We bought two new cars in late 2018 (replacing a 2005 Jetta, bought new and a 2013 Fit Sport, bought new) so unless something gets totaled we won’t be buying any more new cars for at least 6-10 more years...

Ex M/C dealer service manager here-

Sure thing!
As expected, there was more to the big picture but that’s what I remember from the time. Under Roger Smith, GM created Saturn, but they also wasted a ton of money in the 1980s with ambitious and expensive failures like the blown GM-10 platform, the Hughes and EDS aquisitions, automation drives, etc. which…

If they sold well, they would still be in production. But Americans don’t buy volume cars anymore.

Well, yeah. But nobody is buying Caddy sedans, no matter how good they are.

Hi!
Background: I was at Saturn in 1995-96 and spent a month at Spring Hill in 1996 for master tech training, and to qualify on the EV1. I spoke with program engineers there, because that was possible and it was really technically interesting.

GM really did pull off a moon shot with the EV1, coming out of the popular…

For the record, I’m over 6' tall and me and three other 6' 1" + guys all had room at the same time in my ‘13 Fit Sport, a few years ago. Headroom and legroom, front and back. That car has it’s faults, but passenger and cargo room isn’t one of them, especially considering it has the same footprint as a 1993 Civic 2…

You’re entitled to your opinion, but I wouldn’t pay $30k for something that slow and ugly, with a range bordering on useless once cold weather hits and heater use is necessary. But whatever floats your boat.

Range is one thing, acceleration is another big thing. 9 second 0-60 is *slow* for a new car, especially a $30k new car.

You can use any competitive EV for a comparison, it doesn’t have to be a Bolt. The ‘20 Kona EV gets the full tax credit, also does 0-60 in 6.4 seconds and offers about the same range as a ‘20 Bolt or slightly more (Bolts got a range bump over the ‘18). All for about $3k more than this Mazda EV, assuming both get the…

Sure. You can use any competitive EV for a comparison, it doesn’t have to be a Bolt. The ‘20 Kona EV gets the full tax credit, also does 0-60 in 6.4 seconds and offers about the same range as a ‘20 Bolt or slightly more (Bolts got a range bump over the ‘18). All for about $3k more than this Mazda EV, assuming both get…

Hahaha

Dude. The ‘13 Fit Sport has the same hp as the standard Fit. 117.
And the lack of power complaint isn’t an acceleration thing for me as much as having the engine screaming at 4,000 rpm+ @ 75mph and not having the power to safely pass people at 50mph plus, particularly if you have a few passengers, some cargo or…

I think it’s fun. Roll on acceleration is ample, it feels good turning corners, you can throw it into corners and with sticky tires it will autocross like a BMW according to a comparison I read where they did exactly that. True single pedal driving - something you can’t get in a Tesla yet AFAIK- is really great in…

Why would anyone in the US buy the MX-30 for $35,000 (Car and Driver estimate, base price) with those specs? Even if you make a good income and can take the max federal tax credit, that $27,500 is close to what we paid for our new ‘18 Bolt, optioned with heated seats, heated steering wheel and DC fast charge options -…

I’m old enough to remember the Alfas of the late 1980s/early 90s. My neighbor had one, one of my friends actually got one as a rental (!!!) for a few days back then. Both were reliability disasters that i’m told were fun to drive - when they ran. The rental 164 had 500 miles on it when the A/C compressor seized. In…

Which one did you buy new and then have to spend $8K on in “a few years” for maintenance and repairs? And how many miles did you put on that new bike in that time? Because they come with a two year, unlimited mileage warranty and the oil changes are every 7500 miles these days, with 15,000 or 18,000 mile valve check…

Mine was a stick shift; I’d never buy one with an automatic (especially since it only has 117 hp). Had it for 5 years and 75,000 miles before getting tired of the lack of power, road noise, screaming engine at 70 mph etc and buying an ‘18 TourX. Sold the Fit to my ex so she could have a reliable, cheap, safe car to get…

I bought a then-new Fit Sport in 2013. It was a great city car, remarkably similar to my ‘93 Civic Si hatch in many ways. Same footprint, similar power and mileage, similar go kart like handling, far more space for people and cargo and more utility. But 20 years after 1993, it was seriously underpowered, and was…

Um.. millions of sodium azide airbag inflators existed for decades before this that didn’t use ammonium nitrate. They’re still in cars today, working fine, 20 plus years later.

The whole reason this happened is that Takata wanted to save a few pennies per airbag module by cheaping out with the propellant. Ammonium…

I’m curious to see how GM and VW intend to turn a profit on EVs.