They're not... Both Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars have seriously dropped in quality over the years, specially in the last two decades. Up until the early 90's you could still get Hot Wheels cars that were all metal, and the metal used in bodies and bases was actually thicker than what they're using today, which is why…

Shit... And we were worried about the World Cup here in Brazil.

Ooh, that's a good suggestion with way too few recommendations. These things are so good I don't have one manual for my car, I have two; one for the car itself and one just for the engine.

Zipties. Older cars have lots of metal bits to keep things fastened, while brand new cars didn't have time for the plastic fasteners to get crummy and break. For everything inbetween, Zipties.

Oh, that makes far more sense, hahaha...

The E36 generation 3-Series has modern safety features as well as a beautiful rear wheel drive chassis. My recommendation is the generally unloved 318ti – they're a lot cheaper than their sedan counterparts and have the added practicality of a hatchback. Personally, I think they look great as well.

Space liner forced to land on the moon... all safe... until the necromorphs attacked. In space no one can hear you scream.

Man, russians are dicks...

Same here... I never liked their stuff, or any other 80's glam rock bands. It's the kind of stuff that's painful to listen to.

Haha, yeah, I wouldn't look ridiculous at all dressed up like to drive my Challenger hahaha....

Exactly! These cars are genuinely cool, and if I had one, I'd probably listen to some form of Rock while driving, but the amount of "Rock 'n Roll" imagery in these ads makes me think more of what a kid thinks about Rock 'n Roll than what Rock actually is.

Great read! You're probably right in that it makes sense for Dodge to associate themselves with Rockstars to sell these cars because car and music really do have a lot in common, but it's the imagery I can't quite wrap my head around. All those skulls, rifle bullets, fire and four guys that look kinda like caricatures…

There you go:

Torch, have you seen Dodge's Motley Crue campaign, Börn to be Bad or something like that? That's the like the poster example of taking oneself too seriously. They're essentially suggesting that, if you buy a Dodge, you'll be as badass as a bunch of coked out 80's rockstars, all of which are posing in the rockstar…

Yup, they finally released a new Golf that's actually new here, eveb the GTI is available, for 89 grand.

My steering wheel is all leather though, no alcantara here :p

That they were, and for much longer than its international counterparts. The Mk IV Golf was also the Mk V and VI here in Brazil.

Damn... I took my car in only once, for bodywork. On the other hand, I'd wager brazilians aren't much better at maintenance, with the difference that when something breaks, it stays broken.

That's funny because the Golf of that generation was one of the most reliable cars in Brazil at the time. Goes to show how outdated our cars are... what is the absolute bottom of the reliability scale at the american market was right at the top here!

Ahem...