Today’s column (gift link) is about affordable cars.

Cars dictate status in America. If you can afford a comfortable, reliable car, especially one that’s new, you’re in the middle class. Period. That’s all you need to know. And that’s good, because you need a car to safely navigate most American cities or live anywhere outside of a city.

Most folks, however, live in a semi-constant state of car struggle. They’re either driving a car they can’t really afford or a car that will soon let them down. Sometimes both.

In a lecture I used to give about perception failures, I explained that the worst kind of car is the one that starts four times out of five. If it always starts or never starts, you retain control. But the “maybe” of driving a shitbox car — the hope — it can drive you crazy.

Part of the problem is that shitty cars used to be cheap. Today, used cars fetch record prices, because new cars are more expensive than ever. The all-powerful market has pushed the envelope of what Americans will pay to stay on the road. (To stay in the middle class). Supply issues, tariffs, political spats over electric vehicles, regulations all conspire to keep cars complicated and costly.

My son Doug got me interested in these small Japanese trucks, called kei trucks. If I was ever to buy a utility vehicle for use around our property it would probably be something like this. And yet, these small trucks tell a story of why it’s become so expensive to buy practical, affordable vehicles.

Read “On tiny kei trucks, and the problems with today’s car market,” in the Saturday, May 16, 2026 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.