Cops have better things to do than get killed*. As long as you don’t shoot at them in Detroit, they pretty much don’t care.

*That’s from Big Trouble in Little China, but it works for Detroit.

This is funny because when I first saw a bunch of bollards in front of a grocery store, my initial thought was that cart theft was a serious problem and they went a bit overboard. Then I noticed the bollard spacing was too great to retain the carts and I realized they were there to stop smash-and-grabs.

On an entry to…

This was what all of Detroit was like when I went to school there. Back then, it was old malaise land yachts instead of trucks, but the potential effect is about the same when they blow a cross-street red light fast enough to completely unload the suspension (if not leave the ground altogether) on the crown of the…

Yes, it is a comment born from experience. More than I’d like.

Shit, yeah, that would be a great use for this thing!

Looks a lot better built than these things usually go, but way too much on top of the time and work required to:

When I got my Focus ST, little kids on the forum were talking about how it’s “undriveable” in the rain in track mode because they’re children who apparently never drove an analog car and freak if a tire achieves any slip angle beyond the steering angle. I found it the opposite—goes from terminal understeer when the…

Yeah, it just further adds to the decline of the market. I’ve looked at the Miata RF probably a dozen times, but by the time I price it out (and I am not big on loading up with options), it just seems like way too little car for the money (obviously literally, but also figuratively speaking) compared to anything else…

While this won’t be an S-Class, a platform isn’t something frozen in time. The use of high strength steel in place of standard, additional bracing, and redesign of key stampings could all achieve heady gains without having to change all the hard points. Now, if you’re talking about acing those ridiculous high frontal…

It’s pretty durable stuff. The glass fibers add a lot of stiffness, plus, I imagine it’s engineered to be a lot stiffer than a kayak. Kayak hulls are made completely differently.

Velcro strapping. That stuff is indispensable. I get big rolls from work and just cut lengths for all kinds of stuff. Plus, it’s reusable, of course.

A pontoon boat deck is just a flat panel, so I don’t know how the modular idea wasn’t thought up earlier (I’m building a relatively narrow beam small speedboat and have considered such an idea even for that, like a rear bench that could be swapped for bike mounts, but I would likely never use the rear bench). Seems…

I’m sure it’s not offered with the manual because everything is so damned integrated and it works in conjunction with the transmission computer to control that. Maybe it’s even as simple as the automatic application of the brakes could cause a manual to stall if the driver didn’t put in the clutch.

They missed an…

Most old sports cars were only built because they heavily borrowed from more mainstream models or utilized their platforms (or what passed for platforms further back) when the market for such vehicles was much larger and building and certification was a hell of a lot cheaper than today.

I would imagine the clock was…

This is how I drive like an asshole, yet my cars are always far more reliable than other owners report, brakes last forever, and I average better fuel economy than even the window sticker that nobody else seems to be able even match (I go through tires quicker). I learned driving in a 73 hp Subaru on gravel and snow. …

This is how “The Irony of Fate or Enjoy Your Bath” should have gotten the wrong guy on the plane.

I guess they didn’t want to show the likely depressing reality of a box with OLED screens displaying whatever the passengers desire on the inside instead of glass (although this could be somewhat interesting, like maybe you could have choices that make you appear to be flying through lava tunnels or whatever one could…

My 1970 240Z was white with blue interior. The seats, headliner, interior roof trim, whole door cards, footwells, and tunnel were colored, the latter in an embossed diamond pattern. This is pretty close. I’m definitely a fan. It would also be nice if the color reached the top of the doors, but that might look funny…

The thing I like about being a fairly cheap prick, is that the lower end trims usually align very well with my preferences! Cloth seats and a manual sound good to me and the 17s become dedicated snow tire wheels with an aftermarket upgrade for summer for cheaper than the higher trim will probably come in.

How is the…

I know they said a little while ago that they were going to do a bunch of ST models. I don’t know if that changed, but it’s probably a smart way to print some more money when the sales on these start to drop. The 2.3 are the same dimensionally as the 2.0 . . .