I think that you're onto something there. Automatic gearboxes that change up ridiculously early are really infuriating. Not that they're a solely American thing. The auto 'box in my parents' old Renault Espace seemed utterly intent on keeping the engine out of its power band.

Well said. Back in New Zealand, I had a Xantia, with the 'big' 2.0 XU10 engine and manual transmission. It had around 120hp, and although it was no rocket, it never felt slow or underpowered. Here in the US, the base model VW Jetta, with a similar weight and power output was decried as 'dangerously slow'. I don't get…

Nope. I think that self-levelling is required for HID lighting, but in-cabin leveling controls are unheard-of in the US market, AFAIK.

I'm originally from New Zealand, and most of our cars get the smaller European and Japansese-spec engines. Having moved to the US, I can't get over how overpowered cars are. The Mk6 VW Golf here came with a 17ohp, 2.5 litre inline 5 as the base-model engine. Not that I mind – my wife has one, and it is quite enjoyably…

Aha. I stand corrected.

That stereo sounds like it was designed by somebody who read about Citroën's famously unconventional control layouts of the past (indicators controlled by buttons, rotating-drum dials, stereos mounted between the seats) and thought that they'd have a go at it. Not cool.

This. I recently bought an 850R wagon as a project / winter beater, and have been having great fun wrestling with torque-steer and front end wheelspin. They look barely any different from your run of the mill 850. Stock, they're surprisingly quick, but it's very easy to make them go even quicker. The boosted five-pot…

Mine's not been too bad (yet) - it has the earlier four-speed automatic that is supposed to be fairly bulletproof in stock applications. I bought it as a dirt-cheap non-runner (dead cam sensor), but with that fixed, it hasn't been too bad. I fully expect it to drive me mad, but until then, it's just fun, cheap…

Sometimes, I just sit in my 850R and make 'vroom vroom' noises.

I was driving along a single lane road one night at slightly higher than the speed limit, when some assclown in a truck came up behind me at a great rate of knots, and then proceeded to hang right on my bumper, flashing high beams and generally making a nuisance of himself.

7.) Volvo 850 T5-R

Heh, I just bought one! They may not be all that quick by modern standards (240-250bhp, 0-60 around 6 or 7 seconds, depending on the transmission), but I can verify that they are still total hoonmobiles, with a high smiles-per-gallon factor.

I've seen that done before.

They may have looked fairly conventional, but I think that Rover's gas-turbine powered Le Mans entries are weird enough - http://www.rover.org.nz/pages/jet/jet5…

Awesome! I have a rough but drivable '56 MGA that I'm slowly fixing up. I haven't yet brought it to any MG club events (mostly because it entirely lacks weather protection, and I'm not confident of its reliability), but British car people tend to be a good bunch, for sure.

Yes! My folks' Alfa 164 has that, too. Incredibly satisfying!

Yeah, I'm totally sold on the station wagon concept, and really hope that they make a comeback in the US – I find the high ride height, and the resultant ride and handling compromises, of SUVs and CUVs to be very off-putting. Somewhere I remember reading that the current Jetta wagon actually has more load area than…

You're not the only one. I've my heart set on the full Jalop edition in brown as my 'sensible car' once I graduate. There are a few in my neighbourhood already, and I actually really like how they look.

Amber turn signals seem to have been mandated in the late '50s or early '60s in Europe. From the '60s onward, I'm not aware of any home-market European car with red turn signals. For example, the original MGA, launched in 1956, had red combined brake/turn signals (and white combined parking lights and indicators at…