I’m not sure your post is a clarification or not considering The Drive specifically asked Toyota about that, and they confirmed the opposite of what you’re saying:

I also REEEELY hate the fact that they are applying this retroactively. If I purchased a vehicle in 2017, you’re now telling me I’m going to lose features?

Basic cars that cost $50,000, but can be leased for $500/mo. At the end of the lease period, it goes back to the manufacturer that can then sell/lease the car again, and they make money not only when the car is new, but again when it is used. Probably with fewer restrictions too since most laws regarding manufactures…

I was about to defend Toyota on this one. I can see charging for the ability to remote start from your phone; someone has to pay for the servers/connectivity to a carrier network, and it would be unreasonable to expect Toyota to foot that bill for the next 20 years.

How much are the interest payments on your car loan? More than the $400 per month for fuel

I posted this in another comment on this site, and you saying this:

These are base model prices with no optional extras.A base fwd NX isn’t a good comparison to the CX-5 Turbo trim in terms of engine nor features.

I’m not sure $38k qualifies as “premium pricing” these days.

So, I went to Acura’s site...there’s not much difference between the CX-5 Turbo and the base RDX. Maybe the power hatch, a sound system that may or may not be as good as the base RDX, “leather” seats vs the RDX’s “leatherette”, and maybe memory seats. I’ll have to dig deeper to find if those things are standard and…

Meh.

Fuelly is also showing 35 for the 2020, and 34 for the 2019 RAV-4. I’d call that more than close enough considering it is inside of your stated range.

Good lord do people have short term memories with gas prices...

As a counterpoint, the current RAV-4 and CR-V averages about the same while providing roughly the same interior space, in a package more acceptable to most drivers.

I mean, yeah. NA cars are going to lose more power than turbo cars at altitude, that much is obvious. But there’s nothing special about boxers. A lower power 4 cyl going from 200 HP to like 120 is also going to be more problematic than a v8 going from 500 to 300.

The loud exhaust used to be a byproduct of improved performance.

I had a long ass comment typed, but you pretty much said everything I was trying to more succinctly. If you are lower income, a $18,000 bike is still EXPENSIVE, if you are the type that has a lifestyle that can support an electric motorcycle AND you can afford one, you probably make more than $75k.

I’m not interested enough to check, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Civic uses the Atkinson cycle. IIRC, it hangs the intake valve open for longer and effectively reduces the compression ratio. The mechanical ratio (the 11:1 number) remains unchanged though.

I can see both sides of the coin. As someone that test drove the first gen and decided against it because it felt too slow, I can see the desire for a more powerful car. If you’re someone that does a lot of straight line, low RPM driving, something with a decent amount of power is going to be more interesting, just…

Todd from Everyday Driver owned a FRS for a couple years, and he was perfectly fine with it, even being at altitude.

It is. I forget the year it changed over, but its the current gen Expedition.