I went from a car with push-button start back to a car with physical keys.

A buddy of mine did that with an early ‘90s LeSabre that got stolen. The punks that stole it got it stuck, then proceeded to smash out the glass and jump up and down on the roof. Buddy got in, laid on the back seat, and the roof popped right up. He found a junkyard car with good glass to harvest, got a new steering…

This jives with the stories my 80-year-old Dutch neighbor tells of working on construction crews in the years between the end of WWII and 1964 when he came to the U.S.. “If there wasn’t beer on the jobsite then we wouldn’t work.” When he first started the renovations on his 4,500 square foot house (which had been…

1st: Huh, almost seems like there should be some sort of, I dunno, standards for vehicles-for-hire. Perhaps there could be some sort of inspection and certification regime, via which we’d be more assured that vehicles taxiing us about saw some sort of regular maintenance.

I dunno, my Element went 144,000 miles without too much heartburn at all. It was just ready for suspension work, and the bushings and whatnot still felt tight. I only got rid of it because I had my eyes on a Fiesta ST.

What would really fix it is hiring enough people to get your food to you before it’s room temperature.  I’ve literally never had hot food in a Steak n’ Shake.  

In related news, Smart still existed in the United States.  This is genuinely a surprise, as I haven’t seen one in at least five years. 

Premium wouldn’t bother me with decent mileage.  Right now I’m in the “Premium Unleaded Only” territory and 20 miles per gallon.  I figure I can only go up from here. 

That’s on my radar as well (really the Type R is on my radar if I can make the math work, but...).  The new Miata is, also.  

A couple years ago I had a Camry as a rental car that I was very pleasantly surprised by, and these Corollas have piqued my interest. After driving old Jags for a couple years now, and a Fiesta ST that was not particularly well-made before that, I’m starting to be really interested in something that’ll just work.

Like I said, my husband has a Fusion that he really likes, and he prefers sedans. If Ford won’t sell him a sedan, Nissan will. He’s made it clear he’s not buying an SUV or crossover. The week he had an Edge Titanium as a loaner, he saw an almost 10 mpg drop over the same commute in the same sort of weather. He liked…

“And it’s entirely possible that their previous car buyers could end up at another brand that does offer something closer to what they bought previously from Ford (like my mother-in-law who had a Taurus for several years but most recently traded it for a Kia sedan).”

So at what point do “SUVs” just become cars? We all know a big part of the SUV gambit is to get into the more-favorable CAFE treatment SUVs allow. If all vehicles are “SUVs,” how does that work?

Yeah, and once they realize that their real-world gas mileage is crap by comparison and that they wallow about by comparison it’ll be like the 1980s again when everyone suddenly realizes that the automotive bloat has gone too far and they want to downsize.  

Ding. My husband has a ‘17 Fusion Titanium that he really likes. He’s already decided the Altima will likely be his next car, since Ford’s decided to axe the sedans. He likes the Edge, but “for that kind of money I can buy a BMW instead.” I had a Fiesta ST, which was a ton of fun even though the car itself was…

They *still* haven’t figured out how to make a solid car? I mean, that survey info is awful! Jags from roughly 2000 and on (after Ford fixed most of the most-egregious reliability issues) are kinda like ‘80s GMs. If you get a good one, they’ll keep soldiering on, but a lot of annoying crap will be broken after awhile.…

So our fascist corporate overlords are now worried about our safety?  Of course! They can’t have us paying customers taking unnecessary risks and removing ourselves from the gene po-, erm, buying market.

Hubby has a ‘17 Fusion, 2.0 EcoBoost. He normally averages 28 with it. He had an ‘18 Edge, also with the 2.0, for a week as a loaner. He averaged 20, with similar weather and the same commute.

My first real drive was at age 12, when my 16-year-old uncle decided he was too drunk to drive. My instruction consisted of “The one on the right makes you go. The one on the left makes you stop. Pull that stick down until it points at the D with a circle around it.”

What are you doing to that Fusion that it can only get 23 mpg? Or is that a typo for 32? My husband’s 2017 Fusion, with the 2.0 EcoBoost, in the extreme cold we’re having right now, is still doing 25 mpg average. Normally it does around 28 in mixed suburban driving.  In the summer on a road trip it’ll do 35. His 2012…