Ars Technica’s favorite cars and SUVs of 2019

The Ars cars guys reveal the best and worst of 2019.

Read the whole story

 

[Thatmushroom]

This is almost certainly too far down in the comments to get traction, but would there be room for the occasional story focusing on other modes of transportation, written by the cars technica team? A transpo-technica or mobilitechnica, if you will. Cars are decidedly the primary mode of transportation in the US, and their technological evolution is interesting, but it'd also be interesting to see how other modes of transport evolve as well.

E-bikes, scooters, pogo sticks, busses, trains, whatever have you.

Yes, and we do write about that stuff already. Jay Timmer wrote about e-scooters last week and I did a thing about electric school buses. We'll do our best to do more of that in 2020.

I completely missed the the school busses article, and I saw the scooter thing written up in a lot of places I happen to frequent that I forgot Ars covered it. Neat, thanks!

 

[fknuckles]

I bought a 2020 Forester and I am loving it. I get real world 30+ mpg, the size fits my frame and the amount of glass doesn't limit my vision. I only have some complaints and unfortunatley these are things that I can't do anything about:



2. The "Stop engine when at traffic lights" is great (and it's depressing to know that I have spent over 2 hours since I got the car, sitting at traffic lights). But if you put your foot on the brake, come to a stop and the engine stops - and then you put on the parking brake the engine *starts* again. Not what I want when I have pulled into my garage.

Automatic transmission, I presume?

The thing that turns the car on could be the Reverse gear, which you must traverse before you reach "P" -- if you linger there, the engine comes back on to enable your manoeuvre.

On my German car, if you move swiftly past "R" to P, the engine stays off. In traffic stops, there's a very handy "brake hold" function which electronically holds the brake pedal for you so you don't have to shift into P. I find it uncanny and unnerving but it's never failed me over the years .

 

[tharasix]

Eau Claire WI?

It took 2 days to get from there to Orlando FL. Having an EV, Tesla or otherwise, would add at least another day to the trip. You'd have to refill at minimum, 7 times, and that's more like 10 or more extra stops with a Tesla.

That same trip with my car would be 4 times, with no waiting.

I drove from Minneapolis to Tampa, FL in two days in my Model 3. The Bowling Green, KY to Minneapolis data I posted above was from the second day on the way home for that trip.

You sure speak with confidence about something you have no direct experience with.

 

[tharasix]

The big issue is that in many places in America, there isn't enough infrastructure to support electric cars. Outside Northern Virginia there aren't a whole lot of level 3 chargers out there (if they even work). Electric cars are the future, but we need to seriously invest in the infrastructure...

Um, what?

 

[madmax559]

Eau Claire WI?

It took 2 days to get from there to Orlando FL. Having an EV, Tesla or otherwise, would add at least another day to the trip. You'd have to refill at minimum, 7 times, and that's more like 10 or more extra stops with a Tesla.

That same trip with my car would be 4 times, with no waiting.

I drove from Minneapolis to Tampa, FL in two days in my Model 3. The Bowling Green, KY to Minneapolis data I posted above was from the second day on the way home for that trip.

You sure speak with confidence about something you have no direct experience with.

10 times ? I don't think I've ever stopped to charge more than 1 or 2 times max in a long trip

 

[Chemical Tribe]

Eau Claire WI?

It took 2 days to get from there to Orlando FL. Having an EV, Tesla or otherwise, would add at least another day to the trip. You'd have to refill at minimum, 7 times, and that's more like 10 or more extra stops with a Tesla.

That same trip with my car would be 4 times, with no waiting.

I drove from Minneapolis to Tampa, FL in two days in my Model 3. The Bowling Green, KY to Minneapolis data I posted above was from the second day on the way home for that trip.

I couldn't even do that in an ICE car in 2 days in a trip that was comparable to you. It was more like 2.5. Forgive me if I'm a bit skeptical of you doing the same.

