# Wanted: A normal car if they still make them **URL:** \ **Category:** Buying/Selling\ **Created:** [November 14, 2020, 8:24am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/wanted-a-normal-car-if-they-still-make-them/172284 "2020-11-14T08:24:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![VOLVO-V70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@VOLVO-V70](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VOLVO-V70)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 4:26am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/wanted-a-normal-car-if-they-still-make-them/172284/41 "2020-11-20T04:26:21Z")
I don’t think that a Hyundai Venue will meet the definition of a normal vehicle for this person . What ever a normal vehicle is. ---
**Author:** ![Nevada\_545](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/nevada_545/32/41232_2.png) [@Nevada\_545](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Nevada_545)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 4:39am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/wanted-a-normal-car-if-they-still-make-them/172284/42 "2020-11-20T04:39:20Z")
The Tacoma TRD models are available with a manual transmission but are a big compromise in economics. ---
**Author:** ![WineGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c67d28/32.png) [@WineGeek](https://community.cartalk.com/u/WineGeek)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 3:24pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/wanted-a-normal-car-if-they-still-make-them/172284/43 "2020-11-20T15:24:14Z")
Stop/Start is a government mandated feature so all cars will have it. ---
**Author:** ![VOLVO-V70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@VOLVO-V70](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VOLVO-V70)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 3:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/wanted-a-normal-car-if-they-still-make-them/172284/44 "2020-11-20T15:57:11Z")
Do you have anything to back that statement up ? ---
**Author:** ![Jules-15](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/db5fbb/32.png) [@Jules-15](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Jules-15)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 4:38pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/wanted-a-normal-car-if-they-still-make-them/172284/45 "2020-11-20T16:38:40Z")
most autostop starts have a switch to turn it off. -Perhaps you should fly to Poland or Russian for a car you want ? ---
**Author:** ![gmallan55\_149168](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@gmallan55\_149168](https://community.cartalk.com/u/gmallan55_149168)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/wanted-a-normal-car-if-they-still-make-them/172284/46 "2020-11-20T16:47:18Z")
People that keep a car for 400,000 miles are even rarer than people that prefer manual transmission vehicles. ---
**Author:** ![Volvovat](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/volvovat/32/18260_2.png) [@Volvovat](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Volvovat)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/wanted-a-normal-car-if-they-still-make-them/172284/47 "2020-11-20T17:18:15Z")
Here in the northeast, the salt will kill the car long before 400K unless you put some big miles on it annually. My 2007 Honda is showing early signs of salt death and I’m only at 200k. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 5:26pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/wanted-a-normal-car-if-they-still-make-them/172284/48 "2020-11-20T17:26:54Z")
> [@Volvovat](#): > > My 2007 Honda is showing early signs of salt death and I’m only at 200k. My wife’s 07 Lexus with over 250k miles shows ZERO signs of salt death. Car lived it’s whole life in NH with occasional trips to real snow country (Central NY). > [@Volvovat](#): > > Here in the northeast, the salt will kill the car long before 400K unless you put some big miles on it annually. We finally sold my 98 Pathfinder with over 450k miles to my daughters Ex boyfriend. He junked it at around 500k miles a few years ago (I think 2015). He just gave up maintenance and just it go. ---
**Author:** ![Triedaq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Triedaq](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Triedaq)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 9:31pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/wanted-a-normal-car-if-they-still-make-them/172284/49 "2020-11-20T21:31:44Z")
Back in 1962, I was looking for a “normal” car in my price range. I bought a 1955 Pontiac. It had a manual transmission. I considered a manual transmission to be normal. Well, for a Pontiac of that year, the manual transmission wasn’t normal. In 1948, the first year Pontiac offered the Hydramatic transmission, 85% of the inline 8 cylinders and 50% of the inline 6 cylinders were sold with Hydramatic. By 1955, the manual transmission in the Pontiac was not normal. The shift linkage never worked smoothly. I had to have new bearings in the transmission. I would have been much better off with the Hydramatic. The Pontiac I bought was the low Trimline 860. The oil filter was optional and the Pontiac I bought didn’t have the optional oil filter. Even though the engine had just been overhauled, I had problems with the oil passages to the rocker arms sludging up. A mechanic I had worked for when I