If he goes Bronco he might as well go 4-door Wrangler and be much more likely to find a sub-$40K rig with a few nice options.

I did that to an AW11 MR2 I had...the worn retention spring issue was well known but required major surgery to fix. I installed a spring-loaded clip to hold the gear in place but at WOT in top gear the torque on the transmission would sometimes pop it out anyway.

I’ve used a ton of Jeep manuals and while they at first seem fun they quickly betray the downsides of manually shifting what is essentially a pickup truck. I learned to drive on an SJ 4-speed and the 1-2 shift when the trans fluid was very cold was... difficult. Thankfully the 4-3 downshift was smooth because I was…

This is true. There’s reason pre-selector ‘boxes used to be favored by racers. My favorite was the 3-speed box in my grandfather’s ‘46 Willys Jeep. You had to be assertive but precise, and top end was 45 mph. Partly because of gearing, but also partly because the steering box was original to the truck and things got…

“electricity pricing is gov regulated...”

BMW and Mini are not lonely, they were already OBFFs with Audi and Subaru.

It just reads as flawed logic... “with gas prices, I’m considering going electric”. If that’s his only motive to shop he would probably be better off financially with a really nice hybrid.

The overwhelming majority of HHRs were not SS spec. And are generally as crappy as a non-SS Cobalt. Otherwise I agree. The Oldmobiles are all terrible. The Taurus/Five Hundred was crummy. The Daewoos were awful. As was any of the Chevy-badged or Suzuki-badged Daewoos of the period.

You mean the hybrid, right? Yeah, I’m seeing $10K+ markups on that one. The AWD models are not hard to find but also not available with any sort of discount.

Different motors. FWD is one 150kW and AWD is two 80kW.

And just like Macca dropped the MP4.

A whole half-inch!

The MkV GTI was a great car and possibly the prettiest one outside of a MkI, but I could also condemn it for being a veritable crapshoot on the reliability front. I know people who have had nightmares with stuff breaking on MkIIIs, MkIVs, and MkVs.

The first version of the 1.8T GTI was quoted at 150hp, but that was a MkIV.

The turbocharged version was reasonably *hot* for the time but good luck getting the thing to run for very long. This was from the dark ages of turbocharging when turbine cooling was inefficient.

The CRX was marketed as both as well. The Si was the hot hatch but the rest of the CRX lineup was humdrum. The HF trim was impressively efficient as it was light and very low on power.

Good call, I was going to add the GLA and X2 as well... very much hatches with barely noticeable lifts when tarted up with body cladding. And the GLA even has two power/price levels above 300: 35 and 45.

It’s a lot longer than the F31, almost 8 inches. The GT shares wheelbase with the Chinese market LWB 3-series sedan. That changes the whole rear seating dimensions. The car is also a few inches higher. But I think it’s the same width, which makes the proportions look strange. I shopped these when looking for a small…

The 350i is definitely a cooler (and newer) wedge than a TR-8 but likely far more expensive. A Morgan Plus 8 or MGB GT would also be super cool. I’ve always liked the P6, too.

Yeah, the STI and GTI are both terrible choices. The poor cars wouldn’t even get the oil warm in driving that short a distance. Which would then promptly kill both of them.