Long ago I owned the ancestor of this, the CM200 Twinstar. Slightly smaller engine, 4-speed transmission, and honestly the drum brakes were adequate. There just wasn’t enough weight in the bike to soak too much heat into the drums, even when I rode it at WOT for 5 hours coming up Hwy 1 in California.  Seriously 5…

As someone that lived through that era, you couldn’t PAY me $720 to take a Ford Tempo off your hands.  Or most of those other cars either.  Being old doesn’t make a shitbox interesting.  

Exactly.  Sorry if I was unclear.

I knew a guy that commuted 60 miles each way in one. He got 62mpg consistently.

I’m glad you brought up the Honda Fit. I was going to argue that the Smart just isn’t as good at *anything* as the Fit, except for safety. The mileage is better in the Fit, the Fit has twice the passenger capacity, way more storage space and is nearly as easy to park as the Smart.

I had one of these (an ‘89), and it was a fantastic family car that was entertaining enough to drive that I felt no need of a sports car.

Exactly my thought.  A freeway-geared open diff?!  WTH?

Man... How’d you respond?

So... my 5.0L Mustang LX followed by five Taurus’ (one of them a 1st Gen SHO), a Mercury Grand Marquis and now a Fusion might count? Huh.

Dude, we made it from the SW corner of Arkansas to a suburb on the West side of Phoenix for my dad’s memorial on three tanks of gas. Made across Texas on two tanks, made it from El Paso Texas, across all of New Mexico and most of Arizona on the third tank...

Nah.  Dad.

I like you.

I always love the whacky cars that Jason suggests, even though I usually think he’s just funnin’...

Right?  My little 4-banger ancient Nissan has a 6' bed, can haul up to 1400 lbs. in the bed and that’s more than sufficient for anything I need it for.  I’ve actually had it loaded to capacity a couple of times, and used it to tow a medium trailer with my FIL’s riding mower/welder/generator/compressor/few other things…

If the price is right, I will.  My tiny Nissan is 25 years old and not getting any younger.  I need a replacement.

German reliability being questionable is a relatively new thing.  30 years ago it was legendary.  They’re successful now because it was a gradual decline, and it took people a while to notice.

I realize this article was supposed to be funny, but it just made m think the following:

As this is being run by Volvo... if the specs/price is even close to reality, this could end Tesla.

Poor guys... stuck with those tiny penises, and no relief in sight.

I’d really rather go back to 16's.  The 18's on my wife’s Fusion have too narrow a side-wall for my liking.  The ride is ok but could be stellar, and really how much would it affect handling for a mid-size grandpa car?