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2025 Vinfast VF8 Plus – The Tragedy of the Mediocre
Man this was a depressing experience. The car was ok though.
We had originally tried to get our cynical grubs on the newer 3-row VF9. But apparently the last one was sold a month ago, so instead we clambered into the infamous VF8 excitingly anticipating the worst.
If you know anything about the “upstart” (in the U.S. at least) Vinfast, it’s probably to do with the litany of scathing reviews towards their cars and the VF8’s reputation for poor quality and borderline dangerous “unique driving characteristics”. It really hasn’t been easy for this Vietnamese company to set up shop in the U.S. They’ve been trying to crack that market since 2023 and so far it just isn’t working. These cars are a rare sight, even in the few states that have dealers, let alone planned to build factories.. like here in North Carolina!
People just don’t seem to want one, and if they do any minimal amount of digging into cheap EVs to buy, you’ll find 1000 reasons not to put money down on the big Flying V.
So let’s dig in, although over an admittedly overly short window, into what we have here:
The wondrous woes of a Vinfast VF8
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh Oh yeah. It’s Vinny time. And just behold that sight! What a face! What a… design! It… uh… certainly is its own thing!
Whatever that thing is…
Style is subjective, and subjectively I’m both correct and not really sold on whatever the hell is up with the front end of this thing. To its credit, the fascia is only somewhat offensive to my eyes. The sides are less of a frontal assault and more of an affront to my senses, because after coming in swinging with the 4-eyed beaked behemoth, it then becomes “some modern SUV”.
The more inoffensive side profile blends harmlessly into a finely styled rear. I think the most impressive thing they’ve done here is actually making it look 90% like its own thing. Once you’ve been made aware of its existence, you’re not mistaking it for anything else.
Got enough exterior talk bullshit? Hope so, let’s enter this beast.
You’ve got generous leg room in the back, though the truck space suffers a little for this. The seats are lined with “vegan leather”, and honestly it’s kinda fine in here. And comfy.
The same goes for the front.
The material choice is also a bit funny. The leather feels fine, and you have actually bits of aluminum in the door cards. But the the plastics are all out of a 90’s Chevy Cavalier. And then the build quality kinda flip-flops a little. Behold, premium vegan leather:
Mmmm, the ass folds and bum creases already taking shape in my brand new car. Love it.
The front follows the trend seen in the Radical SR1 and Tesla Model 3 by doing away with a gauge cluster behind the steering wheel. But unlike those two cars, the VF8 gets a HUD you can use to still keep track of speed, range, and other relevant information within your line of sight. Which is nice.
What isn’t as nice (or convenient), and honestly kind of odd, is the the rest of this interior space. Back to the materials, there is a liberal use of that crappy piano black plastic that’s smudges really easy. Good thing they put in a hard to reach place by the cup holders and gear selection happy trail.
And is it me, or are those buttons not centered? The “direction selection” buttons don’t really feel like anything and are a little obtuse to use, though maybe if you’ve lived with the car for longe you’d get used to their kinda out of sight location. Additionally, the volume control nipple is inconveniently paired along with the hazard light button. Both are somewhat awkward to reach and not within your line of sight.
Now back to the “drive control conga line”, while technically the buttons work ok for a car with no gearbox or engine, the Polestar 2’s little cyberpunk cockring shifter was more intuitive and didn’t feel like it was made from a recycled C4 corvette power wheels.
And then you stumble upon these funkily shaped stalks, only to learn they came straight from BMW’s 10 year old leftovers bin. You own a i3 or x3? Well your fingers will feel right at home in this Vinfast!
The interior doesn’t immediately feel poorly built. The Ford Edge “awd platinum shart” I already forgot I drove had more rattles and chunks of interior that didn’t feel securely fastened compared to the Vinny-V-F-8. Though J haven’t quite seen such a stark mix of fine, mediocre, and terrible materials since Subaru put “Alcantara” on the armrest of a doped up Impreza and called it an STI.
I have no idea what that nub does. But it’s on the steering column! Some other bits of housekeeping before moving on, the trunk space is not as big as you’d think, with the rear seats taking up residence. Legroom and occupant space for the most part is pretty good in here even though the floor of the car is set almost uncomfortably high up. Additionally, the frunk is a little small compared to the size of that car. It’s probably no smaller than the one found in a Polestar 2, but theoretically, the VF8 should have more room to play.
Regardless of that, you’ll still be able to fit the charging cables, maybe some first aid gear, and a backpack snugly under hood.
12v battery, fluids, and other essentials are hidden behind those little flaps so you don’t have to disassemble the car at a dealer to, say, swap a dead car battery… Rivian… you fucks… The door handles also have these weird scalloped out indents that make me feel uncomfortable and we’re going to move on from that.
Ok, I’ve dragged this out long enough, let’s go drive the damn thing.
The VF8 was… well nothing that special honestly.
The steering was unremarkable. I’ve read people say that the EPAS gives up under hard loads, though from my brief time with the car I didn’t really feel anything that off yet. It just… steers. It’s not great. But it’s also not world-endingly awful, especially compared to a lot of other garbage out there. Put forth by Vinfast was “an amount” of effort that wound up shitting out “eh” mediocrity. Nothing really stood out that much compared to other SUVs. Though keep in mind that buying one of these for its dynamics is a fools errand.
Over rough pavement the car didn’t feel like a particularly terrible over sprung mess. Maybe I need to find more of those awful parking lot speed bumps. But over a patch of crappy Rayleigh tarmac, the VF8 didn’t feel any worse than a number of forgettable crossovers. This one specifically wasn’t too terribly crashy, but that could also be down to the car not being punished like a rental in the Everglades.
Through the few turns we had, you kinda feel a bit more confidence from the lower center of mass than, say, the aforementioned Ford Edge maybe? Don’t mistake that for good cornering capabilities. It’s a fucking Vinfast. But it’s also a modern EV, and the laws of physics are not easily motivated by upset opinion.
Unless it’s mine, and I declare turbulent flows to be made up.
Did you know that this VF8 was the top of the line model with awd, 400-ish hp, and 457 lb-ft of torque. If it really does have all that, then the car feels like it weight 8000 lb. This sour-faced blob doesn’t really feel particularly quick. That instant response of a punch to the spine you get in most EVs is dulled to almost nonexistent in the VF8. The numbers show an increase in speed but my tummy just don’t feel it.
Maybe it’s that throttle lag people mention, maybe it just wasn’t feeling it that day. Whatever the case is, 400 hp has never felt so underwhelming.
Regen braking is also not particularly strong in its highest setting. In the Polestar 2, you could actually one pedal drive, in this it feels like half-assed deceleration. Also its 240-ish mile range isn’t particularly compelling, especially when we realized that the trip from Kannapolis to Raleigh and back would require us to recharge at some point. Granted, it wouldn’t need to charge to 100% again to get back, but the ~260 mile trip is still outside of its capabilities.
Overall, it’s not a particularly special vehicle to drive. Nothing really stands out above any other generic 5-seat SUVs. During our short time, we really didn’t notice anything too egregious, but other sources who get to drive the car for longer and push the limits more do note that it’s “unique dynamic characteristics” start to shine though.
So that’s the mediocre drive done. What more could possibl–
THE BULLSHIT SCREEN
Ayo you got games on yo Vinny?
The UI sucks, it’s laggy, it’s kinda ugly, it throws way too much information at your face, and navigating through it is like digging through a government archive. Sure you will eventually find what you’re after, but lord help you til then.
Like one too many of its modern counterparts, the Vinfast Bullshit Screen is in fact loaded to the brim with bullshit. And my favorite of the turds is this game: Baja Big Air
Wow. What a game. What a name. Let’s spoil ourselves shall we?
Any man with such defined forehead wrinkles has my immediate trust. Let’s go racing!