You sure speak with confidence about something you have no direct experience with.

I don't need experience - I know what a Model 3 can do and know you are basically stretching the truth, more like bull shit. You stopped, at minimum, twice as much as I did.

I'm looking at my log of my trip, and I drove 2pm to 3am the first day, then 10am to 5am the next day. My timeline shows 26 hours of driving If you want to go ahead and say you drove 16hours each day, great. But don't pretend you took less time than I did, because you didn't.

 

[Chemical Tribe]

Eau Claire WI?

It took 2 days to get from there to Orlando FL. Having an EV, Tesla or otherwise, would add at least another day to the trip. You'd have to refill at minimum, 7 times, and that's more like 10 or more extra stops with a Tesla.

That same trip with my car would be 4 times, with no waiting.

I drove from Minneapolis to Tampa, FL in two days in my Model 3. The Bowling Green, KY to Minneapolis data I posted above was from the second day on the way home for that trip.

You sure speak with confidence about something you have no direct experience with.

10 times ? I don't think I've ever stopped to charge more than 1 or 2 times max in a long trip

And what distance? A paltry 500 miles?

 

[madmax559]

Eau Claire WI?

It took 2 days to get from there to Orlando FL. Having an EV, Tesla or otherwise, would add at least another day to the trip. You'd have to refill at minimum, 7 times, and that's more like 10 or more extra stops with a Tesla.

That same trip with my car would be 4 times, with no waiting.

I drove from Minneapolis to Tampa, FL in two days in my Model 3. The Bowling Green, KY to Minneapolis data I posted above was from the second day on the way home for that trip.

You sure speak with confidence about something you have no direct experience with.

10 times ? I don't think I've ever stopped to charge more than 1 or 2 times max in a long trip

And what distance? A paltry 500 miles?

Think bigger....and don’t loose a sprocket

To lax and back home 200 miles
Then downtown San Diego and back home 100 miles
Then Irvine and back
Next day to la and back

Charged at night to 90% 260miles....19” sport wheels, so I loose 20m in range on the awd lr model 3

Charged to 80% on way back at supercharger and then charged to 90% at home on day 2

I remember going down to 8% on the way back and panicking, but the regen on the car is exceptional

 

[Oz7]

So the best selling PHEV in Europe, and the only AWD PHEV or BEV available to buy in the US (with a price tag that is south of 50,000) is in your bottom 5?

OK.

For the record- as a proud owner of a Outlander PHEV, I couldn't disagree more. When I can avoid turning on the A/C, and keeping ICE use to a short freeway hop, I get over 100 MPGe, while in less temperate weather, I can still get 40 MPGe with the heater on full blast without worrying about range.

 

[Jim Z]

So the best selling PHEV in Europe, and the only AWD PHEV or BEV available to buy in the US (with a price tag that is south of 50,000) is in your bottom 5?

OK.

For the record- as a proud owner of a Outlander PHEV, I couldn't disagree more. When I can avoid turning on the A/C, and keeping ICE use to a short freeway hop, I get over 100 MPGe, while in less temperate weather, I can still get 40 MPGe with the heater on full blast without worrying about range.

it's kind of silly to be "proud" of something you bought.

Especially a Mitsubishi.

 

[jock2nerd]

About the BEV range thing... : Right now, they are not for everybody — especially in the US outside of urban areas — but make no mistake, the switchover from ICE is on the way.

If you have a "short" commute (or a longer one with access to a charging station at work) AND a second ICE vehicle in the household, there is really no excuse not to buy or lease a BEV. Even in cold climates. It's a very small step in the overall CO2 emission slowdown but a necessary one.

Oh, and they so much fun to drive...

We bought a BEV this year. But our next car will not be a BEV, as we need something capable of cross-state and cross-country drives. Maybe a Telluride...

