Carmakers Killed The Cheap Car On Purpose

[00:00:00]Hey guys, Brad Danger here and real quick, before anything else, go check your bank account. No, seriously, do it right now. Look at the number. Cool.

[00:00:07]Now, go try to buy a fun, cheap, new car with it. Yeah, that's what I thought.

[00:00:11]Welcome back to the poorhouse, baby.

[00:00:13]Population all of us, because in the summer of 2026, the cheap fun car is basically an endangered species, like a panda or a Honda dealer who doesn't mark up a Civic Type R 12 grand for market adjustment. We are witnessing in real time a mass extinction event and the car companies, they're not even hiding it anymore. They're doing it right in front of us, in broad daylight, and then having the audacity to release a press release calling it portfolio optimization. Portfolio optimization?

[00:00:42]That's corporate speak for we killed the fun car so that we could sell you a $61,000 electric SUV named after a mood, like the Equinox or the Ambiance or whatever. So, today we're going through the eulogy. Grab your tissues, grab your calculator, because we're breaking down exactly how every single manufacturer is sneaking the affordable car out of the back door while you're distracted looking at 14-in touch screens that control your air vents. Like, subscribe so we hit two mil and let's go. Okay, let's start off with the car that literally every single broke teenager in America either owned, wanted, or street raced badly in a Fast and Furious knockoff scene in a Walmart parking lot, the Honda Civic. Spilled both ways the same way. Now, the Civic used to be the definition of cheap and cheerful, reliable, efficient, you know, a car your grandma could drive to church and your cousin could drive to a stoplight drag race, same car, same week. That was the beauty of it. Now, a base Civic this year is knocking on 26,000 bucks out the door. $26,000 [music] for a car that used to be the automotive equivalent of a value meal. Meanwhile, the Civic Si and Type R have basically become status symbols for people who explain torque steer to you at parties you didn't invite them to. Honda is not killing the Civic, technically. It still exists. It's just been slowly gentrified, like a neighborhood that used to have a taco truck and now has a place that sells $9 toast. Same zip code, completely different economic reality. Hey guys, real quick, the giveaway for the Shelby and Supra in the $100,000 has ended and well, the winners are being picked right now. But, we're coming back bigger and better and better. So, click the link in the pinned first comment because like Rocky who won the GTR, like Greg who won the 100K, you can sign up to be notified and get 100 free entries once it goes live. So, click the link down below, go put in your email and I can't wait to show you what we have cooking. All right, back to the show. Next up is the Volkswagen Golf GTI, the car that basically invented the hot hatch and the concept of fun car normal people can afford. Except, the regular Golf Golf, gone. Canceled. Yes, Volkswagen pulled it from the US market years ago because Americans apparently would rather have a Tiguan the size of a small aircraft carrier than a perfectly sensible hatchback. So, now all that's left is the GTI and it starts north of $32,000 in 2026. 32 grand for a Volkswagen. Yeah, let that sink in. That is not a cheap fun car anymore. That's a my financial advisor is going to ask me questions car. Volkswagen basically looked at the entry-level hot hatch market and said, "Why sell you an appetizer when we can sell [music] you the $30,000 entree and call it a value meal?" The Subaru WRX, once the official car I definitely modified my exhaust and my neighbors hate me. Rally bred, turbocharged, all-wheel drive chaos for the price that made sense. But, this year pricing comfortably in the mid-30s once you leave the parking lot. Subaru clearly is more interested in selling you a Forester with a roof tent and "We're going to camping" bumper sticker than a genuine driver's car. I mean, the WRX still technically exists, but it's basically on life support getting fewer upgrades than your group chat with friends from high school. Subaru's whole brand identity is shifting from boxer engine hooligans to golden retriever owners who need ground clearance for the dog park. And look, I I love dogs. I I love ground clearance, but where's my cheap turbo car, Subaru? Where?

[00:04:04]Remember the Mustang EcoBoost, the car that let you tell people I drive a Mustang without the financial commitment of a V8, and without your insurance company sending you a personal letter of concern? Ford quietly [music] killed it.

[00:04:16]As of the current Mustang lineup in this year, the base four-cylinder EcoBoost got the axe in the US market. Now, if you want a new Mustang, you basically have to start with a V8 GT money, mid to high 30,000s to low 40,000s, depending on how the dealers feel that day emotionally. So, the entry-level Mustang isn't entry-level anymore. It's just a Mustang, full price, no discount, no easy on-ramp. Ford basically said, "You're either going to commit to the pony lifestyle at full price, or you don't get a pony at all." Savage Ford, absolutely savage. Ford really said no more training wheels and meant it. The BMW 2 Series was supposed to be an affordable rear-wheel-drive BMW, the gateway drug into the brand, the car that got you hooked before you eventually finance an M3 in your personality. In summer 2026, though, a base 2 Series starts at $39,000.

