Hardly. People that buy these are people that want the most expensive one to show off that they “can afford” the most expensive one.

Very interesting read. In the end, it seems that Ronald Reagan’s own government fulfilled his own view on government: “The most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”

My husband’s Lincoln has the push-buttons. I like that they free up a ton of space for storage, but I’ll admit they take a bit of getting used to. They work well, and I’ve never felt like I’d mistake them for anything else. I just have to recalibrate my brain briefly when I use his car. Drive to Reverse or vice-versa,…

Agreed. I don’t get all the hate toward dial shifters for automatics. My husband had a Fusion with it, and my last two Jags have had them. They work well, are plenty intuitive, and don’t interfere with climate controls and the like. I don’t understand how anyone could mistake a big knob labeled P R N D S in the place…

I had my last car for two years and I never did figure out what would make it think I needed to take a break. I literally had it come on once in the middle of the afternoon on my way to an appointment for work. I wasn’t fiddling with my phone or the music. I wasn’t weaving or wandering in my lane. I wasn’t going up…

In the case of a modern car with climate somewhere in a menu, though, how long are you actually looking at the screen? The only climate controls my car has as buttons are the temperature up/down and Defrost on/off (oh, and the button for Auto). Everything else is in a menu.

I’ve been able to touch type for 30 years.  I still have to look over to see where the knob is for temperature in my 1995 F-150.  

My pickup’s a 1995 F-150. It has a very basic aftermarket Bluetooth-capable radio with a big volume knob and three big knobs for climate, and yet I still have to look over to work them. I mean, yeah, I could probably grope around like a teenager trying to work out how to unbutton my date’s pants and eventually get…

I do not understand why people go on so much about newer styles of shifters, and I absolutely do not understand how people could be so stupid as to mistake a big knob labeled P R N D S for a volume knob! Frankly, if we’re going to be stuck with automatic transmissions anyway, I’d rather free up the space for something…

Geeze, glad I’ve never had to go to that length!

Choke is the flap you control to block air flow.  Barrel is the port down which the fuel goes.  To the Brits, that barrel is also a choke.  Have you ever heard of a 4-barrel carb?  Of course.  They’d call it a 4-choke carb.  

Depends on the state. In Michigan, for instance, you literally complete the application for title as part of the dealer purchase package, and you’ll have it by mail from the state in about a week. It’ll just have the financier listed as a lienholder.

Don’t know how Texas works specifically, but I know in some states you don’t get a title until any notes are paid off. In this case, that still should have been a big red flag if the kid was buying it outright.

Yep.  There’s a cat here with a ‘64 Lincoln Continental parked outside his garage on the dirt and the remnants of a tarp over it.  The thing was decently clean first time I saw it.  Now, it’s been a decade, and it’s probably too far gone to save at this point.  Like, how can you let it go that long?  

Oof.  That’s a shame. 

My LeSabre was immaculate and only had 110,000 miles on it when I totaled it. I was car #5 in a wintertime multi-car pileup that I entered at 60 mph, and I walked away without even a bruise. I loved that car. Smooth as could be, good passing power, floated like a cloud on Michigan’s busted-ass freeways, decent on gas,…

I kind of like this idea, the degrees of reliability.  I think I’ve owned one from every category.

You need to take in more British media, friend.  Bodge is a great word that I’ve happily nicked from them, along with the word nicked (as in stolen). 

As a lifelong denizen of the northern Midwest, I can tell you quite the opposite is true. You don’t see old Hondas and Toyotas in Michigan. An Accord from the 2000s is rare, and the last one I saw, 2 years ago now) had an engine knock and fenders I could poke through with a pinky. Camrys from the early 2000s simply…

Mazdas in the Midwest beg to differ.  The rust will start around Year 6.  By Year 12, the Mazda will have as much rust as a 20-year-old GM or Ford.