That would have to be a 2-way tie between the Compass and Patriot. At least the Caliber could be had in SRT-4 form, with some amount of sporting pretense to go with its engineered-in revolting nature and concomitant rarity. But here’s why the tie:

Truth. Though, I’m not sure that not killing the occupants is a particularly illustrious plus for the Compass...

I think I might have to agree with this. Having driven both vehicles, the late 90s Explorer drives like a medium duty truck with its center of gravity at the tip of a very loose spring. Going up a driveway curb transmits a wave of motion through the vehicle in a way I don’t think even the rattiest Dodge Diplomat…

How oddly coincidental this post is as my wife is currently driving a ‘16 rental Compass FWD CVT while her Dodge GC is in the shop. Never driven one before, but while the Compass is clearly a model that was designed and built 2 generations ago in car terms, it feels pretty solid inside, and has a surprising amount of…

California has its celebrity walk-of-fame. Florida should have a crazy person walk-of-fame.

Really nice stable of cars. Gotta hand it to someone who found an unmolested teal Integra GS-R in that kind of shape. Vigors and Legend coupes are hard to find in good shape these days, but when you do, just the pictures make you realize just how inherently well made those cars were.

Face facts, man. We haven’t lived in a cash-centric society for decades now, and even if we did, the economy would take a dump because nobody has cash to buy anything of significant cost. Look at Middle Eastern countries, who have traditionally looked at a cash-only purchasing model as a moral good; they still…

Good point. Mazda’s new interiors look impressive, and if I were in the market for such a car, I’d wait for the new CX-5 rather than quasi-settling for the older model. Not my car but that’s what I’d do.

Quite a timely post as I’m in pretty much the same buyer’s position. I’ve driven several cars. Before doing so I had determined that I was pretty sure I wanted a 2015 Chevy SS manual. 2015 specifically because it has MRC *AND* a manual. But I drove a 2015 auto just to see what it was like. Came away from it wondering…

There seems to be something intrinsically wrong with kit-car Mustang looks that also sit atop an actual Mustang frame. It’s like peak poseur; all the pretentious pretensions for...a Mustang. And even a non-enthusiast will pretty quickly sense this is miles from the real thing.

Yet another butt-hurt commenter that probably turns right around and screams at other people for being “too PC” or “sensitive”.

“He talked with Ford”

Speak for yourself. I’ve had exclusively manual trans cars for 17 years and have yet to replace a single clutch in any of them whether Japanese or German. And, all of the cars I’ve had have had at least 60k on the odo. One had 174k when I bought it and I still never had to replace a clutch or transmission.

Part of the X-type’s problem was that the XJ styling didn’t squish well. That said, I was surprised how poorly it did. But I do recall it being one of the smallest, if not the smallest, entry in that segment at the time, while not being especially speedy even with the 3.0. Plus, there was no halo X-type R.

Believe it or not the price is about right. The high ask is not as much about the enthusiast factor as it would seem. 10-15 year-old Hondas go for decent coin these days because they’re such good cars. You can find plenty of these things nationwide going for $6k with 150-190k miles. Getting one for less than $8k with…

“Mansory” is German for “Money can’t buy taste”. Affixing a badge from a higher trim-level car onto your down-market model that you likely over-extended your wallet for is Loser for “Money can’t buy respect, either”.

There were a ton of these back in the day. My guess is they kept the 2-door-only Offering because the Bronco II was also 2-door-only, and probably equally as utilitarian. The XJ was probably fairly posh in comparison at the time, as that SUV could readily be seen in more affluent driveways before the ZJ and original…

Maybe I’m confused but I thought flat or boxer engines were inherently different from 180 V engines due to the way the pistons fired and piston position. Both are effectively flat, but one was still considered a V design because the firing order and positioning was the same as a V engine, whereas a boxer flat has sets…

Weak NP for me. These things kind of need 4WD to be worth much in terms of cachet. That said, the price is low enough and the condition good enough that it’s worth the asking just as general transpo.

Sounds like they’ve gone to a lot of effort to move lengthening bits alongside the engine. To make even more room in their smaller cars, though, they could take a cue from Audi and give their I6 enough space by moving their engines so far forward as to only have the thin reassurance of plastic between spinning engine…