Your example proves the point being made: the Corolla sells millions, and its LEDs still only became feasible as a premium priced option after trickling down from higher end cars as a 10k, then 5k, then $2500 option. Remove that dynamic and you won’t have them on your <20k car.

Or the recognition that diminishing returns are marginal. “Sub-par” lighting in the 50s? Sure. Going from incandescents to xenons to auto-pointing LEDs? Minimal gain but very expensive, which is why it’s crazy to demand there be no other option.

Toss out the single cylinder requirement and cap them on fuel instead. Call it “Formula I” for Innovation. V12, flat 6, turbo, rotary, radial, hybrid (if charged from the original fuel supply / car’s recovered energy). Let them compete to squeeze the most performance out of a given unit of fuel, and bring that tech to…

This is a crazy standard, considering the cheapest lights today are worlds better than incadescents and HIDs from a couple years back. If tomorrow Mercedes develops space lasers that cost 25k/unit for its next AMG S Class, do we ban them as “upselling on safety”, or mandate them while banning “inferior” LEDs?

The “bad” headlights are still light years better than everything available just a few short years ago. It’s crazy that we’ve ratcheted “basic safety” up to the point where only the most space-age, multi-thousand dollar tech is acceptable, while hundreds of millions of us still survive on Silverstar incandescents or…

I would much rather see a single Jeep progressively brought back into decent condition, versus the same effort/resources split across turning 6 deathtraps into mere rust buckets.

I would encourage you to look at some of the headlines from the sister sites here...prepare to have your mind blown

I honestly don’t know which bothers me more.  “Compacts” at 3800 pounds, or 4-bangers with the top performance badge.  If the RS3 is the B5 S4's spiritual successor, and BMW still has the M235/240xi (I think?), how about Mercedes and Cadillac giving us truly small cars with medium engines as well?

I really like the styling of their current cars, and enjoyed their driving dynamics, I just can’t get excited by any power output starting with a 2.

Doesn’t have to be in this guy, just preferably something closer to 3200 lbs than 3800.  A 5-door car version of the B-class to rival the RS3?

An otherwise identical version of this with 2 more cylinders is a reasonable scale-up. In fact they have a mildly turboed I6, it just isn’t cranked to 11 like this 4.  I’d say it’s more like having the Ecoboost 2.7 in your truck and asking for the 3.5 (yes I know it went in the opposite order).

Doesn’t that one make like 430hp, with a really undersquare layout (ie small turbo and not rev-happy like a balanced I6 should be)?  Not saying it’s a bad engine, it’s just nowhere near as high strung as this one...are they in the same family?

I understand that, it’s fine for a subcompact.  Just wouldn’t mind seeing it scaled up.  Hell do a 5 cylinder version and piss off Audi.

Imagine being so health-conscious that a whiff of one of the major food groups makes you pass out...

“Oh you have a gluten allergy?  Yeah I had one too before it got popular, now I’ve switched to a red meat allergy, you probably haven’t heard of it”

You realize the top three ingredients in those fake burgers are canola oil, wood fibers, and cellulose, followed by a bunch of additives to try to make the texture match real meat, right?  The mental gymnastics the “all natural, no preservatives” crowd must go through to rationalize it...

When your top dog engine is a 250hp 4cylinder, I’m pretty meh. Mazda didn’t have the resources to develop modern DI engines, and should’ve extended its partnership with Ford to put Ecoboost in everything.

I’d much rather have an I6 version of this, with the displacement cranked up (from 3.0 to around 3.5, since no balance issues) and boost dialed down accordingly.  And then you can always crank it back up aftermarket.

So they’re squeezing a bit more mileage out of already-efficient but gutless engines, meaning little marginal savings since you’re already using so little gas. How about using the same tech to let fun engines get decent mileage too?

2160 pounds AND they want it to be a grand tourer with passenger and luggage room?  Count me in, if it happens.