I got mine in July. Espresso Pop, I got a license plate that says “COFEE BN”
those traces are to unstick frozen wipers, they don’t de-fog the entire windshield. You still have to have the defroster vents on any car sold here as required by FMVSS 103.
and in case you’re under the impression that manuals are more common in EU because they’re somehow inherently “better,” you should consider that the average car in Europe has traditionally been markedly smaller and far less powerful than the average car in North America. When you have a 1 liter naturally aspirated gas engine, you have no power to spare running an automatic trans.
EPA Tier II emissions regulations mandate expensive emissions control equipment on diesels. They may get better mpg even in light of that, but you really need to look at whether or not the fuel savings pay for the added cost.
I have a Toyota Prius. I like it overall and love the gas mileage. I drive around 400 miles per week or 20k per year so the Prius is actually paying for itself to a small degree. My last car was a Ford Focus, I liked it but at 180,000 miles and down to 23 mpg on average it was time to move on. Now I average 46 mpg.
I’m unimpressed with most diesels, especially as the price per gallon is significantly higher then regular gas in NJ.
I detest automatic transmissions because if they have issues it can cost more than I care to pay for an entire car purchase to repair, comparatively manuals are dirt cheap to repair. [no lie, my dad ditched a car becuse to repair the tranny was almost $8k on one of the auto/sort of manual trannys on his last car. He got a whole new car for $17k to replace it.] And I do not want a euro GAS engine - read my post, I want DIESEL MANUAL. And oddly enough those wires are in the whole windshield, not just under the wiper area. Knowing that it is illegal in Germany to sit and let the motor run to warm up the car and thaw out the windshield, one might think that the wires enhanced the defogging of the windshield just like the rear window ones they oddly enough look exactly like.
And yes, I would prefer the diesel manual instead of a hybrid because I know exactly the crap that is produced by the manufacture of the extensive batteries used in a hybrid, and I know what crap is generated by the disposal of the extensive batteries used by hybrids. [or outright electric vehicles] and I prefer not to burden the environment with it.
/me wanders off wondering if I am shouting down a well and the world ignoring the benefits of a plain simple diesel manual vehicle.
It is? How are you supposed to help get all the ice and whatnot off your windshield so you can, you know, SEE in order to safely drive?
Are all the makes on the list available in the US or is it “here’s a list of makes I can think of”?
Defroster Wires in Front Windshield. Huh. News to me. Wonder how expensive the windshield is to replace…
As we have snow and ice 8 months out of the year, this would be pretty nice.
2012 MINI Cooper ‘S’. Special ordered in September '11 and received November '11.
2008 Nissan Altima. Smooth ride, and gets better fuel mileage than the Subaru Impreza it replaced. My only knocks on the thing so far are that they are common as dirt around here, and the owner’ manual sez that if a headlight burns out you have to take it to the dealer to replace it. What the hell?
Idling is illegal here, too, but it’s kind of left to the driver’s discretion (which means that all kinds of assholes idle their cars for half an hour before they drive so they can sit in a warm car, or leave it idling while they shop).
I do every morning before I head out. March 2nd and it was -6 F this morning. I do live in the sticks so I’m not worried about theft.
2006 Chrysler Sebring Touring. It’s my first car and was also the funded-by-parents car, so I didn’t really have too much choice. Not that I’m whining about it! It’s a good car and it has served me well.
I don’t get why letting your car warm up at idle so you don’t freeze inside of it before you drive it on extremely cold days or to help melt ice/snow off your windshield before you clear it off so you can see is being an asshole. Or frankly why it should be against the law. Now, letting your car idle outside while you’re in a store shopping? That’s not cool, and its kinda stupid (thieves) unless there’s someone else in the car staying warm while they are waiting for you.
Me neither. Why should anyone else care?
The only downsides I can see to letting a car idle are that it contributes to noise and air pollution and wastes gas. But a modern, well-maintained car shouldn’t be noisy or pollutey; and it’s the person who’s choosing to let the car idle who’s paying for the wasted gas.
I don’t see it as wasted at all.
From cruising around the net, if you just do it long enough to warm up, say 15 minutes, it’s not that much gas.
I am mildly surprised there are no Porsches (I suppose they might not be people’s daily drivers?) but quite surprised there are no Hummers.
I see a lot of hummers around here when I’m out and about, and I think “wow there are a lot of Hummers around.” But I guess just around where I live - not in the world at large 
I don’t see the Doper community being much on driving those giant GM “fuck you mobiles”.
A Ford. Always a Ford. Don’t entirely know why, but it goes back to Ford’s racing program in the mid-60s.
There’s always going to be inadvertent omissions of one sort or another (I already have 45 of them up there)-I basically went to Wikipedia and copied over every make I recognized (what surprised me are all the two-bit car makers in for ex. Rumania-I would have assumed that they would all be buying Volkswagens or Toyotas or something). So yes it is an American-biased list I guess, tho I put up as many European ones that I thought appropriate.