Value obviously will vary from consumer to consumer, meaning one thing to the minivan buyer and something quite different to the luxury sporty car buyer, for example.

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Best to commute in something smaller and save the big car for family trips.

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The second explanation for those problems stems, paradoxically, from something that car makers have used to cut costs.

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Mazda's development engineers have achieved something elusive in the car business: They have arrived at a signature feel for their cars, in much the same way BMW's ride-and-handling boffins have dialed in a gestalt for their cars.

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This means Smartfortwo Electric is priced like a competively small car, which should give the smart alecks something to chew on for this time.

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The standards were different, lower, for something built on a truck chassis than a car chassis.

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You only spend a small portion of your life in your car (although I know it seems like more) so why not splurge on something for the house instead, like a good wide-screen TV and a recliner with a fridge in the arm?

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Tsotsi is so startled that he wrecks the car and almost walks away callously, but then, for some reason, he does something uncharacteristic.

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But what amazes me is that here, in the 21st Century, car manufacturers and dealers still think that they can charge a premium for something that is obviously not a leading edge product.

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