Ezra Dyer's Post-Bailout Bi-Polar Burnout

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

“Ezra, baby, we love your style! You’re the next P.J. Hunter Clarkson! But listen; we need something a little upbeat for the year’s end. A little sugar to sprinkle on top of all that rancid offal coming out of Motown. How about 2008 cars you love? Thanks… Uh, Ezra this is a list of muscle cars and sports cars. And they’re all powered by gas for Christ’s sake. This is the New York Times! Tell you what: write me a couple of hundred word intro on alt power stuff. What’s that battery-powered thing? Taser? Dazzler? Put that one in there. We’ll call it ‘Gas guzzling rocket ships are great but we can’t say that.” No, no. We’ll call it “ Last Call for Horsepower.” You know, cake and eat it deal. Awesome. What’s that? Cars that suck? What do you think we are TTAC? Sigh. OK, list ’em at the end, be gentle and we’ll call it “not in my garage.” OK? And I’ll get back to you on the driving to Alaska in a Ferrari thing later. Love ya! [Ezra’s Reasons to be Cheerful Part One Through Eight after the jump]

1. Nissan GT-R – “To my mind, the fact that it doesn’t wear a fancy nameplate adds to its appeal.”

2. Mercedes-Bewnz ML320 BLUETEC – “I also like that it’s not plastered with decals proclaiming its virtue — just a few small Bluetec badges.”

3. Dodge Challenmger R/T – “It may be a dinosaur, but it’s an endearing dinosaur.”

4. Lotus Exige S240 – “It’s a strong flavor, not for everyone, and that’s why I like it.”

5. Chevrolet Corvetee ZR1 – “The pushrod V-8, it seems, has some life left in it.”

6. Pontiac G8 – “Rick Wagoner should have taken a G8 to Congress and challenged the legislators to find a better deal for 25 grand.”

7. BMW 135i – “You can get a larger 335i for not too much more money. Thanks, but I’ll take the car that’s lighter and costs less.”

8. Audi RS4 Cab – “This is my current answer to the question, ‘If you could only have one car for everything, what would it be?'”

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • SaulTigh Unless we start building nuclear plants and beefing up the grid, this drive to electrification (and not just cars) will be the destruction of modern society. I hope you love rolling blackouts like the US was some third world failed state. You don't support 8 billion people on this planet without abundant and relatively cheap energy.So no, I don't want an electric car, even if it's cheap.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Lou_BCone of many cars I sold when I got commissioned into the army. 1964 Dodge D100 with slant six and 3 on the tree, 1973 Plymouth Duster with slant six, 1974 dodge dart custom with a 318. 1990 Bronco 5.0 which was our snowboard rig for Wa state and Whistler/Blackcomb BC. Now :my trail rigs are a 1985 Toyota FJ60 Land cruiser and 86 Suzuki Samurai.
  • RHD They are going to crash and burn like Country Garden and Evergrande (the Chinese property behemoths) if they don't fix their problems post-haste.
  • Golden2husky The biggest hurdle for us would be the lack of a good charging network for road tripping as we are at the point in our lives that we will be traveling quite a bit. I'd rather pay more for longer range so the cheaper models would probably not make the cut. Improve the charging infrastructure and I'm certainly going to give one a try. This is more important that a lowish entry price IMHO.
  • Add Lightness I have nothing against paying more to get quality (think Toyota vs Chryco) but hate all the silly, non-mandated 'stuff' that automakers load onto cars based on what non-gearhead focus groups tell them they need to have in a car. I blame focus groups for automatic everything and double drivetrains (AWD) that really never gets used 98% of the time. The other 2% of the time, one goes looking for a place to need it to rationanalize the purchase.
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