Dave, as usual you are the voice of reason.
Most of the cars built in the last 25 years are basically throw away cars. Planned obsolescence. Then most of the cheap cars are bought by poor people so they just drive them until they drop. The Escorts used to get a bad rap but it was all ghetto people who bought them. I got a customer once who took good care of his and it was actually a great car, same with neons, cavaliers, any number of little crapbox cars.