I've owned my Tesla Model 3 for about 20 months now. I've driven over 46,000 miles in it so far. From my home in the Minneapolis area, I've driven to Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Cleveland, the Florida Keys, and many points in between. Just a few days ago, I drove to Chicago to pick up a friend and drove back home the same day. I have no other functioning vehicle. I have not yet had to decline to go on a trip or rent a car because I only own a BEV. These constant claims that BEVs are only for urban use or can't do road trips is purely false. It takes a reasonably sized battery and a good fast charging network, and you're good to go. Thus far, only Tesla has pulled that off, but the VW group is making massive gains lately.

If I were to say that BEVs aren't for everybody, you'd have to point to people needing a pickup, massive towing capacity, or other segments that haven't yet been addressed. Road trips are not an issue, and haven't been for years.

But you'll be waiting a long time for charging, even via super charging. It really adds to the trip times. Not saying like you said, it isn't doable, it's just way more annoying than a 5 min fill up that gives 100% range vs around an hour for 80% range.

And that can be weighed against the dozens of times I didn't fill up at all between road trips because my car is charged and ready to go every morning.

I posit that the number of people that, during a road trip, are doing nothing other than driving or filling is pretty minimal. Most humans have to eat, relieve themselves, rest, etc. Here are a couple examples to give you an idea of what a day looks like on a road trip in a Model 3:

Chicago and back (in the winter, mind you):
Eau Claire - Eat lunch at the nearby Subway. Car's ready to go when I'm done.
Madison - Drink a beer at the nearby BBW. Car's ready to go when I'm done.
Chicago - Eat dinner at the nearby Chipotle. Car's ready to go when I'm done.
Madison - Another beer.
Mauston - Really had to pee. Did that and grabbed a couple Mountains Dew. Added 10% and kept going.
Eau Claire - Everything was closed, so I sat in the car for 20ish minutes to gain 65% on the battery to make it home with buffer. Definitely tally that one to the ICE side of the ledger.

Last leg of the Florida trip (Bowling Green, KY to Minneapolis, MN in the summer):
Start full at Bowling Green because I did my research and got a hotel with a charger
Indianapolis - Stretch and hit the restrooms. 45 minutes at a totally full Supercharger.
Chicago - Lunch. Car's ready to go when I'm done.
Mauston - Quick bump because this didn't line up with dinner time. Maybe 20 minutes to stretch and charge.
Eau Claire - Dinner

Note that both of those are a full day of driving. If that looks egregious to you, then stick with your ICE car, I guess. My experience is that half or more of the stops would have been necessary for meals, anyway, and the others are a nice short break. I don't find that my road trips are significantly shorter in distance or longer in time than when I drove my previous ICE car.

Eau Claire WI?

>>It took 2 days to get from there to Orlando FL. Having an EV, Tesla or otherwise, would add at least another day to the trip. You'd have to refill at minimum, 7 times, and that's more like 10 or more extra stops with a Tesla.

That same trip with my car would be 4 times, with no waiting.

For Thanksgiving, we drove to Chicago from Atlanta and then back. 740 miles in a single day each way in a Tesla Model 3 LR.
Avoiding both the sky-high airfares and car rental charges, and was much nicer than flying.

 

[jock2nerd]

Well done Jonathon and Eric. I'd, though, like to have seen in this column a thorough chastisement of GM CEO Mary Teresa Barra for her role in killing off the insufficiently advertised Chevy Volt. Had the Volt been advertised and explained properly it would have been one of the best selling long range hybrids out there, especially considering its best in class safety rating and long list of available active safety features.

Amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong.

Yeah, GM murdered the Volt because it wanted to close the plant it was built at, not because people weren’t buying the car.

Also, how does a column lambasting GM for killing a product fit in a “these were the best and worst new cars we drove this year” article?

Also, GM didn't understand how to leverage what they had and build on it. They tried a Cadillac version of the Volt, but it was very, very sad (I tried it).

