I don’t think so. They’ve found a very good niche among young people who want something with all the expensive drek in luxury brands, the cheap plasticky feel of the big two Japanese (the Fit/Yarris and larger cars are nice, but their compacts are obviously neglected and cheap even for the price), or high maintenance…

For the steering, it may be that they’ve spread out the steering over a longer range. While it would mean more hand movement for sharp turns, and therefor slightly slower cornering and a more boat-like feel, it would impart a bit more precision and make the car significantly less temperamental (my current Mazda seems…

It’s possible that I have no idea what cars are made of.

Yeah, I think it’s at its perceive peak because all the segments are so consistent. Every subcompact is clearly trying to look like the Fit (albeit with every company having its own headlight and grill design, and many adding some flourish in the shaping), and all compacts look like whatever started the trend (I drive…

What is the deal with Mitsubishi? Is it another practical East Asian brand like Toyota, Honda and (I think?) Nissan? An affordable driver’s car like Maxda? A local-culture specialized brand like Subaru (which in my market is largely marketed and known for its abilities to handle the narrow and winding roads, steep…

And there just wasn’t the cheap option prior to the ‘70's, so everything had to be hand formed?

I have the opposite. I came to a full stop on a hill, then the snow on the road decided “ha ha fuck you” and I wasn’t stopped any more.

That probably also explains the stress on having as few different surfaces and curves as possible (the econobox look that was also ubiquitous in luxury cars). Eliminates the need to bend or form the aluminum sheets.

I don’t get the Hitler mustache comparison. The Hitler is a square, while Lexus uses an hourglass. It’s more like a mustache-beard combo I saw on some arabesque villain in an old movie.

But the hood shapes and slopes vary pretty widely, as does light placement (in relation to grill, hood, and bumper). Most significantly, though, different classes look different. During the late cold war design period, vans, roadsters, trucks, and wagons all had the exact same styling. While all subcompacts today look…

The most common solution is to simply not line up the grill and lights in that ribbon. There’s also the layout where the lights are entirely above the grill, which can be seen in the 1961 examples in the article and most cars of the clustered-rounds era (the layout of the third generation rocket 88 is probably the one…

Make sure to bring a crowbar and some wire cutters for when you find the guy who imported a Levorg or Exiga.

This episode has another contender for greatest basketball player still alive. Can you recognize him?

My GF’s knitting me an old-fashioned baseball cardigan.

Protip: the parties are actually events set up so that the kids mostly entertain themselves and the parents can take take shifts on “shore leave.”

Yeah, my boss flaked on giving me a reference because his kid had food and mouth and the company was completely fine with that excuse and hired me on the condition that they hear back from him eventually.

In my experience as a strange adult, small children are either taken with me or afraid of me, which translates to either cute and conversational or cute and completely silent. Either way, I’m creating a bubble of good behavior for the parent.

I think it may also be gassy people that fail to realize that glutenous foods tend to have more complex carbs and visa versa.

I wasn’t aware rascals came in off-road versions.