As I said about Chinese products last time, I wouldn’t trust a production example to meet the standards of the tested unit. These things might pass the initial IIHS and NHTSA tests, but with the way they cut quality in production to save a few cents, these groups will need to crash a random selection of 10-20 out of…

3D printing metals has been a thing for a while, it’s just expensive, unlike 3D printing plastics. It’s also slower than even plastic 3D printing, which is already quite slow.

The funny thing is that none of these companies I’ve worked for purchased parts directly from Chinese manufacturers, so they often passed through a layer or three of middle men on the way to a major distributor that ultimately sold to us. We’re talking individual parts that would never pass QA/QC, mismarked…

You completely missed the beginning of my comment, didn’t you?

The problem as I pointed out in my response to this article is that Chinese manufacturers are notorious for radical cheapening of their products after a design has been accepted. The NHTSA would have to crash 10 out of every 100 to ensure the one that passed a test didn’t collapse like a beer can in a real crash...

Park an RV in a suburban Walmart parking lot.

With that kind of cash (not the kind the asker has to work with), a Toyota Hilux, Land Cruiser, or a Mercedes G-wagen seem like more sensible choices since you can’t guarantee there will be roads everywhere you want to go.

Neutral: This will be highly deflationary in the auto market. I wouldn’t be surprised if their inability to produce consistently (seriously, their QC and cheapening is legendary) would put them at odds with the NHTSA after they crash test these and 3 months later a production example collapses like a beer can.

Yeah, this is sketchy. Curbstoners.

They should make a compact car and call it the Watt or Amp. It could compete with the Volt.

I’d buy that.

Ford used what was to be the new Mustang platform for the retro Thunderbird (shortened) and the Lincoln LS. The latter being the last actual interesting car Lincoln made...

I’m much younger than you, but my first car was a luxurious dark red velour (the car was built in 1994). It’s one of the less objectionable interior colors in my opinion, just way out of style...

Yeah, the metal on the doors on my car is paper-thin. My wife’s car, which is very closely related to mine (only built 7 years earlier) has far thicker metal...

You can’t even buy an old Defender 90 for less than about 2-3x that in abysmal shape... Not that I think the price is justified, but you’re looking at a minimum of 50-60k in work and parts to match this.

As I said on Oppo:

I feel like this price is pretty decent, but I cannot imagine anyone really wanting to buy/own it. It’s in that oddball grey area of being old but not classic, weird but not exclusive, not luxurious, not fast, not nostalgic, not low-mileage, not flawless, etc. The main things going for it are having one owner and…

I have lived most of my life in heavily populated areas. Mid-size SUVs are no bigger than mid-size cars except in height. They have no problem in a city. If parking is a problem, it’ll be a problem no matter what car you drive.

When it came out, it was only on the CLA. Did they move it upmarket? I wouldn’t expect E- and S-class leasers/buyers would be attracted to the ghetto glow.

I did think those were a little on the skinny side for a car with so much power. 235s spin through the first three gears on my car if you lay into it...