You know a franchise has been a long-term success when your own kids are picking it up without any of your influence.

IMO, tech is no longer a luxury. Generally, the latest gadgets are available in everything from a Corolla to a Phantom.

Acura errs on the side of functionality, which is fine.

I see what you did there.

Ironically, if you look at race cars, which inspired low-profile performance wheels and tires, they actually have significant tire sidewall.

I do this; in fact my home screen only has the phone button. But it’s because I like looking at my background pics.

LW#1 needs to leave before she gets physically hurt.

Laughed at East Whiskeyshire. Other quality British parts sources are based in Doggonebroke, Brapptonham, Bumford, East Wessex and Slytherin-upon-Wales.

This is what we call a Crack Pipe seller. If you want to sell a car that’s worth anything more than junk value, you’re going to have to clean it up.

We didn't have any DCT problems.  Personally I think programming auto-creep into a DCT is incredibly dumb.

You’ve found a 500L alumni. We had ours for 3 years before we lemoned it. The motor sounds agricultural and the wind and road noise are obnoxious, but we weren’t surprised in light of the price point. I believe the early DCT cars got better fuel economy (my wife averaged around 29-30 mpg), but Americans were burning…

The US model could’ve used this exterior facelift. It still looks quite sharp in that photo.

1945, to be precise. It coincided too well with the end of WWII, the German connotation had to have been a consideration.

What’s up with the headlights burning out every 9 months?

I’m sure nothing in there is ever “simple,” but I used the word because a few years back there was a report on Ford making structural upgrades on the driver side of their pickup trucks to pass the IIHS Small Overlap test, but it was discovered that those upgrades were not done on the passenger side.

The difference is, most of the other companies chose to make structural updates to respond to that test. Fiat only did it for the all-new 500X, leaving the 500 and 500L with a glaring marketing weakness.  Most US-market cars these days can reasonably deal with that IIHS test.

This is what the Kicks should have been, but alas, it was not meant to be for American rental lots.

The US-market 500L finally got a facelift this year. I’m surprised as well. I honestly think it would’ve sold a lot better if they marketed it right, and made some simple structural upgrades for the IIHS test.

Really, wear items?  I’m curious, which parts are expensive?  Thought these were supposed to be easy to maintain, if not the most reliable car around.

I suspect the Panda is also too small and dated for the US market.