Okay, Colonel Pedant. And for the record, I would absolutely say “you voted for him” or “we voted for him.” 

Okay, so what’s your reasoning for the Accord and Camry? Both are cars that could be literal shit, and people would still buy them in droves, on the name/reputation alone. Plus both cars have been refreshed recently, with both companies spending significant effort to make the cars the best that they have ever been.…

Because he is a buyer, and overall in the market, buyers are unwilling to buy the Fusion during a transaction that makes money for Ford. I’m dealing in statistics here, large numbers. For example, if I said Americans voted for Obama during the 2008 elections. Does that mean that every single person in the US voted for…

Well, the market has shown that there AREN’T customers in similar circumstances in the coming year or 2. Ford can’t move Fusions without putting money on the hood. Legacy’s, even being anemic, are flying off the shelves. Even the Accord, sells all day long because it rides its own coattails for reputation, is having…

I can be so sure because no one was considering them without incentives. The 200,000 that were sold were good enough, but by and large they were sold because they had a lot of money on the hood. By and large, this is how the market was responding.

You weren’t going to consider a Ford sedan anyway. Just like all of the people here whining about manual transmission brown wagons. If you weren’t going to consider the car at any price, then there’s no point catering the product to you if you weren’t going to be a customer.

I think, that’s the point. 

But consumers are already in the Escapes, CR-V’s, Foresters/Outbacks, CX-5's, etc. So unlike in 2008, people aren’t going to have to sell off their existing vehicles for something with better fuel economy. And even if they do, they are just going to buy less often.

It doesn’t matter how many they sold. They had to put so much money on the hood to get them to move. If Porsche dropped the price of the 911 to $40,000 then they would probably sell 5 million in the first year. Between all of the enthusiasts, and everyone that wants to own a Porsche, they would have to change all of…

Even with larger vehicles, look at the difference between a 2008 vs 2018 Expedition. 18mpg highway vs 24mpg, that’s a 50% increase. Overall combined mpg went from 14 to 20. The Raptor went from an abysmal 12mpg combined to 16mpg, and when talking about mileage at those numbers, that’s like $1,000 less a year in fuel…

And from the people that *I* work with, there is a huge increase! People’s Expeditions are going from 14mpg to like 21. The GM I4 might be the exception that proves the rule when you drastically downsize the engine, but moderately downsized engines, such as the V6 Ecoboost, are getting great fuel mileage.

No, I mean Portland. Go google “Boston most racist city” to see how bad it is in these places that you consider to be bastions of progressivism. Read this article about Portland:

Examples:

Auto interest absolutely tracks the Fed rate. At the end of the day, whether you’re talking auto-only lenders like Ford Finance, or you’re talking about your local neighborhood credit union, they have to borrow money to then pass on to you. And no business on Earth is in the game of losing money.

The Fed has raised interest rates a bunch. 2 years ago, my credit union gave me a 1.9% loan on a 4 year old car! Today, they won’t give any better than 3.5% on new cars, or 3.8% on used cars. Go look at the Federal Reserve rate history.

No, they aren’t doing anything to make up for it. Interest rates are set by the Federal Reserve, and the Fed kept rates at nothing for 10 years following the recession. They’ve increased rates 7 times alone in the past 2 years and are going to keep rising.

It’s a subvented rate. They are losing money on borrowing from the Fed, so that they can sling metal out the door. They know that they’re losing money on the financing, but they are selling the car, plus service, plus parts, plus keeping a customer, etc.

This is extreme and ignores that you can use debt to your advantage. If you have good credit and are properly funding your retirement accounts, it would be foolish to slow down your saving towards retirement, in order to save up cash at savings account rates to buy that car. Time in the market beats timing in the…

The longer you stretch a loan, the higher the interest rate. That letter writer is lying to themselves, and telling themselves that yeah they need the longer term so that they have lower payments but aren’t at risk for a repo, but just around the corner they’re going to start budgeting better, or get that…

Eh. I’ve seen all kinds of whining and complaining online. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned, it’s to not listen to enthusiast boards, because they have nothing to do with the success of a vehicle. Enthusiasts are a vocal minority online, and they are by and large, unwilling to put their money where their mouth…