Stick a Fork in the US Auto Industry

As far as windows are concerned, I will always take electric -- pressing and holding a button is less likely to lead to unintended wheel movements than repeated cranking motions, and it also prevents people driving with their left hands while leaning halfway across the car to crank the passenger window with their right.

But I will also take physical controls, with haptic feedback that doesn't have to be designed into them and shapes that are easily distinguishable by touch, over touchscreens. My car HAS a touchscreen, but luckily none of the functions that you need it for are ones that people typically do while driving.

Mazda does a great job. No touch screen, which plenty of people whine about, but it strikes me as good sense. They also try to make their technology assistive instead of intrusive. I’m not really a “car guy”, but I really love my Mazda3.

327 V8 with a PowerGlide transmission?

360 cid V8 with a 727 column shift automatic. I don't actually own this car, this is my dream car.

Ayup. The only thing that occasionally irks me is that the "next/previous track" switch on the steering wheel of my CX-30 is combined with the "select music source" function by pressing it. It's easy (especially if wearing gloves in winter) to push the button down when trying to toggle the switch and then have to cycle back through all the other options to get back to my MP3 stick.

I don’t use the steering wheel switch at all.

good god, man. those are chevy specs.

cop shocks?

When I worked at Circuit City during the mid 90's a co-worker had an AMC Rebel. I don't what AMC's biggest block was but that thing had it. The thing was meant to run on 100 octane leaded gas. 91 octane unleaded wouldn't even turn it over without octane booster.

I said I wasn't a car guy

It's a model made before the catalytic converter, so it runs good on regular gas.

Tapping a button is more likely to lead to unintended wheel movements as you fight the designers' desire to roll your window ALL THE WAY DOWN when all you want is just half an inch or so.

Only happens to me when I’m parked

Ford Is Lowering Costs By Cutting Hundreds Of Engineer Jobs

Chrysler tried something similar in the 70s when they laid off their design department. This was before Ioccoca went to work for them.

AMC ran the 401 cid V8, and a 390cid plant.

I don’t the specs, but that thing was a beast!

I think AMC even had a slightly larger engine than the 401 for a very brief window of time. Like they put it out on the market for six months, but then had to kill it because of either emissions or fuel economy laws. It might have been simply something that they offered as a crate engine. Meaning, you couldn't buy a car with it in it, but you could buy the car, buy the engine, pull the engine the car came with, sell it, and drop in the larger crate engine.

AMC got the shaft from political leaders and company execs for decades and still managed to survive up until the mid-80s, so they did better than most.

AMC was a company ahead of it's time. I was sad when they went belly up.

I remember the Pacer and the Gremlin...

If the Pacer was good enough for Wayne and Garth, it was good enough for the rest of us.

My eldest brother owned both. I can't remember which one he preferred. The one he disliked always tended to get stuck in the snow, while the other one didn't.

The Ford Fiesta Is Only Days Away From Being Killed Off In Europe, Too

Ford Dealers Can’t Move All The Mustang Mach-Es They Have For Sale

I don't know how long they've been on the market, but I've only seen one in the wild, and I see a Tesla almost every day.

In the last couple of years think I've seen...two?

Ditto on seeing Teslas all the time. To my great disappointment one of the coworkers I respect the most just started driving one.

He should have gotten the Mustang.

Did they not look at their market? I think a lot of the people who buy it are looking for an overpowered loud engine. A lot of them seem to need the look at me factor of the loud rumbling engine. Some mustang owners have quieter cars, but loud and obnoxious is a selling point for these cars and other like the hellcats.

I like the look of the mustang, but I am not associating it with the engine size. The price of one is associated with it being a sporty muscle car. People do not yet associate EVs with having the speed and power that is better than the big ICE engines. Even when they do end up associating the speed with EVs, they won't have that annoying rumble that makes people feel powerful and important.

I would love a mustang EV in the future when they get more distance to their batteries. I am not buying one with ICE because I really do not want to piss that much money away on a look and on gas. They are years away from customers like me, and way too soon for the people who buy mustangs with ICE.

A Class Action Suit Alleges Ford’s Hybrids Will Randomly Burst Into Flames

I seem to see the problem after reading the article. When you throw a rod through the engine block in an ICE the car does not continue to move anymore. I guessd the hybrid continues to operate so idiots keep on driving despite the engine being massively damaged. Sort of sounds to me like the engines might be shit, but the fires are the drtiver's fault if they keep on going with all the warning lights blaring and the oil gone?

That also does not sound very random. It looks like there is a reason and it is not random at all.