BMW

Bavarian Motor Works was forced to cease airplane production in accordance to the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. As the restrictions imposed upon them slowly lifted, they began to produce motorcycles and then premium automobiles, both of which they continue to be renowned for to this day.

Report: The Next-Gen BMW M3 Will Land with Electric and ICE Powertrains

BMW has aggressive electrification plans, but the automaker isn’t taking its eye off the internal combustion ball. A new report from BMW Blog states that BMW is planning a next-generation M3 between 2027 and 2028 that will land with gas and electric configurations.

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Where Your Author Owns a Used BMW Convertible for a Year

It seems only a couple of months ago I reported on my experience traveling from Cincinnati to Nashville to purchase the 2010 BMW Z4, thus satisfying a used convertible car search that lasted for a year and a half. Though that search was much more lengthy than I’d have preferred, I was convinced at this time last year that I selected the right car for my usage case. But does that still ring true, do I still think an old German car was the right choice?

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BMW is Willing to Pay to Attract Customers from Other EV Brands

Tesla might not be the most dominant EV maker in the world, but it’s on top of the market here in the United States. Legacy automakers like Ford and General Motors are in the hunt, but so far, no one has been able to topple Tesla’s top spot. BMW is hoping to take some of the shine off of Tesla’s crown with a new incentive that gives buyers a $1,000 discount to buy one of its new EVs.

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Stop That: BMW Recalls Vehicles for Brake Issues

Pursuant to federal law (we’ve always wanted to start a post in that manner), BMW is recalling approximately 80,000 machines from the 2023 and 2024 model years for vexing problems with braking systems.

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Used Car of the Day: 2002 BMW M5 Dinan

Today we head to Florida for this Tampa-based 2002 BMW M5 Dinan.

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Nobody Knows if the BMW M5 Touring is Coming to America

Despite having been quoted as confirming the BMW M5 Touring for North America, Domagoj Dukec has just recanted. Earlier statements from the brand’s design head stipulating that our market would have access to both the sedan and wagon versions of the M5 have been taken back — leaving everyone following the story more than a little perplexed.

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BMW i3 Owner Quoted Over $70,000 for New Battery

Last year, the owner of a 2015 BMW i3 REx was reportedly quoted over $71,000 to have a new battery pack installed. For reference, that particular model would have retailed somewhere around $50,000 brand new. While we’ve seen some staggering high prices being entertained for EVs in need of a new battery pack this has to be one of more egregious examples on record.

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Gone in Thirty Seconds: Super Bowl LVIII Auto Commercial Pre-Game Roundup


Football and marketing - does it get any better? In this era of fragmented streaming services, there are precious few moments of what was once dubbed Must See Tee Vee where one be assured hundreds of million eyeballs will be glued to the same message simultaneously. We likely will never have another shared broadcast moment like the finale of M*A*S*H, so The Super Bowl is it.


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Used Car of the Day: 2006 BMW M5

Today we feature a 2006 BMW M5 that looks fairly clean.

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BMW Adds Manual Transmission Option for 2025 Z4 M40i

It’s increasingly difficult to find cars with manual transmissions in the U.S., but occasionally automakers surprise us. My Toyota GR Corolla is a great example of an unexpected treat, but BMW recently announced a much quicker, open-top manual. The 2025 Z4 M40i is getting a manual option for the first time as part of an options package with other performance goodies.

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BMW Accused of Emissions Cheating, Does Anyone Really Care?

Regulators in Germany have opened an investigation into alleged diesel exhaust rule circumvention on the part of BMW. Claims have been made that the automaker used an illegal defeat device on select models to achieve lower tailpipe emissions during testing. It’s a situation reminiscent of the Volkswagen Dieselgate scandal from 2015. However, government regulators have been on the offensive ever since — roping in loads of manufacturers and leaving a subset of the public wondering whether modern emission laws are even tenable.

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Used Car of the Day: 1992 BMW M5

If old Bimmers are your thing, this 1992 BMW M5 might be right up your alley.

