We had a member when I was in Seattle that had his S painted Imola Orange it was quite unique back then

 

Been thinking about that now that he’s “middle aged.”

 

Looking at cars since Annie's gone and possibly gonna loose the Mini & just have 1 nice comfy car not that one
They only wanted 88K though

 

Just bought a cheesecake from a local bakery to bring to Christmas Eve dinner at my friends.

 

I just said mmmmm & I had a Cheesecake Factory Gift Card from my B-Day not getting used so I went & used it on a Small one of theirs for Christmas

 

I went to the Cheesecake Factory on Oahu, had fish n chips it was really good. My friend got the meatloaf and that was good as well.

 

I know aftermarket guys wouldn't touch manuals because there was no way for them to lock out the remote start if the car was parked in gear and without the e-brake. But the OEM absolutely has that ability (e.g. my Focus ST knows what gear the car is in at all times, and given there's a circuit that turns on a light when the e-brake is up, it's pretty obvious that its position is known as well), so it really comes down to the OEMs not caring about M/T customers. I don't blame them, the manual market is so small, there's no reason to invest in it.

 

Nice! Impressive you can get one that quick. Great color too.

BMW has been nagging my +1 to trade in her 2017 X3 for a 2022. We looked at some options, looked at some upcoming maintenance (it's due for 36k service soon, will need new tires next year, warranty is expired, etc) and figured it'd be worthwhile.

It turns out it's not worthwhile. The inventory is crap. BMW Seattle lists 44 X3s on their page; 42 are in transit, and the 2 "in stock" are already sold. Other dealers show configs we want but they're already sold too. Ventilated seats are a $350 option and < 1% of cars are speccing them. We can order one and wait 8-10 weeks and hope the trade in value of the current car doesn't plummet. Not ideal.

 

Generally I’m not a huge fan of domestics but dad likes their Chrysler 300c. To be fair he’s never had a car with much electronic stuff and they still have one Mazdaspeed Miata. But they like that it’s a smooth, comfortable ride with some nice features and, like dad says, “can go like stink when you want to.”

 

The car market seems so chaotic right now. Delivery of the Acura was delayed by months because of the computer chip issue.
A friend and his colleague own the only two Benz Sprinters in town. The colleague totalled his. This was in the spring and they were looking as far east as Ontario and couldn’t find a replacement. Apparently all of the next year’s models were spoken for.
My colleague went to the local Toyota dealership and was told they will not negotiate AT ALL on any car on their lot. They think people won’t travel to the next closest dealer 2.5 hours away but I know 2 people who have done just that. Jerks.