I am not a socialist who believes everyone should drive small, unadorned economy cars.

I am a realist who understands that most of us cannot comfortably afford automobiles marketed as luxury or high-performance machines.

Also increasingly evident is that our national and global environments cannot forever support bigger, faster, high-horsepower automobiles. That is reality, which in no way means I am against driving or the pursuit of the “fun to drive.”

I am in and out of hundreds of cars and trucks annually — products priced at myriad levels, from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars, to several million dollars in some cases. The experience is revealing: Regardless of price, all cars get stuck in traffic jams; and there are always traffic jams somewhere.

“Prestige” does not help you move any faster. Nothing is more humbling than being stuck behind a Hyundai Elantra in an Aston Martin on the Pacific Coast Highway, or shuffling behind a Volkswagen Beetle in a high-performance Porsche on a London street or some segment of the Washington area’s Beltway.

No law enforcement officer anywhere ever served me a traffic citation with the words: “Wow! That’s a prestigious car!”

Speeding from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 4.5 seconds impresses some automotive journalists or other proudly self-avowed “gearheads.” But try doing that in a quiet neighborhood — especially with a loud exhaust note — on a late night or early morning. How to make friends and influence people? That is definitely not the way.

Do I like luxury and high-performance cars? Yes. But rapid technological advances, available in what we once called “economy” cars, makes some luxury metal seem vapidly foolish; and a super-high-horsepower car on an otherwise calm local street seems particularly out of place. High-performance on a racetrack or other designated space is fine, assuming you have the money or are lucky enough to get an invitation to share that venue.

All of this helps to explain the many Toyota, Ford, General Motors, Nissan, Honda, Chrysler, Volkswagen, Fiat, Hyundai and Kia vehicles you see in daily traffic on the Beltway and worldwide. They are vehicles that make sense, cars and trucks that real people really can afford.

Reality: I regretted having to return the 2017 compact Toyota Yaris LE hatchback I drove last week. It was such a worry-free drive. Fast? Not particularly. Equipped with a 1.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine, it stubbornly moved from 0 to 60 miles per hour in nearly 10 seconds. But it was a solid, reliable, reasonably safe and comfortable little car that could be parked almost anywhere and that got me and mine everywhere we wanted to go without necessitating a stop by bankruptcy court.

And there was this about the Yaris: Toyota is to be congratulated for standardizing advanced electronic safety items through its Safety Sense package. That gives the motorist needed items such as forward-collision and lane-departure warning systems. I like this. I will look for this in all vehicles regardless of price or performance boasting.