Well, my debate couch in high school gave me a book to read. It was all about that sneaky advertising/programming stuff. I don't recall the name.
I have never bought a car because it was cool, and usually only when my current car was on it's last legs and constantly needing repairs.
I did check out Consumer Reports to look at the long repair and reliability history. My best car ever was a dodge colt wagon—Mitsubishi engine— manual. Drove it for 250,000 miles, and gave it to my daughter.
Her husband overhauled it-had 1 bad piston or something-can't recall exactly. She drove it until someone ran into her and totaled it.
The "silent shaft" Mitsubishi four. Our family owned a stablemate: the Plymouth Arrow. It was mechanically indestructable despite an appalling lack of proper maintenance (dad had a mental block about changing its oil). It ended up serving as my car after I got married, and after it was traded off, the car dealer gave it to one of his kids. The body began to go south, and some of the plastic trim bits deteriorated, but the dumb thing ran - and ran like a champ - well past the point where anyone wanted to drive it anymore.
Id never bought new cars until Saturn came out, bought 5 of those over time. 3 still ran when I’d got rid of them in the over 200K range, still have 2.
Bought a Silverado 4WD in 2011. Just changed the oil last Sunday at 340,000. Going to get that rebuilt when the time comes, knock on sheet metal looks like that won’t come until the 400’s