Wow. What gameplay.
I think I can feel my life slowly slipping away…
The Infamous Warnings…
The car was constantly have a nervous breakdown over some random bullshit. If road lines disappeared, then the lane keep monitoring would start to have a panic attack in the background. Over the course of our short little test drive, bumpy roads, traffic, unclear lanes, and a bunch of other crap triggered warning notifications that flashed on the screen or HUD. And while nothing shouted at you annoyingly (I believe the salesman disabled the noises), we did watch in amusement as flashes of orange light appeared over seemingly nothing. You can dig through menus and shut some of that off, but it will only go so far.
Lane keep assist can be easily overpowered unlike earlier cars. So if you change lanes without indicating, you feel a pathetic resistance in the wheel for a millisecond before you can proceed to cut people off to your hearts content. Also the “advanced cruise control” seemed to be pretty lax about having your hands on the wheel.
Stfu and finish already:
Now, after all that it needs to be said that we only got our hands on a VF8 for a quick little test drive. And from that experience, the car really wasn’t that bad. Hell, I’d probably lease one over some depressing boringly Nissan. Look at the leasing:
Even my dumb grad-school ass with a part-time job could afford this! And it had a warrantee!
But.
Most sources who’ve been around the first Vinfast to make it stateside paint a different picture. An unfinished and unintelligent car made by a clueless bunch engineers for a market they have no business trying to break into. A car with numerous bugs, flaws, and failures that come to light after either owning one or just being left alone with a VF8 for a few unsupervised hours. Common complaints have included a laggy throttle, awful spring and damper pairing, a really buggy and slow UI, inane and spastic safety systems, and numerous human factors miscalculations. Some of that we didn’t pick up on or notice, others started to creep in right before we left the car behind. But if for some ungodly reason you decided to use a website with “into my ass” in its name as a source of Vinfast knowledge, I feel it’s only right that I mentioned this wee long disclaimer.
And that’s the Vinfast. It’s “a car”. Not a particularly great one, but from behind the wheel, also not the worst. That’s not enough to move inventory, as we learned, because the dealer we visited was apparently getting ready to close its sales department and become a service shop run by a skeleton crew. Go lease a VF8 for dirt cheap if you really want one. Don’t for the love of god buy it new, you’ll be throwing away $20,000 instantly on depreciation.
For all its faults and history, I am still happy the VF8 exists in the U.S. The more weird ass cars on the market and road, the more fun it is to be into cars. Maybe one day they’ll figure it out.
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MSIMA “The Cars” of 2025 Awards
Yet another year of driving garbage. And occasionally something nice. Welcome ya fucks, to the “The Cars” of 2025! A time for us to look back and reflect on all the four wheeled abominations we’ve driven and reviewed this year. Except for me, as I am both above and incapable of self reflection.
Hope y’all enjoy this year’s batch, a treat (if you call it that) to all those loyal consumers and mis-shifted assholes who’ve been reading and consuming the finest automotive content on the web.
Instead of a German Luxury Sedan, You Bought this:
You could’ve made the sensible decision and just bought that BMW/Mercedes/Porsche/Gumpert. But nooooope, you had to be different didn’t you. And ya know what, we salute you for having made the interesting choice. But which choice was the best choice?
Obvious but respectable, the wild and weird 2011 Aston Martin Rapide takes the win! Significantly worse in nearly every way but sound compared to a German luxury sedan, we wouldn’t blame anyone for going the way of Aston. Not only do you have a naturally aspirated v12 to drown out the rear passenger’s complaints, but the steering is genuinely wonderful. What surprises us (though maybe not you) is what came in second, the excellent and understated 2024 Volvo S60! In third is what we thought would actually come in second, the 2014 Jaguar XJ, another proper bri’ish sedan car. Naturally, it broke down during our testing, but that’s just a jag being a jag. In last, the younger electric brother 2024 Polestar 2, the apolitical Model 3.
Prunes and Dunes
Once again, the beloved Prunes and Dunes returns. Because shitty SUVs are everywhere and we’ve all driven too many of them. Anyways, we rejoice in celebration of the duality of SUVs. On one side, the prunes putting around the Target parking lot and on the other, some lunatic tackling the dunes of Little Sahara. We salute you both, begrudgingly, and with that, on to the prunes:
Prunes: 2024 Ford Edge Titanium AWD
I know in the past two years, the pruniest SUV was usually some terrible thing. The Ford Edge is no exception. However what this car excelled in above every other vehicle I have driven, is its shear forget-ability. This is a disposable nothing car for nothing people. Its production planers took all of 5 minutes to approve the production of such a boring, lackluster, and forgettable product before continuing on with their bathroom coffee break. And they should all be ashamed that they made everyone else involved waste a few years of life bringing this to market. This car will be forgotten, and no one will care. In fact, it probably already has.
Dunes: 2023 Jeep Wrangler 4xe
Oh yesssss, very duney. Perfect for Daytona Beach Jeeps Beach Jeeps-on-the-beach Week or whatever it’s called, while also being interesting and comfortable. Stack the ducks a mile high, the Jeep Wrangler 4xe is your 2025 “Dunes” winner.
Pisstakers
For the cars you’d mistake for a urinal, we raise our glasses to you:
Wow, this did not turn out how we thought! You chumps have a sick taste for third-world country shitboxes because the 2018 Suzuki Celerio took the win! Perfect for running around dirt roads and eating up miles along with oil, the automated manual makes this form of transportation exactly that: a form of transportation. Not far behind is the car that’ll outlive us all, the 1991 Mercedes 300D 2.5 Turbo. Slightly less crusty is the 2009 Toyota Corolla, with the practically new 2024 Chevy Onix in last.
Fuck this Car 2025
Not an award for the most fuckable car of the year. No no, this car, the 2022 Lamborghini Urus, gets the distinction of being the first car reviewed to have its own highlighted section for us to tell it to go eat shit and die. This lying farce of a car started at $225,000 when it was new, and feels like a Pimp My Ride VW Atlas inside. “Oh but it drives so good for an SUV and the power is-” I don’t care. Fuck this car.
The Hot Hatch Batch
The trend of cheap fun continues! And nothing screams cheap fun like a $50,000 Civic and Corolla! Regardless of that fact, we’ll never say no to the chance of beating the piss out of a hot hatch. So let’s look at the group this year!
Well, that was way too uncomfortably close. Separated by a single vote, just ONE VOTE, the 2024 Honda Civic Type-R remains the hot hatch king. With the lord’s shifter and a touring car god complex, the CTR is a true glutton for punishment, despite its dead steering and egregious fake engine noise. In a close second comes the 2024 Toyota GR Corolla, combining everything great about a Subaru WRX’s character with the industrial might of Toyota. Plus actual rally powertrain or whatever. The race for third was also separated by just ONE VOTE, putting the Bavarian’s “visually challenged” yet blandly capable 2025 BMW M135 xDrive just a tick ahead of the feisty nugget that is the 2015 Ford Fiesta ST. Its owner (and co-author) wishes to tell you that it’s the correct choice (and the only one you can actually afford).
AutoX-Rated
A lot of Autocross specials this year! Our official MSIMA AutoX aficionados have been hard at work making backroom bathroom deals to get their hands on a number of finely honed racing machinery. So let’s look what they’ve got for us:
Aaaaaand because you guys don’t know how to BE SERIOUS, the winner for the AUTOCROSS CLASS is the joke answer we threw in to make it a 4 car battle. We made a JOKE about whipping the Ford F-250 Lowes Special around an autocross course. We never fucking did it you mongrels. But whatever, the mob wins again. In a semi-close second is the actual spec racer turned autocross car, the CSM spec Ford Mustang. You fuckers. Anyways, an autocross prepped 2019 Civic Type-R comes in third, with the 2017 V6 Camaro rounding up the rear.
