Yup, this was a great piece of Jalopnik writing.  Little bit of “umm OK” at the first one.  “ummm same basic car” during the second.... and then just started laughing at all of them.  Good job.

Hyundai and Kia both.  I was just admiring the new Kia K5 (that’s what the Optima is called now, right?) last night in traffic.  The lighting on that thing is amazing.  

In high school, I worked at the small electronics portion of Montgomery Ward’s Electric Avenue.  My department sold a lot of different things.  Cordless phones.  Microwaves.  Boom boxes.  Vacuums.  And yes, we actually had that Corvette branded vac for sale.  I think I sold one of them my entire time working there.  

The 2004 badge was the 40th Anniversary badge.

Taillight, $60: https://www.ebay.com/itm/224599653664?hash=item344b2ebd20:g:N-UAAOSwx5FhNkxM

That interior is amazing.  Stellantis should definitely offer up that wood grain interior kit as a Mopar accessory!  I’d love having something like that.  

LOL.  Yeah, I should probably do that.

I’ve already got mine. 2006 Dodge Magnum SRT8.

Ugh... right.  Need more wagons!

Agreed.  The Leaf already looks so much like any generic crossover these days.  It just needs a few more inches of ground clearance, and a few more inches of body height, and boom.... crossover.  

Yes, to me it smells like pancake syrup.  Anytime that smell tingles my nose (and there aren’t a stack of blueberry pancakes in front of me), I know some car somewhere has a cooling problem.

The Vector W8. My jaw hit the floor when one showed up at Radwood LA a few years ago.

Agree.  The Malibu Maxx SS/Malibu SS got a lot of performance upgrades, including the only trim of this gen Malibu to get the 3.9L V6.  

The Aviator in the US also has the PHEV available, in the Grand Touring and Grand Touring Black Label trims.

As an SRT owner, I also think this about the Hellcat cars. My measly 425 HP 6.1L is just about perfect, and I could see upgrading to a 6.4L 475HP.  But 700+.... i can’t imagine what it would be like to daily something like that. 

Mercedes E63. Wagon. I love wagons, always have. I love fast cars, always have. My dream car is an E63 wagon, specifically the W212 version. My hubby has a W212 E350 sedan, and it’s been a great car. But I can’t afford an E63 when new, and I the maintenance costs of an out of warranty high strung E63 wagon keeps me…

“It also renewed a longstanding controversy over the San Diego Airport’s location near heavily populated areas.”

Agreed! I love reading pretty much anything by Victoria (here and other places). Her’s is definitely a unique take on the automotive culture.

The modern Explorer is FWD based.

It’s been given the Corolla Cross name so that when Toyota cancels the Corolla sedan in a few years due to dwindling sales, the Corolla Cross takes over and still allows Toyota to advertise as one of the longest running nameplates in history.  Non-car folks who come in looking for a Corolla will still be able to by a…