I remember reading a few years ago about how automakers were axing their small cars and sedans in favor of crossovers and SUVs. It cautioned about "what if higher gas prices". Well, here in 2026 we have fuck high gas prices, and it feels as if every fucking automaker killed their small cars. The Mirage is dead, the Versa is dead, in Canada the Mirca is dead. Sure you can still get these used, but what about in ten years time? And models that used to be small, like the Civic, bloated up in size to mid-size class.I miss when automakers actually gave a damn about offering every different type of vehicle they could so they could please people. Now they just want to please their shareholders and crank out what makes them the most profit. They don't give a shit what people want anymore. For decades we had small cars from many different makes, and now what's left for 2026 and beyond (in America and Canada)?
>>28982292Can you even make a car under $20K these days?Ignoring slave labor stuff.
>>28982292the nissan juke class of cars, or subcompact crossovers are roughly the same size
>>28982292>Well, here in 2026 we have fuck high gas prices, and it feels as if every fucking automaker killed their small cars.Well, no one buys them, and this is coming from someone who actively seeks out compact cars. Last Memorial Day, people bought trucks and SUVs. They think gas prices are high, but for the average American to feel the pain like they did in 2008, it would require gas to be over $6.23 per gallon to feel the hurt... or so the inflation calculator says.To really calculate the threshold that caused automakers to panic and pivot to small cars, we need to look into the cost of a tank of gas to wages in percentages. During the peak of the War in Asscrackistan, Americans sunk about 8.6% of their USD into their car, while right now in 2026, it's about 5.1%. Also, for that money, an average American could only travel 3660 miles at a fleet average of 21 mpg in 2008, while in 2026, the national fleet average is 28 mpg.So in reality, if you wanted to see the automakers panic and pivot to small cars again, you'd need a gas price of at least $7.08 average to cause people to fire sale their SUVs and pickup trucks and push RAV4 hybrid prices to the stratosphere.Oh wait, you wanted a small car with a gas price panic? LOL, LMAO even.
>>28982297>Can you even make a car under $20K these days?Yes, but it's going to require some concessions on the safety front, and also you don't get to have anything more basic than a radio with Bluetooth.
dont want a crossoverdont want a small car
>>28982292A RAV4 gets the same fuel economy as a Mirage. Why the fuck would you go for the Mirage if you have a bit extra to spend?>>28982297You can get a new half ton for ~$22k.
>>28982292just buy a golf.
>>28982297Instead of still offering a small car, they just went fuck it!I mean a little over $20,000 is still a pretty good deal.Also, good luck finding dealership that sell stripper models of anything. They want you to buy something with options so they can bilk you for more money.
>>28982339>Why the fuck would you go for the Mirage if you have a bit extra to spend?Fuel economy is not the only metric for ownership cost. The Mirage is just cheaper on tax, registration, insurance, and maintenance items on consumables and repair parts.The reality of it is that Americans see small cars as a safety net that they want handy just in case they are staring down absolute financial ruin. Automakers are not obligated to sell a last-resort car to the American public if they're just not going to buy them. This addiction to sizing up and feature creeping cars is so bad that even rental car companies won't buy them.>t. Mazda 5 Sport, Bluetooth not included
>>28982299>or subcompact crossovers are roughly the same sizeWhat if I don't want a crossover?
>>28982331>Well, no one buys themWell, they used to. So what happened?
>>28982347>The Mirage is just cheaper on tax, registration, insurance, and maintenance items on consumables and repair parts.I doubt they're much different all things considered. Nobody is going to go to a Mirage to save $100/yr on that shit.
>>28982348buy a camaro
>>28982351>Well, they used to. So what happened?They wanted more, and expected more. Back in my day in the paleolithic era, a lot of people used to shop specifically on utility propositions, like powertrain and body style since cars weren't that tech focused. The best you could do is select a car with an iPod cable or a USB port.Tesla changed the game on this when cars became smartphone compatible. People take it for granted but that was a game changer in infotainment. Smartphone integration was the new, hot thing. Now, people expect Apple Carplay and Android Auto. Any car that doesn't have that may as well be a horse and buggy to them.>>28982353>I doubt they're much different all things considered. Nobody is going to go to a Mirage to save $100/yr on that shit.Excellent inquiry, and see pic related for this. I am giving this the benefit of the doubt with the base models for both. In reality, Toyota buyers typically do not settle for less than XLE trim. I am using the newest cars available, even if the model years are a little off. The Mirage got killed off. The RAV4 is still insanely popular and commands a premium.Over 5 years, the absolute national average floor is $8625 extra money spent on a car. This is substantial for an American household at $1725 per year difference.In reality, an average American will opt to buy a RAV4 Hybrid XLE, which widens the gap to $11264, or an extra $2252.80 per year.There is a very large difference between the cheapest new-ish car Americans will buy and the actual reality that Americans buy. Keep in mind that if they opt for a SUV or a pickup truck, the gap widens even more.
