My first car. A 1979 VW Scirocco. I had known the car all its life; it belonged to a friend of my dad’s. My dad bought it for me for my 16th birthday in 1989.

Straightforwardness. Not to be confused with simplicity or lack of gadgets, though adding crap for the sake of adding crap does tend to make a car less straightforward. It has to make absolute sense to me the moment I sit down in it; it has to drive in a manner that works with me instead of fighting me; and I have to…

They do what now? Oh great. Now I gotta give those stupid things an even WIDER berth in traffic.

I think Tesla’s end goal is to make a car that’s basically an iPhone with wheels and seats and (usually) a roof. Every step towards the featureless-monolith esthetic is a step in the wrong direction in terms of function, for both cars and communication devices, but as long as they (and their customers) think it looks…

This is one area where knowledge is definitely power. Here’s my own tale of daily-driving on the cheap...

Anything... but you have to be careful and do it artfully, because it’s a fine line between “Harlequin” and “This used to be six cars in the Pick-N-Pull lot.”

That, and the acknowledgement that I’m not as good as I like to think, and can always be better.

Packard. But not in a retro way, except for three things:

Here’s a rarity for you: Sunbeam Alpine GT coupe.

I drove the wheels off that exact car, only in silver. Hatchback and all. Bought it used for about $1500, and put 50,000 miles a year on it for a couple years, commuting to work and school. Got 40 MPG on the highway with the air conditioning on. Transmission had a leaky axle seal; it would pop out of 5th gear if it…

I can see myself making the switch to electric for commuting at some point; in fact, it’s probably an inevitability. But that won’t stop me still wanting to own a few more classic ICE cars before I’m done.

Not all that interested in the van, but I’d like to know the story of that green Omni in the background...

You know what I don’t see in any of that? Any mention of the cars themselves, or driving. If I didn’t know Tesla was a car company, it would be impossible to tell from those tweets what they made if you took away any photos of cars. These people seem to be obsessed with the cult of personality surrounding the…

This is the kind of car that you don’t really know much about but think is cool, and once you buy it, you fall down a rabbit hole of obscure ‘70s car knowledge you never knew was there. And the more you learn about it, the more your weird little blue sedan endears itself to you.

That is clever! And I appreciate that they did it without adding yet another motor to it. I’m a big fan of simple mechanical solutions.

Well, my daily driver is a 25 year old manual Corolla that cost me $500. It has a $20 eBay stereo in it, and nothing else. I mean, if you really want my ice scraper or my sunglasses...

I had no idea these existed.

I am eternally grateful that the internet didn’t become a thing until I was well into my 20s. None of that adolescent bullshit is documented...

Great article.

It took me a second to realize it’s a four-door. Those hidden rear door handles are starting to become more and more common, it seems, almost as if small car designers realize that cars like this should, by rights, only have two dors, and they’re ashamed of having to squeeze rear doors into a size and form of car…