The lead pic makes the concept look somewhat similar to an Escape, IMO. I might just be making a big deal about the general lines/shape, though.

I see. I made this suggestion based primarily off of the "I bought my Lotus for less then people who've asked about the price spent on their loaded SUVs" stories I've read, and $30k is still plenty of coin compared to what any Elise might've retailed for, so I knew this might not have been one of the best answers.

A Lotus Elise? You could buy a new one starting at $47k, but I think a good used one is in the $30k-40k range.

Since it's been given a $25k price tag of its own, then it's safe to assume that the Cruze CTD is an entirely separate trim. A Jetta TDI starts at $23k and isn't as nice as a similarly-equipped Cruze, so the price seems justified if not reasonable IMO.

By fully loaded, do you mean a fully loaded ECO that you got for less? Because the base LS with a manual retails for $18k (assuming you're in the U.S.).

I did like the Speedway Blue paint, non-steel wheels and rear disc brakes that the silver '05 Matrix XR 2WD I DD'd during my senior year of high school didn't have. You could rationalize that as being at rock-bottom and being able to view most everything else as better, but eh.

I'm not sure how it works out - I guess they're busy taking Stingrays to shoots or something? This was the case last year too - they had an unlocked 2012 Grand Sport Centennial Edition convertible and a locked ZR1, but no locked Camaro ZL1. I still haven't gone yet, but the show's site lists a (probably locked) ZL1…

I haven't been driving for very long and don't drive often, so I'd have to say that my greatest automotive shame story would be failing my provisional license test on my first try and just how clueless and idiotic I was along the way.

I believe the sat-nav in Aston Martins is Garmin-based now.

It's true that there's a certain amount of brand identity when it comes to cars like the Camaro or Corvette that you'd want to stay true to, but nowadays things have to be shared to keep costs down, so I'm not surprised to find parts-bin items in a Camaro (especially when it has the LED halos, giant side panels, the…

While I haven't really used the buttons on the wheel of my dad's '12 Ford Focus SE to offer an informed opinion about them, the feel and ease of using the steering wheel itself impressed me.

Most enthusiasts cried foul when the '12 Camaro ('13 pictured with Mylink) got one of GM's new corporate steering wheels as a response to complaints about the retro wheel's ergonomics - you could search camaro5 and come up with plenty of results that read along the lines of "The super-retro-super-cool wheel we had…

The guy in the original article was just complaining about how he wound up getting a problematic Focus ST unit from the first model year of its production (which are to be expected), and how said problems irk him when he otherwise loves the car.

I know it was brief, but technically Good Morning America got the first drive on the 16th.

#COTD

Awesome.

Neither have I, but apparently there are Focus STs equipped as such. There's less support and, if my dad's 2012 SE is anything to go by, no more power controls on the standard seats than on the Recaros (that is, to say, zero). Both seats are heated anyhow.

The Recaro seats in the regular Focus ST are optional - the standard seats are the same as those in the standard Focus. Disappointing, I know.

Ah, I see. That makes sense.

I'm not too sure, but I think the U.S. has regulations that ban exhaust tips extending too far from the rear fascia ("too far" meaning as close as meeting the fascia), thus the shortened exhaust systems and faux tips.