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Used Car of the Day: 2002 BMW M5 Dinan S

Dinan is a big name for BMWs, and so today we bring you a 2002 BMW M5 Dinan S.

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Used Car of The Day: 2008 BMW M5

Today we're going German with a 15-year-old sedan that ticks a lot of boxes -- powerful, handles well, and offers a manual transmission. It's a 2008 BMW M5.

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BMW Trademark App Hints at Upcoming Electric M3

BMW’s electric lineup can be found under the “i” branding in its overall catalog, but it will need to make changes to prevent a complete mess with its SUV naming convention. The current X3 and X5 have long, alphanumeric names that include drive wheel and other information, and tacking another letter onto the end could create a real mess of confusion. To avoid that problem, the automaker is reportedly looking at a more straightforward naming system for electric models.

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BMW Announces National Adaptive EV Charging System Expansion

BMW has announced it is expanding its ChargeForward incentive program to drivers of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles living in the contiguous United States. The proclamation coincides with the launch of the brand’s all-electric i5 and is supposed to incentivize customers into “aligning their vehicle charging with times when renewable energy is highest on the grid.”


That’s progressive-corporate speak for charging vehicles when the demand for electricity is lower to ensure less energy is wasted. One of the biggest obstacles presented by EVs is that widespread usage would result in explosive energy demand many electrical grids may not be able to accommodate. BMW believes this can be mitigated with ChargeForward by ensuring user charging times are carefully monitored and scheduled. 

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Used Car of the Day: 1991 BMW M5

Today we feature a 1991 BMW M5 that has high miles but a clean title.

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Report: Future BMW I3 Will Be Less Weird Than Original

As BMW’s first mass-produced “zero emissions” vehicle, the i3 boasted a predictably quirky design that seemed to underpin most manufacturers early attempts at fielding an electric car. But the model fell short in terms of range and luxury, especially in relation to MSRP, resulting in a de facto city car for those who liked the idea of owning a BMW-badged EV.

While the vehicle implemented some novel features, the model has aged rather poorly due to advancements in battery technology. It could be argued that the i3 ended up a failure due to the fact that BMW never figured out how to produce them cheaply enough to be a volume vehicle. However, it may have also been too odd to garner true mainstream appeal — something the brand says it doesn’t want to happen for the i3’s successor.

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Some IPhone 15 Owners With BMWs Report Damaged Devices From Wireless Charging

Apple has no trouble selling every new iPhone unit it can make, but the tech giant has run into quality and usability issues with fresh tech over the years. There was the “you’re holding it wrong” debacle with the iPhone 4 way back in 2010, and subsequent models have faced questions over durability. Now, iPhone 15 early adopters who own BMW models with wireless phone charging are finding that their cars are frying their new phones. 

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BMW, Ford, Honda to Form New EV Charging Company

Ford, Honda, and BMW have announced plans to create a new “vehicle-to-grid company” that’s aimed at standardizing vehicle charging via a singular platform. The service also seeks to return excess energy to the electrical grid, effectively converting EVs into publicly shared batteries.

The business will be known as ChargeScape and, according to the automakers' press release, seeks to “create a single platform that will seamlessly connect electric utilities, automakers and their interested EV customers to manage energy usage for a broad pool of EVs.” The scheme could be one way of addressing concerns that modern power grids couldn’t endure widespread electric vehicle usage while helping to position the involved companies in an industry that’s being heavily incentivized by the government.

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BMW Walks Back Decision to Offer Subscription-Based Heated Seats

Automakers and companies of all types frequently survey their customers to develop ideas for new products and get feedback on existing items. But while that information is valuable and should be considered when creating new products, some companies seem to bypass the process altogether and end up rolling out something unexpected. Apple did a great job of that with the iPhone, creating a whole world of new products that people didn’t know they needed, but BMW didn’t have the same luck when it made the move to package popular vehicle features in added-cost subscription services. Though it’s not ditching the controversial practice altogether, BMW walked back the heated seat subscription after receiving scathing feedback from customers.

