I keep tabs on the good ones so the tracking down is easy. ‘74 FJ40 lives with an orthopedic surgeon here in town, we chat from time to time and see each other around. I’m pretty sure I’d get a call if it were to be parted with. My old ‘62 VW Bus’s current owner calls me from time to time to catch up. Holidays and…

“That’s why naturally aspirated cars, which tend to have leaner burns and produce higher combustion temperatures, would require a hotter plug.”

Did they not halt sales the 3.0L diesels in addition to the 2.0L models back when this all started despite stating that they weren’t affected? Mayhap that was a bit of foreshadowing.

This is hands down the best review I’ve ever read of a car of this ilk. I honestly got bored part way through and came down here to post... The writing is great, it’s just that the car just really doesn’t do anything for me at all... At. All. That said, I too am afflicted with a philosophical bent toward my automotive…

My Pandora account constantly plays ads from Boulder Nissan stating that if you buy a Leaf you get a free (anything else on the lot from the sound of it). Or maybe it’s the other way around... Buy anything, get a free Leaf. Either way, doesn’t sound like they’re worth much more new.

There’s this old alzheimers ridden guy that lives in the mountain town I cohabited at the time who drove an old Geo Metro. I was always rolling around in classic cars (while living there I cycled through a ‘62 VW Bus, a ‘74 FJ40, and a ‘57 Karmann Ghia), and every time he saw me (it was easy since there’s one set of…

I’m going to get in on the bandwagon a bit here. HF is a cesspool 99% of the time. Pretty sure you take a year off your life just walking in and breathing the carcinogens wafting off the shelves. That said, they work like everyone else and all the manufacturing is outsourced. The companies actually building the tools…

When I was 16, I bought my first car. A 1996 Toyota Corolla in ‘90s beige. The beigest beigemobile that ever beiged. I had saved up 1/2 the purchase price, and borrowed the balance from my parents to buy it. I had nearly paid it off, and was literally driving home from work with the paycheck that would have completely…

Anything to do if you bought an affected car used at a VW and haven’t heard anything save one of the class action emails? I.e., no $1000 (or $500 really).

Can you repeat that in American English? I’ve never heard the word “naff” and can’t tell what you mean exactly... This truck is on my radar as a potential new car buy, and if “naff” is bad, unreliable, anything like that, it would be good to know.

M1009 CUCV. 25mpg average WITH 4X4. Heavy duty. Inexpensive to get in one, not too expensive to maintain (assuming you wrench). Way WAAAAYYYYY cooler.

Do the gas engines really have a vacuum pump these days? Why?

In addition to my automotive enthusiasm, I’m a luthier and have a very sensitive ear to timbre and acoustics. For instance, I can differentiate between sitka and engelmann spruce, dreadnoughts and jumbos, mahogany and even the thickness of a maple top by ear from a single strummed chord. I live near a fairly busy road…

I can’t be the only one that thinks one of those would make a pretty amazing road tripping camper... Build some Westy style shelves into the rear windows, some clever packing, and you could live out of that thing pretty well for a while...

The rotary’s shortcoming is the seals. I’ll give you that. With even a minor lapse in care and feeding, they can let go. They are the rotary engine’s functional equivalent to piston rings. The metallurgical needs of a rotary’s seals (there are more than just apex seals) are very different and far more varied than a…

Inherent flaws and inherent flaws, yes. In the same breath, inherent strengths and inherent strengths. Rotaries have more surface area for heat losses, but they don’t have to contend with the constant acceleration of pistons changing velocities and directions. Don’t forget also that rotaries were only ever designed…

And the piston engine didn’t have issues with seals and fuel consumption in the late 1700s? Or early 1900s for that matter? Even accounting for the advances in technology leading to more rapid improvement of such things, it’s not exactly behind the power curve. I, for one, eagerly await the engineering specifics. Time…

The reason is that piston engines have over a century head start AND the backing of many companies worth of many-billion dollar R&D budgets where the rotary has only been around since the 50s, didn’t get much attention until the 70s, and has only had one (small strapped) company’s allotment’s worth of R&D budget...…

Spoken by someone who has clearly never driven one.

Essentially a homebrew FWD Morgan 3-wheeler (not as uncommon as you might think) with a poor choice of body. I think the drivetrain setup is completely legit, and getting a viable suspension up front (not sure what’s going on in the rear) shouldn’t be too difficult since FWD suspension bits are plentiful in every junk…