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(I believe by the Euro headlights and lack of Stude-MB Sales verbiage this is from an Aussie or South Africa version of RD)
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Here's a '52:
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
She learned to drive on my Grandfather's Cadillac... quite a difference!
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Icon I6L Golf Cart
I think the auto stick was from the early 70’s - my wife had one (without AC) as her first car in Wyoming
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2024 Kia Sportage Hybrid SX Prestige
My mom's first new car was a Beetle, in 1970. She previously had a 61 Impala convertible, I need to get the story on what happened to that one.
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
From 1976 to 1983 my Mom owned a 1966 convertible bug. The car was white with a red interior. We lived in Southern California, and so we could have the top down a fair amount. Putting the top up and down wasn't difficult, but it took a few minutes. I recall that rear visibility was so-so with the top down.
My Mom was the second owner, and she bought it from a meticulous friend who got it new in 1966. It was basically in mint original condition. It had the optional seat belts, but that may have been the only option. I wished at the time, and for some reason still wish today, that it had the optional AM/FM radio. But the first owner was a grad student when he bought it, and although the $125 price for the radio sounds ok, adjusted for inflation that's $1200. For whatever reasons we never got a radio in it either, but it had a nice metal plate where a radio should go. The car was very reliable and fun to drive. Acceleration to 60 apparently took about 22 seconds, but it didn't feel that slow at the time. That's partly because one of our other cars, which I learned to drive on, was our 69 VW Bus, which had a 0-60 of at least 30 seconds.
I was worried about the safety the car, however, in part because the gas tank was in front. I still feel guilty about it, but I eventually convinced my Mom to sell it, and a nice grey bearded man for whom this was a dream car happily bought it for quite a bit more than we'd paid for it. But looking back on it I think our VW bus was even more dangerous.
Anyway, although a non-convertible VW without options looks like a bargain today, once it was equipped with an AM/FM radio, seat belts, a side mirror, and back-up lights, it would have been around $1900. Still a good value, but in today's dollars that $19k can get in Japan a loaded Kei car today, which might be the closest thing.
The Honda N-box is Japan's best selling car, with list prices ranging from about $15k-20k. 0-60 in an N-box takes around 19 seconds, and so faster than a VW from 1966, but not realistic for North America. Kei cars are limited by Japanese regulations to have 660 cc engines. A 1-liter engine would still get good mpg and might be able to get the 0-60 time down to 12 seconds or so, which would be ok for the US.