I’ve noticed he has an irrational hate-on going regarding unions in general.

That’s an interesting theory. Got any evidence that fills it out further?

Then those investors are fools.

A few random thoughts about this story:

The difference is that Volvo designed their system to augment the driver, not replace the driver.

Hard CP. It’s amusing, but I wouldn’t touch it.

The Mercury Capri II is a car I’ve always lusted after ... in spite of all the bad press they got here (deservedly so - they didn’t run worth a damn in our winters), and the build quality ... well ... it was a bit better than late 70s British Leyland...

2nd Gear: One thing Volvo is getting right, that I think other autonomous vehicle companies are getting wrong is that Volvo is starting from a “augment the driver” perspective, instead of “replace the driver”.

Just not buying the price. Nice car - and I’d even say nicely modded. $14K for a 16 year old specimen? Not so much.

Quite possible - the car was already 15 years old when I got it ... hardly a spring chicken :-)

Whoopee shit, Mr. Factchecker.

Don’t laugh - I’ve actually been accused of texting while driving after taking off from a light with a cop behind me simply because my right hand wasn’t on the wheel. There are some police out there now who have never actually driven a standard.

If that was the case, the 1st gear synchromesh on my Toyota was well and truly shot then, because going into first was always like going into reverse on that car.

Unless BMW does something really strange like creating an interlock between the parking brake and the gearshift (which would be a strange decision), there’s a simple solution to the “won’t go into first” feeling:

I don’t know that it’s much of a change. Even in the 60s and 70s, Chrysler corp. always tried to position the Chrysler brand as “upscale”. Sadly they never achieved the traction needed to be seen as a competitor with Cadillac and Lincoln.

There are a lot of reasons why that’s a false equivalency.

It’s precisely those repair costs that have always kept me away from Audi/BMW/Mercedes marques. No matter how nice they are, the repair costs terrify me, and I’m not going to go there. (That does tend to leave me going with more pedestrian options like Honda for daily drivers, but that’s not so bad)

For the time, it was one of GM’s more ‘interesting’ offerings. But these things never could cash the cheques that the badging wrote for them.

Yes, but the time when PS/PB weren’t on all cars was also a time when said same cars weighed a LOT less than is average now. I had a ‘90 Honda Civic - armstrong steering in that thing, and I could dial it into a parking space just as easily as if it had power steering. Of course, it only weighted a total of 2200…

They couldn’t sell the 200 because it was outclassed by better made cars out there. The Dart was a nice enough little car, but again, there are comparable cars out there that are better built.