Tycho’s blog on Chinese cars spent a long time at the top of my feed. His return to the Netherlands left a hole in my obscure Chinese car knowledge supply.

This is the hell Hiroto Saikawa brought upon Nissan by trying to use palace intrigue to get out of merging with Renault.

If, for that money, they’re prepared to offer regular software and hardware updates to support ongoing connectivity, then I might be able to stomach it. Perhaps it’s bundled with a larger telemetry and communications package? I mean, as it is, I pay Nissan extra each month for the privilege of being able to track my…

The answer is unclear. Neither of us have sufficient context to declare unequivocally as to whether Mercedes’ answer is insufficiently contextualized in the article or whether they’re full of crap. If the statement is a blanket “we check buyers”, it’s demonstrably wrong, based on my experience. 

So, I had a 2004 Disco (an HSE7, which is slightly higher in the range than this example). I didn’t hate it, but it was far from my favorite vehicle. Ours was a CPO and we ditched it before that warranty ran out.

Did the article say “Mercedes does background check on buyers of a handful of products” or did it say “all buyers”?

“Mercedes told NYT it does background checks on all buyers, and still has no idea how Mercedes products ended up in the hands of the rogue world leader.”

Reasons not to live in Texas. LOL

Opposite example: I had a 2009 Murano that was the filling in a three car collision. Obviously, front and rear ends sustained substantial damage, but even the middle got scrunched enough that the doors were pinched. Insurance company decided to fix it, rather than total it, which resulted in them initially paying for…

Hot take. You’ve confused trail driving with exploration. I just spent a week in central Nevada driving my pickup down not technically challenging, but very vanilla RV unfriendly, BLM roads and camping wherever the fuck I wanted. I slept on an air mattress under a shell, but I’d have loved to have some over engineered…

Don’t assume your hidden garage is a protection. We have an anti-weed ordinance and we’re cited recently for weeds in our hidden back yard. I told the city to screw themselves because the weeds they were citing us for wouldn’t be visible unless the person writing the citation was trespassing, which would constitute an…

I went to one at Oktoberfest back in September, so they’re alive and well in Germany (using prewar BMWs and Indians, no less).

Yes and no. Yes, because the poster is taking the piss, hoping to discredit the whole endeavor. No, because the original article is hyperbolic.

Nope. If the host cancels within 7 days of the booking, they’re assessed a fee and get a an automatic negative review, but although you’ll get your money back in a week or less, you’re up sh*t creek without a paddle. Unless I was dealing with a well reviewed property with a significant history, I’d always have a plan…

Also, even if everything seems to check out, consider having a plan in place if it all goes to hell. I went to Oktoberfest in Munich last year and met a couple that had booked an Airbnb for their stay in Munich. When they were already on their trip, their reservation was cancelled without explanation by the host.…

We actually had a funny and beneficial experience buying two cars from a dealer, but mostly because the dealer screwed up.

The obvious choice is a 4WD ambulance converted to livable overlander.

In the east, I would agree. Get out west though and traction laws start to be a thing. Although FWD with winter tires is objectively better than AWD with all season tires, out west you’re gonna be chaining up in a blizzard with the former and being waved through with the latter. Makes it a no brainer to me. 

Nissan deserves to suffer for their bullshit orchestration of this. Ghosn came in when Nissan was on life support and righted the ship. He made a lot of questionable choices, but the efforts to put Nissan back in soley Japanese hands will do more damage than even his worst decisions.  

It’s much more car-like in its handling than bike like. The tail will come out, but the electronic nannies do a good job of preventing that in everyday driving, along with the weight distribution, which is surprisingly neutral. I lean into turns, but you don’t counter-steer these bikes, so my leaning is for weight…