I agree. That is like Radiohead beautiful if you debadge the hideous yellow bowtie. That could be the ultimate daily driver family car with a box camper installed on back.

A George Jones reference is always good with me.

Good piece. I’d also make this argument (and it’s not a new one) about having too much tire (especially staggered ones causing understeer) and too firm a suspension. I daily drive a manual E39 wagon with a puny (but ungodly smooth and torquey) inline 6 that officially doesn’t make 200 horsepower. The car is balanced…

Off-white or Black or Bronze Classica would be simple and light as you could get. No tech package - all I need is Bluetooth. I am good with 16" wheels although I wish there were a non-chrome version. It’s all about putting some great tires on some slightly wider lightweight wheels and tuning to 200 horsepower which…

I might be one of the few people who doesn’t find the Panamera offensive. It’s not anSUV. It seats 4 real people. It has a hatch. You might even be able to put my two medium sized dogs in the back. There are a few small ways it could look better, but it’s not bad. Sure it’s an automatic and that sucks, but it’s a GT…

4 cylinder, 5 speed manual, RWD Ford Ranger

E39 six cylinder. Predictable and relatively affordable DIY maintenance. Beautiful styling. Wide selection of gorgeous factory wheels all over Craigslist. Seats 5 comfortably. Comes in a wagon. Can get 29 highway and to 60 in ~7 seconds. Not hard to find with a stick (unless you’re want wagon AND a stick, I found one…

The answer is always manual E39. If you can wrench a little bit.

I feel like the only sensible new car choice is getting a manual 1.8T Golf Wagon and reflashing it for more power. Mazda6 power is totally fine if you row your own. Honda makes a great 4 and a great gearbox, but damn, what a bunch of ugly design decisions.

I’m guessing Germany would have still built my brown-ish manual E39 wagon like a tank in 1999 despite whatever our three-brain-cell Feds did or said in 2016.

The most annoying thing about the Q is it’s name. It makes no frickin’ sense. It’s like if BMW started calling the 3-series the 7-series. Or if Benz started calling a C-class an S-class. That and the new hideous styling of what once was tasteful. But you could say that about the 3-series, too.

It doesn’t surprise me the 1.5 could be a better overall drive than the 2.0. I bet it’s more fun around town because you’d be going balls out more often. Of course, even the average Jalopnik reader is too insecure in their manhood to drive a 129 horespower car. Mazda was probably wise not to bring the 1.5 to the…

If you could fit that drivetrain in a small four-door retroish sedan... and not make it butt-ugly and redneck-looking? Something like the Code concept... then maybe I’d be interested?

250 horsepower and 310 ft lbs is fine. Sounds like a bunch of milliennial crybabies. Now if they only offered a 6MT to really have fun with that power.

I agree. This look twice as good as the MX-5. Clean simple lines that will still look good 20 years from now. I say this as a Mazda fan.

I think this is so idiots can pretend their 13 mpg V8 is a hybrid.

DAMN. This looks way better than the MX-5 IMO. I’ll take mine sans iPad stuck to the dash.

Ugh, just when I’ll probably never own another road-going motorcycle... they all start looking badass.

This is the best gif ever to show how BUTT UGLY modern Ferraris are.

Any of a number of BMW wagon with a manual transmission and a straight-six (no friggin turbos to break). Now if they could only build a better cooling system and non-$@#% window regulators... there’s the perfect car.