It’s kinda like saying the median income

Because the Arcadia will be driven in different climates all around the world...

Good observations—I think you’re right on all points.

I expect this won’t be a popular opinion, but I think the Audi TT Mk1 was the high point of the model for visual style. The Mk2 and Mk3 were okay, but the designers seemed to be saying, “Let’s make the car look more generic.”

CR’s top ten, on metrics of road tests, reliability, satisfaction, and safety:

I’m using “AI” the way people who work professionally in the field do. Machine learning is a subfield (more or less, though also extended to other fields), and there’s lots of AI that doesn’t involve learning at all.

There’s a rural county in eastern Virginia (I don’t remember which) that works this way. I had to pay $400 for a lawyer and attend my state’s driver rehab course to avoid points on my license. During the class, the instructor asked, “How many of you got a ticket in such-and-such county in Virginia?” A bunch of hands…

Wait. how does the place use AI?

From the Reuters article:

I was going to mention “getting thrown clear”! But I didn’t trust my memory, because how could anyone be so stupid?

This is no longer as prevalent as it once was, but I used to hear people say they wouldn’t wear their seatbelt because it could trap them in case of a crash and they’d be safer without it.

As you say, Wawa is... fine.

Related but more useful tech: My car has lane departure warnings. In a friend’s car the warning is an annoying beep, but in mine the steering wheel vibrates, as if you’re driving over some very low rumble strips. It’s subtle and pretty slick.

U.S. only: Supply spectators with specialized firearms that allow them to shoot at the cars (but not at each other). This would quickly become the most popular sport ever, even the national pastime.

Good observation. I was going to say that I drove an E30 in the 1980s and I’d be happy to be driving one now. (I’ve gone through an E36, E36/7, and E90, but the E30 is still my favorite. My current daily is a Mini.) It’s sad but understandable that they can’t make a comeback.

I have no suggestions, but that Audi ur-Quattro in the header photo pretty sweet. Not that a $10,000 version would be anything close to complete or drivable.

I’m a fan of patina too, but it would need to be a kind of overall rust, not just weird orange spots.

I debated “reh-” or “ruh-”. :-)

Quick question: how do you pronounce “Renault?” Do you pronounce it “Ray-No,” ignoring the final “t”? Or do you pronounce it “Rain-alt,” like the pen name of British author Eileen Mary Challans?

Right. As a former engineer, I think there’s a fair amount of ambiguity in how people interpret “over-engineering”. I think the simplest interpretation has to do with over-investment of engineering effort on a component or product with respect to its value to the consumer. Your first case is a good example, but in…