New cars have gotten unnecessarily expensive and this is keeping a lot of buyers on the sidelines. Given that new cars have an average transaction price approaching $50,000, it sometimes feels like there are no good deals to be had. That’s not entirely true. If you want an affordable, gas-sipping car and are a little unclear about what to buy, maybe just buy a Kia Niro Hybrid.

After the success of my “Maybe just buy a Dodge Charver V8” post, which encouraged those in the market who wanted something powerful and unusual to maybe try and get a big discount on a rare RWD sedan, I’ve decided to turn this into a recurring series. This is new so I’m still deciding the parameters and want your feedback. Overall, I think the goal will be to make car buying suggestions that aren’t entirely obvious.

Obviously, if you want a sports car, Miata Is Always The Answer. If you want a cheap and affordable car, the easy thing to do is just buy a nice and reliable Toyota Corolla. Do you think you need or, maybe, just want a crossover and don’t care about fuel economy? It’s hard to go wrong with the Chevrolet Trax.

And if you do want something a bit green? You could hardly go wronger with a Kia Niro or Kia Niro PHEV.

Reason #1: You Have The Choice Between A Regular Hybrid And A Plug-In One

Hyundai and Kia are joining the growing list of automakers who offer a vehicle in both plug-in (PHEV) and traditional flavor hybrid (HEV). That photo above is of the Kia Niro PHEV I drove earlier last year, plugged in at a Porsche Destination Charger.

If you can plug your vehicle in, the PHEV version offers 33 miles of pure-EV range from a small battery pack for about $36,000 for a base EX trim car. Combined, the PHEV gets a combined 47 MPG according to the EPA. If you want the regular HEV version (the Niro is only available as some kind of hybrid) you can expect to pay about $29,000 for an LX version, which gets a slightly better 49 MPG combined.

The car you want depends entirely on what your situation is. If you can plug your vehicle in where you live and, assuming an average commute, those 33 miles of EV range might be all you need. Bonus points if you can charge at work. Some employers now offer free EV charging (The Autopian does) and that’s a huge benefit right there.

If you can’t plug in easily at work or home there’s no reason to buy a PHEV. You’ll make up the savings versus a non-hybrid CUV of a similar size faster and you won’t be dragging along extra weight you don’t need. It’s still rare to be able to make the choice and it’s one of the better features of the Niro, which also comes in a pure EV version.

Reason #2: It’s A Lot Of Car For Not That Much Money

If you time it right, you might be able to get the affordable Toyota you want at something close to MSRP without waiting too long. Unfortunately, Toyota’s brand is so good right now and its cars so desirable that getting the car you want at the price you want within a reasonable time window is often difficult. I considered buying a Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid and started tracking deliveries/pricing online but eventually decided it wasn’t worth the effort.

According to Cars.com, there are about 600 Kia Niro Hybrid and 250 Kia Niro PHEVs for sale right now. That’s not a huge number of vehicles, but there are enough available nationwide that you should be able to find one nearby if you live in a decent-sized market. If not, buy it over the phone and have our friends at Nexus get it shipped to your place.

You can see the version I built online, which is the LX package model of the Niro Hybrid. I spent a little extra money (+395) for Runway Red, which brought the price to $28,760 delivered. You can pay a lot more and get an SX Touring model with bigger wheels and a slightly nicer interior if you like, though it’s not as good of a deal.

I also built an EX Niro PHEV and it was $36,465, including the great Mineral Blue paint (free!) and the cold-weather package ($600), which adds heated rear seats. These days, both cars are quite a good deal. This is a small crossover that can fit five people (four comfortably) and does everything you need basic transportation to do.

The PHEV version has 180 combined horsepower and 195 lb-ft of torque, which is enough to take it to an autocross track and not embarrass yourself. You’ll never feel slow unless your other car is a Mustang or Kia EV6. In the normal sub-30 mph, stop-and-go driving that makes up most of our lives the small electric motor helps get the Niro moving zestfully. The regular hybrid version is appreciably slower, with a 0-60 mph time in the high eight-second range, but that’s the price you pay for efficiency.

Both versions come with a dual-clutch six-speed instead of the ubiquitous CVT or eCVT and this gearbox makes the car feel better than a lot of the competition.

