Affordability is the main topic on the mind of Americans right now, which means people are looking to save money anywhere they can. That includes the dealership floor. According to new data released yesterday, the demand for base models over more premium trims is on the rise this year, to the point where automakers are seeing huge swings in demand depending on spec. As a result, you might soon be seeing far more base models on the lot in the coming months while shopping for a new car.
What else is happening this morning? Nissan, which teetered on the edge of insolvency as early as two years ago, looks to be getting things back on track, showing smaller losses than expected as it announces its seventh factory closure. And for the first time in 10 years, registrations of electric vehicles fell in America year over year—but that hasn’t stopped Tesla from retaining its dominance in the EV capital of America, California.
In a bit of less industry-esque news, the Formula 1 movie is confirmed to be getting a sequel. Sadly, something tells me it won’t be called F2. Let’s get into it.
More Buyers Are Starting To Realize Base Is Best
In my experience visiting dealerships, it’s rare you actually see a truly base, no-option version of a car sitting on the lot. Cars you see at the dealer carry various levels of options throughout various trims, pre-determined by the dealer, who orders those cars, or the manufacturer, who allocates those cars to the dealership (or, in many cases, both).
Cars with more options generate higher margins, so it makes sense that the cars available for buyers on the lot are more decked out than the base car you see on that automaker’s website. Both the dealer and the carmaker want to make as much money as possible on every sale. But buyers are speaking with their wallets, with data showing that cheaper, simpler entry-level trims are selling quicker than premium versions, according to data from Cox Automotive and CarEdge, seen by Reuters.
The publication reports that “Americans are ditching premium trims for entry-level cars as affordability takes a hit:”
Steep sticker prices on new cars are pushing Americans to opt out of premium trims for basic models, lifting sales of entry-level variants and prompting some automakers to adjust production.
Pickup trucks and crossovers have cemented their place as top-sellers despite their hefty price tags. But average transaction prices have hovered around $50,000 for nearly a year, according to Cox Automotive, putting many fully loaded models out of reach.
The strain extends beyond the showroom. Widening wealth gap in the U.S. and a sharp rise in costs for housing, insurance and healthcare are squeezing lower-income households, with President Donald Trump’s tariffs adding more pressure.
“If you want to keep a car for a decade, shouldn’t you get the bare minimum of options that you will use? No need to get the most powerful engine if the plan is just to commute to work,” said Sam Fiorani, vice president of research firm at AutoForecast Solutions.
If you’re an automaker or dealer, you can feel one of two ways about this. The negative Nancies will stress about how they’re losing on that precious margin, since fewer buyers are opting for fancy trims and options they don’t actually need. On the flip side, building base model cars isn’t as expensive and often quicker than building pricier versions. So long as you can keep sales volume up, there are still profit opportunities.
How automakers feel about this isn’t as important as how they plan to adapt, of course. And most of the big players in the affordable car space are taking notice:
Automakers say the impact is showing in sales. Ford reported lower overall U.S. sales in January, but said deliveries of the basic trim of its compact Maverick pickup rose 33.5%.
Honda flagged a similar shift to focus on entry-level models in January.
As Reuters points out, demand for cheap cars like the Corolla and Camry was up in January, according to Toyota, while Stellantis told the publication it’s cutting prices across its brands to better appeal to lower-cost buyers.
CBT News, a news site for dealers, says the shift will push automakers to “recalibrate production and inventory strategies” going forward to align “inventory with price-sensitive demand.” That means buyers should start seeing more base model cars at dealerships in the near future, to match what people are actually buying.
If this trend continues, I wouldn’t be surprised to start seeing trims with unpainted bumpers and steel wheels. And I’d be totally down for that.
Nissan Is Actually Doing It, But At What Cost?
The past couple of years have been supremely interesting for Nissan. Back in 2024, an exec reportedly said the company had “12 to 14 months to survive,” leading the car world to question when, not if, the Japanese auto giant would collapse into bankruptcy or be absorbed by a competitor like Honda.
That Honda merger didn’t happen, though, and Nissan forged a different path forward. It acquired a new CEO, Ivan Espinosa, in March 2025, who introduced a restructuring plan for the brand called “Re:Nissan.” The plan involved significant cost-cutting measures, including the closure of seven factories and the reduction of around 20,000 jobs.
That plan is working, according to Espinosa. It just recently offloaded the seventh and final factory it planned to get rid of—an assembly plant in South Africa where it previously built the NP200 half-ton pickup—to Chinese automaker Chery. So far, the company has $1 billion of the planned $1.6 billion in fixed costs from its balance sheet, and plans to get that number to $1.3 billion by the end of next month, according to Automotive News:
As for job cuts, Nissan is ahead of schedule on that front as well.
Espinosa declined to give a figure for Nissan’s progress on job cuts, but said the company is “a bit ahead of schedule” in trimming the global workforce by about 20,000 people.
What about the actual numbers? Well, things are still bad for Nissan, but they’re not as bad as originally expected. Which means they’re good … right?
In announcing the quarterly results, Nissan lifted its earnings outlook for the fiscal year ending March 31. The company now expects an operating loss of ¥60 billion ($391.3 million), better than the ¥275 billion ($1.8 billion) in red ink it had forecast in November.
The loss reverses a ¥69.8 billion ($455.2 million) operating profit from the year before.
Nissan issued a net-based income outlook for the first time this fiscal year, forecasting a ¥650 billion ($4.2 billion) net loss.
That compares with a net loss of ¥670.9 billion ($4.4 billion) the year before.
Despite the double-digit percentage gains Nissan is expecting from dealers this year in the U.S., sales forecasts are looking pretty flat in 2026. So it’ll be up to those cost-cutting measures to ensure the brand’s continued existence in the near term.
EV Sales Are Down In America For the First Time In A Decade, But Tesla Still Has Its Home Market Locked
The registrations of pure electric vehicles dropped by 0.4% in the United States last year compared to 2024, falling to 7.8% of the overall new car market, from 8%, according to S&P Mobility data seen by Automotive News. This is the first time in 10 years that the number of EVs sold has fallen compared to the previous year.
The loss of the federal EV tax credit certainly had something to do with the decline, but it wasn’t the only factor, according to S&P analyst Tom Libby. Things like infrastructure and range anxiety remain important pain points for buyers. And we certainly can’t forget about affordability now, can we?
Although congressional repeal of the $7,500 EV tax credit helped trigger a sharp drop in EV sales in the final months of 2025, the slowdown in demand actually began in 2024, Libby said.
“I think there’s a lot of reasons for that. A key one is price,” Libby said. Even with generous government and automaker incentives, high EV sticker prices remained a hurdle for mainstream buyers, who gravitated toward hybrids instead.
“The customers who wanted an EV got an EV. When you get beyond the early adopters, there are barriers like charging infrastructure issues, the range anxiety issue,” Libby said.
Tesla might not be the overwhelming market force it once was, but it’s still the undisputed king of sales in the United States, holding 44.9% of the EV market in 2025 (down 3.1% versus the year prior). In its home state of California, its most popular car, the Model Y crossover, is in an entirely different league when it comes to sales, according to data from the California New Car Dealers Association published by San Francisco local news station KRON 4:
Top Selling New Vehicle Models in CA (2025)
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Tesla Model Y: 110,120
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Toyota RAV4: 65,604
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Toyota Camry: 62,324
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Tesla Model 3: 53,989
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Honda Civic: 53,085
Even if Tesla never updates the Model Y again, it would likely be years before it loses the sales crown in the Golden State.
The F1 Movie Is Officially Getting A Sequel
I enjoyed the Formula 1 movie, even though it wasn’t totally realistic. It was fun to see real faces from the F1 scene appear alongside Brad Pitt on the big screen. As interesting as a movie surrounding the Formula 2 scene might be, I don’t think F1’s sequel will be that clever. But it’s definitely happening, according to the original film’s producer, Jerry Bruckheimer. From the BBC:
Speaking to the BBC at the annual Academy Awards luncheon in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Bruckheimer said: “We’re working on a sequel.”
The producer declined to give a timeline for the project or confirm casting details, including whether Pitt would reprise his role. But Bruckheimer added that he would “of course” be involved in casting decisions.
I don’t see Pitt not returning in some way, though perhaps he’ll play a team principal or something similar. I can see a Sonny Hayes + Guenther Steiner team-up working nicely.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
It’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow, which means love is in the air. So I’m listening to “Nobody’s Love” by Maroon 5, from their 2021 album Jordi.
The Big Question
Is the ultra-base, stripped-out model about to make a triumphant return?
Top graphic image: Nissan
Brad and Gunter? Please……no.
Well not with that attitude
“I can see a Sonny Hayes + Guenther Steiner team-up working nicely.“
10/10, no notes. Netflix’s F1 series was worth it for Guenther alone.
