Why would you finance a used car at all, when you can get a great one for less than the downpayment on a new car?

It depends on the car. Even if well-maintained, there are certain cars, at certain points in their lifecycle, that promise expensive maintenance sooner rather than later. You can’t fault the prior owner for not doing it yet, but you know that six months or a year down the line, you’re either going to bite the bullet…

Apologies, didn’t mean to come off as belligerent. I was just pointing out that reviving the nameplate was a questionable decision to begin with, and that the whole “brand equity” argument has always been suspect. Also I never miss an opportunity to point out that the ‘96 Taurus is ugly enough to be a modern art…

So it’s a nameplate that was briefly notable in perhaps the single worst decade for American autos since the inception of the automotive industry, and which subsequently spent more than a decade as an embarrassment, including a redesign that’s a perennial contender for ugliest car ever? Honestly, as much as I’ve…

Born British.

Breaking news! New Kia Sportage is just a donked Camaro.

I thought these were AMC-exclusive for the ‘78 Gremlin?

This should be higher up. The Taurus has never had any “brand equity” that I’m aware of. Ford should absolutely let it die, and then give some serious thought to whether there’s a place in its line-up for a full-size sedan. If there’s not—and I think that’s the right answer—they should consider developing a full-size…

Japan, over the course of about ten or fifteen years (‘70s to ‘80s) went from a low-rent producer of knick-knacks in the American mind to an incipient global automotive hegemon. Personally, I am skeptical that China will reproduce that success, but I wouldn’t rule it out. More likely, after about ten or fifteen years…

Do you work for a dealership? Because this is coming off as a serious case of a man not wanting to believe what his paycheck requires him not to believe.

You have no idea what you’re talking about. When Ford prices their vehicles, they price in the dealership premium. If Ford, and only Ford, were selling direct, then maybe Ford would sell for exactly the same price, capturing that premium for itself. More likely, though, it would sacrifice some of that premium in order…

I’m telling you that I literally conducted a private sale myself and everything involved other than waiting at the DMV takes ten goddamn minutes, including downloading the forms from the DMV website. If the DMV allowed private citizens to simply mail in paperwork and get plates, the process would literally take less…

Your definition of competition is so narrow as to be utterly useless. By your metric, Ford sells Fiestas without competition. Chevy sells Corvettes without competition. They are, indeed, the sole sources of those vehicles. But people can and do buy other things instead.

Absurd. The “advertising” function of local dealerships is obsolete and useless. I don’t need CRAZY LARRY’S CRAZY CAR LOT to tell me what I want to buy, or Mercedes of Expensive Suburban to tell me that Mercedes are better than Chryslers. To the extent brand awareness is valuable, television and internet advertising…

If you actually needed a truck—for hauling, for example—and there was no car capable of hauling the amount that you needed hauled, then there would be no competition for the truck manufacturer. On your “carrot/celery” example, it’s all about whether there is a replacement good. If people can live with celery instead…

That’s not how competition works. There are scores of replacement goods with which Tesla competes. Buyers have preferences, and some buyers value some things that are unique about the Tesla such that there is no true replacement, but we’re not talking about a sole source supplier here. To illustrate the point, imagine…

You need 10 ladies to do the paperwork involved in a car sale? Is that a joke? I recently bought a car, and it takes maybe ten minutes to do all of the paperwork involved. The only time-consuming part of the process that going through a dealership saves you from is that they give you temp plates, so you don’t need to…

Buying direct from the manufacturer is the way it should be, in this day and age. The manufacturers are competing with each other, which controls price. The margin that a given manufacturer makes is irrelevant, and will be competed down in a well-functioning market. Unlike healthcare, the automobile market is…

Well-cared for two-tone American iron. I defy anyone to see a clean ‘55 Fairlane in white and any primary color rolling gently down the street and not feel at least a little joy.

It fits the small cup from Dunkin Donuts. Only the small cup.