I have to say that the LeSabre looks surprisingly cool- battle bruises and all.

#COTD!

I thought 'global car' meant that the same car is offered in all major markets a company operates in- like Ford does with the Focus and Fiesta, for example. It is that which I have my doubts about, not least since I thought all Japanese and Korean makers and now even VW had moved away from it. Not so, it seems.

Either that, or Yurpians insist on a prestige badge when they buy something in this segment of the market. Ford and GM's offerings in this class have also withered and died.

"Toyota's policy is to make the Camry a global car"

What it does? Same as with all other instagrams: it makes the pictures look boring and ugly.

There are indeed optional doors, but they are kind of half doors; a beam with a transparent bottom, and no windows

The enclosure aspect is an interesting one: I pondered it, and I think Renault called it right. At the end of the day, you can't use either of these machines for more than about 45 minutes / one hour at a time at their very limits- I think I'd just keep my coat on. Also, the Renault's stance and absence of doors…

Well, the EU cycle - real world economy conundrum is one of those imponderables: the EU norm is necessarily a relative measure and the real world is absolute, and never the twain shall meet. People have complained rather a lot about the twinair 500 as well... Still, a straight test between the Panda twinair and the Up…

Nice try VW.

Pas de vitres électriques? pas de problème! :-)

I'm beginning to seriously respect VW for it's Up, in that regard: 929kg (2048 lb). Result: 4.2 l/100km (55.8 mpg US), and less than 99g/km of CO2- all from a simple triple. No-one else manages that without a hybrid, a diesel or not-quite-proven new tech (Fiat's twinair).

Pumps coming directly from the ceiling- at least some people thought that was a good idea...

They seemed to be everywhere on the South Island- especially in previous generation Legacy stationwagon form. Canny folk, those kiwis.

Not an issue anymore with small capacity car diesel engines. Quite a few ordinary European cars have stop-and-start diesel engines now. Not sure how they manage to do it, though.

The liquid goes straight down the drain: [www.bbc.co.uk]

I'm still smarting from the overinflated fauX4 look Fiat gave to the pretty little Panda.

The only dogleg box I know is the even weirder one in the 2CV. That one's surprisingly handy though: you shift straight from reverse to 1st when manoeuvring, and use mostly 2nd and 3d in city driving. For regular driving, 1st is there to just get the car off the line.

Oh dear.

Close, but no cigar. The taga doesn't allow leaning into bends, which will make it a bitch to ride, and the conversion to a stroller takes way too long- before even considering the fact that you have to hump sprog off and then back on again.