The Worst Car From 3 Years Ago
As is now tradition, we look back to when MSIMA was a mere baby. A fetal blip in the ocean of the interwebs. Back to our roots, we pay homage to the worst of 2022, a way to clear our collective minds and really put our present work into perspective:
Jeep Compass 
Jeep Compiss Jeep Cumpass Jeep Cumpiss Surprisingly, we have another consecutive victory for the Jeep Cumpiss, with over 70% of all votes. Trailing behind in second place is the Jeep Compass, followed by the Jeep Compiss. Sadly, the Jeep Cumpass doesn’t get any recognition this year. Like, none. Not one puny little vote for the guy. Poor guy will probably kill himself or something, idk.
Who let us drive these?
Another year, another batch of cars we should’ve have gotten our hands on. How do we keep getting away with it? I’m not allowed to say until the lawsuit is settled, but it’s not out fault that garage doors are easy to open with an f250.
You know I’m not mad nor angry. Just a little surprised that the v12 Aston Martin didn’t win. Then again, looking at the 1950 Bentley mkVI, you do kinda wonder who would trust a bunch of undercooked adults with that thing. And what a thing it was honesty, taking the spot of perhaps our most memorable drive for the year. In second, comes the all mighty 2011 Aston Martin Rapide, but that won something already so no more words to waste here. Following in third is a track prepped 718 Cayman, last year’s most chuckable car. And finally, in 4th, the old man cruiser and oddly adept back road car, an AMG bodied 1972 r107 450SL.
MSIMA’s 2025 Best Car of the Year
This year, we at MSIMA performed an our first proper, grown up comparison test. Two automotive titans went head to head on a road and track battle to see which car can claim hypercar superiority. However, while we made up our minds, we want to heard from YOU!
In a UNANAMOUS VOTE, MSIMA’s first ever, the 2021 Mesopotamian Oxcart beats out the Bugatti Chiron 27 TO 0. Never has a vehicle been so revered and beloved, that even against the strongest of opponents, the Oxcart prevails. Analog vs digital, slow car fast vs fast car slow, no matter how you slice it, the Mesopotamians know what the fuck they’re doing.
The Most Chuckable Car of the Year
Finally, you’ve made it to the end. The last bit of recognition for the most chuckable car driven this year. A decent amount of chuckable material was driven this year, from loosely related rally homologations and TCR wannabes to oddly corner hungry EVs and repeat track cars from last year. Each car its own glutton for corner sending punishment, turn in temptation, and Appalachian back road terrorizing. However, of all these candidates, there can only be one most chuckable car if the year:
Now I was going to award this to the Porsche Cayman again, because I have no shame. However co-writer Pierce would’ve had me drawn and quartered on a livestream if I did that. So, instead we have the Ford Fiesta ST! An equally deserving car and one of the most chuckable nuggets in the business. So, let’s hear it form the man himself.
It’s fantastic in every way, but most recognizably being the wild and wacky handling characteristics. With the chassis being so damn stiff, all it wants to do is rotate! And since it’s FWD, there’s no fear of careening off a cliff because your dumbass doesn’t know how to hold a slide. Just plant your right foot and the car does the rest. So easily chuckable, so stupid and so fun. Plus for the first time, an egg-shaped car gets to win this!
Thanks for tuning in!
That’s a wrap of for car reviews in 2025. As the years progress, we get older and undergraduate college fun fades away. As such, the constant supply of new metal to drive gets paired with writing time that has faded away a little. Never fully gone, but looking at 2023, we managed to pull 50 vehicles out of our asses and hold a more consistent and frequent schedule. But regardless, we soldier forward, because doing this is quite fun. Thank you all for reading and consuming content. Couldn’t do it without y’all!
Till the next review in 2026! – Monty, Pierce, Jerry Backlicker, Dan the Pinecone, the Skinwalker, your Official MSIMA Pimp, Comrade Zdzisław, SwedishDiesel, Xaroula, the Bidster, Aaron, Smith, your local NonCredible™ Mechanophile, and all those who’ve graced these pages under the MSIMA Guest writer account.
Anyways, take your data:
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MSIMA Crashes the Overcrest Road Rally
It all started with an e30 parked at a motel next a bar in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. The four of us wandered over in mild bemusement turned genuine astonishment at what such a nice looking e30 M3 was doing here:
And then we saw some old air cooled Porsche 911s that looked like barely disguised cup cars with number plates tacked on. And then we found this:
Yes yes, mind the idiot in uniform. After an appropriate amount of automotive groveling, we got our first sliver of information: “they’re all part of the Overcrest Rally and they leave early in the morning tomorrow.”
It was around that time that the sound of something loud and angry pierced the Appalachian night as a blue Lancia Stratos flew by us. We decided right then and there, that whatever the hell was going on we needed to be a part of it.
With nothing but a name, we happened upon a blurry image of the route map on instagram:
With a bit of knowledge on Maggie Valley, we figured that the only place with enough room for around 100 cars would be the empty lots of the abandon ski resort and mountain fun park named “Ghost Town”. I’m sure the irony wasn’t lost on its owners either. After cross referencing those three pixels from that map with an image of the park, we figured we had a 90% chance of getting to the right place.
Now all that was left was to pick the right cars. Luckily for us, MSIMA’s resident pimp has most of his hoard up in Appalachia. So an original AMG bodied r107 450 SL and a “bought for $350” 420 SEL were selected for the task. In case you don’t speak the gibberish that is classic Mercedes-speak, I present to you our steads:
Sleeping late and getting up early, we arrived at ghost town before the sun had bothered to rise. And low and behold, we made it.
A gaggle of old 911s, a few old Mercedes and BMWs, and the Lancia awaited us. Hagerty had a stand set up giving out free coffee while the event organizers were hard at work organizing. And into this well oiled machine came us four mid-20 year old dipshits, parked right up at the front. We actually wound up moving the S class from parallel to inline parking once we realized that gravity could act as a replacement reverse gear.
And now BEHOLD what awaited us!
Nice ain’t it.
While the sun slowly began to rise above the Appalachian peaks that engulfed us, more and more cars began to trickle in. The most eclectic and astounding assortment of air cooled 911s, a Ferrari Mondial T and F355 in convoy, a gaggle of Audi Quattros, a purple Lotus Elise, a lime green 308 GTB, and an immaculate Citroen DS (amongst so… much… other… fucking… cool… shit).
As time progressed, more and more people stopped by the two unknown Mercs. And that’s when we started talking, friends started to get made, and suddenly the realization that we needed to go to more car events dawned on us all.
Eventually, the big wig in charge of the event payed a visit to the two white Mercs that made their way into his event. And that’s when the conversation was struck.
Like the mature and regal adults we claim to be, we did not get on our knees and beg to join their road rally for a short segment. No no, we would never stoop so low. Ok so maybe we did a little asking but I promise the groveling was minimal! You weren’t there! WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT US?!
Anyways, after being granted permission to slide in for a brief stint, we let slide that our friend and
collectorhoarder of Pimp-ly cars happened to own a genuine Koenig W126 500 SEC. Upon hearing that, our big man in charge revealed himself to be the senior editor for Petrolicious, so if you eventually see a video on a gray Koenig W126 500 SEC, just know it’s owner is a little shit (in the best was possible, love ya Reggie).
Seeing as we now had the green light to cruise and bruise, we waited for a group of cars to head out that would match the pace of the classic Benz armada. Spotting an RX7, BMW 1600, and 70’s 911 targa, we figured that was a decent enough spot to slot behind.
Joining the group, we immediately started down the familiar roads of Maggie Valley, NC, even passing our Pimp’s mountain getaway until we eventually made it to unknown territory.