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2023 BMW X7 Review - Go With The Flow

Maybe I need to reconsider these newfangled “Sports Utility Vehicles” and their “crossover” brethren. They have, seemingly overnight, become surprisingly popular - in one unscientific study, I’m estimating that these two related subgenres of tall wagons work out to roughly 74 out of every 20 cars on the road.


If you’re wondering why I’m a writer today and not the mechanical engineer I aspired to be when I was 15, you can look at the above statement as well as my failure in high-school AP Calculus for an answer. 


Anyhow, it seems these things aren’t going anywhere. They keep growing larger and taller, Tower of Babel-ing their way upward so drivers can see the traffic signal ahead as they sit, ever idling in traffic surrounded by their ilk. So we must acknowledge their presence and even admit their suitability for certain drivers and their needs. The 2023 BMW X7 M60i xDrive you see before you is one of those which, by function of cost and size, must only fit a relatively few - but who is that driver? 

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2023 BMW M340i Review - More Than Enough M For Most

For decades, enthusiasts have known the M badge from BMW. M stands for motorsport, and indeed it was once a separate division within the company that produced both cars for racing and hot street cars. But the M badge had two meanings - and, for much of the lineup, still does. Here’s the decoder ring.

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2023 BMW 330i M Sport Sedan Review – Keeping the Flame Burning

As a general rule, my biggest recent beef with BMW sedans has been that they feel a bit heavy and porky. A tad ponderous. Not so much that I’d eliminate them from my shopping list (in the fantasy world where an automotive journalist actually can afford a car in this class), but enough to notice.

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Used Car of the Day: 2004 BMW 330ci Convertible

As George Costanza once said, "there's still a little summer left." So if a drop-top appeals to you and you want one before the snow flies, this 2004 BMW 330ci convertible could be for you. Or you could live in Southern California or Florida and just have summer all the time.

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Used Car of the Day: 2013 BMW 335i M-Sport Sedan

Today we feature a Bimmer of recent vintage that appears to be in good shape. It also warms our enthusiast hearts that this 2013 BMW 335i M-Sport has a six-speed manual transmission.

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BMW Teases M5 Wagon Hinted for American Market

BMW has been teasing the next-generation M5, specifically the long-roof wagon variant known as the M5 Touring.

This is a little odd. While European sport wagons were once relatively popular in the United States, it has become increasingly rare to see them migrating beyond the home market. But there are rumors that the be-hatched M5 will be sold stateside, enthralling automotive enthusiasts that we can only hope are genuinely interested in buying a few.

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Used Car of the Day: 2008 BMW M5

Today's UCOTD comes from my backyard (well, sort of -- it's within the metro but a bit of a trek). This Chicago-area 2008 BMW M5 with a manual (!) has belonged to the seller since 2016, when he or she brought it up from Dallas.

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Pour One Out for BMW's Dual-Clutch Transmissions

In the “old days,” you had two transmission options if you wanted to buy a car. More often than not, a manual transmission was the standard choice, but buyers increasingly had automatic transmission options. Then, ‘ze Germans started using dual-clutch transmissions in racing cars, leading to the array of the gearboxes seen on the market today. That’s about to change for BMW, at least, as the company’s M division head of development told Top Gear that the DCT would die as it shifted to electrification.

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UCOTD: 1993 BMW 318

Today's used car is a California-based 1993 BMW 318is that is being restored.

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Used Car Review: The 2010 BMW Z4, an Extinct Metal Roof Convertible Experience
Back in February, I purchased an old Z4, one of the prior decade’s smattering of folding hardtop convertibles. Nearly extinct today, such a roof arrangement…
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BMW Unleashes New 5 Series

Score one for the vanishingly few people who still prefer a sedan over an SUV (read: just about everyone working here). BMW has introduced a new 5 Series sedan, one which will be available either as a gasser or an EV when it goes on sale later this year.

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BMW's Concept Touring Coupe Rumored for Limited Run

BMW introduced the Concept Touring Coupe at the 2023 Villa d'Este Concorso d'Eleganza in Italy. Clearly intended to be a throwback to the convertible M Coupes of the past, the design has metamorphosed the current-generation Z into a shooting brake.

