In all the notices I had seen, that applied solely to new cars, and had nothing to do with battery protection. My understanding was that it was meant more to reduce traffic at supercharging stations. But I could easily have been skimming and missing info.

You mean after all the claims that Tesla has made and all the articles that have been written about how you can use the supercharger network to go coast to coast or wherever you want, nobody thought that people might actually DO IT? When you offer an 8 year, UNLIMITED MILE battery warranty, you have to assume people…

Except it’s very different. If I put bad gas in a car and the engine timing compensates, that’s fine. I then replace the gas and the car is back to normal. What’s back to normal for this guy? A new battery pack?

That’s entirely separate from the fact that as far as I’m aware, the possibility of limited fast charge…

The Focus’s throttle by wire, at least on the manual, is completely broken and shouldn’t be taken as representative of the technology as a whole. My 2003 3-series has no such problems with its throttle-by-wire.

I’m largely on board the “Fuck Wall Street” train, but I don’t think AA stock is a large driver for why. One of the primary points of holding stock is for dividends. If a company does something to reduce dividends, you no longer have as much reason to hold that stock. If it’s not worth as much to you, it’s not worth…

Yeah, you’re right, I have less impact on the company I work for than Mark Fields does for his. I would imagine he has more impact than just about every other Ford employee, and I don’t begrudge him a large salary/bonus. But his large salary is also not keeping the same proportion to other employee salaries - it’s…

What depreciation? And insurance on a new car is likely to be more expensive than insurance on an older luxury car just because it’s worth less if totaled.

So ... 1200 lb and 170 HP ... why not a Caterham?

Most 4 points have their own safety issues with submarining. 5 points aren’t necessarily safer in a collision due to the fragility of the human neck, unless you go full FIA.

Talk about burying the lede ... I was going to say you made the right choice having the GT on the cover, but only before I saw the 312t4.

The display is 19" because 19" is the designated “performance” size - in this case, they’re showing off the new Pilot Sport 4S, so a 19" it must be. I do concede that wheel makes it look like an enormous amount of sidewall, though. All the GTs I’ve seen in person don’t look nearly so bad.

I’m pretty sure the Escalade/Denali are carrying around an extra half a ton thanks to being body-on-frame, so I’d believe that weight loss plus an engine designed a bit more around outright power would get them a 4.4. I’m still surprised, though.

Haven’t been to US Auto yet - when I needed WJ parts I went to U-Pull And Save in Pontiac, which looks pretty much identical based on your photo.

Yep. A high gas tax like the EU (ideally in place of things like CAFE, while keeping emissions regulations around) would be more effective at driving consumers to more efficient vehicles than just telling the manufacturers “make it happen” while ignoring demand. Gas taxes have issues, but they’re not blatantly…

Oversized trucks wouldn’t be a problem if people didn’t want them. But they do, and the costs of being more fuel and emissions efficient are tiny compared to what people pay to bump trim level and interior features.

So you’d like power steering and power brakes removed as well? I don’t really call front airbags and crash structure “safety ninnies”.

I hate to say it, but a RWD sedan with six cylinders coming in sub-3000lb is a pipe dream, unless you’re willing to accept econobox quality on all fronts.

There are plenty of older engines with belts ...

You can certainly lace some tires (and it does save a ton of space), but I think you’d have a hard time lacing F1 tires, given how freaking wide they are relative to the wheel diameter. I’d actually be curious to see what that looks like, now.

Specifics of who would buy them aside, I actually don’t think it would be that difficult for FCA - just drop a body on top the new Rams that they’re conveniently refreshing right now, add some air suspension, and try to make the interior not suck. Going unibody with independent suspension would actually make their…