And on these new roads, we got separated from the group by a pickup truck who insisted on driving in both lanes at 10 below the speed limit. Luckily it seems that “our group” missed an exit, so we caught back up to them retracing their steps. Freshly reunited, we began the hill climb to somewhere above the clouds, and that’s when the two things happened:
- The 450 SL found its purpose in life
- I think I had a religious experience with respect to “motoring”
Just like…. Look at this:
I don’t think it could’ve been more perfect. Unless maybe I was driving a modified S2 Alfa Spider, but then how could I truly enjoy the view?
Snaking back down, the Merc soaking up bumps along cracked Carolina pavement, we eventually get unceremoniously dumped onto a main road. But hey, there’s a gas station and these Mercs have a drinking problem.
We bid our current driving buddies a telepathic farewell and pull in to fill up. And hey would ya look at that, a gaggle of Porsches and the Stratos.
Of course we wandered around and looked ever so closely at every car here, what do you take us for? I’m a Porsche freak at heart! Sure I preach the gospel of Lotus, probably because I have yet to own one, but Porsche is almost always the correct answer.
Oh right the story, yes. You probably guessed by now but for the remainder of this tall tale, this was our group, our crew, our fellas. I swapped seats with a friend, now buckling into the squishy seats of a W126 S class with co-writer @justinpierce1006 at the helm of this boat.
Oh 3-pointed star, guide us through ye ol stormy nights Setting sail upon these great asphalt seas, we almost immediate fell behind as the Porsches (and one Statos) took off into the sunset. The SL was able to hang with, but us? In the boat? Let’s just say I smelled a bit of brakes. To his credit, Pierce was wheeling the hell outta that thing in the semi-vain attempt to keep up. I only hope that the pair of Audi Quattros that found themselves behind us got a good show.
A few miles passed and we one again wound up on a steep mountain pass, alone now since the actually competent metal was able to navigate these twist– oh hey the SL pulled over.
Turns out our MISMA Resident P-I-M-P (that’s a trademarked royal title btw) made a friend! A very friendly man in a 300e who we hung out with and shot the shit. Between taking pictures of oncoming traffic to bs’ing about old Mercs, us four idiots got invited to just keep on cruising with them towards lunch and probably beyond. Not the first, but sadly the last time that day, as we didn’t really want to overstay our welcome. It’s a $2000-ish road rally, and as we are but “humble college students and recent grads”, that’s a price we couldn’t quite afford yet. Continuing to tag along didn’t seem like the correct thing to do, as tempting as it is, and the organizers, as nice as they are, weren’t the most enthusiastic about letting a bunch of random 20-something’s loose into their planned event, and we don’t blame them one bit.
We also figured that we really shouldn’t piss everyone off since we did wanna join the next Overcrest Rally we can afford. Give it a year or three.
Thems the deets. Maybe the title was a little misleading, since there was very minimal “crashing” taking place. But god damn was that a fun time.
We had zero idea what cars were going to show up, what roads we would go down, or really just how far down the rabbit hole we would wind up to skim the surface and get a taste of a proper road rally. We all feared that someone would realize that two random Mercs piloted by a coupe of overgrown teenagers showed up and we’d be asked to “exit with dignity”. Instead, everyone we met were very friendly and just happy to shoot the shit and talk cars. Felt pretty welcoming, which is a breath of fresh air compared to the ego-driven dick measuring contest that underpins the south Florida car culture we all grew up with. And not that we need to tell you, but if the price of entree isn’t an issue and you wanna have a fun time, yeah it gets the coveted and totally not made up on the spot Official MSIMA Stamp of Consumer Approval!
The day will stick with us. And for me, it’s the kinda of experience that stays locked in my mind like that first HSR race at Daytona, that last blast in the old 993, managing our own road rallies in college, the entirety of Rallylegend San Marino, and the fever dream that happened in that old Miura SV. Locked away in my mental vault of personal all time automotive hits.
Can’t wait for the next one, just give me a year or four to save up next time.
– Monty and the rest of the MSIMA team. Thanks for letting us tag along!
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1973 Mercedes 450SL “AMG” r107 – Your Eyes Doth Deceive
One man’s unhealthy Mercedes hoarding obsession is another man’s unhealthy car driving obsession. That’s right motherfuckers, our resident MSIMA Pimp has made another purchase.
I’ve had to honor or disservice (the difference depends on your reality) to have driven and been around one too many mid 80-s to early 90’s Mercedes Benzes. Additionally, nearly all of those Mercs have been some play on the w126 formula (aka the 80’s S-Class).
So when I heard that our friend of Pimp-ly stature added yet another Mercedes that hadn’t discovered the magic of OBDII, I was only mildly amused.
And then I saw it roll up to my door.
Yes, my front door is next to a random pull off on the Blue Ridge Parkway This isn’t like those other Mercs. Mostly.
This is actually kind of small, the suspension isn’t too floaty, the brakes won’t immediately give up… it’s almost as if someone at Mercedes let slightly loose back in the 70’s. I forgot those engineers knew how to have fun after the incident.
So out of the random assortment of letters and numbers that typically grace the best German cars, what can we actually decipher?
Well first off, it’s a 70’s SL of the “r107” gen, with a 4.5L SOHC v8 with electronic fuel injection (in 1973 for some fucking reason) pair to a genuine abomination of a 3 speed auto. And what’s that badge?
Oh yeah fuckers, it’s AMG time. My favorite time.
Some of you might call foul about the lack of AMG engine upgrades outside of a muffler, and to that I say… shut up and I’ll get to that later.
Now let’s get on with it!
You slide into this early 70’s interior that feels like a buncha 60’s leftovers all joined together one last rave before retirement. It’s pretty in here. This doesn’t feel like those other mercs. This feels new, different, special.
Then you go for the seatbelts, and you’re met with this shit:
Suddenly the early 1970’s really does feel a like it was over half a century ago. I remember being a kid and thinking “oh yeah the 70’s, that’s like 30-something years ago”. You might as well be sipping tea with a conquistador on Mars with how in another time and place this car can make you feel.
Existential crisis aside, remember that electronic fuel injection I mentioned! I don’t know if I should be worried or not, seeing as the car that replaced this moved to mechanical fuel injection. And that’s a system Mercedes then stuck with straight through the 1980s. The computer that runs all this is larger than an oversized deli sandwich and probably employs several hamsters to pull levers to act as logic gates. But it works and seemingly reliably too for now, much to the annoyance of its owner who has spent the last few years perfecting the art of diagnosing mechanical fuel injection.
There are some other old car oddities too. Like the chrome hand crank you use to latch the roof in place is just a tool that just kinda sits in a cubby back there. And some of the lighting solutions in this car are a bit of an industrial afterthought. Then you get to the sunshades, which are the size of a small nation.
It has AC too! Or at least it has air that blows and then air that blows hot! The controls for this early system are a somewhat confusingly mess of levers and dials that need to be operated like the controls of a power plant. But there is air and there is heat!
The SL is that “classic Mercedes experience” with an actual fun side sprinkled in. The interior is pretty immaculate, with every surface being leather or vinyl or wood or some other nice feeling thing. It’s a comfy ride with the car always feels reassuringly sturdy and plated. And it moves pretty decently too, especially for a 70’s car. Hell, it’ll outrun my z3 once you get above like, 70 mph. As an almost sports car/back road cruiser, it’s fucking phenomenal. And that hurts to say because it means my friend and his Mercs win. But, even with my jovial spirit, there are some flaws:
Contention 1: The Gearbox
You sit in comfort, large roof folded back, and go to shift into first which reveals the first of a few disappointments: the 3 Speed auto box. That’s right you fucks, we got my 3 on the T R E E BABY! And boy does this car deserve literally any other transmission.