Reason #3: You’re Not Going To Feel Bad About Driving It

What Kia does better than almost any other automaker is making affordable cars feel nicer than you expect. A low-end Niro doesn’t seem appreciably worse than a high-end Telluride. How did Kia pull this off? The company hired some of the world’s best designers and let them build a cohesive design language that achieves a techno-cool look.

The Niro’s exterior has a dynamic presence with a lot of small details that aren’t expensive to produce and, yet, make the car seem more expensive than it actually is. The little chrome piece around the window, the complex headlight signature, and the thoughtful use of black plastic combine to make the Niro appear more premium than a vehicle like the rugged Subaru Crosstrek.

This is even more pronounced on the inside, where Kia makes a lowly Niro LX feel almost as nice as a Kia Telluride SX. I think the Kia Niro PHEV in EX trim stands up to the much more expensive Kia EV6 GT. There’s a little bit of a reliance on piano black plastics, which isn’t my favorite material, but it’s used sparingly enough that it isn’t super annoying.

Design is a front-loaded cost as a complex plastic mold isn’t dramatically more expensive to produce than a simple one, but it takes more time and attention to design. This is where Kia shines. The willingness to take the time to get a car’s design right is what makes a Kia worthwhile.

Reason #4: Kia Is A Good Automaker

There are still people who are surprised when I suggest they buy a Kia. The brand did start out as a highly-discounted Toyota alternative with products that weren’t always of the best quality. This stigma has persisted, even with buyers I’ve spoken with who admit the cars look great. The company did cut corners when it came to security, which is how we ended up with the Kia Boyz situation, and that’s understandably extended this perception.

I’ve now driven enough Kia products over enough miles to not have many concerns. Over thousands of miles, I can’t remember any issues and, in fact, most Kia products I’ve tried have felt as well-built as anything coming out of Japan. Will a Kia last as long as a comparable Toyota or Honda? It’s hard to say, but the 10-year-, 100,000-mile power warranty should ease some fears.

My parents have had a Kia Soul for almost a decade and have put over 170,000 miles on the vehicle, including multiple cross-country trips. The little Soul has never failed and somehow managed to get to cover this distance without needing any major maintenance. My dad just replaced the spark plugs and front wheel bearings.

If you’re like me, you probably get asked by people what they should buy all the time. If what they want is something that’s efficient, stylish, and affordable … maybe just tell them to buy a Kia Niro Hybrid?

The post Do You Want An Affordable And Efficient New Car? Maybe Just Buy A Kia Niro Hybrid appeared first on The Autopian.

There has been a rash of iPhone thefts around the US the past few months, conducted by "porch pirates" often seen on doorbell camera videos scooping up boxes right after they are delivered. Phones shipped by AT&T are being targeted more than those of Verizon and T-Mobile, according to a Wall Street Journal article published yesterday.

"The key to these swift crimes, investigators say: The thieves are armed with tracking numbers. Another factor that makes packages from AT&T particularly vulnerable is that AT&T typically doesn't require signature on delivery... Verizon and T-Mobile require a signature on delivery for smartphones; AT&T generally doesn't," the article said.

The WSJ talked to Chris Brown, a police lieutenant in Deer Park, Texas, who "said the suspects were armed with inside information: AT&T parcel tracking numbers. Deer Park police are working with AT&T to investigate how the suspects got that information, he said."

When contacted by Ars today, an AT&T spokesperson said the phone carrier uses multiple delivery companies and "ship[s] tens of thousands of packages a day without incident." AT&T said it "require[s] signatures in several markets where we have experienced theft issues," and that "we regularly make changes to our processes, whether it is [the] type of delivery or even type of packaging, to reduce instances of these thefts."

AT&T also said it works "with law enforcement agencies and parcel carriers to protect our deliveries," and that these crimes are "committed by sophisticated criminals that are being investigated by both federal and state law enforcement agencies." We asked both AT&T and FedEx how many thefts there have been but did not receive an answer.

Here is a WMUR-TV report about such thefts occurring in New Hampshire, complete with footage from a doorbell camera:

AT&T: No evidence of hack

The WSJ quoted AT&T as saying that it has "no evidence of any breach of our systems, and this was not a hack." If there was no hack, it's possible the tracking numbers were obtained directly from an employee or contractor. AT&T told Ars that it still has no evidence of a breach or hack.

The WSJ described the thefts as follows:

Doorbell camera videos show the thefts in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, Michigan, Georgia, Florida and Texas. The details are similar: A FedEx driver drops off a box with an iPhone from AT&T. Then a person walks up—sometimes wearing an Amazon delivery vest—and plucks the package off the front step. The heist can be so quick that in some videos, the FedEx driver and thief cross paths.

