Re: I was at a local....
"The original concept of an affordable, space-efficient, basic vehicle has been completely lost." So very true, but people tend to forget that the demands, the law has changed, like crash tests, air bags and so forth. If you like the original just buy one. This happened to the original Ford Mustang too and that's why you still see some of them around. Not to mention the CV2 of course. Some still love the Trabant too. I suppose the Fiat 500 is about as close as you can go to day. And don't underestimate nostalgia, you might not like that much a Mini to day.