Rick: Possibly. At this point, my plans for Beater Review are up in the air. I would imagine, after a few weeks off the front lines, the bug will bite again and I'll need to start writing reviews. Stay tuned, and thanks for the well wishes.
@EnochEuterpe: Yeah, I hear ya. It's a rough gig right now; actually, it's always kind of a rough gig. The differences between ad copywriting pressures and Jalopnik senior editor pressures aren't less vs more; they're just different.
My advice to you? Find your way onto the digital biz wherever you happen to be employed. Make yourself invaluable. Assuming you're not at BBDO, you'll be fine!
Thanks for all the kind words and well-wishes, guys. You may finally see a new Beater Review article posted -- that or I'm just going to scrap the site entirely. Haven't quite decided yet. Either way, it's been a hell of a ride.
@junkman: I realized after this posted I never mentioned I sold my '73 Mach I back in August and picked up a nice '69 Triumph TR6
@smalleyxb122: I like to think there's some truth to what you're saying. Ad budgets are shrinking and changing, but if the industry manages to keep and attract true enthusiasts rather than pencil-pushers, one hopes it'll be good for all of us in the long run.
@jb carries a sign proclaiming Repent! The endtime is nigh!: Not at all. As mentioned in the post, it's the toilet seat stamped into the deck lid that I object to. That said, I have to agree with rrhyne56 above regarding how these Valiants are so bad they're good.
Note that the post changed a little from when it was initially published. Car ME editors got in touch to say their initial 5-star rating was an error and that it should have been 4 stars; also that they in fact published about two hours after the embargo ended. Sorry for any confusion.
125 in an '88 Prelude Si. Yes, I was going downhill.
@BlueMenu: It's the new cut: Practical AND capable, all in one convenient word.
Fixed--thanks.
@mrton: You're right--the ix55 IS a Veracruz; chalk it up to typing too fast and thinking about the Santa Fe Hybrid that was also mentioned. The reference has been changed in the copy but the original has been left as a testament to my shame.
@tonashideska: You may have noticed the sentence about Jim Hall and the Chaparral 2J...
@Vrette: And so let it be done.
I actually had a Yard Machines/B&S combo that I maintained fastidiously. It ran very well for about 5 years (until about two years ago) then the carb/fuel system would act as though it had *gasp* water in the fuel. Fresh fuel, tank drainings, etc, nothing would help for long. I finally gave up and chalked it up to a cheap mower, but now I'm not so sure that was the problem. I have no evidence that E10 was to blame, so this is supplied simply as anecdotal information, but it's one of the reasons the story piqued my interest.
@philibuster: Possibly, or I could have just been typing too quickly. Changed.
@jbownsabmw: I grew up in both the deep south and the plains states, so I kid because I love.
@FЯeeMan: The graphic is fine--it's your editor here with the problem. Resaved sans inaccurate graphic size attributes. My humble apologies.
@long_live_the_E36: My comment about not being willing to suffer meant that I'll tolerate compromises with my daily driver but I'm not willing to suffer with a totally flabby, uninteresting ride (the opposite of how I think you took it).
@Grouchie: The second to the last paragraph mentions the Ralliart's 60/40 split-folding seat.
@Cosmo_Kramer: I live for the technical hoohah. And I respect that your source says 220, but I've got two different sets of printed specs that say 188. Could've been a bad tank of gas at the proving ground that day.
@Cosmo_Kramer: I confirmed in two different manuals that the base Pontiac 400 was 180 HP, the T/A 400 was 188 HP.