"They know what's getting delivered and the location," said Detective Lt. Matt Arsenault from the Gardner Police Department in Massachusetts, which is investigating several recent thefts. "They meet the delivery driver at the front door and take it."

The thefts have also been described in numerous local news reports, and police in some communities have warned residents to be careful with deliveries.

"For the last few weeks, we've taken MANY reports regarding the thefts of new iPhones," the Needham Police Department in Massachusetts wrote on October 2. "Typically, FedEx trucks are trailed by suspects who wait for the new iPhones to be dropped off. Within 5 minutes after FedEx leaves, a suspect comes and grabs the phone from the porch or driveway before the homeowner has a chance to retrieve it."

Needham police said the thefts are "happening COUNTLESS times across the state each and every day. Some suspects arrive dressed as 'Amazon drivers' and 'swap' a package, some are on mopeds, some are just common, inconspicuous cars."

Police: Thieves fly in, use rental cars

Fox26 Houston reported on September 21 that Deer Park police had arrested two teenagers "in connection with a series of package thefts involving iPhone 16 deliveries." A 17-year-old and 18-year-old who had just flown into the Houston area were "suspected of stealing packages that had just been delivered to homes in the Deer Park area."

According to The Wall Street Journal, police said the teens "rented a car and spent hours circling neighborhoods around Houston." The WSJ also said it viewed video from the dashcam of their rental car, which "shows a young woman picking up a package, jogging back to the car and driving away."

On October 1, WKRN in Tennessee reported similar arrests of men who were alleged to be "part of a crime syndicate that obtains shipping information and supplies it to field operatives." Spring Hill Police Department Lieutenant Mike Foster was quoted as saying that "somebody who has access to the manifest or the delivery list is giving out information."

"According to Foster, the crime syndicate purchases flights and rental cars for their operatives to travel to predetermined locations, like Spring Hill, knowing exactly when the iPhones would be delivered," the article said. Foster said that FedEx "provide[d] us with information that led to the ultimate arrest of these individuals and they were hitting multiple houses."

A report in Weston, Massachusetts said that security footage from a home "showed a man dressed in all black, his face covered by a mask, sunglasses, and a helmet walking up to a home. The suspect can be seen carefully looking through a group of packages, then grabbing the one holding the iPhone."

Five iPhones stolen from porch after delivery

Jaqueline Rosales, a Snellville, Georgia, resident, told the WSJ that she ordered iPhones for her whole family and that all five of them were stolen from her porch within minutes of delivery. "Rosales has video footage showing the thief dashing from his car and back in 10 seconds. She said she had seen the same car driving up and down her street hours before FedEx delivered the package," the article said.

FedEx told Ars today that it "works closely with shippers of high-value goods on enhanced security measures." The company said it has "rigorous safety and security programs in place and regularly remind[s] our team members of the importance of both personal and package safety. This includes remaining vigilant when delivering a package and immediately reporting any unusual activity."

FedEx pointed out that shippers of high-value goods "can request Hold at Location or Direct Signature Required services, or redirect a package to FedEx Office or Walgreens, so a package is not left unattended at a business or residence. These tools have proven very helpful in combating porch piracy." FedEx also said that package recipients can use its website and mobile app to have "more control over the timing and location of their deliveries."

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Despite my ongoing concerns over various of the directions that current management has been taking Google over recent years, I must state that I agree with Google that the kinds of radical antitrust “remedies” — and “radical” is the appropriate word — apparently being contemplated by DOJ, would almost certainly be a disaster for ordinary users’ privacy, security, and overall ability to interact with many aspects of related technologies that they depend on every day.

These systems are difficult enough to keep reasonably user friendly and secure as it is — and they certainly should continue to be improved in those areas. But what DOJ is reportedly considering would be an enormous step backwards and consumers would be the ultimate victims of such an approach.

–Lauren–

There are certain kinds of cars that, conceptually, just don’t really exist anymore. Like when a company takes a mass-market everyday car and strips it down to make something fun and silly. That’s no longer a thing. You know what else isn’t a thing? Cars that are proudly cheap. Yes, cheap, as in inexpensive, to buy and to operate. There was once a time when carmakers would have distinctive versions of cars for cheapskates, proudly branded and named and badged and (often) sticker’d, cars that really leaned into the whole idea of frugality, without shame. Frugalcore cars.

