"You don't see those on the road much anymore"

I live in a county of around 9000 people. The only true town has a population of 1300. It’s sticksville. And yet I routinely see at least five other Scion xB’s on the roads here.

I wonder if uncommon vehicles like to cluster together?
 
A lot of it has to do with the buying preferences and socioeconomic status of your area. I rarely see stuff before 2010 around here now, and even stuff older than 2015 is starting to dwindle.
My same neighborhood has as many cybertrucks as Xterra's.- many of both.

Next door neighbor has a 10 year old Sienna with 200K on it (retired). One after that has a new M5, fairly new Corvette, and a Tahoe or something (also retired). One after that has an ancient RX350 (retired). One on the other side has a new X7 and a Porsche - not retired.

No rhyme or reason around here.
 
I live on Maui. Has to be the highest per capita in Tacomas of any place in the U.S. Toyota and Honda dominant throughout the state, but Teslas are popular as well.
 
I do agree about not seeing them on the road anymore doesn't mean they are not reliable, just that they are not worth owning.

Crown Vic is probably reliable but pointless in the land of $5/gal gas. Mercedes and BMW may be reliable but not cost effective to own because parts are expensive. Expedition and Navigator were never popular to begin with so nobody knows if they are reliable here or not.

I do see a lot of old Civics and Corollas finally disappearing, probably finally become unreliable after 30 years on the road, or they were out of fashion.

What I do know though, is around here if you want to know what is reliable look for the homless people with the oldest cars. Those older Camry wagons and Accord wagons are very popular with homeless, after all their Taurus wagons died.
 
You don't see them on the road much anymore either because they were last made long ago or because there weren't many of them to begin with.
Good cars are made to use and they do get used up with that. I haven't seen a tall boy Civic wagon in a couple of years, but they were only made in two generations ending in 1991, so of course they're gone, even though they were really good cars in every way. We had a couple of 1986 vintage.
Low US volume cars were never all that prominent on the road to begin with, although those that achieve cult status remain, like the Vanagon and the W107 SL and the e24 coupe.
 
Last edited:
You don't see them on the road much anymore either because they were last made long ago or because there weren't many of them to begin with.
Good cars are made to use and they do get used up with that. I haven't seen a tall boy Civic wagon in a couple of years, but they were only made in two generations ending in 1991, so of course they're gone, even though they were really good cars in every way. We had a couple of 1986 vintage.
Low US volume cars were never all that prominent on the road to begin with, although those that achieve cult status remain, like the Vanagon and the W107 SL and the e24 coupe.
Those tall boy civic wagons WERE indeed very cool. Lots of space available in a solid package. Handled well for four-up in them too.
 
I'm in semi-rural area, between 3 towns of 2000-5000. Also have two large metro areas, maybe 200k people, 20 miles away in opposite directions. I see another Scion XB2 (2008-2015) about once a month. Not the same one. Low seller. I see more surviving first gen XB's, gone after 2007. I have seen only 2 Scion XD's (2008-2014) in total since I bought one 9 years ago. Very low sales. Only 8k a year in the last 2 or 3 years in the US.

For a vehicle that covered the earth for so many years, I can't recall when I've seen a Jeep XJ Cherokee on the road. It took ages to use them all up. And there's that rust thing here.

An extinct make that I continue to see daily in multiples, are the Saturn SL and SL2. Mostly the 2nd gen, but also all the way back. Still serving as commuter beaters 25-30 and more years later. I suppose the plastic bodywork made a difference.
 
I'm in semi-rural area, between 3 towns of 2000-5000. Also have two large metro areas, maybe 200k people, 20 miles away in opposite directions. I see another Scion XB2 (2008-2015) about once a month. Not the same one. Low seller. I see more surviving first gen XB's, gone after 2007. I have seen only 2 Scion XD's (2008-2014) in total since I bought one 9 years ago. Very low sales. Only 8k a year in the last 2 or 3 years in the US.

For a vehicle that covered the earth for so many years, I can't recall when I've seen a Jeep XJ Cherokee on the road. It took ages to use them all up. And there's that rust thing here.

An extinct make that I continue to see daily in multiples, are the Saturn SL and SL2. Mostly the 2nd gen, but also all the way back. Still serving as commuter beaters 25-30 and more years later. I suppose the plastic bodywork made a difference.
I had a 1994 SL 1. Great car. Got it to 190K then sold it. When I washed and waxed it to show for sale it looked brand new cuz of the plastic panels.
 
For example - I see Zero Ford Taurus's from the 1990's around here - even though they were the top selling car for many of those years. I do however see plenty of 90's Accords, Camry's and GM W bodies. Tons of them
100% they are everywhere. I actually drive one as a daily. I love it. It's a sense of nostalgia that a new car couldn't ever. A bench seat with a column shifter. Ahhh long live the GM Ws.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom