Hello; I went into town to buy a new front tire for my mountain bike
yesterday.  There was a bunch (8) of 20 something fellows standing around
socializing, over the new shipment of mountain bike glitterati.  I was
shocked to find out that front tires can  cost up to $80, with $29 being
the average.  While I was checking all this out, I couldn't help overhear
the talk from these guys.  They were all excited about the cars they have
been looking at to buy when summer is over and they have to return to their
non-vacation routine.  They were enthused by 14 to 20 year old Honda
Civics, Toyotas, and other discarded mom's cars.  Now my generation (50
year olds), in the same situation, would be looking for pony cars, american
iron, to try to re-capture their mis-spent youth.  Could it be, these guys
spent their mis-spent youth in one or another mom's car? (Hontoyadatsun)
Another thing was on my mind while I was at the bike store;  I had read,
that day on the Windsurfing news group, that  generation Xers couldn't
afford windsurfing because the first accessory required was a car.  That
was someone's reason why windsurfing was losing popularity, and hadn't been
embraced by new generations.
These bicycle guys obviously had quite a lot of money invested in their
lifestyle (bicycles), yet none of them considered a Vanagon (compulsory VW
content) or any VW product (rabbit) as a possible vehicle for them.
I know that this small group is not representational of all
20-somethingers, but it seems to me that used VWs fit their purposes much
better than used japanese cars, in being cheap to buy, run and repair, and
looking good all the while.  Larry Carter