I had ONE recall on my old Taurus.

Evidently the instructions in the manual for how to aim the headlights weren’t clear enough, so they recalled the vehicle to send us all new instructions in case we ever had to replace or realign the lights.

Strangely, I’ve generally bought new, though I do pinch pennies.

My first car was straight out of undergrad. Got some decent discounts at the time and paid cash (had no student loans, thank the parents). The next car to join the stable was my wife’s, which she had bought used (she had loans and couldn’t afford more).…

And less usable cargo space.

I’m not that dismissive - and that profit really isn’t good enough for that much capital being invested in the business.

But they aren’t crashing and burning, either. A heck of a lot of this was restructuring Europe - going from 24 factories to 18. That ain’t cheap.

And despite a huge pension charge for Europe, their…

Neutral: Why am I not buying? Many reasons:

1) My existing cars are a 14 year old Ford and a 9 year old Mazda. Both are in solid condition, with only rare minor issues (almost entirely pothole related). They’re comfortable with ok fuel economy, reliable and paid for. Why upgrade now?

2) I have other financial goals I’m…

Interestingly, though, GM’s claimed cost of EV battery production is almost equal to Tesla’s.

I’m not so sure they’re as far ahead as Tesla fans want us to believe.

Good news, though - your financial situation will likely only improve from this point. My numbers were almost identical to yours 17 years ago.

Now I have two kids and a wife, and with that the need for two cars and all the insane expenses of kids - but their college funds are almost fully stocked up before they’re out…

Both GM and Ford have significantly increased the number of employees they have in the US over the last decade.

1st:  I’m awaiting all the people commenting about the UAW pensions destroying the automakers without actually reading the stories to find out that this has nothing to do with any pensions in North America...

Because $6.7 billion in annual profit isn’t huge.

Also note that while people are freaking out on Ford, the news isn’t as bad as you would think. They didn’t take that pension charge for any North American employees - every last cent of it was for their European operations. And why did they have to take that charge? 1) To fix their European pensions, which will help…

Fair points, but the majority of the country has little to no savings in a 401(k) or the market in general.  The only people really profiting from stock price increases are generally those already wealthy.

1) There are plenty of other battery makers. In fact, Panasonic is one. And they make most of Tesla’s batteries. Tesla packages batteries. They do a decent job, but even combining the largest battery manufacturers with VW for market cap you don’t come anywhere near Tesla’s cap.

2) Tesla’s solar business is a financial…

Tesla is a company with a good amount of growth possible, sure.

But in the end, what do they become? They’ll be a car company with a side battery business. The limit on their growth is just that. So where is the logic in a market cap greater than much of the rest of the industry combined? Seriously - add GM, Ford, FCA,…

I’m 6'6".

4 people of my height can EASILY fit into my 2010 Mazda6.

A Fit would be ridiculously small, but that doesn’t mean you need a Suburban, either...

Money isn’t being made by the stock going up in value. That’s money being traded. Stock trading creates nothing of actual value.

I get what you’re saying, and my point is all about semantics, but nothing about wall street trading creates value.  It’s all about transferring money from one place to another and…

But what is the potential for growth?

Tesla is a car and battery company (the solar side is peanuts and quite honestly just flailing around in a highly competitive industry). When Tesla grows up, what will they be? Something more than a car and battery company? If not, then logic would say that they will grow to be a…

FWIW, GB is significantly more common after catching the flu than after getting a flu shot... so while the shot can trigger it, it may actually be less likely to get GB by getting the shot...

I had one of these.

It was reasonably reliable, but no more so than my 97 Taurus or 06 Fusion were/are at similar ages.  One of my favorite fixes to the Camry was the time I fixed an HVAC issue with a box of raisin bran.  My least favorite was the self-destructing strut mounts and the stupid design for the fuel…

The flu shot can’t give you the flu. The virus is dead in the shot. In the spray it is live, though they intentionally weaken it to prevent you from getting a full blown case...

But no, it can’t guarantee that you won’t get the flu from normal exposure.  But statistically it is a great tool to reduce your risk, and…