Europe for so long as just abdicated action to the US that the are incapable of acting in self interest.

The USA is planning on Europe doing something useless and symbolic like they do every-time the USA doesn’t step in.

They should have stood up to Putin to show they won’t accept war in Europe. They didn’t even stop buying fuel from Russia while Russia started an imperial land war with Europeans. Given how weak the reaction was to Putin, do you think US companies are even worried about a trade disruption?

Is it because this time it’s ‘REAL’ Europeans and not dirty poor Ukrainians? The USA is betting that Europe will complain, boycott, and eventually do business again once the occupation is complete.

The USA is threatening to invade Europe. Why would the US government think Europe would stand up to them? Why would the US congress think any real problem will come from this?

A mildly worded letter is certainly not sufficient.

You are stating there is no need to stop consuming sports. That would be FAR too strong of a reaction from Europeans.

These acts are not out of nowhere. In the last 5 years Europe has shown diplomatic support for fascism and genocide. The USA is operating in the internationally agreed frame work.

The world certainly will take the lack of even minor actions against the current acts as an unofficial European diplomatic approval .

If people aren’t bothered enough to stop watching Eurovision, or attending sports events. The leaders in Europe know where their people stand.

It’s literally a minimal action to show the world where Europe stands on fascism.

The smaller countries will understand clearly.

There are comparable cars in the US and EU market for comparable prices. Is it just that this specific model isn’t available yet?

I’m also seeing from European sites that the price is is Euro and not USD. Even in USD the car is still comparable to the other cars listed up above at 21.5k USD.

You brought up that

"Airbags don’t cost $30000 to add to a car. Seatbelts have been around since the 1960s.

Technology like this gets cheaper as it becomes a commodity. Look at how cheap flat panel tvs have gotten."

So why aren’t these EU cars significantly less expensive relative to their market?

So what is your point here? Was the point you are trying to make specific to VW? To EV’s?

To be clear. I am stating the down market cars are pretty much in line with inflation pricing the the US car market and that much of the lowering in price that would have been achieved with manufacturing improvements went to safety and performance improvements.

So, VW is selling the cars that in the US that you said they don’t.

When I look at used cars I don’t even look for rust the foot-wells anymore.

I want to agree, but I know people that have been doing this for years without being hit.

It cost nearly the same to make a luxury unit as a stripped down one. Most of the cost is labor. Spend 5 k in fancier materials and get 50k for the unit.

From what I’ve seen it wasn’t specifically a global trade weapon. It was more a side effect of central government planning.

There was just a government program to encourage electric car manufacture to boost local manufacturing. They over saturated the domestic market and are now dumping the cars internationally.

Your trying to make a point but just made a bunch of stuff up.

The a low priced car in Europe is the Dacia Spring at 17k euros approximately 20kUSD . It’s max speed is 80 mph and max range is around 110 miles. Its less expensive than a US car but isn’t cheap.

The 2026 Nissan Sentra is 23.5k. It’s $3.5k more than one of the lowest priced EU cars. This would be a general use car that can be use in nearly all markets of the US.

The average US salary is 66k the average EU salary is 46k. The slightly higher salary would make the 2 cars on average equivalent to US and EU citizen.

Cars are expensive. US and EU cars are on parity with each other, even with Chinese imports.

Low end cars are more expensive then they were decade ago because of safety technology, better materials and higher expectations. Frames are made of multi point precision aluminum with crumple zones instead of steel frame construction. A daily driver today out performs a performance car from 25 years ago.

I am discriminating. it’s yummy and quick.

Whole networks of rebuilt transmission dealers used to exist for the constant need to swap transmissions in older cars. 100k was about the limit for older transmissions as well.

The fact people are complaining that CVT’s last only a 100k says how much the reliability windows has shifted.

You can get a modern car with similar performance.

1965 dodge dart as a muscle car so the V8 package 235 HP Curb weight 1456 kg (3210 lbs) About $2600 depending on package. 0-60 6.9 seconds 1/4 mile in 15.5 second

About 26k in todays cash

Toyota GR86 228HP Curb weight about 2900 pounds RWD

0-60 5.4 14 second quarter mile

Around 30k

What used to be top of the line is now a daily driver.

Sure maybe an inline motor from the 40-50’s with a manual transmission, drum brakes and manual steering was more reliable. Basically an old school farm tractor.

I think you are looking at survivability bias. The old cars left running are reliable, the unreliable ones were scrapped long ago.

Ease of repair is not the same as reliability.

My new cars are toasters. I change the oil, rotate the tires and swap out brake pads. When things go ‘wrong’ they continue to drive. A bad o2 sensor goes into an error state but the car still drives. It doesn’t just stall at each and every stop.

My 2012 nissan blows the doors clean off myold 76/77? pontiac lemans.

In the ~100k I had my Nissan I have not had to rebuild my fuel injection system but in the ~100k I had my mechanically simple Pontiac I had the carb rebuilt 3x times, and it should have been 4. Carb rebuilding was regular maintenance and it pretty much required to have a functional car. That isn’t the constant changing of gaskets required to keep it from dripping oil or blowing smoke.

It had a rock solid 305. It was much more reliable than any of the cars I got in the 80s when the transition happened to computers. I had an engine fall out of my 85 pontiac. It ran so rough in winter it rattled the engine mounting bolts out. I did have to replace the fuel injection system on my mid 90’s GM, but that car pretty reliable.

I got flashback to fixing fucking vacuum leaks. God damn why not just replace ALL the lines , still not it ? FUCK!

I traded a bus and reader that will tell me what is wrong for a chiltons and vacuum system.

I loved being young. I loved the freedom of going where I wanted when I wanted. I loved gas so cheap I would just take a drive to clear my head. The old cars were finicky and required constant attention. They just weren’t build to last more than 10 years.

Yeah man.

Those old cars were dirt cheap for the auto companies to assemble. That is why every environmental and safety regulation was fought tooth and nail.

Swap your own drums for disc brakes, then makes those abs. You can see those prices for aftermarket parts. Now do that for just about everything in a modern car.

They are just far more complex than anything today. There recently made increases are somewhat different, but real costs were increased

Safety and environmental regulations are what’s making new cars expensive compared to inflation. Even without the luxury bump in price.

New cars are also a literal order of magnitude more reliable. Most new cars have spark plug changes at 70k cars from then pretty much needed a full engine rebuild.

Yes. What is legal and acceptable will be different anywhere.

I take the cherry tomatoes and cut them in half, then add a dressing of balsamic vinegar, powered soup base, chicken flavored, olive oil and basil. The leftover taste even better the day after.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xin_Zhui

You can take the plain popcorn and pop it in a microwave in a brown paper lunch sack that is folded over. No need for a one off machine.

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