The AMG exhaust paired to a 4.5L v8 can make for some genuinely wonderful noises, and moves this slab of Merc pretty well. You get this big surge of torque, feeling the car squat down a little bit as it prepare to surf that surge like a wave. But god damn it, 3 gears ain’t enough, especially with modern highways and its more spirited nature. You’re constantly either wanting more gears to play with on a back road, or sitting there wishing it had an overdrive above like 60 mph.
Chuck that Mercedes tranny into the bottom of the ocean and give this thing the 5 speed manual it wants (and deserves).
Contention 2: The steering
You get wonderful feedback from that real, in-period AMG steering wheel. But the car seems to beg for a marginally quicker rack. The platform feels solid, enough so that you start to understand why people took these racing. It’s well composed and you can send this thing through turns with decent confidence. There is an eagerness to this car, but the steering is just lazy enough that you’ll be driving it like a bus driver on the Bolivian death road.
Quicker rack, refresh the bushings, maybe change the tires and alignment. For a car that handles this decently and communicates this well to you, it feels like it needs juuuuust a little more to nudge it.
Contention 3: The Sound
It sounds like a damn truck. Like a an GMC with an exhaust.
You get on the gas and it just like:
“BLUUUUUUUURREBBBBEURRLLL”
And then goes into 3rd and stays there all:
“Uuuuuuuuuurrghhhhh”
Like it’s groaning about being used. It’s technically angry. But it’s not aggressive angry. It’s just upset at you for not letting gramps just retire with dignity.
Eventually, it does start to wake up. You get some decent v8 noises and dirty burps and burbles as it figures itself out. But it begs for more freedom.
Another 1500 RPM should do the trick.
What’s that? The owner put in an x-pipe? Well that fixed it a bit. Still, another 1500 RPM.
The contentions are now over.
Ok so maybe some of those are nitpicks. Unless you’re talking about the gearbox, which should be taken to a Navy test range and used for precision bombing practice.
The motor paired with that exhaust is pretty fun to interact with. You can dig for what power it has and it very directly provides it. And despite the transmission’s deep rooted desires, you will feel that sensation of acceleration and speed as you drive. A 4.5L v8 is in fact enough for a 70’s convertible (who would’ve guessed)! And to think there are larger motors you could’ve gotten in there.
The issue is, you’re just left wanting a little bit more. A little more directness, a little more *oomf*, and a few more revs. That platform feels more than up to the task. Especially when you get outside and look at it.
Right so the elephant in the room that you probably want to know is what’s with all the “AMG-ness” paired to a seemingly stock car?
Well, like that other AMG badged SL we drove, no this isn’t an AMG tuned car. But, the body, exhaust, and steering wheel are all actual AMG parts installed in period. Because back then AMG was tuning house that sold everything.
So like the Koenig w126 we reviewed in 2023, while it doesn’t make insane power, it is still the real deal. And I think it looks pretty damn good. Probably the best looking Merc my buddy owns.
With all that said, what is the verdict? What’s the use case of this thing?
Well, it’s the perfect 6/10ths car. Top down, radio on, drive mildly aggressively down a twisty Appalachian backroad or the Blue Ridge Parkway, and indulge yourself with a car that makes you feel special. There’s enough noise, theatre, road feel, and balance to make the car an engaging this to drive and interact with. Yet it’s relaxed and easy enough to operate that you’re able to take in the scenery around you. No one thing overly dominates the experience in the way some other, older, and more aggressive cars would. You’re not worried about shifting to 2nd to make it up hill or razor focused on the drive feeling every bit of pavement or so inundated with old money luxury that you doze off looking at clouds. It just likes to be driven and beaten on a little.
Take it on a road rally like we did, and that transmission aside, you’ll probably wonder why bother bringing anything else.
Well, unless your this guy:
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2016 Ford Fiesta ST – Blue Eggs and Spam
Turbos are magical whirly birds of wind, hell if I know how they work but the end result is always the same: a giant smile on my face.
Yep, it’s time to get FISTed back into the 2010s when dubstep reigned supreme, X-Games was the coolest thing you’ve ever seen and Ken Block released something called gymkhana 3. What was that neat little green and white rotund looking vehicle doing a massive 4-wheeled powerslide on a plane you wouldn’t imagine a vehicle existing on. Why, it’s the Ford Fiesta ST!
Pivioting to today, my 23 year old ass sits in the bucket recaro seats of the new-to-me 2016 Ford Fiesta ST. My teenage self is creaming his pants. Here’s the thing about this car: there’s no magical formula. It’s a FWD hot hatch with a turbo 4-cylinder and a stick. No trick differential, no AWD and no crazy technology. So what makes the FiST so damn good?
Step one: TURBO GO WEEEEEEEEE
Now Pierce, you may be saying: wasn’t your previous car an FRS? So wouldn’t anything north of a modern Toyota Prius feel fast? Firstly, shut the fuck up, stop being so mean >:( .Secondly, it’s not about the amount of power (although substantial enough), it’s about the way it hits. I’ll admit, my FiST isn’t stock. It’s got all the hot boy mods pre-installed, perfect for hardparking in the highschool pickup line. Full cobb exhaust, THE BOX intake, blowoff valve, schweet rims and of course the corn-on-the-cobb access port. Short shifter and a few other creature comforts exist, but that’s the meat and potatoes of it. A broccoli head might call it “Stage 1”, I call it a damn good time.
Anyways, engine. The turbo is fairly small, so it spools fairly fast and in low RPM ranges. It almost gives all the benefits of an NA powertrain without any of the turbo drawbacks, but it still lugs a bit off a launch. What else does it do on a launch? TORQUE STEER
Step two: Torque Steer to the Moon
Open diff + silly power to the front wheels = torque steer, everyone knows it. Most would want to fault a car for such an issue, as it hurts drivability, overall speed and make it harder to control. However, in the FiST, torque steer is part of it’s personality. It’s as if the car want to say “I want to goooooooo!! Let me off the chain and run free, master!” and frankly it’s adorable.
Behold: It’s just so damn silly, from the way it looks to the torque steering mess under acceleration, how could it get even sillier?
Step 3: FWD Oversteer
This shit is all about the handling, because if you’re trying to make a fun FWD econobox it better take a turn well since you can’t rip donuts in the Lowes parking lot at midnight. Well I’ve got good news, because the FiST turns INCREDIBLY well, and it’s got a little trick that I’ve learned from countless backroad adventures and a stray autocross or two. Let me lay out the situation:
Pretty neat huh? Expect more, that’s what we pay for here at Mis-Shift.
Anyways, that’s the real party trick this thing has. Want slip angle, crank the wheel sharply INTO the turn and the opposite rear wheel lifts off the ground, decreasing the rear grip dramatically and forcing rear end slip. It’s not just a little bit, either. Despite this, it stays controllable! Just a little puppy wagging it’s tail!
Smash those 3 steps together and you get the Fiesta ST, a silly and fun hot hatch that can be had for under 10k with plenty of character and surprises if you know where to look. It’s got too much power, too stiff of a chassis and too much torque steer, but all these things combine to create a fantastic tossed salad of a car.
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2017 V6 Camaro – Like it or not, its a sports car
So start out, this is my girlfriends car and I didnt have high expectations coming into the car. Everyone know how it is the with V6 and 4 cylinder cars, they’re “less cool”. They’re inehrently wrong for having an incorrect number of cylinders. Many an auto jorunalist has been laughed off for positive comments about V6 pony cars, even when the turbo 4 cylinder foxbody pumped out more hp than the 5.0 V8. But driving this thing has changed my mind about these things, and about the camaro as a whole.
