I thought this was an interesting recall I haven't seen before:

Volkswagen Group must recall 500,000 diesel cars for cheating on smog tests

Some models had “defeat devices,” which selectively turned on emissions controls.

http://arstechnica.com/cars/2015/09/volkswagen-group-must-recall-500000-diesel-cars-for-cheating-on-smog-tests/

VWAG did NOT handle this well. The cars in normal operation were releasing 40X the level of NOx as they were when the special "testing mode" was enabled. Supposedly, they were questioned, lied about it, and then finally fessed up once CARB and EPA had them dead to rights with the emissions data. The maximum allowable fine is $18B.

Actually VW fessed up when the EPA threatened to stop sales of 2016 models. VW obviously didn't care what the data said.

Ah ok, I had only glanced at the story before. Makes sense, that would do it. I'm curious how this will shake out. It's obviously not nearly as bad as 100+ deaths caused by a shitty ignition switch, but the PR is still going to sting. When you think diesel, you think VW.

Incidentally, the French are now desperately trying to get diesels off their roads after promoting them for decades because of increased fuel efficiency and lower CO2 output (once the increased mileage is factored in) compared to gasoline. Now they are choking to death on air quality comparable to Shanghai. Turns out NOx is worse than CO2. Oops.

Crazy how bad and how widespread the air quality is in China, but I'm assuming a time adjusted version of Appalachia 100 years ago to be in a similar state.

Or pretty much anywhere during the industrial revolution. London "fog" was not fog.

http://io9.com/5955311/the-london-fog-that-killed-over-ten-thousand-people

UH OH.

2013 Scion FR-S (automatic, base model)
My friend has one, and he let me drive it.

Exterior
I like it. His is orange with tinted windows, and I actually really like the color. I'm usually not a fan of bright colors on cars, but it works here.

Interior
Maybe I've been spoiled by the Mustang, but holy shit is this cheap. Like, wow. I think the radio is out of my old 2004 Civic. That being said, the really important stuff, like the steering wheel, seats, gauges, and overall ergonomics are great. The steering wheel is the perfect size. Kinda weird that it didn't have steering wheel audio controls, but whatever.

Driving Impressions
I'll do bullet points

- LOVED the size. So tiny!

- Steering on center wasn't as direct as I would have liked. I was actually somewhat disappointed by it. I mean, it was better than the Mustang for sure, but not as good as the BMWs I drove.

- Car is fun at pretty much every speed, which is not something I can say about the Mustang. I mean, when you're doing 45 in the FRS, it feels like doing 110 in the Mustang.

- Suspension is phenomenal. In fact, I'd say this car had the best suspension of any car I've ever driven, including the glorious 135i.

- I  squealed the tires at basically every hard turn, but they're the stock ones. I'd probably switch to Pilot Super Sports.

- No body roll. Corners completely flat. Fantastic chassis.

- Pretty loud on the inside, especially at highway speeds.

- Merging and passing on the highway left we wanting more power. It's not terrible, but after having a car with so much low end torque I was wanting more.

- I had the car in sport mode, and I never felt like the auto was a problem. The paddle shifters were actually quite responsive.

Overall, a pretty great little car.