“The Explorer and next gen mustang will share a bunch of underpinnings, so this would be easier than before.”

One reason why I bought a VW Alltrack is that the parts bin is there to turn it into a Golf R estate if I want.

I bought 3 new Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable wagons. There is nothing that Ford has that interests me, so I bought a new VW Alltrack 6MT.

And No on the electric parking brake.

The sportwagen with the 1.8L TSI can get GTI engine performance with a stage 1 tune, and the suspension can be easily upgraded to GTI performance.   And the Alltrack can be turned into a near Golf R wagen.

“The way I’d like to see governments treat subsidies for EVs would be to... ditch them all and more heavily tax ICE cars instead.”

Considering that sales for MINI have been weak the last few years you would think that getting a modest priced manual version wouldn’t have been too difficult for MINI USA.

At some point the side mirrors on cars will be replaced by cameras. I wouldn’t be surprised if the cameras end up being mounted more forward to minimize the blind spots.

I used Carfax to find out where the cars I was looking at were previously owned - sometimes snowbelt cars can end up in more southern dealerships, etc.  This included looking at both where it was registered and where it was serviced.

A CUV with a CVT.

“I Can’t Believe Black People Might Actually Vote for Michael Bloomberg”  --- Donald Trump

I did my part - in more ways than one. Bought a new manual Alltrack - my 5th wagon. And my daughter and her husband bought a 30th anniversary Miata - manual of course.

They didn’t hit it with an ugly stick - they used the whole tree.

“New 2019's in my area (Utah) are on dealer lots for $14,900.”

“Let me guess, Strong Volkswagen or Southtowne? Those dealerships are sketchy.”

“2019 Golf Sportwagon - new - $14,856.”

“New 2019's in my area (Utah) are on dealer lots for $14,900.”

I’m waiting for the TerraFactory.

Got my driver’s license in 1972. I remember that in the summer of 1073 gas prices had jumped up to around $0.39 a gallon, up about 33% or so. A big jump in the price of something that had been relatively stable was fairly unsettling for many. When the oil crisis of 1973 hit I was in college and had no car. Heard about…

“You lost me at “automatic “. What credible “automotive journalist” calls a Dual Clutch Transmission an “automatic”?”