True, but a lot of folks can. And apparently 17 million of us can afford to buy a $36,000 car each year in the US.

You do you, but as a counterpoint: My family has had 8 VWs, and only one was at all unreliable. I only just sold my ‘19 Golf Alltrack (w/ 6-yr, 72k warranty) because Carvana offered me stupid money.

Intelligent move!

I would second that. I was looking for a good mazda 3 myself, but they get rusty fast here in Michigan. Nabbed a low-mile Jetta 2.5L 5-spd instead, meh.

Americans buy what, 17 million cars a year? At an average price north of 36 grand? These kind of folks are who this article is geared towards.

Counter point: If you have something relatively new and nice right now, that you aren’t in love with, get a quote from carvana/vroom/carmax. You could take an actual profit, and buy a temporary beater that wont depreciate, to wait out the crazy market.

This.  Find something decent under 8 grand, and it aint losing any value right now, so long as you maintain it and dont pound crazy miles onto it.

My last car depreciated a negative 8000 dollars. It wasn’t anything special, either (VW Golf Alltrack). Not sure that line of thinking is super relevant right now. If you buy something in decent shape for under 7 or 8 grand, it’s not going to lose any value so long as you maintain it, and don’t pound crazy miles onto…

Tom, Precisely! Precisely, my man. A “hold-me-over” car - excellent term.

Ford maverick would like a word.

it’s 7%. Gas prices fluctuate 7% almost every week.  No big whoop.

Seriously, who is actually griping about 3 dollar gas here in late 2021?  This is a very normal, and frankly, cheap, price.  Incomes have risen, inflation has affected just about everything, and gas is the same price as usual.

I like torque steer. Not like my FWD Mitsu eclipse on drag radials that would rip you into the next lane in 2nd gear, but more like a gentle reminder that if you’re going 10/10ths, you should be gripping the wheel hard.

Jeeeezus...  user name checks out.

You poor, misled bastard.  Did the salesman put you under a spell?

Steve.  I was all set to look at your pics.  Then you put them in a slideshow, so I can’t.  I mean, I can, but I won’t.  Good day, sir.

Lawrence, does it really say “nitrous” filled tires? And did you really just repeat that without questioning it? Four big tires full of nitrous gas for only $499 might be a pretty good bargain. Like, that’s a lot of party fun hits for your guests.

This is a real nice car. Plug in hybrid, uber efficient, all the features, super reliable (we would expect). Go look up the current average car sales price and then think about how this one is nicer than the average new car, and it sort makes sense. Like, I would never pay it myself, but other rich dumb people…

I’m selling my VW wagon (Alltrack) to Carvana tonight for stupid money. Bought an 09 jetta w/ 41k orig miles for $4500 instead. Maybe a year, maybe two, we’ll see how it goes.

Covid is not the problem right now in the car market, the chip shortage is.  So you can order any car a dealer/OEM will let you, if their order books are open.  But you may have to wait indefinitely for it to ever be produced.