I see both of your comments.

I drove a '93 Escort LX 5 door for 11 years. 5 speed, crank widows, 13" steel wheels and 'fridge white. About as basic as you can get, although it did have (power sucking) AC, a tape deck (woo-hoo!) and some kind of lighting package (reading lamps, under hood lamp, trunk lamp & glove box lamp).

I'll contend, however, that it was not a purely logical experience. There's an emotional satisfaction I gained from living with it. I did the mature thing, and I can (and do at times) wear that as a bit of a badge of honor.

We are emotional creatures, very, very few if, any, of the things we do are devoid of emotion.

Absolutely. I work in a Industrial Design firm and can tell you that this is spot on. Successful companies get that every purchase has an emotional component, usually more than people realize. There's been a fair amount of research in this. Not only that, but people create emotional connections to their products and, by extension, their brands. Companies like Apple really get this and they get that every interaction has the opportunity to strengthen that connection. Apple designs every experience with the brand to draw you in, from the product to the packaging, to the store, to the genius bar and so on. The result is that you feel emotionally connected to Apple and will defend them strongly, even when they mess up.

In the automotive I'm not sure any company has really gotten this like Saturn did in the early days. In a few short years they had such a loyal following that they were travelling to Tennessee for "homecomings". There are plenty of car companies doing a good job of cultivating a brand image and plenty of performance models have loyal fans, but I'm not sure anyone has yet built a family like following like Saturn did. And they did it not with a superior product, but with a quirky, but generally mediocre, economy car.

On the Model T, I think one difference here is that it was competing against the horse and buggy. In most measurable ways the T was clearly superior - faster, more endurance, no mind of its own, etc. Not only that, but simply by having a car you were showing that you had means and you were sophisticated, even if it was a Model T.

The Nano competes with other, pretty efficient means of transportation. You could have a motorcycle or scooter, there are buses and taxis and I'm sure there are nicer, used cars available. Very basic and cheap but new is a hard sell against more upscale but used for similar money.

The Beetle is an interesting case, however. I think they got that selling rationality and low price was a loosing proposition. So instead they made it the smart choice. Yeah, it happens to be cheaper, but look, it's a better car in all these ways. Plus it's cute. Now, instead of the guy who can't afford anything else, you're the smart guy who picked the better, inexpensive car.

So, is someone at Hooniverse HQ talking to the ID guys about this? I was saving up my points for the Hooniverse store. :-D

Wait, what? :-P

Yeah, something odd is happening. It shows my two comments from today (now three), one yesterday and the next is 76 weeks ago.

Oh, and I've only made 8 total comments. LOL, sure, this week maybe.

I forgot about the special compressor for the timing belt tensioner (I think). It was a simple bent metal part that held the tensioner compressed while you installed it. No Honda dealer would sell you one, I ended up making my own out of sheet aluminum.

Yeah, that's the one. Large external hex that fits in the pulley and an ear with a square hole for a 1/2" drive ratchet.

Even with the tool, I had one heck of a time getting the pulley off. I ended up wedging the tool against the frame, putting a breaker bar on the crank pulley nut and using my floor jack under the breaker bar handle. The van lifted off the jack stand almost an inch and I got nervous and was about to give up when it broke loose and settled back down on the stand.

Was going to post the same thing. I just bought my daughter a 2003 Protege LX with 127K this summer for $2K. And with an auto, power windows, remote locks, a sunroof, side airbags and ABS.

This is a nice clean wagon but that's too much money.

Changing the timing belt on my 1999 Odyssey required a $50 special pulley holder. I used it once and loaned it to a coworker and haven't seen it since.