I kind of love that two of last night’s winners were together in Encino Man.

Fair enough, I’ve driven it for about 30 seconds in an F250, mostly it'll probably make for good engine swaps in 10-15 years, and it's still to good for an E-Series.

If I'm not mistaken, the original Grand Vitara was the 4-door version of the '99-'05(ish) Vitara, and the XL-7 was the 3-row version of that Vitara (either that, or the Grand was the V6 version of the Vitara, but still 2 row/4 door). Like you say, the 2nd gen XL7 moved to a stretched Equinox platform, but there was…

In a previous life, I drove a GMC Savana delivery van. It’s big and unwieldy, it’s barely been updated in 20 years, but that V8 up front forgives a lot of sins.

Imagine our reaction to firefighters putting out wildfires was “okay, but they’re not addressing the climate change that’s causing these fires, and really, the wildfires give them job security, so they have no incentive to fight climate change.” It’s perfectly reasonable to want systemic issues addressed, but to put…

It weighs like two tons, it was never really meant to handle, and the chassis dates back to the late 70's. 160hp is *fine* - it’ll do highway speeds comfortably, fuel economy is passable, and it’ll make soothing distant engine sounds (yes, my grandparents had a Crown Vic sedan, and I’m still very fond of it). Not…

Invoking dead French academics in a discussion of cars? Davey G. would be proud.

In regards to NZ State Highway 94, it is excellent, even in a slow, rattling Toyota HiAce, and New Zealand in general is wonderful. That said, you can save yourself the trans-Pacific flight, and do the Pacific Rim Highway from Nanaimo to Tofino on Vancouver Island. Not quite as mountainous (although still plenty…

Oh yeah, I know Matchbox is kind of suffering at the hands of Mattel, and the blacked out windows aren't a deal-killer (I've got a few pre-Superfast era ones as well, from when my dad was a kid). Just, when realism is the big selling point, it feels like a loss. I'm most disappointed they did it on the LEVC TX when…

Wait, can this Ghostface (or Ghostsface/Ghostfaces) afford an entire New York warehouse to house their little Ghostface museum? Serial killing must be more lucrative than we thought.

I don’t know how it is in the US, but meat prices are up quite a bit in Canada, and my family is certainly reconsidering how much meat we buy accordingly. While I can’t point to a specific carbon footprint related extra cost, it at least seems like something where buyers aren’t as heavily shielded from paying for…

Matchbox does some neat stuff, but some of their newer casings with blacked out windows so they don’t have to install an interior are a total bummer.

The problem doesn’t seem to be quite as bad up in Canada- I’m not a particularly dedicated collector (I have a tote box with 700+ of the things unpackaged to play with, so it’s not as if I particularly need any more), but I don’t know if there are any recent mainline cars I’ve really wanted that I’ve just never been…

1986 saw the release of what is quite possibly the only uncool homologation special to ever reach production, the Pontiac Grand Prix 2+2. They fitted the worst G-body with a slippery rear window for the sort of superspeedway speeds you’d never see with a asthmatic 165hp (less than you’d get in a Monte Carlo SS…

If you have a Miata, why would you want to play golf? That seems like a waste of time when you could just go drive your Miata.

Yeah, I get basic supply and demand principles - I just don't see any likely scenario where we manage to build a 15 minute city that includes everyone. 

One of the selling features of my current house was that, at least in terms of something I could afford, the neighbourhood is reasonably walkable - there’s schools, parks, and libraries close enough, on slow enough streets, that I’d feel comfortable letting my kid go off and explore by himself in a few years, so I do…

I admittedly gravitate to Ray because it seems like Ackroyd inadvertently wrote a bunch of his high-functioning autism into the character, but Winston might be the best audience surrogate in any movie.

Had the car since new, so it's probably more likely the updated engine yours was a worthwhile improvement (even the lowest powered variant still has a little more torque, and several tunes peak at lower RPM).

Moreso than one specific objectively good car, I'm just annoyed with generic performance car sound, that bassy, almost flatulent roar that's punctuated by unnecessary fake overrun, the one that's especially prevalent in European boosted V8's.