What a big heavy SUV needs is torque, not power. These modern directed-injected engines may look good on paper in terms of horsepower, but they all have anemic torque. A good 8-speed like the ZF helps to hide that, but it seems that this car doesn't have such a transmission.

Customizations and special orders are a hassle to provide to the consumer, for both the dealer and the manufacturer. For the dealer, inventory and business process issues if it's not something they do all the time. For the manufacturer, it increases costs of production to be able to do so many variations on a car…

A lot of it also depends on the brand of car, in addition to the dealership. Some dealerships can't be bothered. Most brands, there's not a lot of customizability, everything is packaged; mostly, you only need to special order if you want a manual transmission or want a particular color, etc. Some common brands, and I…

That it's made by Google. That company just gives me the creeps.

It has an open diff, but you can buy a mechanical LSD for $2,900:

I think it was the slippery texture more than the thickness, but the two together made it painful to drive. My mom's E-class has a fairly thin wheel, most of which is actually polished wood (from 10-2 on top and 4-8 on bottom), but where you put your hands it's stitched leather, and it feel's fine.

I rented a base model Altima to drive from Texas to Illinois last year. The steering wheel was so skinny and slippery that both mine and my wife's hands hurt just holding on to it. We finally stopped at a Walgreens and bought some sticky first aid wrap or tape and wrapped the 9 and 3 o'clock areas of the steering…

Am I the only one who thinks the ass of the A7 is ugly? Reminds me of a fancified Mazda 626 5 door. When it first came out, people said it was gorgeous, but I always thought it was no W219 CLS, which is to me still by far the hottest four door coupe (though the Rapide and the 6 Gran Coupe gives it a run for the…

Well suspension could use a refresh but it's not worth it economically, some squeaks and rattles in the back from something (could just be all the junk my wife leaves in the back), that kind of thing. Car is not falling apart by any means but if definitely has a slightly tired feeling, no worse than any other car of…

VW fan or German car fan and that was the best I could afford at the time? I'm not sure to be honest.

I have a MkV in that very same color. It's now showing its age at 128k miles, but from a road car perspective I always felt the steering was very precise and communicative without being too busy. It goes where you point it without drama. As a point of reference, I have owned/driven B3/B4/B5 Passats, a Corrado VR6, and…

I have a 2007 MkV GTI, with the DSG. It has close to 130k miles on it, and other than regular maintenance (which, to be fair, included at $1200 timing belt job), the only real issues I've had with it are the coil packs (common with VWs), a long neglected fuel filter (never changed until 115k miles), and my mechanic…

Agreed. When I bought my Mk5, I went out of my way to locate a four (five?) door. It was more important than having a manual transmission (though I would have loved both). The car has been super useful and fun to drive in the 130k miles we've put on it.

I wonder how much venture capital money went into this?

It's better than an MiG-21 or -29.

You can blame the English for this. We inherited the felony murder rule from them. Of course, back then, under English common law, there were only 9 felonies, all of them punishable by death.

Maybach Exelero, a one-off based on the sedans, built to promote some tire company.

It's got my vote too. It's so unashamedly 80's, like Miami Vice, loafers without socks, big blonde hair, and coke.

Why didn't they stop to help? What is the custom/practice/rule when somebody else eats it on the Nurburgring? Do you just assume that there will be tow truck/ambulance forthcoming?

I beg to differ. I think it was one of the most handsome, understated liveries ever. Plus the NW logo was pure genius — it has the letters N and W, with the left tip of the W pointing northwest.