Jalopnik's Ten Most Discussed Stories Of 2008 [Jalopnik 2008 Year In Review]

We're proud to host the best commenters in the automotiverse. Don't believe us? Read any of the comment threads from Jalopnik's ten most discussed stories from 2008 below.

Yesterday we ran our list of the top automotive stories of 2008 and earlier we ran the most popular stories list. Now we get to move on to another favorite "year in review" list — the ten most discussed posts of 2008. These are the stories you, our readers, found so fascinating or controversial you couldn't stop talking about them. Are the stories you couldn't surf away from on this list? Let's hear what you have to say in the comments below. Additionally, as we tried to do with the earlier list, we've tried to divine what these stories say about the average Jalopnik reader at the bottom of the list.

Click On The Images Below To Read The Stories

10.) I Am The Guy With A Lamborghini In The Basement

Story: The idea of a man bringing to life his dream car, the Lamborghini Countach, is discussion-worthy in and of itself. But doing so in a sealed basement over the course of a decade and digging a hole to unearth the Lambo is something else all together.
Date: October 28th
How Many People Read This Story: 155,317
How Many Comments On This Story: 263
How It Ranks Among Jalopnik Most Popular Stories: 3rd

9.) Who Can Do Better Than A 38K Honda Accord?

The Story: For this Question Of The Day we wanted to know if our readers could drive the MSRP up on an optioned car higher than our $38,000 Honda Accord. The best results were listed in The Ten Most Outrageous Car MSRPs. You can't imagine what they want for a non-turbo Cayenne.
Date: February 8th
How Many People Read This Story: 8,379
How Many Comments On This Story: 271
How It Ranks Among Jalopnik Most Popular Stories: Not Ranked

8.) 2010 Pontiac G8 Sport Truck: The El Camino Is Back

Story: The El Camino is back. What more can we say? We'll forget the program may actually be canceled because, at the time, few cars on the horizon seemed as exciting to us (or you, apparently) as the Pontiac G8 ST.
Date: March 15th
How Many People Read This Story: 219,763
How Many Comments On This Story: 280
How It Ranks Among Jalopnik Most Popular Stories: Not Ranked

7.) Danica Patrick First Woman To Win Indy Car Races, Proves She's Not Just A Pieces Of Meat

Story: Danica Patrick, America's racing sweetheart, shows all those who though she was merely the Anna Kournikova of racing (i.e. more show than go) by becoming the first woman to win an IndyCar race.
Date: April 20th
How Many People Read This Story: 68,704
How Many Comments On This Story: 292
How It Ranks Among Jalopnik Most Popular Stories: Not Ranked

6.) The Ten Ugliest Cars Currently Sold In The United States

The Story: There's ugly and there's U-G-L-Y. They say Helen launched a thousand ships. These cars are so ugly they launched more than 300 comments.
Date: July 23rd
How Many People Read This Story: 244,353
How Many Comments On This Story: 309
How It Ranks Among Jalopnik Most Popular Stories: 9th

5.) Six-Wheeled Covini C6W Heading To Production

Story: When you hear of a vehicle with six wheels you probably think of a dually pickup truck or maybe a dump truck. In Italy, the dream of a six-wheeled sports car is one of the few exotic car fantasies still unrealized.
Date: December 10th
How Many People Read This Story: 564,231
How Many Comments On This Story: 313
How It Ranks Among Jalopnik Most Popular Stories: 2nd

4.) What Is Your Region's DBag Ride Of Choice

Story: What do the douches in your area drive? Using the very scientific and representative "Jalopnik reader" meter we used this info to make the Official Jalopnik Map Of United States Vehicular Douchebaggery.
Date: August 27th
How Many People Read This Story: 7,886
How Many Comments On This Story: 318
How It Ranks Among Jalopnik Most Popular Stories: Not Ranked

3.) What's Your Fastest Autobahn Run?

Story: If you've ever been to a bar, posted on a forum or driven a car and then been in a room with other people you've probably gotten into the "how fast have you driven" discussion. People really like answering this question.
Date: September 11th
How Many People Read This Story: 6,080
How Many Comments On This Story: 345
How It Ranks Among Jalopnik Most Popular Stories: Not Ranked

2.) The Ten Scariest Looking Cars Of All Time

Story: Spooky, scary cars were the topic of the hour on Halloween Eve and, as evidenced by the high commenter traffic, everyone had an opinion about what Darth Vader would truly drive.
Date: October 30th
How Many People Read This Story: 505,874
How Many Comments On This Story: 349
How It Ranks Among Jalopnik Most Popular Stories: 4th

1.) How Jalopnik Is Your Car?

What happens when a few Jalopnik writers get together with a few beers? A complicated scoring system to help you determine the Jalopness of your ride. What's even crazier than the creation of the list itself is what followed: hundreds of responses. This was our most discussed item of the year by more than 150 comments.
Date: January 22nd
How Many People Read This Story: 11,984
How Many Comments On This Story: 506
How It Ranks Among Jalopnik Most Popular Stories: Not Ranked

If there's a common thread in the most popular comment threads it's automotive knowledge, followed closely by a strong desire to share hilarious and absurd stories. These posts feature our commenters sharing some piece of obscure automotive knowledge, like the existence of a rare and spooky looking Chrysler, or retelling a strange experience, like getting a diesel Peugeot up to 120 mph downhill with a tailwind in rural Kentucky. Most of the comment threads above read like a weird and wonderful oral history, an organic artifact of our shared car culture. They may not be the most popular stories, but they sure make things more fun 'round these parts.

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