I don't know why, but I find this kind of thing fascinating. I used to work at a place that was right off a highway that was a heavily traveled route for the trucks hauling various wind turbine bits down to the wind farm near Rochelle Illinois. While nothing they hauled was quite as big as this, it was still pretty…

Yeah, no front plates in Arizona. My GTI was bought new in IL, but it was a dealer trade from Michigan, which also has no front plate requirement, so it didn’t have any holes either, and I wasn’t about to go drilling any.

The real solution is to get Fox News to advocate for getting rid of front plates, then it’ll get done right quick. 

I drove in Illinois for 15 years without ever having a front plate. Got pulled over a handful of times in that 15 years, and never once did I get a citation for not having a front plate. About a year before I left, the cops in my neck of the woods started getting desperate for ticket revenue (I assume), so they…

You know... I think you’re right about China. I didn’t even really think of that. It definitely makes a statement, just not a very tasteful one. It’s unfortunate because the rest of the car actually looks pretty decent. Maybe it’ll grow on me, but I really doubt it. 

Is BMW just trying to build unattractive cars now? I understand that the Bangle era cars were polarizing, but there were some that I didn’t mind, and a couple that I actually liked - the Z4/Z4 Coupe for example. This though? I just don’t understand what they’re doing here. I give this design language about 2 years…

Haha... exactly what I was thinking... Auto journalist must be a much better paying gig than I thought!

Look close - the box is open on the top, almost like a styrofoam cooler or something like that. Whatever it’s made of, it’s definitely empty. By the way it bounces, it appears to be very light. I’m on board with the “negative pressure” theory.

All of the stars for “Nimitz Class Pickup”.

It's a conundrum bro. 

I agree, but I also feel like the plate placement and its effect on the overall design was a bit of an afterthought. I don't like the design either way, but the plate just looks awkward to me. 

Remember when Audi started rolling out the big grilles? They were clearly designed with the euro-style plates in mind. With the euro plate, the big grilles didn’t look too terrible, but with the little North American style plates, it looked funny and kind of exaggerated the size of the grilles. I suspect you’re right…

Well, I mean, they were apparently blind, but yeah. 

That grille looks like pure hot garbage, especially with the way the license plate bisects it. Did the designers not even take that into account? 

These things are fucking stunning in person. I don’t think that silver really does it justice though - I think red and white tend to work best on the LC, but it’s really a beautiful car regardless of the color. 

Nope. I dig it too - in some applications, not all. I really like the spindle grille on the IS. I also dig it on the LC, the GS (RIP), and even the new LS looks kinda cool. I don’t like it on the CUV/SUV lineup, but I don’t really care because I’m never buying one of those anyhow. It also helps when the grille is…

I owned a B6 A4 for a time. Ultra Sport package, 6 speed manual... it was a lovely car. I still have nightmares about it, but I also really miss it. This C5 A6 would probably break my heart in similar fashion, but if it’s really as clean as it looks in the photos, I’d be all-in at $6500. Nice price.

“Signature color”, not “only color”. I’m well aware that they came in colors other than black, but the color most commonly associated with the Typhoon is black or black/gray. Black was the color that GM used in all of the ads at the time, and from what I remember, all of the press vehicles were either all black or…

I was thinking the exact same thing. It just looks like somebody’s late-90's project. Plus, I feel like if it was a real OEM project, it probably would have been black since that was kinda the signature color for Typhoons and Syclones. 

It might take longer to put the top down on the Targa, but it looks so much better than the Cabrio. I’d prefer a regular 911, but if I had to choose an open-top version, I’d take the Targa every time, that seven seconds be damned.