Why are their sales so low? Because they haven't done anything to them since they first came out, and even when they first came out, they had a pretty gutless engine. Fun to toss around, fun to wag the ass around like crazy, but ultimately you'll find yourself wanting more power and better tires.

Getting a license plate is also extremely expensive over there. As of a few months ago a Shanghai license plate cost 100,000 RMB, or about $17k. Again, that's just for the license plate.

Ehh, if you swap the stock pads for say Hawk HP+ pads (which are cheaper than the OEMs) and put in new brake fluid, you'll do just fine on the track. Much, much, much faster than any other similarly-priced car in its age range.

Buy this 2002 BMW M3 and spend an additional $4500 per year in replacing water pumps, coolant hoses, gaskets, seals, bearings, suspension components, and insurance! What a deal!

Wouldn't you just prefer to drive a bit slower most of the time, take that massive insurance and ticket fine cost savings, and put it into other more meaningful things (like track days, a motorcycle, etc.)?

It was outside of Death Valley by about a half hour or so to the West, so the location we're talking about is still correct.

I saw an F-18 doing one of these paths when I drove through Death Valley last September. I guess he saw me, and the proceeded to fly lower and lower and lower straight towards me (I was on a long straight) to about 200 feet above ground. It was awesome to see an aircraft like that fly so low and close.

THANK YOU for posting this! It's incredibly annoying seeing people in the cold start their car up, put it in D, and then run their engine at 3-4k RPM right away in a Chicago winter. It doesn't matter if you're using 0W-20 synthetic, it's going to be super-thick when it's below 0ºF.

Yup, hill start assist is what finally allowed my wife to become part of the glorious Manual-Transmission Master Race. It's easy enough to hold the emergency brake in while getting to your clutch/throttle point, but hill-stat assist just makes everything so much better. Especially if you're driving through San…

This is exactly why my wife and I spent $80 and bought dash cams for our cars. I see this stuff all the time (the frightening driving styles of people), and especially in the Bay Area, people (I assume accidentally) running into other cars and crushing bumpers and speeding away like nothing ever happened. Most of…

Mini's new grille styling:

Asian airlines tend to be the best because their service industries in general are the best. Asian people working in Asian restaurants, hotels, and the like are all mind-blowingly accommodating.

Really all this does is show you that Miata is always the answer. Or, perhaps, the answer is always Miata.

I secretly hope it's still just FWD, otherwise I'd have to sell my current yellow chariot and buy one of these when they come out.

It's now the most powerful Mini ever made, and substantially juicier than the old JCW. But it's still only marginally quicker than the Cooper S I tested earlier this year, which had 189 horsepower and did zero to 60 mph in 6.4 seconds with an automatic. I have no doubt the JCW will feel quicker, but I was expecting a…

Try having the 300hp/380 tq. you can squeeze out of the Focus ST's engine!

Sooo, buy a smaller and more agile car so you don't clip into the corners of other cars or poles with the corner of your car in the first place? I really don't understand why someone with 2 or fewer kids absolutely needs a minivan or SUV with 3 rows of seats. Not having enough seats to drive other parent's children…

I used to fly from one Chinese city to another, but after learning how incredible their train travel was, it's easier, faster, more comfortable, and far cheaper to take a train than a plane when going less than 1,000 miles in China. Their trains are always on time, super-fast, quiet, and cheap. And air travel…

Yet another great example of California being awesome and not caring, and Texas being all bureaucratic and lame. Texas is far from the stereotypical "freedomland" many people think it is. I can still get a concealed-carry license and buy a handgun in CA, I can split lanes in a motorcycle, and I can go 5 above the…

It completely depends on the manufacturing model the design company uses. For most companies, this is exactly how they work. For most super-large companies, like Apple and Samsung, this is NOT how they work. These companies are much more hands-on in the manufacturing process, and with the manufacturers left on their…