There aren’t many options that are quite as much fun as a GTI or WRX, but there are lots of options that are more fun than a minivan.
I don’t personally agree that a GTI or WRX is too small for road tripping with 4 people. I’ve taken many such trips in those exact examples. Both those cars can fit a whole lot of stuff…

“Car shopping after having [lots of] kids has gotten increasingly less exciting.”

Neutral: Personally I’m mostly not buying any new cars right now because automakers aren’t offering anything more appealing than the older cars I already own. As a small car and manual transmission die hard, new cars have never been less interesting to me than they are right now. Sports cars make the only segment I’m…

Maintenance plans don’t typically cover repairs. What you’re describing sounds like a warranty.

1. Well, those colors are a much more involved process to create. They cost more to make, so they charge more if you want them. The alternatives are to (a) stop offering premium quality paint upgrades or (b) mark up the basic paint options to match. Neither of those seem like great options.

Yeah, that looks like where the good twisty roads would be.
Hiking too. I do like hiking.

That is a really interesting way to look at a city. It offers a surprising amount of information that can digested quickly. I’m not even familiar with L.A., but I think I can make some pretty good guesses just from this: You want to spend your time here in the green area. Avoid the red area if at all possible.

I feel I must have been asking this question for at least 15 years, and I still haven’t found an answer: Why can’t they put a sidewall on these?
It would eliminate any concern of mud buildup, improve aerodynamics, and keep the tire from looking so stupid. Surely a sidewall can’t be such a big technical challenge, can…

Damn. If they would sell this here I would really, seriously consider plunking down the cash for one brand new. Come on Toyota North America!

Funny enough, I was just in a conversation about the Element yesterday. It is really a uniquely proportioned vehicle. It eschews the unnecessary ground clearance typical of crossovers, thereby avoiding many of their typical weaknesses. If it’s a crossover, it may be best of breed. Too bad they aren’t made anymore.

Anybody that thinks a crossover doesn’t SCREAM mom-mobile is living in a completely different world than I am. I don’t even know how to respond.

Yeah, that’s probably a real one.

“You must have missed the part where the sportwagen is significantly smaller in the passenger areas than the Rogue.”
Yeah, I must have missed that in the list of claimed crossover advantages I was responding to. I actually still don’t see it. And why would it be on that list? Nothing goes in that space except people…

Yeah, the transmission is really bad. (I normally only drive cars with manuals.) The user interface in general is pretty awful too. It’s all around a bad car.
But the conversation here was limited to traits that seem to come along with the general layout of the car type, and I tried to keep my comments limited to that.…

Nope, just a couple plain-jane family cars at similar price points. A Golf Sportwagen and a Nissan Rogue.

Damn good reply there G42dog.

No bragging here; I’m a competent driver like most of us. I did live for a long time in a place that got a lot of snow. It didn’t take long to learn that AWD is an expensive way to have a small impact. Tires are a less expensive way to have a bigger impact. And shifting your schedule a little when necessary to avoid…

Could a different crossover solve these issues though? Most of them seem inherent in the high ground clearance that defines the category. That’s what drives the high floor and high seats that make putting kids in so difficult. And that’s what makes the frontal area so large to burn the extra fuel. And that’s what…

Unfortunately you’re correct that there are very few wagon options in the US. Off the top of my head, I believe wagons are also offered from Volvo, Buick, VW, and BMW. Or at least they were within the last few years. But finding one at a dealership to test drive can be very challenging.
The inability to even find one…

“All this means is that a crossover doesn’t work for you, not that crossovers don’t make sense for most people.”
That’s one interpretation. Another interpretation is that the performance metrics commonly cited for the crossover craze aren’t the real reasons people are buying them. As I explained above, the perceived…