 

[Chemical Tribe]

We bought a BEV this year. But our next car will not be a BEV, as we need something capable of cross-state and cross-country drives. Maybe a Telluride...

I've owned my Tesla Model 3 for about 20 months now. I've driven over 46,000 miles in it so far. From my home in the Minneapolis area, I've driven to Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Cleveland, the Florida Keys, and many points in between. Just a few days ago, I drove to Chicago to pick up a friend and drove back home the same day. I have no other functioning vehicle. I have not yet had to decline to go on a trip or rent a car because I only own a BEV. These constant claims that BEVs are only for urban use or can't do road trips is purely false. It takes a reasonably sized battery and a good fast charging network, and you're good to go. Thus far, only Tesla has pulled that off, but the VW group is making massive gains lately.

If I were to say that BEVs aren't for everybody, you'd have to point to people needing a pickup, massive towing capacity, or other segments that haven't yet been addressed. Road trips are not an issue, and haven't been for years.

But you'll be waiting a long time for charging, even via super charging. It really adds to the trip times. Not saying like you said, it isn't doable, it's just way more annoying than a 5 min fill up that gives 100% range vs around an hour for 80% range.

And that can be weighed against the dozens of times I didn't fill up at all between road trips because my car is charged and ready to go every morning.

I posit that the number of people that, during a road trip, are doing nothing other than driving or filling is pretty minimal. Most humans have to eat, relieve themselves, rest, etc. Here are a couple examples to give you an idea of what a day looks like on a road trip in a Model 3:

Chicago and back (in the winter, mind you):
Eau Claire - Eat lunch at the nearby Subway. Car's ready to go when I'm done.
Madison - Drink a beer at the nearby BBW. Car's ready to go when I'm done.
Chicago - Eat dinner at the nearby Chipotle. Car's ready to go when I'm done.
Madison - Another beer.
Mauston - Really had to pee. Did that and grabbed a couple Mountains Dew. Added 10% and kept going.
Eau Claire - Everything was closed, so I sat in the car for 20ish minutes to gain 65% on the battery to make it home with buffer. Definitely tally that one to the ICE side of the ledger.

Last leg of the Florida trip (Bowling Green, KY to Minneapolis, MN in the summer):
Start full at Bowling Green because I did my research and got a hotel with a charger
Indianapolis - Stretch and hit the restrooms. 45 minutes at a totally full Supercharger.
Chicago - Lunch. Car's ready to go when I'm done.
Mauston - Quick bump because this didn't line up with dinner time. Maybe 20 minutes to stretch and charge.
Eau Claire - Dinner

Note that both of those are a full day of driving. If that looks egregious to you, then stick with your ICE car, I guess. My experience is that half or more of the stops would have been necessary for meals, anyway, and the others are a nice short break. I don't find that my road trips are significantly shorter in distance or longer in time than when I drove my previous ICE car.

Eau Claire WI?

>>It took 2 days to get from there to Orlando FL. Having an EV, Tesla or otherwise, would add at least another day to the trip. You'd have to refill at minimum, 7 times, and that's more like 10 or more extra stops with a Tesla.

That same trip with my car would be 4 times, with no waiting.

For Thanksgiving, we drove to Chicago from Atlanta and then back. 740 miles in a single day each way in a Tesla Model 3 LR.
Avoiding both the sky-high airfares and car rental charges, and was much nicer than flying.

Now add almost 6 hours to that from where i start, and then realize i think it took as long just to go from where you ended to Orlando. Actually it's 7hr20min. It doesn't look it but we didn't think it would take that long and we didn't want to waste money stopping. Hence driving till we arrived at 5am.

We also coordinated refueling with eating and breaks. Again, not saying you can't do it, I'm just not seeing how you'll do it in 2 days, with that being 26hrs of just driving. Plus I wouldn't have the lr.

 

[madmax559]

For Thanksgiving, we drove to Chicago from Atlanta and then back. 740 miles in a single day each way in a Tesla Model 3 LR.
Avoiding both the sky-high airfares and car rental charges, and was much nicer than flying.

