What ever happened?

Sometimes simple = good. There is some tech that simply does not lend itself to being improved upon. My 2002 Saturn just hit 173K miles and runs like its brand new. It cost $12,000 new off the lot and gets 40 mpg for real. NOW the best they can offer me is this tinfoil piece of Eurotrash called the "Astra' that CAN be had with a stickshift (only manual in their whole fleet). It costs over $20k (the ones on their floor anyway) and gets 30 MPG! So it gained $8k in price and lost 10 MPG...... Dreadful sorry guys but my next car will be a used Toyota. Wish it were not so but I am no martyr.

-LY