Partial car at full price.  What a strategy!

Almost EVERYTHING about the XL-1 was weird.

If you don’t like asymmetry, I should warn you there was a time when the passenger side mirror was optional on many cars.  Feels like this applies to pre-1980s cars.

Despite their function, I always found high-mounted mirrors weird.

It most definitely is one of the newest CR-Vs to offer a manual transmission. My folks had a 2002 EX AWD manual and when the next gen came out they were bummed the manual got dropped.

I found it odd that the author broke out the “small” costs of the repair, and didn’t mention paint.

Oh, they’ve learned a lot by way of hiring all sorts of engineers from across the industry. There’s no way they would have had success with zero clue what others are doing.

I thought that was the codename for Hyperloop...or was it the underground tunnel thing?  Hard to keep track anymore!

Competitive analysis is nothing new and it isn’t necessarily a sign of incompetence on behalf of the one doing the teardown. Automakers have been doing teardowns of competitors’ cars for decades. I would not be surprised if Hyundai, Toyota and VW were also tearing down Civics, and Honda was tearing down Corollas and…

IMHO the only way this could happen is through a combination of de-contenting, limited build configurations (i.e. - RWD only, 1 battery size), use of stainless steel body panels (no paint and no expensive metal presses), or reduced performance (range, acceleration, etc.). I suspect there would be more demand for such…

Porsche’s official factory parts catalog the front fenders are each around $500 while the fender liners are upwards of $200.

Derani, who also claimed the 2021 IMSA Daytona Prototype International (DPi) championship and owns a prior overall victory in the Rolex 24 (2016), was more than a second under the existing track record of 1:33.685 established by Oliver Jarvis in a Mazda DPi in 2019. Prior to that, one must go all the way back to 1993…

The drag coefficient is just one portion of overall drag force. In addition to density of the air and velocity (which we assume are identical for the purpose of comparing different vehicles), you also need to know the total frontal cross section of the vehicle.

To emphasize that further, the Honda Beat’s engine is less than 1/2 the size of the smallest factory Miata engines. Its’ total displacement of 656cc is barely more than the displacement of just one cylinder on a ND Miata!

It’s a Jeep thing.  Of course we don’t understand!

Lots of car buyers “like to sit up high so they can see”, they like size and they like a pretense of extra capability. SUVs and Crossovers are better at delivering those.

Old boxy Volvo wagons do not deserve more love because they already get plenty of love.

I got to drive a Beat years ago and can confirm the ITB engine sounds surprisingly good. The diminutive size, low power and short gearing are best suited for roads no faster than ~50mph. There’s a good reason this car was never sold in the USA.

That side profile is quite deceptive.  For headroom, the 2nd row looks like it will be OK. If this has a 3rd row, heads will be hitting the roof. Rear cargo capacity will also be diminished.

That’s crazy!