I heard on ABC News (Australian, not U.S.) that the sharks were cookie cutters, which is peak comedy to me.

That’s just the average price for the segment. Even the WRX or GR Corolla can go up to the high $40ks with enough options, and then you’re stuck sitting in a Subaru/Toyota interior. The Civic Type R is a decent bargain, but I’d happily pay the premium for the Acura variant to have it be less ugly.

Wrong. The Bronco Sport is actually the true Escape all along. The 3rd gen and current Escape are Kugas in ‘Escape’ clothing. More proof that ‘One Ford’ has never worked.

To be fair it’s not over the top given current pricing.

Disappointingly lacking anything Aussie.

That said, a pre-2010 I4 Korean car with port injection is a pretty decent option with a lower entry fee. Plenty of Accents, Elantras, and Spectras still roam the roads in the lower income parts of town so clearly they’re durable and easy to fix if less reliable outright than a Japanese car.

No Aussie love? Holden stuck with wagons for a lot longer than most, and RWD V8 ones at that.

There’s always confusion whether a Mazda 5 is a wagon or an SUV

I wish Taiwanese Luxgen would bring their new Foxconn-designed N7 EV over. It seems quite practical and can’t be all that expensive, and it has to be better than the Vinfast.

His body kits for the 6er and SL were, uh, not all that great.

Right, but I can’t think of a single production car they’ve designed. They’re a contract builder who also does concept car work, like Valmet meets EDAG.

Magna doesn’t design cars, they’re a contract manufacturer only. They also make the new Supra/Z4, the G-Wagen, and several Jag models.

Fair enough, but I do understand the pain of trying to use Hertz with the long lines and getting not what you expect every time. I think they need to temper their expectations and just get a 2000s beater Japanese car like a used RAV4 or CR-V that isn’t worth much anyway. Being back twice a year means maybe four to…

I think they just want something that once they get home, assuming it sits on a battery tender, they can turn the key and it’ll start. Getting a minor service every time you’re back seems like a small price to pay for that, and I’d think their MIL would be willing to come by and drive it every now and then, basically…

It just seems a little too close for comfort given that they’ll be making the K3 in Monterrey, Mexico whereas the Pegas was CDM. I guess where I live is basically Mexico-lite so that would explain the current Rio sedan’s popularity.

Guess Nissan will be laughing all the way to the bank, they certainly know the segments they cater to. I certainly see more Versas than Kicks around.

Will it be replaced by the K3? At least down here in border land the Rio, the outgoing Accent sedan, and the Versa are some of the most common cars around. Seems foolish to abandon even a low-margin segment when you’ve got only a single competitor.

With shite build and materials quality. Either the margins must be enormous or those doors are really expensive to make.

According to CPI’s inflation calculator it makes perfect sense. In 1999 a USD$15k Daewoo Nubira wagon would cost USD$29k in today’s money. Nearly $30k for a Daewoo! The real problem is the wage to inflation gap.