Originally Posted by
J.Higgins
Several people have commented on my $30k cars comment. Apparently that ruffled some feathers. Also apparently there is disparity in everyone's idea of what constitutes a decent car. Also, reading comprehension seems to be a rarity in this modern world of ours. If you look at my original post, I said "decent car." Perhaps I should have increased the size of the text, bolded it, italicized the text, and underlined it. You know, for emphasis.
A Mazda 3 may be a worthy car for the $22k price tag, but it is and always will be the bottom of Mazda's lineup. Its an entry level car or a student car. Simply put, its an economy compact car, so probably not a good argument in this case.
We like CRVs, and we've had several in the last 25 years. They seem to be a decent combination of size, snow-handling, capabilities, conveniences, and luxury. If you want one, they are hard to find up here without having some sort of value-added package, which of course adds to the price. Here is a good example of a couple cars in my area:
2020 CRV As you can plainly see, they roll off the lot at $30k+.
There is a big discrepancy in views on what decent is. You point out a honda CRV and see that as more decent then a 3 when its nothing more then an econobox cross over which is overpriced because crossovers are popular, not cause its all that great. I drove one and didn't notice its truly redeeming qualities for the cost and made my second car a minivan. You also help underline the issue with the modern american view on excess. My 17 Mazda 3 had front and side airbags, ABS, cruise, power everything, a smart system with screen, could get 42mpg highway, could fit three car seats across the back seat, two full sized adults in the front, 4 standard sized suitcases in the trunk and could easily navigate winters off the SE coast of Lake Ontario. It didn't have rattles or squeaks, was zippy and fun. There's nothing compact about it, my old Yugo was compact, the Peugeot 207 I rented was compact, the 1999 Corolla I rented was compact, when I bought one in 2009 it wasn't quite so compact. It might have been compact at one time, but it has plenty of space now. What it really is in sensibly economical and everything I see as necessary for a decent car.