I'm assuming you charged to 100%/310 starting out (18" aero's ?) and then stopped twice for lunch/dinner & topped off ?

 

[jock2nerd]

For Thanksgiving, we drove to Chicago from Atlanta and then back. 740 miles in a single day each way in a Tesla Model 3 LR.
Avoiding both the sky-high airfares and car rental charges, and was much nicer than flying.

I'm assuming you charged to 100%/310 starting out (18" aero's ?) and then stopped twice for lunch/dinner & topped off ?

Basically, but it's all driven by the locations of the Superchargers and we can reach Manchester, TN as the first stop going North without charging above 90% at home.

We actually stopped three times to charge, but we drive quickly and stopping more frequently is faster than charging for longer and stopping less.

 

[jock2nerd]

We bought a BEV this year. But our next car will not be a BEV, as we need something capable of cross-state and cross-country drives. Maybe a Telluride...

I've owned my Tesla Model 3 for about 20 months now. I've driven over 46,000 miles in it so far. From my home in the Minneapolis area, I've driven to Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Cleveland, the Florida Keys, and many points in between. Just a few days ago, I drove to Chicago to pick up a friend and drove back home the same day. I have no other functioning vehicle. I have not yet had to decline to go on a trip or rent a car because I only own a BEV. These constant claims that BEVs are only for urban use or can't do road trips is purely false. It takes a reasonably sized battery and a good fast charging network, and you're good to go. Thus far, only Tesla has pulled that off, but the VW group is making massive gains lately.

If I were to say that BEVs aren't for everybody, you'd have to point to people needing a pickup, massive towing capacity, or other segments that haven't yet been addressed. Road trips are not an issue, and haven't been for years.

But you'll be waiting a long time for charging, even via super charging. It really adds to the trip times. Not saying like you said, it isn't doable, it's just way more annoying than a 5 min fill up that gives 100% range vs around an hour for 80% range.

And that can be weighed against the dozens of times I didn't fill up at all between road trips because my car is charged and ready to go every morning.

I posit that the number of people that, during a road trip, are doing nothing other than driving or filling is pretty minimal. Most humans have to eat, relieve themselves, rest, etc. Here are a couple examples to give you an idea of what a day looks like on a road trip in a Model 3:

Chicago and back (in the winter, mind you):
Eau Claire - Eat lunch at the nearby Subway. Car's ready to go when I'm done.
Madison - Drink a beer at the nearby BBW. Car's ready to go when I'm done.
Chicago - Eat dinner at the nearby Chipotle. Car's ready to go when I'm done.
Madison - Another beer.
Mauston - Really had to pee. Did that and grabbed a couple Mountains Dew. Added 10% and kept going.
Eau Claire - Everything was closed, so I sat in the car for 20ish minutes to gain 65% on the battery to make it home with buffer. Definitely tally that one to the ICE side of the ledger.

Last leg of the Florida trip (Bowling Green, KY to Minneapolis, MN in the summer):
Start full at Bowling Green because I did my research and got a hotel with a charger
Indianapolis - Stretch and hit the restrooms. 45 minutes at a totally full Supercharger.
Chicago - Lunch. Car's ready to go when I'm done.
Mauston - Quick bump because this didn't line up with dinner time. Maybe 20 minutes to stretch and charge.
Eau Claire - Dinner

Note that both of those are a full day of driving. If that looks egregious to you, then stick with your ICE car, I guess. My experience is that half or more of the stops would have been necessary for meals, anyway, and the others are a nice short break. I don't find that my road trips are significantly shorter in distance or longer in time than when I drove my previous ICE car.

Eau Claire WI?

>>It took 2 days to get from there to Orlando FL. Having an EV, Tesla or otherwise, would add at least another day to the trip. You'd have to refill at minimum, 7 times, and that's more like 10 or more extra stops with a Tesla.

