Great question, It’s not just a switch on the dash. There’s a product called VCMuzzler sold online. It’s basically a resistor that plugs in line with the auxiliary thermostat that operates VCM. The added electrical resistance basically fools your VCM into thinking the vehicle isn’t quite up to temperature. Since VCM…

Here’s the thing about the Ridgeline and fuel economy: If you want long term durability, you have to disable the VCM (cylinder deactivation). Otherwise, VCM causes a host of well documented issues, such as oil consumption, spark plug fouling, and active engine mount failure. Disabling VCM drops highway fuel economy by…

LOL look at the biggest trunk measurements you can find (Probably the Avalon) and compare to Maverick bed dimensions.
I moved into my freshman dorm in a borrowed Sport Trac. Hauled the mini-Fridge and everything. The Maverick bed is plenty of cargo space and it’s not so much limited in cargo height.

Not bad, but $35k get you a nearly loaded Maverick, according to the online configurator. I’ve been in a Ranger XL and it is a penalty box, guess we’ll have to see about the Mav.

It’s sad to see the (bad) joke go so far over so many heads, but here we are.

IDK about that. The Maverick is smaller in every dimension with a far more up to date interior and should ride much better. The seat height and stepover height are most assuredly many inches lower than the Ranger’s given its relation to the Escape and Bronco Sport. Additionally, even in its least efficient powertrain,…

The amount of pissing and moaning about the Maverick’s bed length in Jalopnik comments is pretty hilarious, given the number of people who wax poetic about the Subaru Baja in Jalopnik comments. I would love to see the venn diagram!
The Sport Trac was actually a pretty good vehicle (in its time) that sold fairly well,…

I wish politicians would stop trying to make jokes. It never ends well for them

Super easy NP for me. I absolutely adore these cars and that is pretty good money for a razor sharp handler with a sweetheart of a motor.

This is the size of a 90's ranger.

That is crazy! I did not know that pickups are technically part of the ban on LSD. I knew there were no semis etc but definitely learned something new with regard to pickups.

Dude. Stop reading mother jones. It’s the infowars of the left. Shit like that is the reason people are losing their minds. 

WTH are you talking about? I commuted to Chicago for three years and more often than not, I rented a half-ton pickup and drove it all week. I stayed and parked at a hotel two blocks East of Michigan avenue and drove it up the mag mile to take Lakeshore every morning.

WTH is with this perception that truck buyers mostly consist of this asshole group that people in the comments always reference? I’m a pretty well traveled guy and I live where the greatest % of the populace drives pickups and I’m here to tell you the brodozer, soot spewing crowd is a tiny sliver of pickup buyers.…

Stop acting like you know pickup buyers. They’ve sure adopted 2.7L and 3.5L turbocharged V6's, and 3.6L NA V6's quickly. One of the hottest trucks on the market is the Ram “classic” with a warlock package and a pentastar under the hood. The other is an STX F-150 with a 2.7L ecoboost. 

33 MPG is not “quite poor”. 33 MPG is pretty darn good. My first car was a ‘00 Focus ZX3 manual that could only get 35 highway if the wind was favorable.

There’s this nebulous time when kids don’t take up much space. It’s after they’re out of the great big car seats (my old e-class wasn’t big enough for car seats) and there’s not telling when and if and when they will outgrow the back seat.
For a little bit of context, this looks to have about the same rear seat space…

Then buy a half ton with an eight foot bed and stop bitching on the internet. Nobody has put an eight foot bed behind a small pickup since.... IDK, ever?

Then buy an extended cab Ranger and stop bitching

I’m hoping that the real reason that this subprime auto lender and others (as I have read on various online news sources) is that broke people figured out they’re broke and stopped borrowing money to become more broke.