Yep, and technically until 1979 if you count the Beetle cabrio. I’m sure in some markets the overlaps are much longer.

Yep, I believe the Mk3 Cabrio was sold alongside the Mk4 Golf for a period of time (until 2002 I think).

For another red flag, take a close look at the rear wheels and how they are positioned in the wheel wells.

Yeah, there’s something off there... the position of the tire in the fender well is very different between the left and right side.

It mostly made sense in China, where it did the most sales. But both the Euro and China sales are dropping dramatically and that more than anything else has sent the Arteon to the hopper. It was just a handy halo piece for the U.S. market.

The peak horsepower was impressive but the bottom-end torque was so very not. Plus, it’s doubtful the U.S. cars made that sort of power since I believe they were set at 8.4:1 compression versus the 9.5:1 compression and different carb setup on the Euro cars.

The U.S. market SL didn’t get the M103, just the M104 in 3-liter form, which is Merc didn’t bother with any SL-24 badges. Later it got the 3.2 before the inline-6 was dropped. I don’t think any U.S. SLs got the V6.

$7,500 for a clean R129? Nobody’s talking about investment grade here. We’re talking an easy NP: complete maintenance records (!), only two owners, it’s been driven, and clearly garaged in a climate that implies zero corrosion.

E61 550i Touring? Not sure that was a thing in the U.S.

The Alfa 156 and CL9 TSX wagon confuses things a bit.

I love Torch but I always had a problem with how his guidelines completely ignored the length of the car behind the rear axle. Sure, the Protege5 passes all his criteria, but it’s also 5 inches shorter than the sedan version of the car. When the remaining criteria are roof length and side windows a Spark could be a…

A Fusion with a Coyote V8 would be hilarious and also maybe impossible.

The Charger Daytona was also a homologation special, I believe. And only 505 examples built vs thousands of the 5 Turbo. Sure, the 5 Turbo is extensively modified, but it’s still using a modified 5 chassis, a modified 5 bodyshell, and all Renault parts. And unlike most of the other Group B homologation specials, this…

An engine destined for the Torino King Cobra and Cyclone Spoiler.

Very cool, though it should be said that these cars were not specifically banned. The rules were changed by Bill France to quash the Chrysler/Ford NASCAR shootout, and the way he did it was to limit engine displacement on aero cars. Without the big blocks these monsters were simply not competitive, though a 305 cu in…

Ioniq 5 77.4 kWh dual motor: 266 miles

Some of the newer EVs, like the Ioniq5/EV6 and the Mustang have quite a lot of cargo room thanks to the very long wheelbase. But, yeah, good luck getting a full-size washer in the car, which is what I could do in my own dearly missed ‘01 9-3.

I can see where you would want to include Ioniq 5 and EV6 but the wheelbase is wayyy longer than the rest of the group. And it would be very weird not to include the Mustang Mach-E as well because it’s virtually identical to the Korean EVs in almost every dimension.

Model Y has about 120 hp less than the EV6 GT’s quoted output, as well as slightly larger battery pack (82 kWh). More importantly, though, one of the Model Y’s motors isn’t even utilized on the EPA’s test cycle. So, yeah, if you drive the Y like you stole it, the rated 318 miles will be much, much less.

Hyundai is about to do this globally with the Ioniq 5 but that already starts at $40K with the smaller battery. So no way the big pack goes in a base model and no way it sells for less than the $48K an Ioniq 6 is expected to fetch.