That same trip with my car would be 4 times, with no waiting.

For Thanksgiving, we drove to Chicago from Atlanta and then back. 740 miles in a single day each way in a Tesla Model 3 LR.
Avoiding both the sky-high airfares and car rental charges, and was much nicer than flying.

>>Now add almost 6 hours to that from where i start, and then realize i think it took as long just to go from where you ended to Orlando. Actually it's 7hr20min. It doesn't look it but we didn't think it would take that long and we didn't want to waste money stopping. Hence driving till we arrived at 5am.

>>We also coordinated refueling with eating and breaks. Again, not saying you can't do it, I'm just not seeing how you'll do it in 2 days, with that being 26hrs of just driving. Plus I wouldn't have the lr

I would have made your trip a two day trip, stopping probably in Manchester, TN.

And yes, we coordinate charging stops with meals and snacks. We also avoid driving too many hours in a day, but that would have made it a pleasant 2 day trip instead of some brutal "death march".
From Manchester, TN, stop to charge in Acworth and Tifton, GA and again in Gainesville, FL before the last leg to Orlando.

 

[LoweStein]

I remember when Kia-branded vehicles first came to North America in the early 1990s and it was kind of a laughing stock.

No different than Honda and Toyota.

 

[Snark218]

So the best selling PHEV in Europe, and the only AWD PHEV or BEV available to buy in the US (with a price tag that is south of 50,000) is in your bottom 5?

OK.

For the record- as a proud owner of a Outlander PHEV, I couldn't disagree more. When I can avoid turning on the A/C, and keeping ICE use to a short freeway hop, I get over 100 MPGe, while in less temperate weather, I can still get 40 MPGe with the heater on full blast without worrying about range.

Because all the positive attributes you list about your Outlander are shared with every other PHEV, while it's all the stuff that's particular to the (unrefined, outdated, poor-driving) Outlander that landed it in the bottom 5. It's an affordable PHEV, but as a car, it's real bad.

 

[Snark218]

Well done Jonathon and Eric. I'd, though, like to have seen in this column a thorough chastisement of GM CEO Mary Teresa Barra for her role in killing off the insufficiently advertised Chevy Volt. Had the Volt been advertised and explained properly it would have been one of the best selling long range hybrids out there, especially considering its best in class safety rating and long list of available active safety features.

Amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong.

Yeah, GM murdered the Volt because it wanted to close the plant it was built at, not because people weren’t buying the car.

Also, how does a column lambasting GM for killing a product fit in a “these were the best and worst new cars we drove this year” article?

Also, GM didn't understand how to leverage what they had and build on it. They tried a Cadillac version of the Volt, but it was very, very sad (I tried it).

It wasn't bad, and felt and drove pretty nicely, but it was two doors, hilariously expensive, and very small.

 

[jock2nerd]

Well done Jonathon and Eric. I'd, though, like to have seen in this column a thorough chastisement of GM CEO Mary Teresa Barra for her role in killing off the insufficiently advertised Chevy Volt. Had the Volt been advertised and explained properly it would have been one of the best selling long range hybrids out there, especially considering its best in class safety rating and long list of available active safety features.

Amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong.

Yeah, GM murdered the Volt because it wanted to close the plant it was built at, not because people weren’t buying the car.

Also, how does a column lambasting GM for killing a product fit in a “these were the best and worst new cars we drove this year” article?

Also, GM didn't understand how to leverage what they had and build on it. They tried a Cadillac version of the Volt, but it was very, very sad (I tried it).

It wasn't bad, and felt and drove pretty nicely, but it was two doors, hilariously expensive, and very small.

I'm tall and the roof line was too low for me to fit in either front seat.

They just took the Volt electronics, battery and engine, as is.

They should have had more battery and a larger engine and put it into a proper sized Caddy and then they'd have had a very good PHEV, when PHEVs were still a viable technology.
But that would have meant GM allocating development money.

