shrug and?
I know most people want “New cars” and fine, go chase that over priced luxury, but I’d rather a car that’s 1-2 years old that’s dropped more than half the price, and being passed over because new shiny thing came out.
People shouldn’t have to drive beaters, but buying a car for 10k isn’t a bad decision unless you’re extremely well off our only care about status symbols.
Like there’s a reason I was able to buy a house, and a good job helped, but also my wife and I lived with in our means, which is something I feel that isn’t talked about in the consumerism age. (You can buy something new, but for most things you don’t need a yearly iphone/car/or anything. A good 50 inch tv works well for a tenth of the price of the newest one. ) And yet I see people complain about not having a lot of money yet they’re always talking about the newest graphics cards, newest tvs, and newest tech… I wonder why.
A decade ago I was able to buy a shitbox Silverado 1500 crew cab for under $15k that ran till it rusted out from under me halfway back from the moon. It hauled garbage, pig feed, and two moves without a complaint. Same truck today would be $30k minimum and at that price I’d be too afraid of scratching it to have any fun.
Get a better job. If you can’t afford a $10k car, you’re doing something wrong…
You understand that if someone in a low paid job gets a better paid job, the low paid job does not disappear in a puff of smoke? That the proportion of people in low paid work is a function of political decisions as to what the economy should look like?
I mean, the headline is fucking ridiculous (we don’t need anything like 10% of car sales to be new cars). But so is giving careers advice as a solution to the high prevalence of shit pay.
Yeah it’s insane. I bought a 1 year old Hyundai and knocked tons of depreciation off an already cheaper brand.
At my work people be driving around in leased Range Rovers/AMG Mercs. Then they will take the piss out of my car.
Seriously? I now have more disposable income because i’m not wasting it renting a car and also I own my car… It should be me bragging
I’d rather a car that’s 1-2 years old that’s dropped more than half the price […]
Except that doesn’t really happen anymore. Shoot, I’ve seen some cars appreciate in value after they roll off the lot in recent years. Hoping that reverses soon, but it sure isn’t like it used to be.
but also my wife and I lived with in our means, which is something I feel that isn’t talked about in the consumerism age.
the problem is the basic cost of living is going up beyond what can be afforded and people scream at you about not making extremely bad decisions you didn’t even make and don’t have to in order to end up struggling.
Arguable the case for purchasing a brand new vehicle starts to make more sense as BEV become the majority as the batteries are a consumable that degrades with use and time. So long as the increased price is offset by the longer utilization of that battery.
Yeah, of course… But they’re also replaceable. You can even check the individual cells, swap out the worst ones with cells from other used packs, and end up getting back up to decent capacity. There’s a whole statistics, mean time to failure aspect to batteries - it’s not going to take them back to new, but swapping out the worst cells can get you a lot better performance
Or you could just replace the batteries with newer, likely better, battery banks. The first option needs a certain scale, but would be cheap, the second would be a straight range upgrade over even the factory range.
There’s also the fact that electric cars are much more mechanically simple - this is unlikely to catch on under our current economic system, but it’s way easier to swap electric motors than an engine…
My points being, I think we need to make way less cars, and electric cars are actually easier to repair (at least from a physics and resource perspective, hostile design and economic pressures could easily eat up that difference)
The problem with replacing individual cells is you’ll end up with cells with different wear levels which means different discharge rates and capacities (max voltage). The battery management system can mitigate some of the problems that arise but can only do that while chargering. While the battery is in use or sits for an extented period of time the cells will try to level out the voltage difference causing loss in capacity and a potential fire risk if the cells are too out of balanced.
Replacing the battery with new better batteries isn’t really an option either as any significant increase in power density would be from a change in battery chemistry and that would also require changing out the on board charging circuit and related systems. There’s also the issue that the majority of charge points providers state in their TOS that the use of any aftermarket parts or modifications to your battery or charger is forbidden so you are essential blacklisted from using any DC fast charger.
I got a 2021 car last year with 6000km on it . It was almost full price .
We should not be building our cities in ways that necessitate owning a car.
Never too late to change. Just look at Amsterdam now vs a couple decades ago
I’d argue that Amsterdam isn’t a great example, as the infrastructure of that city was largely built before the advent of automobiles, then converted to support a more Americanized design that was vehicle-centric, before finally realizing, “Hey, we’re Dutch, not American, we need more space for our bicycles!”
If we’re discussing American infrastructure designed in the 20th century, it seems to be pretty difficult to convert because the physical structures of both the transportation infrastructure and the destinations people want to visit are not built densely enough to make going without a car a top tier option for most people.
