Awesome, thank you for the detailed info. As I said, I’ve never had a chance to inspect them up close, so I wasn’t sure how the doors, body, and chassis were constructed. But it makes sense - they were a product of an era when we expected to roll across eastern Europe to go up against the Soviets, not street fight in…

Thanks for the info. Like I said, I wasn’t sure if they came with any crew protection from the factory. I’ve seen some pictures of the “field mod” armor kits you guys make up. It’s pretty crazy, but hey, if it gets your ass home in one piece, that’s what counts.

I’ve never had the opportunity to inspect a civilian Hummer close up (or a military one, we didn’t have them where I was at in the Navy). I wasn’t sure if the base trucks had any level of armor built in from the factory. I’ve read about some of the armor kits that the military adds like the up-armor kits they added to…

Another great article. Hilarious as always.

My least favorite thing that passengers do is basically ANYTHING besides making normal conversation or shutting the hell up.

I don’t think GM is dead in the water. The new Camaro isn’t awful, I generally like the styling, I just think its too big and heavy. I’m hoping the 6th Gen will achieve that, but I’m not sure how I feel about the beak looking front end.

Agreed. I’ve always been much more of a Chevy guy, but I never could quite get into the 5th Gen Camaro (then again, I think the 3rd Gen is perfect). But I love the way Ford has been taking the Mustang, and when I heard the 4 banger turbo was coming back I got interested. I’m really starting to consider one for my next…

I like this way more than I should.

My tuned 1.4L turbo Cruze lags, and I love it. When I put-put around town, that’s what it does, no drama. But when I want to go “fast”, I hammer down, and you can just feel the turbo winding up and suddenly it’s game on. It’s not for much at higher speeds, but snagging the first few gears from low speed is quite fun.

Future prediction: VW partners with Subaru, puts FB engine in the back (WHERE IT BELONGS!), does not offer in US.

Huh, I don’t know anything about Project Pluto, I’ll have to look into it. But I like when weird industry collaborations happen like this.

One of my dad's really good friends bought a Scion and he was in his late 40's or early 50's. He had a rough life, was divorced, bankruptcy, etc. He finally had a steady job and money again and wanted a decent car despite having shitty credit and all. Turns out the youth that Scion market to also have shitty…

Dunno if this was mentioned, but Coca Cola Company acted as a consultant on this project. The engineers wanted a way to reliably “dispense” the bombs, so they looked to Coke who had a history of designing vending machines.

Agreed. Old cars are just so much more fun. I keep waffling on trading my Cruze for something newer, maybe a 2016 Camaro when they debut or maybe an ATS with a 6 speed. But then I always come back to the IROC and figure it would be a lot of fun to continue DDing the Cruze since its almost paid off and buy an IROC to…

I miss the Atlas engines

I have driven one, but never owned one, and you're right, they probably aren't the best F-body, but as a kid growing up in the 80's this car is still an icon to me. I do want my own one day, though, so I've read up a bit and none of the problems are insurmountable.

Considering all the required safety equipment, pollution control equipment, etc., chopping 200lbs off is quite respectable in my book.

I don't mean it in the sense that sporty = sports car. I just mean that Nissans come off as more sporty, at least in looks than, say, than a Toyota, even though they are "grounded to the ground."

I had a 2010 or 2011 rental Camaro for a few weeks over the winter about 3 years ago. Every stop light was a drag race, lots of burnouts occurred, and many parking lot donuts in the snow. Though I didn't have the stones to take it to its logical conclusion like these guys did.

I agree, they aren't actually significantly cheaper than their competitors these days. But they do offer a lot for what you pay. I was just approaching this from my thought process as a consumer if I were shopping in this segment. I suppose the more correct term would be "value."