Hard disagree.  I loved these new, and I still love them.  

Winter tires are better in cold temperatures, even if it’s dry pavement or raining, let alone the actual snow/ice question.  

Not sure if it’s required anywhere legally except for like the mountains and whatnot. I live in Detroit, and my husband and I just keep our second set of wheels/tires in the basement. In another couple of weeks I’ll do the switch myself in the driveway and be good.  I just throw a piece of painter’s tape on the inside…

I’ve been running Vredestein Wintrac Pros on my XF Sportbrake for winter service in Michigan for the past two winters. So far I’ve been very pleased with them. On dry pavement they feel great, no squirreliness or noise, and they do great in a corner. Tons of grip in the snow and the heavy rain, and they even do ok in…

Oh look, one of Jalopnik’s resident communists is advocating for more stupid communist shit.

Nice! I sometimes wonder what became of mine after 2014 when I got the FiST (wound up traveling to Shelby, Ohio to get it, as they had the one in the configuration I wanted).  I hope it’s found a good home.

The Sportbrake... I absolutely love it! It was a bit weird at first, as it’s the biggest car I’d had in 15 years. It has the different drive modes thing, and in Normal it’s actually pretty plush riding (which also took me some getting used to). In Dynamic and the transmission in Sport, though, it’s like a cat that…

Nobody back in the time was thinking these were going to get 35 mpg, given that a Focus wasn’t rated for 35 mpg back in the time and could barely achieve that on the highway. In 2003, these were absolutely competitive for mileage given the era and what else existed for small SUVs.

I’d argue that Americans *love* boxy vehicles, so long as they don’t “look” too boxy. Boxy = retro, retro = quirky and/or old and/or eccentric, and most Americans, protestations to the contrary notwithstanding, want to fit in with the crowd and don’t want their chosen appliance to look old or quirky or eccentric. Guys…

It really does astound me how much the UAW just does not understand history, and their proposals strike me as outlandish. No wonder the OEMs aren’t prepared to negotiate; there hasn’t been a good-faith offer brought forward to even talk about. Like, 2007 wasn’t so long ago, when overly-lucrative UAW contracts were a…

I was Honda’s target demographic in 2006: single, mid-20s, avid cyclist, always on the go. And yes, I did in fact buy, in 2006, a brand-new Honda Element EX-P, in Nighthawk Black Pearl and with a manual transmission.

Glad to hear it’s been a good experience.  I toyed with picking one up but at the time decided to go one more cycle with ICE.  Hence, the Sportbrake.  I love my Sportbrake, and I’m really hoping that Jaguar figures it out.  

At this point, as a fan of the Jaguar brand and one who’s owned four of them, I’m increasingly convinced Jaguar’s just a loss-leader to create a favorable tax situation for Land Rover. 

They look pretty good in person.  Pre-COVID when these first came out my dealer was using one as its courtesy shuttle, so I rode in it a couple times when I dropped my car off for oil change.  Nice car at the time.

Most of that stuff is a) tropes from the ‘80s that just won’t die and b) people that aren’t clever enough to use the tech and report it as something wrong with the car. Jags these days, or at least in 2018 when my XF Sportbrake was made, have proven engine designs, the same ZF 8-speeds that everyone else uses, and the…

Jaguar. 

This is exactly why Tesla’s not on my list.  At the money they ask for them, the interior should be nicer than that of a Subaru (and let’s be clear that Subaru’s interiors are on the shelf with Popov and Ezra Brooks somewhere way below the “tolerable” range).  At this stage the only thing keeping them ahead of the…

Interesting to see Colorado on the list, as every time I’m there it seems the natives are allergic to even going the speed limit. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve been on US-50 doing 62 in a 65 with no opportunity to pass for miles. Even on I-76 between Denver and Nebraska, people seem to go 3 mph slower than the…

Of course you don’t see MI drivers in Cleveland because there’s no reason for us to go to Cleveland.  But on I-75 Michigan plates are absolutely a liability. 

“But muh property values” is not a valid argument, neither morally nor in court. Genuine nuisance (noxious fumes, excessive noise, etc.), sure. But someone parking a project car in their driveway or painting their house an obnoxious color do not affect you. My neighbor’s catamaran didn’t affect my life in the…