I mean this broadly, not to say that there aren’t opportunities to start moving this in the other direction, but emphasizing that changing the focus to downplay the importance of vehicles will be neither quick, cheap, or easy.
I know Jersey City has made a big push to bikify the city, and limited parking in new high-density development, with the idea being if you build it, they will come. It’s part of an overall plan that they date out to 2060. Shit takes time. Doesn’t mean you don’t try though, that’s for sure. I’m hopeful.
You’re right, let’s not change with the times but just lay down and die, nothing is worth the effort.
What are we gonna do, nuke all the suburbs and cram everyone into little pods?
good
Don’t buy a new car. New cars are for rich suckers. Cars are the most common type of depreciating asset.
I’ve had 3 cars the first was 10yo when i bought it, the second was 3yo when i got it, the last one was new. Each one lasted 5 years, 12 years and then 10 years respectively. Moved to a walkable/bikeable city & I don’t even have a driver’s license anymore. New cars are not bad as long as it doesn’t get changed out every other year, and you get one that is a reliable model.
You had a brand new car that only lasted 10 years?? What are you doing to your cars??
My friend has a 1993 Toyota Land Cruiser that the mechanic said drives like new.
I have a 2008 Nissan 350z that I’d expect to get another 10 years out of.
exactly why you should go for a second hand one if you aren’t drowning in generational wealth.
What? My point stands. If you care, you aren’t rich. You just have some cash from a few good years.
Would you care about the deprecation in value of your toothbrush?
I saw this on TikTok and it’s been burned into my brain since.
https://cdn1.frocdn.ch/vZBqPK4EuWepdGt.mp4 (link might not work with some security settings).
The amount of money seemingly regular people are dumping into car payments is unreal.
Could you link the clip somewhere else? That host is blocked in basically every layer imaginable for me - uBlock, bad SSL settings and AdGuard
If you care enough, just open it up in a private window or a new profile. Also, unless you don’t want whoever is between you and their server (if anyone is) knowing you watched a TikTok video of a woman going around asking other woman what their car payments are, bad SSL settings is whatever.
Here’s the original link: https://www.tiktok.com/@toyotacargirls/video/7202381347908832558
I just didn’t want to deal with people complaining about “A TIKTOK? ON MY LEMMIES?”
Either way, I can’t win with you people.
Here’s another reason why taking transit doesn’t bother me. For five bucks a day I can listen to podcasts and music and read books for 30 minutes, and let someone else take care of everything, I do not love everything about the bus (really you have to make everyone disembark during rush hour so you can cram your obesity scooter on there so you can go to Tim Hortons so nobody else can sit down?), but honestly it’s pretty stress free. I realize not everyone has access to transit but I think people should make more effort to use it.
really you have to make everyone disembark during rush hour so you can cram your obesity scooter on there so you can go to Tim Hortons so nobody else can sit down?
Has it…occurred to you that some disabled people have mobility issues or pain disorders that limit mobility to begin with, and that weight gain is a byproduct of not being able to walk or move or stand for very long without trouble?
I had a boss who had dwarfism and used a wheelchair 80% of the time. 20% of the time he slowly, painfully did hobble about–but it was clear as day WHY he was higher weight than he should’ve been. My own blood pressure would spike hearing the tiny sounds of pain he made when got out of his wheelchair and moved.
I have a friend with POTS–and if you’re unfamiliar with that, basically she stands up and her blood pressure and heart rate is malfunctioning so her heart acts like she’s running a marathon, the beats per minute go insane…but blood is pooling in her feet and they’re turning purple where you can’t see it because things are out of whack and despite her heart going haywaire, there’s not enough pressure to get the blood out of her feet and elsewhere. This condition happened prior to any weight gain.
I can hear her breath start to go wobbly just doing simple things because her body doesn’t regulate her blood pressure and heart rate normally. She’s gained weight because she’s at risk of passing the fuck out if she is on her feet for very long–she has to literally plan out doing simple things like going to the grocery store because if she pushes herself she might end up downed on the sidewalk relying on the helpfulness of strangers to get back up. It’s taken her many years to accept she really shouldn’t be pushing herself into a collapse because she’s worried that people will judge her for being “lazy and fat”. Comments like yours about “obesity scooters” only act to tear down all the people who ARE trying their hardest and still having their body fail them.
I have a different friend who has thyroid problems, she inherited them from her mom (and her bro has them too), and weight is a bitch for her to manage because her thyroid is fried.
I just broke my foot in July, and watched my weight inch up because it’s really fucking hard to get up stairs when you can’t put weight on one foot. I was semi bedbound for like 2 months. I’m LUCKY in that my foot will heal, but I don’t even snack and I gained 15lbs because of that one little temporary mobility issue. I’m LUCKY in that once it heals, I will be able to move normally and lose what I gained.
