No. The G8 was based on the VE Commodore. The SS was based on the VF Commodore. Primary differences are electrical and the switch to more aluminum components.

As the old saying goes...“Shit floats.”

Honestly, the Taurus was so high that it was almost a crossover anyway, so if you needed a big affordable car with a trunk and AWD, it was kind of the only show in town. Apparently, both of those buyers have theirs now, so Ford can stop making them.

We see standard cab long beds so rarely anymore, this looks like a photoshop, even though I know it’s real.

This. Truth is, most folks agree that they’re all pretty interchangeable the first year/20k. Then they all seem to have their own specific problem areas. The Rams, as you mention, have lots of minor parts fail spectacularly. The GM trucksstart having interior trim fall off. On the Ford trucks, it’s usually the…

When your real life drive looks like a theme park attraction...

My four are weird.

Please make money order payable to “cash”.

True. But the GM engine that started this conversation is (arguably) an evolution of a design launched in 1955 and which continues to be more physically compact and, when similar materials are used, lighter.

I am. Didn’t have much occasion to go there, but I did spend decent time at Katella Deli when I was a kid.

That engine is 10+ years down the pike from what started this conversation and, even amongst OHC engines, is kind of an outlier.

To be fair, my favorite roundabouts continues to be the UK’s “magic roundabout”s, with my personal fave likely to be the now diminished Plough Roundabout in Hemel Hempstead.

used to practice maintaining a constant speed through a turn on my hometown’s roundabout (know in the USA as a “traffic circle”), the Los Alamitos Circle. Taught me more about car control than any stretch of mountain road or race course driving I’ve ever done.

But they make it very high in the power band, which isn’t optimal for the way most Americans are taught to drive.

Let’s not forget that mighty Toyota has a 4-speed automatics in the 2018 Yaris.

If you’re making cars primarily for Americans, pushrods are perfect. OHV engines make torque. OHC engines make HP. HP gets you to 140 kp/h. Torque gets you to 60 mph faster. Guess which one Americans care about?

I feel like you either didn’t read my comment or you’re not serious.

Too true. Cellulosic ethanol is a potential game-changer that’s effectively being killed by the corn lobby.

When they were generationally closer, the Navigator always felt inferior. Not anymore.

I learned something today.