@bmoredlj: well they'd struggle to make the 3-series rump more ugly than it is now

@rgseidl: thanks for the explanation, I was kidding about the RSI

National preferences are weird and hard to explain though I'm sure some geek has probably done a thesis on it. The Chinese love saloons, as do the Turks, and look upon hatchbacks as somehow lower down the food chain

@Retiree: I think my bike has about that many too but I only ever use about 3…

What is it with all these gears, I was perfectly happy with 6, can someone please explain what I'm supposed to do with the other 2? I'm worried I'll get RSI from all that gear changing

Actually thinking about the Mercedes estate car buyer demographic I'm think the best measurement of carrying capacity might be cases of wine

We Urpeans still love our estate cars so I'm sure the new wagon will take a goodly proportion of C-class sales, as the last one did. Meanwhile the inexorable enlargement of cars from one generation to the next means the this latest C-class estate is within 6 inches of the overall length of the original Mercedes…

I had forgotten that Bricklins even existed but now I've remembered I want one soooo bad that a little fire damage won't put me off

@Neil Block: actually the platform didn't really change that much when the Mk 2 Focus arrived in 2004 (why mess with a good thing?) it's got the same control blade rear suspension etc though they did mess about with it a bit to allow the fitment of 4wd

@Bumblebee: spot on bumblebee, the problem is that though everyone loves the new Focus to drive it's looks very dull, like a more boring alternative to the original Focus rather than a 2nd generation model so the "face-lift" has been pushed through to bring it into line with the Mondeo/S-Max and the new Kuga. Maybe…

well that's a candidate for project car hell if I ever saw one!

@Ray Wert: shit you're right, I'm getting my shows confussed. The fact is though that Audi have plenty of hardware on the off-ramp including the R8 spyder and V10 R8 and maybe even a Diesel R8 (for us Europeans you understand), the Q5, the A3 convertible, lordy even I'm bored now

calm down guys, haven't we already discovered that they'll be showing off some sort of A1 based concept?

All the folks voting for the Porsche-engined Microbus in Project Hell would no doubt much rather have a Peugeot Partner van…

@elhigh: I banging my head against the wall now, the 911 ISN'T under two grand, it's $1750 less than the bus at four grand. And the point is that if you rebuilt the Porsche and put a proper engine in it, it would be worth so much more than the bus will ever be

I'd much rather they built a 21st century Espada. The LM was only ever an expedient stop-gap to try to generate some cash-flow particularly during a low period in Lamborghini's history. But I guess all those Porsche Cayenne Turbo owners who want to trade up will be pleased

@Mark Miller: there are wagon versions of the current "euro" Accord (which differs from the US Accord) and the Camry, they're just not sold in the US because you all stopped buying wagons and started by SUVs a while back. The VE series Commodore is already engineered for LHD so that's no hurdle.

reading all you busophile's comments, I'm crying inside

@discontinuuity: Great if you live in a small town, I live in central London where parking is scarce and a residents permit costs me £75 per year. So when some bozzo takes my spot and doesn't have a permit I'm very much in favour of a fine/tow because as far as I'm concerned they have infringed my hard-earned right to…

Come on guys, it's not called "project wuss", it's a sodding Porsche Targa for pity's sake. So what if it needs to to totally rebuilt with a new engine. We're not all hippies are we?