So the camaro, the first thing you see when you get inside of it is what you cant see. The visibility in these things is as bad as they say, albiet significantly better than the earlier generations of camaro if you can beleive that. But other than that its a nice driving position, just as comfy ripping mountain roads as it eating miles, and unlike the V8 it’ll do high 20’s on the highway while only sucking down the finest 87 octane fuel. Quite a cheap thing to keep on the road. It’s packed full of stuff you really would not expect from a decade old base model pony car, you can change the stiffness of the steering on the fly, and in the sport setting (which me and her have never left since she first turned the keys) it has an excellent weight and is not at all inconvenient to use in a parking lot. I didn’t even know it was “sport mode” until I scrolled through menus while bored. The seats are heated and cooled, and its got all the media bullshit you screenophiles so desperately need, albeit in a reasonable 8 inch screen rather than some hideous 30 inch horror show.
Well enough about the stuff you don’t care about, onto the driving experience when you start to push it hard. The transmission is excellent, not quite a dual clutch, but its seriously impressive and its hard to catch it slipping. The 8 speed cracks off quick downshifts and quick up shifts. I’ve never been offended by its response time to a paddle input and i seriously hate most torque converter autos. The 6 speed in the early camaros is totally hopeless, by the time it takes to think about downshifting the newer 8 speed could have changed gears twice. Despite only having okay tires (mid tier all seasons from a reputable brand) it takes all you can throw at it on the road and is just happy to turn in. It’s behavior at the limits is completely docile, the slight groan of the tires fades into an easily remedied under-steer. The rear end is just as happy to wiggle aroud and snap back into place. My first ever autocross run with it I was able to extract solid performance out of it, solely because of how easy it is to drive. Throw 200tw on it and I fear what it would be capable of. My guess is some of the CAM-T guys would be seriously butt hurt by an absolute base model smoking their loud and flashy live axle mustang. The 0-60 is mid to low 6’s, more than enough to have a ton of fun on the road. Tbh the supercharged monster versions don’t appeal all that much to me as street cars, considering how fast the regular SS is. But we all know the new generation of supercharged Camaro’s were built for the track not the street.
For the daily drive there’s truly not much to complain about. The ride could be a little softer, but that would ruin whats so good about this car. The balance between compliance and sharp handling is very well done on this car. Barb won’t be too upset driving this to church because Terry said we only buy MURICAN in this household. Sure she’ll never exceed the speed limit credit to her 1.5 second long reaction time and questionable ability to even drive at all these days, but between the radio, the heated seats and backup cam the number of dents it receives may be small enough to look good from 10 feet away. Credit to Chevy for making such a great car for the spec that nobody really cared about, and with that onto my last remarks about the car.
Every time you drive it, you cant help but know what you’re missing out on. Every time I floor it I think of how much better it would sound if the engine bay was full instead of missing two cylinders. Every time I chuck it into a corner I think about how the lighter and much better LTG motor would be more fun, the turbo 4 cylinder with forged internals, happy to reliably push V8 power with basic bolt ons. You always miss that extra 50-100hp and or -100lbs to the nose you would get if you simply chose the better model either above it or bellow it. The V6 is a strange middle child, enough cylinders to satisfy the boomers who don’t even know what a turbo is, but vastly undercutting the V8 in terms of price. They’re by far the cheapest to buy on the used market. And with all of that, despite it being the worst Camaro of that generation, it still drives a little better than any Mustang I’ve been handed the keys too (a 4.6 3v with heavily modded suspension, and a 3.7 mustang with a 6 speed manual). It is truly a shame that Chevy killed this wonderful legacy off to build some more forgettable electric slop that will be nothing more than an Equinox EV with 800 volts and a 0-60 of 2.whatever. I get it, the next gen Camaro will be faster, but it’s going to weigh 6000-7000lbs and be hopeless on a track. As per usual, as soon as Chevy perfected the Camaro, they sent it off to the gulag.
Rest easy sweet prince, the used market will always love y’all.
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2024 Polestar 2 Long Range Dual Motor – Electric Boogaloo
I THOUGHT YOU WHERE SUPPOSED TO MAKE ME FEEL NUMB!
I had this Swedish-Chinese chimera in sedan form for a week in Norway. So, not only did I get to fuck around with a Polestar 2, but it was a nifty little trial run for the “EV Lyfe”. And what better place to try all that out than a country with fast chargers in seemingly every other small middle-of-bum-fuck town.
So, batten down your arses, ye scallywaggs, it’s Polestar time.
Imma slap you with the stats like a halibut to the face. They aren’t the important bit.
The cars weighs some 47000 lbs (~2125 kg), with 420hp and 564 ft-lb (740 N-m) of torque to move all that mass. It has a 78 kw/h battery, AWD from one motor at either end of the car, and a range of over 550 km (340 miles) according to itself. Will it do 550 km? With me it did more like 460 with AC, heated seats, four passengers and their luggage, a bit of spirited driving, and charging it with typically 50-100 km still within its range estimates.
“BUT MONTY!”, you shout into the void, “THATS A BIG DIFFERENCE!!! THOSE LYING GLOBALIST-”
Shhhhhh hush now.
Come here.
Come closer
Maybe it could do over 500 km on a single charge. Maybe we could’ve been more mindful of the battery a bit. I don’t care. Whatever mileage (or uh… kilometer-age) we got outta that thing between charges was more than enough for the road trip between just south of Oslo, somewhere way in the north and isolated, and then back down to just north Oslo. Without stress either.
“OH BUT MONTY”, you shout, once again into the void, “YOU MUST CHANGE YOUR LIFESTYLE, YOU SUBMIT TO THEIR TYRANICA-”
Shhhhhhhhhhhutthefuckup. I’ll get to all that later. Let’s just go drive this thing together shall we?
Come with me. Let’s us walk up to the car:
The 2 looks a bit odd in my eyes. Well styled in a Volvo kinda way, but it’s not a Volvo. It’s some weird third option that smells and tastes funny. And it’s oddly blocky, unlike its very rounded California made competitor. The car seems to also sit a bit tall, but maybe that’s just me. The front end does away with the blacked out grill from other years. Instead, the front of this car is a monolith of chiseled white plastic and sensors. While the front fascia might look a bit odd now, it does nudge the car away from its Volvo origins a little bit. Though looking at its head and taillights, you can still see the 2 has its mother’s eyes.
Stepping inside, you’re greeted with another somewhat puzzling interior. My eyes tell me it’s well styled. The materials look interesting, color, material, and texture all change around the dash and door cards keeping your mind somewhat invested. It looks well designed and modern. This feels 2024/25 in here, unlike some other cars…
And then, like that Alfa Romeo Gulia from last year, you then start touching things. Suddenly you feel cloth, something that feels like canvas, and a lot of misc plastic. It’s not as cheap feeling like that Alfa. No buttons pop out, nothing rattles around like in the Ford Edge. It’s not low rent. But also, having driven a Tesla Model 3 Dual Motor, this feels a bit underwhelming. Like, give me some wood (or imitation wood). An i3 felt more upscale, and that had recycled paper as decor.
Maybe my expectations were a bit off base with this. The front seats are nice! And almost completely electronically adjustable.
Almost.
Yeah the seat backs are manually adjusted using a knob at the back corner of the chair. I know this isn’t too abnormal but it’s also supposed to compete for Tesla Model 3 and BMW 3 series owners. So uh… weird.
While on the subject of design choices, a few more interesting ones have also been made. Unlike a Tesla, this car has conventional indicator and wiper stalks, so you’ll actually use them when driving. The steering wheel buttons are actually buttons, unlike a lot of modern cars. And the audio controls have a volume knob and actual buttons for pausing, playing, and changing your music. Which is nice.
Direction (so reverse, forward, and neither) is done using this gear stick that looks like a cyperpunk cock ring for someone wanting to roleplay as the 1%. And park is a button next to it.
AC, climate control, and heated seat settings are still locked away in the center display. Mercifully, the screen isn’t too obtuse to use and is fairly responsive.
