From an environmental PoV it makes sense that they continuously upgrade models, but the fact that an 8 year old Model S 60D looks almost exactly the same as a brand new long range devalues the brand (for snobs at least - and they are a big population of people who buy new $120k cars). Not exactly scoring credit at…

I live in New England - there were a lot of Tesla early adopters here, but I haven’t seen any new ones recently. Multiple Rivian’s, Audi eTron, Taycan, and Volvo recharges, though.

Neutral: I used to love to listen to AM radio when I lived in Colorado and Arizona and was on long drives to or from various climbing and camping trips.But that was because I had no other choice apart from a cassette deck.

Like many people, rental spec Nissans and Dodge/Chrysler are high on the list.

There’s a whole lot of flawed assumptions in your reply.  You may want to rethink that approach if you use in face to face communications.

Generally I agree - but the case of the Midland Expressway is somewhat different. It was built privately and helps you avoid one of the worst bottlenecks on the British motorway system (where the M6 and M1 join in Birmingham). I’ll happily pay the toll - usually about £6 - if it means I never drive through…

If it were sold in Europe it would require their equivalent of a CDL to drive it (limit is ~7800 lbs, Hummer EV weighs 9300lbs according to Google).

I think you are painting with too broad a brush. I have no doubt that there are functional, honest police departments in many small towns and cities within the US (I believe that is the case where I live although my interactions with them have been minimal).

The dealership experience I had when I bought my Defender was outstanding. Special order, so no BS on the specs. During the pandemic, so it was MSRP (which I had expected for factory order anyway), but no upcharges or surprises. The vehicle actually had everything on the build spec (which is increasingly rare these…

We live in an old house (1830) and the only fridge that fit in our kitchen was over $3000.  Still cheaper than completely remodeling the kitchen though

Riding upstairs on the 747 was always a special experience.

I used to make fun of the fact that drivers in the UK can’t drive at all in 1/2" of wet snow. Then I rented a car with regular rain tires on it (like 99% of Uk vehicles) and was caught in snow - and was sliding just as badly.

I did the same (in grad school making ~$10,000 a year). Also frequented the used tire places on the south side of Denver.

The TGV in France is a great example of what you get when you actually invest in public infrastructure (unlike the US and UK where boomers decided that they didn’t want to pay any more taxes in 1980).

Key thing in your reply is Germany - a functioning country. All government spending in the UK for the last 15-20 years (at least) has gone to friends and cronies of the government in charge.

The advice is always to receive three bids.

I missed the original question - my Dad bought a new Wartburg station wagon in 1975 or so. I actually have a soft spot for them because of that - but they were objectively a death trap by today’s standards and it was crazy that they had a two stroke engine. It was always my job to add the oil to the tank when we…

Korea has a great race track. So does Malaysia. India’s wasn’t too bad as well - all “relatively” local. Could even use Motegi or Fuji. All except Motegi are grade 1 circuits.

Those “e-gates” are only way to get into the UK if you have a compatible passport. Ona *good* day those lines are 40+ minutes at Heathrow because the process takes way longer than the manual checks. At Christmas or mid-summer expect 1-2-3 hours to get through immigration.

They are definitely a signifier of “old money” where I live.