Sad shatchback version (with compensatingly-angry catfish mouth) of happy Mazda2 hatchback that we don’t get, sitting sad on Toyota dealer lot with badge from sad, dead brand that could have been great but was stifled:

I had one as a rental in New England with 40k miles on it and it had a wheel that made an increasingly loud noise as though it was going to fall off. Also, interior quality was poor and the car has, like, no windows. On no other car have I ever bumped my head more than once on the roof while getting in. Never again…

Fascinating how one of those M Sport bodykits can make any new large BMW look worth not a dollar over $35,000. Do they let you get the M Sport suspension without the stupid bumpers? I know you can do it the other way around.

I’m thinking Alfa Stelvio.

Of course, the Italians use a recording of a middle-school-level saxophonist running up and down a standard blues scale to market their “unique,” “artsy” SUV. That is beyond musical cliche into “melt your instrument in a furnace” territory by now.

Another oddly vehicle-specific malfunction: the GMT800 DRL. Roughly 60% of the Tahoes, Suburbans, Yukons, Silverados, you-name-its from that platform have one running light burned out. It’s become a running joke for me. Recently visited Durham NC and it was GMT800DRL heaven, plus variety. On one road, in a row, I saw…

Sorry, remind me again what an Allegro is doing on the drag strip?

Looks more like a Panamera with one of those wheelchair-prep kits like you see on minivans.

Here, in fact, is where I think we can make a major improvement. Instead of bagel dough, the container is made of a thick layer of injera like you eat with at Ethiopian restaurants. Made properly with teff flour, a gluten-free and fair-tradeable product, it fits all your criteria assuming you find adequate fillings.

You can even narrow it down to a 2016-or-newer Accord, because of the weird lower lip-thing plus the headlight-jewelry ridge.

I love how Google thinks “ONE WAY” should be blurred. Better safe than sorry?

I recently rented a 200 (the new FCA one, a 2015 model) for a trip to the East Coast. Before getting into it in the lot, I noticed a dent. Then another. Then, I realized the whole car was made of dents. Okay, whatever. It had 30,000+ rental miles.

Spend a moment to admire the asymmetry of the oncoming blue car:

Funny enough, the Outlander Sport is the RVR in most other parts of the world. Here it is with a cute little fender mirror.

Considering that the cheap non-MQB Jetta sold here is rather crap and the Golf is too premium for a lot of people, and that the Octavia is basically a cheap Golf liftback on the same platform, I think VW could easily rebadge a slightly stretched Octavia as a Jetta for the US. Same price point as the current Jetta but…

I figured it out. ‘65 is the first year of the larger windows all ‘round.

I’m a bit late to the party here, but I don’t think you ever explained the differences between ‘64 and ‘65 models. Are there any indicators, or do I have to suffer the humiliation of not knowing the difference?

Oh god, ever since reading this over at Hooniverse, I can’t get it fake directional wheels out of my head. When manufacturers use the same casting for all four wheels and they’re asymmetrical, you get a car whose wheels appear to be pointing different ways on opposite sides of the car. Compare 0:03 with 0:46.

Red - 2016 Honda Fit LX (woohoo, CVT! - kidding). I wish my mother had liked the awesome fluorescent highlighter-yellow they sell Fits in now.

Thing is, the Kwid is built on a new platform (CMF-A) and India, or at least Autocar India, adores it.