Losing, what, 145 and 300 hp and trying to sell a 4-banger for 50k+? Yeah I’d say the criticism is warranted. The Vs were RS/M-tier, these are more like S or S-line, so why not call them “V-Sport”?

It floors me that they won’t give us the EB 3.5, or at least the 2.7 (or Lincoln’s 3.0). Under 400hp stock would keep the 5.0 as top dog stock, and would also allow awesome TT V6 vs. V8 mod wars.

So high 40s?

All of those, except maybe Audi, are mass commuter oriented first, so adding a hot engine and ability to drive the rear wheels is a bonus. For an Ultimate Driving Machine, you would expect dynamics to come first. Same reason Porsche mounting Prius tires for that extra 1.5 mpg would be verboten.

I’m all for cheaper, but I thought the ATS-V was something like 10k above the RS3 (being a half class bigger).

I once drove a rental truck 8-9 hours, with a very upright seat and no cruise, keeping my heel on the floor and toes toward the ceiling.  Grabbed a couple paperbacks from my bag to raise my foot level, which made a world of difference.

It’s the gossip blog format, likely creeping over from the Gawker/Jezebel side.  “Hey Jessica, don’t you just hate X?” “OMG so much this!”

That’s a shame, I guess they haven’t been around long enough yet.  G37 it is.

With a turbo 4, it’s at best an S3 competitor, and only if they manage to lighten it up. More likely it ends up on par with the A3.

I don’t know, but he asked for a sports sedan, not a warmed-over compact.

An RS3-sized car with a TT 3.6 (or I6 if we’re talking BMW/Merc) would be fantastic. And a couple hundred pounds lighter if RWD.

Smaller than an ATS would be great, if it keeps a decent engine (TT V6).  If it’s 200 lbs lighter but stuck with a 2.0, that kind of defeats the purpose.

They’re all pretty awful examples. His criteria were sports car, easy maintenance, seats four. He got two gutless front-drivers and two aging maintenance piles.

Because it had no impact or influence, and even car guys can barely remember it. In typical Lexus fashion, it was competently engineered but nobody cared.

Screams husband has a real job

Exige S with 350hp and Evora with 400 are acknowledgements that wanting something light and nimble doesn’t mean giving up acceleration.

70k for a 4 banger is a tall order.  70k for a 250hp 4-banger, given that the Ecoboost is good for 350 and Mercedes’ 2.0 is good for 400, even tougher.

i find it hard to believe the 310hp 2.3 will chirp 4th, even with a close ratio gearbox. 3rd seems iffy unless it has Prius tires or a slick road.  Is this typical?

Toyota was very reliable for a long time but has not been tops in several years, since a generation of “Toyota quality” buyers will pay a premium for whatever they put out. CR’s automatic pre-recommendations ramped up right as Toyota recalled nearly every model in a couple years, so CR had to walk back 8 recs based…

Consumer Reports, of the “we’re just going to go ahead and preemptively recommend all Toyota models ahead of release, oh crap they’re all recalled nvmd” approach?