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Junkyard Find: 1986 BMW 325es

When I first became a wise and fair judge for the 24 Hours of Lemons race series, back in 2008, I got a lot of static from Internet Car Experts who noted the large quantity of BMW E30s in every race and proclaimed that any E30 in any condition was worth at least ten times more than the Lemons $500 limit on car cost. Because I spent a great deal of time in self-service junkyards and saw that—at least in California—such places were overflowing with unwanted E30s, I knew they were wrong. 15 years later, though, E30s have become fairly rare in junkyards, so this fairly complete 325es in a Colorado yard caught my eye a few weeks back.

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90,000 Owners Told Not to Drive Their Older BMWs Due to Takata Airbag Risks

Though it’s been several years since the first problems were reported, we’re still feeling the effects of the massive Takata airbag recall. B MW recently issued a “do not drive” warning to owners of its older vehicles over concerns about their airbags, adding to the list of automakers still recalling vehicles.

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BMW Reaches Into Letter Bag, Hauls Out I7 M70 XDrive

Remember that old Price is Right game in which the contestant would blindly reach into a bag and haul out numbers (or strikes) in an effort to guess the price of a car? It increasingly seems like that’s the tack for BMW’s naming system, particularly with some of their newer models – such as the just-announced i7 M70 xDrive.

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Used Car of the Day: 2003 BMW 325ci

Today's used car of the day is a 2003 BMW 325ci coupe.

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Used Car of the Day: 2004 BMW 325 XiT

It's wagon time yet again. This time it's a 3-Series wagon of 2004 vintage.

This 2004 BMW 325 XiT wagon has an automatic transmission and is a daily driver, so the mileage is over 191,000 and rising.

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Kia's EV9 is Being Attacked By BMW I4 Owners

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

BMW i4 forum members are calling the Kia EV9 ugly.

Takes a large grille to know one, huh?

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BMW Says Hydrogen Power Still an Option, Bullish on EVs

While BMW anticipates that half of its total sales will stem from electric vehicles by 2030, it recently announced that hydrogen power is still on the table. In fact, the German brand has suggested that it may even bring one to market in a few years.

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Used Car of the Day: 2003 BMW M3 Convertible

It's spring, the weather is getting nicer, so I figured why not feature a convertible today?

This one is a 2003 BMW M3, and it's a stick.

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Used Car of the Day: 2015 BMW M4 Coupe

Today's used car of the day is a six-speed manual BMW that comes at a dear price.

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Used Car of the Day: 1991 BMW M5

Today's used car of the day is one of just 508 ever built. Yet it's priced by the seller at a reasonable $45,000.

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Where Your Author Makes a Quick Purchase (and a Medium Length Trip)

Picture it. Last Tuesday, late afternoon. Checking the used convertible listings like I’d been doing for some time, it seemed the right car would never materialize. But on that particular afternoon, I happened to check Facebook Marketplace, a terrible place to search listings which I generally avoided. The default 249-mile search radius showed me a particular convertible I hadn’t seen listed before. Turned out it was the one.

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QOTD: Did Consumer Reports Get It Right?

Venerable consumer-oriented publication Consumer Reports has its 2023 Brand Scorecard out. BMW topped it.

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Used Car of the Day: 2002 BMW 330i

Remember when the BMW 3-Series was considered the almost perfect sports sedan? Pepperidge Farm remembers. And so do I. This E46 2002 BMW 330i is also a reminder.

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BMW Boss Claims American Politics Won’t Change EV Strategy

Last week, BMW Group CEO Oliver Zipse reportedly claimed that political agendas would not influence its electrification plans. Though the entire discussion was prompted by exactly that, forcing the automaker to address supply chain logistics that likely prohibited it from qualifying for the United States' rejiggered EV subsidy scheme


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BMW Won't Follow Mercedes With Added-Power Subscription

BMW, one of the companies that kicked off the exceptionally annoying trend of in-vehicle subscription features, now says it won’t follow rival Mercedes-Benz in offering added-cost power upgrades for some vehicles. 