All in, the controls and UI of this car are pretty straight forward. The learning curve isn’t too dissimilar to any other well thought out ICE car. Unlike my grandpa’s model 3, which had me looking for the turning stalk a few times before remembering to use the stupid buttons. You want a selling point for this thing? It’s a Model 3 but without the bullshit, politics, and obtuse ergonomics to relearn. You just jump in, put it into drive, and uh… go forward.
Lovely they can all be turned the fuck off Being an EV, there is no start button. Not really anyways. You could navigate to a menu that has a “shut off car” option to tap. Touching the audio play button or any button really turns it back on though. Funny thing with EVs, you just get in, the car detects the key is by your ass, and then you can proceed forth.
Proceeding forth:
This car fucks. Obviously it does, it has over 400 hp, AWD, and instant torque. So with little fuss and marginal noise, you’re off to let that M3 driver know that until 100 mph, you’ve got electrons in your balls.
“BUT MONTY!”, cries thee, “ITS A ONE TRICK PONY!”
Yeah. And that trick is still fun. Step on the throttle and almost instantly watch the digital speedometer become a blur of updating pixels in the shape of increasing speed. Your body gets thrown back as the world in front of you silently gets closer.
“One dimensional car” or whatever. Hey when’s the last time you tried to have sex differently? Are you gonna bitch that an M3 is too good in a straight line? While the Polestar 2 does move well enough to make you feel it in your tummy-wummy and gives you a decent sensation of “we ball”, you will get used to it. And you’ll also be aware that your range starts to fall off like a sleep deprived student at an 8 A.M lecture on potential flow theory. What starts to become more impressive is this car’s corner exit abilities and just how smooth the 2 drives.
That EV shove you get when being irresponsible on an on-ramp translates nicely to decent corner exit performance. You can carry decent enough speed into a corner, get the car pointed the right way, and nail the throttle. It grabs on to the tarmac like a scared cat and flings itself out going Mach 6. It’s a different sensation to other (actual) sports cars I’ve driven. In, say an F82 M4, you do your braking and downshifting then hold a gear while you’re heading towards that apex. Let’s say, 3rd gear at 4500 rpm. Then, you feed in throttle and unleash that power as the rear tries to hook up and the front tires straighten out. The power comes on, harder and harder, flick the paddle to 4th, and hunker down for stupid speeds till the next corner.
This polestar isn’t like that. You break, feeling its heavy mass surprisingly decelerate, then hold the throttle at a position that feels ok. Then, it’s an effortless affair to pull your lardass outta that turn. No fuss, just shove and a lot of it.
The Polestar 2, like its Volvo brethren, are all fairly confidence inspiring cars to drive. You can feel the suspension move around when you want to, and when left in its standard setting, the steering wheel also feels quite nice. You can make it feel slightly too light or heavy if that’s your sauce. But as is, you don’t have that much vagueness from the front tires. Little road feel, but like, it’s a Polestar 2 and not the one with Öhlins coilovers.
It’s different to that Model 3 I keep mentioning, in that it feels like a car mid corner, not an imitation of one. Mind you, I didn’t dislike the Model 3 all that much as transportation. However, there is a quite bad numbness to its controls that you just don’t have in its Swedish counterpart. It doesn’t feel like a racing sim wheel with eBay pedals. You can modulate brake and throttle inputs easier and feel resistance when you press down. The steering weight is appropriate for the car and you also get a decent communication back as well. There isn’t any guessing here.
Also, unlike that Model 3, cornering feels more natural. While the Polestar 2’s weight is felt, it doesn’t feel like the car is cornering from underneath your ass. You feel the car talk like you’re in the chassis, not like you’re riding cowboy on the battery pack.
Now, all this being said, it’s not really a performance car. It’s fast, but so are a lot of EVs. It has a low CG, AWD, good HP and torque, but again… it should it’s an EV. So what is it then? It is a sportier sedan, sure. But you aren’t buying a long range dual motor for its cornering prowess. You’d buy that Cayman we keep reviewing. It’s like, 1/2 the weight, 10 times the responsiveness, and 100 times the fun on a backroad.
You can carve up good roads in this thing. I did. And it was fun. Though you do lack theater and the dynamics aren’t focused enough in this model to really make up for it.
This car is meant for commuting and a bit of longer distance driving. And having a cheeky side every now and then for the in between times.
The frunk of mild convenience The Polestar 2 does the whole “daily commuter car” thing pretty well. So, let’s slow down to more sensible driving speeds, calm down our maneuvering, and indulge in the mundane.
The car rides comfortably. Power, when you aren’t being an ass, is effortless. There are no pauses or jolts, just perfectly linear delivery with a slight electric hum. Then… (mostly) silence. Effortless, smooth, and comfortable describes how this car goes about most things.
Even the optional one pedal driving can be smooth once you’re used to it. There’s a bit of a learning curve, especially on the most aggressive regen. You’ll instinctually let off the gas expecting to coast and instead are met with Newton’s 1st law because it does genuinely feel like someone has slammed the brakes. But a bit of practice and whiplash later, it eventually became second nature. It looses its “braking” force at higher speeds, and I wouldn’t really rely on it for spirited driving, but it is a useful little tool the car has to recoup some lost energy.
In Norway, finding working fast chargers was not an issue. It seemed like every town with more than two buildings had charging stations. Most gas stations, parks, garages, parking lots, restaurants, alley ways, hotels, rest stops, hell random islands near the arctic circle whose sole purpose is to connect two bridges have chargers (and usually “quick” or “fast” ones). The chargers are pretty straight forward to use. You enter your deets into a screen for payment, select your desired charge percentage (you can also set that in the car too), plug the car in, and wait for an hour or so.
The plug by the way, is this big, weighty thing that makes me feel like I’m plugging in my spaceship or something in the year 2100. It connects to the car with a satisfying clunk followed by a little light letting you know it’s primed and ready to unload electrons.
Anyways, the nice thing about the overabundance of chargers here is that you can genuinely just go about your day. Plop the car down, go run errands, go grab lunch, and within 45 to an hour, you’ve got enough range to drive somewhere over 450 km (~280 miles or more.). And honestly, that was enough for Norway. With slower speed limits and winding roads, by the time you’ve drained the battery to near 10%, it’s been enough time to warrant a decent break, stretch, meal, and shit.
Range anxiety here was practically non-existent, but you are required to plan your trips out a little more. There are apps that can plot your journey from A to B giving you the quickest route that also intersects chargers. These might be a little clunky at times, but they get the job done. Or you can just do it the fun way by playing connect the dots on Google Maps.
And well, that’s really it on the 2.
It’s a perfectly livable EV sedan, an acceptable alternative to a BMW 3 Series. It’s a Tesla Model 3 devoid of bullshit. The range might be more of a problem in quite a few of U.S. states if you keep off the Tesla Supercharger network. In Norway, the abundance of fast chargers kinda negates this meaning you can almost treat this like a regular internal combustion car. But that almost for me isn’t a deal breaker, especially as daily transportation. For one, if you can charge at home and work, that essentially means you’ve got a “full tank” for most of the day the moment you set off. And I also like to do a bit of route planning whenever I’m off on long drives.
The car does lack the edge that, say, a BMW M340i or even just a 330i might have. The brakes work but aren’t the most natural feeling under hard decceleration. That paired with the lack of noise and build ups between gears means you need to recalibrate your sensation of speed and your entry speed a bit. There is no “3rd gear corner” when you have no gears, and using speed as a reference can get a little nerve racking. But I wouldn’t really expect this thing to have that sort of edge, there’s the 476 HP performance pack for that.
What this car has succeeded at is just being “a car”, but a pretty good one. An EV with minimal learning curves and pretension. Under all that branding, the Polestar 2 is still a Volvo after all.
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A Personal Tale: I Got Chlamydia from Driving a 996 Cabriolet (GoFundMe Link in Description)
HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME
My… dearest consumers…
IT BURNS! PLEASE DEAR GOD IT BURNS
It started like any other day, after low balling Miata owners on Facebook marketplace to make up for my own inadequacies, I went for a stroll to clear my mind. That’s when I saw it… the 996 Cabrio.
