Weight matters for driving cycles that involve a lot of high load situations, like accelerating or climbing hills and aero matters for higher speeds. Usually this is just summed up by city/highway. Aero has gotten a little better in terms of coefficient of drag, but frontal areas have gone up with the increase in…

When I smell diesel fumes, it reminds me of Europe. Nice memories, but they can keep the filthy things (though, they seem to be choosing not to).

Nice to see someone else understands this. You can only downsize an engine so far without downsizing the car and upping the aero efficiency before real world mileage is actually worse and reliability suffers.

Thing with the tow hook is if you are indeed in a ditch, the load on the hook would most likely be at an angle to its insertion, which with its fair bit of length, would leave a good chance of bending it/breaking it off at/in the bumper beam, perhaps damaging the bumper cover in the process, and I would think with the …

They aren’t the only company. I used my tow hook all the time with my Mazda3 for securing kayak bow line(s), which they’re perfect for as it keeps the straps well away from the bodywork. Damn Fords that replaced it don’t even have a place to screw one in. (The Euro model does, but if the US bumper beam is even threaded…

Be thankful. They did this in MA (I even voted for it in spite of the fact that I have never had an interest in drugs) and everywhere you go, you have to smell skunk assholes—going for a hike, walking in the city, sitting on a beach, driving in traffic—doesn’t matter. The only vote I regret, though it passed…

Seeing as the brand new (28 miles on it) 2016 KIA Rio I had as a rental wouldn’t beat 23 mpg, this isn’t bad at all.

That is a damn fine color.

No, but this totally isn’t the KIA of ten years ago!
—fan boys every year since ~2005

I don’t understand the comparison you’re making with two engines of different displacement that are open deck blocks. The Mk1 Legacy turbo’s EJ22 block is a closed deck design like the 22B and as close as you will get to it. I strongly suspect the short block is the same minus the part number and oil squirters (a…

I thought the wider flares actually make it stand out pretty well and much more than I expected from photos. I do agree that it’s unlikely anyone is going to drive this, though.

Head gaskets were an open-deck engine issue, especially with the 2.5 as they were on the outside of the original design parameters for displacement. This is closed deck and 2.2.

Unless things changed, you can pick up USDM Mk1 Legacy turbo engines and change the heads for pretty cheap. I would think, if anything, they’ve gotten cheaper as they’ve gotten older, but maybe not. They’re 2.2 liters, a closed deck block that’s much better than any POS 2.5, and the only thing I could find saying it…

I love the 22B, but the Stratos was a purpose-built car, not a special built from a heavily mass-produced vehicle. I think it’s closer—though not the same—as being like one of the rarer muscle cars where to 99.9% of people who see it, it’s just another, say, ‘69 Camaro every C&C probably has several of, but it happens…

My father tried to kill himself by driving unbelted into a tree in an Opel GT at high speed and he survived because he ended up in the passenger footwell (the engine and transmission took the driver’s seat).

Not exactly the same, but I think comparable, was I had someone jump out of the passenger seat into the driver’s…

Schrader valve stem remover. Annoying slow leak or impossible to fill flat, it’s Choose Your own Adventure.

I’ve already forgiven her. Worry about yourself.

They see thousands of cars a day, so if you don’t stand out, you’re highly unlikely to be noticed (though, this is not so easy if you’re a POC) and, if you’re not noticed, you won’t get pulled over. The smart criminal is in the newer white RAV4 driving in the slower lane, but not leading a parade with a magnetic “Who…

MA, too, but more than giving the pigs a minor excuse to pull one over on its own, they take hanging air fresheners as a possible indicator that the driver is a smoker and that might mean smoking marijuana, which means drug possession, which could be more than a personal amount, which they see as a possible glory hole…

Beavers, too, and they’re protected. Legally, you have to find someone to euthanize it and the permit is expensive, but there’s not much point as another one will take its place.

I personally don’t really mind them and from seeing how they engineer their dams, they’re impressively smart. Of course, I’ve seen their work…