I’m out in Colorado and see a surprising number of these on the road, which makes me think they’re doing great under all sorts of conditions.

Indeed. This ad made it clear who Audi wanted as customers.

5 years ago, one of my car-friends bought a $40,000 Porsche off eBay. Even after supposedly being vetted by a local mechanic in Texas, it was delivered to Colorado and was clearly a flood car. Draining the oil brought water-oil, etc.

Good question.

I know I’m reading garbage when I read this: ‘Chevette set a new standard with rust that even the Italians and Japanese couldn’t match.’

I get your consternation. I work as a Marketing Manager for a medical device company - I regularly see how the game is played, and yes, it is awful and no one seems to care, but at least we’re getting some transparency here.

A convicted felon / adjudicated rapist / 6-time-bankupt ‘businessman’ / seditionist / early-stage-dementia-patient / etc. has some thoughts...

Good question.

Grab a Porsche Cayman GTS with the 4-litre engine and a manual transmission. That’s not exactly a creative choice, but I’m sure you’d do well.

The current generation is certainly the purest distillation of I-didn’t-get-attention-in-high-school found in any Corvette.

Those awful center screens, perched and demanding your attention. They look aftermarket, already dated and soooo cheap. In the Chinese rental car I had down in Mexico, a version of that same eyesore was already failing - vibrating with a crack in it and randomly turning on the radio.  And the press seems bent on…

The German car specialist I take my mom’s E-Class to won’t even touch BMWs that are more than ~10 years old because they are such a disaster and they’re done with know-nothing personalities that buy these cars.

Cramer is one of those experts in EVERY topic, don’t you know? Subprime bonds for a Brazilian infrastructure project - he needs to be heard!

Seriously. You also see these cars putting on 200k+ miles.

Can’t fault the math! I do think that Ferrari is waaay overestimating the interest in this car. Plus, the European economic zone is stagnating.  I know there is a ton of money out there, but...

The world is flooded with these supposed halo cars from exotic manufacturers. The press talks ‘em up a few weeks, Youtubers get ‘em for yet another acceleration challenge (yadda yadda), and then the spotlight moves on. Rinse and repeat. It’s obnoxious.

‘VW / Audi timing chain failure’ - Trending in Google search results for 15+ years.

Hip tip: Try and avoid Youtube car videos where the presenter is making either a ‘funny’ astonished face, or an Oprah Winfrey arms-out-look-at-this! gesture.

Yup. A work associate wanted to get a VW Golf sooooo bad...

I got a Lyft to the airport in a new Gladiator. The woman told me it was $66,000.   I would have guessed half that.  Stellantis has a customer base of rubes.