I know, I can just imagine the conversation in the board room:

Although labor costs are still elevated - it’s just the wages that are low. What a g***mn mess we live in.

I bought it for $1600 with 200k miles on it, and eventually it needed more work than what felt worth it. Had it for three years, sold it for $950 (pre-COVID) and last I checked the new owner still drove around in it. If I had bought a $5K SX4 I’d still be driving it. Not in any way saying you made a bad decision, but…

Hah, it’s a bit like forest fires. The longer you hold them off, the worse they will be when they finally happen.

Republican gets in office, starts writing checks all over, boosting economy. Democrat takes over as economy tanks, does all the unpleasant stuff needed to fix things. Replaced with a Republican who takes credit for economic growth and starts giving away free money again. Rinse and repeat.

I know. My in-laws bought their 1500SF house for $240K... 25 years ago.

It makes me embarrassed of my country. That and BlueTooth.

The advise is “buy less car”, and don’t change cars until necessary. If one can afford to consider various options then one should absolutely do the math and sometimes that may point towards the 84 month choice. However, I firmly believe that 95% (Not Actual Statistic) of all long loans do not reflect a measured…

I agree with you on everything, but that guy should have gotten a bicycle. Pedal slowly, wear a raincoat when you need it. But yes, for many Americans the only option is driving, and arguing about infrastructure isn’t going to change that (soon).

Yes, but you can still do better than a Camry... I miss my Suzuki SX-4, would buy again.

I think the beaters are going to be the last cars to drop in price, though. Buy my 2003 Focus wagon with a rusty ass rear but only 100k miles! I gotta sell it before things tank...

Yes, and if a guy on cruise control killed two people, he would hopefully be charged just like in this case. It is the driver’s fault for a) believing Tesla’s hype and b) driving irresponsibly. I would be curious to see if the driver will sue Tesla in response.

I go to a lot of car meets, but I almost never meet kit car owners. The ones I meet are all rather dubious characters. I still can’t understand what the point of these replicas is - either you are constantly explaining that your car is not what it looks like, or you become one of those weirdos who suggest that their…

Word. Those hubcaps (and the RV towing stuff) significantly detract.

Let me add on to that port experience - I love being in a small seaside town as people get ready for the arrival of the cruise ship fools. All the prices double, anything nice or fragile is stashed and everyone gets ready to try and extract as much as possible from these sad a-holes before they have to get back on…

Yep - but I have two small kids so I want a Polo Variant (=station wagon). Still fun, and the interior space is superior to most smallish CUVs...

And yet, traffic police only enforce speed limits, and almost never where it is meaningful. Anyhow, there are no simple answers to this. People feel very limited and penned in, and one way in which they vent seems to be by driving like lunatics (or yelling at cashiers/flight attendants/baristas).

The grass is always greener on the other side; I would take that HB20 over nearly anything on sale in the US. Also, I think you are overestimating the amount of choice available to US buyers - the peculiar federal requirements mean that the options here are actually quite limited, compared to global markets.

A friend of mine (who used to have a 6-speed Maxima) now drives a Blazer or an Equinox or something. He said the leasing deal was so incredibly cheap that he couldn’t pass it up. That, laziness, and not having to beg a Toyota dealer to consider selling you a car.

It replaced the Galant.