My impression was that when the Miata came out, it was hard to find them because there was a run on them. And Ford jumped in with a drop top 323. I think they had it available because when Mazda asked for money to make the Miata, Ford suggested a drop top 323 as an alternative and sort of went with it as a side…
brandegee
livingstone
Mercedes made sense though, they had like 3 different versions of the same car, The CLA, CLS, and the GT sedan. Basically the same car
Del Sol never claimed to be a performance car
The one thing about the Capri is that it was obviously Ford realizing Mazda (who they owned) had something special on their hands. It was actually advertised as being a competitor against the NA Miata. In a straight line, it was quicker (everything but the Duryea likely was), but the first time you hit a bump and…
I give it like, 7/14.
Whenever those VW vanogan things come up at whatever ridiculous prices they go for, this is the vehicle I always present as an alternative.
Pathfinder was a direct competitor to the 4Runner. Now it’s a generic CUV.
The hybrid system is what makes it heavy. They downgraded to the turbo 4 to save weight. They could have kept it as a V8 only and be a lot lighter but their #1 priority was hybridization.
Going at the speed limit on the highway with cruise set, definitely. But if you drive like a normal human being with realistic acceleration and cruising above the speed limit a bit, you’re at a point where most of these tiny, massively downsized engines are needing boost to keep up and they’re absolutely sucking more…
Foxes were pretty much the best cheap cars ever. A couple friends put similar miles on them with about the same experience. The Brazilians know how to build a VW about as well as the Germans. My ‘02 Golf TDI was pretty damned good too, if not as good as the GTI. It had a couple minor issues under warranty where the…
It’s primary function is growth if it wants to keep trading like a growth company. There’s a reason it was valued higher than companies 100x its size (that may be an exaggeration, but not by much) that had actual earnings. The transition from growth darling valued on multiples of revenue to established company valued…
NMS Passat basically languished with facelift after facelift up until last year, even after the rest of the world got an entirely new generation of Passat in 2015 based the MQB floorplan that North American buyers never knew.
Buyers also couldn’t choose between a choice of body styles and engines as the Astra only came in one configuration: a three-door hatch with the 1.8-liter engine.
My ‘80s VWs were absolute anvils - I drove an ‘84 GLI to over 350K miles. I also had a ‘90 GLI 16V that was a rock. But those were German VWs, not the junk they crapped out of PA in that era.
I’m guessing that they were sold at a discount or whatever constitutes a discount nowadays. And depending on when these were bought in 2022, interest rates might not have been bad. The prime rate a year ago was only 3.50% compared to 8.00% now.
So the SL debuted “in the press” in late 2021, and was on sale in Europe not long after. But I quit Mercedes sales in June of 2022 and we had quite a few orders that were delayed for a long time, none of which came until well after I left. I don’t know about the logistics of a lot of them, but to be fair to the SL it…
back then the 2nd gen xB i liked a lot lot better than the Soul Especially with a manual. sad the xB didnt continue. The 2nd gen was a much better car for daily living even if it wasnt as quirky
“Compromises” the manners as in making it more cushy and soaking up imperfections... That’s a GOOD thing, eh? Even my friend with an Outback XT likes how my Outback Wilderness handles. The Wilderness trim is perfect for highways.
By “dense,” I mean in the mental sense. They tend to behave in ways that are counterintuitive and just feel plain stupid. For instance, my 5EAT in my Legacy does this thing when after accelerating gently after braking down for a corner and turning, it’ll shift normally through to fourth, where it’ll lock the torque…