Lots of multimillionaires with Honda Civics in Cambridge.

Buy a reliable car with all cash and then never think about it again until you do it again two decades later.

Cars, clothes, and other extravagant displays of wealth offend both WASPs and Academic sensibilities.

If it’s your hobby then fine but we’ve got a noticeable lack of car consumer culture here.

>since Nissan is Japanese, it is reliable

Nissan build quality went downhill after Renault bought it, and is also associated with scandal-ridden Carlos Ghosn. If you wanted to buy a Japanese car, why not Toyota and Honda? They sell much higher volume overall so parts availability and mechanic familiarity will be much better than Nissan.

Those looking for a reliable car who don't drive much wouldn't want to pay slight premium (for some reason Nissan is marginally more expensive than Toyota/Honda) for Nissan just to differentiate themselves. That decision might pan out different for different demographic groups in different parts of the US.

People in this area are more apt to have their wealth represented in where they live, not in the vehicle that they drive. Their vehicles are not their identity - the fact that they're located in Cambridge often is. Higher value cars are often a bad investment as well.

Which is often times why you see some souped-up Escalade parked outside a very low rent district - people want others to assume that they're wealthy when they're not - and those who are wealthy often times don't want to attract attention to it - especially if their priorities are more tangible and they don't give a shit about what others think.

How on earth have you excluded Tesla? It’s like every other car during commuting hours in cambridge

Which one is worse?? Hoping to go to rauc since that is closest. What don’t you like about the middle schools?

All the elementary schools are great! The middle schools are the problem.

In fairness to my husband, he did an entire spreadsheet comparing a variety of car makes/models - and Volvo was definitely up there (especially for safety) - but for price and safety and ease of maintenance/repairs, Subaru couldn't be beat.

Still, we're now just....another one of those goddamn Cambridge Subaru owners. 🤪

It’s right over the town line.

2018 was the last model year for the Focus. 2019 was the last model year for the Fiesta and Taurus. 2020 was the last model year for the Fusion.

Now, you only have the Mustang.

Ford stopped making sedans like the Fusion and Focus a few years ago: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/ford-fusion-production-discontinued-sedan/

Also why are you posting this in every Massachusetts subreddit, this is just strange.

Bruh i dont know what your on about, mazda is super popular in the U.S., volvo and VW are much more reliable and comparable in prices to some higher end american cars aswell. Why is this even a post? Your post is not even factual and is just an account of what you have seen.

I have also seen some Ford Expedition being used as police cars in Boston by the way, so it is not only Ford Explorers. But you are correct that most police cars are Ford Explorers.

The city is full of shit saying the water isn’t that hard. Lol.

We are looking to get a water softener and filter

No mention of the omnipresent mini cooper? I would say mini and Subaru are the two most over represented brands in Cambridge relative to the rest of the US

Radar guns are hard to use - it's hard to know if you're measuring what you think you're measuring.

You'd be much better off making marks on the road (piece of masking tape or something) spaced out by a known distance (30 feet or something), and then take video and count how long it takes for a car's front tire to go from one mark to the next.

Us too!

This. When we first moved to Cambridge, I could not get over allllll the Subarus. Guess what we bought?!

Volvo makes famously safe cars, which are often sought after by the highly educated for that reason

Ford is still sort of "all American"; their target market is more conservative than Cambridge. As far as the police, I think I heard that the Explorer interceptor is basically the only new police cruiser sold in America these days.

My daughter (7) has a heightened fear of dogs now from being nipped by two dogs (both people in our own family). She will run and cry to avoid dogs in her space. Unleashed dogs, especially on school grounds - in her case, owners bringing their dogs along to pick kids up - is so thoughtless. I cannot stand dog owners like this. “Oh mine is a nice dog” i don’t care, other people shouldn’t be forced to accommodate your unleashed dog. Following and filming is overkill but fuck yeah on calling animal control. Just leash it.

Cambridge is wealthy, but people try not to show it because it’s very progressive. What is normally coded “high status” in the US (Mercedes, BMW, etc.) isn’t cool here. Instead, older cars with fancy bike racks or bumper stickers from Ivy League schools show status. This is a cultural feature of wealthy progressive enclaves—Boulder, CO is similar.

Consider also that there is a larger than average population of immigrants from Europe in Cambridge working in rech/biotech/academia, and we brought our car preferences with us.

Side note, I'm surprised you didn't mention Subaru, ever other car is a Subaru on our street

Does your school have a baseball team? Pitching coach might have one to lend during off season.

[deleted]