Yup, 2ZZ/6MT was FWD only. AWD was not just the base engine but a *specially detuned version* of the base engine and auto only. Made me wonder what the weak spot in the driveline they were trying to protect was.

I did, in the last year of the product cycle with a huge question mark hanging over whether the next generation would come to the US at all (it won’t).

There’s at least one Pontiac Vibe in one of those picutres. 9th generation Corolla platform, you could get one with a 2ZZ and 6-speed manual. Unless it was in a crash it’s still on the road, probably not looking much worse for wear except for the Pontiac arrowhead fading to a delicate pink. 

I have limited sympathy. It shouldn’t happen to anyone, but it happened to a good chunk of the 7,160,476 total anyones who’ve had covid in America because he handled it so badly. Conservatively, half. 

We’re mostly talking college here but I’d say the only non-open-book test someone should encounter between 6th grade and a bachelor’s degree should be the driving test. 

That’s due to technical limitations. Films are scripted months in advance of production and go into wide distribution months - sometimes a year or more depending on the level of post-production digital effects needed - after that. Any statement made in “real time” would be well out of date by the time anyone saw it. 

“Trump has suggested over and over again that he’s interested in being president for anything from four to twelve more years.”

XJ 3.4, 4.2 and 5.3. There was also the XJ12. What there should’ve been was an XJ Glider Kit, where the car’s shipped with no engine and you add your own Chevy V8.

They need to sway four Republicans. Murkowski’s already said no. It’s possible Mitch might hold off until after the election both to use it as an issue and to avoid putting Rs who are hanging by a thread like Collins on the spot.

The irony is that if it shared the front clip and doors of a Corolla, had a manual transmission and 50 more (or fewer!) horsepower, it would BE an interesting car. 

2nd; “Under President Donald Trump, NHTSA has never had a Senate-confirmed administrator...”

I definitely see a lot of common hard points, but I also see a 2020 car rather than a 2005 one. 

What about a Bronco EV?

I still stand by my first impression that the Bolt is a better-looking car than a Tesla Model 3. The Bolt is, or was at launch, a contemporary-looking tall hatchback with styling details that successfully makes it look more upscale than the Sonic it’s based on. But it’s in desperate need of a midcycle refresh.

There was also a need to work around the 5 MPH bumper standards, which included “no damage to the lights” as part of the standard.

I have to wonder if the sides are just a particularly bad render and it’ll look better in person. I’d advise Hyundai to massively ship these in light colors and deep jewel tones and make that charcoal gray all-but special order only. 

I think its’ strange there was no Toronado convertible. No droptop Firenza either, which left Oldsmobile the only division without a ragtop at all in ‘84-5. 

Small, underpowered, tacky, I wonder why GM and ASC bothered with making a convertible of this Eldorado rather than just doing a Cimarron convertible which would’ve been plug-and-play in ‘84 since the Cavalier and Sunbird ragtops hit the streets in time for summer ‘83.

The convertibles were always rare, to the point I didn’t even know they existed pre-internet, but the coupes certainly did do their turn through the low end of  the used-car trade in the ‘90s when they were around ten years old. 

Yeah and if it started out at all optioned-up I’d want to keep the original deeply, barely-even-trying but oh-so-70s fake wood on the dash.