I get that manufacturers claim they want to step up their base trim production game, but I simply do not believe them.
I’d honestly prefer we had more options that were designed to be inexpensive cars, versus higher end cars that have every feature deleted from them. But that’s not going to happen either.
I put 50 bucks on a basic Slate. If they actually make them I may buy one. Or wait for another year of depreciation on what I really want a. ionic 5
What’s the sequel going to be called, F2? F1:2? F12?
F1:Victory Lap
“F2: Electric Race Car Boogaloo.”
2F, 2 Furious, obviously
F1: FAFO
2 Formula 2 One
Honestly, my old ’06 Camry LE was about perfect. A/C, power windows, power locks, cruise control. Nice fabric seats and quality touch points. Steel roof. My partner’s ’07 Corrolla is the same but has a moonroof.
My parents went cheap in the late 70’s and bought a bare-bones Tercel with NO A/C. Mind you, we lived in the Midwest where not only were the temps high, but the humidity was Turkish-bath-level uncomfortable. I hated that car.
The ONLY options my dad was dead set on were A/C and an FM radio.
Driving home from a summer workout in my family’s no-AC Ford Aspire, I once had to stop at a grocery store to cool off in their AC and get something to rehydrate. I think I’d rather sell a kidney than buy a car with no AC (don’t get any ideas, automakers…)
My daily driver has air conditioning…and crank windows, manual locks, manual transmission, a driver seat with no armrest or recline function (until I yanked one out of a higher trim model in a junkyard), AM/FM radio with one of those cigarette lighter Bluetooth adapters. Hell, there isn’t even a keyhole on the passenger door.
Air conditioning. That’s all the luxury I need. And maybe an armrest. If they made trucks like that today I’d buy one in a heartbeat (10 years from now when it hits the bottom of the depreciation curve).
Ha Ha, jokes on you. Trucks don’t depreciate like normal vehicles. Maybe 20 years.
you’re assuming his is a new truck. Which considering the features he listed (or lack thereof) is at least a decade old.
Given my current truck is a 2006 model and I bought it last year to replace a 1994 model I bought 7-8 years ago – yeah, that checks out…
Even a blind squirrel gets a nut sometimes.
*I’m the blind squirrel in this scenario.
Not everyone prides themselves in driving a Carthusian monastery.
5 points Griffendore for “Carthusian monastery”
That is fantastic
Base trims have so much kit on them now that all I really want is the better touchpoints on the mid-upper trims. I would happily do without some LCD real estate and driver nannies for better armrests and richer seat fabrics. Tech has become so democratized at this point that the plushness of the basic furnishings is the big differentiator for me.
Came here to say just this. My base model Bronco has AC, power windows, power locks, a decent stereo, CarPlay, remote entry, and more. Heck, it even has remote start! Also, I like the rural vibe of the steelie wheels. What more do I really need? In three years of driving this beast I have never said “I wish I had <feature> from the fancy trim levels.”
I did add side steps so my wife could get in with a degree of elegance. Was that bougie of me?
Same here. Bring back comfortable seats and they keep anything new they have in mind going forward—there’s already more crap than I want to the point where I’ll pay (a modest amount) more to cut out the garbage, Porsche style. I have a base GR86, about the simplest car you can buy, and I can’t think of anything it’s missing that I’d want. There’s only one engine and AC, CarPlay, and an LSD are standard. Maybe nicer interior materials in an actual color, but the higher trim just slaps a few pieces of shitty alcantara on and it’s still just black. While I don’t want it, especially in a small car that warms up in minutes, I think heated seats are about the only thing most people would want that is only available on the higher trim. I can’t really think of any additional features I’d want in any car that this doesn’t have except maybe massage seats. I’ve never tried any available in a car, but if they’re a tenth as good as the space capsule thing my sister has, I’ll take it.
“ I would happily do with … better armrests and richer seat fabrics.”
This is why the aftermarket exists.
Seat covers and armrests are relatively easy retrofits.
Is the ultra-base, stripped-out model about to make a triumphant return?
Nope. These babies are 90’s loaded!
I believe that AC is standard due to FMVSS requirements pertaining to defrosting the windshield. Power steering & brakes are likely due to other provisions in the standards. There was a moment when Lotus declared that power windows were lighter than manual window regulators.
Sure. Spoil them. (LoL)
Idk what’s worse, David admitting he likes Coldplay or Brian sharing a Maroon 5 song….
Would you have preferred Matchbox 20 or Nickelback?
