Bring back the Mazda Mazda5!

They “love” them because of marketing and a regulatory/tax structure that favors them (and cheap gas).

CAFE and tax credit rules (cars, SUVs) have been a hot mess for decades.

The weight is the most ridiculous rule ever.  It incentives inefficiency.  Give me a fucking break.

styling that will turn heads for the first time

maybe we could all use “go” instead of “gas.”

gas

Performance with paint, white seats is pretty close. But most aren’t getting the performance. Still, even at $60 it’s not a deal by any stretch. The id4 is still a much better value (and equally as cheap-feeling).

My local BMW dealer has something like 20 iXs in stock. I see >$10k discounts coming soon.  There are only so many people willing to drop $100k on that thing.

Couldn’t resist.

Bavarian-born and bread

My Polestar2 lease is up next fall.  If there is no wagon option, I’ll have to get another brand.  The Lyriq or iX are appealing to me.

No reason to run dozens of flights on short hops (LA-SF, DC-BOS, ATL-CLT, ORD-MSP) except for the fact that investment in rail has been below anemic.

If Volvo doesn’t offer a full EV v60 in late 2024, I’ll be very upset.

Perhaps it’s my graduate work in economics that keeps me even keeled.

Base model 3 is $47k. Around here (snow parts) AWD is needed, so that’s immediately more. And the LR isn’t even selectable now.

Model 3 also sucks.

The coming EV competitors will be very good.  Hard to justify $60k-70k for a Model 3 when a Lyriq can be had for similar money or an ID.4 for 30% less.

Public transit does suck in most of the US. And our cities (really all suburbs/exurbs) are very poorly designed for efficient travel.

I think, or at least hope, that Americans currently remain aware that gas prices go up as well as down and tend to change over time. They will forget it again soon, though.