[00:05:06]And that's before BMW finance department starts feeling around your pockets for adaptive suspension and M Sport package, and the privilege of a blue and white roundel on your steering wheel.

[00:05:16]Meanwhile, the four-cylinder options keep shrinking, features keep getting locked behind subscription BS. And yes, in 2026, we're still talking about BMW's heated seat subscription drama. Ugh, they'll never fully let it go. It's like a bad ex who keeps texting, and the whole affordable BMW concept has basically become a myth, like Bigfoot or a mechanic who doesn't upcharge you the second that they see a German badge on the hood. Now, here's the one that actually hurts, because I owned one of these a couple years ago, and it's the real last holdout, the Toyota GR86.

[00:05:47]Rear-wheel drive, lightweight, naturally aspirated, actually fun to drive. It's like a mini Porsche. Embrace yourself.

[00:05:54]Still starts under 30,000 bucks in 2026.

[00:05:56]It's basically the last dinosaur walking around before the meteor hits. It's the guy still using a flip phone out of principle. But, here's the thing. Rumors have been swirling about the GR86 future. Emission regulations keep tightening. [music] Enthusiasts are already treating every new model year like it might be the last supper. Every GR86 buyer in 2026 is basically driving around going, "I got to appreciate this now before Toyota turns it into a crossover called the BZ86 Adventure Edition with a household MPG rating of a cup holder shaped like Mount Fuji."

[00:06:26]Toyota, if you're watching this, and I know you're not, but if you are, please, please, don't do it. You're literally the last one standing. Don't let the cheap fun car die on your watch. You'll be the villain in this story, and nobody wants that, not even you. Okay, so, I took days of research to figure out why this is actually happening. Why is every single manufacturer collectively, silently, without a group chat that we know of, murdering the affordable car at the same time? Well, it's pretty simple, actually. Math, cold, hard, boring, adult math. Cheap cars have thin profit margins. A $22,000 economy car makes the manufacturers maybe a few hundred bucks of actual profit after factoring in production, labor, emissions, compliance, and the guy in accounting who insists on a company retreat every year. Meanwhile, a $55,000 three-row SUV with mood lighting and a name like Ascent or Palisade or Telluride prints money like the Federal Reserve during a bad week. Add in emission regulations that cost the same to comply with whether you're building a $20,000 car or an $80,000 car, and suddenly it makes zero business sense to keep the cheap stuff around. Manufacturers, they're not stupid. They're just soulless in a very specific spreadsheet-driven way. It's not personal, you guys. It's just capitalism giving the middle finger to us car enthusiasm. They look at the balance sheet, look at your dreams of owning a fun cheap car and quietly, gently, without saying a word, set your dreams on fire with roasted marshmallows over it while pitching you a subscription-based heated steering wheel. Okay, so then what do we do now?

[00:07:58]Look, I'm not going to sit here and tell you it's all doom and gloom. I mean, because here we are still with some bright spots, you know, the GR86, the Civic Si if you squint and don't look at the price tag too hard, and the used market, which is currently the automotive equivalent of a thrift store where things slightly overpriced because everyone else has had the same idea as you. But the writing on the wall, the cheap fun car as a category is being systematically replaced by affordable crossovers that aren't even fun. They're just They're just there being beige, safe, financially responsible, like a car that's already given up on life and is just waiting for retirement. So, if you've got a genuinely cheap, genuinely fun car right now, what I call an ideal car, like an ideal Miata, WRX, or GTI you bought before the price hike, a Civic Si from 3 years ago, my advice, go out and hug it. Kiss it. Change its oil.

[00:08:48]Whisper, "I love you" to it in the garage like a weirdo. Because in 5 years, we're all going to be telling our kids or our friends' kids about the time you could buy a rear-wheel-drive manual sports car for under three grand brand new, and they're going to look at us like we And they're going to look at us the way that we look at people that used to buy gas for a buck. Anyway, drop in the comments what cheap fun car you think is going to die next down below.

[00:09:10]Also, like, subscribe so we hit 2 mil by the end of the year. Check out some of these ideal vids. I'm Brad Danger. This is Ideal, and promise me something. And promise me one thing. Keep living the ideal lifestyle.

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