Small / economy car deathwatch: we've passed "peak econobox" again

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

If you get furloughed, I suggest creating a Youtube lecture series on your knowledge of the industry. Sandy M is pretty bad at talking on camera, yet I'm always looking forward to hearing what he has to say.

I have zero interest in YouTube.

I really doubt we will get furloughed. I'm on "vacation"* in Costa Rica but my colleagues have been working remotely for a week. Even in 2009 when the plants were almost shutdown the engineering staff kept working to complete projects and leapfrog the competition that cancelled projects and laid off workers. Instead of layoffs we cut the salary workers back to 4 days a week with a 20% pay cut. It is nice to work for a company with some forward thinking and some regard for their employees.

*My wife and I are in Costa Rica attending an immersion Spanish language school.

[redpoint5]

Well I'm envious of what sounds like a lovely trip. CR is my favorite place so far, and I always wanted to achieve at least a 5 year old level of Spanish fluency. My brother in law is Mexican, so I have a chance.

Anyhow, I have little interest in Youtube also, except that I find a lot of valuable content. I decided to document a couple of projects and did a horrible job from a production standpoint since I shot with a handheld dashcam, had a single continuous shot, didn't rehearse what I had to say, lighting was bad... I got thousands of views and I think inspired at least a couple people to experiment.

The wafer fab I worked at in 2009 furloughed production workers for 4 weeks on a rotating basis to keep production going. My team had some hours cut, but not many since we were already running at nearly the bare minimum to provide 24x7 IT support. We were allowed to make up the lost hours by cashing out vacation.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Two examples of why I believe NHTSA hates small cars more than rednecks actually do...

[freebeard]

My brother has driven a Suzuki hardtop since new (1984?). It's the earlier model before they widened the track — He's only rolled it once.

[JSH]

We got that generation of Jimny in the USA as a Samurai. Then it was replaced by the slightly larger Sidekick / Tracker.

[freebeard]

My brother feels about the Samurai the same as I feel about the VW Beetle.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by freebeard

My brother feels about the Samurai the same as I feel about the VW Beetle.

I like them. I would love to have a TDI swapped one. I also wish the LWB models were more plentiful in the USA.

[Bicycle Bob]

What's the problem with the ASIA MPI Towner? It makes their license plates look fat? All those delta tuk-tuks have deadly handling, but are seldom overdriven.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Bicycle Bob

What's the problem with the ASIA MPI Towner? It makes their license plates look fat? All those delta tuk-tuks have deadly handling, but are seldom overdriven.

You must be used to see pictures of the Daihatsu HiJet (on which the Asia Motors Towner was based) with the Japanese-standard plates which are taller and narrower than the Brazilian and European ones.