Historic counter-factual imagining exercises are always fun, but I do wonder just how important the assassination of arch-duke Ferdinand actually was in the course of human history. I mean obviously - yes - it led to WW1. But that whole area was already a tinderbox with various European powers just looking for…

I would accept this as well, of course.  In an ideal world, it would be this blue and BRG and they’d have gone out with some historic style.  Instead it looks like they just threw a dart at a paint chart and said ‘done’.

So, if true, the ND will be the last of the stick shift Miatas? I can’t imagine that they’d make both a full EV Miata and a full ICE Miata. For such a low production vehicle I even have a hard time seeing PHEV and EV.

It’s the last iteration of this car - the LAST Jaguar sports car, the LAST F-type, and they don’t offer it in British Racing Green with a tan interior.  I’m not even angry - just profoundly disappointed.

Sadly, I thinks it’s been obvious for a while now that for F1, nothing comes before ‘the show’. Not human rights violations. Not the environment. And certainly not driver safety. Sure - they’ll reluctantly make concessions here and there if they don’t impact racing, or they’re forced to by some tragedy that captures…

I’m also not sure we want to be launching a massive, flaming battery through the air.

Came here to say this. The Promaster was an unfortunate inclusion - it’s designed around pure utility, and therefore can’t be ‘ugly’ (even with unfortunate headlight design), as long as it’s useful. It’s science.

Shoot and half of them are E-bikes so you’re just riding around, I probably burn more calories driving a manual.

It is the new motocompo.  Which raises, for me, the question;  can you charge you motocompo with your Prologue?  

You clearly don’t recall it.

A lot of this has been touched on - but my firm believe is that increased traffic risks can be addressed by implementing a few key measures (all expensive and highly likely to be brought about):

How many billionaires did you think lived in the Marshall Islands, exactly?

Of course he would have. Only difference is he’d have a gun (2A! 2A! 2!) and probably have shot the 10 people instead of just bashed their cars.

A lot of them are more or less equivalent, or even worse, it seems. But the top four - the Explorer, Ascent (if you’re into ICE) and the Mach-E and Tesla all seem to be significantly safer than any minivan for sale. if I was looking for something big for lots of kids and hauling - I’d probably choose an Ascent.

Fair point - and of course exactly how we should all be treating every car. Even big maintenance and repairs is going to be cheaper (and better for the environment) than constantly buying a new car at the first sign of trouble (or even before).

So how does minivan rear seat safety compare to equivalent CUV and SUV rear seat safety?

I know their transmissions and head gaskets have a reputation (for some years at least) - but I swear, I see more old, beat up, but running Subarus than almost anything else around here. Particularly Outbacks and Foresters.

Sweet - I had no idea they were bringing something like this back. Worth a look, I suppose.

Oh man that brings back some memories.  I don’t know if I had THAT set - but I had one very close to it.  I think we even had to put stickers down for the rivers if I remember correctly - and that getting them to line up was absolutely impossible.

While I loved all sorts of toy cars - my favorites were always Micromachines. Incredibly small, but also detailed - with opening doors and hoods - some even had lights. I had a few of the big floor maps, so you could set out whole cities - including airports and (I seem to recall) an aircraft carrier. Pretty cool…