This has been the trend for 20 years now, that’s not the cause. Even cheap cars like the Fit and Sonic are expected by new car buyers to have standard A/C, power locks/windows/mirrors and so on.

Used car buyers are also staying away from these vehicles. Look at the often-poor resale value vs. any number of more popular vehicles. Used or new, most buyers want something more comfortable, larger and more fully featured than a base strippo “cheap and simple” small car. The market and customer expectations of…

Most US retail new vehicle buyers aren’t interested in cheap and simple and won’t buy those vehicles, though.

A reminder that most of the cheap, light, basic, small sporty new cars we have today that aren’t named Miata don’t sell. Especially the ones that lean more towards sports car.
500/Abarth 2,366 lbs
BRZ/86 2,776 lbs
Fiesta ST 2,720 lbs
Mini Cooper S 2,760 lbs

If your experience with V twins was those two bikes I strongly suggest you go test ride a Diavel. Or a new Indian. Or both. Seriously. Because both the AMF Sporty and the CX500 are stone age relics compared to those modern twins.

4th gear:
If I were a brake pad and rotor manufacturer, I would be worried about dramatically falling sales of replacement parts for EVs due to regen braking. We use the regular brakes about 90% less on our Bolt than on our gas car in similar usage and I fully expect that the Bolt’s brake pads and rotors will last well…

Having owned 5 ‘87-’93 Civics and CRXs over the years (including all 3 generations of Si hatches during that time) I bought a ‘13 Fit Sport (5MT/117hp) new, had it for 5 years, sold it to get something faster and more relaxed, comfortable and quieter on the highway. I passed on the then-newer gen ‘18 Fit because it…

So, FWIW (and yes, my individual experience can’t draw wide conclusions), my ‘13 Fit Sport (bought new) was a lot less reliable than the ‘13 Sonic turbo my parents bought new that same year (no issues). It was also a lot less reliable than my 2005 Dodge ram turbodieesl truck, also bought new. And our ‘18 Bolt has been…

TL;DR: don’t go out of your way to publicly volunteer the evidence against you

FWIW I fixed lots of 1986-1996 B/D platform GM cars for 8 years, from 1994 - 2005. Including marked and unmarked police Caprices and LT1 Impala SS models. The interior plastics weren’t the greatest but those cars routinely did 250,000 miles of the hardest service imaginable. A bunch hit 325,000 miles. Other than the…

It depends on speed, terrain and how heavy the right foot is. I’ve gotten a measured (actual) low of 23 mpg over one entire tank doing about 75 in the mountains mostly uphill and passing and a measured high of 42 mpg over one entire tank in the same mountains going the other way at 65 mph with the cruise on a few days…

The TourX has the same ground clearance as a new Camry. It’s less than an inch taller than the euro version, just springs IIRC. I own one and I wouldn’t want the car to sit lower with the speed bumps and driveways around here. And the side cladding comes right off; it’s been done by forum members. It’s a great car and…

Very interesting, thanks for sharing! I’d be interested in seeing some kind of modular flat battery pack system to go with it, because proper thermal management of battery packs is critical to long battery life and the fast charge rates we are increasingly coming to expect from electric cars, among other things.

And this is one of the many reasons we bought a Bolt instead of a Model 3.

Except that they’re making cars. Oops!

Hey, thanks for not dying!

That is awesome, thanks for writing this. As both an OCD -level old-car restoration guy, and a current EV owner and enthusiast, this ticks all the boxes.

You’re not getting what I’m trying to say (and to be fair, I could’ve phrased the OP better).

Thanks for the reply. Let me rephrase the low output concern better:

OK, the 2018 base TourX has the same 250/295 engine and AWD and starts at $29,060
And this new Caddy 2.0T gives up 35 hp and 57 lb-ft of torque to a four year old base 2.0T 2015 CTS4, which did 272hp and 295 lb-ft.