I had the full time AWD wagon. Such an incredible winter city car.

Ah yes The Wagovan

LOL, I saw Doug’s video when it came out. It all seemed kind’a cool until I got to the part about no A/C. I mean... that’s a deal breaker. Sorry. I can do without a lot of things, but not A/C.

Ford Fiesta ST?

i would have loved to see a 2-door version with a 1.5 to 2.0 liter 4-cylinder.

I can picture this conversation...

Ford Ecosport

There are a lot of blanket answers here, but here’s a more specific one: Any 2012-2018 Ford Focus or Fiesta with the DPS6 dual-clutch transmission. It’s a shame, because they’re otherwise really good economy cars, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend an ST or a base model with a manual transmission. The used car…

I live a couple of miles from Research Triangle Park in the Raleigh-Durham area, and every fresh off the boat Indian with an IT paycheck buys one of these as a caste system status symbol. My Texan BiL thought I was joking when I said that 1:8 cars we pass will be a Tesla ... until he came to visit.

I’d probably use many of the same reasons you did…except for the environmental friendliness comment. An EV is so wildly more efficient at converting stored energy to motion that it easily offsets any challenges in production. At this point, you have to be willingly holding onto misinformation to believe otherwise.

Come on - A significantly updated 3 was released this year. And a significantly updated Y will be released next year. That said, there are plenty of other reasons to avoid a Tesla, some of which are unique to Tesla (e.g., the bozo at the helm, bozo-required minimalist interior), but some that are characteristic of all…

Korean. The vehicles are fine. I drive a fleet Santa Fe. But I’m an industrial repair engineer and have worked in a number of Korean plants in the US and Mexico. They’re full of OSHA violations, the kind that endanger workers. Some that I have worked in have been locked down and fined. Korean plants stand out among…

Any Escalade, in any trim. If you really need a fancy, giant, box-shaped tank to take your kids to school and soccer practice, buy a Yukon Denali and save your self $25K - $30K. At least then when the plastics start cracking, and all the fittings start creaking and rattling, and the leather starts wearing out, and the…

That’s the first thing I thought.

What the saying? Full me once, shame on you, full me twice shame on me. you went back 4 times?

You picked the Gladiator for legitimate reasons, but I’ll pick ANY Stellantis vehicle. In the last decade, I’ve had four that everyone of their transmission went out in. You’d think at least ONE might break 100K miles without a new trans.

2021 Ridgeline RTL-E under 60k miles for $25k. I’ve seen them pop up every now and then. Fully loaded. Great Trucklets. Close to Full size vs the Ford Maverick which is a tad bit tight for car seats behind the driver’s and passenger seats.

Rear access to the Santa Cruz is far worse than the Outback. The inward kick of the roof means you have to adopt an awkward forward lean.

Can you find a Ford Maverick for under $25,000? That seems like a good option,  either that or a used F150.  If Craig's ego can handle it a good minivan makes for easy kid wrangling and surprising cargo capacity. 

The best truck for this job is a minivan. They are available with AWD, obviously made to handle a car seat, and if you get one with stow-n-go seats, you can get full sheets of plywood in the back easier than you could with most trucks and their short beds.

Added bonus, they come with a bunch of creature comforts,…