That only matters when traction is an issue. Once it’s hooked up and going weight distribution is utterly irrelevant. Adding ballast almost certainly would not have helped here.

1/8th mile doesn’t respond as well to P:W adjustments as 1/4 mile does. At 1/8th you’re more beholden to reaction time, traction and gearing. Half a second might be quite as amazing as it could be, but it’s nothing to sniff at considering it’s only really coming in to play after the 80' mark.

A half second is significant? I honestly expected much more for nearly 25% weight savings. (4500lbs to 3500lbs)

Hopefully not, as the Jetta is now at best an average piece of crap. At least before it was just a Golf with a trunk.

Relax, they’re foglights.

Douchebaggage, huge missed opportunity there.

The Fiat is much better looking, cost half, and doesn’t carry any douchebag baggage with it.

Really any trim of the Golf Sportwagen is the answer.

I do like the image is the diesel GTD though.  Even better.

GTI wagon, with the option of either manual/dsg, either FWD/AWD ,with a lifted version, and the optional Golf GTE power train to satisfy electric/hybrid shoppers.

Eh, I think that’s too much black. I really don’t care for all black rims since the tires just bleed into them. I want at least a polished lip or a pinstripe or something to set them off.

First gear with either engine is traction limited in either case. The engine will always remain above peak torque and much closer to peak horsepower when the vehicle’s driven for maximum acceleration.  And given the new engine’s higher RPM, slight tweaks to gearing would more than compensate for drive wheel torque…

Nice car, though they need to adopt the optional Recaro seats from the sister Fiat 124 Spider and improve overall reliability.

I get the frustration, but there is a serious discussion to have about what raising transportation costs does for everyone.

Fuel injection existing long before the 80 and 90s...

Get everything in writing, since anything less will likely be dismissible in court.

Why not go to a Ford dealership, look up the part number in the appropriate diagram and ask? (I’m sure the 2018 dampers are close enough in price.)

My ‘72 IH Scout, though it was pretty reliable overall.

Jason, I mention this every time you or another writer at Jalopnik writes about patents. You mostly do not understand them. As I’ve said before, a published application is not a patent, it’s just an application. You can file an application and have it publish for pretty much anything. It has nothing to do with whether…

Chevy 350 output was as low as 145 HP. Such an engine would hardly yield a fast car by today’s standards if installed in this car.