Current State of the Car market

[Johnnymac]

My preference is new, it's not that I wouldn't buy used, just that it isn't my first choice, for the reasons I listed above.

If no one buys the new fun cars, of course they are going to leave the market.

People who only buy used cars and then complain about current new cars being boring is a bit ass backwards.  I get that you are planning for the future used vehicle but someone has to buy it new first.

And yes, young people will think being driven to work by a computer as being fun, that ain't my jam.

[Revelations]

Two things I'd buy new; A Cadillac CT5 Blackwing with a 6 speed, and while I'm at the dealership I'd buy a 3/4 Ton Sierra crew cab long bed with the 6.6 GAS engine (no AFM etc). All this small turbo, CVT, plasticky, giant screen, and above all the pseudo "off road" look just turns me off new vehicles altogether.

I really miss the old days when I was a kid. Patently waiting for the Autumn issues of Car & Driver, Motor Trend, etc to land in my mailbox with all the specs and details of the new models coming out.

[Johnnymac]

Two things I'd buy new; A Cadillac CT5 Blackwing with a 6 speed, and while I'm at the dealership I'd buy a 3/4 Ton Sierra crew cab long bed with the 6.6 GAS engine (no AFM etc). All this small turbo, CVT, plasticky, giant screen, and above all the pseudo "off road" look just turns me off new vehicles altogether.

I really miss the old days when I was a kid. Patently waiting for the Autumn issues of Car & Driver, Motor Trend, etc to land in my mailbox with all the specs and details of the new models coming out.

I can think of worse ways of spending over $200k. I haven't had a car mag membership for almost a decade.  They just got to the point where they were mostly filler and ads.

[ChaosphereIX]

It kinda sucks, generally, for an enthusiast unless you got tons of cash. All the same vehicles with largely the same powertrains, all faux "adventure offroad" that will only see the mall parking lot, so many urban cowboys in their lifted polished trucks with clean beds, no more manuals really, no exciting sports cars anymore just a sea of same CUVs and same EVs - hey those are what people with money actually buy - and they are ideal for 90% of what the public use cars for - so why not keep making them ad nauseum. I have not stepped into a dealership showroom recently, and I have absolutely zero desire to do so for any manufacturer right now.

Seems the last golden age of cars was 15 years ago, but I guess that has always been the case, rose tinted glasses and so on.

My future stable will likely be an IS250 AWD beater (reliable) and an Alfa with a Busso for summer car.