30s was especially innovative. A small correction—I believe the 12/50 was the first Alvis to get overhead valves, not an overhead cam. Prior cars were side-valves. The 12/75 of 1928 of course got the ohc engine.

Well observed. The Alvis man really meant “any language spoken in regions likely to buy our cars”.

The EPA rates the Camry FWD at 34 combined. The RAV4 with the same drivetrain, FWD, is only 30 combined. So something else is causing the discrepancy, and I think it’s mainly the worse aerodynamics. The weight is a small factor, too.

Same here. Got rid of mine not because it ran badly... it ran great! But the transaxle was falling to pieces after 220K miles of NYC driving and the repair (with replacing original clutch) was worth twice as much as the whole car.

All that’s true, it’s just that Jason knows the Versa/Sentra has for years been outclassed by just about every other cheap car except the Mirage. Cheap cars don’t need to be fun to drive, sure, but they need to be reasonably well engineered to compete in the marketplace. Every year, some other almost equally cheap car…

I recently had an F56 convertible base rental and I thought it had a lot of character. Some of it bad (brakes were not progressive and the infotainment/ergonomics are messy), but it was surprisingly fun to drive, and the ride was a lot better than the more powerful versions. I didn’t hate the automatic trans, but the…

I didn’t realize the LR4 engines had lots of issues. The later 2014+ LR4 got the supercharged V6, not the V8; I wonder how that engine fared.

I don’t believe Interpol has the authority to issue an international arrest warrant. In addition, every country has different requirements with regard to federal arrest warrants.

That’s the first time I’ve heard that about the manual trans. Seems apocryphal, since the 5-speed was the exact same thing used on the K cars and it was available from the first model year. In fact, until 1987, the only choices were the 5-speed manual or the extremely inefficient TorqueFlite. There was a Getrag manual …

On the 9-3, the best prevention was to install an oil filler neck with a PCV oil trap hose attachment. That was what was missing on the B205/B235 that failed to clean up sources of sludge.

The VDO gauge set from 1980s VWs also forced the indicator light to use a single LED. There was an extra light blank available (from what I remember of the basic Fox panel), but that was reserved for the glow plug light.

That rear-most side-window is an ideal DOGE window. DOGE mode could be just those C/D-pillar windows down and this EV thing will sell. sell. sell.

It’s not available in any U.S. markets yet, due to limited battery and electric motor supply. Officially, it’s a 2021 car for the U.S. now.

The sweet spot for the original Gallardo is the 2005-2007 cars. A new set of shorter gears made the car much quicker.

It’s still too early for the C6, but eventually the GS/Z06 will join the ranks. Too early for the 997 models that really matter, as well (997.2). But 996 GT3 and Turbos are going to head up very soon I think.

I agree. It’s still a perfectly great little car to drive, but it has become downright hideous.

$98K for a 4C? Dealer markup? I don’t know what the options were on the 2016 cars, but the most you can spend on a new one is about $88K.

When you select the $1,500 AWD option for the CR-V the price gets closer to the Subaru. It’s really a wash.