I will stand on this hill and defend the infotainment wheel. I VASTLY PREFER it!!! I can do most actions without looking while I drive. Especially with Android Auto, where it’s really paired down to 2 apps at a time (Main one and one on the bottom, like audio). I can do everything I need too and I have found using the…

Can confirm. I had a Mustang convertible checked out for work in late November (few years back) and you better believe I drove that car with the top down. Who cares that there was snow on the ground. I’m using that convertible!!!

I remember the first time I heard one, it was in a parking garage. Holy Crap was I shocked when I found that monstrous sound coming from a 500! Too bad they didn’t add that exhaust system onto the 124 Spider...

This car market is just stupid... I could easily pick one up for $15k with low miles right before the pandemic.

I really want to give a Miata another chance. I test drove an ND1 back in 2016 and wasn’t really impressed. The road wasn’t the most exciting, but it wasn’t a bad route either. Maybe because I had just driven a FiST hard up a mountain pass the week before, but I kept comparing the Miata to the Fiesta the entire test…

They actually looked at bringing just the Focus ST back when they canceled the cars, but with the way their metrics worked against CAFE and other requirements, shipping a low margin car from Europe for a relatively low volume just didn’t make sense (I was part of a vocal group internally who just wouldn’t let it go…

Although I haven’t had the pleasure of driving a ton of different cars, the single most fun/$ car I’ve ever driven was a Fiesta ST hands down. There’s just so much spunk and it’s always eager to torque steer you out of a corner (might not be fast, but is really fun at low speeds).

Even though I ended up with a Mazda3, I totally agree with you. Sure, the Focus ST is a little faster, but it’s significantly worse in the handling department and the Focus interior packaging is up there on the worst I’ve ever sat in. That instrument panel... ugh.

Heck, even Eastern NC, with all of the hills has some great winding back roads that one can enjoy. My uncle never tested his BMWs handling capabilities. Not once, officer

The older the car is, the lighter it typically is (in it’s category). Usually just safety stuff will add that weight without including the extra electrical (crumple zones, stronger pillars/chassis/etc...). I wonder what a brand new Impreza weighs... 2970-3150... So similar to my Mazda but with the weight of an AWD…

So basically midsize sedan and up. I’m not terribly against that...

Amazing how much heavier cars are from 30 years ago and most of it is safety/electrical. Crumple zones, stiffer chassis, airbags, sensors, etc... adds up fast!

My 2018 Mazda3 manual is listed at 3013 lbs. So even my compact (it’s smaller than my wife’s Cruze) compact car is heavier than that.

I’ve kinda stopped looking at Ascents because of comments like that about Subaru’s super invasive safety suite. I think it’d drive me crazy when I’d have to drive (about half the time based on current car usage). 

I tried to find the old Top Gear clip when Jeremy Clarkson reviewed the first CTS V. There was a whole minute+ section about all the incessant chimes.

I have alopecia and even though it’s not life threatening, it does affect your mentality. The “Oh what’s wrong??” comments get old after not too long. Also, there’s a TON of self confidence that our society puts on our hair, and it’s hard to change that over night. It’s just one more challenge that people with…

I’ll agree with the sedan one. I LOVE my 18MY Mazda3 sedan and while I don’t think the hatch is bad (was one of the best, on the market), I still prefer the lines on the sedan more. While there are many wagons I’d be cool with owning, I personally don’t know of a car that I PREFER the look of the wagon over the sedan.

My dad bought me my first car, but with the understanding that it would get sold when I went to college and I wouldn’t see a dime from that sale. Interestingly though, the sale of my high school car facilitated my dad in buying back his BMW Z3 he had sold 2 years prior. That car is still my baby every time I go home…

My friend (who is admittedly not interested in cars in the slightest) bought one last year and absolutely loves it. He had an old Toyota Matrix that he ran until it died. The things he loves about it:

I would not have bought one (the Mazda3 was pricey enough for me, thank you). But my dream car would have been a recreation of the Mazdaspeed6. Manual transmission, AWD, ~300hp, the same awesome interior and exterior design... sigh...