You can derive lots of relatively clean, emissions reduced hydrogen from fission too, if only the pearl-clutchers would stop whinging about how nuclear is apparently even worse for the environment than coal.

For my grandparents it was a Tercel, but yeah.

But if you charge it regularly and commute locally then you basically have an EV that does all the miles and a gas car with, like, 5000 miles on it. It really depends on the use case. Most hybrids see much higher mileages (see mk2 Priuses with >200k miles) since the computers that oversee the ICE engine are generally k…

Why would I throw away my perfectly functioning gas car that has at least another ten years and 100k miles in it? Maybe then an EV will make sense, but I’ll probably find a nice used 2023 XC90 PHEV because buying brand new cars sucks.

Are manuals really that hard to find? OP’s wife suggested a Subaru, and a quick search shows that in Colorado there are several near or within budget that fit the requirements with a manual, and they’re not exactly performance machines with the base H4. You could even get a base Mazda6, though that won’t be AWD. 

To be fair 11s to 60 vs 9.5s to 60 is fairly minimal difference, and I’d argue the former is perhaps verging on the dangerous side in terms of highway merges. Besides, a wagon has much more room for the inevitable college move (I speak from experience) and there are only five seats in either car anyway!

Right, maybe we’re just talking two different points. My thought is at $15k you could pick up any number of new-ish, non-enthusiast manuals even if you have to look harder (Crosstrek, Outback, Soul, Renegade, Golf, Accord, etc.) but you have some options and wiggle room whereas if you’re shopping under $5k you have to…

Here, buy this fake version of a super ugly special edition that doesn’t even have authenticity on its side, that’ll make you feel better! /s

and old cars like that bus aren’t exactly safe either.

Counterpoint: why the fuck not? My parents got me a cheap auto (beat up old V50) to learn to drive on and I’ll always be incredibly grateful for that, but it means that I’ve never learned to drive stick and my options to learn now are limited. Sure, it’s not a critical skill, but it’s still a fun one to have, and now…

Are you even looking? The shape of the cladding, the seperated upper and lower grille elements, the overall body shape, the DLO treatments, even some of the surfacing...I’m not saying they’re exact, but you have to be pretty dense not to see the blatant similarity.

This is why urls on license plates are bad.

don’t know why it wasn’t more popular.

It’s even been imitated, no less!

I guess I mean that Volvo design has stayed pretty similar. For sure some graphic elements date it, but if you swapped a bumper and headlights it’d be hard to tell unless you were really into Volvos.

Hot take, the Gran Turismo was better and prettier than the California anyway. And cut-rate is no bad thing when it means you get one of the prettiest four-doors ever with a Ferrari V8:

Maserati was a different company then. All their Pininfarina designed cars were great, basically ‘luxe’ Ferraris. Nowadays they just seem like really expensive FCA products with all that entails. When it first came out Giorgio at least gave Alfa a bit of its own voice in the Stellantis quagmire.

I’m glad you prefer the inscrutable button/touch panel over physical HVAC knobs, but that’s just not for me. Also, who tf put the analog clock there? And what’s with the hideous fake vent in front of the passenger seat?

It’s called a joke, silly. Besides, wouldn’t be the first time Chrysler tried selling LSVs.

Not sure about Costco, but my parents are small business owners and used to go when it was Price Club (pre-merger) which was businesses-only for a time.