I’m greatly enjoying the recurring “kids vote on NCoCP” feature!

Lol. Exactly. For us regulars, the articles exist to provide a platform for us to bloviate in the comments.  

Andrew - I like this review format. Brief, to-the-point, hits on the highs and lows clearly. Most importantly, you seem to be evaluating the car based strictly on its context (price and class competitors) rather than complaining about how it falls short in comparison to cars that cost twice as much. 

TIL what a cilice is. Nice. 

I clearly am not up in the 80s Acura market - I thought this seemed like a nice price (the rest of the responses tell me I’m on crack). This is a great looking car, and V6 plus 5MT is a good combo. This is the era of Hondas that will last forever if you put in minimal effort.

Also, holding something back initially seems like a great way to hype up the vehicle and boost flagging sales mid-cycle, if that becomes an issue. I think it’s clear that ford will be able to sell as many of these as they can build for at least the first couple years. But smart to hold a few cards to the vest so that…

I completely agree. I had a pretty loaded Fusion Hybrid a couple years ago from Hertz...it was really nice (in a boring way). Only big gripe was the moronic trunk setup.

I think the statistics are that people are generally enduring longer (duration, at least) and more congested commutes now than they were 20 years ago, let alone 30-40 years ago. There are a lot of people who are not inclined to work the clutch for 45 minutes of stop and go traffic twice a day.

Exactly. $45k gets you a Mustang GT (non-Premium) with PP2. That will give you a 6MT and back seats, as an added bonus. 

I agree 100%. I just do not understand the draw of spending in the mid-40s for a tuned Mini Cooper. ESPECIALLY a two-seat Mini. There as so many cars in this price offering all sorts of interesting experiences and trade offs, especially if you’re willing to give up the back seat.

Price aside (which I think is a huge issue), if you’re willing to go with a two-seater, you have a ton of compelling options available. Why you would go for a FWD hatch with BMW maintenance and depreciation in that context is an utter mystery to me. 

Are there Panteras out there in this range? I thought they were running around 100k

Yeah, I don’t get all the hate for this car’s design. It’s not the best ever but it’s cool enough. And it’s a completely reasonable cost of admission. 

This is amazing. Malaise era Big 3 boat with trim from Givenchy! and a BMW motor? Most 80s thing imaginable. 

Same. Fellow 80s kid here who thought those cars were such ass. 

I feel like GM just has no idea how to do a retro/mod mashup. Ford has done the best is the 3, with the Mustang and now the Bronco. FCA has done well with the Wrangler and Challenger. GM is muddling along with the most boring of modern bland car design. 

Same. If this were listed in the 5500 ballpark, I’d assume it was a seller who is ready to bargain to a reasonable price (which I agree is in the 4-5k range). But priced like this, it makes you suspect seller is detached from reality. 

Personally, I’d rather spend a couple hundred dollars a month (on average) maintaining and paying someone to repair a car I find interesting rather than spending that same money to buy a late-model blandmobile.

Tasty!

Yeah, I have a major issue with the “average new car price” always being thrown around. You’re talking about a product that has a minimum price of what? 13k or so for the cheapest car on the market? And a top end in the hundreds of thousands. It’s a classic case where the mean will be significantly to the right of the…