Automotive

The KB1 generation, launched in 2004 was supposed to be Honda’s long awaited answer to the likes of Lexus and Infiniti. Which meant from the beginning that they would probably bomb in Europe, irrespective of how good they were. While a V8 RWD was too far ...  

If I remember correctly the biggest problem had nothing to do with how the car looked or drove it was quite simply the price, people didn't want to say "My cars a Honda" when for the same or similar money they could drive a BMW or Mercedes. On the questio... 

But as you said - few people would want to defend their choice in a golf club, ruining the car’s chances before it even saw the market 🤷🏻‍♂️ I hear what you’re saying - most exciting cars from the era have gone through the roof price wise in the last year... 

. . . and a free spot in the garage there will be a muscle Mopar on my insurance policy. First choice? 'Cuda. The visit to Huntington Beach Chrysler Plymouth in 1970 with Dad seeing dozens of 'Cudas on the lot is burned in my memory. Art ...  

Looking really good - hope it joins you soon 🤞🏻

. . . and I'll probably have to settle for an earlier A-body version. But either would float my boat.

In the USA, this car was called the Acura RL 3.5L SH-AWD. I've never driven one, but I have been a passenger. Seemed like a nice car. My fear is that the car will revert to FWD when it senses you're going to be driving at a constant speed in fifth gear - ... 

Steering feel is also a lot about geometry and tires. I have owned and driven many warm/hot hatches and they all had razor sharp steering, much better than the vast majority of RWD/midship cars. What you cannot get however is purity since the front tires ... 

Especially the Japanese and French have known for a long time how to make them so. The adoption of limited slip differentials helped, too. The era is sadly on its last legs, with the Civic Type R being in its last iteration, the Megane and Clio RS both al... 

Thanks for sharing this information! Maybe I ought to try a VW Golf GTI?

But certainly a reasonably competent FWD hot hatch 👌🏻👍🏻

I am not a "hatchback" renter usually. I normally ask for a BMW 3er or a Mercedes C-Klasse.

The GTI the only feasible option 🤷🏻‍♂️

Ultimately, I like BMWs and MBZs since I'm familiar with them. But trying a hot hatch - and experiencing something new, might not be a bad idea. I had a VW Jetta FWD for a month as a rental car. I really disliked it at first, but I eventually got used to ... 

A Civic Type R or the Acura equivalent might be one of the few current choices in the US 👍🏻

A friend owns the Acura Integra with stick shift. And he's a watch person. Unfortunately, he lives 600 kilometers away from me!

Certainly worth considering it, given the reward on the other end 😉👍🏻

The electric car has to stop for charging! I can take my petrol car. But the petrol car would require about 14L/100KM for highway driving like that. Thus, over 84 Liters of petrol! Here in California we pay around $1.38 US dollars per liter ($5.2 for a US... 

I am probably not the standard European either, as I regularly travel these kinds of distances by car 😊 Average over 30k miles a year.

And to be honest, nowadays hardly any performance oriented machinery from Germany comes without AWD. My experience was primarily on mountain roads, so cannot say if the car reverted to a different baseline on the motorway 🤷🏻‍♂️

Every premium brand is pushing towards AWD. Fortunately, longitudinal engines generally won't revert to a FWD set up, as there's no efficiency gain. But transverse engines might, depending on the manufacturers' programming. Good to know that you thoroughl... 

Electric propulsion gave RWD a new lease of life - quite some manufacturers use RWD for the lower range, single engine setups. As there are fewer packaging issues with electric motors it’s a fun development.

My Tesla has terrible brakes and probably as much road noise as a 997-generation 911 Porsche. And a crazy computer controlling the windshield wipers. But outside of those gripes and a few more, I do like the Tesla a lot. It's the first time I have tires w... 

My next car might be AWD. But I haven't owned an AWD vehicle yet.

I just need to make sure I find one that doesn't revert to FWD while cruising on the highway. Some model years of Tesla Model S will go to FWD if it senses you're just cruising on the highway to be more efficient. And you can actually feel the steering ge... 

Would love to try out the Lucid Air Sapphire but finding one here is as difficult as getting a necklace worth of hens teeth 😉🤷🏻‍♂️ The electric cars that allow for the high speed really demonstrate the difference to ICE in acceleration at speeds over 155m... 

Have you tried the Tesla Model S Plaid? The car is wicked fast. Even the standard Tesla Model S from 2021 forward is wicked fast. Enough to make your passengers feel unhappy if you're not careful with the pedal. I haven't driven the Lucid Sapphire. But I ... 

Not yet tried the electric G - unfortunately some of the downsides of the shape carry over (extreme wind noise at over 85mph) but then that’s a problem primarily in Germany 😉🤷🏻‍♂️

But every time I try the Lucid Air Sedan, the steering wheel creaks. In four years, they can't make that creak go away. What in the world??? I tried the Lucid Gravity SUV last month, I have a feeling this UI/UX Infotainment is much better than the Air. Bu... 

As I never lived with it long enough. At my previous employer Teslas were removed from the fleet within 6 months as they had a breakdown rate that was horrendous and no reasonable aftersales service. And once I had a Model X as a taxi and the infotainment... 

Mine has been mostly trouble free. Thankfully.

I hope the service in the US is better, too 🤞🏻

If you don't need an emergency appointment, they schedule you out two weeks sometimes! Good thing, the car requires very little servicing.

For emergency issues. As the cars only ran a maximum of 6 months or 10k km there was little regular service.