In some people’s minds, qualified and elite are synonymous, and also seemingly pejorative.

Poe’s Law, I think - and perhaps you just underestimated the propensity of actual Muskovites to throw those kinds of wild-ass claims out there. Based on the dude who Jason talked to, it’s entirely within the realms of possibility - remember that he was claiming Google are just mechanical-turking their autonomous…

Dammit - now I’m looking for used NC35s. They’re temptingly affordable (though not exactly inexpensive) too...

Yep, Albert Biermann is the current head of N, having been the head of M at BMW, Peter Schreyer was the Audi design chief from memory.

If that is the case, it’s because he has been convinced by a fiscal elite (as distinct from “the elites” that Republicans are so eager to howl down), a compliant and conspiratorial media, and an intentionally inadequate education system to believe that policies and social systems that would benefit him are evil. If…

Yep - good design is a cheap way of making something much better. I really like a lot of modern Hyundais to be honest. Though they're not quite at their peak now (the 2017 i30 and Elantra are very attractive cars, I think).

Does “strong aesthetic value" mean it looks good for the money it costs? Because the M3 that you mentioned poses the question: are good looks and price at all related? I suggest that the answer is no.

I hate how Orlove and Tracy are so relentlessly *practical* all the time with these suggestions. Have a little whimsy, guys!

Yep, if you have to carry stuff and you spend most of your time on the road rather than off the road, a coupe ute is pretty competitive with a van, and it can be a hell of a lot more fun.

Everyone seems happy to just sell the SUV-style utes (Hilux, Ranger etc) nowadays. And coupe-utes were really an Australian-only thing at the end, so the death of Aussie vehicle manufacturing killed them off.

Yep, he looks like a good person to have in charge of things. Plus, based on his age and the age of recent candidates, he’s got a good thirty years still to run for President!

“Shut up John, and let the bear speak!”

Seeing some of the cars that get driven in Japan, my money would be on “unperturbed”:

And here I was thinking that the sensible option was just buying an entire container-load of bikes...

Australian reporting here - our utes are all dead :(

I believe that they're technically called bumper hams.

So you want the elites* running the place?

Unlikely that he would be a VP pick, purely because they won't have two people from the same state on the ticket. If the Dems want a middle-aged white guy on there, they could do a lot worse than O'Rourke - Texas is changing, and he could be enough to flip the state, which would be a huge advantage.

Looks like your comment was kinjastruck.

I see the bear is next to him on the campaign ad - does that mean it's his running mate? I want to know the bear's policies.