I’m at 151k miles on my 2016 BMW X3 and holding on for dear life. It was originally a "Price is Right" prize that the winner rejected for being "too basic," which is exactly why I love it. It has a premium build (great safety & seating features) without a distracting screens or flashy tech or design. It's so simple and clean that all this time later it still looks great and I still love driving it. When I look at newer basic models of any car (Toyota, Honda), they feel cluttered with tech that I'd have to learn or learn to be annoyed by. This will be my last car I get in America since I'm leaving this year so I'm curious when I go back to Europe if there will be better 'basic but nice' options?

Also holding on to my '08 Honda for dear life. Got a used Leaf this year for my spouse's commuter car and it's awesome for getting around town. Dreading having to replace the family car. I don't want infotainment in my car, I want usability and manual buttons!

Oh feeling this one, big time. My 22yo son recently got a new job almost an hour away and we spent the first few months dropping him off because we only had one working car. He was able to find a slightly used Corolla for a good price but that's another monthly fee on top of pretty serious student loans. Gen Z's really getting hammered from both ends.

We only have one working car because our second needs an expensive repair that has to wait. It's an old car and it's unclear whether it's even worth pouring more money in it. A basic econocar would be ideal but even used recent ones are more expensive than new ones were back in the day, even adjusting for inflation. My wife and I both have stable, professional jobs and it's wack that car prices are so tight we have to hold off on basic repairs.

"A Honda Civic Hatchback? Most start at $28,000. The Touring Hybrid costs more than $32,000. How about the Chevy Trailblazer? On most lots, its price tag approaches $25,000. The Toyota Corolla? The Hybrid trims start around $26,000."

Odd that the author, instead of going for the cheapest possible model, decided to quote upscale trims like hybrids. And went with established, well-known models.

Where's the Hyundai Venue our Kia Soul (both pretty spacious small SUV-style things with much better warranties than were available 20+yrs ago) with MSRP of $20.5K?

Kinda kills the thesis argument when the author purposefully omits obvious counter-examples.

If this article was written for an international audience, its title would be 'The death of the American car'. Because protectionism has not only ensured that Americans can't buy cheap, functional cars, it's ensured that almost nobody outside America buys American cars, at all. The top four exporting countries by value are Germany, Japan, China and South Korea. The US is fifth. Germany car exports are nearly three times those of the US. By head of population they are eleven times higher.

I'm currently reading Life After Cars by the creators of the War on Cars podcast, so I'm feeling contrarian and can't help but push back on mythos in this article's closing paragraph that cars offer a "chance at the American dream" or are "engines of prosperity." Introducing inexpensive foreign cars into the American market is not going to make us more prosperous or achieve our dreams; we need to focus on developing infrastructure and policies to expand affordable housing, grow walkable communities, and invest in public and alternative modes of transportation. If cars become optional rather than a "basic necessity of American life," then we will have moved in the right direction.