QOTD: Base! How Low Can You Go?

About a quarter century ago, my father’s wife declared that she was tired of her 7-Series Bimmer and that she just wanted “a nice, basic car, like a Saturn.”

“Okay,” I replied, “sounds like a good idea. What options do you need?”

“Nothing special… just the standard things, the basic things.”

“Okay, what are those?”

“Power locks… power windows… A/C where you just pick the temperature number… tilt wheel… leather upholstery… a nice stereo… I want the mirror that gets dark where there are headlights behind you… the remote entry button thing… I don’t want hubcaps… cruise control… it should have some kind of theft alarm…”

“Let me stop you right there,” I said, “I don’t think you’re Saturn material.” Sure enough, her next car was a loaded Audi 100. The funny thing is that most of the things that she considered to be “standard equipment” back in ’92 actually are standard equipment in 2017. But the question remains: When it comes to equipment, how low can you go?

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Shields Up! For Volkswagen's Product Budget

With plans to give the world more of their wonders, such as the XL1, Twin Up! and Jetta, through 2018, Volkswagen has opted to shield their product spending from cost-cutting.

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  • Theflyersfan I think color is FINALLY starting to return to car lots. After what seems like over a lost decade of nothing but shades of gray, whites, and black, I'm seeing a lot more reds and blues creeping into luxury car lots. Except Audi and Volvo. They still have at least 6-8 shades of gray/silver. But they at least have a nice green. Honda and Acura seem to have a bunch of new colors. And all carmakers need to take a serious look at the shades of red seen at the Alfa Romeo lot and tell themselves they want that because that looks amazing.
  • Bd2 Well, it's no Sonata, no does it have the panache of the Optima.
  • Teddyc73 "eye-searingly"?
  • Teddyc73 I applaud anyone who purchases a vibrant, distinct or less popular color. We need these people. Our road ways have turned into a dreary gloomy sea of white, black, silver and greys, most with the equally lifeless black wheels. Mr Healey is guilty of contributing to this gloom apparently. It looks like a black and white movie across the nation when grouped with our grey houses with grey interiors. Totally dull and lifeless. And what is with this awful hideous trend of dull grey with black wheels showing up everywhere? It's on everything. Just awful. Come on people! I'll keep my Ram 1500 with it's deep rich sparkling Western Brown paint as long as I can.
  • Shipwright As my Avatar shows I had an '08 GT 500, Grabber Orange convertible. I now own a '12 GT 500 Kona Blue coupe.