Maybe manual transmissions should use that shift pattern. But in regions where the local language is written from right to left it would have to be flipped. And for places that write vertically you’d also need to rotate the pattern to match.

Personally, having to commute in cities is probably the main reason I stopped driving for relaxation.

In my area there are 1-2 Mercedes Sprinters that look like they’re set up for off-roading. Or at least they’re going for the look of off-roading/overlanding.

We need this kind of hood ornament.

That doesn’t require military tech anymore. If you’re interested, do some reading on “small modular reactors”. But the time might have already come and gone for that in the US. At some point people let fear of nuclear war translate to fear of nuclear anything, and we’ve never let go of that.

People also do conversions that are a lot less ambitious and probably much cheaper. Those are more like off-road go-karts than ATVs, but they still roll down trails or run around the property just fine.

I think Hannibal is more my style than BA. Oh who am I kidding, I’m probably closer to Murdock than any of them.

The statement “The UAW does not have a problem with organized crime” could be taken in a few different ways....

He was trying to raise awareness of the new sport Extreme Wing Walking. Wing walking on big planes at high altitudes and jet speeds!

I have made many jokes about both a pod racing movie/show and a Fast and Furious/Star Wars combo. They were only halfway jokes because both of those would probably have been better than the Star Wars prequel movies or the Fast and Furious movies. Pod racing, illegal landspeeder racing, “I live my life one quarter…

Couldn’t a $15k MSRP difference on a 911 Turbo be, uh, a set of floor mats? Or a cigarette lighter instead of just the plug? Or a Porsche-logo keyring?

Do gas stations count as automotive brands? I almost always go to QuikTrip because they still have free air hoses. The ones in my area all have enough pressure to top off my tires in only a few minutes. No coin slots or going inside to politely ask the cashier for a token. No year-old “out of order” signs (seriously,…

Does it come already smelling like piss and with a huge bag of garbage to dump all around it, or do I have to add that myself to get the authentic NYC feel?

Come on, if you’re really serious about sim racing you spend as much on your sim setup as most people do on the real cars they drive every day.

I think you’re looking at it wrong. I live in the midwest, where we have bad winters, bad summers, and severe spring storms. I have never had the tiniest shred of interest in Miatas. I am about as far in to introvert territory as you can get without having a genuine problem (seriously, I’m thriving in COVID-19…

My favorite bad used car option story was when I saw a car with steering wheel shifters explicitly labeled as audio controls in the photos on Autotrader. By a big dealership that handled other brands from the same conglomerate.

For most things, I wait until they’re about due and try to combine everything I need done in to one job, so usually I schedule it all around an oil change or plate renewal. The hard part is that the best maintenance schedule for newer vehicles seems to be an art form because we’ve gotten so good at making engines work…

It’s not uncommon to get “call for pricing” or totally useless numbers even when you’re buying technology items directly from the vendor. Finding ways to get you talking (spilling info) is a common element of sales.

You don’t have to slam modern car doors quite like you did in the 1980s to close them fully.

My driving needs and regional winter weather mean good all seasons plus experience and a gentle foot keep me out of trouble. A good modern all-season tire is probably better in a lot of winter conditions than the snow tires were when I learned to drive. I’ve also recently switched to snowflake-rated all terrain tires,…