Affordable cars need not be directed solely to the youngest buyers. I’m an old fart looking to replace my 13 year-old sedan. I’d be interested in a new car that was fun and in the sub-$20k range, (Maybe I’ll wind up with a recent used Fiesta or Focus ST) But as long as vehicle manufacturers want to sell vehicles,…

1st Gear: Car Companies Clueless About Car Market

Really though, wouldn’t you much rather . . .

NE Ohio.  There are a lot of them (albeit with rusted door bottoms and wheel arches)

Neutral Compact Trucks

I think they just did some too-little;too-late focus group research and discovered that people simply don’t want to wake up and quaff a hot cup of ‘poo.

There was no Anakin/Padme chemistry. You’re talking about a movie, which would have required “actors” to generate the respective characters’ “chemistry.” There was only one actor in that pair, and I didn’t see any hot self-sexytime from Natalie Portman in that film. She was acting against a CGI green screen of a…

I had one of these and loved it. My kids (who were admittedly smaller than now) loved it. It was a nice combination of engineering and packaging.

1st Gear: Going, Going, Ghosn

You noted the multiple stickers, but failed to mention the ~5 -7 bhp boost each contributes to this French’s Mustard Special Edition Focus.

Playoffs, especially for Lord Stanley’s Cup, make bad betting subjects.

I would like to own this car. My first car was a FIAT 128, and underpowered as it was, I never drove it without grinning (except on long highway drives.) If you’re sitting so low your wallet is scraping the crown of the road, the sensation of speed is satisfying. That said, it’s overpriced for what it is and for what…

Well, I try to get all my technical information from press releases.  So,   .   .   .

I thought Mazda had the “best of both worlds” semi-diesel. Partial spark, partial compression ignition. Non?

It looks nice. But it doesn’t look like ~ twice the market price.

“two chicks”

I like to clothespin a playing card so the spokes “Th-Th-Th-Th-p” as I ride.  It’s like a motorcycle, but lamer. 

Are you buying on a shifting barrier beach? Will your 2d home be washed away in a decade?

What if my car can’t speak Swedish? 

Yeah, he’s “old school” in a way that may no longer reflect significant existing market forces. But that kind of “Management by Triumph of the Will”very seldom works out well, regardless of where it’s applied.