Hoobastank
Either of those bands at least have a good song or two, even Nickelback. Marion 5 is just god awful bubblegum corporate schlock…
I actually don’t mind Maroon 5, but they could have split up after Adam Levine joined The Voice and not much of value would have been lost.
Some of their early, jazzier stuff with traditional instrumentation was at least listenable. Weirdly enough Adam is probably the least talented or interesting of all of them and yet it’s basically been his solo project for the last 15 years. I guess it pays to be hot.
Decidedly not a Matt-curated What I’m Listening to…
I’ll admit to liking some Coldplay. God Put a Smile Upon Your Face definitely gets me cranking up the volume in my car.
I suggest having a section in our membership profiles that asks for our favorite songs or top 3 and they pick the song from that list. Could easily be complied in an excel spreadsheet, songs that have dozens of mentions get used first
Could even have a shout out to a member if it’s a deep cut they suggested
“To Hell With Poverty” by Gang of Four captures the moment.
Base trim levels are great, until you get spoiled by new tech and realize you don’t want to live without it.
My first car had good old-fashioned keys, crank windows and no AC. I don’t think it even had power steering. I didn’t know what I was missing, so it was fine.
Then I got one with power windows and AC, and decided I’d never go without those features ever again.
Many vehicles later, and now the wife’s car doesn’t even require you to take fob out of your pocket, plus heated & cooled seats. It has completely spoiled me.
Mind you this was a COVID purchase when we needed a new (read: reliable) car, and all they were shipping from the factories was the high content cars so we didn’t have much choice in the matter (we would have gone without things like the air conditioned seats for cost reasons, if we’d had the choice), but it’s pretty much ruined me as far as going with a base level trim ever again.
There is a big adjustment period, for sure. But in my experience, after 6-12 months, you stop missing that stuff. Well, maybe not the AC, depends on your climate. But taking the keys out? Nah, I was over that in month.
I’m ok with base models, but I do want a few nice things like ventilated seats or a sunroof and those tend to only be available bundled with other options.
And that little feature that you end up enjoying will inevitably be buried in a $7,000 package upgrade that includes 80% crap you don’t want by the time you go looking for your next car. Why the hell do heated seats require AWD, premium matte gray paint, 20 inch wheels, and a 28 speaker stereo?
I’m the opposite. I get exposed to the new crap and either couldn’t care if it went away or actively want it gone (like all active “safety” tech). At least anything that’s been new for the last 20 years or so except for CarPlay. While I don’t hate it, I’m over push button start. Keyless entry isn’t bad because I don’t have to deal with frozen locks in the winter, but I could leave that, too. I’d even give up power windows if it meant a car small enough that I could reach all the cranks from my seat like I used to be able to, but more just to have a car that had an efficient footprint than hatred of power windows. People always talk about them being less reliable, but the only issues I’ve had regarding windows was manual window cranks breaking off and a sunroof safety stop that needed to be recalibrated fairly frequently, no issues with power side windows. I would definitely trade EPAS for hydraulic or even manual if I could get a light enough car with skinny enough tires.
Right there with you on the lane assist and distance sensitive cruise control that always seems to slow the car down before I’m ready to start thinking about needing to overtake. The lane assist never gets turned on, and I’m constantly pissed at the cruise control.
My only requirements are heated seats and steering wheel and I’ve noticed that those are starting to become significantly more common on base models
It looks like Auto execs are realising that if they want to hit their completely unhinged sales growth numbers (looking at you, Stellantis), they gotta start focusing on the bottom part of that “K” shaped economy.
I personally think more base models is a good thing. They tend to last the longest into their 2nd and 3rd owner cycles, cause they break down less.
My modern-day feature set is cruise, A/C, and heated seats. Hell, go back to standard DIN radio sizing and slap the shittiest radio you can in it, I’ll upgrade it myself.
Jeep has overpriced their wranglers so much.
Yep
Stellantis has overprices everything so much, which is obviously how they’ve gotten where they are now – assuming that everyone will keep paying sticker or over after the pandemic. I saw some Hornets for sale the other day with $16k off sticker. How they thought those were going to be viable vehicles as just north of $50k boggles the mind.
*edit* I just looked, they are still available but now $20k off sticker. Not-so-shockingly they are leftover ’24 models.
I know it will never happen with how everything is a computer now, but I love how my base NC Miata was wired with one harness and all the connectors are just sitting there. 20 years later, I can just add most of the options for cheap by swapping components. I wanted cruise control, so I swapped a $10 switch and the steering wheel for one with the cruise and radio buttons. Now I have cruise control. I swapped the headlight stalk to one with a foglight switch and added fog lights to the factory harness and they work. The wiring is there if I wanted to add heated seat switches and heated seats.
The most interesting one was that you can swap the wiper stalk in from other Mazda’s and you get intermittent wipers, which was never offered on the NC. But they just work if you have the switch to select them.
That’s awesome. I thought it was clever I was able to add remote unlock to my wife’s 2009 G6 that didn’t come with it, by using a Dorman remote programmer. This is a whole ‘nother level. I suspect for production efficiency that many cars are built with the options mostly there, just not hooked up.
I had a 00′ Protege ES I hung on to until the mid-20-teens. Yep, did the wiper stalk, from an Escape. Also, swapping wiper squirt nozzles from same- TRANSFORMATIVE, but probably overkill on a Miata. I figured out the 12v wiring to put in an auto-dimming rearview with compass and HomeLink. Got an amazing JVC DIN head unit for about $100, with BT, wired mic for handsfree, extra USB, and spent a modest amount on 4 new Kicker speakers. Then wired in 2 more 12v ports. For not a lot of money it made the car nice enough to hang onto it longer, so I viewed it as a cost savings in lieu of car payments.
I never really understood about the variable intermittent wipers. I have the Grand Touring trim and these basic ass wipers. I think every Japanese car I have owned has has variable intermittent wipers, from a 1985 Pulsar NX, 1995 Nissan 4×2 manual value truck package, to 2017 Mazda 6.
What I recall from family members is that base B13 Sentras and D21 trucks had no intermittent wipers.
It’s a quick swap if you haven’t done it yet. I think the RX8, 3, and 6 all have compatible stalks so it’s easy to find one at the pick and pull junkyard for a couple bucks.
Back when I owned a 4th gen Ram it was the base Tradesman with a plastic steering wheel with no audio controls. I wanted the leather wrap and was able to source one out of a Laramie for $50. I did the swap myself in about an hour. What I wasn’t expecting, though, is that the audio controls worked. No BCM tinkering nor anything, I was all set.
But your NC is in another level of Plug & Play. That’s amazing!
If it was a Ford it would have needed a Forscan flash for every added feature, through OBDII
I’m thinking about picking up an NC in a few months if I can get a couple other cars moved along, this is INCREDIBLY helpful to know.
Used to be that a lot of vehicles around here were available on the lots as a base model + cold weather package. That’s all I want – all of the features of the base plus some heated seats.
Toyota making you jump from the LE to SE or XLE to get heated seats is really annoying. I want the smaller wheels, both because of the fuel economy and because of what my wife did to the wheels on her poor poor EVquinox.
Pay a good aftermarket shop to install seat heaters then.
I want an Alcantara headliner and power rear sunshade! And I want it available on the base LE, don’t you dare make me step up for that!
Around here, the Camry has a pretty cheap cold weather package available on the LE that provides heated seats and steering wheel. The LE has standard power driver seat–not everyone offers that in the base model. So there’s tradeoffs.
I’d take heated manual adjustment over non-heated power seat any day. And the one I want is cheaper to produce.
That’s fine, but I wouldn’t. And if the power seat is offered on the base, I’m guessing you’re in the minority there. Power seats generally offer more and finer adjustments, particularly in seat height where manuals jack up the back of the cushion only to raise the seat.
If you think Toyota is bad here, try optioning an Accord. They’re even more rigid with trim levels.
They’re all terrible. But different markets call for different options.
Here in Canada, heated seats are pretty much standard. Southern areas probably rarely sell them.
So a base isn’t the same base everywhere.
Honda doesn’t do options outside of things the dealer can add on like floor mats or different wheels. Pick your trim and color, that’s all you get. Significantly simplifies the production process as well as dealer allocations.
With how things are equipped now, the base model of a lot of cars makes sense. We leased a SUV for my son when he was at Michigan Tech, because it was cheaper than buying him a dependable used 4 wheel drive (they get about 200 inches of snow annually and he was 8 hours from home if something happened). We got the base model with only AWD as an option and it was fine. It had good LED headlights, decent safety (automatic braking, blind spot monitors, etc.) remote start, cruise, heated cloth seats, and a decent radio with 7″ screen. What more do you really need?
I would be wary of what shenanigans would occur to said base trim as has been mentioned already. Buyer beware and all.
