I did find your post, and I don’t think people should have been knocking you for your selections. The heart wants what it wants.

‘No budget limits’.

As others have noted this could easily change in a matter of hours:

I kind of take issue with your gate-keeping as to what is an enthusiast car. An enthusiast car can take many forms. Not everyone can afford a V8 AMG or its ilk. Or even afford to have a 2nd ‘enthusiast’ car like a used Miata/BRZ/Mustang etc. So those people might need to get something like a Mazda6. It can haul the…

Exactly. You beat me too this because I posted an unnecessarily long response elsewhere (above?, below?) saying the same thing.

There are also plenty of resources out there that aren’t YouTube channels.

Does this analysis include depreciation? If not, it should. That is a huge part of the math especially when considering luxury vehicles, or EVs.

Surveys / polls.

I agree with everything you say, except the ‘realization’ part. People like this don’t suddenly start engaging in any sort of self-reflection and subsequent modification of their behavior. Anything that is ‘good’ that they created/did is their doing, anything ‘bad’ is someone else’s fault. Heads I win, tails you lose.…

Neutral: I had a convertible (Mustang) once as a loaner and the experience was meh. And this was over a weekend with good weather.

Interesting. I haven’t spent much time in the Carolina’s but have made a few trips to Atlanta...never had the sudden downpours while there, vs I think every single time in Florida (Gainesville, Orlando, Miami)

Downpour and then sunlight…isn’t that like every other day in Florida. 

I used to think this...that having deaths over vegetable status (or other lifelong horrific injuries) was better for costs. But I don’t anymore. Anytime a death is involved, the amount of investigation by various authorities like multiplies ten-fold. I had a co-worker who had a family member involved in a fatal…

Or just charge them more. Other negative things that people do that drive up health care costs such as eating unhealthily, smoking, taking drugs, living in poor neighborhoods etc. are often (note that I say ‘often’ and not ‘always’) out of one’s control. Not wearing a helmet is very easily in one’s control. So while I…

While my gut is to agree, I can almost guarantee that the societal costs to the rest of us increases because of things like this. Obviously the fatalities have both direct and indirect costs associated with them, but what is left out here is the likely increase in numbers and in severity of injuries. Injuries that…

I wish I had time to tell the whole story, but a friend of mine wanted to buy a Jeep Cherokee in college from a private seller. Seller takes us out for a drive and insists on demonstrating the 4WD in some snowy field in who-knows-where Maine. Of course we get stuck (4WD wouldn’t engage) and neither of us brought…

Wait. This sounds like a great used car buying experience. You got an awesome car. Underpriced. And on top of that, a great story to tell. Fixing the belts seems worth it.

The only reason I knew, was because we just bought one. The other thing in the calculation is resale value. I believe the depreciation is less in the hybrid. Though I am not confident in that statement (those numbers are just projections anyway). In any case, the 5 year cost to own on the hybrid is either equal to, or…

I think your math on the RAV4 is off. You need to compare AWD versions head-to-head. I think the price difference is much less than that. 

I want coupes to be two-door and sedans to be four door just so I can tell the following Dad joke…