You could’ve made your point about transit without taking pot-shots at disabled people, who often are stuck in a terrible situation of their body failing them medically, and society often forcing them into poverty to be able to access the care they need.
Seriously, why isn’t it possible to champion mass public transit for all without shitting on the people who use it by necessity currently?
You don’t have to go to Tim Hortons at rush hour when everyone is using it to go to work and school, and inconvenience everyone on the bus making them late while you back your scooter on because you just have to go get your 12 pack of donuts right now. Just wait a little while until the buses are quieter for pity’s sake.
weight gain is a byproduct of not being able to walk or move or stand for very long without trouble
Weight gain is a byproduct of consuming more calories than your body expends. Not everyone can walk or be active, but everyone can put the fork down. It’s quite simple actually
It’s quite simple actually.
Or is it?
Do you take into account that:
- Most processed food are created around the bliss point in order to make it as addictive as possible.
- Fresh food being more expensive and/or more time consuming to prepare than processed alternatives.’
- the existence of food deserts.
- advertising pushing unhealthy and addictive eatings habits down our collective throats with little to no regulations (why not do what we did with alcohol/tobacco in a lot of countries?)
- bad habits formed during childhood such as empty calories used as rewards, etc.
Imho everyone can put the fork down as in everyone can stop smoking or doing any drugs really. It’s possible but demands an extra effort that not anyone is able to put in at any given moment (without even taking relapses into account).
To me it really has some “it’s your fault you got conned” vibes ^^’
We’re you refered to physical therapy after breaking your foot? Or are you able to see if insurance will pay because your mobility has been reduced?
I had several injuries in the military that left me unable to stand, walk, drive a car, or balance for very long. With the help of physical therapy I was eventually able to walk properly, then after some time I was able to take a ride to work a job where I was sometimes sitting but often standing. Eventually I was able to work and exercise enough that I got all my balance and mobility back.
Having public transit helped me when I still didn’t have enough fine motor control to operate a pedal and brake.
Not everyone is on the same journey, but please see if you can access physical therapy. Please advocate for not just healing but making yourself whole.
The biggest problem I run I to with transit in most cities is the time sink, security flaws, and expense.
I drive to a park and ride where I have to pay 12 dollars to have my car broken into. Then wait 20 minutes to pamy another $15 to take the light rail that drops me off 8 blocks from my destination, then wait 20 minutes to pay 5 bucks for the bus that drops me 2 blocks away, then walk to my destination.
Or I could drive straight to my destination, pay 8 bucks for the parking garage with a security gate, and save an hour.
Bike or electric scooter. Not sure what the distance is but anything under 25 kms is feasible.
25 km (15 mi) is a bit of a stretch, although I’d have to test my ebike at those distances to know for sure. I got 10 miles one way throttle-only the other day before I ran out of battery
I’m not cycling the 40 miles between affordable housing and my office in 105° for 5 months or of the year.
Not everybody can live in New York where the system can support robust public transit.
I live near Austin, and the cheapest place to rent in the small city I work is over $4,000 a month. The place I live is 1/5th of that, but it’s a 90-minute commute by car.
I’d kill for better housing or transit options, but it’s a very complex problem to solve in established areas that largely developed post-automobile. I work in municipal planning, so I appreciate both the advantages and the challenges more than most.
Well there’s that and the fact that if you’re a tradesman --or woman, or whatever-- having a truck or van can be pretty crucial to your ability to make a decent income.
I currently have a company vehicle, but for years, prior to my current position and when I was a contractor, I was obliged to own my own truck or van for very basic practical reasons.
The problem I run into is time. And sometimes location. My previous job, for instance, was far enough out that there was no bus service; I had to drive. My only other option was a 2-hour transit ride and then a half-hour bike ride, partly on gravel roads.
And my friend has a job that’s 15 minutes by car, or 45 minutes away by bus. Even worse, with recent construction messing with the trains, his commute has gone to 2 hours plus.
And this is in a city with a decently robust transit system.
No definitely transit should be made more robust, I know it doesn’t work for everyone. Get light rail transit everywhere and make 15 minute commutes, I say. Make transit more convenient than driving.
Adding more light rail wherever it makes sense is definitely a good plan (and should happen), but improving bus networks gives a lot more bang for the buck than focusing only on light rail. Features like off-board fare collection (paying at the bus stop, not on the vehicle), bus signal priority (extending greens and shortening reds as buses approach traffic lights), and dedicated bus lanes all improve the overall speed of buses and therefore the overall rider experience. Expanding the prevalence of these features should be a priority everywhere, particularly on higher-ridership routes.
