Absolutely. Incentives for remote work, improved public transportation, bike lanes, and reduced business travel should all be part of the equation. We should always look at options to eliminate consumption before looking at options to lower the impact of that consumption.

I think we are in violent agreement. There are thousands of solutions to climate change. Some of them are extremely localized, some of them require transformational thinking at a global scale.

The answer, I’m afraid, is to bring it back as close as possible to fresh off the floor stock condition. Replace consumables like tires, windshield wipers brakes, and suspension. Catch up on all the PMs you’ve deferred and change the oil, spark plugs, coolant and transmission fluid. Hunt down a replacement for that…

You’ve hit it right on the head. Good preventive maintenance and replacement of wear parts like tires, shocks, struts and brakes will breath new life into any shit box.

4th gear: I love EVs, but there is no way of getting around the fact that they are a technology that only works in developed areas with a mature, stable power grid. Most of the world still lives in places where the grid is inconsistent.

Damn does this thing look sweet. Looking at the price, it is hard to imagine buying one of these instead of a use Wrangler, Tacoma or Ranger.

You’re starting to make me think there is a full trilogy we can squeeze out of this.

I bought a 2005 Subaru Legacy Wagon in 2011 ahead of a move. Out of the gate, I compromised on getting an auto not a stick and getting a Legacy not an Outback. It delivered on its promise of being fantastic in the snow on a set of Hakkas, but it had a litany of problems:

4th Gear: I bought a Rav4 Hybrid last week for my girlfriend to replace her ailing Fiat 500, and she is consistently seeing 55 mpg on her commute in slow traffic. We cross shopped the VW ID.4, Tesla Model Y and Kona EV, settling on the Rav4 based on price and availability.

Be careful. You’ve written enough background here for Disney to make a Wet Bandits origin story. Obviously, they would be orphans who grew up in a water starved desert town which they saved by diverting irrigation piping from the McAllister golf course.

The family trying to survive the apocalypse in this thing isn’t making it through the first 48 hours. It’s way to loud, thirsty and big not to draw the attention of people who will want it for themselves.

I have a set of large flood lights for backing up trailers set high on the canopy of my truck. I have used them once as “courtesy” lights and they were very effective.

Many people have some degree of reaction to holes placed closely together. In extreme cases, this can become an irrational fear which is called Trypophobia. As we all know, Firebird drivers feed on fear, so the design is brilliant.

This brought back memories. I lived in Vail for a year and drove a 1992 Integra with Hakkas. That thing made it through some 20 inch storms like an absolute champ.

You can get most of them studded or studless. They even have a great snow rated all season called the WR if you’re a one set of tires kind of person.

The answer is the car you have, or the car you can afford with a set of Hakkapeliittas. With a good set of Hakkas, any car instantly becomes ready for the worst Colorado, Vermont or Oregon can throw at you.

When I was 15, I had a bike stolen and found it posted on craigslist. The police were entirely indifferent. I scheduled a meetup in front of a liquor store where I knew a squad car was usually parked. When I got there, I told the dude the bike was mine. He assumed the police were watching and just got up and left.

There are plenty of setups in the same footprint that either have fold down bunk beds or a convertible dinette that get to 3-4 people. The big problem here is the 4 person dinette that consumes most of the usable space.

I know this thing isn’t going to production; but that never stopped anyone from whining on the internet, and it won’t stop me.

There is a harder to calculate cost from an experience like that, which is: “Will my partner want to do it again after this?” When push comes to shove, having a dry, warm place to sleep even when mountain weather sets in keeps everyone a happier camper.