At least once per year I have a major project. Retaining walls, decks, drainage work, sheds, backyard office, etc.

I certainly appreciate the overall sentiment of the article, but the idea that “no one needs a truck as big of the Silverado...” seems to be a bit off the mark. We live in the mountains on 3 acres and just last month while rebuilding my retaining wall I was regularly hauling loads of cement and lumber near the max…

Pedal bike

I’ll step away from reliability concerns since Stellantis is already well represented here. Instead, I’ll focus on realistic utility/usability and say a 2-door Jeep (yes, I know we’re still in Stellantis territory.)

A while back my mom got on a really weird Dodge kick. Seemingly out of nowhere she went out and bought a new 2005 Dodge Neon. Despite the “SXT” package, it was undoubtedly the most uninspiring car I’ve ever driven. Muted steering, anemic power, and horrible interior touch points. It was the worst car I’d driven…

I know of exactly one person who was truly scammed by a dealership and sure enough...it was a Nissan dealer. Talked my best friend’s father, who barely spoke English, into trading in his perfectly good 2 year old Frontier for a new one for no reason that anyone could ever explain. Best I could understand is that it…

I came up to a 4-way stop which has 3 different roads coming into it, all at wonky angles. A car to my right and I both come to the sign at the same time so technically she probably should have had the right-away. But, I had a screaming newborn in the back seat, was operating on 2 hours of sleep, and knew that her…

Trucks have some weird power over me. Whenever I see a new model come out, I immediately hate it’s appearance. I had a 2015 F-250 (yes, I actually regularly towed about 7k pounds and did actually need it to safely do so) and when the new ones came out I thought they were hideous. Now I kind of like them. Ditto for the…

Everyone is the right answer, and for us US buyers I’d also say the current M3, but since that’s available elsewhere it feels like a cheap answer.

In regards to a fix having “to be applied at the level of it’s DNA” I saw some cool vans when I was in the UK. Ford had some vans which looked plenty sporty and I swear I saw one with an “ST” badge on it, though I can’t find anything about it now. I’d rock the hell out of a “hot” van with a manual. I almost pulled the…

I’ve had a few (Focus ST, Mazda 3, A3, WRX) but for my money I have to say the best all-around would have to be the R55 Mini Clubman JCW.

At 37 (currently) the first Fast and Furious movie hit me at just the right (wrong?) time and left an indelible mark on me. It turned me from a car fan who’s primary exposure to cool cars was either Goodguy’s Car shows with my dad or Monterey Car Week shenanigans with my grandfather to an absolute car fiend who fell…

I played rugby in college was usually the designated driver. Often the drives back would be 5+ hour hauls after 80 minutes of rugby and a few hours of the “3rd half” social party afterwards. On one of these drives back, a particular troublesome underclassmen was blackout drunk and non-stop trash talking to the other 4…

The second generation (BL) Mazda 3 really ruined the model for me. The BK looked amazing and drove even better. The BL came out and just looked bloated and busy. I only drove one once but the bloated design seemed to carry through to the driving experience as well and just killed what was a fun, sporty little car.

This car has been on Craigslist for at least the last 4 months and I don’t think the asking price has ever shifted. Not one to trash a car someone is trying to sell, but this thing throws up all kinds of red flags.

On a camping trip with my girlfiend at the time, my roommate, and his girlfriend in my long-travel 2006 tacoma. We were offroading about 35o miles from home and found a fun little mud hole to blast through. It turns out...a truck that is great for high-speed desert runs may not be great for bogging. I found this out…

At the risk of piling on, e39 M5 has the to be the answer. My ‘03 ticked every box: great looks, sounds, driving dynamics, engine, and amazing feeling 6 speed. Just a timeless, subtle, but fantastic design. It was a casualty of “I have 2 kids under 2 and can’t justify a car that can’t have cheerios everywhere so it’s…

I think it definitely has to be something that can cover the miles in relative comfort, take you off the beaten path to find something exciting, allow for sleeping so you don’t go bankrupt on hotels, and be interesting enough to add to the story, not just fade into the background. With that in mind, I am going to go…

Cue the angry comments from the guys driving raised trucks. “I need this for when my family and I tow our 40 foot trailer out to the dunes!”

Not super rare (I think around 11k were made) but they blend in fairly well so I’d go with the 2003-2004 Mercury Marauder. Same engine as the Mustang Mach 1 of the time with just over 300hp. Not my personal style, but I always appreciated them as a relatively quick sleeper that handled surprisingly well as it used…