A Boring Dystopia

People don't think about the cost to drive either. A 2500 gets like 17L per 100km. That's like $25 or more for every 100km you drive. Tires are 400 bucks a pop. Parts are all heavy duty and expensive. The monthly payment is only the first kick in the nuts

I bought a rebuild Subaru for $15k and have gotten almost 150k miles out of it in the past 5 years.

There's no way I would buy a new vehicle unless I was significantly stable in my finances and made way more money.

I don't understand why people who can barely afford them buy new vehicles when there are much cheaper used options.

Seriously. Last September we had to replace our old 2007 Corolla that got totaled after someone drove out in front of us. We were the only owners of the 2007 Corolla. We owned it from new to dust. We shipped around a bunch, considering various new and used options. We eneded up buying...a brand new 2025 Corolla.

The cost of this vehicle? About $24k. We ran the numbers on it, and that's actually less, adjusted for inflation, than we paid for the 2007 one.

Affordable cars still exist. You just have to be content with owning less car.

In fairness 51k ain't even luxury prices anymore. Low end cars start at 30k now.

That truck cost more than my bachelor's degree and car combined… And Acura is just luxury Honda. Japanese automakers like to have luxury brands separate from the main one. Buying an Acura (Honda), Lexus (Toyota), or Infiniti (Nissan) should be assumed out of the question unless you can afford a BMW, Cadillac, or any other classic luxury car. And honestly pickups that you don't need for work should be seen the same way, but moreso. And yeah even if it is for work like here it should be analyzed as a business expense not a nice car that'll definitely actually make you money, no, you run the money like any other capital investment for heavy machinery, with a bit of extra leeway as it's also your company car.

Yeah….the customers are the problem…not the tariffs, not the auto industries, not the financial industries, not the marketing practices of these companies.

Even people who’ve been doing relatively well have had their costs jacked up even more as we move from income taxes to tariffs. Wages in the bottom have remained stagnant. First time home ownership’s average age is 40. They’ve/We’ve all drank the materialist capitalist kool-aid and it’s hard to take back what control we do have.

The gas bill on that RAM is at least $400/mo.

Poor people don't know how to be poor. They think they can afford whatever banks will loan them.

Do they mean 20% of all Americans, car purchasers, or new car purchasers?

It looks like they mean of new car purchasers, which ignores people who didn't buy a car or bought used.

fuk... that's absurd. I felt bad agreeing to 300/month. I'd laugh at the dealer, call em drunk and never return if they tried that shit

Here in America we have big cars and tiny rail networks. We should have tiny cars and big rail networks.

My fellow Americans, being pedal to the floor in a lightweight five speed shitbox is infinitely more fun than restraining yourself constantly in a giant top heavy rollover machine. You feel like you're doing 120mph but you're going 120kph, it's glorious. Taking the train is fucking great! I get to play video games and not stress about traffic, if I go to a happy hour and drink too much I've already got a DD!