I think you got the answer: they’re nearing the end and aren’t putting much money into them. They’re low-profit cars and that money makes more business sense to go into electrics.

Oh, I don’t doubt it. I remember seeing a documentary or whatever it was years ago about some guy connected to Escobar who was looking into getting a decommed Russian sub for him. The Russian contact asked him if he wanted it with or without missiles.

Hahaha, I pretty much stopped replying due to damn Kinja. I miss the days of useful forums (and pre goddamn social media).

I keep reading that, but with my last three cars, I revisited the dealer 1 time for each—2 for quick in-out recalls and once for my free oil change where they damaged my front bumper cover and had to replace it. It’s not like I’m buying Toyotas, either (a Mazda and two Fords).

I’ve actually had two good experiences at Ford dealers of all places. First time, I special ordered a Focus to get a manual. I imagine because my income was way above the usual for such a thing and I knew what I wanted, which was pretty specific, and he wasn’t an idiot, he probably figured he would be highly unlikely…

The cartels have been having these built in all different places for years and, like this one, they’re often not full submersibles since it’s much cheaper and faster to make and pilot and the low visible signature still significantly reduces the likelihood of getting caught. They aren’t cheap, but one successful load…

JFC, I doubt any of these sad wannabe English teachers ass-moaning about an obvious autocorrect error on an obviously low-effort throwaway article are published anywhere and have gone through that process.

What the site should have at a minimum is a proofreader. Finding proofreading mistakes in one’s own work is…

Hopefully, it won’t spread further, but I’d be wary about MA following suit on canceling Kei—or maybe any Japanese VIN—registrations.

This! Cars are almost always a consumable expense, not assets beyond any depreciating value they may hold at a given time (which is really of limited use if the car is needed by the user and, thus, can’t afford to sell it unless they’re going to trade down). People keep going on about depreciation when it comes to…

It seems like a decent option for someone trying to rebuild credit. Anywhere they go with a bad score, they’re going to get screwed and if that under 10% is the low end score rate, that’s much better than what they’d get at a lot of other places and could be getting them into a new car for less or the same as a…

My sister had a 2011. A terrible driving, horrifying POS with a dying transmission and the general feel of near EOL when they got rid of it at under 100k.

Especially with those reactive AWD systems, there’s not reason to even bother, just get FWD with a set of proper snow tires on their own rims and swap them and that will go farther than AWD with the usual all seasons people use.

That Rogue is probably on its way to a 3rd transmission. Reliable is not a word I’d use for them. But for $5k and these requirements, he’s scraping the barrel and should take whatever pops up that fits and expect to maybe get a couple years out of it before it will become a toilet.

Yawn.

We had the Ego. Could just do ~1.5 acres of grass on the two larger batteries. No issues with it, but we just changed to paying a landscaper.

Absolutely! I utterly hate them—massive air pollution (even electrics thanks to the dust, as you mention) and noise pollution for the sake of some laziness that serves nothing but aesthetic benefits.

So, we tried a Ego regular sized electric mower (22"?) and got two of the largest batteries offered. I’m guessing, but there’s probably about 1.5-2 acres of lawn to mow and it completely used both of those batteries to do so without using the powered wheels feature. It might be more viable for commercial equipment to…

I never heard of this. Someone else mentioned the Lotus Elite, so I’ll just comment on how this styling is way ahead of its time and really well resolved. The front headlights and the way the fenders fit the wheels, the frameless windshield, the roof line and the hatch, all point to a lost prototype from a…

With the exception of the blue chip cars, prewar values fell as that generation died off. Not sure it will happen as much with postwar, though, as those cars were more often entwined in culture and, being more modern to drive (and more easily upgradable when not modern enough), are likely to hold their appeal. Values…

I’m single, no kids, no debt outside mortgage, and live in an uppity neighborhood. I drive a $23k Focus ST and I had to argue with myself to spend the extra $2k over an SE with a manual. Neighbors probably thought I was a contractor until they got used to seeing me. What people who must make less than me waste money…