If categorizing your vehicle as “off-highway capable” means you can shoot for a lower fuel-mileage target and skip some pricey emissions controls, that’s a no-brainer decision for carmakers.

Can’t say I’ve driven a Mustang, but the Camaro was WAY worse than the Challenger.

I had a V6 Journey as a rental a few years ago for a road trip and it really wasn’t that bad. The engine was responsive, the transmission was smooth, it was roomy enough for my family and I and our stuff and MPG was pretty respectable for the mountains I was going up and down.

Most of this list is just regular cars with no pretentions about being anything they’re not. Some of these are great takes, like the Hummer H1 or early cadillac Escalade, but Dodge Journey? Really? That’s punching down. Sometimes folks just need a regular ass car. 

Is it a car? An SUV? A minivan?

This does not take into account that a worn tire is also older and usually not at pliable as it was when new. I just replaced my winter tires that were Michelin X-Ice 3 and they still had decent tread (6/32"), but they were old, hard and slippery. They slipped bad in the wet, my new Falken Winter Peaks are cheaper…

Dry grip for sure, serious autocrossers will shave new street tires to reduce squirm and get better performance. Rubber generally gets harder as it heat cycles and gets older. Which probably has an effect on winter traction as well.

Shaving them down means you get fresh tire rather than worn heat cycled and oxidized, so I bet you are correct.

“In the snow, the new Michelins were the clear winners, but the worn ones still beat the new Tomkets.”

Kinda curious if this test is done on actual used tires after a few years though. With environmental exposure plus wear I wonder how the rubber aging might play into the performance. 

I wonder if there’s a difference between wearing tires out naturally on the road (which includes hundreds of heat cycles) and shaving them down. I bet the heat cycled ones don’t grip as well as shaved.

ILX was directly replaced by the Integra.

because Toyota is doing everything possible to not go all in on EVs

Admittedly, the Prettiest Prius ever is a very low bar, but yeah, I actually dig the looks of this thing.

For every person like you that got 4 years out of a car, I can name 3 in my high school alone that got less than a week out of their first cars.

Any car driven by a teenager has an average maximum life span measured in months.

Torquy, reliable, easy to learn on...

‘Cool’ is subjective...but is a Civic really that much cooler than a Forte these days? Most Gen Z I know wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference...

Never a fan of teaching new stick drivers on a car with a payment or is brand new.

My kids are going to learn on this if I ever get it.