I looked at WT trim Colorado’s a few years ago and they ticked most of my boxes. No cruise, no sunglasses holder, no steering wheel controls, etc. which is at least immediately visible.
The overhead console could be swapped, I think cruise could be too, but the buttons were not going to work without programming or a BCM swap.
The Maverick XL in the early years would be what I’d want theoretically but no cruise unless you shelled out for XLT.
I don’t like sunroofs or leather seats so if I wanted a Passport, I’d have to go back to ~2021MY before the Sport trim disappeared.
Toyota’s valiant-on-paper effort to keep the 4Runner SR5’s MSRP at the same place is commendable but goodbye skid plates, full-size spare, power seat (which I actually would prefer to skip anyway), etc. and other previously-standard equipment.
Oh yea I just remembered that Canadian Ioniq 5 without fast charging too.
Can’t take anything for granted these days as the HyunKia engine immobilizer saga taught us. And that one wasn’t even on the window sticker.
“Toyota’s valiant-on-paper effort to keep the 4Runner SR5’s MSRP at the same place is commendable but goodbye skid plates, full-size spare, power seat (which I actually would prefer to skip anyway), etc. and other previously-standard equipment.”
I just sat in a new TRD Off Road 4Runner, $50K MSRP. The material decontenting Toyota employed to keep it near the inflation-adjusted MSRP or my 2016 SR5 is jaw-dropping. Hard plastics all over the doors, ruined interior packaging, loss of the 40:20:40 rear seat, etc. I get that it’s a new powertrain and platform and adds a bunch of infotainment and nanny tech, but jeez…after selling the fifth gen for 15 straight years and raking in profits on the amortized development costs I feel like Toyota could still have afforded to offer a Range Rover for $50K. Decontenting it like that feels like a slap in the face.
I seem to recall an article in C&D or Automobile decades ago asking the Q:
Which was a better buy for the same money: An Accord DX or a Civic EX?
Answer: It depends.
A friend from college used to own a 2003 Accord DX with a 5spd manual. It’s quirkiest feature was power windows but manual locks. Last vehicles I recall having that were from the 70s.
Back to the topic: a 2003 Accord DX would only sacrifice a sunroof, alloy wheels, body color door handles and pwr locks, compared to a contemporary Civic EX. Nothing looks like a really deal braker to me.
For 12 years I DD a 98 Jetta TDI GL trim I think. It thad PB, PS, AC, PL And manual crank windows.
It also had vented disc brakes up front and drums in the rear
I really want trim-independent options to make a return, and not on the “options package” way some manufacturers do it. It annoys me to no end going into the “Build & Price” tool on (insert manufacturer here)’s website and having to option up to the second highest trim package and $8000 worth of optional packages just to get an auto-dimming rearview mirror or heated side mirrors.
That’s one thing I’m looking forward to on the Slate. Everything is a base model, so every option is al a carte.
Yeah, and I would especially appreciate not having to get the sunroof to get options I want. I don’t want a sunroof. I want headroom and less solar energy cooking the cabin.
Absolutely agree, especially now that full-glass panoramic sunroofs are a thing. I have the panoramic sunroof on one of my cars, because of those obnoxious option packages, and I hate the heat from it in the summer, the cold from it on the winter, and the panic that sets in whenever I see hail is in the forecast.
In the world of personal-use pickups, I’m definitely seeing fewer Denali and Platinum trucks, and far more “one level above Work Truck” trucks. And the Ford XLTs and Chevy Custom trucks are actually pretty nice and still have plenty of nice features.
Sigh, we live in a world of personal-use pickups…..
And a lot of those are the 4 door models. What a waste.
My brother, a legit farmer, just got a “very nice” but cloth-seat not super-fancy Chevy pickup that seems to fit your description. He could have afforded *way* more but it was one of those accountant-decreed tax decisions I don’t understand or make enough money to worry about.
I am usually interested on the second lowest trim. LT for GM, EX for Honda/Toyota, whatever name they use in Stellantis, etc. Best balance of equipment and features before crossing the border for features I dont need.
Our Bolt EUV is LT with an appearance package, our Equinox EV is LT, Volt is also LT with comfort package that adds heated seats/steering wheel. Our Pacifica PHEV is Touring L, etc. The only exception I made was for the Blazer EV RS since the way it looks its way different than the LT and the lease payment was not that much of a difference.
In Stellantis it would be an SXT or a Big Horn if it was a truck.
I could see base models getting popular, as $$$ keep getting higher and higher. Do you really need all the bells and whistles or are you ok with heated seats and a decent audio?