>>28982351Evil people who hate their neighbors and want them to suffer wanted to tax the energy and transportation of human civilization out of existence under the pretext that the planet will blow up if they don't.Some other slightly less evil but avaricious and tricksy people said okay but only if you let us include some talmudic loopholes that will allow up to continue profiting from some profitable segments.And that where CAFE and a bunch of other regulations came from, and also why 'the most common vehicle on the road is 'trucks'', because all those crossovers are legally definined as 'trucks', and this lets them avoiding paying tax penalties that artificially jack the prices up on sedans and other small cars, pushing them outside of economic viability.
>>28982372There is no fucking way that RAV4 is losing $11k after 5 years. Somebody will pay $31k for it 5 years from now. Meanwhile you can get a 2017 Mirage for $5k or less. Most people would happily spend the extra to not die in a fender bender.
>>28982381>There is no fucking way that RAV4 is losing $11k after 5 years. Somebody will pay $31k for it 5 years from now. Meanwhile you can get a 2017 Mirage for $5k or less.The Edmunds auto appraisal tool uses lagging indicators that are not reflective of the reality of the current car market. Only a structural collapse of banking and lending would cause prices to fall at this rate because the auto market is propped by extremely easy, extremely usurious debt.That's another thing, the people who buy cars based on total cost are almost total unicorns now. An overwhelming majority buy cars based on monthly payment.>Most people would happily spend the extra to not die in a fender bender.Which I find a little confusing, because people seem to really dislike the sheer scale of struggle and suffering they experience on a daily basis these days. They spend extra to keep experiencing the lives they dislike.I cannot lie about the reality of my car. It's a beater, it's old, and if someone that has a vehicle that weighs more than mine by over 1000 lbs, I will probably get seriously injured, and if it's a small frontal overlap crash, I will probably die. But on the other hand, if I die, it's not my problem anymore, so die with a smile.
>>28982363Retard.
>>28982442Explain.
>>28982372>Smartphone integration was the new, hot thing. Now, people expect Apple Carplay and Android Auto. Any car that doesn't have that may as well be a horse and buggy to them.I don't need nor want any of that shit.
>>28982333>radio with BluetoothThat's completely fine, I don't even care about rear cameras to be honest. Give me a radio and air conditioning and I'm good.
>>28982372>Now, people expect Apple Carplay and Android Auto. Any car that doesn't have that may as well be a horse and buggy to them.Tesla, famously, does not offer Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, at all, though.
>>28982703Too bad. Everyone else does.
>>28982703>I don't need nor want any of that shit.You're ahead of the curve there. The mass public has yet to be totally burned and ruined by infotainment suites that lead to dead screens and dashes. Right now since it's new and in warranty, it's deeply annoying, but when parts aren't made for the car anymore, the vehicle may end up getting electronically totalled because it's no longer legal to drive if it has no instrumentation.People will go one of two ways:>subscription based "leasing/renting"People already do this with extremely long loan terms that they rotate negative equity into. I can foresee a hybrid leasing model where people pay for what they use on the car without the restrictive mileage limits, or they'll just keep rolling over negative equity until they're staring down absolute financial ruin on one of the largest wealth destroying choices in an American life. >reversion to older carsThis may cause older vehicles to command a premium simply for longevity. This will appeal to people who treat cars as transportation, dislike the way how tech integration is being applied to transportation, or that they simply cannot afford a newer car and can't afford to be ruined by a tech integrated vehicle that's no longer supported.This movement is also classless. The poor buy them because they can't afford anything else. The middle class buy them because they see the huge repair bills and decide they don't want to pay for that. The wealthy buy them for privacy and longevity>>28982705>rear camerasI think 2018 made rear cameras mandatory so anything newer than that must have it.>radio and air conditioning and I'm good.You are in the minority there, feature creep really made the public mind captive here.>>28982706>Tesla, famously, does not offer Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, at allIt set the precedent for tech integration. It's how automakers try to make their cars more competitive to the modern car buyer. I should've clarified that precedent.
