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So long as there's rhyme and reason to the numbering scheme, I have no problem with it.

BMW does this, and it's awesome. The first digit is the body style (3 is small, 5 is mid, 7 is large), and the next 2 digits are the engine displacement.

Except when they aren't; these days, the next 2 digits may, or may not, have any connection to the engine size. For example, both the BMW UK page giving technical data for the 3 series and the BMW USA page for building your own car, after selecting the 3 series sedan indicate that both the 320i and the 330i have a 2-litre turbo 4, with the 330i just having a more powerful version.

Yeah, it's pretty simple: don't get a car with OnStar (I think there's a competing service out there like this from one of the other makers)

I'm afraid your information is out of date there. Maybe it's different where you are, but if you look through the web site of almost any mid-range or high-end brand here in the UK, connectivity features are all the rage and pretty much everyone now has them.

Audi has Audi Connect.

BMW has various features including Teleservices and Emergency Call.

Volvo has Sensus.

Ford has Ford SYNC.

And the list goes on. Some of these seem, at the moment, to be primarily about things like hooking in your phone, presumably so you can do exciting things like kill someone while distracted by your car awkwardly mispronouncing the e-mail you just received. A few, the Volvo Sensus for example, sound downright creepy to me in terms of auto-updating software in your vehicle without any user interaction.

And if you think every major car manufacturer and every major car insurer isn't eyeing up the possibilities of phoning home with driver performance data whether you like it or not, I know a prince in Nigeria who has a really great offer that might interest you.

Space requirements.

Biggest DDR3 SO-DIMM modules I could find were 4 GB. They are 30 mm x 66.7 mm and the standard allows for

The DDR3 SO-DIMM is designed for a variety of maximum component widths and maximum lengths, refer to the applicable raw card for exact componet size allowed. Components used
in DDR3 SO-DIMMs are also limited to a maximum height (as shown in dimension "A" of MO-207) of 1.35 mm. [page 19]

You now have an absolute minimum size of 2,701.35 mm^3 (1.35 mm x 30 mm x 66.7 mm), or 675.3375 mm^3/GB. This is a very very idealized minimum by the way.

An Intel 2½" drive is 49,266.28 mm^3 (100.4 mm x 7 mm x 70.1 mm) and currently maxes out at 160 GB leaving you with 307.91425 mm^3/GB. That's 46% of the space that would be needed for DDR3 RAM. Add to that that Intel's 2nd generation SSDs are only using one side of the PCB, and you can expect the storage space requirements to be halved.

Then there's the fact that the SSDs are directly replaceable. In other words, they don't need to rebuild the computer, buy super special boards or anything like that - you can replace a harddrive with an SSD without having to spec out a new supercomputer.

In the end, if you wanted to replace the system with something that could provide 1 TB of RAM per node, they would need a VERY expensive system. Even with 8 GB modules, you would need to somehow fit 128 of them onto a board. I'd really love to see the mother- and daughter-boards involved with that.

In the end it doesn't just come down to raw price or speed of the storage device (RAM vs SSD vs HDD vs tape), but also all the other factors involved, such as space, power, heat and the stuff you need to use it (i.e. a brand new super computer that can support 1 TB RAM/node vs 48 GB at the moment.

Or to use a really bad car analogy, some company has found out that using a BMW M5 Touring Estate gives them faster deliveries than using a Ford Transit. Now you're suggesting that they should be delivering stuff via aeroplanes. Yes, it's much faster, but you need a brand new transportation structure built up around this, which you also need to factor into your cost assessments.

They aren't identical. The heavier, lower-revving diesel hurts performance. Show me a production diesel that performs as well as it's gasoline counterpart, and (if it exists) you'll be showing me a much more expensive car.
I present you the 330d BMW. Although not quite as fast as the 330i it is very close and for casual driving it feels faster as it has max torque (500NM!!) available at low revs

from the UK site

330d
Model: 330d SE
OTR Price: £30,690
Fuel: Diesel
BIK (%): 23% (26%)
CO2 (g/km): 160 (175)
Combined fuel consumption (mpg): 46.3 (42.8)
Performance (hp): 231
0-62mph (secs): 6.7 (6.8)

Model: 330i SE
OTR Price: £30,240
Fuel: Petrol
BIK (%): 22% (22%)
CO2 (g/km): 173 (173)
Combined fuel consumption (mpg): 39.2 (39.2)
Performance (hp): 272
0-62mph (secs): 6.1 (6.3)

The difference between the UK and the US on this is that although there may be times that it would be useful to have a big vehicle for hauling things around, it would be a complete and utter pain in the arse the rest of the time.

The UK has a population density of 250 people per square kilometre compared to 32 in the US, and most of our city centres are many hundereds of years old, which basically means that our streets are quite a bit thinner than yours and there's more cars on 'em. Many people in cities (including
myself) don't have off-street parking so it's a case of trying to find a space on the street fairly close to your house.

That coupled with a road tax related to engine size and petrol (sorry, gas) costing close to $6/gallon means that people just don't buy the behemoths that you see on US roads. The closest it tends to get are large 4x4s like these ones that would be dwarfed by your American SUVs.

I've got a Toyota Corolla Verso, which has up to seven seats to fit my family of six, and yet is only 14 feet long and has a 1.8 litre engine. If need to haul stuff, I can put all the seats down which creates quite a large space in the back. If I need to haul something really big, I'll just hire a van. Sure, it'd be nice not to have to do that, but have something big for everyday driving? In London? Forget about it!

The best are yet to come.

The new generation of diesel cars, whether they be common rail, turbocharged or direct injection, can offer extremely high performance with very low fuel consumption. For example, the BMW 330d has bucket loads of torque 288lb-ft at a low 3,000rpm and 184bhp - that helps make it a genuine performance diesel - try 0-100km/h in 7.2s!.

Within the next few years BMW, Audi and VW plan to add high performance diesel cars to their lineups as well as to their upper-luxury models.

On a related note BMW have also just introduced the hydrogen powered 750hL. Cleaner even than diesel.

Stay tuned!