Bingo.

I was thinking the exact same thing. Driving 104 miles every day, in any car, is adding pollution. If she was sick because of just that fractionally additional overall pollution, I’d be impressed. And, as a mother (who we may assume has had a child), you have already contributed many orders of magnitude more…

One minor correction. The EJ207 2.0L blocks are not closed. They are at best described as ‘semi-closed’. The EJ257 2.5L blocks have the same amount ‘semi-closed’ness. The original EJ205 (WRX) 2.0L blocks are more fully open. The EJ22 block would be the most appropriate to describe as ‘closed’. As well, saying the…

So does the current CEO. All employees at Intel have cubes. In reality I suspect many senior executives spend the majority of their day in meetings in conference room, but their ‘office’ is a cube.

It is great to see these cars get faster in the 1/4 mile. Most of the previous work has been in roll racing and 1/2 mile+ events, where they do really well. Of course there are probably 10+ GT-Rs in the 7s, with the current best being eKanoo with a 7.23@203.9mph. Even at TX2K this year the T1 GTR ran a 7.38, and he…

That is a poor comparison, and also not particularly true. As a whole, the R35 is very easy to work on. There are very few specialized tools required, most things are reasonable easy to access. Dropping the transmission is actually pretty easy.... 2-3 hours if you have a lift and know what you are doing. Obviously the…

Over the last 15 years the EPA has made clear that it would like to go after manufactures of parts that would make a production car non emission compliant. They have sent thousands of notices, and sued a reasonable number of businesses. They made clear that they did not see the existing ‘off road’ clause as a…

To be clear, if you have a car like this that does not have the functioning and un-modified emissions system that came on the car, you are in violation of federal EPA rules, period. This new ruling does not change that, it just removes the ability for you to say ‘I only drive this car on the track or on my private…

The EPA has been vocal on this topic in the past. While something like changing the tire size may not fall under the umbrella, and change to the combustion system does. It is already illegal in the federal EPA code to modify the ‘emissions system’, and that phrase has been interpreted to include the engine itself.…

This is probably the biggest misunderstanding of the EPA. They do not regulate the roads, they regulate the environment. Cars that produce emissions, either on your property, a track, or the road are under their purview. States regulate the roads, and by the nature of registrations regulate what they consider legal…

Those requirements (as related to engine swaps) are state by state. The EPA has not made clear any way to be fully legal with a swap like that. It is an odd thing because while the EPA makes the regulations, they are typically enforced by the states. In a state like California, they have specific rules they they have…

Pre-emissions cars will likely not be grandfathered in. If you have a car currently that was a production car at one time, and at that time had an emissions control system (so post 1976), that car will have to be returned to emission compliance, regardless of use. It will not be possible to claim an ‘off road use’…

There is much more to it than that. Removal of a cat is an obvious violation, but the EPA is as concerned about changes to the EVAP control system ( say changing a fuel pump to a high flow version, different fuel lines, any change to the ECU calibration ), and change to the intake system especially in MAF based cars,…

While there is some truth to the statement that this is a result of significant device defeats, it is equally true that this particular approach is a brilliant way to solve a problem that the EPA thinks needs to be solved. This is not just about people removing their cats.

Yes, swipe right on the screen and the auto stop disable button is on the second row. Also if you put the car in dynamic mode, it is disabled. (which I usually do).

Price wise, it is actually surprisingly competitive. If you compare it to the X5, it is cheaper by quite a bit. I ended up getting the Inscription version with most of the options and I think my out of the door was $63k, compared to right at $81k for the same features in the X5. The lower end model is quite a bit…

We have been getting pretty consistent 20.5 mpg around town, but have not taken it on the highway at all.. and that is driving around in Portland so lots of up and down hills, and when I drive it driving like and a**. The turbocharged and supercharged engine is pretty good.

Agreed. We directly compared it to the X5.

I just purchased one for my wife, so I had similar questions. The 4WD is automatic, no drive input needed. The touch screen is actually pretty intuitive. My wife had a 2013 X3, so she was used to the BMW system. It is in someways a faster input method once you know where things are at. Yes you can disable the rear…

I purchased one of these for my wife about a three weeks ago (well, preordered many months ago, but arrived three weeks ago). It was a replacement for her 2013 X3 3.5. Observations so far: