I think its the EPA for not regulating truck emissions as stringently as they do for normal cars.

They passed a fuel economy law that had to do with vehicle weight, auto industry response was make bigger heavier vehicles to get around new fuel economy requirements. That's the reason all of the reasonably sized personal trucks got massive like 15 years ago.

I've seen quite a few videos about "rolling negative equity" and didn't even know it was a thing. Also, you hear someone threatening the car dealer for suggesting they buy a car for ONLY $20K when he's never been seen something in less than a beamer and being in debt so they have to take a loan for the down payment (which doesn't even make sense to me)... I hope these videos are fake 😢

I just want a manual awd wagon. But I'm not allowed. Wrx was the last one. America gets shit for cars.

I don't really like that I'm paying $15-20 more a tank than I did a couple years ago, but I have no sympathy for the price of diesel and the guys with dumb ass monster trucks.

I have just reached this point myself.

I have a short fun drive to work, enjoy it as a way to clear my head, and I even had a manual transmission WRX a long time ago. I have been checking up on the current models and there are some pretty good looking options whether manual + AWD or maybe a dual clutch setup, etc.

But right now I'm driving a basic car that we bought new like 14 years ago. It still looks good, it's fun to drive (the automatic is shiftable and has lockup clutches while in gear), and it seems mechanically sound with very low miles for the age.

Just the other day I made a conscious decision to stop reading and watching car reviews, and I have been getting back into working on my own car. I have some supplies on the way to change some fluids and shine up the exterior.

We also need better public transport and to be promoting things like mopeds as a viable alternative to cars.

If we did that you wouldn't be able to see a block through the smog in some places.

This is the way.

For simple(r) car designs, I anticipate that 3d scanning, 3d printing, and even mail order custom parts/manufacturing are going to be indespensible once available parts dry up. Until then, there's no end in sight for replacement Corolla parts.

So you're saying we need to embargo ourselves.

That is indeed the case; I believe "we" here refers to society, and functions as a synecdoche for the auto industry

Eisenhower interstate system in the US was the start of the downfall. It's a very cool system, but it cost us the trains. I dont know that it can be justified. I like driving and having the freedom to do so, but I would also like to not have to: plus there are a shit load more people who directly suffer because they simply can not drive.

I hope the next wave of logistical genius incorporates more mass public transit, while still supporting some highway network.

Hub style, like airport parking esque, but for bullet trains and light rail. New building would need to require parking as part of the footprint (incorporated decks) to save on space that can be used for public benefit.

Easy to expand on, the counter argument is always "but the cost?!" Like wtf do you think a highway costs per foot? The answer is up to $2,000 per god damn foot. You can buy a lot with that.

Combine that with a crash of the USD itself. Also commercial and industrial real estate never got the same protections as home loans post-2008 so there's a shit ton of 2008 style shenanigans concerning offices and industrial plots ready to also blow up.

There's no more road to kick our can down. We must face the can. The can is our reckoning.

2008-style Crash (this time on auto debt instead of realestate)

The 2008 crash was also an auto debt crash. That's why you had Cash-For-Clunkers rolled out in 2009 followed by Obama and Romney arguing over an automotive bailout in the 2012 election.

Indeed and that mofo is going to be steam roller too.

so the time to buy a car will be soon?

What I think would be practical is not pitching a goddamn foot-stomping, screaming, NIMBY hissy fit every time your city wants to offer transportation options that are anything other than another lane for cars. But I'm apparently in the minority in the US.

I would if i could. I hate driving, but I would get killed if i biked to work. Hell, I'd possibly die just trying to get to the nearest grocery store. I need a bike lane.

This was kinda the reason I went back to cycling to work when I lived in London (I had lived in The Netherlands before and there it was pretty normal to do so) - it turns out that it was faster to just cycle through half of Zones 1 and 2 than to walk to an catch the tube (at least London actually has a subway, by car it would've been even worse because of traffic, not to mention parking).

This was back when cycling facilities there were a bit of a joke and there were but a few people doing the same as I did.

Further, even though I was doing it in a big city (so air polution was a consideration), my health actually improved from it (more so when I discovered a site with a polution map of London and switched to a route that minimized time in big avenues with lots of traffic and polution).

If they spend most of their time sitting in traffic then that gas tank won't last very long at all.

How are the bike lanes where you are?

yep AI has gotten so good that even people that hate it can't even detect that it's an AI account.