>>28982381>Most people would happily spend the extra to not die in a fender bender.You have to admit that sedans are way more maneuverable, you would be more likely to dodge the car that would catch you in the fender bender in the first place. The sedan is also way less likely to rollover in an accident. Really the only problem with driving a sedan is that everyone is driving a truck or crossover now, you can't deny that there isn't less visibility for sedan drivers compared to 20 years ago
>>28982719>you would be more likely to dodge the car that would catch you in the fender bender in the first placeThe most common fender bender is a rear-end impact, about a third of all impacts are because someone didn't stop or slow down in time. Automatically, a third of all vehicle accidents are non-avoidable despite your best efforts.
>>2898238131k and 5k is "not a little extra" thats a fucking lot of money.>>28982384>the people who buy cars based on total cost are almost total unicorns now. An overwhelming majority buy cars based on monthly payment.Because automarkers killed all their small affordable cars. Now you can only buy a CUV at a much higher price.What's gonna happen to the used market in 20 years? No small cars left save for sunshine states. Salt states are fucked. Forced to drive a more expensive used crossover.
>>28982709People are spoiled rotten. They forget how basic cars could be back in the day. Pretty soon all the old boomers will die out and you won't even have anyone left that remembers what it was like to drive a car with a carb, roller windows, and a cassette deck with a tape adaptor in it.
>>28982713>It set the precedent for tech integration.No it didn't. Tesla is widely reviled for forcing drivers to take their eyes off the road and fiddle with a screen to adjust almost anything. Look at a 300k Bentley. You get real buttons.
Small cars had to have extremely high fuel economy or else they had to add thousands in fees in any cars sold in the US.They switched to prioritizing cuckovers and SUVs and made their small cars as shitty as possible because with the cafe fees or some whizbang expensive R&D small cars would be more expensive than CUVs if they were at the same quality. But people don’t want to pay more for a smaller car, so small cars became shit because they had to be cheap.We’ve been over this.
>>28982738>Because automarkers killed all their small affordable cars. Now you can only buy a CUV at a much higher price.I may have stated this in >>28982347 but the vast majority of Americans will not buy small cars unless they are facing absolute financial ruin. A small affordable car to a median, and even average American is not a cheap form of transportation, but a last-resort safety net to be avoided at all costs.This stigma is arguably worse than the minivan stigma, because the stigma of the subcompact poverty box is so strong that it actually killed off the subcompact segment for the most part.Your two best subcompact options are the Chevrolet Trax (206k) and Subaru Crosstrek (191k) total. The top two combined all-time sales does not match even a single year of RAV4 sales at 479k sold yearly. That's how bad the stigma is.>>28982747>No it didn't.It did though. You are looking at this through rose-tinted hindsight, not through the lens of past perception.In 2012, the Model S totally ripped up the playbook on the more-is-more button layouts of the cars of the time. People made fun of how complicated those dash layouts were as there seemed to be a button for everything.Tesla's touchscreens seemed to fix that at the time, and automakers followed suit, without realizing that Tesla is extremely vertically integrated and could push out updates on-demand and do so frequently, so their UI/UX was extremely quick to improve and iterate upon. Legacy automakers use a model where once the UI/UX is baked in, it's locked in and doesn't change. They've been trying to switch to Tesla's model but the issue is that traditional automakers operate on a subcontractor model and they're really just assemblers, and coordinating with a third party on specs, updates, and hotfixes does not work, simply because they don't own everything in the process.It's why modern infotainment is a flaming wreck. It breaks easily and isn't easy to update. Now it's also seen as a hazard.
>>28982292midszie sedans were nearly as good on gas already. So....yeah, there wasn't much point. And when you take Hybrids into account, the Kia Niro gives you 50 fucking miles to the gallon.Small compacts peaked in 2012. After that, there just hasn't been a real excuse for them.
