Yeah, and then you have to somehow acquire that classic Mini. In the U.S. that’s usually a pricey proposition. There’s nothing practical about this conversion--it’s all about style.

This is a perfect example of rare import being for sale in the wrong market. Advertise this in Japan, Australia, or Europe and you may get some takers. This car fared much better in those markets, both in sales and performance.

To be fair, the wiki entry for this very car also references the Bavaria as a styling twin.

They used to offer one but in 2015 they dropped it. I’m pretty sure FCA cited poor sales. It’s possible Stellantis still makes police versions with this configuration; it would be interesting to see it offered with the Charger but then sales don’t really support the idea—they probably would have to emissions/crash…

I’m pretty sure the Versa was a Nissan B platform car to start with (C11), then later moved to the V platform. It was sold as the Clio but was really a Nissan underneath.

It’s especially galling when writers manage to insinuate this using a direct quote from a third party. Just awful.

I did and it’s still a weird bit of for-me nonsense. The title suggests it’s the greatest road, full stop, based solely on the author’s own experiences. Which might be a compelling argument if it amounted to more than the fact the author is from there, likes the Drive Safely sign, has seen Sopranos, and has heard that …

The article didn’t say either way, which was odd, but the customer was being cagey about what he’s actually spent on repairs.

Europe has fairly low speed limits for vehicles that are towing trailers.

Agreed. I don’t quite think this is the Ford GT the public wants—they want a stonking V8—but it’s the sort of sports car that many purists would like. Porsche has the equipment but doesn’t seem to want to build a mid-engine car like this. The top-shelf Cayman with its strut suspension doesn’t quite count.

The flanks are very similar to the short-lived GTA Spano. Don’t be too harsh, this is classic small-volume British sports car. Dodgy styling but exciting, if not refined, performance. I forgive it simply for not being thoroughly hideous.

I thought the ZR1 would be the last non-hybrid track-focused ‘vette.

A direct comparison of an X5 and Merc e450 all-terrain shows a disparity of several hundred pounds, as well as a difference of at least 4 mpg. In return you get some ground clearance and better towing. But the E wagon can also tow a lot. The big difference is the tongue weight rating, which is more than double for the…

What’s even crazier it that the Veloster, despite being 5 inches shorter than a C-HR, has more passenger room. And the drivetrain in the Toyota is simply awful.

Yeah, I think that like a number of other small SUVs, such as the EcoSport, the C-HR was designed primarily for those markets you mentioned. Those markets got more appealing powertrain choices, such AWD paired wth a 1.2-liter turbo. The European hybrid model got 182 hp and a 0-60 time of 8.2 secs. The U.S. market got…

It’s funny, if it ever made it to market as a Scion, it would have been the best-selling Scion by a wide margin. Lack of AWD was a big oversight, but so was the coupe form factor. That’s an aspirational bodystyle; the customer is expecting luxury or sportiness. This very slow rig didn’t offer either.

If I’m not mistaken it’s the same platform as the corolla cross with a shorter wheelbase. It’s available with AWD in some markets. Europe and Japan saw good sales with it, but Toyota’s projections for the U.S. market were way too high. Subcompact SUVs not designed for this market don’t usually fare well.

BMW’s fascination with the 6, and the 328 badge, goes way back to the ‘30s. Way more history with the six, though BMW has race history with lots of different engine types.

I had the same car, SE model. 205 hp max from the factory. The Viggen offered 235. Nobody ever got 40 mpg with a turbo H-engine Saab at today’s highway speeds, but it very reliably did 30-32 mpg and you could easily retune for well over 250 hp at the cost of mpg and turbo lag. I put 225K on mine with only a few…

I have a tough time calling this “technically” a Lotus. Lotus adjacent maybe? Most of the parts are there, but the meager number of first-hand driving impressions show that things are amiss: the ride height is higher (Korean roads in 1995), the Lotus suspension tuning is gone, and the Isuzu setup--which is just okay…