I have an 03 1.8T that I bought 2 years ago with 136k (now at 176k); driven every day and never missed a beat. I never really loved it in a way I have some of my previous cars, but now that I’m about to put it up for sale (being replaced by a much newer and nicer Impreza), I must say I will miss it. It’s been a good…

My 2001 e46 BMW had leveling sensors that would adjust the height of the headlight beam based on how loaded the car was front vs rear/suspension movement. As early as 2006, they had adaptive headlights that aimed with the steering wheel ... so it’s not that recent ... 

I’m right there with you. A lady at work had a dark blue one ... I was strangely attracted to the thing. Every time I’d see it, I’d go “that’s a really good looking van!”

Mexican highways late at night.

CP from me.

This. At the rate I’m going, the one big can I have will last me 3 lifetimes. 

Minus the kicking part, this is exactly how one major OEM does panel gap/flushness adjustment ... I see it every time I’m in their plant (and I’m there frequently). They have a whole team of people @ the end of final assembly doing nothing but this.

I think this is related.

You’re lucky to be walking away from C&C at all given Mustangs are involved.

While I am OK w/ 15s, I personally like 16s. Big enough to make modern cars still look good on them, and small enough that you can stick them on a classic and not lose the good looks... and plenty of really good tires still out there for them.

What am I missing about condenser replacement? I just priced it on rockauto for a 07 Fit and they’re 70 dollars. Yes, it requires removing the front bumper, vacuuming the system and re-charge after all is said and done, but even as such, I can’t imagine any shop charging over 300-400 dollars for it.

“Sure, but I would bet the S65 has a broader more flat torque curve which leads to more useable power than the peak numbers would suggest. “Peak” numbers don’t even tell half the story.”

Right after we moved to the states dad got a low mileage 90 TSI AWD Talon ... to a 13 year old me who came from a place where a usual sight was a VAG product with a 1.4, 200ish hp and the boyish good lucks of a 1G DSM seemed amazing!!

It is cheaper to build one assembly vs 2: you need fixtures, test equipment etc. You seriously don’t think that introducing variation/more options into the assembly process raises complexity and thus cost?

Looks like a bunch of old refrigerator doors bolted together at awkward angles ... 

At 5000, I’d go NP all day.

LOL, same! I consider most cars one would buy for around 6k fairly nice. I daily drive a $2500 “beater” (in really decent shape actually in all seriousness)... it has done 35000 miles in the last year with very minimal maintenance.

Yep, vastly improved safety if you flip it over.

This. I had a BMW with winter tires for a couple of winters and it was great for overall control (steering/braking), but still wouldn’t hold a candle to any of the Subarus I had with all seasons from an acceleration standpoint... yes with enough throttle, I could get the Subarus to spin all 4 wheels, but they’d still…

That’s kind of his forte though ...