 

[CartmanUK34]

I was confused by the Macan being due for an update comments because a new model came out this year, were you driving the prior version in the test or do you think the newer one is still dated?

It certainly looks like their are steering wheel controls according to the manual, perhaps a bit of a learning curve but they appear to be there.

 

[Oz7]

So the best selling PHEV in Europe, and the only AWD PHEV or BEV available to buy in the US (with a price tag that is south of 50,000) is in your bottom 5?

OK.

For the record- as a proud owner of a Outlander PHEV, I couldn't disagree more. When I can avoid turning on the A/C, and keeping ICE use to a short freeway hop, I get over 100 MPGe, while in less temperate weather, I can still get 40 MPGe with the heater on full blast without worrying about range.

Because all the positive attributes you list about your Outlander are shared with every other PHEV, while it's all the stuff that's particular to the (unrefined, outdated, poor-driving) Outlander that landed it in the bottom 5. It's an affordable PHEV, but as a car, it's real bad.

Yeah I recognize the outdated styling, but if you were looking for an AWD PHEV SUV available for sale in the US for say less than 40K USD in mid 2019 (or even less than 50K), what exactly were your options, besides the Outlander? The only other option was the Subaru x-trek PHEV, and even that wasn't available for sale in any Subaru dealer in my state- despite Subaru being super popular in my neck of the woods. Toyota was my first choice (would have loved an updated PHEV RAV4), but the Rav4 PHEV is similarly outdated (not to mention being heavy and slow to accelerate on the Freeway per multiple reviewers) and wasn't going to get updated for a year or two, the Rav4 hybrid looked great but wasn't a PHEV (and the Outlander does way better MPG), and the eAWD mode on the prius wasn't great either. Honda had a PHEV (Clarity ?) but besides being not being AWD (I think), had a lot of reviewers complaining about the engine noise.

From a value perspective, between the PHEV tax rebate, and the APR Mitsubishi offered (0 interest), the sale price for the Outlander PHEV beat the Rav4 hybrid hands down- cost of ownership remains to be seen.

 

[SplatMan_DK]

"We’ve been writing about cars for longer than you’ve been registered on the website..."

You see J, this reply proves my point. Always ask before using wit. This is only one account, I've been on Ars since 1999.

Ars has changed and you didn't talk about boring cars back then. Stick to tech and real issues...

#9 of the Posting Guidelines:

Each forum member may have only one account.

seems if you've "been on Ars since 1999" you'd have known that a long time ago.

YOU are quoting forum guidelines? Rich, considering that you mostly deliver a constant stream of personal attacks, insults, trolling, snark, and poison. All. The. Time. Which is also clearly against the exact same guidelines.

But hey, rules don't apply to you, and poison is justified as long as you're the one delivering. Right?

 

[Deleted member 276317]

 

[J4yDubs]

With all due respect, what the hell is this doing on Ars, and lastly, what is this list...? Stick to value articles, there much more fun.

We’ve been writing about cars for longer than you’ve been registered on the website. And each year we write a list of the best new cars we’ve driven that year. It’s not really that complicated.

This one cracked me up. Where the hell are these new users coming from and why don't they learn the history of the site before they try to dictate what it should be?

No, car reviews have not been a part of ARS since the beginning (yeah I was there), but I for one did cheer when they were added. I was a huge techy back then, drinking in the details of the latest chip (in so much more detail than is possible today). Then I got older. I no longer built my own PC's (gasp)... I was still interest in technology, but more at a higher level. Cars though, I've always had that interest. When ARS started doing car reviews, I wasn't sure, but these are my people, so lets give this a chance.

Now, I mainly come to ARS for the car reviews. While I don't agree with Jonathan Gitlin all the time, he is fair and does a good job. He also seems to get Porsche, so....

Bottom line, ARS changes with times. It's completely different than when it was launched, but that's a good thing.

John