I’m glad the rolling coal bastard’s name isn’t being shared. Dude shouldn’t get notoriety for doing what he did, just jail time and obscurity.

Yup. When I test-rode a LiveWire One and a Zero SR/F at IMS recently, employees from both companies made sure to stress that, unlike every other bike, when you turn the throttle, you GO immediately.

Came here to say the Aztek for similar reasons. It was totally a boxy crossover about a decade or so before they became a thing. If GM made the Aztek today, it would not look at all out of place.

Other commenters below have recommended the Fiesta ST—solid choice, but $10K is like the bare minimum price for one that isn’t trashed these days. Ditto the Focus ST.

Dangit, I’ll have to miss this one, but if you do a fall meetup, I do have to take my Abarth on a road trip at some point

Man, now I REALLY can’t wait for the Pajero Evo to be import-legal

Yes, 1000% agree! I bought a cheap set of digital calipers a few years ago from McMaster-Carr, they’ve come in handy so many times not just wrenching on cars, but also on motorcycles, bicycles, random house repair stuff. And even if the battery’s dead, the mechanical scale is more than sufficient.

I enjoyed having the window switches on the center console in my NB, though I imagine it was a necessity due to the door panel and window design

I’ve also heard an addendum that said it was because it meant Porsche had to install less wiring, which helped save money.

I think the weirdest thing so far was how my NB Miata 10AE’s cruise control button was off to the side and kind of hidden by the steering wheel. But I’m about to get a 500 Abarth, so no doubt I’ll soon have stories of weird Italian-ness

Oh wow, I got a chance to tour the Janus shop a few years ago and enjoyed riding the carbureted models. I hope you have fun on this one, Mercedes! And I’d love to know what it was like for the company to approach building/designing a fuel-injected bike.

Oh hell, you drove through that tornado that raged through Chicagoland recently?! I’m glad you and your fiancee are OK!

FFS

It’s great to see your work on the site again, Kat! And I fell in love with this anime for the tangentially-related reason of it reminding me of my first days riding motorcycles.

From what I’ve read, it seems like the big issue is tires. On modern ones, Car and Driver said the RT/10 was “fundamentally a first-generation Mazda Miata designed by a brass band’s worth of star-spangled idiots.” 

Plus, you can get noticeably simpler and cheaper airbag jackets that work via compressed CO2/air cartridges which are just as effective as the electronic ones. FortNine did an excellent video about it:

RIP Ryu, and thank you. Your Dajiban is on my desk right now

...oh no, now I REALLY don’t have an excuse not to get a 4WD kei van

Snow: *falls in Scotland*