@OMGItsWeasel: My father, too, was out of the picture; he had a beat-up '92-or-so Corolla when I was a kid, before he disappeared from my life entirely. My mother, therefore, had far more of an impact on me - she bought a '95 Contour new, a base-model car save for its tape deck and alloy wheels. From this, I learned…

@snapoversteer's walking around eating his Triscuits: I understand it worked well enough for Subaru in Great Britain.

@Skunky: Well, Subaru's diesel is apparently worthless, and part of the point of a Miata is being able to rev it. I'd settle for a small diesel pickup with a stick, really.

@S_E: Zip ties? Not ordinary white-nylon ones, surely? I'd think those would melt right through.

I'm not interested in any ordinary sedan that has a hood I could dent simply by standing on it.

@D_Robb: The real problem with that engine was that a lot of them were backed up by an absolutely terrible automatic gearbox (the four-speed slusher) that ate every last bit of the meagre power it did produce. Seriously, a 2.0/automatic VW, be it a Mk3 or Mk4, makes my automatic Volvo 244 look fast. It's not even all…

@Kyle Exnowski: Yeah, but the key is the 'boost' in that equation. With a turbo bolted on, the 2.0 becomes useful.

@duurtlang: The 2.5 annoys me, but the 2.0's continued existence would seem rather difficult to justify... it can't be that much cheaper to make, can it?

@Mr-X: Seriously. "Uncomfortable place."

@87CapriceEstate: Tailgaters don't make me speed up - I'm already going plenty fast, as often as not (72-ish when I'm cruising along, sometimes faster). I get over when I can, but I don't reward dickish behaviour, either - if someone comes up behind me and stays back a safe distance, I get over as soon as I safely can…

@Wolfy Kovac: Eh, I'm partial to the spool of cable I keep in my car boot - a bit easier to bend into shape.

@87CapriceEstate: My parking brake does absolutely nothing unless it's all-the-way-holy-shit-I'm-gonna-pull-it-off-its-track up, at which point it'll hold the car on a moderate grade. I don't set it unless I'm on a proper slope, but when I am, I do.

@SmaartAasSaabr: My 1989 Volvo 244 has no concept of a brake-shift interlock - I have a tendency to shift into drive (not usually downhill, though) without my foot on the brake, Just Because I Can.

@MushyHeirloom: Actually, I've used electrical tape to hold my rear muffler in its hanger before (when the hanger on the other side wasn't exactly there, so it could be shaken loose). Just wrapped it around a bunch of times... wasn't anything I couldn't have done with a pair of visegrips, but I didn't feel like…

@not_a_virus.exe.vbs: They did it to protect the paint. Here's a reference to it - the original Vortex thread seems to have evaporated.

I know what it can't do - repair car exhaust. I know that seems obvious, but I know this guy...

@brandegee: I'm hoping it's a Michael Palin sticker.

Simplify, then add a few hundred pounds of batteries.

@87CapriceEstate: You know, you could still pass the 65 MPH truck while doing 68. I have no trouble responding to road rage.