This week on The Best of Car Talk, Mary loaded her Mustang’s trunk with compost two months ago. Her husband says it’s rotting the floor, but Mary wants to keep the compost all winter for ballast. One added wrinkle: Mary got the Mustang because her husband works for Ford—at least, for the time being. Elsewhere, Carla would love to escape from Alaska for a bit, but the fact that her truck will only drive backwards is making it difficult. Also, can Kathy figure out her Stratus’s burnt popcorn smell without asphyxiating her sons? And is Justin’s engine making noise, or is he just hearing people laughing a him for driving an old Beetle? All this, plus a plea for more civil Hate Mail, this week on the Best of Car Talk.