When I looked for a new Crosstrek in 2019 I only went to the mid level to get the heated seats. It has those plus the cargo cover thing for my costume bins and dog. That’s it.
Ah heated seats, only on mid-trim and above often in $2500 convience packages.
Well trained dog if it stays under the cargo cover. My Ridgebacks would not.
I don’t think I used the proper term. The cargo floor cover thing that protects carpet, plus passenger seat back covers that go with it.
Ah, that’s called a Cargo Tray or Cargo Liner because car companies are terrible at naming things
Subaru had the “cold weather comfort package” or whatever the hell they call it forever. Heated seats and an armrest for, like, $600. Half the WRXs on the lots around here were a base model with that package. The good old days of the 20-teens
I had aftermarket seat heaters installed for $500 in my last new car purchase. Far cheaper than stepping up to the next trim level if that’s the deciding feature. I think OEM is probably better but these are a big step up from no heater whatsoever.
No. If anything, manufacturers will start optioning up the base model and we’ll see a reduction in available trims. They want the margins, they want the base model buyers, and they want sales volume. So they’ll compete to have the best-equipped base model, eliminate some trims, and essentially limit their lines to the mid and high trims, but call them the base and high trims.
100% – look at Subaru, where suddenly the base model Impreza and Crosstrek no longer exist in “base” form but are really the next trim up from the previous model year and they’re charging around $3000 extra for it.
That annoys me to no end – the only time we didn’t buy the base model was our 2004 Toyota Corolla S because I really wanted a leather-wrapped wheel and the 195 tires, but we still made our local dealership grab one from Ohio so we didn’t have to pay for the spoiler and alloys ($800 I think?) that were required on every Pennsylvania build. I’m all about not spending money on stuff I don’t need or want.
This right here. There really are no basic cars anymore. Which is also why they seem so expensive. But the reality is NOBODY bought those stripper cars other than your weird uncle.
As I have said on here a gazillion times – you have to be some sort of wierdo to want a stripper crapcan when for the same money or less you can just buy a much nicer 2-3yo used car. Or in my case, a massively nicer 8-10yo one.
I bought a used “stripper crapcan,” so there’s that. Maybe I could have gotten an even more used nicer one?
Used to be for similar price, you could buy a ‘nice’ out of warranty used car or a brand new stripper model. Depended upon how important ‘dependability’ was to you.
There is very little difference in dependability today. The cars that are a PITA are a PITA brand new, and the ones that are reliable are still reliable with 50K on them, as a general rule.
There are always a few wierdos who want such things. As my car salesman buddy always said “there is an ass for every seat eventually”.
90% of The Autopian’s comment section is made up of those weird uncles.
Yeah, if we used this comment section as a barometer for the general car market we’d end up with some very different trends.
More like 98%. And the weirdest of them are obviously the writers and editors. 99% at Jalopnik, and 150% at TTAC.
100% correct.
I freely admit that my automotive tastes are about 90 degrees to the rest of humanity, albeit with zero interest in poverty spec hairshirtmobiles. I much prefer poverty spec luxury cars, and no, that is not an oxymoron.
its funny to read all these guys complain about everything though.
Yee old lighting site used to have a mix of a small handful of auto enthusiasts and then a majority of 20 something NYC living no car owning people some of whom seemed to strongly.dislike cars which struck me as rather odd
Since Torch & David started this lovely site I haven’t been back so I expect it is different now, though w/Herbs love of click throughs I doubt things have improved
I go there occasionally, it’s only gotten worse. Sad really.
But, yeah, why there was such a strong contingent of urban-dwelling car haters always baffled me too. Though the weirdest of the weird hang out at TTAC.
Seems back in the day, the rental car companies would buy the stripper models and then us poors would buy them cheap when they dumped them.
My family bought a couple of Hertz Tauruses way back in the day. Actually good vehicles.
Back in the day the rental Big Three were owned by the Detroit Big Three. They didn’t BUY those rental spec strippers, they were dumped on them by their owners.
Today the rental car companies buy based on resale, so most of them are mid-spec cars, with a few strippers if they can get deals on them. But few strippers are made, so there are few of them in rental fleets too.
Is the ultra-base car about to be the new hotness? I VERY much doubt it. The meat of the non-premium market has always been the mid-trim car. One or two steps up from the pauper spec is usually the best place to be, and of course the automakers will continue to incentivize that by making a desirable feature or two unavailable on the lowest spec. Like my SX-spec KIA Sportage rental lacking heated seats. Which sucks. And of course, it’s FWD only until you step up a trim or two, and today people think they are going to DIE if they don’t have AWD.
