@Novaload: Indeed. My 244 (210k 'low' miles) turns 22 in March, and my 19-year-old 745T has an indicated 203k on its usually-working odometer, though not on the original motor.

@Jared Glentz: Maybe a P1800 couldn't, but the things I've done (and seen done) with a 240 are pretty damn impressive. It's not a heavy-duty truck, but it's still quite a tough car. Heavy bodywork, a torquey motor with a sturdy drivetrain, and a reputation for longevity and simplicity go a long way.

I always liked the muted appearance of these cars for some perverse reason. The rear-window angle is a bit abrupt, but you know, I'd love to drive this thing. It lends itself to such a conversion better than it should.

@Engineer - Think James May but not quite as witty, well paid, or British.: Nah, that'll half-assedly fight the Malibu, really. The Caliber is ChryCo's only compact-fighter, and it's a less-than-exceptional, dated crossover rather than a modern compact sedan/hatchback.

@RamblinReck89: A decade and a half prior...

@Vavon: When I spent a couple weeks in Scotland last summer, I could never get over a few minor styling quirks - the hood vents of the 206, rear side windows of the Citroën C2, and unpainted bumpers of the Ford Ka were a few examples, not to mention the hideous-above-the-beltline Citroën Xsara Picasso... I suppose the…

@From a Buick 6: This is an undeniably Good Thing until it fattens the pillars and raises the beltline so severely that you end up causing an avoidable accident.

@Elhigh: You can't imagine how much I'd enjoy seeing a Mini C(o)untryman sliced up and placed in the compactor at work.

@rbmako69: Yep, but the standard New Beetle GL/GLS/GLX 1.8T had 150 horsepower until midway through the 2001 model year (my mother's was built in September 2000) and continued to be rated at that figure until the engine was discontinued for 2006, though various sources suggest that it put out around 160 HP at the…

@wkiernan: In my defense, the 'stupid hat' in my case keeps rain off my shoulders and sun out of my eyes (it's a slightly-battered brown fedora) and the glasses allow me to see (without them, the 20/400 Giant Capital E that takes up the entire eye chart is four horizontal lines). I have no excuse for this moustache,…

@Lawdog: The 'shit lever' is an apt typo, I imagine. That's where the ashtray is in a Volvo 240, and the fuse panel in a 740 - both are rather silly locations, if you ask me, especially the latter given the flakiness of shift-lock overrides. Ignition-switch failure after a decade, though, is a bit hard to understand -…

@rotaryfreakjoe: Actually, it was my grandfather who had an Oldsmobile as well, a '93-ish Achieva in Refrigerator White over Whorehouse Cranberry with those still-awesome six-spoke sadly-not-directional alloys.

@rbmako69: The New Beetle is my mother's - I'm hoping to inherit it in a few years. It's an '01 five-speed, one of the first with the later-revision 1.8T (now conservatively rated at 150 HP) - yeah, it's already quick enough, but the sleeper potential, as you say, is enormous.

@gin-n-joose: I am a Volvo guy, but the only Ford truck in my life is my boss's '78 - with a 300 straight-six.

I've never driven anything with more than 200 horsepower, somehow - a Saab 9-3 LPT and a New Beetle Turbo both seemed quick. I've long believed that it's how you use what you have that counts, though, so the fastest I've ever driven was 99 MPH - in my daily-driver naturally-aspirated slushbox Volvo 244. No, I won't…

@Nicholas Jordan: Metal? It should be difficult to damage a windshield without significant force; the Mohs scale tells us this. Hardened steel is another story, but I can speak from experience involving rattle-can overspray, razor blades, and the windshield of a beater CB7.

@nnnick: Precisely. Reading through the article, I decided that $55k would be a fair price - when I saw the actual price again, well, maybe they hit the 1 by mistake?

@dorkspeed: Seriously. I know a guy who just bought an SPG, and he was higher than Harlem when I talked to him earlier tonight. I've known a few people with newer Saabs, too - the '96 900S and the 9-2x are/were owned by fairly straight-laced women in their fifties, but the '97 900SE's owner isn't opposed to a bit of…

@takeshi: I think it's because people are scared of losing resale value or appearing as attractive 'cop targets', among other half-arsed reasons.

Well, at least my cars are blue and (unless I end up painting it purple) green, so I'm part of the solution.