Today, the concept of everything having to be “premium” has killed this idea, and has been a disaster for small, cheap cars, which have been forced into metallic gray paint and made to try to be things that they are not, to their detriment. There’s a reason a new Nissan Versa is such an undesirable thing, and that’s because it’s a cheap car forced to pretend it isn’t, and deep down it knows that this just isn’t true.

In the past, a cheap car was something to be celebrated, allowed to thrive and revel in its perfidy, and no attempt was made to hide what the cheap edition of the car was. It was celebrated, in fact, with special names and identities, and there was no shame. As a result, a cheap car could be charming and appealing. Here, to sum up this idea, is a simple diagram, featuring two Nissans – a modern-ish Versa and a ’70s Datsun B210 Honey Bee:

I miss the days when being broke but wanting a decent car wasn’t something you had to hide, but something automakers actually courted, with cars like the ones I’m about to show you. Consider the one I just used as an example, the Datsun Honey Bee.

The Honey Bee was introduced in 1975 as the lowest-spec version of the Datsun B210. They started with the basic B210 two-door with a four-speed manual transmission and the A14 1.4-liter engine. To get the price down, Datsun removed or altered a bunch of stuff compared to the normal B210 (list from Datsun1200.com):

• No Wheel covers (dogdish caps fitted)
• No “honeycomb” wheel covers
• No Spare tire cover
• No Trunk mat
• No Cigarette lighter (blind plug fitted)
• No Speedometer trip meter
• No Rear window defogger switch (blind plug fitted)
  • 1976 Honey Bee has the defogger
• No Carpet (only Mat)
  • California models included carpet
• No Armrest (pull handle is fitted)
• No Door trim molding
• No Rear side molding
• No Rear seat ashtray
• No Wiper blade high-speed fin (uses basic type from 620 truck)
• No Door lamp switch for assistant side
• No Console box
• No Non-glare glass
• No Chrome molding for windshield
• No Chrome molding for rear window

Changed Equipment:

• Blackwall tires now fitted (instead of whitewalls)
• Trunk finisher: hardboard instead of laminated
• Front seat is folding only, instead of reclining + forward-folding
• Interior Trim: Black or Beige only (Deluxe has Black, Blue or Brown)
• Floor trim: Black only (Black or Brown in California)

After all this, it actually weighed 10 pounds less than the regular B210, too, which helped it hit that 41 mpg highway figure, I’d imagine.

Pretty much all of these seem like reasonable trade-offs to get to a selling price, in 1976 for example, of $2,844 (about $15,700 today, which is dirt cheap for a new car). I mean, no rear seat ashtray? Fine, the kids don’t have to smoke all the time. No wiper blade high-speed fin? What are we, sharks, who needs that? Rubber mats instead of carpet? Good, easier to clean. No spare tire cover? Fine! It’s not like you didn’t know it was a tire already! All of this is fine!

I like how Datsun made their ultra-basic stripper model something that felt fun, more than anything, and the name they gave it reflected this idea of cheap and cheerful, not dire austerity. Honey bee! That’s just a happy name.

Plus, Datsun managed to make an ultra-cheap car without taking the drastic measure that some American carmakers resorted to to get the same basic result: removing the rear seat. Both Chevrolet with the Chevette Scooter and (a few years earlier) AMC with their base-model Gremlin were two-seaters only, the back seats of which had been sacrificed on the altar of frugality.

I made a chart comparing these two stripper models a while back:

Unlike these two, the Honey Bee could be used for an actual family of four, and I’m pretty certain it was, often.

Sometimes stripped-down cheap cars have made fuel economy the banner they fly, proudly, which gives a cheap car a sort of extra bit of justification, as the concept of “efficiency” feels somewhat more embraceable to people than “I’m cheap as shit.” Fundamentally, they’re really doing the same basic thing: reducing content in the cars, here in the name of weight, but it saves money, too, and that was as important for these cars, even if it wasn’t hyped as much.

There are a few of these worth noting, like the cleverly-named Plymouth Feather Duster from 1976, sold for about half a year:

The Feather Duster managed to shave 187 pounds from the regular Duster and get better fuel economy thanks to using aluminum instead of steel for some components (like the manual transmission case), having a more efficient rear axle ratio, and special Slant Six tuned for economy. They also included Mopar’s goofy “Fuel Pacer System” which used the driver’s side turn indicator tell-tale lamp to let you know when you’ve been pushing too much on that go-pedal:

Where Feather Duster was a clever, fun name for their cheap, fuel-economy and frugality-focused car, later on Mopar seems to have lost the plot and named their ’80s-era fuel-sipping car something far less fun: the Miser.