>>28982765>This stigma is arguably worse than the minivan stigma, because the stigma of the subcompact poverty box is so strong that it actually killed off the subcompact segment for the most part.Must be an American problem because small cars are still being sold in other parts of the world.
>>28982823>Must be an American problem because small cars are still being sold in other parts of the world.It is. A car in America is an outward display of your status and wealth (more accurately how much debt you're allowed to play with). Cheap cars are a way of signalling a lack of options or acute/chronic financial distress.I can't hate small, cheap cars. They're called economy cars because they are what makes the economy work. They are affordable to run, ask little of the owner beyond basic services, and help save enough money to make it to the next paycheck, and hopefully move up in life.Hell, I own one, because I value the ability to be able to use the money to stuff my face with steak and ground beef instead of using it to pay the bank.
>>28982765>In 2012, the Model S totally ripped up the playbook on the more-is-more button layouts of the cars of the time. because elon is a cheapskate and an autist and could buy up screens in bulk for a much lower price than engineering wiring paths and machined shapes for actual buttonsits not progress, it's backwardsif the cars were not electric, nobody would care or buy them they are otherwise horrid cheap cars beyond the "wow so big battery" aspect
I don't think it's enough that they just be small anymore. They need to be a literal middle finger to the oil companies.
>>28982765>In 2012, the Model S totally ripped up the playbook on2012 is when the modified CAFE law went into effect. Coincidence? Maybe.
>>28982948If ze pod were like that for the right price, I'd own one.
>>28982346base model Civic is bretty easy to get and is $24,700
>>28982292they exist its just america jim wont let us buy them because karen and dave have to drive giant fuck u crossovers
>>28982297Yeah, up until last year brand new Versas were selling for under $17k, and that's for a brand new car with a port-injected, n/a 4cyl and a 5-speed manual transmission (inb4 muh Jatco CVT is shit, just buy the 5MT). Backup camera, color screen, power everything and traction control, too. Adjusted backwards for inflation, this would've been a sub-$10k car before the year 2000, which is pretty damn good considering what it comes with. Hell, it even weighs around 2500lbs like a '90s car, unlike the Civic/Corolla which are now creeping into the $25-30k range while weighing closer to 3000lbs like an old Accord/Camry.>inb4 it's a shitty economy carIt is, and it's cheap, and leagues ahead of some penalty box subcompact like the Mirage that might as well be a kei car to American eyes. They barely sold any of course, it was discontinued, and the average American car buyer continues to spend $50k+ on average for a new car they can't actually afford anyway because even the biggest poorfags feel they need to be driving a new "spaceship" to impress their friends.
>>28983149its a pretty neat little car
>>28982705backup cameras are mandatoryand that's the trick, a lot of the increased costs are from the mandatory safety and emissions shit we're stuck with nowand good fucking luck convincing normalfags to roll back those without getting accused of wanting babies to die
>>28982351K shaped recovery after 2008. Companies make cars for people who can afford a new car, everyone else is irrelevant to them. The manufacturers make more profit selling fewer big cars to richer people than fighting for pennies by selling mass amounts of cheap cars to poorer people.>how do we fix it?Go back in time and prevent the Americans and Europeans from adopting globalist neoliberal policies that destroyed the lower class manufacturing jobs that underwrote middle class consumerism. At this point, it can't be fixed. The people with all the money have all the political power and a means to prevent organization against them via the social panopticon that is social media.
>>28982292TBF the Versa is trash.
>>28983221Back up cameras are sort of needed now because so many cars have shit rear view viability. Thick pillars, small windows, everything angled upwards, it sucks.I rented a Mirage once and was dumbfounded though by the backup camera, its a fucking tiny hatchback I don't need it and can handle the dimensions myself.>>28983149The classic mark of a base car, non color coded door handles and mirrors. And hubcaps. Is it hard to get a car with hubcaps these days? Seems like even the most basic ones are with alloy wheels.
>>28982719>You have to admit that sedans are way more maneuverableI don't think so. I much prefer driving my 19' long SUV in the city over my 55'' tall econobox. My SUV has a much tighter turn radius lol and I can actually see ahead in traffic so I don't have to make last minute maneuvers. You people don't know how hard it is to roll a truck or a SUV and it's even harder with modern trucks and SUV's.
