1st Gear: This makes me wonder a few things. First, how many more people are upside down in their car loan due to the long loan lengths? That would force people to hold on to a car for longer. And also, what about new vehicle leases? Perhaps more people are choosing to lease instead of buy these days? Someone smarter…

Absolutely love the car, but I’d be hard-pressed to pay $8k for it. $15k seems like a pipe dream.

I have a Passat W8 coming up on a solid 130k miles, and it’s been pretty problem-free. People don’t give them enough credit. They’re not bad cars.

This is something I wish more companies did. My current VW wagon would benefit greatly from this. I can’t imagine it’s very complicated to include, and I’m sad that more wagons aren’t doing it. Now I’m sad that 

Looks like Kia tried to make a ripoff of the new XC40 to me. It’s not bad, it’s just not the groundbreaking “stand apart” that everyone hails their car to be.

What?! Why would you name your company “so no”. Because they set this in front of a focus group of 19-year-old girls and they all went “ugh! So no!”

It’s a lot easier to increase profit through cost-cutting and hoarding than it is to invest in new markets. Corporations are equal parts lazy and afraid, and thus refuse to invest in real growth opportunities that have some risk. Also, most of these executives aren’t in the position for very long. So “make money now,…

I’m just here to laugh at all the people who don’t know what the term “neo-liberal” means. It means neither liberal, nor is it partisan. It’s a term with specific meaning.

There’s nothing funnier than living in a society where people will argue about something they don’t understand, as if they are some sort of expert.…

My second car ever was a red 1995 Neon. I bought it because it was cheap, and I was poor, and you know what? It was awesome! I had fun driving it, it had lots of room, it was easy to work on, and parts were cheap too! I even enjoyed the manual transmission a lot, even if it was a big of a long row. It felt like an…

100% agree. Same for all the “wait for it” videos. Like, no, guy. Just show me the part I’m supposed to watch and skip all the rest of boredom. 

I mean...that’s a good sound. But have you heard the VW W12 race engine? I think it sounded better. 

Maybe I’m weird, but this is an honest question: What’s the draw of buying a brand new car? I’ve never done it, I know I never will. Most car companies offer a CPO that’ll stretch your warranty out for buying used, and you save a lot of money compared to buying new. So the warranty thing can’t be it, can it? If you’re…

Is that more obscure than a sunroof that’s also a solar panel, so that the AC can run while the car is parked, so it never gets too hot? Because the D2 S8 has that cool feature as well. I didn’t have the center visor thingy, but I had the solar roof. 

It’s just an anemic car. It’s the same reason I didn’t buy the BMW 3-series wagon. At the end of the day, they gave us a base model, cheapened it up, lifted it (which I fucking hate), and tried to say “here! If you like wagons so much, buy this one!” I love wagons. I hate base models. And car companies can’t figure…

I don’t know. I traded in my 3-series sedan for a wagon, and I’d say the differences you mention are largely negligible. Visibility is fine, noise is the same, the weight difference is about 240 pounds. So if I stop driving my brother around, the car actually weighs less than my sedan! Success! Wagons are the legit.…

History disagrees with you. You’re looking long-term through a very narrow lens. In the 90's, we implemented a similar tariff on sugar to help keep the US Sugar Producers happy. It raised the price of sugar, and saved 1,200 jobs in the sugar industry. Narrow-lens reports would say that’s good, right?

But the candy and…

Everyone on here keeps pretending that the purpose of roads is to make sure our cars don’t hit potholes, but you’re all wrong. The purpose of taxpayer-funded highways, roads, trains, etc., is for the GOOD OF COMMERCE. Not the people. We benefit from it, only in as much as it allows us to get to work and back, and…

I think it’s the same 4.2 out of the D2 Audi S8, isn’t it?

Thanks for ruining my hopes and dreams, Joe. Haha! I own a Passat W8 wagon now, and a Touareg V10 TDI is on my list of cars I want to own at some point. I’m questioning that decision now. You really have to remove the whole drivetrain to do anything to the motor?!

Derek, do we have the same car? The W8 is just under 275hp in a car that weighs over 4k pounds. Mine is not fast. It’s fun as shit to drive, but it’s not fast. I can get rolled on by a stock Toyota Camry. I didn’t buy it to be fast though, I bought it because it’s awesome.