Well, it was either the Dodge Omni Miser or the Plymouth Horizon Miser, but “Miser” was in that name regardless. Can you imagine a carmaker selling something called a “Miser” today? Does anyone want to be associated with a miser? Did GM have the trademark on Scrooge or Skinflint? Oy.

The Miser got an impressive 30 to 35 mpg in the city and 50-52 on the highway, I guess depending on which ad you’re looking at. The price of $5,299 in 1980 comes to about $20,000 today, so that’s definitely on the cheap end of things, and I guess it got there by eliminating things like the rubber impact strips on the bumpers, using the cheapest steel wheels, and even giving up any grille badges.

I like how this commercial couches the idea of buying a dirt-cheap car in the context of “America’s not going to be pushed around anymore,” said by that guy from the Naked Gun movies and who once punched out Paul Newman, George Kennedy.

I think the last really unashamedly frugal car that hit the market was likely the Honda CRX HF, which was an interesting example, as it was an extreme economy/frugality car based on a sporty car variant of a normal-level-frugality/economy car, the Civic.

The CRX HF (High Fuel) version arrived in 1985 and used the 1.5 liter engine with the two-valve-per-cylinder CVCC head, and only made 62 hp, the lowest of any CRX. It was also significantly lighter at about 1,850 pounds (compared to about 2,100 pounds), with lighter-weight sway bars, rear axle, rear brakes, and other parts, letting the HF get 49 mpg city and 52 on the highway, impressive numbers for a non-hybrid to this day.

I’m not sure that commercial up there really got the point across, equating an air pump with a gas pump, but it looked pretty cool.

Today, we still see cars that wear their fuel economy numbers as a point of pride, like Priuses and other hybrids. But the idea of cheapness as something to revel in and be proud of, that feels very gone. The idea of getting economy just from austerity, from deleting unnecessary stuff from a car, leaving just the most basic, usable, and affordable transport, I’m not sure that’s coming back anytime soon.

And yet, it’s a formula that could work for modern EVs, too. Not every EV has to be so damn heavy, and a genuinely light EV could get the desired range demanded with a much smaller and cheaper battery if things like a Featherweight Edition of a Tesla Model 3 or something existed.

But they don’t, and I’m not sure the current car culture will change enough so they could. But I’m still hoping for a cheap-ass car comeback.

Choose Your Two-Seat Shitbox: Gremlin Vs. Chevette

Let’s Explore The Exciting Austerity Of The Peugeot 104: Cold Start

Here’s What A $20,000 EV With 200+ Miles Of Range Looks Like

This Is How To Make A $16,000 Electric Car

The post Once, You Could Buy A Car That Showed How Proud You Were Of Being A Cheapskate appeared first on The Autopian.

mikeahrens:

Tree in the mist

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is one of the most ambitious games Nintendo has made, a worthy successor to the foundational Breath of the Wild. Both titles are veritable textbooks on modern game design — and, much like any other textbook, they rarely if ever drop below their full retail price. So when we are able to find a good discount, we celebrate.

Right now, Woot has the best discount we’ve seen on Tears of the Kingdom. Through Oct. 25 or while supplies last, all customers can pick up a physical copy of the game for $49.99. If you’re a new Woot customer, however, and use the coupon code ZELDAWELCOME at checkout, you can take an additional $10 off. That drops the price down to $39.99, or around 43% off its usual $70 listing.

Where Breath of the Wild stands as one of the great launch titles of any hardware, Tears of the Kingdom feels almost like a coda to the Switch. Granted, we still don’t know much about the Switch successor — all signs point to 2025 release — but there’s already an air of anticipation, and it’s fair to think of both Zelda titles as bookends to one of Nintendo’s strongest eras to date.

And for those who need a helping hand, we’ve got you covered with our exhaustive Tears of the Kingdom guide that covers quite literally everything you would ever need to know at every step of the way — start here with what you should know before starting the game, followed by these important tips on what to do before leaving the tutorial area.

And when you really get into the game, please enjoy Hyrule Engineering 101. You’re welcome.