Ah yes, the ol’ “Jags are junk” trope. This one’s my third, and the first two (X-Types) have both been great to me. I only got rid of the first one (at 165,000 miles) to get the bigger motor in the second one. That one’s still kicking plenty hard as it approaches 150,000 miles (husband’s driving it since his car just…

It’s a riff on the hypothesis that Adolph Hitler, instead of committing suicide, fled to Argentina in the end days of World War II.  

I had a ‘14, in that color’s predecessor (Molten Orange Metallic) with the matching Recaros. Fucking fantastic to drive! I had some other issues with it, and I wasn’t prepared to strap on a new payment at Year 3 when it got totaled and insurance gave me half the value. But, that car was a frickin’ rally car and a…

1st: This is all cyclical. Remember the time after the recession and Cash for Clunkers? Remember when two-year-old used cars were only a few dollars’ difference in price from a new version of the same model? We’ll see that again as the used car supply dwindles and manufacturers either start pushing their sedans and…

So I literally just this weekend bought a 2017 Jaguar XE. I was able to afford a lot more car for my money than had I bought something new, since I paid half what the car stickered for three years ago. Since I had been driving a 2003, coming 14 years closer to the present is still a hell of an upgrade for me.

That…

In the late ‘90s, my buddy’s high school car was a 1990 Tempo, with no options-No A/C, no cruise, no power anything except the stupid mouse trap seat belts. Of our whole friend group, either he or I were the ones typically driving, so I spent a lot of time in one.

In reality, this car’s not worth 7k. But, I still voted NP. It’s an oddball anomaly, and in another few years there will be practically no examples of them left. This will be the car that, if some collector gets ahold of it and drives it occasionally, will get comments of “I had one of those!” or “My XXXX had one of…

Oof. The SHO (on which I voted NP) was a way better deal than this is. They’re asking legit five-digit money for something with a Chrysler nameplate and broken air conditioning?  Yeah, no. Five thousands maybe, not five digits. 

The youngest of us are now adults, so the time to blame the previous generation has well and truly gone.  Adults accept responsibility and work to improve themselves instead of blaming others for their failings.  

Nah, it’s deserved.  We were supposed to be the future, but instead we’ve become a bunch of whiny self-entitled narcissists that can’t put down a phone or hold a conversation; the opposite side of the same bullshit boomer coin. 

Even in basic spec a Delta 88 was still a nice car. You’d have had to option the Caprice about halfway up the options sheet to get to the same level of kit and comfort. Get a Delta 88 Royal Brougham and you damned near had a Cadillac.   

That’s because that Focus was designed in the Mulally years, when the idea was to build vehicles that people wanted and valued.  Mulally’s strategy was to allow people to option their vehicles to the moon if they wanted, not to make the base product so crappy as to force people to upgrade just to have basic…

So I guess they’ve already started down this road. Yesterday I was playing with the build configurator for an F-150. As it turns out, one can still hypothetically buy a vehicle without cruise control in the United States. Granted, the average consumer won’t ever see one in that spec, but yes, you can spend $28K base…

Car’s deliciously on point. Old enough to qualify for historic plates everywhere, less-common beast with a somewhat recognizable pedigree, price commensurate with condition.

Did it.  Always waited at least 10 seconds (still do it now, even though I don’t have that car anymore).  From what I found at the time, there was a run of bad evap canisters or something to that effect.  Of course, the Ford dealer claimed they’d never heard of it and would have to charge me for diagnosis.  So, I just…

Not really. It’s a data point of one. I could just as easily have gone with “My Fiesta ST didn’t give me any real trouble, and it was a frickin’ hoot to drive,” and no one would have known the difference. It was a ton of fun to drive. The dealer fixed the body panel issue and the A/C issue under warranty. The gas…

Stuff like this absolutely burns me up. A car made from when Friends first hit the airwaves is your basis for making decisions? I’m sorry, that’s dumb.

Ford’s perhaps relearning the lesson they’d learned under Mulally, and at various other points in their history: It’s all about the product. Mustang name aside, the Mach-E looks like a winner, and an Electric F-150 will surely be something to crow about.

Yep, AWD, with the 3.0 and manual trans. It’s actually a ton of fun to drive, handles really great, has a nice interior etc.. With winter tires it’s unbeatable in the snow. I’ve been struggling with the notion of going back to just two-wheel-drive, but for the right car I could be convinced.

RIP the Pacer indeed.