Maybe it’s because I usually built them in that era and therefore shopped at different places, but I could get exactly the configuration I wanted every time. Constructed or in parts, always shipped, because I lived out in the boondocks and didn’t have time to go into town and deal with the Circuit City or the like.…

When the Ranger was discontinued, used Rangers shot up in value for a bit (at least around the Pacific Northwest). That leads me to believe there is demand for smaller pickups. Too bad they released the Ranger at a larger size, since I think that the branding would have helped.

I keep seeing the argument that your iPhone is the same price wherever you buy it. But what is lost in the shuffle is the fact that there are options to buy from a dealer (Best Buy) or the manufacturer (Apple).

I ran an 81 Citation for many years. Reliability wasn’t the issue. Knowing you were in a Chevy Citation was what made you want something else, not mechanical failures.

A rare turd is still a turd, and the seller didn’t even try to polish it. ND

Convert dealerships to service centers with test drives and CPO vehicles. Pay people a decent wage to work on cars, facilitate test-drives, educate consumers, and evaluate trade-ins. Have some computers ready to help consumers configure and order a vehicle.

Here in Idaho, dealers are way behind the times. Not many even have electric vehicles in stock, and those that do largely don’t know what to do with them. Hybrids are beyond them, largely, and PHEVs are the most confusing of all, it seems.

Here in Idaho, there is an electrified surcharge on your tabs for EVs and PHEVs for that very reason.

I love the Soul. I’d own one if they had a PHEV, but I got the Niro instead. Also good, but a lot more boring.

The design isn’t. The marketing team is what’s trying to pretend a Soul is a crossover/SUV. It’s the only way you can get people to buy something made to maximize cargo space.

Diesel became relegated to pickups and trucks, largely. Gas pickups still outnumber diesel pickups by a large margin, though diesel is the leader in semis and industrial vehicles.

Twenty or thirty years ago, the small print was a few paragraphs of terms and conditions. Now, the terms and conditions are much longer, contain more fluff, and obfuscate the contradictions.

Arguably, it further illustrates that there isn’t anything great about New Jersey.

A problem I have seen on some newer cars is that you have to max out the adjustment and still see the door handles. It has gotten so normal to assume blind spots and seeing the car that manufacturers make them that way.

As a younger person (mid-30s, please just let me have this) in good health and 6'1", I switched from a Civic to a Kia Niro and found it not as much easier as more comfortable to get into and out of. That said, this does appear to be have a little higher roof than the Civic. I probably could have been happy switching…

The referenced comment was by a “Bradley Brownhole,” not Bradley Brownell. Not a site author.

One dealership told me that:

I’m not to be trusted with condiments in the car. I can hardly be trusted with them in a recliner that is not driving down roads of questionable quality.

This is entirely a case of them wanting to advertise a base price that competes with the Bolt without selling a base model at that price.

I really don’t want my car loaded up with condiments, though...