It’s grip tape for more grip. You know, for when you don’t want to wear gloves but your hands get sweaty. The seats are ‘ripped’ to allow for the use of a 5 point harness. This car was likely both a DD and driven to track days and back.

That’s not a rip in the seat, it’s where the crotch strap of the harness comes out.  Look at the driver’s seat, you can see the blue strap peeking up. 

Because this is a running, driving vehicle with some utility. Yes it’s overpriced, but in the “a few thousand dollar” range, not the “tens of thousands overpriced” range. Friday’s car was a roller of a replica.

I had a 1991 S-10 with the 2.8 V6 and that engine was a dog with nothing in the truck except me. Don’t even want to think about how slow it is with the added space/weight and 7 passengers in it.

I want to GMC Typhoon this.

I see this as getting ugly. Because “spend more to make less” is NOT going to be popular with the dealerships. They will find a way to push back.

Considering Ford dealers are marking up Broncos at $20-40K, I don’t feel sorry for them one bit.

With 10% of present day new car sales in California going to EVs, and still 13 years until then, I think California is going to be looking more like Norway after 2035, which is an EV heaven.

My takeaways from this are as follows:

They also blew up their 2014 C7 Corvette.

Miata: depreciating.
C6 Corvette: depreciating.
SLK55 AMG: dear god my checkbook to keep it running.
Z4: depreciating, dear god my checkbook.

They also wrote an article about it 2 weeks ago:

You’re really pretending this is all more complicated that it is.

Thanks guys! These are all going in my Autotrader saved searches. I’ll post an update once I pull the trigger on something.

Budget: Up to $25,000 

get a 986 boxster.
1999 to 2004.
987 Boxsters seem to be at the height of your price range at least in the DC area. 

Don’t get an S2000 unless you want to keep it clean and treat it as an investment - the Toyota 86 (or any of its other badged names) is the answer. A stock FRS drives better on track than my S2000 did when it was stock, plus S2000s are appreciating so rapidly that you’ll feel bad beating on it on the track and…

2012 to 2013 Mustang GT Coupe with a 5.0 liter Coyote engine making a reliable 412 bhp, six speed manual with a nice cue-ball shifter.

ZOMG do not go near a BMW or Mercedes in your 20's, or ever unless you like chasing down unsolvable problems while piles of cash are burning. The proper answer is something RWD with power. Corvettes are for guys more in the age group of our president.

No Toyoburu recommendations? You can get one nearly new, with a warranty. They’re decent on gas and a shit-ton of fun to drive.