I loved the Can-Am series.  It was exciting to watch, and made a nice counterpoint to the Formula 1 and similar races.  It’s also refreshing to listen to the way the driver is using the shifter - as much as I understand why the current racing is using highly automated transmissions, I’m not in love with them - there’s…

The Aztek is from that generation of minivans GM produced that couldn’t figure out how to distinguish themselves from all the other minivans of the day, so Pontiac’s designers decided to go for “weird”. The predecessor Trans Sport model was odd, but managed to be appealing. The Aztec pretty much got everything the…

The comments about carbon fibre fragments caught my notice.  I wonder if, in a few years, we are going to start seeing problems with cancer resulting from carbon fibre dust similar to those with asbestos?  (Completely speculative - just a thought that came to mind when I read the article)

Neutral: Ford has a perception problem.

It’s a half-exit ... one step closer to the door for Musk. Although I am not optimistic that he is going to read the tea leaves correctly and start building a succession plan, it should.

I can’t remember the last time I saw one running myself.  There used to be a couple rotting away in front of the former dealership location over in Bowness (a part of Calgary), but I haven’t looked in years.  

Well - that mod does solve the problem the first years of those things had with rear end collisions ... 

1st Gear: Yet another reason why Musk _should_ go. Building any company around a “cult of personality” is a really bad idea. Nobody - especially company leadership - should ever be indispensable to the company’s well-being.

Hard CP for me.

About the rear-engine Skodas ... we had those for a few years in Canada (you could actually buy them new). Don’t bother. Seriously - don’t bother.

Neutral: The same way that it took the Japanese makers most of the 80s to figure out what sells here, it would take the domestic manufacturers that long to figure out what’s going to sell there.

Hmmm ... the first thing that comes to mind for me reading this is “how the hell do these people get to enforce judgments on people without having been heard in court?”.

The limo isn’t striking so much as the size of the motorcade itself. That’s just ridiculous. 

Ugh ... Barf ...

How often has this happened to you?

First Gear: Like Volvo, Toyota is “getting it right” on autonomous vehicles. In the short to medium term, there is far more to be gained by augmenting the driver rather than replacing them.

Handbrakes only make sense to me on cars that are standard shift to begin with. They are generally pointless on anything with an automatic.

Yeah - vehicle prices have gotten insane, haven’t they?

Mustang is a big different because Ford managed to keep it alive continuously, and although current designs are definitely throwbacks to past versions, younger drivers don’t _see_ them as such. (perception is an odd thing)

What about some of the small cargo van options that have emerged recently?  (e.g.  Ford’s Transit Connect, or the Nissan NV200)