(can't believe something this self-evidently true is getting downvoted...) I call it the "Era of Suck", and date it to the passage of the Clean Air Act of 197

(can't believe something this self-evidently true is getting downvoted...) I call it the "Era of Suck", and date it to the passage of the Clean Air Act of 1970, was thrown into full effect by the oil shocks around '74, and ended around '93, the last year you could buy a new car in the US with a carburetor. Not to diminish the gains made by safety and environmental regulations, but more to point out that these regulations have side effects that may not be visible or significant to those buyers only interested in a transportation appliance, except for the mysteriously increasing purchase price.