Parked in a fine establishment (a Red Robin in a nearly abandoned strip mall), the clouds parted as one of the lord’s rays cast its golden light upon perfection.
My heart raced, my diabetes spiked, and oxygen refused to enter my bloodstream.
Is this… love? (I pondered loudly in my mind, where only the voices entertain me) NAY, that is life.
The owner, being but a steward of perfection and a connoisseur of the gourmet burger menu, recognized my lustful gaze. And after the typical bathroom stall pleasantries afforded only to Porsche 911 ‘dot 1’ owners, the keys to destiny were handed over to my oh so deserved hands.
Unworthy was the touch of my buttocks to the leather seat, as the flat six roared to life. This car… this vessel of the divine… has been coaxed into life! Oh how joy excretes from my every orifice! The thunderous roar of that 3.4L heart, barely contained fury forced through the magic of a Mercedes derived 5 speed.
T-I-P-T-R-O-N-I-C
The feeling of ecstasy is now blinding, the car… this Porsche 911 996.1 Cabriolet… it beckons me forward. I display myself before i— my lawyers have advised me against finishing this sentence.
Anyways, long story short, I now have take Doxycycline daily until the infection goes away, and I’m legally not allowed to be within 100 ft of any 996.1 gen Porsche 911. And what those knuckle dragging troglodytes at court don’t UNDERSTAND IS THAT BARRING ME FROM ACCESSING THE 996.1 IS AKIN TO ROBBING GODS LOVE FROM THIS WORLD! YOU BASTARDS! I HATE YOU AL—
Please donate to my go fund me so that I may once and for all get the voices to stop telling me to buy a 996 by giving in to temptation:
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GM Trademarks ‘Camaro’ in Cambodia
GM TRUTHERS lurking within the depths of the online forum “GM Authority” have recently uncovered news that Chevrolet has register a new trademark for the Camaro nameplate in Cambodia!
We can only speculate as to why this is. Maybe GM needs to renew it and went with the cheapest and marginally legally dubious option. Or, maybe, they’re planning to bring back the Camaro ONLY for the Cambodian domestic market as a spiced up Chevy Spark based hot hatch! But speculation only goes so far when we at MSIMA have the luxury of an underground spy ring at our disposal! Oh the joys of unrestricted internet access and bored ex-North Korean intelligence officers.
And what have our friends learned?
Well, behold Mis-shifted assholes:
Thats right bitches, the Camaro is BACK! But only in Cambodia.
The Camaro will be given new life in Cambodia, thanks to their loyal customer base and unwavering support for the late pony car. The only and as of yet named variant of the upcoming 2026 Cambodian Camaro will spare no expense, offering a reworked LS7 outputting north of 680 HP, active Multimatic dampers similar to what is seen on the Ferrari F80, brakes off the ZR1, and chassis tuning by GM Performance. A new chassis loosely based on the GM Alpha platform will be introduced as well.
Truly no expense has been spared for the 7th Camaro, which is expected for the Cambodian market. As is common knowledge, Cambodians absolutely LOVED the Camaro, with the car accounting for 47% of all vehicle sales in the country. And now their loyalty to the muscle car will not go unrecognized no longer.
We reached out to our contacts within GM for more information who, and I quote “let out a world weary sigh before abruptly hanging up”
We at MSIMA are absolutely ecstatic for the greatest rendition of the Camaro the world has yet to see. We’ve got our flights booked to Phnom Penh.
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Luxury Oil Burning: I thought it was just hype, but I have seen the light.
From the the desk of the skinwalker, who is currently sealed at 6.5 psi under the rocky mountains.
Well it’s been a while since I’ve graced this site with a review but I got a good one for us today. The tale of a new car. As is common for the college student with a few too many fast toys, I have managed to get myself a few speeding tickets. So of course the natrual response is not to get more responsible but to buy a new vehicle, a solution to your previous issue. One that in fact, cannot speed at all. This car came after a much more interesting experience of mine, checking out a kids E36 328i, an automatic without vanos. Could have been a lot better, could have been a lot worse. Even at night the car looked rough so I can’t imagine what was going on with it during the day.
Well in the pursuit of excellence i decinded I would not settle for anything less than the best, or at least a hipppies idea of what was the best from almost 40 years ago. Now my car ownership has 1980’s, 1990’s, 2000’s. Ofc nothing newer, its always better to own 4 shitboxes than to have 1 expensive fancy car, at least I say to myself. There’s a lot to introduce about this car and man it’s a GOOD one (I swear it’s not another pontiac GTO).
I would like everyone in the crowd to welcome my 1991 Mercedes 300D 2.5 Turbo. It was the last of the 2.5 turbo cars in the US, at least the ones that were not in the shape of vans. This car was midway through the W124 years but before the scourge of the biodegradeable wiring harnesses. The powertrain is laregly from the W123 but this is by far the best version of the 2.5 turbo that the US market got. It retains a lot of the bizzareness that those old Mercedes products had, but luckily it makes use of some computer tecchnology. As such the interior controls are electronically operated rather than the cursed vacuum systems from days prior. And it has that old Mercedes bank vault quality to it.
Thankfully all of this madness was not too expensive, owing to the car having a few minor flaws. For the luxury you get, you pay the price in forward progress, because these things are SLOW. Brand new it cracked off a 12 second 0-60, fairly normal for 1991. 215k miles of wear later, its lucky to get under 15 seconds. Twice as slow as the average car these days, but in my opinion I enjoy it. You can’t just make moves, you must plan them, let the slushbox grab one of its 4 gears and lay down the 100 remaining of the original 120 horses. This thing is probably only letting 80 to the wheels after the drivetrain loses of a 35 year old tourque converter. For the first time in my life, I’m actually obeying the speed limit without also being about to fall asleep from boredom.
The first time I drove this car, I knew I needed to have it. The seller looked like the perfect kind of seller, old and kinda bored of it. The description was minimal, just that it ran and drove good. I saw the area that it was listed in and I was very interested. When I pulled up to the car, the driveway had a small bridge over it. I knew this place was not my zip code and not anywhere near my tax bracket. No judgement at all from the happy and passionate seller, he simply told me about everything and let me look all over it. I ran my fingers along the side of it and could not find a single flaw on the frame, just the smallest patches of surface rust typical for any car of that age.
Now sitting inside, the packaging is one of the most impressive parts about this thing. It feels much bigger than it is. The car skrinks around you when you are manuvering in tight spaces, the boxiness allows you to perfectly place every single corner of the car.
Now for the fun part, I waited for the schreeching of the glowplug alarm to stop, and the car cranked over a few times then quickly and happily started right up. It clattered a bit, and a little bit more than normal. But once you touch the gas all of the ills of an unabalanced five cylinder go away and it sings a quiet but mechanical song, smooth and bizzare sounding. As I looked around it I found that everytrhing worked except for the AC, which is sadly, an R12 system rather than a legal to posses R134a system. I’m happy, and I drive it home
By the end of the next weekend, I have it registered, thank the state of SC for making things comically easy and just having everything at the DMV (but man, it would sure be nice if the information online was organized in a way thats comprehensible and up to date).
After cleaning it up a bit, zero love was lost, in fact quite the contrary, more was gained. I stuck it on a lift and it was somehow even better than I expected it to be. Looking around underneath all of the flaws it had became immediatley apparent. The engine mount was a bit worn out, it was a little louder than normal because of an exhaust leak. Luckily, all should be easy fixes. It also has the occasional minor cosmetic issue but is otherwise a great car. There are definitley parts that it needs, but none of them are super expensive. This car should make a great driver for me, I look forwards to enjoying it more.