Also – non-premium cars basically never have “options” today – they ONLY have trim levels, take it or leave it. Which sucks, because it inevitably means taking crap you don’t want, like large gaudy wheels, to get something you do want, like that all-important to me butt heat.
I stand by my opinion that if a couple of grand in price makes that much difference, you probably should not be shopping new cars to start with.
Gotta have a base model to sell the mid-trim might be the logic here. I know trim-flation pissed off a lot of new car buyers and I don’t blame them. This might just be more of a return to pre-covid where the base model exists but they made only one and nobody actually has one for sale
Not really. Many car lines start at mid-spec and go up from there with no hairshirts available anymore. Which I am more than fine with since nobody but wierdo forum dwellers wanted those turds anyway. Reality is it costs MORE to make the strippers today, the extra cost to inventory the parts and adjust production being more expensive than making all of them the same. Also why in so many cases the differences in trim levels are often software and colors today, and silly things like wheels.
Fair, that’s why I don’t think they make a lot of the base models that they say are for sale. The Goldilocks Effect is something I see on a daily basis here at the car dealership
“Is the ultra-base, stripped-out base model about to make a triumphant return?” NO!
Most people will buy what is on the lot and we know the lots will not be full of cheaper base models, and also people want resale value Über Alles, so they will buy the luxed up versions.
You NEVER get back what you spend on the upper trims past the decently equipped mid-point, but the loaded one may sell faster. And of course, if you get more enjoyment out of the extra tinsel more power to ya.
Yeah, I like certain options and end up in high trim levels (mostly for comfort things like ventilated seats, but I do like the 360 cameras), but I know that I’m just paying to use those things, not “investing” for higher resale.
Exactly. Resale will probably be higher – but not as much higher as what you paid up front. With some rare exceptions. Anybody who bought the $4K M-Sport package on a RWD stick BMW e91 is doing the happy dance today, and 4wd on trucks up north will generally get you every penny back.
4WD Trucks will always get that price premium back. If anyting they get more on the secondhand market. No one around here, myself included, wants a 2WD Truck and I live in the South.
I’m in FL – there is actually little difference in value between RWD and 4wd trucks here – and the 4wd ones are more likely to be beat. I wouldn’t buy a 4wd truck here if for no other reason than it’s more to fix and maintain, and as I have zero interest in taking a truck off-road, I need one like a need a couple of ex-wives. Different story at my place in Maine, though I put plenty of miles on the Old Man’s RWD diesel GMC Camper Special back in the day in the winter. Snow tires and a few hundred pounds of sand in the back and it did just fine in the snow.
I don’t really think of 4WD as a trim thing, but you are right that it is an option that increases resale value. If you want to find a cheap used pickup, look for the RWD, since almost no one else is looking at that one. If you’re buying new, spring for the 4WD. It’s definitely worth it on resale value, even if you never use it.
I think once you are south of the Mason-Dixon line it becomes a lot more nuanced. And ultimately, 4wd gets you three ways. More to buy, uses more gas, and God help you if it breaks.
And 4wd pickups are a WHOLE lot more likely to have been abused. I’ll take a nice Diamond Jim GrandDad spec 2wd pickup every time, if I had need of one at all.
I know that but the resale value calculators online may convince people they will. Hell there are people out there trying to get full parts and labor on lift kits and winch bumpers on their jeeps and trucks they are trying to sell. NOT happening.
I certainly have never seen that to be the case, and I have bought and sold a HELL of a lot more cars than the average person. You might, at BEST get back 25-50% of what you paid for the options, with very rare exceptions like Sport or M-Sport on a RWD e91 BMW wagon where you will get 100%+ of the option cost back. That is VERY much the exception though. Another exception is 4wd on pickups up north – but that is almost more that the 2wd takes a massive value hit more than you get your money back on the 4×4.
I was not disagreeing with you. I think buying for resale and not buying what you really want and need is stupid.
I am only disagreeing about the online value calculators. They clearly show that you DON’T get the money back for options, only that the higher-end trim is worth a little more at resale time. But not as much more as it cost new, with exceptions.
I think you nailed it with the comment about 4WD trucks in snow country. Generally speaking you won’t get your money back on higher trims so you should just buy exactly what you need, but you should also understand the basic market for what you’re buying and buy the version with the basic features expected in that segment.