was in high school had told me that in buying a used car, to stick with the Fords and Chevys. This was advice I should have taken. Bypass oil lines were available for the Fords and Chevy 6. If I had waited, I could have purchased a “normal” 1954 Chevrolet from a family friend that had the PowerGlide automatic transmission which had become common. Today, I think my mechanic friend would recommend a Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic. These are today’s normal cars. I should also mention that I owned a bottom of the line AMC Rambler Classic 550 that I bought in 1965. It had a manual transmission. While I was a poor graduate student in 1969, it developed a transmission problem. There was no AMC dealer in town. I sought out the best independent transmission man in town. He had to order the main drive shaft and main drive gear from a dealer 55 miles away and the parts were shipped by bus. The transmission man told me that when I was ready to buy my next car, to buy an automatic. The automatic was the normal. The 3 speed column shift manual transmissions were troublesome as the design dated back to the late 1930s when engines were less powerful. ---
**Author:** ![shadowfax](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/shadowfax/32/13026_2.png) [@shadowfax](https://community.cartalk.com/u/shadowfax)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 10:04pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/wanted-a-normal-car-if-they-still-make-them/172284/50 "2020-11-20T22:04:50Z")
> [@WineGeek](#): > > Stop/Start is a government mandated feature so all cars will have it. It’s not mandated, it’s government-incentivized. They get credits for various measures meant to reduce fuel consumption, and one of those measures is the start/stop feature. ---
**Author:** ![RichardJR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a87d85/32.png) [@RichardJR](https://community.cartalk.com/u/RichardJR)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 11:49pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/wanted-a-normal-car-if-they-still-make-them/172284/51 "2020-11-20T23:49:13Z")
I drive very enthusiastically, 190000 miles or so on my '93 Miata, still original clutch, still no signs of it needing replacement. ---
**Author:** ![B.L.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@B.L.E](https://community.cartalk.com/u/B.L.E)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 3:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/wanted-a-normal-car-if-they-still-make-them/172284/52 "2020-11-22T15:52:48Z")
> [@shadowfax](#): > > It’s not mandated, it’s government-incentivized. They get credits for various measures meant to reduce fuel consumption, and one of those measures is the start/stop feature. I would guess the “incentive” is meeting CAFE gas mileage standards. ---
**Author:** ![shadowfax](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/shadowfax/32/13026_2.png) [@shadowfax](https://community.cartalk.com/u/shadowfax)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 4:17pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/wanted-a-normal-car-if-they-still-make-them/172284/53 "2020-11-22T16:17:22Z")
Yeah, by giving them “off cycle credits” worth a given increase in their mpg rating because the EPA takes into account the idea that they aren’t using gas while sitting at stop lights. ---
**Author:** ![Jules-15](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/db5fbb/32.png) [@Jules-15](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Jules-15)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 1:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/wanted-a-normal-car-if-they-still-make-them/172284/54 "2021-02-01T13:51:46Z")
buy a low mileage older truck ! ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 2:41pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/wanted-a-normal-car-if-they-still-make-them/172284/55 "2021-02-01T14:41:57Z")
> [@RichardJR](#): > > I drive very enthusiastically, 190000 miles or so on my '93 Miata, still original clutch, still no signs of it needing replacement. Small vehicles are not very hard on clutches. ---
**Author:** ![B.L.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@B.L.E](https://community.cartalk.com/u/B.L.E)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2021, 6:16pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/wanted-a-normal-car-if-they-still-make-them/172284/56 "2021-02-05T18:16:23Z")
It’s mostly drivers that are hard on clutches. I’ve seen worn out clutches on low mileage small cars. ---
**Author:** ![thegreendrag0n](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/thegreendrag0n/32/9265_2.png) [@thegreendrag0n](https://community.cartalk.com/u/thegreendrag0n)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2021, 8:35pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/wanted-a-normal-car-if-they-still-make-them/172284/57 "2021-02-05T20:35:23Z")
> [@B.L.E](#): > > It’s mostly drivers that are hard on clutches +1 my last “normal car” (manual transmission) was Subaru Outback, which I bought with 35K miles on it, dumped at dealer by the prior owner who burned the clutch, declared the car is junk and moved on I added 100K miles before selling it and clutch was nowhere near to be worn [Previous page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/wanted-a-normal-car-if-they-still-make-them/172284.md?page=2)