"Look," he says, indicating. "The steering wheel still works." He turns the wheel back and forth slightly and the car shifts in kind. "The brakes still work." He taps the brakes ever so slightly, and you feel the car slow down just a bit. "So what's the problem?"
"At some point," you say, "to continue traveling, we're going to need to speed up again. We will need an engine to do that. A car without an engine is not a functioning car."
"I still don't see how you can say that the car isn't functioning," he says. "Are we or are we not traveling down the highway at 75--well, 71, now--miles per hour?"