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BMW I Vision Dee Concept Comes With a 'Digital Soul'

On Wednesday, BMW revealed the color-changing i Vision Dee concept during its keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023 held in Las Vegas – showcasing a bevy of novel technologies the automaker would like to see installed into its future products. While some of these seemed grounded in reality, with the Bavarian brand’s chairman already confirming their implementation on its forthcoming “Neue Klasse” vehicle platform, others items were so fantastical that it would be difficult to imagine them making it to production vehicles.

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BMW Boss: Big Screens To Be Replaced By Big HUDs

Automotive technology is developing at a dizzying pace, but that rapid progress has created quite a few side effects along the way. Take screens, for example. It’s illegal to even hold a cell phone while driving in many states, yet there’s a large screen on the dash of almost every new car today – sometimes more than one. BMW’s board chair has thoughts on the issue and believes we’ll see a big shift in how screens are used in the next few years.

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TTAC Tech Column: BMW Valve Adjustments

Hi Cary,

I have a question for you about some maintenance on an older BMW I recently bought. The car is an E30 325i and I was told that it needs to have a valve adjustment. I am new to having an older car as everything I have owned prior has been much newer. Any advice on it and what to keep an eye out for?

Thank you for any information.

Ronnie

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Used Car of the Day: 2008 BMW M5


Today's used car of the day comes from the Illinois side of the St. Louis suburbs. It's a 2008 BMW M5 in the rare Interlagos Blue paint. It also has the Sepang Bronze Merino perforated leather interior trim and full interior leather package.

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BMW Announces Post-Holiday Price Hike

Happy holidays! Happy new year! Welcome to 2023! Now fork over more for that BMW you want.

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Protesters Defile Andy Warhol Art Car in Italy

Climate-change protesters doused a car painted by Andy Warhol in flour in Milan, Italy, last week.

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BMW Says Less Expensive Cars Will Remain In Production

BMW Chief Executive Oliver Zipse has said that despite the automaker’s status as a luxury carmaker it would not be abandoning lower-priced segments while it swaps over to electric vehicles. Though the general trajectory for the Bavarian marquee – and the automotive industry in general – over the last several years has been to chase higher margins by focusing on pricier, often larger, vehicles and clever packaging.

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Used Car of the Day: 2000 M5 Dinan S1

Today's UCOTD is a hopped-up Bimmer.

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BMW and Amazon Partner Up to Swipe Your Data

Amazon Web Services and BMW are reportedly joining forces to establish a new cloud-based software designed to deliver and manage the data amassed by connected vehicles – which is great news if you happen not to value your privacy.

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2023 BMW M2: Inline Six, 453 Horsepower, Manual Transmission

As the industry rockets towards a future eventually denuded of internal combustion, it’s encouraging to know at least some things retain a few traditional enthusiast roots. Witness the new 2023 BMW M2, packing an inline six-cylinder engine and three pedals.

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Automakers Are Drastically Underreporting Average Emissions: Report

Dieselgate slashed a gaping hole in the assumption that automakers were genuinely invested in building more efficient cars, but it’s hardly the only flimflammery going on behind the scenes. A recent report from Transport and Environment, a European NGO pushing for cleaner transport, found that many automakers are underreporting global emissions by as much as 115 percent. 

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QOTD: Ready for An EV Performance Revolution?

Recently, Dodge made news by saying its beloved V8 performance cars are going full EV in the not-too-distant future. BMW is talking about a similar transition.

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  • AZFelix Hilux technical, preferably with a swivel mount.
  • ToolGuy This is the kind of thing you get when you give people faster internet.
  • ToolGuy North America is already the greatest country on the planet, and I have learned to be careful about what I wish for in terms of making changes. I mean, if Greenland wants to buy JDM vehicles, isn't that for the Danes to decide?
  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
  • Carson D The UAW has succeeded in organizing a US VW plant before. There's a reason they don't teach history in the schools any longer. People wouldn't make the same mistakes.