Agreed that it doesn’t look as good as the 7 but honestly it’s not a big departure either. It’ll age much better than the 5 did.

It’s not a bad idea to get publicity but I thought you were responding to an economic argument. Maybe the TV will capture some viewers who can afford a new Mirage ($14K), safety gear and car mods ($4K at least), a driving school to qualify for a racing license ($10K?), a trailer to get to the track ($5K?), plus tires,…

Hmm I have a Sienna (Ltd awd but close enough to SLE) and I’m pretty sure I can use the cruise while wipers are going. Not positive though. I’ll go test and report back...

How about design? That is the most redeeming feature I can think of. I would put this latest gen of Volvo design ahead of BMW and Mercedes and way ahead of Lexus, Acura and Infiniti. Most similar to Audi but has the benefit of being less common.

I agree. No laps will ever be “apples to apples.” Even “same day same driver” suffers from changing track throughout the day, and drivers who are more familiar with certain cars (or cars with more approachable handling). Manufacturers have the cash to rent a track for a whole week. They can use that time to collect…

Yes i’m not as concerned that manufacturers will cheat on timing (although there have been accusations of sped up video etc) but more that they will cheat on the car. For instance Honda’s CTR that set the 7:45 time had no a/c (removed to compensate for weight of roll cage, but we don’t know how much it weighed) and…

We need a certifying body for these (especially Nürburgring times). The manufacturer can pick a few days to rent the track and they can supply the driver. The independent observer then picks a dealer and follows the car from the showroom floor to the track, with no mods on stock tires. Maybe the manufacturer could…

Oh it’s not going anywhere. Sexier for 2020 means bigger penis for 2020. Obvi

No. But I wish Jalopnik would at least mention how ridiculously wasteful this is if they are going to mention it at all.

“Oh, GM is slapping Corvette styling cues on an NSX and charging half the money for it.”

How about getting an off road ride and towing a camper trailer behind it, instead of the other way around? You must be getting 5 mpg in that RV with a 4x4 in tow? And driving it all over the country? That’s a lot of money to spend on gas and a lot of CO2 pumped into the atmosphere...

Yup and I have a Focus RS because it was more fun than the Golf R. I have read so many articles about how good the Golfs are but it felt numb to me. I don’t mind that my RS rides like shit and has a cheap interior because it is so much fun on the road and on the track.

A couple months ago we had a contractor working on our house and one of the workmen came over to tell me I should get my tire checked. He said he noticed it was flat and tried to fill it with the nail gun compressor but it still looked flat and the compressor wouldn’t give any more air.

I’ve never driven a GTI but I have driven a few Golf Rs and I was bored. The golf is good but the German feel isn’t for everyone. There is room for hot hatches with more feedback and more silliness and I think the Fiesta ST and Focus ST/RS succeeded because they tapped into that. I’d argue that the demise of the Focus…

Already short on cash? I understand.

This was my first car and I didn’t have any trouble fitting. I’m 6’5”. I even managed to get four friends all over 6’ to pile in for an drive to the beach. I’ll admit that was a little tight.

America needs more lotus sevens.

Damn that guy can drive...

RWD is a no because this is based on a FWD economy car. It has a transverse mounted engine that lends itself to FWD. Engineers can take some of that power back to the rear but it would take some complicated engineering with heavy duty hardware to run all 416 horses back to the rear and delete the FWD entirely.

Wouldn’t you know I drove over a screw yesterday and my tire was ruined. Perfect excuse to get some LT tires on steelies