my van’s rattle can paint job didn’t work out so well when I went on a tour to promote my new line of organically sourced hard candy. Still a bit sore from the cavity searches I got down south ...

Firstly, yes, the Focus is just a Focus. That is my point. Arguing that the Civic or Focus are anything else is ridiculous.

I’m not arguing that the Focus is anything more than just a Focus. If someone put Focus in quotes (insinuating that it is more than a Focus), I would point that out, too. I’m not a big Ford guy, and I think American brands still have a way to go in terms of reliability. But The Ford lineup is more appealing to me-…

You’re slightly used BMW will get roasted at a track by this “civic”

That’s comforting :-/

Blame San Diego, for setting up shop so close to the border.

You got a lot of baggage you’re projecting, bud.

I’m struggling to think of a relevant metaphor for this

Yeah, those demigods soldiers (all of them, all the time, in every circumstance) didn’t sacrifice their [everything] so some American could have freedom of speech, right? If you say something bad about something I like in public, you better expect an ass-whoopin’... from a real-life super hero soldier, or maybe one of…

For one thing, because people only spout that crap to make themselves feel good. It reminds me of the Louis CK bit about how he was proud of himself for thinking of giving up his first class airline seat to a soldier, but had no real intention of doing it.

He was a veteran. That is literally all that counts.

Granted, I don’t know how massive of a wallet you have. A coworker of mine has a wallet so over-stuffed I think he would be better off with a purse.

I’m amazed you even had to defend yourself there. I get that having stuff in the pockets might not bother other people, but I dunno who could fault anyone for wanting to be as comfortable as possible during commutes or other driving

I carry my wallet in my front pocket, with my keys; sitting on a wallet is a bad idea in any setting (sitting?) and having to remove one’s wallet whenever sitting down is idiotic. I carry my phone in my other front pocket, with chapstick. I pull my phone out when getting in the car, so I can access it for my music…

Women often carry purses, which also serve as a place to store a key fob. It is often said that it is harder to find a key buried at the bottom of a purse than in a pant pocket. So, really, keyless access and push button start features benefit women even more than men.

You’re very odd.

I know what you mean, but we should really take the high road.

Yeah, I found rev-matching on downshifts felt vague with the turbo motor. It wasn’t as rewarding to blip the throttle. I was really expecting to go with the Abarth, especially after sitting in it. My thinking initially was that the 1.4T would be more tuneable and I could get good power out of it with an exhaust and…

After driving both versions (MX-5 GT and Abarth), it was a no-brainer for me to buy the Mazda. The Fiat has nicer seats and interior styling, but the drive was lackluster- too much turbo lag, I had to ride the clutch for smooth starts (my wife stalled it twice on a 10 minute test drive), sounded even worse than the…

TBH, I thought this was going to be an article on a car (Fiat 124). But several paragraphs in to your family history, I just lost interest and stopped reading.